theseawanhaka log - Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club

THE SEAWANHAKA LOG
Huntington, NY
VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1 OF SEAWANHAKA
EAWANHAKA CORINTHIAN YACHT CLUB MARCH 2010
Winter Sailing at SCYC
FROM THE COMMODORE:
It's hard to imagine looking out at the banks of snow that the Club will be
commissioned soon. The date is Saturday, April 24th and as always the gun will be fired at 12:00 noon,
and the signal flags will be raised. All members are encouraged to come to celebrate this event and sign
up for a festive buffet lunch afterwards (Reservations are required). It is a tradition for members who have
Seawanhaka jackets to wear them along with white shirts, dark blue Seawanhaka ties and dark hat
covers. We also encourage captains to dress ship to celebrate the commissioning.
This winter the Club has had an active frostbiting fleet with up to 20 Lasers on the starting line. Many
members have enjoyed Salty Dog's expanded menu for lunch at the Jr. Club on Sundays, and delicious
dinners at the Club on Friday and Saturday evenings and many special events. The view across the harbor
has also been enjoyed by members at Thursday and Saturday lunches. Certainly, general manager, Kelly
Holst, and staff should be congratulated for providing a warm atmosphere with a toasty fire, and delicious
food this winter. Lastly, there will be two Sundays when members are encouraged to help pick up the
beaches around the Club. Weather permitting we will meet on Sunday, March 14th and Sunday, March
21st at about 11:00am until people get hungry at about 1:00pm. All ages are welcome to join this effort to
preserve the waters around SCYC.
SCYC FAMILIES
-THIS IS THE FIRST PART
PART OF A SERIES WHICH WILL OCCASIONALLY BE FEATURED
FEATURED IN THE LOG-
THE SEAWANHAKA SAILING ROOSEVELTS
OOSEVELTS
Even before the Seawanhaka Yacht Club was formed, my great-grandfather James A. Roosevelt and his
brother Theodore (the father of the president) were leasing summer homes in Oyster Bay. This led to other members
of the family joining them. James A.’s son, Alfred, had a 20 foot boat called Ceddie and his cousins Cornelius (19)
and Hilbourne (18), sons of Silas Weir Roosevelt, had a catboat called Ona-Way.
When Seawanhaka was formed in the fall of 1871, Cornelius and Alfred were founding members. On July
4, 1873 Seawanhaka held the second Corinthian race in America. Alfred Roosevelt’s Ceddie was recorded as having
finished third in its class. That year Cornelius joined the Race Committee and his uncle, James A., offered a prize for
the second class, no shifting ballast to be permitted. The following year when the Club staged a race open to
schooners from any recognized club off Newport, the crew of Idler had three Roosevelt’s: W. Emlen, Alfred and John
E. The race covered a forty mile course and was sailed in light wind and Idler took home the five hundred dollar cup.
In 1875, sailing in New York bay Cornelius Roosevelt’s Addie
Voorhes with cousins Alfred, W. Esther and Hilbourne aboard won the
first Seawanhaka race in that harbor and the next year, which was the
centennial of the United States. She was part of the small group that
sailed to Philadelphia.
In 1884, John E. Roosevelt became Rear-Commodore. Later
when he moved to the South shore he would establish the Sayville Yacht
Club. Its burgee is the same as Seawanhaka, except red instead of blue.
This is the connection which has us team racing them twice per year.
In 1885, SCYC made its head quarters in New York harbor.
This made it difficult for those who summered in Oyster Bay to compete.
So Cornelius and Hilbourne along with others organized the Oyster Bay
Yacht Club. Hilbourne would move away and become an inventor, and
builder of organs for a number of important churches. It wasn’t until
1891 that Seawanhaka moved back to Oyster Bay, in part due to the
coming of the railroad. It is ironic that in that year Alfred Roosevelt was
killed by a train at Stamford. Subsequently his parents put up the cup
that bears his name and that was recently restructured.
In 1898, Theodore Roosevelt was among those members honored by the club for having served in the
Spanish American War. In 1901, his daughter Alice christened the Kaiser’s yacht Meteor II and in 1907 Theodore
Roosevelt, then President, ordered a naval review off Oyster Bay. In the period from 1900 till the First World War, my
grandfather W. Emlen was a very active member of the club. He owned a succession of small boats sailed mainly by
his sons George E. Roosevelt and Philip J. Roosevelt. However, the family flagship from 1907 on was the New York
Thirty Datirda. In that year George raced her in an overnight race around Cornfield Lightship and back.
After WWI it was the three sons of W. Emlen Roosevelt who carried the family sailing tradition forward.
George, the oldest, is best remembered for his schooner Mistress. She was designed by Sherman Hoyt and built in
Nova Scotia. Uncle George sailed her in every Bermuda Race from 1930 to 1954, except for the one in 1952. He
took his sons and their cousins with him on a number of these races. Mistress sailed in two Trans Atlantic races:
One to England and one to Norway and was third in the fastnet race in 1931. Uncle George was Commodore of
Seawanhaka from 1949 to 1951. George’s youngest brother Philip J. Roosevelt was an amazing sailor. In 1920, he
bought the S-boat Surinam named after the troop ship which had brought him back from France at the end of WWI.
SCYC FAMILIES
He sailed his S-boat very successfully until six-meters became more
interesting. He was involved in sailing for the British America Cup in the
1930’s and became Commodore of Seawanhaka in 1939. In 1940, the
beautiful yawl Persephone became his flagship. Unfortunately he died in
1941. My father (the middle brother) John K. Roosevelt often sailed as
crew for his brother or his friend, Morgan Butler, who owned Malabar XIII.
Over time he owned a variety of boats: the six- meter Mist, which was very
fast in light air, the Larchmont O-boat Gray Dawn, and an Open 8-Meter in
which the older members of the family went on the New York Yacht Club
cruise. In 1936 he took Esmeralda, his New York 32, on the Bermuda
Race with my two older brothers as part of the crew. His last big boat was
Nancy BelI, a Friendship Sloop which he square-rigged. As a five year old, I
spent a lot of time coiling his lines.
My older brothers, Emlen and Alfred, and my cousins, George
and Julian, were founding members of the Junior Yacht Club in 1937. In
1938 Uncle Philip put up a prize for team racing between the Junior Club
and Pleon. The prize, which is an interesting piece of sculpture by Nicholiades, represents the spirit of the sea. We
Juniors referred to it as “the sick seal on a raft.” In the early days of the Junior Club, all these young men crewed on
large yachts as well as sailing in the Sea Bird class. After WWII my brother Emlen became chairman of the
Seawanhaka Race Committee when we ran international races for the Scandinavian Gold Cup and the Seawanhaka
Cup.
In 1946 my brother Peter and I became members of the Junior Club. At the time we owned the last
Chute and Bixby sloop called Carnelion. She was 19 feet long and had no spinnaker. It was time to switch to Sea
Birds. Our cousin, P. James, was very successful with his Sea Bird named Gull. He was Commodore of the Junior
Club from 1946 to 1947. He and his brother John raced lightnings and Atlantics, and my brother Peter crewed for
them often. Peter is now your number 4 member.
Julian, better known as “Dooley”, had a Sea Bird for a couple of years. Then he sailed with Herman
Whiton in the Olympics in the six-meter class where they took gold. This led to Dooley’s becoming a member of the
International Olympic Committee. He later owned the yawl Warlock which he raced to Bermuda. He joined the
Sagamore Yacht Club as well as Seawanhaka, and so after he died the two clubs created the memorial race that we
have each year.
P. James really became well known when the Raven class appeared in 1950. At that point, Dooley and
my brother Emlen owned Paramour, which was Raven number eleven. P.James owned Old Crow which he sailed to
the national championships, and I owned Whiskey Jack with my father. The Ravens were great boats and we all had
a wonderful time.
I became a Junior Club instructor in 1954. In those days one of the duties was to drive the Emerald
around the harbor to pick up the juniors. I have sailed in every Seawanhaka class from 1950 to the present, more
successfully as a crew then as a skipper. I have been part of crews at the women’s championships of Long Island
Sound eighteen times and have been four times to the Adam’s Cup. In 1961, I even crewed in the Hipkins Cup in
Atlantics. I sailed back from Bermuda in Selkie when Jim McCurdy was the skipper and from Labradore to Nova
Scotia in Blue Shadow with Harry Anderson. I was a US Sailing judge for twelve years, which took me to Guadaloupe,
Lake Tahoe and Ireland. I was honored to be one of the first women on the Seawanhaka Race Committee and the
first woman Trustee. All that and I am still sailing. If this recitation doesn’t bore the socks off you there must be other
families out there with tales to tell.
-Elizabeth E. Roosevelt
JUNIOR SAILING
We're excited about the 2010 SCJYC sailing program. The program continues to be fine-tuned to introduce
our children to the fun of the water via our Summer Camp Program and the sportsmanship of sailing via
the SCJYC Sailing Program! The instructor line-up is excellent with many top coaches already confirmed for
the 2010 sailing season. We have also expanded the sailing program to include racing exclusively on
Fridays.
Key Coaches Confirmed for 2010 include:
o Lianna Gordon: Director of SCJYC Sailing- 5th year instructing at SCJYC and currently sailing
for University of Michigan Sailing Team
o Jacqueline Singer:
Singer Head SCJYC Instructor- 7th yr instructing (last three years as Head
Instructor at Head of the Bay)- sailed for Roger Williams University on the Varsity Sailing Coed, Woman's and Team Racing Teams
o Bitsy Whipple
Whipple:
hipple SCJYC Racing Coach- Won 2006 JSA 420 Champs and Cork Regatta in
Canada- currently sailing for Connecticut College
o Guillermo Beyrne:
Beyrne SCJYC Racing Coach - 2001 Best Sailor of the Year in Argentina (Laser
Radial) and has coached 2007 US Jr Olympics and 2008 US Mid-Atlantic Midget Champs
o Maria Gil:
Gil SCJYC Racing Coach- 2002 Best Sailor of the Year in Argentina (Laser 4.7) and S
American Female Champion 2001
o Kevin Dooley:
Dooley SCJYC Keelboat Director- currently campaigning an ISAF Match Race teamsailed for Eckerd College earning All-SAISA Team honors
Please join us on Saturday, April 10th, 11-3pm, at our SCJYC Open House and Registration hosted at the
SCJYC. This will give you an opportunity to learn more about the program and register prospective sailors
for the 2010 season. We are also interested in sponsoring non-member children interested in learning
about the sport of sailing. Please contact [email protected] with any questions regarding the
program.
SAILOR
AILOR SPOTLIGHT
Collin Leon grew up by the water on Cove Neck and started sailing at age 6 as a
Sea Urchin, “Wheeny,” at the Junior Club. Collin was a fairly quiet boy who loved
getting out in his Optimist Pram alone on the water. As an older Junior, Collin
graduated to Lasers and 4/20’s. Collin sharpened his skills by also sailing in the
blustery winds in San Francisco Bay and began to win Laser regattas. In 2008,
Collin was selected to represent the U.S. at the Youth Radial Worlds in Auckland,
New Zealand. Currently Collin is on the varsity sailing team at Old Dominion
University in Va. He also assembled an incredibly talented team of current college
All-Americans and U.S. Sailing team members and has been chosen to go to the
J/24 Worlds in Sweden this summer. They are only the second “youth-class” team
to be selected in the history of this prestigious event.
IN MEMORIAM
ROBERT L. GARLAND (January 22, 1908- December 22, 2009)
A few days before Christmas, 2009, Robert Lee Garland, retired President of
Sparkman & Stephens (S&S), died at the age of 101. He joined the firm of
legendary yacht designers and brokers in 1930, and worked for them for 64
years. His career was interrupted by US Navy service in WWII, where he helped
develop fast torpedo boats.
During his years at S&S, their designs won most of the major yacht races,
including the America's Cup, Fastnet, and Sydney to Hobart races. The S&S
yacht Ranger, commissioned by Commodore Vanderbuilt, won the 1937
America's Cup against Great Britain's Endeavour II with a radical design of the
traditional "J" boat, dubbed the "Super J",that still complied with the "Universal
Rule". It was to be the last time the J-boats would race in the America's Cup.
S&S designs of the 12-meter yachts, which superseded the J’s, won all of the subsequent AC races but
one until 1980. Altogether, while Garland was at S&S, the firm designed more than 2500 yachts. At SCYC,
Garland was a champion in the Seawanhaka 21 class and Shields class for decades, earning the
nickname "The Silver Fox". He also sailed windsurfers into his early 90s. At the time of his passing, Bob
was member number 2 at Seawanhaka.
JO ZACH MILLER IV (December 23, 1916- February 13, 2010)
Sailing experiences at Yale, coupled with his Navy experience, made Jo
Zach a devoted and lifelong s ailor. He sailed his 32-foot sloop,
SanPhael, along the eastern seaboard from Long Island to down-east
Maine. He was a member and past Rear-Commodore of The
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Oyster Bay. He was a member of,
and served on the race committee of, the New York Yacht Club and was
a member of the Sarasota Yacht Club. His sailing adventures included
several trans-Atlantic crossings with longtime sailing friends. He was
with the New York Yacht Club at the 1979 disastrous Fastnet race off
the English coast. Jo Zach, besides being a devoted and master
seaman, was never short on opinions or intriguing sea stories. At the
time of his passing, Jo Zach was member number 8 at Seawanhaka.
IN MEMORIAM
ROBERT A. MOSBACHER (March 11, 1927- January 24, 2010)
Sailing as a member of the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, Mosbacher led the team
that won the Scoville Cup and the Midget Yacht Championship in 1940 on Long
Island Sound. He went on to win the Southern Ocean Racing Conference
championship in 1958 and the Mallory Cup, also in 1958. He later appeared on
the cover of Sports Illustrated, on May 18, 1959, with his brother Bus
Mosbacher, for a feature article titled “Kings of the Class-Boat Sailors”. In
1969, he won the World Championships Dragon class by one point. He was well
known in many other international yachting circles. He won the Gold Medal in
World Championships Soling class in 1971 in Bay, Australia. (This was the year
that third place finisher, Paul Bert Elvstrom, started the trend of dropping the
crew over the side in what is called drop hiking).
He lost to Buddy Melges in the 1972 Olympic Trials (Soling class) in San Francisco Bay. Buddy
Melges went on to win the Gold Medal in the Soling Class at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Germany.
Bob also participated in a semi-final match race against Ted Turner in the Mallory Cup in 1960. On the
final windward leg, he was slightly ahead. Ted Turner attempted to force Mosbacher into a mistake by
executing a grueling tacking duel. The windward leg involved an incredible fifty-two tacks. In the end,
Mosbacher won by five seconds. He continued to follow in Seawanhaka’s tradition for co-opting into
membership top helmsman, e.g. the Fay brothers of Texas, to help defend or re-capture international
trophies. Bobby decided at one point, like myself to try out for the Olympics in the Finn but after a few
races on the Sound thought better of the idea. Over the year’s Bob represented SCYC’s winning teams in
numerous sailing events.
-Memories provided by Commo. Harry Anderson
SCYC RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBIT
ROBERT HUNTINGTON (1926-1973))
SCYC member, Robert Huntington was an ardent offshore
sailor. He was a favored crew member on numerous
Bermuda, New York Yacht Club, and Block Island Races. A
graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he became a naval
aviator. Later, he became Vice President of Torrey, Huntington
and Shaw, Oyster Bay sail makers. He was not only active at
SCYC as a Trustee, but also as a member of the Race Committee and chaired the House Committee.
Through the generosity of his wife Mary, we have the opportunity to display varied sailing memorabilia from
his life in a Retrospective Exhibit at SCYC. SCYC member Franklin Perrell will be the curator of this exhibit
with the assistance of Cora and Clarence Michalis. The exhibit will be on display in the Model Room
beginning March 27th, with a cocktail reception at 1800 hours. The exhibit will continue to be on display
through April 11th.
UPCOMING EVENTS
CRUISING CLASS DINNER
EASTER BUFFET
FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010
SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2010
FRIDAY NIGHT LECTURE
JOHN MOONEY
JUNIOR SUMMER PROGRAM
OPEN HOUSE
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2010
FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2010
*INTRO TO 2010 WINE LIST
*RACE COMMITTEE SIGN- UP
*ROBERT HUNTINGTON
EXHIBIT OPENING
WINTER SAILING AWARDS
SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010
THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010
CHILDREN’S EASTER EGG
HUNT
COMMISSIONING LUNCHEON
SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2010
1040 NIGHT
SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 2010
DINING HOURS OF OPERATION:
(As of Commissioning- April 24, 2010)
Lunch Service:
Lunch Service:
Saturday 1200- 1430 hrs
Wednesday- Saturday 1200- 1430 hrs
Dinner Service:
Dinner Service:
Friday, Saturday 1830-2100 hrs
Junior Club Salty Dog:
Sunday 1200-1430 hrs
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 1830-2100 hrs
Friday 1830- 2200 hrs
Salty Dog:
Sunday 1730-2000 hrs
THE LOG IS PUBLISHED WITH:
Editor: Commo. Park Benjamin III
Photo Editor: Patti Jakob
Assistant Editor: Sarah Meyer
Layout: Danielle Bozenko
Contributors: Commo. George S. Meyer, Commo. Henry H. Anderson, Thurston Smith,
Mark DeNatale, Elizabeth Roosevelt, E. Eric Johnson
ON THE WATER
WINTER SAILING
Sailing in the Snow
Who has right of way again?
The Winter Sailing Season is into its last four weeks and ends on March 28th. It has been a tough January
and February, but we have gotten a lot of racing in. The Radio Control Sailboat Championship, and The
Thim Bowl were won by Ned Glenn who beat up his relatives on February 7th. The Valentine’s Day Regatta
was blowing really hard and shifty, but three people went out anyway. (It is amazing what people will do for
large amounts of free chocolate). Matt Doherty won handily by sailing well and avoiding capsizing in the icy
water like his competitors. Right now the Season is on the line with tight races for each of the major
places. Matt Doherty is leading Ryan Schmitz by .18 points for first place after 4 months of racing. Eric
Johnson is leading Bob Blanco by .32 points for third and fifth place is a tight run between John McGrane
and David Trinder. The Winter Sailing Awards Dinner will be held on Saturday, April 10th.
CRUISING CLASS READIES ACTIVE SEASON
It may be winter and our boats are wrapped up, but that hasn’t stopped planning for an active season in
2010. The annual Cruising Class dinner is planned for Friday evening March 12 at which there will be
slides of last summer’s cruise and awards of all kinds for the participants. There will be a number of short
overnights planned this season in addition to the annual cruise. Tentatively these dates have been set for
August 21-22, September 18-19 and October 9. Destinations to be determined closer to the events.
This year’s annual cruise will kick off Friday, July 23 with the first stop as Port Jefferson. Next will be Essex,
CT for 2 nights, Saturday and Sunday July 24 and 25. The cruise will proceed to Fisher’s Island for Monday
the 26th; and on the 27th across Fisher’s Island Sound to Mystic for a night. Following Mystic the cruise will
move on to Newport (Shopping!) for 2 nights, July 28 and 29. From Newport the cruise will begin its trek
back to Oyster Bay, stopping at Shelter Island on Friday, July 30 and anchoring in the Thimbles on
Saturday evening the 31st. Port Captains will be announced shortly along with instructions for reservations.
Lawrence Lally, Cruising Class Chairman invites all SCYC members to participate and enjoy these annual
fun filled events!