Sailing

I was granted an interview this week with Craig Thompson, chief executive of the America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA), which is overseeing the 34th America's Cup, to be sailed in San Francisco Bay in August 2013. Thompson, a Newport Beach resident, was born in Pasadena in 1949. He has worked his way up the sports marketing ladder. He was director of volleyball for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and launched the first World Beach Volleyball championships in Rio de Janeiro in 1986.

Former UCI All-American sailor Nick Scandone, who drew a wave of local support before heading off to the Paralympic Games in China, clinched a gold medal in sailing Friday. Scandone, who has Lou Gehrig’s Disease, secured the medal in the SKUD-18 sailing class. He and his sailing partner, Maureen McKinnon-Tucker of Marblehead, Mass., won a pair of races Friday and plan to compete in two more today, even though they’ve already clinched the title. “He and Maureen have done, really, the model campaign and worked really hard and have worked very well together,” said Dean Brenner, the chairman of the U.S. Olympic sailing program.

It was a nearly perfect day at the Balboa Bay beach Monday. Lots of sun, but not too hot. The wind stirred a bit, but not too much. The nearly two dozen 5- to 8-year-old kids at the beach, though, weren’t thinking about sandcastles and boogie boards. They had their attention solidly directed at their sailing teacher. That’s important because these kids will soon put their lessons to practical use. “Some of the kids haven’t even been in kindergarten yet,” said sailing instructor Ashley Heptig.

MIAMI - Newport Harbor Yacht Club members Philip Stemler and Whitney Loufek took first place at the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta Dec. 26-30. Stemler (Corona del Mar High) and Loufek (Newport Harbor) placed first in the 61-boat regatta and competed in the Club 420 class. Club 420 is a two-man high performance dingy used nationally for junior championship events. Other locals who participated in the race include Justin Law, Kelsey Cochran, Ryan Marshall, all from Newport Harbor, as well as CdM's Adrian Patterson.

Paul Clinton NEWPORT BEACH -- After three days of intense sailing, 15-year-old Zachary Brown of San Diego crossed the finish line of the 11th race to win the Balboa National Pram Championship in Newport Harbor. The event, which ended Saturday, is a competition of the top young sailers in the nation between the ages of 11 and 15. Charlie Buckingham, a 12-year-old from Newport Beach, finished second to Brown. Parker Shinn, 14, of San Diego finished third.

The Daily Pilot asked participants in the Sailing on the Bay Camp: "What's the most fun part of learning to sail?" "That would be capsizing. We get to do drills." Michael Davis, 13, Newport Beach. "My favorite part is going out with a teacher and learning the tacking." Makenna Zur Schmiede, 10, Laguna Beach. "My favorite part is when we do the capsizing drills." Zoe Friedenrich, 10, Laguna Beach. "The most fun part would probably be tacking when the wind is really strong."

Jeff Benson Thirty-five kids sat in groups of three aboard 14-foot Lido dinghies Thursday. The kids were being exceptionally patient at the time, but their teachers suspected that if the wind didn't start blowing soon, they might start getting jumpy. Instructor Colleen Harber said kids need to move around about as much as sailboats need wind. Instead, the kids and their sailing instructors reached a compromise. A larger boat would tow them to Lido Island, where they'd swim around and play for a while in hopes that the Newport breeze would bring them back.

o7The Daily Pilot went to Orange Coast College's School of Sailing and Seamanship and asked campers, "How do you stop a sailboat?" f7 "You have to turn the bow hard away from the wind." CESAR GARCIA, 17 Costa Mesa "When sailing, and you see another boat, you have to watch your fingers and turn right, or you can let your sail out." JAVIER ARANDA, 16 Costa Mesa "Sometimes we do doughnuts to stall time [while] waiting for our turn to dock, but we turned too sharp and almost capsized."

It's finally here. Opening day for summer classes start today at Newport Sea Base in Newport Beach. Classes are geared for kids ages 6 to 11. With everything from sailing to fishing to first aid, they are sure to find a class that interests them. Newport Sea Base is a popular summer spot for kids, hosting about 200 of them per week, Berkeley Green, the base's program director, said. "We have 22 different classes, and they run Monday through Friday," Green said. All the classes are one-week sessions, excluding the sailing course, which runs for two weeks.

Nick Scandone always loved sailing. But when he was diagnosed in 2002 with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which is a terminal and degenerative, his hobby took on an even greater meaning. “The reality of it is the only time I feel normal is when I’m out on the water,” Scandone said. “Because on land I have a lot of limitations, but out on the water I’m just like any able-bodied person.” “It’s giving him a reason to live so he can reach his goal,” his coach, Mike Pinckney, said.

Are you ready to rumble? The attention signal has been sounded for the 2012 sailing season. That's right, it's time to pick up the Assn. of Orange Coast Yacht Clubs (AOCYC) 2012 racing calendar and start marking down which events you plan on sailing in this year. I would like to give a shoutout to the people in our harbor who are managing our winter races. If you are like me and say "I do not sail in the rain," you have to give these people a big thank you for doing race committee work, because no matter what the weather is like, they cannot call in sick.

At the end of this month, I will be announcing Newport Harbor's 20 most interesting boats. While I was gathering information for this year's story I thought it would be fun to do a story on the harbor's two most interesting sailors this year. Limiting this list to two people was not easy, but the more I thought about it, the easier it became. The two sailors who grabbed my attention this year are Jack Cannon and Christian Rosene. Jack, 87, started racing Cal 20s in Newport Beach in 1962, and over the last 50 years, he has consistently remained active.

No matter how much I try to ignore it, fall is here and the 2011 sailing season is winding down. That means it's time for Newport Harbor's yacht club award banquets. For me, the award nights are like the start of the holidays with all of your friends attending and remembering all the up and downs you had over the boating season. It also gives you time to start talking about what you have planned for next year. Who knows? If you see your favorite competitor make his way to the awards' platform for the third time, you might just find the money for that new bottom you have been thinking about.

The Newport Harbor High School and Corona del Mar High School sailing teams continued their dominance in the Pacific Coast Interscholastic Sailing Assn. (PCISA) on Saturday and Sunday by taking second through fifth place at the PCISA All-Girls Invitational Regatta at the San Diego Yacht Club. Thirteen high school girl teams from the San Francisco Bay Area to the San Diego area competed in the regatta in the San Diego Bay and off Shelter Island. There were two days of racing with a total of 18 races combined with the A and B divisions.

NEWPORT BEACH — From their perch on a buoy bobbing by the entrance to Newport Harbor, a party of California sea lions welcomed the Irving Johnson with a cacophony of honks. On Monday's voyage up the Orange Coast from Dana Point, the crew of the tall ship had unfurled its sails, which gleamed in the late morning sunlight. The brigantine's deckhands could be seen changing tack on the jib sails out front to catch a wind blowing in from Catalina. They were preparing the 100-foot, 100-ton boat for its approach into the harbor.

When he was a child in Croatia, Tony Burica first got wind of sailing. He'd watch large schooners coming and going from the port. Images of ketches sailing the Mediterranean hang from his shop walls. One night in Communist Croatia, Burica fled the party, which wanted to conscript him, he said: "You'd have to be a fanatic, or not have a brain. " He bid goodbye to his childhood sweetheart Tereza and sailed across the Adriatic Sea, from Croatia to Italy, in 1951. Without papers, Burica wound up in a labor camp, he said.

COSTA MESA - Gilbert Iwamoto, a pioneering catamaran builder who continued his craft well after he had gone legally blind, has died, friends said Monday. Iwamoto died at home Wednesday of complications following a heart attack. He was 90. Known for his artisan's touch and hardworking attitude, Iwamoto founded Gil's Catamarans on East 16th Street in Costa Mesa. "He had a work ethic like nobody's business," said Susan Iwamoto, his daughter-in-law. As the second youngest of 10 children in a Japanese American family, Iwamoto was no stranger to hard work, Susan Iwamoto said.

By Gordon Glass About 10 or 12 years ago, the city of Los Angeles allowed a private foundation to use a city-owned parking lot on San Pedro's main waterfront street to build two, 90-foot wooden schooners. A chain-link fence provided public safety while encouraging public viewing of the construction process. A construction crew of professional shipwrights and amateur volunteers worked more than two years to complete the Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson. Both ships are now sailing in the foundation's youth programs.

Newport Harbor High School's Sailing Team placed second in the 2011 Interscholastic Sailing Assn. Baker National Team Race Championship in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday and Sunday. Boston's Tabor Academy placed first. Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar High School and Point Loma from San Diego represented the Pacific Coast Region. The other teams came from regions nationwide and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Harbor was the only Southern California high school team to medal. CdM placed ninth.

It's been "breeze on" during the past week. I have noticed a lot of wide-eyed sailors, race committee members and photographers coming in off the water with looks on their faces as though they had "cheated death one more time. " The Monday night American Legion "Sundowner Series" races have produced a good turnout to start the season. UC Irvine's J-22s are new to the scene and have five new boats racing in class. Could this be the start of a new fleet in town? Rob "Big Rob" Wallenberg, my good friend from Sailsmile who sails on the Capri 30 "Good Rhythm," told me, "There has been a good turnout and plenty of wind, although we can't catch Violette.