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