High Sierra Duo – July 11-13 - Day Sailers Make the most of Huntington Lake in 2008
Given the current price of gasoline it’s important to get the biggest bang for your sailing buck. This year Huntington Lake offered just the venue to make that adage come true. The Fresno Yacht Club sponsors the High Sierra Regatta (HSR) over two weekends every July at Huntington Lake California. The two HSR weekends also provide the opportunity for events to be run in conjunction. This year, using the Friday before the first HSR weekend, DS Fleet 31 sponsored the 2008 version of the Pacific Coast Championship. Three races were sailed on Friday and then the DS fleet was merged into the HSR racing for three additional races, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. So competitors were able to race in two regattas, six races that applied to the PCCs and three counters for the HSR.
Relative newcomers to Day Sailers, Mike and Mardi Gillum dominated both the PCCs and the High Sierra Regatta with four firsts and two seconds in the six races. Mike found #2772 in San Jose last year off of the Day Sailer web site. Initially the previous owner wanted some $$ for the boat but in the end he had to get the boat out of his yard because he had sold the property, was in France and could not take care of the matter. Mike got the boat for free. Of course that is a relative term for as we all know no boat is “free.” Over the last year Mike has put a substantial amount of cash into the boat in the form of hardware and sails. He even found and purchased another boat on Craig’s list that had a late edition Ballenger tapered mast so he could upgrade 2772. While Mike is new to the Day Sailer he and Mardi are deep in sailing experience having sailed in a variety of boats including Thistles and Lasers over the years.
In addition to Mike’s great performance there was a lot of good sailing to go around. Dean Iwahashi and Rudy Leal in # 11023 won the first race and had only one finish out of the top four. Dean finished second overall in the PCCs and a third in the HSR. Dave Keran and Janette Zeman, last year’s PCCs winners and High Sierra winners finished third in the PCCs and second in the HSR.
Kenton Hendricks sailing Luscious Pig # 7172 with Dawn Huntzinger crewing posted the break-through performance of his Day Sailer career finishing fourth in the PCCs and fifth in the HSR. For Kenton this was a homecoming of sorts. He and his farther Steve had owned the “Pig” previously and had extensively rebuilt her. Steve moved on to other activities and sold the boat to Michael and Brooks Measures. Michael and Brooks sailed the boat for a few years and this year sold the boat back to Kenton. So the Pig has been has been reunited with the Hendricks name and has become a potent platform for Kenton to display his growing sailing abilities.
Mr. Consistent and also the Regional VP, Steve Lowry # 307 with crew Tony Castruccio, finished out the top five in the PCCs and gathered in fourth place in the HSR.
Also sailing well were Kevin Williams and Gale Condon # 2879 who finished sixth in the PCCs and pulled in third place finishes in the PCCs’ first and last races. Len Fiock with son Robb Fiock crewing on venerable old #156 finished seventh in the PCCs and sixth in the HSR. Not bad for an octogenarian but somewhat humbling to son Bill Fiock # 2970 who did not fare as well. Bill says he will have to step it up a bit if he isn’t to suffer the same fate at the NACRs at Eugene in August.
New comer Wade Behling with crew Terry Cobb sailing #3440 captured the B fleet championship. Also new to Day Sailers, Todd and Joyce Hansen from Morro Bay sailing # 4091 in their first major regattas pulled in Most Improved recognition by being awarded the Vince Lyddane perpetual for their performance in the HSR.
The fleet celebrated Charlie Gray’s (#1471) 70th birthday, two days early, at Friday night’s annual pot luck get together. Everyone had a great time sampling the wide variety food offerings and renewing friendships and making new acquaintances.
Every successful regatta rests on the volunteers who make it happen. Dorothy Iwahashi is one volunteer who has gone over and above in her support of Day Sailing, sailing in general and the High Sierra Regatta. Dorothy has chaired and co-chaired race committees on countless regattas, she has opened her campsite nearly every year to incredible hosted parties and she is always available to provide support to the sailors and to the organizations that support them. In recognition of her contributions Dorothy was awarded the Doug Wood perpetual trophy with coveted pink plastic flamingo keeper suitable for placement in her front yard. Doug was an iconic member of Fleet 31 who service and sense of fun and celebration set the standard for all those irreplaceable souls who work in support of us the sailors. Thank you Dorothy.
Dave Keran, Vieja #316
Webmaster's note: Here are links to the results:
High Sierra Regatta
PCCs B fleet
PCCs A Fleet