Coronado15

By Kent and Bonnie Arndt

A few days before this year’s Londerville Cup Regatta, Kelly Pike began to send out daily emails to the HalfMoon Bay Yacht Club Sailing Committee and Keel Boat Sponsors with the latest weather predictions for race day. The final report on Friday read: Wind speed prediction for Saturday is back up slightly to NW 11-15mph and warmer (51-54F). Friday will be light and possible showers. The front passing through Friday night accompanied by a few lingering showers and NW winds. Game on sailors! His forecast turned out to be spot-on. A fantastic day of thrills, chills, and (for some) spills was in store! Thrills.

Gemma McCluney, age 9, wet-suited up early to crew for her dad Richard aboard their C15, and got a wild ride she will not soon forget as the winds gusted across the harbor. Another young new club member, John Sorfleet, teamed up with John Powell on his C15 to brave the challenging conditions and sail in the races. Three intrepid and skilled Laser sailors came from out-of-town to make up the Laser fleet. The remaining Cal 20 and C15 fleets this year were all HMBYC boats. Overall the boats were sailed quite well, with great determination by skippers and crews to win. Many races in all fleets came down to just inches separating the competitors at the finish line! The game was on indeed! Chills. Everyone who participated in the regatta got wet. Some went swimming after capsizing. They got “salty” wet. Everyone else got “fresh water” wet from the passing rains that created a mist over the water making it difficult at times to see the next buoy on the course. Even though you were sure to get cold and wet, everyone had fun. After all, isn’t that what winter sailing is all about? Spills. Lucy and Hunter Gillies ended up breaking both port and starboard shrouds on their C15 on their way out to the start line! It’s a wonder the mast did not break in two pieces. Lucy went back out sailing in Richard McCluney’s boat after the lunch break. Ofer and Howard capsized their C15 and then turtled the boat. After that they got their mast stuck in the muddy bottom of the Pillar Point Harbor. Fortunately a stand-up-paddle boarder in the area stopped by and helped them get their boat upright and sailing, and they returned to the club tired, cold, and very wet. Someone else saw them with the boat upside-down and radioed the Coast Guard. The USCG in turn contacted the 911 dispatch and sent the Police and an Ambulance to the club to attend to the “victims”! What’s the big deal? We’re OK! And so the memories and stories of the day’s events will live long and strong. Can’t wait to do it again next year!

Regatta Results: (7 boats, 4 races sailed, 1 throw-out) 1st : Kent Arndt/Bernie Forde, 3 pts. 2nd: Charlie Quest/Andrew Quest, 5 pts. 3rd: Rick Winans/Ron Karp, 11 pts. 4th: John Powell/Jon Sorfleet, 12 pts. 5th: Richard McCluney/Gemma McCluney, 14 pts. 6th : Lucy Gillies/Hunter Gillies, 24 pts. 7th: Ofer Amir/Howard Weis, 24 pts.

By Kent & Bonnie Arndt

Six Coronado 15s participated in the Small Boat Midwinter Racing Series hosted by the Richmond Yacht Club, located in Richmond, CA. The Half Moon Bay Yacht Club had four skippers in attendance (Patrick Melley, Charlie Quest, Lucy Gillies, and Adam Quest), and the balance of the fleet was represented by Connor Vance from the Lake Washington Sailing Club (Sacramento, CA) and Seamus Vanecko from the Cal Berkley Sailing Club. The C15 fleet raced in the February and March regattas, and managed to complete a total of 5 races. This year’s midwinter racing in the San Francisco Bay area has been plagued by light winds, forcing some local SF Bay Area Yacht Clubs to cancel their races. February’s pair of races were held in very light winds, while the three races completed in the March regatta benefited from a mid-day breeze that built to about 10 knots by the afternoon. This regatta series has become very popular with small boat racers from all over California and Nevada. This year there were a grand total of 309 boats entered including Opti’s, Lasers, El Toros, 29ers, 505s, Snipes, Bytes, Daysailors, Thistles, various multi-hulls, Ultimate 20s, Wylie Wabbits, and so on. Three separate racing areas were used simultaneously to accommodate all of these fleets. This group of C15 racers was very impressed with the warm hospitality shown by the Richmond Yacht Club, and the well organized racing out on the water. Plans are already in the works to have an even bigger turn-out of local C15s for next years RYC midwinter series which begins the first Sunday in December, 2012. For more race info and complete results go to www.richmondyc.org Hope to see you there in December! Congratulations to skipper Patrick Melley from HMBYC for winning the C15 fleet midwinter series in style with 5 “bullets” (all “firsts” in each race). Race results: 1st – Patrick Melley, 2nd – Lucy Gillies, 3rd – Charlie Quest, 4th – Adam Quest, 5th – Connor Vance, 6th – Seamus Vanecko

The midwinters took place under clear skies, light breeze and mild temperatures. At the last minute we were able to find a crew (Jessica) for Karyn, who made it to the start lin about 40 seconds before the gun of the first race: way to go!

There were 5 boats that made it – all from fleet 2 in Marina del Rey.

Rank	SailNo	HelmName	CrewName	Club
1st	3744	Vincent Paternoster	Jim Ach	South Coast Corinthian YC
2nd	3067	John Richardson	Vadim Mantelzak	SBYRC
3rd	3700	Nick sampson	Noah Farrell	South Coast Corinthian YC
4th	2579	Christopher Hill	Nathan Large	CSULB Sailing Association
5th	3658	Karyn Jones	Jessica	South Coast Corinthian YC

Check the entire album

This winter started like summer in Southern California. I should say – even better than summer as the temperatures are mild and we have no overcast.

Aside from the first regatta in January (Champagne Series) which started in 30kts wind – the racing was canceled but just about everyone got a chance to swim, even Barrett Sprout – we have been very lucky to encounter perfect weather coupled with light winds and beautiful sunsets.

The real first meet this year was the Super Bowl regatta organized by the Santa Monica Windjammers YC as a charity event for the benefit of the Wellness Community a cancer patient support organization. We had 9 boats present – teh same number of participants as our 2011 North American Championship in Halfmoon Bay, CA! It was hard to believe.

Scott Tobin who had been absent from racing last year due to an injury was on the water with wife Becky. John Richardson with tactician Mark Brazil worked hard and sailed fast but lost the tie with Scott who had a bullet.

Vincent placed third tied with Wil Paul. But most remarkable was the effort put forth by the new boats that are now competing. Three new boats are now in the Marina del Rey waters including sail no. 3700 – the 2011 champ boat.

We are very excited indeed by the great showing for this first big event of the year. The small boat program at SMWYC has been energized and we will be working together to bring a second boat from that club in the fleet.

What a way to kick off the year! For results see SMWYC superbowl results page (Broken link 🙁 )

http://www.smwyc.org/pdf/SuperbowlRegatta2012ResultsRev.pdf

By Vincent Paternoster

As I write this article, 2011 is drawing to a close, the morning frost turns the brown hills to a faint white and we get a chance to think about the great sailing season that ended.( Yes, even in SoCal, the mornings can be surprisingly cold as soon as you step over the hills away from the ocean!).
The year opened up with the launch of the new web site for Coronado15.org. The sailing season started quickly with the super bowl regatta hosted by the Santa Monica Windjammers YC. But when May arrived, we had the Sunstroke series which races in the Marina Del Rey channel every Thursday night. This year was very well attended as we had a few nights with 5 to 6 boats, but most nights had 3-4 C15, which was significantly better than years past. The sponsorship from DISC the local sports medicine clinic and the steady hand of Bruce Fleck as our regular PRO, greatly contributed to that success. But there is more to it than that!

Starting with the 2010 NAC that took place in Marina del Rey, I placed a few phone calls to the Long Beach sailors to spark their interest. That is when I came across a boat that was for sale. Concerned that this boat might be snatched by Charlie Quest to add to the Half Moon Bay C15 armada, I decided to buy the boat and sweet talk my son Tom to sail it with his friend Joe. Not only did they have fun racing for three days, they managed with zero practice to beat me by one point overall. That was a humbling moment, but also the sign of good days ahead with the increased participation from SCCYC boats.
This boat through 2011 played the role of a club boat by letting various interested parties race it and discover its unassuming qualities: performance, ease of handling and fun. When 2011 started, the Marina Del Rey fleet was fairly spread out and the competition rather minimal. It was fun but it started getting even more fun when, in the course of the season, the fleet started coming together with close finishes. The Thursday night dinners following the races were a great display of the growing camaraderie in the fleet.
By far, the most improved sailor of 2011 is John Richardson.. John got a chance to spend more time at the tiller and gained a lot of confidence. Now, with encouragements from his crew Mark Brazil, John is looking at the boats behind him, not in front anymore.  As a matter of fact, during the Turkey day regatta at ABYC, John was consistently faster and I could not seem to be able to keep in front of him. During the last downwind leg for the day, while I was slightly ahead, John was able to creep up on me and eventually pass me. Then to regain control, I attempted to get him to foul me, but in so doing, as I was asking for room from my leeward position, I ended up tangling my whisker pole on his boom. As my crew Vadim jumped to untangle the boats, our boat immediately flipped before I could do anything. We had a good laugh, which naturally cost us the race but we were wet and cold!
With so many chances to sail in 2011, my second boat exposed many people to the C15 and the local fleet. Three club members have decided to buy a C15:. Karyn Jones, our 2012 SCCYC commodore bought my second boat, Nick Sampson bought the 2011 champion boat from Dave Rumbaugh, and Noah Farrell bought another C15. We are also seeing interest from SMWYC with 2 additional C15s that may race during the summer.
The 2012 NAC will again take place in Marina Del Rey at SCCYC during the One Design weekend (July 20-22). We are hoping that by the summer the Marina Del Rey fleet will be quite competitive and entice our friends from around the state and beyond to join us for 3 days of great racing on the ocean.
Keep an eye on the web site for up to date information. See you on the water!

This article appeared in Mainsheet magazine