Jun 11 - A frantic maritime disaster***

Sunday, June 11, 1972 - Page 163
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

11:00 AM (approx)
I got up at 10:30 today. It's a very sunny day. Hold it a sec -- I'm gonna call Tim Hourigan to check something (10:54:15) --

Hi, I'm back (11:02:16). I called Timothy (whom I've been trying to contact for some time), and he does indeed have my Galleon [2013 NOTE: This is the Newport Harbor High School yearbook ~ In 1971, I dropped out of my Senior year of High School, telling my counselor that forcing me to wake up every friggin' day at 7:30 AM was cruel & unusual punishment, and therefore I was protected by the US Constitution. So I simply stopped going. However, the NHHS administration chose to ignore my truancy and graduated me anyway, in absentia. Hence, I was awarded my Senior yearbook, and you can find photos from it in the entry for June 22] -- when I thought I wouldn't be around to get it many months ago, I entrusted him with the responsibility of obtaining it in my absence -- which he did. And since I shall be gone all next week, he offered to get it signed for me by the sleazy crowd around there, which is a very nice thing for him to do.

Let's see, who will sign it? : Tim, James Fish, Shawna certainly Wood, and Mary too (Bavry & Lyons), Meg maybe cause Tim would ask, Bob too, Phil & Pete Shergalis, and maybe three others [In fact, nobody signed my yearbook except Tim]. Hmmm. So I'll pick it up next week. Now I've gotta get the clothes washed.

"Newport Harbor Sailor Band in the 1972 Tournament of Roses"
The Galleon 1972 - Pages 180 & 181

8:30 PM
Jeez! I'm trying to figure out if this day warrants a [sad-face symbol]. I don't think so but it's close -- Some guy on TV said it was the 163rd day of the year, but I make it 162 -- Lemme check that. Hold on --- Christ! I have two 110's [this pagination error has been corrected throughout]. Lemme (Rats! The timer just went off) fix that. Hold it... Sloppy job. Take five; I've gotta eat my TV dinners --

PHEW! I'm back, waiting for my dinners to cool. I've been going a mile a minute all day. I drove over to wash the clothes (My dinners should be cool. I'll be back in a little bit...

9:00 PM
... Okay, I'm through), put them in the machines, then went shopping, came back to put the clothes in the driers, drove home with the food and put a couple of TV dinners in the oven, went back to get the clothes from the dryers, drove home to fold the clothes, and Murray called, so after I ate my dinners, I prepared to depart, but before that, Dad came over, with some of my book bills, so he subtracted that amount from the $65 he owes me, and finally at about one o'clock, I drove speedily to the Sea Scout Base to find Murray. The Base got 6 new kites (dingies [that's dinghys]), and after two days -- Sat. & Sun. -- they all got busted. Murray and I contributed to that record.

Chuck Lyda and Murray Lewis at Kern River in 1974

In an extremely abbreviated version: We sailed for a few hours, then a rudder pin broke, leaving one to hold it on -- as we limped into the base, it broke off completely during a monumental problem with the sail. I jumped off to get the rudder immediately losing my glasses, while the boat sailed into the dock, to be flipped by Murray, with me swimming in with the rudder, which we took, along with the sail, back to Base, returning to paddle the boat to the right dock, then driving in Murray's car to his house to get scuba diving gear [to hunt for my glasses]. We were about to return to the base when we discovered his car didn't work, so I called Winnie, but her car was broken and she was late for work, so I called Dad who was asleep. He drove over to take us to the Base. Dad left, Murray got his gear, I got a canoe and paddled out to assist, and he dove, but the sediment was a foot deep, the current was strong, the water murky, and the Argus [the Sea Scout's giant vintage sailing ship] was going to be coming in. So we gave up on that. Murray went to get his gear cleaned, and I found a car on the hose so I couldn't rinse the canoe, and had to put it back unwashed. Bob Kirkeby showed up and he, Murray, Brian, etc. talked till a quarter to seven then I drove Murray home (without glasses or license), then I drove me home -- More occurred, but this is all I have room for. And I wanted to get rested before work tomorrow!

Jun 03 - Racing to Catalina with Chuck & Murray**

Saturday, June 3, 1972 - Page 155
LOCATION: Newport Beach & Catalina, California

8:00 AM
I... am... up...

Santa Catalina Island, California (see Wikipedia article)

Catalina panorama from a sail boat; Avalon to the far left, Two Harbors to the mid-right.

(2:26:35 PM Monday 6/5/1972)
I am back --- Mom drove me to the Sea Scout base by 8:45. I signed in at the enterence and found Chunk & Murray at the sail boat loading it up. We got underway at 9:30 and wouldn't set foot off that boat for the next 33 1/2 hours. We went to the starting line with the motor, and after the race in our class ("C") started, we crossed it in four minutes (due to Murray's superb sailing and calculations).

We followed the shore to Point Loma (is that what it's called?) [No! Point Loma is in San Diego -- we would have left off the coast of San Pedro], then angled off toward Catalina. By that time, all the other boats in the race (at least 18 of them) were completely out of sight. The weather could have been better -- it was constantly overcast and got very windy towards the end of the race, so the sails were always sounding like the props of a helicopter. Chunk was sick most of the time (he regurgitated once) and he slept quite a bit.

I learned the fundamentals of sailing, and learned some of the dialect (fore guy, after guy, genoa sheet, topping lift, mainsail, genny, tacking, boom bang, helm, bow, aft, starboard, port, stern, hike, spinnaker, chute, halliard, slide, hatch, light wind sheet, centerboard, locker, turning about, cleats, etc. "Etc" means I can't think of any more).

I was soaking wet and shivering mostly, and trying not to get sea sick, which I managed (I've never been sea sick, but I've got close enough to it to know I don't want to be sea sick). The race started at 10:00 [AM], and we got into Catalina (in exactly the right place, despite Murray's navigating) by 8:00 [PM]. Last, if not least, of course. [The island is 22 miles wide and it is about 22 miles from the coast]

We anchored and tied to one of them thar floating things what boats tie up to and Murray lit the stove and I threw Beef Stew (the can we din't eat at Hansen Dam [see May 20]), peas, and corn into a pan for dinner. The water was clear, and a light under water lit up the fish and sparkling things in there. We got to sleep by about 10:30 P.M. So that was Saturday.

May 11 - Training for LA Games canoe races**

Thursday, May 11, 1972 - Page 132
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

12:00 AM
Goddup at 11:30 A.M. when Chunk came over. He & me walked to the Sea Scout Base, and embarked on a canoe paddling excursion at noon. We paddled and paddled and paddled. And paddled. And paddled some more. He seems to think he's training me for the 2-guy canoe race at Hansen Dam. Good grief. Oh well... I want to have experience at everything, I might as well start with something I don't want to do. So we paddled.

[See May 20 - Competing in LA Games canoe races]

Finished at 2:00, cause Chunk had to get Winnie or something. Ran home and saw Glenn driving out of Winnie's old community, so we chatted with him. As it was, we were blocking traffic, so he drove to the trailer, and I challenged Chunk to a race to Grandlydia (we were at the entrance of Eye Sore Park at the time). So we sprinted, he with the two paddles, me with the bag full of stuff. He won, of course, but it was all worth while when the office blared through the speakers: "The speed limit is 5 miles an hour... slow down!"

I believe, however, the admonishment was for Glenn who was following us in his car. They rapped in the trailer, and I wandered down the beach to swim to the raft and tan m' hide. Came back, and Jordan caught me, and we played a couple of games of chess. Then I got rid of him. Only minutes ago, I finished cutting up and disposing of the bulky comic collection. The work that now remains for me in that department is to organize what remains of it. 'Tis now 12:15:15 A.M.  -- THE END

May 06 - Chuck & I go paddling in rough seas**

Saturday, May 6, 1972 - Page 127
LOCATION: Newport Beach, California

11:30 PM
Chunk called at about 10:00 A.M. and said we could go out in a canoe for Laguna at two o'clock. He's got a week off cause there's no work at his place of employment -- he's a ditch digger and there aren't any more ditches to be dug. So at one thirty he came over (prior to that I almost finished reading "The Sirens of Titan" -- I was on page 308, of a 319 page book. I'll finish it before I go to sleep tonight).

Mom has been doing extensive house cleaning, and Chunk & I had to remove the big white cabinet from behind the Cabaña. We couldn't fit it in the trashcan so we set it outside like an out house. So mom drove me & Chunk to the Sea Scout Base where he procured an aluminum canoe and paddles. We didn't make it to Laguna. We didn't even try -- I was busy learning how to paddle a canoe.

We got out into the open sea among the liquid mountains and valleys of the ocean, and somehow we managed to stay upright. Some guy in a sailboat with two or three other people, and a beer in his hand, and a mustache under his nose, recognized me and verbalized several greetings. It must've been Matt. I was in no condition to recognize anybody among those waves. It was a rough sea, and an overcast day but the traffic in the bay was heavy. We paddled till 7:30, twice passing Eyesore Park (coming and going) so we stopped there twice.

Afterwards, Mom and I went to the Orange Drive-in to see "Buck & the Preacher" (Sidney Potter & Belafonte). I'm exhausted and have a headache. -- 11:41:35 -- FINIS