Association – Coronado15

Frank Butler regatta – Westlake Reunion

On September 4, a special event took place at Westlake YC, with great significance for the Coronado15 association. On the occasion of the Frank Butler regatta, old timers sailed together. Below, the story as told by Ole Eichorn

This particular group first met about 40 years ago, before and as the Westlake Yacht Club was being founded.

Jim Holder founded the Westlake Junior Sailing program and started the sailing on Westlake with the launching of the first and only for‘some time, sail boat on the lake. WLYC began as the Westlake Sailing Association, a motley group of kids and parents who sailed on the lake back when it was being built and in the early days of being settled. Jim Holder was a founding member of WLYC. After WLYC was formed, we started the tradition of having summer sailing camps for kids which continues to this day, and all of us sailed in those camps and got to know each other. Many of us formed lifelong friendships which persist to this day, despite the fact that most have left the area (I am the only WLYC member left).

We all began sailing in Sabots – at first, “Westward” sabots, and then later “Sidney” sabots – and moved up to Banshees (!), Cyclones (!), Lasers, Lidos, and of course C-15s. In the group pictured below there are quite a few C-15 champions represented.

Don Long and I first thought of the idea for this regatta two years ago when sailing together at the C-15 Nationals in Marina del Rey. We realized that the WLYC Labor Day regatta – which was renamed a few years ago to the Frank Butler Regatta – would be perfect, and started making plans. Fourteen sailors showed up, along with their families, friends, and significant others, and we had a great BBQ Sunday night, and of course the round-robin Reunion Regatta on Monday.LtoR: Elsie Elliot (Mark Elliot’s Mom and Allan Elliot’s wife), Mark Elliot, Peter Drasnin, Mark Bratton, Ole Eichhorn, Don Long, Frank Butler (!), Jim Shaw, Brad Herman, Glen Uslan, Allan Linnemeyer, Jim Biram, Jason Vandenberg, Dave Carney, and Iva Holder (Jim Holder’s ex-wife). Jim Holder attended and sailed but is not in this picture.

Ole Eichorn
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As luck would have it, I was just given by Joe O’Reilly from Long Beach a set of association archives going back to the early days of the C15 (1968 and on) where I stumbled upon this 1976 picture of Frank Butler and Peter Drasnin then…and now.What a special event it was.

Vincent Paternoster

Thanks to HMBYC

2017 Coronado 15 North American Championship Regatta a Big Success – Thanks!

On behalf of the Coronado 15 National Association and the regatta competitors, I’d like to extend our appreciation and thanks to the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club for hosting this regatta and, also, to its fantastic volunteers for making this 50th Anniversary 2017 North American Championship Regatta such a big success. Especially, I’d like to thank: Mike Day and his NAC Regatta Committee (Lucy Gillies, Connie Malach, Scott Pyne, John Powell, Charlie Quest and Joe Rockmore) for all their hard work, which started well over nine months ago; Sylvia Teng for creating the C15 logo used on the mugs, T-shirts and awards; Lucy Gillies for researching and obtaining the awards and swag; Charlie Quest for providing C15s for out of town competitors, and his “Kaisen” as the RC boat; Lisa Fernandez for keeping track of all the competition and meal registrations. Also, a big thank you to the NAC Race Committee for running four days of racing in an efficient and timely manner. Kelly Pike deserves special kudos for making sure that the marks and safety boats were prepared and checked out well in advance of the racing, ensuring that there were no last minute issues. A special thank you to Chef Denise de Somer, for creating and organizing such great meals and for keeping us well fed. And, a big thank you to all those involved that I didn’t mention here, but should have; we couldn’t have done this without you.

Thank you HMBYC,

John P. Eurich
2016-2017 Coronado 15 National Association Commodore