The Gods, Unbribed, Took the Wind Out of Their Sails

The Skipper says: Don’t chase the wind, and above all don’t try to bribe it. The old man who stood in the rigging and tossed a silver dollar into the sea to break the calm regretted his bribe when a terrible gale blew up. He wanted his money back.

I understand that the multihulls in last weekend’s Newport Beach-to-Ensenada race tried to chase the wind by heading out toward San Clemente Island, where the National Weather Service reported wind around 22 knots. The gods with the little puffed-out cheeks thwarted them by unpuffing their cheeks. Nobody thought to offer silver coin. But then, who’s got any handy to offer these days?

The wind blew fair, a southwesterly, at the start of the race, but it soon died. It was not the slowest Ensenada race but ranked in the pretty-slow class. All 555 sailboats in the 39th annual race managed to finish, though one was reported missing for a while. This had officials of the Newport Ocean Racing Assn., race sponsors, worried until it was learned that one of the boats, new to the race, failed to report in. The “lost” was found yesterday.

My wife and I followed the wind’s way over our Herald Bird’s ship-to-shore radio while snugged up on one of the few available moorings in Avalon, Santa Catalina Island. We had been forced to motor over because of light air last Friday to deliver some early photographs of the island, donated to the island’s museum by Rebecca Stanton of Balboa Island.

It was our first cruise over this year and were surprised to see Avalon so crowded with boats. As the museum’s curator commented, “Summer seems to be coming earlier every year.”

We enjoyed one of our traditional Saturday night meals on board--chowder--only this time it was not made of canned clams but abalone. While cleaning out the freezer at home, my wife discovered some abalone caught by one of our sons last season. I fileted and pounded it on the Bird’s foredeck, making us the only vessel in the harbor to sound the familiar thump, thump, thump that heralds abalone aboard for dinner. And out of season at that! We wondered how we’d explain the abalone if a curious Fish and Game official had boarded us.

The city is repairing the pleasure pier and replanking it. The pier is closed and the main dinghy dock has been moved to the eastern side of the bay. The other dinghy dock is open between the Catalina Island Yacht Club and the Tuna Club. Both were crowded with small boats. Shore boats are located near the steamer dock. Concessions, usually on the pier, are scattered along the waterfront in temporary booths. The pier should reopen in about a month.

Sailing Notes Dr. Kevin J. Ivey, chairman of the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club’s Sabot Tournament of Regatta Champions on May 17-18, says that the Naples sabot, the little eight-foot, cat-rigged sailboat with leeboard, is the boat in which many international sailors learned to sail. Both John Bertrand, Australian skipper of the victorious Australia II, winner of the America’s Cup, and Dennis Conner, a previous Cup winner and a challenger, learned to sail in sabots--Bertrand in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, and Conner in San Diego.

Steve Armitage, sales manager of Hood Yacht Systems of Marblehead, Mass., corrects me in my assertion here that the the record for sailing around the world single-handed was held by Philippe Jeantot with an elapsed transit time of 159 days. Armitage says the record is held by Dodge Morgan, who completed a single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation in 150 days, in a 60-foot Ted Hood-designed yacht.

Sailors from California, Texas and the Eastern Seaboard will vie for the Holder 20 National Sailing Championships off Long Beach Island, N.J., July 16-19. The Holder 20, a monohull, is an ultralight boat by design, planing on water in light airs. It has made more than 20 knots in stiff air. In last year’s championships held in Newport Beach, Mel Wills of San Diego won the crown. Wills is expected to defend his title.

The opening day race at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club will be held Saturday.

Chick Hearn, the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers, has agreed to become the advertising spokesman for the Southern California Marine Assn. during 1986. Hearn will do TV and radio commercials for the SCMA’s next three boat shows.