Charity Regatta’s winner is The Children’s Clinic

by Rick Roberts on 25 Sep 2007
When the 60 sailboats had finished racing and the trophies handed out, the real winner Sunday in the 21st Annual Charity Regatta was The Children’s Clinic of Long Beach with more than $40,000.00 in donations from racers and sponsors.

Guy Shulman, Chief Development Officer for The Children’s Clinic tried to put it into perspective.

'Few people here today can understand the enormity of what they’re doing,' Shulman said, 'and what this means to the families. Never mind that people’s lives will be helped by what money is raised today, some could die if it wasn’t for these donations.'

The Children’s Clinic was started in 1939 by a group of doctors and businessmen who recognized a need for health care, especially those in low-income families.

But it wasn’t until 1987 that four local yacht club commodores got together and decided it was time to give back to the community. Pete Ives, Long Beach Yacht Club; Hans Schoedl, Shoreline Yacht Club; Tom Ramsey, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and Larry Lewis, Seal Beach Yacht Club had several meetings at each others homes to set the plan in motion that for 21 years has benefited The Children’s Clinic.

Since that time, four more yacht clubs have joined the team; Cerritos Bahia Yacht Club, Little Ships Fleet, Long Beach Singles Yacht Club and Navy Yacht Club of Long Beach.

Mike Van Dyke, commodore of Long Beach Yacht Club, may have the most family history with The Children’s Clinic.

'My grandfather, Dr. Milt Van Dyke was one of the co-founders back in 1939,' Van Dyke said. 'He was their first medical director. My dad, Dr. Alexander Van Dyke, my mom, Dr. Dwanda Van Dyke and my uncle Dr. Richard DeGolia [all pediatricians] worked with the clinic all their lives'

Mike currently sits on the clinic’s board and received the Founder’s Award three years ago.

With 21 classes of boats racing on three courses there was enough wind at 8-10 knots to keep the action tight.

One of the surprises of the day was the two first place finishes by the LBYC Junior team on one of the Long Beach Sailing Federation’s Catalina 37s, skippered by Dustin Durant.

'We had a really good day,' Durant said. 'We had a new bowman so we practiced a little and he was fine. In the last race the second place boat was so close we started match racing. It was great.'

Onboard to assist were veteran sailors Barney Flam and John Busch.

'John gave a little help sometimes,' Durant said, 'but mostly worked the main and Barney called some of the tactics.'

Trophies and awards were handed out at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and commodore Jim Bateman played host.

'This is a great event,' Bateman said, 'and the racing drives people here. But the benefit to The Children’s Clinic is the real reason we’re here.'

Class Winners:

Cal 20 – Lickety Split, Ron & Mike Wood, LBYC/ABYC, 2-1, 3 points
Cal 25 – Tiburon, Rick Basadre/Sottile, SLBYC, 3-1, 4
Catalina 37 – LBYC Junior Sailing, Dustin Durant, LBYC, 1-1, 2
Etchells – Chicken of Bristol, Rich Vaught, LBYC, 1-1, 2
Schock 35 – Joann, Steve Murphy, SLBYC, 1-2, 3

Complete results and more information is available at:
www.lbyc.org and www.abyc.org .

Information on The Children’s Clinic is available at:
www.thechildrensclinic.org