LHYC

www.LHYC.org April 2009

Mission Statement:

The objects of the Lloyd Harbor Yacht Club shall be to encourage and promote interest in, as well as to foster the art and enjoyment of, the sport of sailing by providing the opportunity and means for the development of individual skill and knowledge, encouraging excellence in seamanship and navigation, and by providing participative events wherein these qualities can be exercised under the aegis of the LHYC burgee.

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One of the joys of the job of being Commodore of the Lloyd Harbor Yacht Club, and I would contend there are many, is welcoming new members into our club at the new member’s cocktail party. In the six plus years that we have been holding the event at the Sterflinger residence, or what we have affectionately referred to as our Greenlawn “club house,” we have been blessed with beautiful weather, a wealth of active new members and a healthy turn out at this party. Saturday’s party was no exception. Members from many years ago, more recent inductees and members that we do not see all that often, greeted our new applicants, shared stories about racing, cruising and how our club has served a varied membership base. So far this year we accepted two new members, Bert Rubin-de-Cervens his wife Andrea, and Ryan Thompson. While other clubs are losing upwards of a dozen members, our rate of attrition is just a fraction of that and we are in the process of reviewing two more applications, one from Scott Jacobitti, a Catalina 25 owner and crewmember aboard Challenge IV, and Rob Pollizzo, a Catalina 27 owner and member of Northport YC, who is interested in learning more about racing. And other applications are forthcoming from Kieren Glackin and Tom Storck. I’m fond of saying that our club has many great resources for our new members, whether they need engine repair assistance, rig tuning tips or are interested in gaining the knowledge to be a PRO and run one of our races. Let’s get the new members off on the right foot by getting to know them and getting them involved in our club operations as soon as possible. I am pleased to report that at the party we made a healthy dent in the Race Committee volunteer sheet, but we still have many more openings available for both PRO and mark boat operators. Our calendar of spring and summer events is included herein, as well as posted on the race section of our website. Mark your calendars for our race dates and similar to Chicago politics, please sign up to volunteer for Race Committee early and often.

Our next social event puts us squarely into the sailing season, the Memorial Day Weekend Cruise, followed by the raft up and commissioning at the club mooring. Please touch base with our cruising Chairperson, Dan Corcoran for any questions you may have and do plan on ushering in the season on the Lloyd Harbor mooring. I eagerly await the commissioning of the club and look forward to serving as your Commodore for the 2009 season.

Sincerely,

Rich Rubel Commodore LHYC

Frostbite Wrap Up: The 2008/2009 season ended on a high note with balmy weather and moderate breezes on March 22. Fortunately, the make up day, originally scheduled for March 29, was used earlier in the season and we were not forced to sail in dense fog, drizzle and bone numbing dampness. To be honest, our fleet is not the youthful group it once was (at least I’m not), so we must pick our conditions carefully. However, that is not to say that we can’t hold our own in the rough stuff; see the following story about our inter-fleet challenge. But for our Spring Series, which ran from Jan. 4 to March 22, ten boats were on hand to compete, six hailing from LHYC. Second and third positions were not determined until the last day of racing (Brian Simkins easily wrapped up the series win and the overall fleet championships, with two series wins and a low spring score of 19 points), and unfortunately, both Roy Sherman and your author got squeezed out of second and third respectively, by new comers, Team Alex: Alex Conway and his girlfriend Alexandra Clement, who nabbed second with a powerful last day and a total score of 32 points. Roy finished third with 39 points, and close behind the Rubel/ Vaughn team with 42 points. See below for the complete series scores.

		27 Races Sailed	16 Scored
	Spring 09	Total	W/TO
1	1951 Simkins	97	19
2	3281 Conway	115	32
3	1144 Sherman	104	39
4	1599 Rubel	94	42
5	1469 Hering	137	48
6	788 Sterflinger	157	68
7	1600 Scarpulla	155	71
8	1830 Ebert	175	86
9	1640 Belle	185	90
10	2269 Zeth	201	108

Board Meeting Bullets: The April Board Meeting held at the Sterflinger residence addressed the following as part of our agenda:

The Membership Committee was pleased to announce the induction of new members Ryan Thompson and Bert Rubin-de-Cervens. In addition we have an application pending for Scott Jacobitti, who is an active sailor on both Challenge IV and Bon Coeurs, as well as his own Catalina 25. Plan on meeting everyone at the new members’ party on April 25. Membership now stands at 90 full time members.
The FC reports that the spring and early summer race documents have been loaded on-line to website and Regatta Manager program, as well as the race committee volunteer sign up sheet and revised Huntington area chart of race marks. Much discussion was held regarding various elements of the Summer Series and Stratford Shoals races.
An inventory for the Melrose was being prepared to ensure we have adequate flags, marks and equipment for the RC and perhaps a mark boat; a call to the membership will be made to see if any needed equipment can be obtained through donations. In addition, thanks to Mike Sterflinger who volunteered to inspect our race marks and make repairs where needed.
A suggestion was discussed to combine a practice race night and race committee familiarization program on the Wednesday evening preceding the Summer Series. This way sailors can get a few practice starts under their belts as well as potential race committee PRO’s and helpers who have not yet been introduced to performing these functions on the Melrose.
A confirmation was made that Sandy, from Diver-Diver-Diver will continue to maintain his sponsorship of our club.

Miscellaneous Illuminations: It is my pleasure to announce that the Greater Huntington Council of Yacht & Boating Clubs will be having the 2009 Meet the Commodore's Night on Thursday, June 4 at the beautiful Head of the Bay Club. Remember the great sunset from a few years ago? Our club will be getting an official invitation and details as we get closer to the event. ~~__/) Roger Dorr, Jr. took top American honors sailing and placing sixth in a 90 boat Opti gold division at the 24th Easter Regatta at Braassemermeer, Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands. This regatta traditionally hosts a very strong and competitive field of young Optimist sailors from several countries, including: Norway, Finland, USA, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium (last years’ winner), Great Britain, Sweden, Ireland and several other strong countries. Congratulations Roger, and should we be getting ready to help sponsor an Olympic campaign? ~~__/) Congratulations to Geremy and Allison Chellius on the addition to their fleet; no, not what you are thinking, but they have just acquired a JY 15 sailboat. Looking forward to seeing you out there in the cooler months ahead.

JY 15 Inter-fleet Challenge ’09: What took two years in the making, the 2009 Frostbiting Inter-fleet Challenge held on Sunday April 5, is now a blur of waves, white caps and sea spray. Centerport YC last hosted the challenge back in 2007, whose inaugural race was meant to unite the Long Island JY 15 frostbite fleets from the Snapper Inn at Oakdale and Breakwater YC in Sag Harbor. This year it was our turn to pack up and head south to the Snapper Inn. Centerport’s Fleet #104 sent a strong team of seven boats comprised of: Team Simkins (Brian and son Robert), Rich Rubel & Doug Vaughn, Roy Sherman & Eric François, Joe Scarpulla & Bob McBride, John & Sue Belle, Alex Hering and HS teammate Bianca, and our newcomers to the fleet Team Alex, Alex Conway and girlfriend Alexandra Clement. This led to a 25 boat race in the swirling and howling breezes on the Connetquot River.

The Connetquot River is fairly shallow, wends its way up to the northwest and is an extremely tricky place to sail; the western breeze deflected off the waterfront buildings and river bends, gusts hammered the fleet mid river, that were then followed by short lulls in between. The forecast for the preceding day, Saturday, was 21-25 kns. of breeze with gusts at 30, so we were appeased with a forecast for Sunday of winds out of the west at 15 and gusts in the 20’s. However, we saw 25+ at the outset and no signs of abating as the day wore on.

Crowded conditions at one of the Inter-fleet Challenge starts

The Snapper Inn RC decided that racing outside, or south of the river would be too horrific for both their RC boat and the fleet, so they decided upon their regular locale in front of the Inn, using modified gold cup courses (6 legs) that were to hopefully minimize death rolls on the down wind legs. Not so for your intrepid author, who prior to the first race capsized on my very first gybe, got my masthead stuck in the mud resulting in another lost masthead fly, and a crew, who at the very beginning was cold and perhaps worried for his safety and reputation. Fortunately, we were up in time for race #1 and having gotten that out of our system, did not capsize for the remainder of the day. Our team’s plan to take assigned positions on the line allowed us to spread out and focus on getting clear air for the first beat. Invariably, Brain Simkins at the pin seemed to jet out in front of the fleet and set the course for the following waves of boats. The windward mark always seemed to be in the midst of a puff and with the 25 boat fleet there were busy roundings, pile ups and sometimes mayhem. Glancing around, I noticed boats that got ensnared in the pilings and docks near shore, and then the capsizing began. More times than some would like to recount, there were spills prefaced by thrills; perhaps five boats at a time were seen on their sides, with sailors swimming from behind, both needing to be avoided. You also needed to find a break in the action to find the opportune moment to effect a successful gybe. Many of the day’s races appeared to be an obstacle course, but when capsizes happen in front of you, you are better prepared and giddy with the prospect of picking up a few positions.

All day long the wind velocity remained, the course stayed the same, Brian and Robert maintained their lead and clearly expressed their dominance over the rest of the fleet, despite the best efforts of the opposing teams to sail them out to the corners and dog their every move. Many quickly tired and retired from sailing after a couple of races, but after five races we all had had enough. Using a fifth place finish in race three as a throw out, Team Simkins won the regatta with four bullets and a five point lead over the second place boat, Kinky Reggae, sailed by Jimi Grover from the Snapper Inn Fleet. The Challenge was scored by compiling the three best regatta finishes from a fleet for the overall Fleet Champion. The Snapper Inn boats netted the second, third and fourth slots, for a total of nine points, where CYC’s next finishers in sixth, Rubel/Vaughn and then Alex Hering in 16^th, put us way out of it.

Despite our overall finish, the team left happy and better for the experience. There was some rumblings and malapropos banter on the water, but Fleet #38 supplied post race food and drink, a fitting trophy ceremony and a genial environment at the Snapper Inn Bar after a hard sailed day. Fleet #104’s sailors learned from the experience, and not to sound like sour grapes, but “we could’ve been contenders” had we regrouped and reapportioned our sailing team. None the less, we were gracious guests, represented our fleet proudly and plan on attending next year’s Challenge out east at the Breakwater YC.

MASTHEAD COVE & LLOYD HARBOR YACHT CLUBS

THAW FROM WINTER WITH A COMBINED

CHILI PEPPER THEMED - MEMORIAL DAY CRUISE

Bring your just launched, mostly ready, perhaps cruising challenged sailboat a short distance to Saugatuck Yacht Club, and together we will make sure we all get there rain or shine. Slips will be available for everyone (bring an electric heater if you desire) and any missing provisioning items will be a short walk away … to a nearby members boat.

Check out Telltales LHYC Cruising 2009 for all the reasons why we thought Saugatuck was a good match for LHYC & Memorial Day. Below are new details …

--- SATURDAY ---

Depart: Huntington Bell “8” at 8:30am Saturday May 23^rd

Arrive: Saugatuck Yacht Club around High Tide

Main Event Kids & Teens: Saturday 3pm --- To Be Determined --

(Activities will be planned with input from teens/kids via cruising google group)

Main Event Adults: Saturday 4pm: CHILI COOK-OFF

(Dress accordingly – Please bring your famous chili dish

with recipe. Beef, Chicken, Vegetarian, Spicy, Not Spicy, Etc.

This will be a judging contest !

(beer, wine, soda, etc. provided for all)

Family Event: Saturday 6pm Family Barbeque

--- SUNDAY ---

Adults: On your own / recuperate from the Chili Contest

Kids: 1/2 day - Various Activities for kids by kids

--- MONDAY ---

Leave Saugatuck 11am

LHYC Members à Go to club web site and sign up for a phase 1 “maybe” commitment level,

and find information to help your family consider and plan for this trip.

2009 Yacht Racing Schedule

Event	Date	Entry Fees*	Late Fee Date	Closing Date & Late Fee
LHYC Spring Series	May 17, Sunday	$45, $75 w/Fall Checks payable to LHYC	May 11	May 14 ($60)
Summer Series, 10 Wed. night races	May 20 to July 22, Wednesday nights	$160 LHYC members $210 Non-members	May 15	Entries accepted until June 3 ($190/$240)
Lloyd’s Trophy & Huntington Bay Races	May 30, Saturday	$65 Checks payable to LHYC	May 23	May 28 ($85)
Stratford Shoal Make-a-Wish (Cat. B)	July 11, Saturday	$75 Checks payable to Make-A-Wish	July 6	July 9 ($100)
Sunset Series, 5 Wed. night races	Aug. 5 to Sept. 2, Wednesday nights	$70 LHYC members $85 Non-members Checks payable to LHYC	August 1	Entries accepted until August 11 ($90/$105)
LHYC Fall Series	Oct. 10, Saturday	$45 Checks payable to LHYC	Sept. 27	October 1 ($60)