March 2012 - Fairwind Yacht Club

March 2012 Editor: Ken Hoover Volume 40, No. 3
Commodore’s Log
A Second Cat 28 Joins MDR’s Fleet
Accidents Happen
Safety Officer Marc Levine
talks about vigilance.
Page 2.
Windebank Brothers
A two-year circumnavigation is
about to begin.
Page 3.
By Richard Windebank
Commodore
Our membership meeting Feb. 23 was lively, to say the least, but it was also productive, and we got some
important things accomplished.
First, the membership approved the purchase of the 1999 Catalina 28 for Marina Del Rey, and we expect to
take delivery any day now. (See pictures, page 7.) We are just working through the paperwork, which should be
completed shortly. This will be a great addition to our fleet, and I think it’s going to be a very popular boat. As
soon as it arrives, we will schedule a welcoming ceremony, and we plan to invite the seller to join us for the
occasion. That will include both the executor of the estate and the beneficiary. We want them to see the good
home their boat is going to.
We also need to think of a name. The boat currently does not have a name, so we are inviting suggestions
from everyone. You can e-mail me at Richard@windebank.com with any suggestions you have.
By the way, we have also purchased a nearly new inflatable dinghy that is not linked to the Catalina 28, but
will be a suitable tender to take on cruises. It’s a 10-foot 2-inch Achilles with an air floor and inflatable keel. It
will be good for four people and can take one of the small outboards. We will try to add the inflatables to the
reservation system to avoid confusion.
In addition to voting to buy the Catalina, the membership agreed to reclassify the Hunter, Collective Effort, as
a small boat and sell one of the Solings. We considered keeping all the boats but decided the expense of another
slip (away for our main dock) would not be justified by the anticipated usage. The one issue we did not decide
was which Soling to keep and which one to sell.
Birth of the Laser
Veteran sailor John Windrode
was the first dealer.
Page 8.

One of the most difficult things the Club ever has to deal with is selling a boat. We love them all, and each
one has it’s own unique group of supporting members. So we have decided to conduct a two-part survey of the
membership. Part I will be to invite comments from all interested members, i.e. supporters of Seaweed and
supporters of Blue By U. We will then share all comments received (provided they are courteous and relevant)
with the entire membership and then we can all vote in Part II of the survey. The results of Part II will
determine the answer.
The other motion that was on the floor concerned member’s financial responsibility. This did not change
much from what it has been in the past but it did clarify the position so there are no misunderstandings.
Members are responsible for the first $1,000 of any damage caused during the period of their reservation. That
applies to club boats and to the property of others. Your total responsibility is limited to $1,000. The only
exception is that when sailing the Catalina 400, Angelsea, your financial responsibility is increased to $2,500.
3 Recent Incidents Point To Need
For Extra Vigilance On The Water
By Marc Levine
Safety Officer
Hello, members. The following is a heads up on safety issues. Daylight savings time is just days away with the
promise of great sailing. Unfortunately, we have seen three accidents already, which we all need to learn from.
In my opinion, an accident or incident, while being a negative experience, can be a positive benefit to our
organization if we all can learn from it. Even the most experienced of us still need to be aware and reminded to
be vigilant sailors and skippers to minimize the risks involved in handling boats and navigating our coastal
waters.
I will be intentionally vague in my comments. My intention is not to embarrass or expose anyone, so names
and some information will be omitted. The point is to learn and gain experience as well as to reinforce what we
may have forgotten. One of our club’s greatest assets is that we can learn from each other.
The first incident involved towing a hard fiberglass dinghy to Catalina Island. While on approach to an
anchorage, a strong following wind caused the dinghy to collide with the hull of the tow vessel causing damage
to the dink and the hull of the tow vessel.
Our fleet captain has offered up some very good towing guidelines, which will be made available to the
membership shortly and should help provide guidance on how to tow dinks.
Also, before you decide to tow a dink, you should practice it first for a few hours at different angles to wind
and swell. All dinks have different towing characteristics, making a long passage with an unfamiliar dink behind
you a potential safety risk.
The second incident occurred when one of our boats collided with another vessel a few miles out in the bay.
Both vessels were singlehanding. Each skipper lost sight of the other one due to jib blind spots.
Our vessel was on a port tack so it had an extra burden. The damage was minor and fortunately no one was
hurt and the property damage was minimal. So what went wrong here? Neither skipper sounded any warnings to
the other. Once our skipper saw the other vessel the only thing that could be done was a last-second decision to
turn away from the unburdened vessel to deflect the collision impact as much as possible. This was the right and
only decision our skipper could have made. This was commendable and lessened the damages considerably.
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However, whether singlehanding or with a crewed vessel, a vigorous watch is necessary at all times to
provide early warning of a possible collision. This broke down, and I am sure both the burdened and
unburdened vessels’ skippers learned valuable lessons here.
We had a third incident that caused one of our vessels to overheat. This could be a long story according to
the incident report.
However, one of the comments the skipper made afterward was “I should have never listened to the crew
member who told me to do something I knew not to do. I knew I did something that my trainer warned me
against.” That happened to be closing the raw-water intake valve overnight, then forgetting to open it the
following morning.
This is very critical when you are the skipper of a club boat . We tend to get input from other members. They
mean well, but you need to rely on your training and experience, not theirs, even if you feel they know more
than you.
In closing, be sure to review the dinghy training guidelines that will be become available soon. Keep vigilant
watches at all times and do what works best for you based on your own training, experience and judgment
when you are skipper of a boat.
Please feel to drop me a line with questions or comments at my email address listed in our roster if you
would wish to have a topic treated in this newsletter or wish to make comments on the above information to
share with other club members.
Windebank Brothers Plan Circumnavigation
By Richard Windebank
Marina Del Rey member, Jason Windebank, together with his brother Piers, is planning a circumnavigation in
a 1994 Sundeer 56’, designed by Steve Dashew. In mid-
April they will pick up their boat in Marmaris, Turkey,
and plan not to race, but to hop from port to port and
cross the oceans when the conditions are at their best.
They will install the latest navigation and
communications equipment, which will give them phone
and email capabilities 100% of the time and Internet
access 85% of the time (except for ocean crossings).
Their first few months will be in the Mediterranean
getting to know their boat, honing their sailing skills and
visiting many European ports. On Nov. 25, they will
cross the Atlantic in the ARC Race (Atlantic Rally for
Cruisers) with about 200 other cruising boats
repositioning from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean
for the summer. The race, which covers 2,700 nautical
miles, averages 14 to 21 days.
After a few months’ island-hopping in the Caribbean,
they will pass through the Panama Canal, head across to the islands of the South Pacific and on to Australia.
3
The Windebank brothers, sons of Commodore
Richard Windebank

From there, they will sail north through Indonesia and the Philippines, and on to Vietnam and Cambodia, before
heading down to South Africa. They will stop to visit their uncle in Cape Town before crossing the Atlantic
Ocean to Brazil. Their circumnavigation will be complete when they head north back to Spain.
This adventure will take them about two years, and, if all goes according to plan, they would like to take a
third year and sail up to Scandinavia and Iceland, possibly ending up in Florida or the Caribbean.
Steve Dashew, the designer of their boat, is a well-known circumnavigator, yacht designer and author.
Together with his wife, Linda, Steve has cruised more than 250,000 miles over the last 40 years and has
authored books like “Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia” and “Surviving the Storm: Coastal & Offshore Tactics”.
Over the last 25 years, over fifty of their yachts have been launched, two of which remain in Marina Del Rey
today. One is called Deerfoot II and is
owned by Steve’s father, Stanley, a spirited
97 year old who sails his 72-foot boat most
weekends. The other is “Beowulf” a 78foot
ketch with an aluminum hull.
The Sundeer series of boats were
designed with circumnavigations in mind
and for ease of handling. They can
normally be handled by two people. They
are also built with three watertight
compartments (forepeak, saloon and
engine room) and have heavy duty hull
framing and structural support.
Jason thanks fellow Fairwind member
Bruce Byal, who has been following this
boat on the Internet for the last five years
and recommended it to Jason as being
ideal for this trip. Bruce will be one of his The 1994 Sundeer 56
4

first guests to board the boat.
Jason will create a website for his trip so friends and family can follow their progress and enjoy the trip
vicariously.
We wish them luck and safe sailing as they pursue the dream that many of us share.
Bon voyage!
CompanionShip Gets A Spring Makeover
By Michael Delaney
CIH Port Captain
CompanionShip, one of the four CIH Capri 22’s, has a new look. In December 2011, we hauled her out and
refinished the bottom. The bottom was in rather poor condition and so it was decided to strip it, apply an epoxy
seal, and then new bottom paint.
The boat is seen in the photograph in the yard at Bellport Anacapa Marine in CIH with her new bottom paint.
Fortunately the yard was having a winter special so the bill was not too high.
CompanionShip is unique in that she has a shoal keel. In the photograph the shoal keel is clearly seen.
CompanionShip only
draws two feet,
whereas a standard fin
keel will draw four
feet, and Desert Wind
with a wing keel draws
two and a half feet.
While the shoal keel
is shallower than the
wing, it actually has a
larger cross section
due to the length of the
keel. Desert Wind can
actually experience
significant leeway if
the boat is stalled
whereas
CompanionShip’s
shoal keel cross
section is comparable
to that of a full fin
keel.
This month,
CompanionShip
received a new
When CompanionShip was first purchased for the MDR fleet, her name
was badly faded. It was painstakingly restored by member Harvey Chao
and still looks great.
5

mainsail, 135% genoa, and genoa furler. Ullman Sails, Ventura, also had a winter special last fall. We ordered
the sails in October and received them in February with a significant discount.
The sails are 7-ounce Dacron and will handle the heavy usage our boats receive. Desert Wind got new Ullman
sails over three years ago and they are still in very good shape despite the heavy usage. We installed the new
furler ourselves last week, which was a good learning experience. We now have a very good understanding of
how a CDI Furler is made and works. We only had to take the mast down twice to get it to fit properly; actually
not that hard of a job. Special thanks to John Staples, Frank Thomsen, Patrick Anderson, Harry Kane, and
Dennis Derley for helping out.
This week, we installed new lifelines on CompanionShip. We bought all the materials and made the lifelines
ourselves at West Marine. This was straight forward to do once we got past a couple of challenges. Who would
have figured that the forward wire studs were ¼-inch thread while the aft wire studs were 5/16-inch thread? We
also received a ¼-inch wire stud that was left hand thread even though it was labeled with the right hand thread
part number! Well, once we had the right parts, swaging was the easy part. The self-made lifelines cost less
than half of what Catalina Direct charges and about a quarter of what the yard rigger was quoting.
With the new sails, genoa furler, and new bottom, we expect to have CompanionShip move up with Desert
Wind and Sand as the most sailed boats in the fleet. CompanionShip’s old 150% hank-on genoa is now on
Sweet Deal.
Next year, it will be Sweet Deal’s turn for a spring makeover.
February’s Workday Heroes
CIH
14’s
Dave Nichols
CompanionShip:
John Staples
Dave Nichols
Sweet Deal:
Corey Chase
Sand:
Jim Breslin
Dennis Isleib
Peter Granet
Roxanne
Desert Wind:
Dave Payn
Dennis Derley
Kevin Sheldon
Zephyr & Freedom Too
Tom Kelleher
Paul Aist
Richard Canan
Lamriie Leguer
Dave Touya
Sigmund Sales
Hayden Houser
Jamie, Jakob and Kelly Schlottmann
Scott Kelly
Jim Milstaed
Mark III:
Jesse Lumsden
Rick Lucky
Angelsea:
Tom Marshall
Greg Arnold
6
--Carl Enson

MDR
Island Side PrebenKlug
Sundance Bill Conner and Tim West
Blu BY U HalliKristjanssonandMikeBuchbinder
Seawing Boat Chief Bob Hoffman, Bruce Byall and Kai Byall
Rambaley ElizabethKunkeeandChrisCorey
Mea Ono Boat Chief Ken Hoover, Commodore Richard Windebank; Bob Hoffman and Gordon Roesler.
Imagine Boat Chief and Junior Staff Commodore,Marv Brown
Work day heroes who signed in the Roster: David C. Bell, boat chief Shar Breitling, who also helped with the
sign-­‐in table, Sharlen Campbell, Diane Engler, John Goebel, boat chief for Collective Effort Tom Green, Read
Howarth, Marc Levine, Robert Levy, boat chief for Happy Ours Rob Matheny, Willie Maynetto, Stu Meisner, Rear
Commodore Chuck Orlin,
Stephen Smith, Howard Staniloff, William Wagner, and last, but by no means least, Nancy Marino, who was
greeting everyone at the sign-­‐in table table.A big thanks to Commodore Richard Windebank for the delicious
donuts. Should several of us bring goodies for work day? Remember the sandwiches?
A big thank you to Sharlen Campbell for updating the logs in each boat.
-­‐-­‐Carole Walsh
Volunteer Needed
A lot of the material contained on the Fairwind
website is out of date. If you can spare some time
to help update it, please contact Richard
Windebank.
This is not a technical task so you do not need to be
proficient at managing websites. It’s purely an
editing function to review the material and bring it
up to date. Whoever volunteers to do this will be
doing the club a huge favor. Thanks in advance for
your assistance.
7
Here’s a couple of photos of our new
Catalina 28, which is expected to join
the MDR fleet very soon.

How John Wintrode Helped Launch The Laser Revolution
By John Wintrode
It was a cold winter’s night in NYC. The boat show was on in Madison Square Garden.
Nobody in my crew wanted to go out that frosty January night in 1971. I put on my London Fog with liner
and froze walking to the show. Most of the displays were power boats. But there was one little red mono hull
that caught my eye. Beside it, the dealer had a film clip running on a small screen that showed a very proficient
sailor demonstrating the boat’s capability.
Cool. I asked the guy at the display who the sailor in the film was and he said it was Hans Fogh, who I knew
was a world-class sailor. I was impressed. The guy at the booth and I
talked for about an hour, and I decided to take him up on his offer to
become a dealer, provided he could get me a boat in time for the Miami
boat show in February.
He shipped a red hull in an Air Canada stretched DC-8, and I put it in
the Miami show for four days and nights. Nobody seemed to be
interested. I sold that one boat to a guy in the Bahamas, but I needed to
get the boat before the sailing public in Miami.
So I ordered three more, built a trailer to hold three boats and
demonstrated them around south Florida. A grind. Still no interest.
Middle of the summer 1972 and the Miami to Key Largo Race was
coming up. It’s big among sailors, cruisers, multi hulls (the Shark was
big then) and a few racing mono hulls. The race committee
handicapped everybody using a Portsmouth Number (before PHRF ).
Since the Laser was brand new it had not established a Portsmouth
Number, so they gave me the same handicap as a classic Moth. Forty
miles to Key Largo, usually port-tack close reach or beam reach in the
prevailing east wind. The start was at 0800. Dead calm. A helicopter
was flying close overhead taking pictures, so I sculled over (against the
rules) , caught his downdraft and shot out into the lead. I will never
forget looking back and seeing 250 boats behind me!
UCLA and the California Yacht
When the wind filled in later in the day, a lot of the bigger boats with
Club have Laser fleets in MDR.
spinnakers, a Raven and a Flying Dutchman passed me, but not by much.
One Windmill and I cut the corner a bit by going between the Arsinickers and shore at Homestead (too
shallow for most boats). I won the race. Everybody was talking about the little boat that won. The Laser was
on its way. I wound up selling 210 boats in seven years. My part-time hobby was becoming full time, so I
turned the dealership over to Blue Water Marine in Coconut Grove. What a great time. My first three boats
had sail numbers 15, 17 and 22. There are now over 200,000 Lasers sailing.
Note: Bruce Kirby, a Canadian, designed the Laser. Ian Bruce, the guy in the booth at Madison Square
Garden was another Canadian. He helped put it together and manufactured the boats in his company,
Performance Sailcraft.
8

Barbecue And Spring Potluck Social At
CIH’s Seabridge Clubhouse March 25
By Pam Yerger
Back by popular demand: FYC CIH BBQ potluck social at Seabridge clubhouse from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday,
March 25.
There will be no organized pre-party sails. However, we hope many of you will reserve boats and enjoy a
morning of sailing before dropping by Seabridge.
Last August, we held the first Seabridge Capri 14 pond regatta. By double popular demand, we will be racing
again.
Please consider joining us for this fun, crazy event.
If you don't sail, we need you to come and cheer for your favorite skipper and crew. Capri 14s will be available
for sailing prior to the races. We will be using "kids" rules, which means no formal racing rules.
Plates, napkins, utensils and cups will be provided by FYC. Some sodas and water will also be provided. If you
wish to have adult beverages, please BYOB (and some to share!) We will have the BBQs going for each family
to cook their own meal. Please also bring a
side dish, salad or dessert for the potluck.
Attached is a map to Seabridge. Since there
is only very limited parking at the clubhouse,
please plan to park in the lot outside the
Seabridge gate and walk in or behind the
Vons at the pond and walk across the bridge
directly to the clubhouse.
Seabridge is located on Wooley Road, next
to the Vons store complex on the corner of
Victoria and Wooley in Oxnard. The pond/
marina parking lot is located on Victoria, just
past the Vons Store at Via Marina. Please
call Mike Delaney at 805-551-9671 if you
need help with directions or parking.
Please let us know if you are able to help
with clean up since we have to leave the
clubhouse spic and span. A big thank you to
Seabridge resident Harvey Diamond for once
again reserving this wonderful facility for us
to enjoy.
We have a number of new members in
Channel Islands and we hope to have a good
turnout from new members and long-term
members from both CIH and MDR.
RSVP to Pam Yerger at yergs@hotmail.com
and please let us know if you will be racing.
Aerial View of Seabridge Marina (SM) aka The Pond
• Four Capri 14’s in slips E-16/17/18
Restrooms:
• Marina Restroom (RR); gate key
• Marina Office (SM)
9
Gate
Parking
Seabridge
Clubhouse
The Pond
E Dock
Capri 14’s
Foot Bridge
SM
Parking
RR
Vons
Via Marina
Parking

Membership Guide: Where To Go For What
Update Contact Information for Membership Roster - Membership Secretary (Jotham Schwartz for MDR; Paul
Aist for CIH)
Pay Dues – Vice Commodore, P O Box 12684, Marina Del Rey, CA 90295
Training and checkout - Fleet Captain (Dick Gross for MDR; Scott Kelly for CIH)
Report an Accident - Safety Officer, Marc Levine + Rear Commodore (Chuck Orlin for MDR; Carl Enson for
CIH)
Gear broken on boat - Specific Boat Chief (from Fairwind Website) + Rear Commodore (Chuck Orlin for MDR;
Carl Enson for CIH)
Submit Articles for Newsletter – Editor, Ken Hoover kenhoover@me.com
FYC Officers - www.fairwind.org
Minutes of Board Meetings - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FYC_Communications/
FYC Treasurers Reports - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FYC_Communications/
Coast Guard - Channel 16 or 310-732-2043
VHF Calling Channels – 9 and 12.
Membership interaction – Email: fairwindmembers@yahoogroups.com
Join Member’s interaction group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairwindMembers/ and press the button to
join
March Club Calendar
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3
MDR Workday
4 5 6
MDR Workday
7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Daylight Savings MDR Workday St. Patrick's Day
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
MDR Workday
Vernal equinox
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
CIH Potluck 2 p.m.
MDR Workday
10