ADRA

Staying in hotels gets old, and it's a nice change of pace to have a "bed & breakfast" in the home of friends like the three nights at "Chez Nicholas" (see posts below) while in San Diego last week.

Likewise, for years any number of visiting sailors and judges have bunked in at the beautiful Kober home in Long Beach. Even though Chuck passed away some years back, Adra (say AY- druh) keeps up the tradition. I booked a night at the Kober "Olde Seaman's Haven" when we were in Long Beach for the LBYC stop on the USA Yacht Club Tour.

Talk about a big heart -- ask Adra about the wedding she "threw" on the spur of the moment one rainy evening, in the middle of an early-80's Congressional Cup, when she insisted that the bride, groom and their 100 guests (none of whom she knew) move their "outdoor wedding" from the adjacent park into the Kober home. An hour later it had come off without a hitch, and the Kobers and the six of us staying with them were only minutes late for the judges' dinner back at the yacht club.



Still going strong after all these years. A welcome sign to many, many
racers, judges and their spouses over the years.



Adra of Long Beach: the face that launched a thousand ships? For
well over 25 years Adra's breakfast and wry sense of humour has
sent many of us off for a long day at the races, whether the 81-83
pre-Olympics, the 84 Olympics, or numerous Congressional Cups.
More than a few major decisions affecting the sport were taken at
the Kober brekkie table, especially in the early 80's when Adra's late
husband Chuck was President of USYRU.



Adra was head of Protocol for the Long Beach Olympic regattas 81-84.
During the same period she was elected Commodore of Alamitos Bay YC,
the first woman to head a major yacht club in the USA. Adra has slowed
down a bit but is still a ball of fire -- the day before I arrived she
hosted in her home a sitdown luncheon for 30.