The Collective SSS Memory...

...up to 1990 or so.

As one of the earlier SSS members in the 1980's, I was going to post some of my recollections. However, I think a broader topic would do better. Instead of me and 3BF, I suggest something like The Collective SSS Memory up to 1990 or so. Based on Jackie's book and interviews, there seems to be much more that can be presented.

Since I have not been active before and don't know who posted what, I ask the forum members for their suggestions.

Let me know to avoid duplication and to fit the existing protocol.

Ants

These images are from Ants Uiga, who brought us the idea of the Three Bridge Fiasco. What does this mean? I have no idea. Ants?

Attachment 4224
Attachment 4223

This from Ants: “A redheaded friend of Chuck Hawley did the artwork for the SSS 'Geek'! Everyone liked the hair blown backward while the wind was blowing forward.”

Cool mug!

After the beat to the rock pile, your hair is just stuck that way. ;)

As race chair, the typical entry swag was an SSS t-shirt. There are 3BF t shirts from '84 and '85 in a drawer somewhere. Sailors's t-shirt drawers were getting full after a while. One favorite suggestion was an SSS mug with the race and year, and the 'geek' logo on the opposite side. The logo was also used on other SSS paperwork.

At one point, I was curious about who created the 'geek' artwork. Chuck Hawley was Commodore in '82 or '83 (and was the one who asked me to be race chair). Chuck told me the name, but my memory has not been able to recall that. But, I remember meeting the guy, a redhead from Santa Cruz, may have even been a West Marine employee. My suggestion is to go back to Chuck for information.

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Originally Posted by AntsUiga

As race chair, the typical entry swag was an SSS t-shirt. There are 3BF t shirts from '84 and '85 in a drawer somewhere. Sailors's t-shirt drawers were getting full after a while. One favorite suggestion was an SSS mug with the race and year, and the 'geek' logo on the opposite side. The logo was also used on other SSS paperwork.

At one point, I was curious about who created the 'geek' artwork. Chuck Hawley was Commodore in '82 or '83 (and was the one who asked me to be race chair). Chuck told me the name, but my memory has not been able to recall that. But, I remember meeting the guy, a redhead from Santa Cruz, may have even been a West Marine employee. My suggestion is to go back to Chuck for information.

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To quote Chuck Hawley, "Peter Costello, who passed away in January at the age of 70, was the originator of the Geek. Ex-West Marine CEO Geoff Eisenberg and I were speaking recently about Peter and his contribution to West Marine by creating the Geek. I believe that I hired Peter in the early 80s to work in the Palo Alto store. But Peter's talents as a catalog producer and artist rapidly eclipsed his talents as a retail sales associate."

Peter Costello was a good guy and friend to all. This recall of the Geek and Peter's artwork for SSS is a fitting tribute. Thanks, Ants.

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Originally Posted by AntsUiga

One favorite suggestion was an SSS mug with the race and year, and the 'geek' logo on the opposite side. The logo was also used on other SSS paperwork.

At one point, I was curious about who created the 'geek' artwork. Chuck Hawley was Commodore in '82 or '83 (and was the one who asked me to be race chair). Chuck told me the name, but my memory has not been able to recall that. But, I remember meeting the guy, a redhead from Santa Cruz, may have even been a West Marine employee. My suggestion is to go back to Chuck for information.

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Thanks, Ants. I'd like a cup like that for any race. Like you, my drawers are full up with tshirts. Although it does save one from shopping :-) Kristen Soetabier is our treasurer now, so maybe she'll read this thread and consider the possibility.

Now, how about the story behind the Three Bridge Fiasco? Was it decided during a late night drinking spree or what? Who was there? Who objected that it would be dangerous? I'd like to know, and your response here will lend it historical gravitas. Ed Ruszel just left me a phone message: he has a box full of SSS memorabilia. Maybe what was lost when Peter Hogg's car went into a ditch over near Stinson.

I have a pair of SHF coffee mugs from about 1992 I think...

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Originally Posted by AlanH

I have a pair of SHF coffee mugs from about 1992 I think...

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Bring 'em to the Cruise down to Sierra Point Yacht Club November 16. Who knows? Maybe there will be a prize for the oldest coffee mugs.

Not as old as the mugs but I've got some 90s trophies that were embroidered wool blankets.

My t-shirt drawer has two from the 1984 and 1985 3BF. One was blue and the other red.

Ants

The check showed 1985 was blue, and 1984 was absent. I wouldn't trust my memory alone on 1984 color.

To help understand the origins of the Three Bridge Fiasco Race, it may be useful to relate some of my sailing background. This will come in parts, since my prior long post was lost in the digital abyss.

Since the late 1950's, every summer was spent on Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. School was over around Memorial Day and we headed north, with a return around Labor Day. There were row boats, canoes, powerboats, and sailboats spread over those years. Before having a driver's license, the powerboat was preferred. The sailing dinghy was fun when it arrived with its lateen (Sunfish) rig.

When I finally got my college degree and had a professional job, there was money to spend. The choice was between a motorcycle or a sailboat. I recalled there was always someone with a limp in a motorcycle shop, so a 19-foot Lightning class sailboat was purchased. It was no coincidence since Lake Bomoseen had a Lightning fleet that raced on a regular basis.

(To be continued)

Ants - sorry, yes, this forum times you out if you take too long writing a post. It's exasperating, and I don't know if there's a way to give people more time.

There are a couple tricks to work around this problem. You can create your post in another place, like a word-processing program or even as an e-mail, and then copy and paste it into a new message on here when it's finished.

Or copy (save) your unfinished post every few minutes by dragging your mouse over it from beginning to end so it's all blue, right clicking, and selecting copy. This will save what you've written so far, if you get timed out. If that happens, log in again, reply to the thread and in the window, right click and paste what you saved from the cyber clip-board.

I hope that helps.

I, too, have my 1989 Farallones Mug, which I use frequently. I finally tracked Ants down in 1985 to get signed up for the SSS - it took almost a year. I believe he was working at an East Bay bank. In those days it was all phone and mail, so communications were often phone-tags. Shama called and said I was the new SSS Secretary/Treasurer as soon as she received my membership form and dues. Shama knew me from my service as Sausalito Cruising Club Race Chair and Newport 30 Class Chairman. We'd also touched bases when I was various officers in the Coronado 25 Association in previous years. I'd stop by the Mill Valley P.O. to pick up mail and go to Peter's office where the SSS Executive meetings were held. I'd open envelopes, sort bills, log checks into a ledger, and Shama would pay bills and deposit checks. I'd also sign a bunch of blank checks so she could counter sign and pay bills in between meetings. From there I "worked" my way up through all the other offices, but often found myself back as secretary/treasurer somehow.
About the blanket trophy. Being "secretary/treasurer involved arranging for race mementos and trophies. Around 1990 or so winners began to say they had too many of those 5X8 wooden plaques and tee shirts, so we began handing out "practical" trophies. Lina and I shopped for "nautical themed" prizes: blankets, WM gift cards, winch handles, seat cushions, early versions of head lamps, etc. We'd attach an engraved tag with the race information. I still use a chart book cover I won in a race, although the tag has long since vanished.
For race mementos we began handing out caps, license plate frames, cups, glasses, bags and such instead of tees. "Trophies" for the HMB race came from a box of unclaimed "trophy things" with winners going up and picking out a "thing" as their trophy. Although I no longer use it, I have the headlamp I won for a First in Class in a HMB race. If there were unclaimed trophies left, the non-winners dived in.
Pat Broderick

BobJ - thanks for the note about timing out. Now, I know why my post fizzled. Cut and paste works nicely, but my computer died. It is a joy and inconvenience to not have it.

Patrick - thanks for the SSS memories and taking over the Commodore job when I moved to So Cal in 1990. I have been sharing memories with Dan and Linda. It is fun for us old timers and hope the newer folks see the fun that keeps the SSS going.

Back to Vermont, I sailed the Lightning, had no disasters and thought I would enter in one of the races on the lake. Well we started close to everyone, but that was the last time we saw them. The race committee did not wait for us to finish. They took the finish line and went home.

Not to be discouraged, a regional regatta was announced for Lake Champlain. We attended a very windy regatta. Our upwind performance lacked a flat main, so with lots of flogging we inched upwind. Our not so stellar performance was put out of its misery when the windward quick release upper shroud shook loose and the mast broke.

The new aluminum mast was on the boat when I moved to CA in 1977 and brought the Lightning along.

Ants

Some some legacy license plate frames too!

For years while the SSS was headquartered in Marin, there was a storage unit just across the Richmond Bridge. It made sense since the membership meetings were held in the old Oakland YC so a stop in Richmond on the way to a meeting or coming back was easy. When the SSS moved its operation from Marin to the East Bay, a decision was made to give up the storage unit. That year SSS donated over a thousand tee-shirts that hadn't been pick up to BaHaHa boats who took them south to hand out. For the casual observer it must have appeared there were more SSS members south of the border than in SF. Boxes of mugs and glasses went to local charity stores. We passed out lic. plate frames, burgees, and other nicknacks to SSS skippers. I took 3 frames and the to part of the 3rd and last is on the van on the driveway. Pat

Patrick, you probably tracked me down at an engineering firm with an office at the Clairmont / Fairmont Hotel in Berkeley. It was great to read that SSS swag was moving all along the Pacific Coast.

When I arrived in Palo Alto, I rented on of the small tract houses next to the Bayshore Freeway. The landlord was so happy about buying the house for $60k. I was aghast when comparing to NH prices. I went looking to buy a cruising sailboat instead.

To be continued

Even though I had the Lightning, a cruising boat was sought. I bought AKKA, a Dutch built, traditional cruising boat built in 1964. Although it was nicely designed for cruising the European canals, AKKA was entered and finished the 2nd OSTAR race in 1966 with Valentine Howells as skipper. The boat had the Hasler self-steering gear on the transom and state of the art B & G instruments. The hull was rounded steel with 1-inch thick teak decks and traditional mahogany cabin sides. At a displacement of 16,000 pounds, it was more comfortable than fast.

Since I was living in Palo Alto, the closest marine store was the fledgling West Coat Ropes. The staff includes Chuck Hawley, the SSS commodore at the time, and Peter Costello who drew the SSS Geek and other graphic art. In 1983 (about), Chuck asked me if I was interested in being race chair for the SSS. My obvious lack of experience did no stop me from saying Yes.

At the time, the races were the Singlehanded Farralons, the Vallejo 1-2, the singlehanded Transpac every other year, and maybe an ocean race to Half Moon Bay or Drakes Bay.

The SSS Board was interested in more races so the search began.

In 1983 and 1984, the YRA calendar was as full as it is now. Finding an open weekend was a challenge. George Sigler solved this problem with the initial Singlehanded Farralons Race by scheduling it on Easter Sunday. There were no sailing conflicts with other events.

The YRA calendar is a example of continuing courtesy. If a yacht club has an event, they get to keep it whether the event is large or small. This courtesy is an example of how YRA operates smoothly.

As the calendar was perused, an open time slot was found - Super Bowl Saturday. No one would schedule a race to conflict with the Super Bowl, but Saturday was up for grabs. Typically, the Super Bowl was the last weekend in January.

Well, the race chair has the responsibility to come up with a race that fits wind, tide, and time constraints. Let's see the winds go from zero to gale force depending on storm conditions. The tide can be as predicted or way off based on increased runoff from the entire state of Cailfornia.

The SSS asks for a race. No problem..... Let me think about it overnight.

The next morning, ideas were running on overdrive. There is no way the SSS race chair can come up with a defined race, so the BEST thing to do was to DELEGATE the race to the skippers. The three marks were chosen as a challenge - Three Bridges or a reasonable approximation for each. Then, the course direction was also left to the Skippers. A reverse handicap start would theoretically having everyone finish at the same time.

The idea was presented to the SSS board (Dan Newland, Peter Hogg, Graham Hawkes, Fred Joyce - to the best of my memory). The response was the race was decidedly different, but Why Not! So, the Three Bridge Fiasco was off.

The race chair and race committe had their work cut out. Well, in 1984, it was easy with only two finishers.

The true success of the Three Bridge Fiasco race was guaranteed by the continuing efforts of the race committee. The race has continually grown and the details to make it work are ever evolving.

The original write up by Latitude 38 added the publicity. I still the issue as well as permission to reprint the article. How, do I get the information on the forum.

Ants

I kicked over a shoebox full of photos.

Some may be entertaining.

For the background, I bought a Lightning Class sailboat in 1975 when I was living in NH. Racing skills were non-existent, but I was having fun. The race committee left on my first race because I was too slow to finish.

With a little more experience (not necessarily more skill), I signed up for a regional regatta on Lake Champlain. It was blowing harder than I had experienced before. The knowledge to flatten sail and curve mast was missing.

To avoid capsizing, we sailed along the course with the main flogging. All the flogging shook loose the upper shroud. The result was documented in this faded Polaroid from the day.

Attachment 5730

It was a learning experience, not a discouraging. The Lightning ended up with a metal mast and came to CA with me in 1977.

Ants

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Originally Posted by solosailor

Some some legacy license plate frames too!

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I had one of those on my Honda for years!

photo as if not from 1975, but 1875

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Originally Posted by JustinRoberts

photo as if not from 1975, but 1875

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Yes!

Cn the collective "us" compile a list of past commodores? I remember Pat Zajac and Mark Deppe.

Before my SSS days, I sailed SBRA in my Lightning. The SBRA circuit included many events at the Richmond YC, but Tomales Bay and the Inverness YC was a fun place to sail. Here’s a picture from the late 70’s.
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Cn the collective "us" compile a list of past commodores? I remember Pat Zajac and Mark Deppe.

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I did a stint.

SSS commodores from the 1980’s.
Chuck Hawley around 1982 and 1983
Peter Hogg 1984 to late 1980’s
Ants Uiga 1989 (1/2 term due to move to So CA
Pat Broderick 1990 (finished out my term)

Before Chuck Hawley, was before my time. Maybe George Sigler. But, ask the old timers like Skip!

Ants