Area Yacht Clubs Already Are Churning Up the Seas

Southern California yachting activity already is under way--well before most yacht clubs have prepared their agendas for opening day ceremonies.

The San Diego Association of Yacht Clubs will hold its fifth annual midwinter regatta Saturday through Monday in San Diego Bay, east of Harbor Island. The fleet is expected to number 150, all sloops from 20-40 feet in length.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 sailboats, 8-70 feet in length in various harbors from Oxnard to Mission Bay will participate in the 56th annual midwinter regatta of the Southern California Yachting Assn.

Saturday, the Sweetheart Race of the Marathon Boat Racers Assn. will churn up the sea from Marina del Rey to Palos Verdes and return. Twenty-five power boats, 20-40 feet in length, will compete.

The Del Rey Yacht Club (Marina del Rey) is taking entries for its 1985 Tannenberg Sunday Skipper Series to be sailed March 3, May 19, July 28 and Sept. 8. The Dr. Jerome Tannenberg Trophy will be awarded to the yacht with the lowest total score for its four best Sunday Skipper Races.

The Dana Point Yacht Club is inviting all sailing skippers to enter the Henry Harding Regatta on March 3. Special ratings or yacht club affiliations are not required. DPYC also announced its 13th running of the club race series. Race dates are March 23, May 4, June 29, Aug. 10, Sept. 15 and Oct. 13. Races will start and finish outside Dana Point Harbor.

Huntington Harbour Yacht Club’s Fun Fleet will hold a cruise and brunch to the Long Beach Yacht Club on Feb. 24. Meanwhile, HHYC members with a theatrical bent are busy rehearsing for a musical, “A Whirl of Broadway,” featuring songs from famous musical comedies, to be presented Feb. 22, 23, 27 and March 1 and 2.

On Feb. 21, two of Balboa Yacht Club’s sea-wise couples, Ed and Ruth Steen and Burt and Bonnie Zillgitt, will share their experiences of emergencies at sea when the first mate must take command. The talk will begin at 7:45 p.m.

BYC has issued awards to skippers and crews that have logged 1,000 miles by sea to or from the yacht club during 1984. They are John Arens, Ben Greene, Bert Henning, Mike Hirsh, John Johnson, Rick Othmer, Steve Pauley, Gared Smith, Fran Smith, Clark Sumner, Maudie Sumner, Harry Thomasen, Jacqueline Thomasen, Preston Zillgitt, Bonnie Zillgitt, Patricia Zorn, Donald McGillis and Charles Sparkuhl.

You can watch migrating whales from the revenue cutter Californian on Saturday and Sunday. On board to narrate and answer questions about whales will be Merrill “Rusty” White, former whale trainer at San Diego’s Sea World. In addition, the Californian is offering an “Ancient Mariners Sail” for three days from Dana Point to Catalina Island on Feb. 18-24. For further information call the Nautical Heritage Society at Dana Point, 661-1001.

Fines assessed by California courts for fish and game violations last year amounted to more than $2 million, an all-time high, and an increase of 61% over 1983.

The National Coalition for Marine Conservation, Pacific Region, has offered its support to the cities of Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley by urging the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a full environmental impact report, before dumping hazardous waste from the Stringfellow disposal site into the Orange County Sanitation District plant and then into the local ocean outfall. The Coalition, with a membership of 10,000 recreational fishermen, is alarmed by the depletion of important marine fish stocks and the deterioration of the marine environment. It has been estimated that 180,000 gallons of treated Stringfellow waste will be dumped into the ocean each day, posing a possible long-term threat of low-level toxins to sea animals and fish. The dumping is scheduled to begin next month.