Westlake Yacht Club in the News

Conejo Valley Life, Sept 10, 2004 WYC Hosts U.S. Sabot Championships From August 27 through August 29, Westlake Yacht Club hosted the National Championship Regatta of the U.S. Sabot sailboats. U.S. Sabots are an 8-foot sailing dinghy and are the most popular boat in Southern California for young sailors to learn this great sport. The Nationals drew 85 entrants, primarily from yacht clubs from Santa Barbara to Long Beach. Sailors from ten major yacht clubs with junior programs attended, including Anacapa (AYC), Cabrillo Beach (CBYC), California (CYC), Del Rey (DRYC), King Harbor (KHYC), Pacific Corinthian (PCYC), Santa Barbara (SBYC), Santa Barbara Sailing Foundation (SBSF), Ventura (VYC) and host-club Westlake (WYC). Races were held on beautiful Westlake lake in front of the Clubhouse at 32123 Lindero Canyon Road in the City of Westlake Village. It was a glorious California weekend, with nearly ideal sailing conditions. The competitors were divided into five groups: A, B, and C classes for younger sailors, and Masters and Senior classes for older salts. In the world of Sabots, "Senior" citizens are from 17 to 39 years old and those over 40 are kindly called "Masters". Youngsters begin sailing in the C class, and progress to B and finally A class as their skills improve. This year's regatta included 10 Masters, 5 Seniors, 17 A class, 15 B class, and a whooping 38 C class sailors. One might think that watching an armada of young sailors jockey for position at the start of a sailboat race, could be like seeing 38 SUV's with no brakes and no reverse gears, each driven by a teenager with a learner's permit, all trying to find the 5 open spots in a rock concert parking lot. Fortunately, U.S. Sabot National Championships sailors are well-skilled and well-coached, so there were very few "fender-benders". Sailing is a magical experience - how can a sailboat sail into the wind? It's easy to understand how a sailboat can be pushed by the wind, and move downwind like a leaf floating on the lake. But how can it go upwind, moving against the force that's pushing it? The secret is in the shape of the sails; just as the secret of flight is in shape of an airplane's wings, which allow it to lift up into the air and defy gravity. The sail's shape forces air flowing across the front side of the sail to move faster than the air on the other side, lowering the air pressure on the front side. This lower pressure creates "lift" which pulls the sail, and hence the boat, forward. The design of the boat's hull is also important in resisting sideways slippage. Generally, sailboats can sail to within 45 degrees of the true wind direction. They can't sail directly into the wind, but by zigzagging back and forth, "tacking", sailboats can reach any desired destination, even if it's directly upwind. While the theory is clear, beating your competitors to a windward mark is the greatest challenge to a sailor's skills. Sailing and sailboat racing are great activities for kids. In a sometimes-frightening world, with young people presented with so many bad choices, it's wonderful to see them enjoy sailing. Young sailors develop important physical and mental skills, learn to compete fairly, learn good sportsmanship, learn how to handle winning and losing, get some good exercise, and by the way have a lot of great fun. For this reason, many yacht clubs sponsor outreach programs of various types to bring into sailing kids who would otherwise be excluded. Westlake Yacht Club, for instance, conducts an excellent summer program, providing boats, lake access and a staff of certified sailing instructors, all at a very modest cost. This WYC program welcomes any child who is over 8 years old and is a capable swimmer, regardless of whether their parents are yacht club members or not. Westlake Yacht Club also partners with local high schools to provide sailing opportunities to their students. Many kids from such outreach programs participated in this year's National Championship. And now to the bottom line. The A class Sabots sailed 9 races with trophies awarded to the top five scorers. Oliver Toole of SBYC won first place. Ryan Hoeven of KHYC placed second; Ben Spector KHYC placed third; Luke Miller of WYC placed fourth; and Sam Verhasselt placed fifth. The B class Sabots sailed 8 races with five trophies awarded. Kyle Kelley of CYC won first place; Jenna Kennedy of DRYC placed second; Jacqueline Lilly of AYC placed third; Yuri Namikawa of CYC placed fourth; and Paul Heffeman of SBYC placed fifth. The C class Sabots sailed 8 races with five trophies awarded. Austin Hodges of CYC won first place; Reid Bergsung of KHYC placed second; Marisa Abel of DRYC placed third; Evan Miller of DRYC placed fourth; and Anna Han of KHYC placed fifth. The overall winner of the 3 Senior class races was Geno Beville of AYC. The overall winner of the 3 Master class races was Rich Bergsund of KHYC. The grand prize trophy was awarded to Oliver Toole of SBYC. The grand trophy was presented by Allie Blecher of CYC, who won last year's U.S. Sabot National Championships and took third in the U.S. Junior Single Handed National Championships. Allie advised the girls that it was OK to beat the boys. The girls may have already gotten that message as they swept the top four places in B class, and took two of five trophies in C class. In an interesting twist, Sean Crane of CYC and Oliver Toole of SBYC who raced against each other this weekend are the sons of Kevin Crane and Pat Toole who competed against each other in similar regattas many years ago. For more information about Westlake Yacht Club call 818-706-3588 or visit www.westlakeyc.org. -- Robert Piccioni, Rear Commodore