season champs, pt. I

SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART I

It's that time of year for our Season Champions articles, where we profile the winners of the Bay's various racing disciplines. This year, we're changing up the customary order and giving the winners from the Ocean Yacht Racing Association (OYRA) and the Singlehanded Sailing Society (SSS) first crack at their laurels.

OYRA is holding steady according to President Andy Newell (who also happened to win PHRO 3). He pointed out some positives, like the fact that in the last four years, the number of race starts among the boats has held steady at about 260 over the course of the season. This year, the fleet averaged about 29 boats per race out of 48 entries — without counting the single-race participants, who don't qualify for the season. With '12 being a Pacific Cup year, Newell said that OYRA has worked closely with the Pacific Cup YC and SSS to make sure they're not stepping on each other's toes and creating unnecessary scheduling conflicts. Additionally they're looking at front-loading the schedule to provide training opportunities to the Pac Cup fleet in the hopes of boosting participation. These areas of focus were brought about in part by the results of a survey that OYRA sent out to the sailors, asking for their feeling about the season. "We had 66% say they were either 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied,' and only 27% said they were 'very dissatisfied' with the season as whole," he said. "A total of 78% liked the 9-race, 1-throwout series, and 40% of the boats are thinking about doing the Pacific Cup. We've got everybody on all parts of the spectrum; we try to keep most of the sailors happy, most of the time, and that's as good as we can do."

One particular issue that came up in multiple responses was the division breakdowns. "We pre-defined the divisions, and that backfired," Newell said. "We're going to try to put the human touch back in and deal with the boats right near the borders of the light/heavy displacement break so we can have tighter rating bands."

Courses are also up for evaluation, with the fact that five of the nine races go around the Lightbucket and back, creating a bit of a rut. To all of these ends, OYRA is welcoming feedback from both existing and potential racers, so make sure you're heard if you have something to contribute.

The SSS keeps going from strength to strength with its wellrun schedule of shorthanded races like the Three Bridge Fiasco, which has drawn record-breaking fleets for the last few years. Appealing to those who appreciate the challenge of sailing by themselves or maybe one other person, the Society's events have grown so popular that being a volunteer official for the organization is more like a full-time job. That fact isn't lost on SSS Singlehanded winner Bob Johnston, a former Singlehanded TransPac co-chair. "We have a phenomenal group doing Race Committee," he said. "There are always a lot of people that do a lot of work for SSS, but the buck always stops with them. Jonathan Gutoff and Christine Weaver have done a phenomenal job. At the finish of the Vallejo 1-2 Sunday, Jonathan was on the Richmond YC platform radioing the finishes up to Christine at the club, and the results went up in what seemed like an impossibly short period of time. It reminded me of how hard they've been working during their two-year term."

You may have noticed that some of the customary fleets are missing from this month's edition. Rest assured that no one is getting skipped. Our apologies in advance to those division winners who neither appear here nor make it into next month's overflow reports. We base our choices largely on the number of total races sailed within the divisions. We hope you enjoy meeting these ardent racers as much as we have!

ERIK SIMONSON/ WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM

ERIK SIMONSON/ WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM

ERIK SIMONSON/ WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM ERIK SIMONSON/ WWW.H2OSHOTS.COM

Clockwise from spread — an OYRA race aboard 'Criminal Mischief' was enough to get Bill Lee on the water in what's become an increasingly rare occurrence for 'The Wizard'; Andy Newell's 'Ahi'; a parade back in from the Lightbucket; 'Always Friday' en route to another season win; 'Can O' Whoopass' putting the smack down; SSS races always find a wide variety of boats duking it out for honors.

LATITUDE/ROB

LATITUDE/ROB

SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART I

OYRA PHRO 1A Criminal Mischief R/P 45

LATITUDE/ROB

Chip Megeath Corinthian YC

In the last five years, Chip Megeath and his crew on Criminal Mischief have accrued an enviable record of division wins and runner-up finishes in Cabo and Hawaii Races, while using the OYRA schedule as a tune-up. But '11 marked the first year that Megeath and project manager/navigator Jeff Thorpe managed to pull off a season win in PHRO 1A.

It wasn't easy, and it wasn't settled until the final race of the season. Both Criminal Mischief and the eventual runner up, Bill Helvestine's SC 50 Deception did TransPac this year, thus missing the middle of the season. Going into Lightship #2, Deception held a one-point lead. In that final race, the Criminals corrected out by about 1.5 minutes to take the title on a countback.

With the right conditions, Megeath's fully-sorted speedster is capable of putting up some impressive numbers: the boat finished the Duxship race with an average speed of 10 knots over the 40mile course, much of which was spent beating and white-sail reaching!

Having one of the coolest toys out there means very little if you never play in your own sandbox. That Megeath — a retired investment banker — made a commitment to sail at home is also commendable, and a rarity among the Bay's few grand prix programs. He's already thinking about next year to boot! "We'll start looking at the program again soon," he said. "There's always a lot to figure out before you commit."

OYRA PHRO 1 Always Friday Antrim 27

LATITUDE/ARCHIVES

John Liebenberg Richmond YC

Earlier this year, John Liebenberg was on the verge of selling Always Friday. But when the deal fell through he decided to hang on to the boat for the season, and the result was a convincing win in PHRO 1 on the strength of six bullets in the nine-race series.

The retired mechanical engineer has been sailing offshore since 1966, back in the days of MORA. Since then, he's racked up too many honors to count, sailing on everything from an Islander Bahama to an Express 27 and now the Antrim, which he's had since the late 90s, and is a play on the name of the Express, which was hull #13, and bore the name Friday. But he said that experience alone doesn't account for Always Friday's success. "Good crew work is the key to sailing a boat like this," he said. "It's so sensitive when the wind is up that you have to be on your 'A' game to keep it working."

Delivering that 'A' game was a cast of regulars including John Pytlak, Bryan Wade, Skip Shapiro, Christine Neville, Dan Morris and Andy Biddle, who no doubt also benefitted from their skipper's prodigious experience. "I've sailed in the ocean enough that I go the right way often," Liebenberg said.

With an eye to returning to one design racing, Leibenberg is considering getting back into an Express 27. "With only seven Antrims on the Bay, and differing ideas on what events to sail with them, the reality is that one design isn't going to exist," he said.

OYRA PHRO 2 Can O' Whoopass Cal 20

Richard vonEhrenkrook San Francisco YC

Richard vonEhrenkrook has put together an enviable race record during the past few years, scoring wins in just about every arena that will accept his Cal 20 Can O' Whoopass.

In OYRA PHRO 3, he and long time crew Paul Sutchek (at left, above) are usually doing it by themselves, given that they're often racing against much bigger boats that horizon them on elapsed time in most cases. "We get five minutes to make a statement," vonEhrenkrook, a Sonoma County-based woodworker said of their starts. "Then you don't see anyone for six hours, or sometimes not even at all!"

Be that as it may, "The Can," as it's known, gets sailed hard by the duo, who among other things took the overall doublehanded honors in the SSS's Corinthian Race this year. Although vonEhrenkrook — who by himself won the SSS's Vallejo 1 — said he wouldn't mind going a little larger, he's happy with the venerable Bill Lapworth design. "It's a tough little boat," he said. "I'd love to rock a Farr 30 or get into a Hobie 33, but it fits my lifestyle."

A big fan of one design racing who started racing in Hobie 16s and the nowdefunct Small Yacht Racing Association, he's trying to drum up interest for the Cal 20s to do the Berkeley YC mids this season, with spinnakers — "Lapworth had that right." He said they'll also put up a trophy for people want to come out, but aren't up for sailing with kites.

OYRA PHRO 3 Ahi Santana 35

Andy Newell Berkeley YC

As OYRA president, it's only fitting that Andy Newell should be out there leading the charge at each event in the season. According to the Berkeley YCbased sailor, that was the key to winning PHRO 3 with his Santana 35 Ahi. "The guys who come to the top are the guys who make most of the races and finish in the top three," he said. "If you only sail three events, you're not going to be at the top at the end, even if you happen to win them all."

Newell started his program with Ahi last year having brought with him a large crew pool from his previous boat, the Farr 36 Petard. "We had 18 people rotating in throughout the course of the season," he said. "I've sailed with some going back 20 years, and quite a few at least five or six. No one wants to race on my boat the entire season. People want to do other sailing, and having that many people is how we get to race 40 days a year."

Newell, an ice cream vendor, and his crew nevertheless had to work for the season win. "The season was up for grabs in the last race between us and Maggie, and they're a Berkeley YC boat," he said. "We were covering each other the entire time and it was great because when we got back to the club we hung out and rehashed the whole thing."

Newell added that "the biggest contribution to winning was that Jim Quanci and Green Buffalo stayed home!"

SSS Doublehanded Max Ultimate 24

WWW.NORCALSAILING.COM

Bryan Wade SSS

Bryan Wade went into the final event of the SSS season, the Vallejo 1-2, knowing he had a good scoreline behind him, but no knowledge of where he actually stood. "I wasn't watching the season standings," he said. "But a friend came over and said, 'Hey, you know you're ahead of Gordie right?' That really put the pressure on!"

The "Gordie" his friend was referring to was, of course, Gordie Nash and Ruth Suzuki, previous SSS doublehanded champions who are always a threat on the race course. But Wade didn't let the pressure get to him, and closed out the season to win by a seven-point margin with the help of two crew, Mike Holden and John Pytlak. "Having good crew that both really know the boat was the key," he said. "We have a lot of fun together and just sailed the boat consistently well."

Wade, Holden and Pytlak put up some impressive finishes, with top fives in the Corinthian Race, the Half Moon Bay Race and Richmond-South Beach, the last two in trying conditions.

This was the first full SSS season for Wade with Max, which followed a short stint with a Mini 6.50 and Antrim 27 that he raced in one design back when there were enough boats to regularly field a class. "I downsized because of kids," he said laughing. "The Mini required a lot of work — and money — just to set up, and there wasn't enough competition around at that time. I wanted something that was more kid-friendly when they get to the age when they're ready to start."

SSS Singlehanded Ragtime! J/92

WWW.NORCALSAILING.COM

Bob Johnston SSS

The race for the singlehanded season championship in SSS this year was a lot tighter than the numbers suggest, and the race for the honors began in one of the most trying races of this season, the LongPac. After a light air battle to get off the coast, the race turned into a breezy, bumpy ride that only four boats — all singlehanded — finished. Season winner Bob Johnston took the win, with Dave Morris of the Wylie 31 Moonshadow coming in second and setting the stage for a battle that would last up until the singlehanded leg of the Vallejo 1-2, the final event of the season. "I typically do better in the Vallejo 1-2 than the Richmond-South Beach Race," Johnston said. "It turned out it was the other way around, and on the way up to Vallejo, I struggled, but did well enough to stay close to Dave."

Johnston, a CPA, grew up sailing in the East Bay starting at the Berkeley Aquatic Park and Lake Merritt before moving down to the Estuary and joining the Island YC's junior program when the club was brand new. He then graduated on to bigger boats throughout a 42-year racing career with this season bringing his first overall win after nine years of trying. In that time he's also notched a fourth and third overall in the Singlehanded TransPac. "This is the finest group of people to sail with that I can imagine," he said. "It was a privilege to have a great season against such a great bunch of sailors."