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 Steve Rienhart and Laraine McKinnon's Antrim 27 Cascade in the 1999 Stone Cup. ©1999 Mariah's Eyes Photography |
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Sailing Valentines February 14, 2012 Happy Valentine's Day, dear reader. In honor of the lovers' holiday, these local couples share their stories of sailing romance. Anna Alderkamp and Thijs Kaper Anna (36) and Thijs (40) came to the Bay Area from The Netherlands in 2005 as academic researchers to work at Stanford for a couple of years. "We liked it so much we decided to stick around." Thijs moved on to a Biotech company to make biofuels from plants; Anna is still researching Antarctic algae at Stanford and occasionally dips down south on research icebreakers in the Antarctic. (Crossing the Southern Ocean with waves breaking on the bridge of the icebreaker, about five stories above the water, cured Anna of any desire to sail down there.) They've lived in Half Moon Bay for the past two years. They met when Thijs arrived as a young handsome postdoc at Groningen University, The Netherlands. He was quickly snatched up from the bachelor pool by the fair and gregarious Anna, who was completing her PhD at the time. "We started sailing together in The Netherlands my parents' boat," said Anna, "a 30-ft Compromis 888, named Beerenburgh, after a local variety of Jagermeister. "We also competed separately in the Briorace, the biggest small boat race in The Netherlands, where about 80 rental open keelboats start at 0700 to complete a 40-mile race over lakes and through canals, with 15 bridges, not all of which open. This requires fast lowering of the mast during the race. Also, paddling and pulling the boat along the shore are allowed to get past windholes. It's a very fun race with a great party afterwards. I raced with an all-women team and won the women's trophy of the event three times. "In 2007 we helped our friends Adam and Tasha on the delivery of their Catalina 35, Gatto Gordo, from Seattle to San Francisco. This was our first ocean sailing experience. When we came in under the Golden Gate, we saw a little boat sailing back and forth in front of Alcatraz." It turned out to be a Santana 22. Some googling revealed the class website, and Anna started crewing on Maguru, skipperd by Gerard Kuperus, coincidently another Dutch guy. After helming Maguru back across the Bay from a race, Anna instantly fell in love with the Tunas. A search through some very rundown specimens led Thijs and Anna to Poniente, a ’77 Santana 22 in mint condition. "We daysailed Poniente out of Oyster Point for two years and did the Sierra Point Beer Can Races, getting used to big winds on the South Bay." Meanwhile, Anna was regular foredeck for Tom Montoya on Meliki. Together with Javier Jerez, the former owner of Poniente, they became fleet champions for two years. Meanwhile, Thijs crewed on various other Santana 22s, including Meliki, Frank Lawler & Cathy Stierhof's Tackful, Megan Dwyer's London Calling, and Tchoupitoulas with Stephen Buckingham and Chris Giovachinni. Thijs joined Tom and Anna on Meliki for the Great Pumpkin Race in 2009. "When we were leading towards the top mark, Thijs held onto a winch handle that was not locked in. He slowly fell overboard, still holding on to the winch handle. Tom and Anna made a quick turnaround, heading for Thijs full speed. We grabbed him, got the winch handle, and belly-flopped him onboard. We still made the mark and won the race."
"In October 2010 we borrowed a truck and drove down to L.A. to buy Byte Size, the first of the new Santana 22s, built in 2001. We now sail Byte Size out of Treasure Island, doing the YRA series with Anna as skipper and Thijs as foredeck. We also sail together on Nick Sands’ Sabre 40 Escapade for some of the ocean races, and on Tim McDonald's Tartan Ten Lazy Lightning in Sierra Point Beer Cans. "When we get a bit too excited during a race we start speaking in Dutch; when other crew members lose comprehension, they know something is being discussed." We asked Anna and Thijs about their future sailing plans. Thijs: "More first place guns in the YRA series!" Anna: "Sail to Hawaii together." Their crew member, Keay Edwards, made a video of the YRA season closer to Point Bonita. Thijs is on foredeck and Anna is steering, Keay is in there as well, and Cecile Holweg. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbQoBqZVu7k. Ben and Lucie Mewes Ben was well known among Estuary racers and the SSS, and Lucie raced out of Berkeley and Richmond. "We might not have met if not for the storm-ravaged January 2000 Corinthian Midwinters," said Lucie, "the one where the bobcat came tumbling down the cliff above the Cal 20s in the dry-storage area – and the meddling of Joani Byrne and Betty Lessley. The ladies were right: we loved to dance together." Dancing at Sam's followed, but Lucie resisted Ben's invitation to show her the etchings belowdecks on Georgia. Ben disappeared over the horizon, first sailing to Hanalei in the Singlehanded TransPac, and then rejuvenating a relationship with his ex. "I went to Hawaii too, in the Pacific Cup," said Lucie, "on the late Don Van Dyken's Caliber 40 Omega, I and continued racing on Ed Durbin's Olson 911s IXXIS out of Richmond. "Things changed with 9/11, for us as well as the U.S. I began racing Estuary beer cans seriously on Laraine Salmon's Merit 25 Bewitched and raced on the Estuary-based Santa Cruz 50, Oaxaca, preparing for another PacCup. Joani Byrne's birthday party at Encinal YC brought us together and we did the ocean race of the year the next day. It was a great match and the next season we raced both of Ben's boats in all the shorthanded races. I pegged 19 coming home from the Farallones on Georgia! "In 2003 we decided to race Ben's little boat Mirage, the Black Soo, to Hawaii in the 2004 Pacific Cup and sailed the SSS LongPac as a trial run. Valuable crew lessons were learned, not the least was that we knew we wanted more sailing together. That fall Ben began to woo me in earnest as health issues became more challenging (I began treatment for Hepatitis C).
"By the Corinthian Midwinters in January 2004 a proposal was uttered by Ben. The Berkeley YC Wheeler Regatta occasioned a "yes!" Latitude 38's Race Notes in the June issue announced our plans – read with delight in Monterey at the Spinnaker Cup! We were married after sailing the SSS Corinthian race and raced doublehanded in the Pacific Cup for our honeymoon. "Sailing plans to turn left from the Gate were put on hold when I got liver cancer and began the long wait for a liver transplant. I developed a very ghoulish sense of humor, and asked everyone I met if they'd made the choice whether or not to make the gift of life as an organ donor. "A miracle came on January 15, 2011, as an anniversary gift: 11 years after we met at the Corinthian Midwinters, instead of racing Ben waited as UCSF's Liver Transplant Team received a liver from Phoenix and gave me a new life. "Have you chosen to make a gift of life? Go to http://donatelife.net/register-now. Thank you." Ben and Lucie live aboard Georgia at Richmond YC. Steve Rienhart and Laraine McKinnon "We met sailing, of course!" writes Steve. "Specifically, we were competing against each other in the 1995 Thunderbird Worlds held at Encinal YC." Laraine was competing with a family team from her native Boston area, while Steve was sailing on a local boat. "In the very first minutes off the line of the first race," said Steve, "I hiked out, took a look around, and noticed this rather attractive young lady sitting on the rail of another boat to leeward and astern. Well, if she looks that good covered in salt water while wearing her 'Omega bustier' and yellow foulies, I need to make it a point to meet her later. At that point I noticed the largest member of their crew stand up on the foredeck, step over Laraine and the other crew (his mother, it turns out) on the rail, go below and return a moment later with the spinnaker turtle. Didn’t seem like a winning move to me. After the day’s racing, I noticed her on the lawn at the club, walked up, took my sunglasses off and introduced myself. I then laughingly announced that we were going to beat them. Hey, it was an ice-breaker." "I noticed this blonde California sailor-type approach me," said Laraine, "take off his sunglasses – at which time I noticed he had really blue eyes – and then arrogantly told me they were going to beat us. What a hoot. He then kept hitting on me all week of the regatta."
"By the end of the regatta," their story continues, "we had a date scheduled for the following week, and the rest is history: winning and losing sailboat races, having fun, trading days and even seasons as skipper and crew of our new boat (which she insisted be purchased ahead of any ring – who was I to argue?), living in the City for ten years, and then a move to the 'rural suburbs' of the Peninsula eight years ago. "We now have two wonderful daughters (6 and 4.5) who love swimming and sailing, and continue to enjoy every minute together. Seventeen years strong and moving full steam ahead into the future! "Some of our sailing family highlights include America’s Cups in New Zealand; an annual trip to Huntington Lake and Santa Barbara for Mercury racing; many South Tower races together; daysailing and weekending our Antrim 27, Cascade, with the family; winning our class championship in 2005 with our eldest as a 'legally weighed-in stowaway' in-utero; and every opportunity to swim or visit the 'Ott Club' to relax." Mike and Linda Mannix "Mike and I are Oakland natives and grew up very close to each other," wrote Linda. "We met at the marina where he berths his Catalina 38, Harp. I was a member of the Port of Oakland rowing team on Razzle Dazzle, a Monomoy lifeboat. The team convinced Mike to come rowing and do a few races. Then I invited Mike to join us on a summer outing to the Delta to houseboat and waterski, which turned out to be our first date in 1992. I started racing on Harp that summer and thought it was great!
Mike has raced Harp for more than 25 years and enjoys the sport very much. "I don't think Mike has missed a doublehanded race offered by the local yacht clubs, such as the Gracie & George or Rites of Spring. He also does crewed races offered by Golden Gate and Corinthian Yacht Clubs and a few of the doublehanded races offered by Singlehanded Sailing Society." When Mike is not racing Harp, he enjoys crewing on other boats such as Golden Moon, Kame Richards' and Bill Bridges' Express 37. "When we did the Rites of Spring race together for the first time, Mike put on a tether. I've noticed he doesn't do that anymore, so maybe I've quit scaring him with my driving!" "After being together for about 18 years, we got married on one of my furlough Fridays from work. I always liked to do something special, something to remember, on a 'layoff' day! We are both retired now and are planning on doing more sailing, just for fun. A lunch at a Bayside restaurant and exploring the Bay on a nice day sounds good." Beau and Stacey Vrolyk "Stacey and I had been getting to know each other over a few drinks, dinner and a couple of days sailing on San Francisco Bay aboard various modest sized cruising boats in the local charter fleet," writes Beau Vrolyk. "Stacey wasn't a sailor before bumping into me, and her initiation to taking the helm (of a Modern Sailing Academy Beneteau 35) was me saying something like: 'Oops, I have to fix that mess on the foredeck. Here, drive us towards Alcatraz.' It was only when I was finished sorting out a broken roller-furling jib that it dawned on me that I hadn't actually explained anything about sailing the boat. I looked back and she was sailing along just fine on a windy summer's day on the Bay, wine glass in hand. "A while later, we were watching the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale, and as the scene with the beautiful sloop sailing on the Grand Canal in Venice came up near the end Stacey said in a voice loud enough for half the theater to hear: 'Well, if you really loved me you'd buy one of those!' The laughter in the theater was infectious. That laughter and joy lead to the hunt for 'Our Boat.' Our search took us to Seattle, Southampton, Nice and Cannes before we discovered our S'agapo, a Spirit 46 built by Spirit Yachts in Ipswich, England.
"S'agapo came to Santa Cruz from England aboard ship and truck. She was in desperate need of attention and affection, which we laid on with sandpaper, paint sprayers and varnish brushes. Glistening in the warm California sunshine, she was launched into the Pacific Ocean late last summer. Since, she has sailed the Monterey Bay shaking out the remaining hockles in her lines. When her re-fit is complete, she'll be sailing further afield, hosting our four children and many good friends on San Francisco Bay and more distant ports.
"S'agapo is named in honor of Stacey's grandmother. It means 'I love you' in her native Greek, and is what she whispered in Stacey's ear each night as she tucked her in years ago."
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