W.D. Schock Memorial Regatta This Weekend

This weekend, the Newport Harbor Yacht Club will host the annual W.D. Schock Memorial Regatta. The Regatta  includes one-design racing open to Lehman 12, Lido 14 (A and B Fleets), Harbor 20 (A and B Fleets), Harbor 25, Schock 35, and Santana 20 boats on two consecutive days (Saturday & Sunday).

Entry is available online here. No entries will be accepted after 1800 on March 4, 2011 (Friday).

REGATTA DINNER!  SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH BEGINNING AT 6:30pm
After a competitive day sailing join us for a celebration and buffet dinner. One (1) dinner ticket is included with your entry fee and additional tickets may be purchased for your crew online during the entry process for $20. Please purchase your tickets in advance as there will be VERY limited numbers available at the door.

More information and all racing documents can be found on this website here, or on the NHYC Website.

SCYA Midwinters Results

Harbor 20 A & B Fleet Winners

Congratulations to Bill Menninger and Emile Pilafidis for winning the Harbor 20 A and B Fleet SCYA Midwinters held on February 19th and 20th.

Bill Menninger was awarded the Phillip S. Ramser Perpetual Trophy while Emile Pilafidis was promoted to the A Fleet for winning a two-day High Point event.

The full results of the race can be viewed on the Harbor 20 website on the Results page or downloaded from the BCYC Results Page

Thank you to the Bahia-Corinthian Yacht Club for hosting the Midwinters for the Harbor 20’s and a special thanks to the BCYC Race Committee.

Our First Harbor 20 Season

Editors Note:  This article was written by Karl Pomeroy several months ago.

What a summer it was!  The opportunity to get back into racing after a 10+ year absence, a chance to teach my 10 year old son about the sport I love and the culmination of winning the Harbor 20 B fleet made for a near perfect summer.

I am first off grateful to all of the wonderful H20 sailors who welcomed my son Cole and I into the fleet.  It all started with a call to Peter Haynes who is simply the best advocate a fleet could ask for.  2 weeks later we owned a H20 and by May we sailed in our first race.

My first reaction was “I forgot how to sail after all these years”.   Well, some great advice and fantastic seminars and then we started to improve.  Cole truly was having fun getting on the boat every night and sailing with Dad!  I think my favorite part of the H20 fleet is from Memorial Day to Labor Day you can race 5 nights a week.  Couple that with the great friends, and wonderful dinners and you have a near perfect summer.

A pleasant additional thing happened we got faster!  I was amazed that every time out we learned something that we were able to build on.  In June I went to the Dave Perry seminar and got some of the best advice I have received in my sailing career and we turned that into our first big win a week later in the Stars and Stripes Regatta.

A bunch more sailing and we reached the important Fall Tune Up, Schock Memorial and Championship Regatta.  In the Fall Tune-Up and Schock Regatta we simply were inconsistent and frankly that had to do with bad starts.  We have all been there but in the H20 I have finally learned my lesson.  Good starts equal good finishes and unfortunately bad starts tend to equal bad finishes.

After a frustrating weekend before the championship we committed ourselves to quality starts and I can tell you in the Championships I felt we had 5 good starts and one bad one.  The bad one was by far our worst race.  If I were to give some advice to a new H20 sailor it would be as follows:

  1. Sail the boat a lot in summer races and ask for help!  This group of awesome people wants to assist you in improving.
  2. Attend the seminars – I cannot tell you how much of a difference they made in our speed over the summer.
  3. Good Starts!  I can’t stress it enough.  You win and lose races on the starting line in a fleet of boats that are very close in speed.
  4. Have fun!  Most of all I got to spend the entire year sailing with my son and creating memories I will never forget.

Thanks Harbor 20 fleet #1 for making 2010 one of my best sailing memories ever!

Karl Pomeroy

SCYA Midwinters NOR’s Posted, Entry Forms Available

The NOR’s and Entry Form for the 2011 SCYA Midwinters is now available on the Harbor 20 Website.

2011 SCYA Midwinters Page

The regatta is scheduled for February 19 and 20, 2011 and is a Fleet 1 2-day High Point Event. The B Fleet winner will be promoted to the A Fleet.

The deadline for entry has not been defined by the BCYC, however, please note that the entry form is not online, so you must print out, fill out and bring (or mail) your entry to the BCYC.

Visit the Harbor 20 Website for all the links to the yacht club and the regatta forms.

What I learned from the Winter Series #4

The NHYC Winter Series #4 was held on Sunday, February 6th – the last of a 4-day series of races.  My last “event” was the Strategy & Tatics Seminar by Peter Haynes the previous Sunday, and I was fresh with ideas, enthusiasm and eager to “try out” all the new info I learned at that Seminar. I’d like to share my perceptions of part of the first race since I learned so much in that 20 minutes of sailing with the A fleet!

» Read more

Ted Munroe Perpetual Trophy Awarded

Jim Kerrigan, Staff Commodore Phil Ramser & Dottie Munroe

On Sunday, February 7th, the new Ted Munroe Perpetual Trophy was awarded to the A and B Fleet winners of the 2011 NHYC Winter Series.

In attendance for the inaugural presentation of perpetual Trophy was Dottie Munroe, wife of the late Ted Munroe. Presenting the awards was NHYC Staff Commodore Phil Ramser.

The winner of the A Fleet was Jim Kerrigan, who squeezed out second and third place winners Tom Schock and Karl Pomeroy.

The winner of the B Fleet was Gale Pinckney who, ironically, is the new owner of Ted’s Harbor 20. Hellen Duncan and Win Fuller took second and third place in the series.

Staff Commodore Phil Ramser, Gale Pinckney, Pinckney's son, Dottie Munroe, & Jon Pinckney

The new trophy was designed and created by Peter Haynes and will be owned by the Harbor 20 Class Association and will be awarded each year to the winners of the NHYC Winter Series for both A and B classes.

WD Schock Memorial Regatta – Change to Schedule!

The NOR’s and Event Entry forms are now available for the W.D. Schock Memorial Regatta.  Forms are available from the NHYC Website.

According to the NOR’s, the “First warning for S35, S20, H20 [is] 1200 ” . This changes the original time as posted originally on the H20 website schedule.

According to the NOR’s “No entries accepted after 1800 on 3/4/2011”

You can register online here.

Positive Thinking About Zero to Four Knots of Wind

Editors Note:  Jim Kerrigan was asked to share his attitude and approach for the 2-race Winter Series #3 Regatta today. Winds were 0-4 knots with occasional gusts to 6 knots. Jim won the day with a 1st and 2nd place finish. Following is straight from Jim’s mind…


Positive Thinking About Zero to Four Knots of Wind


I love light air, always have. Whether in my Olson 30 off the east end of Catalina becalmed, drifting for the finish in Ensenada, or sailing against an outgoing tide in the bay… I’ve done well in light air; the more races I get in, the more I study it, and the more I just psyche myself into thinking I can sail well. I guess that’s what the power of positive thinking is all about, but it works.

I had an advantage today because the light air was forecast for several days. I thought about that a bunch ahead of time. In my quiet moments, I visualized that darn flat water, the wisps of wind on the water, “How do I sail this stuff fastly?”

Easy, remember what works (in no particular order):

  • Everything is in slow motion, don’t rush anything. Not trim, not tacks, not decisions either. Slow down.
  • Watch the water; where is there wind? Just kind of head that way, but don’t rush.
  • Don’t pay much attention to anyone else, just move the boat. If you can, get away from everyone, but cover if you’re ahead to keep your position. But again, slowly!
  • Don’t trim the sails in tight, keep a good shape first; everything is easy. Let things off five or six inches from whatever you would normally do. Maybe a foot, maybe two feet. Don’t head up, head fast.
  • Broad reaching is much faster than going downwind in 0-3 kts. Go fast first, go deep when you can. If you get a puff that looks like it will last, do try winger and go deeper but be ready to go back.
  • Don’t tack any time you think you should tack, try to delay but always be heading for wind if you can, heading toward the mark if you can. Tacking is bad.
  • The tactic is speed, position is not important. Go fast.
  • Do anything to keep a nice shape to the sails, ease off. Use your old main, especially an old jib to get a soft shape.
  • Stay on the low side, or the floor. Stay still. Lie down, keep low in the boat especially when bow waves approach.
  • You are sneaky fast!

Those are the things I think in prep. I get out earlier on a super light day, than a regular day. I try to sail around just going killer fast. Faster than anyone else just out there going to the race. Go fast, practice the thoughts… Do a slow tack, a slow jibe…

Thinking about light air is a pleasure; thinking about 18 knots is a pain. Anyone can sail in light air; no one can sail in 18 knots, they just survive. You love light air!!!

That’s my prep. By the time the race is on, I’m totally slowed down. I just try to stay away from everyone, stay still, go fast and enjoy the day.

Portsmouth Folly – A Festive Event

The rain threatened, but never succeeded on canceling the festive Portmouth Folly Regatta hosted by the Balboa Yacht Club on Saturday, December 18th.

The Regatta consisted of two classes: Keelboat Fleet (which included the Harbor 20’s) and the Centerboard Fleet.  A total of 9 Harbor 20’s participated along with a Thistle and a Santana 20.

The race committee selected an exciting (roughly) windward / leeward course taking the fleet outside the harbor to the J mark and back to finish. With winds at about 10-12 knots, blustering and threatening weather, and swells that occasionally broke over the and into the boats, the Harbor 20’s proudly and confidently tacked up the channel, out of the harbor, around J Mark, and back down the channel to the finish. Each race lasted about 40 minutes.

The Harbor 20’s held their own against the Santana and Thistle (finishing 7th and 8th overall). The Harbor 20’s were assigned a PHRF rating of 92, the Santana a 90.1 and the Thistle an 83.

Tucker Cheadle skippering #168 with Tom Schock as crew took 1st place, Karl Pomeroy (#262) with crew Cole Pomeroy took second, and John Whitney (#130) sailing single-handled finished 3td place. Full results are available here.

Nik Froehlich (#109) sailing with Mindy and her parents and uncle, was awarded the “Most Festive in Keelboat” award.

Before the awards ceremonies, the kids lead all the sailors with a unique rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas.

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