Captain Kidd’s Treasure Found

Captain Kidd’s Treasure Chest was uncovered by John and Mary Whitney at the Stars and Stripes Regatta last Sunday. It was buried far below the sands of Lido Isle in an unknown cavern which runs under Balboa Bay. Finding it was not an easy task, for the treasure hunters had to uncover many clues that were left around the Bay, and follow them to the hidden location.

The Chest was full of loot, including beautiful jewelry, gold bouilon, knives and swords, Rum and wine, goodies, dock lines, and Harbor 20 dress wear. Everyone was envious of the winner, who shared the spoils with the many participants.

The Drayton family (George, John and John Jr.) was close behind, but they were mixed up on the final direction, and thereby missed the grand prize.

The spectacular Stars and Stripes Perpetual Trophy was awarded to John and Mary Whitney.  The awards for the best dressed young pirates were won by Cole Pomeroy and his friend in father Karl’s boat. The best dressed crew award went to Raleigh Pulaski’s girls—Mimi Barker, Donna Riggs, and Susan George. The best dressed Pirate award went to Kathy Sangster.

A festive celebration was held at the LIYC Club House that evening where all of the hunters could meet, partake of delicious rum punch and tell exciting “war stories” about their perilous adventures on the high seas. Kathy “Kidd” Sangster put on a good spread consisting of horduerves and barbequed hamburgers.  The biggest thank you of the day goes to Andy Binkerd for all his work on the creation of the classic Chest, and then filling it with all of the fantastic loot.  Good job Andy!

If you missed the Event, it’s too bad, for there is only one Captain Kidd’s treasure. However, Captain Morgan came this way in 1678, and may have left some treasure to find next year. See you then.

 

More pictures available here

Sail or Sink Event A Success!

Fleet 1 held their first “Sail or Sink” ocean race on May 21st.  Eleven boats reached the starting line near the Balboa pier in 7-10 knots of wind.  It was a perfect day of sailing and without a single Duffy or Wedding boat to deal with.  The boats all started off of the Balboa Pier and sailed upwind approx 3 miles to a bell buoy.  It was interesting as we rounded the bell buoy the TP52’s and others were finishing at the same bell buoy.  I am sure more than a few of them thought we were lost!  After racing all participants gathered for a burger bash and a few drinks.  Great stories were told and everyone in attendance said it was one of their most memorable H20 sails ever.  The finishing order was – 1st – Karl Pomeroy #262, 2nd – Steve Woodruff #300, 3rd Peter Haynes #201.  A number of bottles of wine were handed out as trophies.   Hopefully more races can follow in these perfect waters for our boats.

 

Friday Night Starts

Need to improve your starts? Join up with other Harbor20 Sailors on Friday Nights on the NHYC dock each Friday at 5:30pm for a chalk-talk, followed by a series of practice starts in the harbor.

The practice starts will be run by a yet-to-be-nameed sailing coach using 3 minute rolling starts (with occasional windward and leeward mark roundings thrown in) for approximately one hour.

The practice starts will be video taped. We will then meet in the NHYC Non-Calm room to watch the video, get feed back from the coach, and eat pizza.

No need to RSVP, just show up on the NHYC Dock on Friday at 5:30. The series runs May 13, 20 & 27.

Results of Lorin Weiss Memorial #2

A total of eighteen Harbor 20s participated in the 2011 Lorin Weiss Memorial #2 on Saturday, April 16th. Five races were completed with a toss out.

A Fleet

1st: Bill Menninger

2nd: Jim Kerrigan

3rd: Karl Pomeroy

 

B Fleet

1st: Guy Doran

2nd: Win Fuller

3rd: Dick Somers

This is Guy’s second High Point win in the B Fleet, qualifying him to race in the A Fleet.

Complete race results can be downloaded here.

Harbor 20 Sailors Key Ingredient to the Success of the Baldwin Cup

The Baldwin Cup: Over 120 races by 11 teams of 4 and 24 Harbor 20’s. The Newport Harbor Yacht Club hosted one spectacular event!  Details of the Baldwin Cup and Plenty of photos can be found on the Baldwin Cup Website.

24 Harbor 20s with Colored Team Racing Jibs

Although the event was due to the coordinated effort of over 100 volunteers, a special recognition is appropriate for the boat owners of the Harbor 20 Fleet 1.  The owners donated 26 boats for the event and staffed much, if not all, of the “Dockside Crew” responsible for the preparation, cleaning, maintenance, repairs, event boat coordination and clean up of all 26 boats!

Fleet 1 Captain John Whitney along with Fleet 1 Measurer Warren Duncan led the effort to prep each Harbor 20 for the race, which included a wax/cleaning job, new jibs, bumpers installed, new main and jib sheets, tuning and complete top to bottom inspection and repairs to make all the boats ready for the Regatta.

Once the event started, and led by Warren Duncan as the Dockside Crew Captain, each morning each boat was dried, bilges pumped, cushioned placed, lines checked for frays, bumpers secured, main sails raised and lined up (by color) ready for the sailors.

Dockside Crew Doing A Quick Mast Drop to Retrieve a Snapped Main Halyard.

At about 5 minute intervals throughout the day, the crew would receive the incoming boats, ask the sailors about any needed repairs, and if needed, do quick repairs like an Indy Pit Crew, and assist the new team to board and shove off.

 

Eight boats times 50+ races a day = 400 arrival/departures per day the Dockside Crew handled. The Dockside Crew consisted essentially of volunteer Fleet 1 owners/sailors.

At the end of each day, each boat was parked securely and safely, dock lines secured, main sails neatly flaked, cushions stored, readied for another day of 1,200 + individual departures.

At the end of the event, the racing jibs, main sheets, jib sheets and bumpers removed and replaced with the owners sheets and sails.

To Dockside Crew:

As you can see from the attached emails, all your efforts were very much appreciated. I would like to add my personal thanks especially to all the volunteers from not only NHYC, but 50 percent of the crew was from other clubs.Once again the Baldwin cup was a great success.  BC 2011 became more than who won the beautiful Baldwin Cup.  After the finals Sunday everyone had smiles on their faces, EVERYONE HAD A GREAT TIME. It was the culmination of a great club, a great location, excellent boats, super guest accommodation, special catering, expert commentary, precision umpiring, and top quality race management.  One judge told me, even if we broke both his legs, this would not stop him finding a way to make it next year.What cannot be overlooked is the “keel” the event was built on is the preparation and reliability of the boats.   You assured this in the weeks, days and hours put in proceeding, during and after the event.  Better than 140 races without complaints and only one mid-race failure requiring a re-sail is testimony to your efforts. Thank you for your part in making this event special.

Warren Duncan Dockside Crew Chief

 

To All Volunteers, Team Racers and Staff,

Thank you so much for all of your hard work this past weekend and in the preceding months to make the Baldwin Cup a successful and fun regatta.  Your efforts and hospitality resulted in what has truly become one of the best regattas of the year.  Over the course of the weekend, I was approached by several team members from other clubs who told me that this was by far their favorite sailing event and that, if they had to choose only one regatta a year to sail in each year, it would be the Baldwin Cup.  This is a truly special event because of your efforts.  Sometime in the coming weeks I’d like to get the group together to debrief about what went well and what we may want to alter for next year (I don’t think that there is much here).  For now, I just wanted to let all of you know that it was a pleasure working and sailing with you.

See you on the water,

Adam, Race Committee Chairman

 

Adam

I second everything you all have said about what a great even it was.  I had a ton of fun.  Thanks Adam for putting together a great event.  It is very rare to have a volunteer boat crew there on the dock to catch your boat every time you come in and ask if everything is OK with the boats, then hold the boats while we step off to take a break.  I have never seen that type of service at regattas other than the Olympics, Pan-American games, world championships, etc.

That same boat crew was working hard last night from the time we stopped sailing until the sun went down, including Warren and Helen Duncan, John Whitney and family, Jon P. and Gale, Bill Menninger, Rolly Pulaski, Nik Froehlich and Kevin Hawkins.  They got about half way done with the 25+ boats before dark, so they are back down at the club today to finish it up and get the boats returned to the owners.  All this work was huge to allow us to have 11 teams at the event and the 2 NHYC teams.

Thanks guys!

Peter Wells, Newport Harbor’s Orange Team

The Dockside Crew Performs Another Quick Repair

Harbor 20s in the Spotlight – Baldwin Cup Team Race

Ten domestic teams and one international yacht club team will face off using Harbor 20s in this fully umpired,  4 v 4 team race event.  In order to accommodate the overwhelming interest to compete, the OA has expanded to three fleets of boats allowing for a 12-team line up.  This spectator-friendly regatta will be sailed in a vacated mooring field directly in front of the NHYC main dock, a perfect place to watch the action with friends.

Twenty-six Harbor 20s have been loaned to the NHYC for the event. Each boat received a big dose of TLC as dozens of volunteers have worked for weeks preparing the boats for the event. Each boat got a nice buff and cleaning, repairs and tuning. The boats have been outfitted with colored jib sails to represent the different teams.

Enjoy and keep up with the event through one of many options: From the Docks of NHYC, where you can enjoy 25¢ beers and front row seats to all the action;  Live WebCamKattack GPS Tracking. Or follow the action on the Baldwin Cup Facebook Page, or get live updates via the Twitter account or visit the Baldwin Cup Website.

The eleven teams competing are:

  • Balboa YC  (CA)
  • Boston YC  (MA)
  • New York YC  (NY) (2010 winners)
  • Larchmont Yacht Club (NY)
  • Newport Harbor YC – Blue (CA)
  • Newport Harbor YC – Orange (CA)
  • Rochester YC  (NY)
  • Royal Thames Yacht Club (UK)
  • Seattle YC  (WA)
  • Southern YC  (LA)
  • St. Francis YC  (CA)

 

 

 

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