San Clemente Ocean Festival 2012

SAN CLEMENTE

OCEAN FESTIVAL JULY 21-22, 2012 at the San Clemente Pier EVENT GUIDE PRESENTED BY

Welcome to the 36th Annual ‘Greatest Show on Surf’

WOODIES CELEBRATE 20 YEARS ON THE PIER

GET THE RUNDOWN: SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

SAN CLEMENTE

OCEAN FESTIVAL

JULY 21-22, 2012

at the San Clemente Pier

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE AT 36TH ANNUAL OCEAN FEST

Come one, come all to ‘Greatest Show on Surf’

Photo by Stacie N. Galang

W

ow! Another year has passed, and it’s time for the 36th Annual San Clemente Ocean Festival. It is a time of year I always look forward to, when families and friends enjoy time together with a plethora of outdoor activities and entertainment.

You can start out both days with a deliCarol Gibson, Peggy Vance, Beth Apodaca, cious pancake breakfast cooked up by our Bob Harlow, Jim Nielsen and Lori Donchak San Clemente Lifeguards and their families, celebrate at the annual volunteer and sponsor then check out some of the activities, stop appreciation party, July 12 at Casa Romantica.

Photo by Madi Swayne by our vendor and sponsor booths or enter some of the athletic competitions. South of the Children’s Pavilion, there will be free body surfing clinics, where you can learn about water safety and the “how to’s” of catching a wave.

We have a new event on Saturday: the Surf Race to Victory SUPCross event, sponsored by Victory KoreDry, where stand-up paddleboarders will ride past the surf break and around buoys, then back to the beach in an exciting knockout race. The California Waterman and Waterwoman Championships attract top ocean lifeguard athletes like Mitch Kahn, former U.S. Olympian, and visiting athletes from as far as Australia to compete in the International and American Ironman competitions and the thrills and spills of the ever-popular dory boat races. For our younger, 4- to 12-year-old runners, there is the Dolphin Dash Kid’s Beach Run, south of the Pier, Saturday morning.

Car enthusiasts – the event is celebrating 20 years of Woodies on the Pier, and there will be 15 different cars displayed each day of the event for all to enjoy. Stop by and visit with Gary Button and his wife Arlene Button, who have been involved with the show since it started in 1993. The children’s Fishing Clinic & Derby is at the end of the Pier on Saturday, followed by the all ages Fishing Derby on Sunday. Not into cars or fishing, but like to shop? You can view the beach activities from above while finding your very own “treasure” at the Ocean Art Show in Parque Del Mar, just below the parking lot or visit our new vendors just south of the beach entrance.

Saturday evening, bring your beach towels, blankets and chairs and get ready to enjoy the free concert featuring the retro sounds of Flock of 80’s, sponsored by The Sheckler Foundation. And you don’t even have to cook. There will be meals available for purchase on the beach. There’s no better way to end the day than relaxing with friends and family, listening to music, while the sun slowly sets over Dana Point.

Sunday welcomes surfers ages 14 OCEAN FESTIVAL TRIVIA and under to compete in the Groms Rule Surf Contest, sponsored by Rip Curl. Come cheer on your favorite grom as they rip through the waves.

The California Waterman/Waterwoman hosts another exciting day of competitions that include a biathlon — a 5K run and 1,000-meter swim —

Photo by Stacie N. Galang

San Clemente Waterman — run, swim and stand-up paddle — and the 1-mile ocean swim that attracts more than 200 swimmers each year. Prefer to keep your feet on the ground? There’s a 5K beach run for all ages Sunday morning.

The Children’s Pavilion, south of the Pier, will be packed with activities for our 12 and under crowd and their families throughout the weekend. Saturday your child can participate in the Mermaid Parade with King Neptune. There will be crafts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu demonstrations and Zumba and yoga for children as well as performances

by Rock the Autism and Gavyn Bailey, Hula Connection and much, much more. You can watch the sand sculpting competitions take shape while south of the Pier.

Sponsor a duck and try your luck in winning one of the great prizes in the Great Rubber Duck Race that takes place as the Ocean Festival’s Grand Finale on Sunday afternoon around 4 p.m. Prizes include a motorized bike, surfboard, whale-watching and fishing trips, dinners and many more exciting prizes.

There is free parking and shuttle service from San Clemente High School at 700 Avenida Pico to the event, and it is free to come down and join us for a day of “fun in the sun!” Don’t want to drive? Take Metrolink – check out their deals on www.octa. net/oceanfestival.

We thank our incredible sponsors, dedicated city and state lifeguards, the 200-plus extraordinary volunteers and the city of San Clemente for their support for the event. For schedule of events and additional information, please visit www.oceanfestival.org. We look forward to seeing you this weekend at “The Greatest Show on Surf!”

What year did the first San Clemente Ocean Festival take place?

Peggy Vance Executive Director, San Clemente Ocean Festival

EVENT GUIDE PRESENTED BY

ANSWER: 1977

SAN CLEMENTE

OCEAN FESTIVAL

JULY 21-22, 2012

at the San Clemente Pier

Woodies Celebrate 20 Years on the Pier

COUPLES EFFORT ENHANCED OCEAN FEST EXPERIENCE

A

love of cars drew Gary Button to the San Clemente Ocean Festival.

It’s not the most obvious reason to volunteer for an annual event devoted to all things surf, but Button, now 80, wanted to participate and offered up his hobby.

“I’m a car freak,” he said.

To his delight, organizers of the Ocean Fest had discussed adding iconic Woodies to the event and Button’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

“I went down to volunteer,” he said.

“They said, ‘You’re just the guy we’ve been looking for.’”

That was 20 years ago. Every year since, he and wife Arlene Button have organized the parade of Woodies that line San Clemente’s own wooden Pier for both days of the festival.

“It’s been a fantastic 20 years,” Arlene Button said.

To mark the anniversary, Ocean Festival organizers commissioned special shirts for this year’s event. The Woody Car Exhibit has become a beloved part of the festival due in no small part to the Buttons’ work, said Peggy Vance, Ocean Festival executive director.

“Gary and Arlene are priceless,” she said. “They do such a good job putting together such a variety of woody cars form those in progress to those completed.”

The nonprofit Ocean Festival thanked the couple by giving them their 2010 Dorothy Fuller award for volunteers of the year.

“It’s a great honor,” Arlene Button said.

Gary Button has restored some 25 cars on his own, from a 1929 Ford Model A to a 1963 split-window Chevy Corvette, but he’s never tinkered with a Woody.

That hasn’t stopped the car enthusiast from becoming a Woody aficionado.

After 20 years of working with Woody owners for the Ocean Festival, Gary Button accumulated a vast store of knowledge about the vehicles. They were built from about 1929 to 1956. They were never really popular because the temperament of wood to the elements, he added.

And Woody owners so appreciated his work that they honored him with a lifetime membership into the Southern California Woody Club.

The effort to bring Woodies to the Pier for Ocean Fest has brought the But-

Gary and Arlene Button have organized the Woody Exhibit during the Ocean Festival for 20 years. Photo by Stacie N. Galang

tons joy though it hasn’t been without its hazards. One year, a car owner dropped her keys into the water, Arlene Button recalled.

“They made it right through the Pier boards and into the drink,” she said. “They were stuck there until the locksmith had to make a key for them to get off the Pier.”

Another time, one of the cars just fizzled out and spent the weekend in the Button’s garage instead of the Pier.

In the past, the couple, who has been married for 57 years, was driving along El Camino Real and spotted driver tootling around San Clemente without even the panels. They chased down the car and convinced the owner to bring it to the festival.

“It was a work in progress,” Gary Button said.

He and his wife said the car was a hit because visitors could see right through it and appreciate the work required to restore the cars.

“That was a highlight,” Arlene Button said.

Visitors to the Woody exhibit have also seen the best of examples, including a 1938 Rolls Royce.

“That was a beautiful car,” Gary Button

said.

Arlene Button praised the owners of the cars that have become synonymous with surf.

“They’re so good; they’re so nice,” Arlene Button said. “They’re so dependable.

When they say they’re coming, they’ll come.”

The couple continues to oversee the Woody exhibit, in part, because the work has helped forge friendships and become a part of the San Clemente community.

They started vacationing in the city in 1972 and moved permanently in 1985.

“It’s a great group of people,” Arlene Button said. “We feel like we’re a part of the city.”

Vance said that the Buttons have also leant their time and energy to stuff goody bags for the festival and hanging posters.

“They’ve both been incredible people to work with,” the executive director said.

The Woodies add another element to the Ocean Festival that’s more than the athletic events.

“Everybody loves to look at cars,” Vance said. “It’s just another part of the family component.” —Stacie N. Galang

Ocean Fest Marks Mermaid’s Swan Song T

Megan Yaklyvich will play Ariel for the last time at the 36th annual San Clemente Ocean Festival. File photo

by Stacie N. Galang

his year’s Ocean Festival marks the last appearance of Megan Yaklyvich, 18, as the beloved mermaid Ariel. This weekend, for the third and final time, Yaklyvich will walk the Ocean Festival, garbed in Ariel’s signature costume—made complete with her naturally light blonde hair dyed red. Yaklyvich, a recent graduate of San Clemente High, will take pictures with children and families at the festival in addition to leading the Mermaid Parade

on Sunday.

Megan started playing Ariel two summers ago, after her friend’s mother, a member of the Ocean Festival volunteer committee, asked her if she would be interested in playing the role.

“When I was asked to play Ariel at the Ocean Festival, I thought it would be a great opportunity to walk around and make people happy, and it has been great, volunteering and doing that,” Yaklyvich said

She also feels that playing Ariel has helped her become a more outgoing person.

“Because of this, I think I’ve become more open to talking to people, getting out there and making conversation with new people,” Yaklyvich explained.

“At the end of the day, knowing I made other people smile is an overall good feeling.” — Sara Gold

EVENT GUIDE PRESENTED BY

n a e c O l a v i t Fes p a M t n e v E ULY 21–22, 2012 J

FEATURED BOOTHS & VENDORS 1. Body Surfing Clinics 2. Children’s Pavilion Stage 3. Children’s Pavilion Shade Area 4. Children’s Pavilion Crafts 5. Children’s Pavilion Tickets 6. Games 7. Games 8. Games 9. Kid Natural 10. Face Painting 11. Ocean Institute 12. OC Oil Recycling (Sat.) 12. Sand Sculpting Registration (Sun.)

13. Swift Chiropractic 14. Shell Vacations Club 15. American Laser Skincare 16. Sheckler Foundation 17. Wyndham Resorts 18. Great Rubber Duck Race 19. T-shirt Sales 20. Capistrano Toyota/Scion 21. Free Speech 22. Fisherman’s Food Court 23. Southern California Edison/SONGS 24. SC Times 25. Volunteer/Info

26. Athletic Registration 27. Results 28. Athlete’s Refreshments 29. Saddleback Hospital 30. Rip Curl 31. Victory KoreDry 32. Main Stage 33. Awards 33A. Groms Surf Registration (Sun.) 34. KLOS Van & KABC 35. Pancake Breakfast ticket sales 36. Pancake Breakfast seating 37. Art Show

SAN CLEMENTE

OCEAN FESTIVAL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

SATURDAY, JULY 21 6:30 a.m.

12:30 p.m.

Registration on the Pier, children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult Judging and prizes awarded

CITY LIFEGUARD PANCAKE BREAKFAST 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. North of Pier, near Marine Safety

4th Annual DOLPHIN DASH Kid’s Beach Run AGES 12 AND UNDER

7:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.

9 a.m.

9:20 a.m.

9:40 a.m.

Registration/check-in at Children’s Pavilion, south of the Pier Half-mile run for ages 4-6 Three-quarter mile run for ages 7-9 One-mile run for ages 10-12

20th ANNUAL WOODY CAR EXHIBIT 8:30am – 2:45 p.m. Displayed on the Pier

SURF RACE TO VICTORY SUPCross SPONSORED BY VICTORY WETSUITS MAIN COMPETITION AREA – NORTH SIDE OF SAN CLEMENTE PIER

9:15 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

9:45 a.m.

10 a.m.

10:15 a.m.

10:35 a.m.

11:35 a.m.

11:50 a.m.

12:05 p.m.

1:20 p.m.

1:35 p.m.

2:50 p.m.

3:05 p.m.

Round 1: Women’s heat (1) Round 1: Women’s heat (2) Round 1: Men’s heat (1) Round 1: Men’s heat (2) Round 1: Men’s heat (3) Round 1: Men’s heat (4) Round 2: Repechage women’s heat (1) Round 2: Repechage men’s heat (1) Round 2: Repechage men’s heat (2) Semis: Men’s heat (1) Semis: Men’s heat (2) Final: Women’s heat (1) Final: Men’s heat (1)

OCEAN ART SHOW

9 a.m. – 6 p.m. In Parque Del Mar, overlooking event

at the San Clemente Pier

CALIFORNIA WATERMAN & WATERWOMAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

MAIN COMPETITION AREA – NORTH SIDE OF SAN CLEMENTE PIER

8 a.m.

10:45 a.m.

11:05 a.m.

12:20 p.m.

12:50 p.m.

1:50 p.m.

2:20 p.m.

3:20 p.m.

3:50 p.m.

Event 1: Open Ocean Paddle–Surf Ski, Paddleboard and SUP Event 2: Surf Race Event 3: National Doryman Association Race No. 1 Event 4: Surf Ski Race Event 5: Paddleboard Sprint Event 6: National Doryman Association Race No. 2 Event 7: International Ironman Event 8: American Ironman Event 9: SUP Relay

FREE BODYSURFING CLINICS HOSTED BY SAN CLEMENTE BODY SURFING CLUB

9 a.m. – 3 p.m. South of the Pier, next to Children’s Pavilion

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES

ALL DAY EVENTS: FACE PAINTING, CARNIVAL GAMES, *“KID NATURAL” AND OCEAN INSTITUTE* BOOTHS. *SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE DAY

8 a.m.

Ticket sales begin for crafts, games and face painting 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. Arts and crafts, Ocean Institute, game booths, face painting and relays 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.Broadway Bound performance 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Guillobel Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu performance 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. Hula Connection performance 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Rock the Autism performances

BEACH PARTY & FREE CONCERT

5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Dinners available through Fisherman’s Restaurant 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Free beach concert featuring Flock of 80’s, sponsored by The Sheckler Foundation *SCHEDULES SUBJECT TO CHANGE

OCEAN FESTIVAL TRIVIA

What is hot and delicious, and served by our San Clemente Lifeguards each morning?

ANSWER: Pancakes, hot off the grill!

CHILDREN’S FISHING CLINIC & FISHING DERBY

JULY 21-22, 2012

EVENT GUIDE PRESENTED BY

SAN CLEMENTE

OCEAN FESTIVAL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

AGES 14 AND UNDER SPONSORED BY RIP CURL

6 a.m.

Registration/check-in at Surf Registration booth just north of the Pier 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Contest will be held just north of the Pier

SAND SCULPTURE TEAM COMPETITION 6:30 a.m.

Registration and sculpting, south of Pier 1 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Judging/viewing (depending on the tides) 2 p.m.

(Approximately) Awards immediately following the judging

FISHING DERBY FOR ALL AGES ON THE PIER

CITY LIFEGUARD PANCAKE BREAKFAST 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. North of Pier, near Marine Safety

20th ANNUAL WOODY CAR EXHIBIT 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. In Parque Del Mar, overlooking the event

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES ALL-DAY EVENTS: FACE PAINTING,

CARNIVAL GAMES, *”KID NATURAL” AND *OCEAN INSTITUTE BOOTHS

8 a.m.

8 a.m. – 3 p.m.

9 a.m. – 10 a.m.

10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

12 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.

12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m.

1 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

MAIN COMPETITION AREA – NORTH SIDE OF SAN CLEMENTE PIER

8 a.m.

9 a.m.

10 a.m.

12 p.m.

1:15 p.m.

2 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

3 p.m.

Event 10: 5K Beach Run/Walk Event 11: Biathlon (1K swim and 5K run) Event 12: SUP 3.5-Mile Race: Surf class under 12’, 12’6”, 14’ Event 13: One Mile Ocean Swim Event 14: San Clemente Waterman Challenge Event 15: 400M run, 400M swim, 400M run San Clemente Marine Safety water rescue demonstration Event 16: Splash and dash

4 p.m.

(Approximately) Sponsor ducks are $5 each.

Great prizes to winners

*SCHEDULES SUBJECT TO CHANGE

OCEAN FESTIVAL TRIVIA

Where can people go for free shuttle service during the event?

In which event do participants use Jell-O? ANSWERS: San Clemente High School, 700 Avenida Pico; Sand sculpting competitions

OCEAN ART SHOW

9 a.m. – 3 p.m. South of the Pier, next to Children’s Pavilion

20th ANNUAL GREAT RUBBER DUCK RACE

Registration (on the Pier) and fishing derby starts.

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Judging and prizes

8:30 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. Displayed on the Pier

HOSTED BY SAN CLEMENTE BODY SURFING CLUB

CALIFORNIA WATERMAN & WATERWOMAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

“GROMS RULE” SURF CONTEST

12:30 p.m.

at the San Clemente Pier

FREE BODYSURFING CLINICS

SUNDAY, JULY 22

6:30 a.m.

JULY 21-22, 2012

Ticket sales begin for crafts, games and face painting Ocean crafts, games and relays sponsored by San Clemente Parks and Recreation Department Mermaid Parade Zumba with San Clemente Gym (Interactive) Guillobel Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu performance Mission Viejo Dance & Performing Arts performance Yoga for Kids with Universal Yogis (Interactive) Gavyn Bailey performance

EVENT GUIDE PRESENTED BY