Welcome to BAIR ISLAND NEWS, BIAC's electronic newsletter. The purpose of BIN is to communicate with members about the Center's activities and programs, to promote a greater sense of community within BIAC, and to spread awareness of BIAC's activities beyond the membership list.

Your comments and contributions are always welcome. Please email them to the editor, Craig Canine. Thanks!

IN THIS ISSUE

GENERAL BIAC NEWS

  • Possible New Boathouse Site Faces Final Hurdle

PADDLING NEWS

  • BIAC Paddlers/Hui Wa’a Place Second Overall at NCOCA Regatta Championships

ROWING NEWS

  • BIAC Junior Crew News

COMING EVENTS

GENERAL BIAC NEWS

Even as the new Stanford Boathouse nears completion, another nearby waterfront project has reached a critical point that could affect BIAC's future. The project is called the Westpoint Marina, a proposed boating facility that's now in its final stage of approval. If built, the marina could provide BIAC with an attractive future home.

As most members know, BIAC's current facility is on leased land. The lease runs out in a few years, and a committee formed by the previous board of directors (headed by Susan Rowinski) identified a list of options for relocation. One of these options was Westpoint Marina, a private development project spearheaded by Silicon Valley businessman Mark Sanders.

Lamenting the disappearance of an active boating industry and full-service support facility in the South Bay, Sanders and his group have worked for a decade on plans to restore such services to boating enthusiasts on the Peninsula. The group purchased part of a large parcel of land that Cargill formerly used for salt production. The parcel is located on Westpoint Slough, which BIAC members will recognize as the wide-mouthed slough that opens onto the south side (opposite Corkscrew Slough) of Redwood Creek, shortly before you reach the high wires crossing the Creek (if you're headed towards the Bay).

Here's an aerial photo of proposed marina site:

http://www.westpointmarina.com/Marina.jpg

The Westpoint project would convert the current salt pond on the site to a 408-slip marina with a boatyard, dry storage, and associated water-oriented businesses. These would include a sail loft, rigging shop, boat chandlery, marine engine shop, and other facilities associated with the boating industry. In addition, permanent facilities are planned for various sailing, rowing and boating clubs, including the Sea Scouts and Coast Guard Auxiliary, a south bay yacht club, and a public cafe.

For more information about the Westpoint Marina project, visit the group's web site: www.westpointmarina.com.

BIAC president David Abraham, on behalf of the Board, has expressed a strong interest to the Westpoint developers in being part of the project. He has also urged BIAC members to advocate approval of the Westpoint Marina project with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). The BCDC's approval is the final hurdle the project faces before it can proceed with construction.

Several BIAC members attended the Commission's July 17 meeting for a public hearing of the Westpoint project's application. Commissioners asked several questions, which are being addressed in a recommendation on the application that BCDC staffers are now completing. The Commission will vote on this recommendation at its next meeting, scheduled for August 7.

Stay tuned for more news on this project. Whatever happens will have an important impact on BIAC's future.

For early-morning rowers and paddlers, the tide will be too low to get out in multi-person boats on these days in August:

Fri 8/8 - No Boats
Mon 8/11 - No Boats
Mon 8/25 - No Boats
Mon 8/27 - Questionable

If you are interested in tracking tidal conditions for the Port of Redwood City, here some helpful web sites. Look at the tide level at Smith slough, which is the closest reading to the BIAC dock.
1. http://www.duckcentral.com/daily_tideA.shtml - only gives predictions for the current day and the next day.
2. http://www.harbortides.com/tidetable.asp?Station=3201&period=0 - good, but you have to sign up (free).
3. http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/TS-Plot.cgi - USGS tide and wind data for the current 24-hour period as measured at the Port of Redwood City pier.

PADDLING NEWS - By Dave Jensen

For outrigger canoe racing in Northern California, June and July are the time for sprint racing at "the regattas." This year’s schedule included five regattas, each with 35 different events varying in length from 250m to 2000m.

We placed second overall in the A Division at the final championship regatta in both the OC6 class and the OC1 class. We also finished second overall in the season-long series. Many of our paddlers concentrate their efforts on the longer-distance races and don’t attend the regattas. Our second placings are, therefore, especially remarkable considering the limited participation we had. Leading the way were our Senior Masters women's and men's crews.

Our keiki (kids) crews deserve a special mention. Our keikis consist mostly of the grandchildren of Shaka and Thelma Madali. Even though they were the smallest kids on the water, they were able to place in a couple of events during the season.

In appreciation for her work in organizing our crews at the regattas, it was decided to give one of the overall trophies to Thelma Madali. THANKS THELMA!

We have had two Saturday morning CAPs (Community Access Programs) sessions to introduce outrigger canoe paddling to those in the community. We have partnered with the various local rec departments in order to offer these programs. These two single-session CAPS events have now grown into a regular novice paddling program that meets on Tuesday and Thursday nights. (Gosh, it's gotta be hard for a rower to adapt to facing the same direction the boat is moving!) If you or someone you know whishes to get involved in the novice outrigger paddling program, contact David at david_abr@yahoo.com.

Many of the fall outrigger canoe races in which we compete are “nine-man” races. In these long-distance races, nine-person crews race in the six-person canoes (OC6s). A partial crew change takes place approximately every 20 minutes, when three fresh paddlers climb out of the water and into the canoe and three spent paddlers jump out of the canoe and into the water.

ROWING NEWS

Bair Island’s advanced women's and novice adult racing crews turned in solid efforts at the USRowing Southwest Regional Championships, held on July 21 in Long Beach, CA. They came off the water with medals, valuable racing experience, a bit of seawater -- and some stitches. On a day when temperatures soared above 90 degrees, humidity felt like over 90 percent, and boat congestion reached mind-boggling levels in Long Beach’s Marine Stadium, a lean turnout of rowing clubs battled for prizes along the 1000-meter Olympic course. BIAC set up its boats and tents next to a friendly bunch from a fledgling Tempe, AZ, club and prepared for a hot day of jumping in and out of boats, cheering each other on, and surviving the heat.

The first BIAC event brought early hardware to one of two advanced women’s 4+ entries. A crew consisting of Kristin Henny, Karna Nisewaner, Tyler Morse and Jenny Antons grabbed bronze medals despite being driven by guest coxswain Zoltan "Clydesdale" Gombosi. Next, a women’s double event provided a chance for Henny and Antons to hone their style as they cruised the course smoothly. Similarly, the women’s novice 4+ put on a fine performance in their maiden race. Crew members Chrystina Santos, Yvonne French, Cheryl Elliot, Lupei Chang and cox Min Tang arrived onshore looking exhilarated, then celebrated with their proud coach, Jenny Antons.

One of the day's more character-building events involved Andy Cordes’ entry in the Men’s Novice single event. A sunnier smile has never lit the face of a sculler whose race-day strategy inadvertently included a couple of swims, one while paddling to the start and the other en route from the finish line. The BIAC crowd cheered Cordes’ progress more loudly than any other event of the day.

The women’s 8+ event wrapped up the racing day with a flourish. BIAC’s boat, which seated the above-mentioned (and previously-decorated) rowers from the 4+, as well as Bethanie Bayha, Laura Foster, Fiona Ashley and Jessica Boetner, took a solid position off the start. (Boetner graciously substituted for Victoria Szabo, who was victim of a trailer attack and brought home seven stitches in her shin.) Four crews battled within seats of each other for the first 600m of the race, having bid adieu (in the wrong direction, alas) to the home-water Long Beach Rowing Club off the start. Approaching the sprint, BIAC found itself a few seats down on second place to Los Angeles Rowing Club, so coxswain Tang kicked it up a notch. Two power tens, one bone-crushing sprint, and a perfectly-steered course later, BIAC edged LARC by 1.5 seconds to bring home the silver.

Most of these crews look forward to building on their SW Regional performances at the upcoming Lake Merritt Sprints (August 3) and the USRowing Masters National Championships (August 21-24).                               - Laura Foster

Photos: (top) Team BIAC at the SW Regionals in Long Beach; (bottom) The silver-medal winning BIAC women's 8+ crew.

- A water-safety demonstration and training for what to do when your boat flips and you wind up in the water.

We want to make this an active part of the BIAC sculling program. For those who want to get extra coaching and perhaps train together from time to time, this is the group to be in touch with. If you're interested, contact Nora Cain.

David Abraham and I are pleased to announce that we are in the final stages of acquiring two beautiful heavyweight Vespoli Ultralight DXL racing shells from Yale University. The shells are in excellent condition and are a much-needed and welcome addition to our aging fleet.

We should be taking delivery of the shells while attending Masters Nationals in August. Thanks go to David and all of the BIAC board members for making this purchase happen. Additional thanks go to the BIAC Junior Crew for their aid in fund-raising and contribution of funds towards the purchase.       - Carl Sziebert, BIAC Rowing Equipment Manager and Junior Crew Co-Coach

BIAC Junior Crew News

Huge Congratulations go to three members of the BIAC Junior Crew Team. Dina Drennan, Melissa Kody, and Cassandra Baelix were all accepted into a development camp in Sacramento run by Capital Crew. All accepted competitors attended the first week of competition, then cuts were made to create a traveling team. Junior coaches Ally , Carl Sziebert, and Mei Fong are ecstatic to say that all three of our girls made the team! They trained in Sacramento for an additional week, then headed to NJ to race at the USRowing National Junior Championships Regatta on July 21-27. We are so proud of our girls, who represented BIAC with great skill and spirit!

We are happy to announce that Mei Fong has joined our coaching staff as the Novice coach for the BIAC Junior team. Mei is already proving herself to be a tremendous asset to our team.   With a roster of 48 kids this summer(!!), we have our hands full.   This summer, the Junior team will race in a club scrimmage against Los Gatos and at the Lake Merritt Sprints on August 3.   - Ally Bocchieri, BIAC Junior Crew Head Coach

COMING EVENTS

  • September 10 - Board meeting, 7pm at boathouse

As you prepare for races this sprint season, keep these starting tips in mind.

  - Stop spinning. Are your racing starts effective? Or are you tearing at the water and going backwards as you rush at a 42 into the catch? The main goal of a start is to pry the boat away from the stake boat one stroke at a time, while building speed throughout the first five strokes. Imagine pushing an SUV (similar in weight to an eight) from a dead stop. You overcome inertia with small slow steps, slowly lengthening your stride and speed, feeling the power in your feet. In the boat, the oars are your feet.

  - The shift. After the start, the firmest stroke of the race is the first stroke of the shift (you may call it the settle). The tone of the race is determined in this stroke. As you shift the rate down, you must have a SOLID catch, pry with the legs and LENGTHEN your stroke. Everyone in the boat has to be committed to this rate change and be PRECISE.           - Mayrene Earle, M.Ed.

- From MastersCoaching newsletter by Mayrene T. Earle, Rowing/Life Coach. See more from Mayrene at her web site: www.MastersCoaching.com .

GO BAIR!