pirate raft up - santa cruz yacht club...2018/12/11 · 2 december / january 2018-19 santa cruz...

December/January 2018-19Volume 90, Number 12

Pirate Raft Up The SCYC Cruising group ended the season with the popular ‘Pirate Raft Up” on the afternoon of Saturday October 27th. A big thanks to Don and Katie Radcliffe for skippering the raft up boat, Rideout. Con-ditions for the day were good. The afternoon was sunny with a gentle easterly breeze and a one to two foot swell. We rafted up on the east side of the wharf. Don and the Rideout crew did a great job getting every boat rafted up easily without any snags. Joining in the fun were the sailboats Toad (skippered by Dan Larson) , Aquavit (skippered by

Mike Hutchison), Rosie ( skippered by Joe Altmann), and Harmony (skippered by Rob Franks).Everyone who participated went out of their way to look very much like a pirate! The costumed crews were incredibly impressive. Katie Wohlstattar was accompanied by her octogenarian mother who was decked out as an adorable- looking pirate wench! Needless to say, the potluck offerings, as usual, were over the top. This group really knows how to eat well. Prizes were awarded to the most authentic pirate costumes:

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December / January 2018-19 Santa cruz yacht club Spinnaker Sheet

Winners were: “ The Red Pirate” from Aquavit, Matthew Coale from Harmony, Hannah from Aquavit and Katie Radcliffe from the Rideout. A big thank you to Dan and Nancy Larson and Dorris Welch for planning the event. Your efforts are most appreciated! Please mark your calendars for the upcoming 2019 planning potluck on Sunday January 20th at 6:30 pm.

Donna Franks

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Master Boat Builders Since 1973Custom Fabrication & Repairs: Structural & Cosmetic

Maintenance • Consultation & Problem SolvingSpecializing In: Race Bottoms • Fiberglass • Wood • Color Matching

831.818.0992 • [email protected] • Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard

495 Lake Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95062Mailing: P.O. Box 86, Santa Cruz, CA 95063

FromtheCommodore

How time flies. It seems like just the other day that I was installed as Commodore and in short order my term will be over and I will hand over the helm. I have truly enjoyed serving as your 2018 Commodore and want to thank everyone for their trust and support. Looking back over the year, there have been many highlights. The 90thAnniversaryCelebration party where we introduced the Staff Commodores that have guided the Club through the years, the MadeinSantaCruzRegatta which brought out the many boats that are still to this day, some 40 years later, actively competing on the Bay. Not to mention the enjoyable social events throughout the year of which I tried to at-tend as many as I could. When incoming Commodore, AshleyBasanese, takes the helm of the Club in Janu-ary, I am confident she will continue to lead the Club to another successful year. ThankS all our members who have supported the Club with their time and energy in organizing and attend-ing the many activities this year. I also want to thank those who have served on the Board of Directors and chaired the many committees. Special thanks to Greg, Jenniferand Samantha,who did an outstanding job this year. And Congratulations to the newly elected 2019 Board of Directors: AshleyBasanese, Commodore; Ja-sonLauer, Vice Commodore; TinaVerutti, Rear Com-modore; TomPostelwaite, Secretary; ScottWalecka, Treasurer; HomerLighthall, Director; JohnMizell , Director. As 2018 comes to a close, the New Year will soon be here and now is the time to volunteer for many of the 2019 committees that are being formed. If you’re interested, contact Ashley, Greg or myself and we’ll get you going. The final event of the year is the NewYear’sEveParty and Rear Commodore JasonLauer is plan-ning a fabulous event. This sells out quickly, so be sure to make your reservations now. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and see you at the 2019 Installation Dinner and Dance at the Dream Inn. See you at the Club or on the water,

Joe AltmannCommodore

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ViceCommodoreReport

I know the holidays are around the corner when the harbor starts to light up. This is truly my favorite time of year. The Lighted Boat Parade is my favorite event and a great way to kick off the holiday season. I am missing the beer can races already, but know they are coming back soon. I have learned so much this year about the club and appreciate more than ever how much it takes to keep our club up and running. The hard work and dedication we all have for this club is truly amazing.

As my time as Vice Commodore comes to an end, I am humbled to have gone out of my comfort zone and felt supported by so many. Even though I will be moving on from my of-ficial duties as Vice Commodore, remember, if you no-tice anything that needs attention please do not hesitate to email me at [email protected]

Ashley BasaneseVice Commodore

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Upcoming SCYC Events Calendar

Lighted Boat ParadeDecember 1

Santana 22 Team Racing / X-Mas PartyDecember 8

Junior Christmas PartyDecember 9

Midwinters #2December 15

Children’s Christmas PartyDecember 16

Club Closed for the HolidaysDecember 21 - 30

New Year’s Eve PartyDecember 31

Cruiser’s Potluck BrunchJanuary 1

Midwinters #3January 19

Installation Dinner / DanceJanuary 19

RearCommodore

Since our last spinnaker sheet we have had several events, such as our Pumpkin Carving Contest, our New Member Get Together and our Crab Feed Fundraiser for the Jack and Jill boat “Tara”!

The Pumpkin Carving contest was on a beau-tiful Saturday afternoon. We had awesome all you can eat tacos and some great pumpkin carving skills on display. Thanks Paul and Ashley Basanese for putting on this great event! On Saturday November 3rd was our New Member Meet and Greet. This was a great event, where we got to meet about 20 of our new members. I was very surprised and encouraged with how many of our longer standing members came out to meet them. Thanks DeSchuyler and CharlieRice for organizing this fun event. On Sunday November 18th we had our Thanksgiving potluck. Stefan Berlinski and Mary Lar-kin lead this event. It was a full house with very few leftovers…. Thanks to Stefan and Mary for putting on a great event! On Saturday November 26th we had another sold out crab feed!!! This was a fund raiser for the Jack and Jill boat. The crabs were huge and there were more than enough for everyone!!Thanks to (in no particular order) for helping put on a great event!! HomerLighthall,BarbaraBooth,RickLinkemyer,FredMolnar,MatthewCoale,StefanBerlinski,MaryLarkin,KristineNorth,AshleyBasanese,JoanGenovese,DanandNancyLarson,KellyNesheim Since this is the last spinnaker sheet of the year, I would like to do a year in review.

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In 2018 The Social Committee hosted or will host 25 events. These range from Potlucks, Wine or Beer tasting, Fun and Fancy sit down dinners, Crab and Lob-ster Feeds etc:

New Year’s Day Brunch, Social Planning Potluck, Wine Tasting, Crab Feed - Fund Raiser for Social Super Bowl Party, Valentine’s Day Dinner, Wine Tasting, Stout Tasting, Crab Feed - Fund Raiser for Corinthian, Easter Brunch & Easter Egg Hunt, Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day Brunch, Hoedown, 4th of July BBQ Party, Luau, Golf Tournament, BB/BS Corporate reception, County Fair/Amateur Wine Tasting, Lobster Feed / Social Fund-raiser, Pumpkin Carving Contest, New Member Get To-gether, Annual General Meeting, Thanksgiving Potluck, Crab Feed - Fund Raiser for Jack and Jill Boat We had 46 volunteers over the year, and I want to truly thank all of them for their great contributions to our so-cial events this year!!!:

HomerLighthall, JoanGenovese, Rob&DeSchuyler,

BarbaraBooth, RickLinkemyer, SteveSmardan, FredMolnar, DavidEmberson, MatthewCoale, JosephandSusanAltmann, MonicaHersch, JasonLauer, JimSkinner, StefanBerlinski, MaryLarkin, KristineNorth, TomPostlewaite,RickGreen, ChristinaShaw, Ashley&PaulBasanese, Dan&NancyLarson, Dan-ielMurphy, BeatriceEaster, MarilynDiola, KellyNesheim, AlanGemanis, RonaldSabbatis, SergeVer-riele, AllenMortonJr., ChrisLash, DominicMarietti, IngridAnderson, LoisVanBuren, Dana&ScottEd-strom, DeniseDiani, RobertDeWitt, BretGripenstraw, MarkLanger, DonSnyder, WalterOlivieri, CharlieRice and JackGordon

Thanks for a wonderful year so far!!!!

Jason Lauer

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RegattaReport

Sign-ups and turn out for the Midwinter Series have been excellent. Thirty of the Thirty One boats registered made it to the start line on a abso-lutely gorgeous day on November 17th. The wind cooperated by showing up with a nice 7-10 mph southwestern just before the start. The RC was ready to go with a course set up and boom we were off on a good test of sailing. Each fleet was treated to 3 good races and all crews seemed to be worn out by the end of the day after executing all the boat maneu-vering on the short buoy course set up. The bar was crowded after the race and we were treated to some tasty barbecue and snacks served up by one of the top barbecue chiefs at the club, Mike Gross. Lou Pambianco on Heartbeat leads A fleet after the first day of racing but Roller Coaster, and Animal also had a first in race to show after 3 races and the racing was tight. Robert Schuyler on Hanalei leads B Fleet with Sumo and M1 in hot pursuit. Paul Tara on Zoop, leads Sailing Pair A Dice and Tusiitala in the newly revived Main and Jib Fleet with ratings under 180. Ross Clark on Azor leads Shanman and Sandpiper in the smaller boat Main and Jib, but each boat there also has a bullet after the first day Syd Moore on Nobody’s Girl has a narrow lead over Penguin and Lowly Worm 2.0 the double handed division yet again. EACH OF THE TOP 3 BOATS HAVE A WIN. Do I sound like a broken record? ;-) We have lots of new boats in the fleet this year, and some boats and crews that have a lot of previous race experience but were shaking off the cobwebs. Midwinters seems to always take some extra preparation since courses and marks are slightly different than those we have been racing around for the entire year. Being a creature of habit can get in the way of success in Midwinters. One helpful key is to make sure at least one member of the crew has read the Sailing Instructions several times and has them committed to memory, then also has them close at handy if questions come up on the water. This is my last contribution to the Race Report after serving as Race Chair for the last two years. I just want to thank all of the over 100 volun-teers that help to pull off some fun regattas and really enjoyable times on the water.

It’s also been a great opportunity for me to learn a lot of new things. In particular I’d like to thank Charlie Roskosz and Mike Gross for their insights and mentoring on the Rules, Conducting Protests, and Race Management in General. I’d encourage other club members to enroll in the ses-sions that US Sailing provides on these topics. More info at https://www.ussailing.org/competition/rules-officiating/ In particular we need more club members going though the race management course and getting certified as a club race officer. See: https://www.us-sailing.org/competition/rules-officiating/race-officers/ Special thanks to all the Race Officers who stepped up to the challenge of writing SIs and con-ducted racing on the water, and all the RC crews that helped them for over 55 days that we had racing on the water. I’d also like to thank Barbara Booth and Fred Molnar for organizing two good Veeder Challenges and to the Elyxir and Animal for giving it a good shot. We are going to be back at this again, and find a way to bring the Veeder Cup back to SCYC! Beau Vorlyk and I also want to see the club build a good challeng-ing team to participate in the Lipton Cup at St. Francis and RYC in June of next year but we need a good organizing crew and some our best racers to step up

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for that. I’d also like to thank Gene Sofen, Matthew Coale, Don Radcliffe, for their long hours and large contributions in keeping our RC boats and marks in good shape and ready to go for every race day. I’d also like to thank Stefan Berlinski, Fred Molnar, Steve Smith and the many others who pitched in as needed for this critically important task. We can al-ways use more help and are looking for more people to take on larger roles in this area. The list goes on and I have too little space here to thank all the people who made the last two years rewarding for me. For all those I have missed I’ll try to thank you again with a drink at the bar when I see you next.

Chris Hofmann

Photograph courtesy Charlie Rice Thanksgiving

Membership

I bet you know someone who would like to join the club. Print out a membership application on line, sign it as a sponsor, and present it to that friend who is considering membership. Bring them to an event. Take them sailing. Your personal interest in the club is our best promotion.

De Schuyler & Charlie RiceMembership Committee

MembershipReport

Regular 431 Non-Resident 72Junior 103 Corinthian 76Life 4 Honorary 22 Total 706

GeorgeSikichAcceptsNewPosition

The California Yacht Brokers Association has announced that George Sikich, broker/owner of Kens-ington Yacht and Ship Brokers, has been elected to the Board of Directors for this statewide association. As a SCYC member, he is very honored and excited to rep-resent us all in this new position.

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“HolidayShopping”

S.C.Y.C. Hanging LockerMany Discounted Items.

Just ask!

Please ask the bartender, office staff or

one of our outstanding staff

2019WinterInformationalSeminarSeries

Join us for the 2019 Winter Informational Seminar Series (WISS) kick off January 9th at 7 PM (bar opens at 6:30) with SCYC member and ocean scientist Meredith McPherson discussing, and answer-ing questions about our local kelp beds in Santa Cruz.

Schedule:January 9th: Kelp: What is it, why is it here, what does it do? with Meredith McPherson January 16th: Safety at Sea: Review of Recent Incidents with Chuck Hawley January 23rd: Wine Tasting with Jack Gor-don (Style TBA) January 30th: 5-Years On The Great Loop with Don Connant February 6th: Beer Tasting with Fred Molnar (Style TBA) February 13th: Four Mutinies of Captain Bligh & Three Voyages of Cap-tain Cook with Lawrence Tartaglino February 20th: Wine Tasting with Jack Gordon (Style TBA) Febru-ary 27th: Bareboat Chartering in Foreign Countries with Lin Merelick March 6th: Sailing Rules of Rac-ing: Lecture and Q&A with Mike Gross March 13th: Wednesday Night BBQ & Sailing begins again!

Volunteers and speaker recommendations are wel-come; contact John Mizell

Backintheolddays…

This article is a reprint of an original article that I wrote for the Spinnaker sheet nearly a decade ago. In that time, I have retold this story several times and it always amazes me how history mostly ignored this event that occurred in our own backyard. My opinion is that people on the West Coast were so scared and concerned about a possible Japanese attack on our soil, that the press was encouraged to hold back from printing and publicizing events like this.

The sinking of the Montebello occurred just two days before Christmas and 16 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. I chose to reprint this article for the Dec./Jan. edition of Spinnaker Sheet because of its timeliness. Enjoy.

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Back in the old days the world went to war. Nearly eighty years ago on December 6, 1941, Russia mounted a counter attack on German forces trying to invade Moscow. Up until this point the United States was not at war. The next day, December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Fleet launched their infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. This led both Britain and the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare war against Japan on December 8, 1941.

Hitler declared war on the United States just a few days later. Most people who spent any time listening in history class already know these facts. However, many people do not realize that the Japanese Imperial Fleet successfully attacked the West Coast in the early 1940s by sinking several ships, damaging others with torpe-does, and by firing at land based targets. Several of these attacks occurred within 100 miles of Santa Cruz and the first aerial bombing of the Continental United States was executed in Oregon in September 1942. The closest attack, the sinking of a ship, oc-curred just off of our coast near Cambria. The ship, a Union Oil Company tanker named the SS Montebello, was built by the Southwestern Ship Company of San Pedro. First launched in 1921, she was 457 feet long and carried 38 crewmen aboard—she was the largest oil tanker of her day. Montebello carried 73,000 barrels of oil at the time of her sinking. The attack on Montebello took place on De-cember 23, 1941, two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Just a few hours after she left Port San Luis, heading north, about 4-6 miles offshore off of Cambria she was sunk by a Japanese submarine. Seventy seven

years later, she still rests upright on the bottom, in 900 feet of water, near the southern boundary of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary. Reports from December 23 state that the Mon-tebello left Port San Luis heavily loaded with crude oil at around 1:20 A.M. Just before dawn a lookout on the bridge, William Srez, spotted what appeared to be a sub-marine shadowing the large oil tanker. Newly appointed Captain Olaf Eckstrom ordered evasive maneuvers, but they were not successful and at 5:55 A.M. Montebello was struck by two torpedoes amidships. One was a dud and the other reportedly exploded above the oil tanks which proved to be a blessing for the crew as her crude oil did not ignite. Under the cool, calm direction of Captain Eck-strom, the crew of 38 men calmly lowered the life boats into the water with orders to stand by in case the ship did not sink. The Japanese submarine surfaced and fired at the men in the lifeboats, hitting only the boat that contained Captain Eckstrom. No one was shot, but Eckstrom’s lifeboat started leaking “like a sieve” and the crew struggled to keep her afloat until they could reach shore several hours later. According to the crew, Montebello sank bow first just after sunrise, her stern rising 150 feet into the air. The 38-man crew, in four life boats, rowed towards shore with all hands surviving. The seas were big and all of the life boats struggled in the rough surf. Later in the day the same Japanese submarine, identified later as I-21 shelled and damaged the American tanker, Idaho, near the same location as the sinking of Montebello. The B1 Type submarine that attacked Montebello was one of 20 submarines in this class. They were built in Kobe, Japan at the Kawasaki shipyard and I-21 was launched on February 24, 1940. This submarine was a formidable weapon, carrying 94 officers and men, 17 tor-pedoes launched from six torpedo tubes and a 50 caliber machine gun. She was considerably longer than a foot-ball field at 356 feet. Interestingly, she also carried, in a

This undated photo shows the SS Montebello from the air. She was built in San Pedro, Ca. in 1921 and was the largest oil tanker in the world at the time of her sinking off the coast of Cambria, CA. on December 23, 1941.

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water tight hanger on deck, a foldable sea plane that could be launched by a catapult. Commander Matsumura Kenji was given command of I-21 on October 31, 1941. His first as-signment was to provide lookout support ahead of the Japanese Carrier Strike Force steaming towards Hawaii. A week after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Kenji and several other Japanese subs were reassigned to patrol the West Coast of the United States with orders to attack any commercial or military ship traffic they came across. The day after the sinking of Montebel-lo, luck almost ran out for Commander Kenji. Kenji reported that a small Coast Guard patrol boat spotted them at periscope depth. In a well-executed attack with only two depth charges launched, I-21’s vertical rudder and all her lights were knocked out. Com-mander Kenji gave the order to surface to fight it out, but her engineers restored the steering and the lights at the last minute so I-21 could escape by diving. Commander Kenji was reassigned to wreak havoc on shipping in Australia and I-21 went on to be-come one of the most successful Japanese submarines to operate in Australian waters. She participated in the attack on Sidney Harbor in 1942, and she was respon-sible for the sinking of 44,000 tons of Allied shipping during her two deployments off the East Coast of Australia. Submarines were dangerous, and the days of Japanese submariners in WWII were numbered. I-21 disappeared and was never sighted again following a final report made on November 27, 1943 near the Gilbert Islands.

Submarine attacks during WWII along the West Coast were surprisingly numerous, yet they have been mostly ignored by history.

Another Japanese submarine identified as I-17 under the command of Commander Nishino Kozo, shelled an oil field 12 miles north of Santa Barbara in February 1942. Kozo knew the coast and this target be-cause before the war he was the skipper of an oil tanker that had refueled there. With 15-20 shells fired from a mile offshore the attack did only minor damage to the pier and damaged a pump house at the Ellwood facilty. One shell missed its target by three miles, landing unex-ploded at a ranch several miles inland. The old-timers in Cambria report that part of Commander Kenji’s (I-21) mission was to create massive forest fires by dropping incendiary bombs in our forests from the submarine’s deck mounted seaplane. That part of her mission, if it is true, was never carried out. However, another Japanese B1 Type submarine, identified as I-25 did drop two incendiary bombs in a forest in Oregon on September 9, 1942. That subma-rine crew managed to successfully launch their seaplane which dropped two, 186-pound incendiary bombs over Oregon forest land—the first time the continental United States was bombed from the air.

The goal of the attack was to trigger wildfires across the West Coast, but light winds, wet weather conditions and two quick-acting fire lookouts spoiled the Japanese plan. A month later on October 5, 1942,I-25 did go on to successfully sink the Richfield oil tanker, Larry Doheny, off the Oregon coast. Six crew members perished, with the survivors reaching shore at Port Orford the next day. All 66,000 barrels of oil were lost along with the ship. (Author’s Note: I hope you enjoyed the histori-cal lesson in this piece as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. My interest began years ago in Cambria where there is an 18-foot oar from one of Montebello’s four life boats on display at the Cambria Historical Society’s museum. It was collected by then 14 year old, Frank Goodall, who witnessed one of the life boats coming ashore. Frank donated the oar to the museum shortly before he died. If anyone is interested in dig-ging deeper into the human interest aspect of this story, Frank’s story appears in his own words on the Cambria Historical Society web site at: www.cambriahistoricalso-ciety.com/history_montebello.html.)

Niels KislingSCYC Member

The headline is clear on the front page of the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune from December 1941. Seventy seven years later, this headline is inappropriate because the word “Jap” is not acceptable in our society today.

pirate raft up - santa cruz yacht club...2018/12/11 · 2 december / january 2018-19 santa cruz...

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