I S L A N D YACHT CLUB Located in beautiful downtown Alameda's Alameda Marina 1853 Clement Avenue
(510) 521-2980
Island Yacht Club's
33-Year Old
SILVER EAGLE LONG DISTANCE RACE Created for the Bicentennial in 1976, the Eagle soars to new corners of the Bay with all-new shorter courses.
July 12, 2008 CLASSIC COURSE
PHRF 149 & below, including multihulls
SHORT COURSE
PHRF 150 and above
DESIGNER DIVISIONS! Race Packet & Information: www.iyc.org Phone Joanne McFee (510) 521-7442 Email: iycracing@yahoo.com
Join the Crown Jewel Tour Friday Night Races & BBQ Summer Series starts July 25 Warning 6:25 pm
Capture the Power! With Island Yacht Club's 16th Annual
Northern California Women's Sailing Seminar® October 11-12 2008 Page 92 •
Latitude 38
• June, 2008
LETTERS island and broke up. Madigan expired clinging to the wreckage, while Sawyer was eventually rescued. In the tragic '82 race, Sawyer and Madigan, surfing at 25 knots, hadn't been able to lay the entrance to the Gate, so they simply drove the little cat right up the beach at Double Point. A year later, with the same boat, they were first to finish the Doublehanded Farallones. The most recent victim was Harvey Schlasky, who did the '99 race with Mark Van Selst on Schlasky's J/29 White Lightning. The boat broached badly about five miles from the Gate, throwing both men overboard. The boat recovered by herself, and took off again — dragging both sailors, who were tethered to the boat, and whose lifevests had inflated, alongside. Van Selst eventually managed to pull himself back aboard but, before he could stop the boat, Schlasky had lost consciousness. Although the Coast Guard arrived a short time later, Schlasky had expired. Schlasky's death was particularly troubling because he had all the safety gear — and it's almost as if it sort of conspired to kill him. Participation in the Doublehanded Farallones dropped significantly in the following years. Sailing — and particularly racing — in the Gulf of the Farallones is serious business. For whatever reason, nine boats didn't start this year's Doublehanded Farallones, and 16 boats retired. As far as we're concerned, there's no shame in someone's deciding the conditions are more challenging than they are comfortable with. Please, everyone be safe out there. ⇑⇓OUR BEES WERE MUY TRANQUILO I had an encounter with a swarm of bees on Banderas Bay on about March 20 while sailing from La Cruz to Paradise Village Marina. My experience with the bees was less dramatic than the one Profligate had with them near La Paz, and I doubt that mine were 'killer' bees. Or maybe they had just been in Mexico quite a while and became muy tranquilo, like the rest of us. My bees came aboard a few at a time, and seemed as though they were looking for a place to rest. I kept flicking them off the boat. Eventually, there were more than I could flick off. Since I was alone, I started waving beach towels, then powered up and left them behind. Now that I think about it, maybe it was the exhaust fumes from my diesel that discouraged them. I was obviously surprised to find bees on the water that far offshore. I ended up with a sting on my ankle and another on my thigh. I like the idea of using a fire extinguisher to chase them off. Thanks for the tip. By the way, I came down in ’05 with the Ha-Ha. I want to thank everyone responsible for putting it together every year, as it was great. Since then, we've been back and forth between work in Ojai and cruising in Mexico. Life is good! Jim Florence Ciao Bella, Cavalier 39 Ojai / Banderas Bay Jim — Thank you for the kind words about the Ha-Ha. We think we get as much pleasure from the event as anyone. If you got stung by two bees but were still able to power away without suffering many more stings, they probably were honey bees. When Africanized bees sting a human, they send out a GPS-like locator to the other bees, who immediately rush to the attack. And then they attack relentlessly. Based on reports we've received from other cruisers, it's not uncommon for large swarms of bees to be found even miles offshore. ⇑⇓THEY WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ALCOHOL When our Lord Nelson 35 Grey Max was hauled out at a shipyard in Guaymas in '94, we had an experience with a bee