
www.LHYC.org June 2008
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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And we are off to the races! Spring at Lloyd Harbor Yacht Club starts fast and furious (like our sailors) with the Spring Series sneaking up on some of us, followed by the first Summer Series race, commissioning on Memorial Day and then the Huntington Bay Championships. As is the case with some inactivity over the winter months, it takes a little time to get up to speed, knock off the cob webs, to get to where we are firing on all cylinders. With the Spring Series for example, a decent sized fleet convened for the first race and our beloved Melrose was seen being towed out to the stating line! I was concerned for various reasons, least of which I was a crewing on Rogue and thought this race was never going to start on time. But that was not the case. Without having to do a thing, one club member set the leeward mark, another adjusted the line and another was helping the Melrose get settled into place. While I was completely undone by this, our race committee, comprised of Sandy & Ron Prior and Geremy & Alison Chelius was calm, cool and collected, and managed to get a nice 10.5 mile race off and completed in dying wind conditions for 13 boats (please go to our website for the results of the opening day). Similar to how you evaluate tea bags, it’s how we react when in hot water that counts and for our first event, I think we came through with flying colors. “I wasn’t worried because with the talent out on the course, everyone knows what to do and with Lloyd Harbor members you don’t have to worry about people pitching in,” stated PRO Ron Prior. This rang true for me, and instead of the anticipated complaints and worrying about the fate of the Melrose (more on that to follow), I again felt pride in our club and how we all work together to get the job done. The mentoring of a recently inducted member on RC ops was also appreciated, and I would urge everyone with a desire to learn and mentor, to please help future events by taking volunteers aboard and showing them the ropes. Thank you one and all for getting us out of the hot water.
Sincerely, yer Commodore Rich Rubel
Women
Got Spirit - Friday night May 30, was the 6th Annual Women's Spirit Race to
benefit the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition. All female crews raced
the buoys in Huntington Bay in 10-12 knots of southerly breeze under partly
cloudy skies. The boats are permitted to have one "non-participatory" male on
board, if desired; Loki III dropped off the owner onto the Race Committee boat,
headed by Roy Sherman (in a pinch, thank you!), and was the only boat to
sail with only females. The race i
s
run pursuit style, time correction factors are figured out before hand and each
boat has their own starting time with slower boats starting first and faster
boats starting later. As they sail around the course their positions change
and by the finish, their place is determined in the order they cross the
line. Job well done by all 25 or so ladies on four boats with Palantir finishing
first, Jumping Jack Flash second, Loki III third and Tizona in fourth. Crews
met at the Huntington YC bar after the race, where we announced the winners,
gave out trophies and raised $500 for the cause. Thank you to the officers of
the Lloyd Harbor and Huntington Yacht Clubs for supporting this race!
Submitted by PC Leigh Sterflinger
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Board Meeting Bullets: The June Board Meeting, hosted by the Sterflinger’s at their home addressed the following as part of our agenda:
· Two new members were inducted to the club this past month, Bill & Debbie Maher, co-owners of the J-29 Rift, who has been racing with us for some time and Bryan & Carol Irving, the new owner of Fearless Frog, a boat that is also known to our race course. The club membership now stands at 95 members, one new application was received from Dan Corcoran and new applications are still being circulated for sponsors and submission.
· The Melrose is suffering from a leaky fuel tank, but is running through the efforts of RC Steve LaPorta; Steve has secured us three new portable 6 gal. tanks and is planning on removing the old fuel and filling the tanks with water, to squash fumes and avert any risk of fire. He also replaced the propeller due to a spun bushing. We want to remind or race
committee volunteers to please leave the Melrose as they found it, i.e., free of refuse, to not attempt any repairs unless in an emergency and to please submit a condition report/maintenance request along with the race results.
· Fleet Captain Gary Victorson reported that the Regatta Manager program is working well and had generated enough revenues from late fees to pay for the program’s use. This program and our race page on our web site will be updated to encourage our fleet to still visit our web site for breaking news, while at the same time utilize Regatta Manager for its many labor saving features.
· The VC reported that the Little Brown Jug picnic has been booked again at the Bay Hills Beach Assoc.; thank you to Alice Blauvelt for shepherding our request through the association. And because there has not been any clear preference for an event to utilize our paid bus trip, we will seek to get a refund.
· The club’s July 4th Cruise traditionally consists of a raft up in Oyster Bay by Bayville to watch the Dolan fireworks display. Cruisers are encouraged to look for our burgee at the raft-up. We would also like summer cruisers to think of the Cruising Chairperson, Mark Ambrosious as a clearing house for summer cruise plans, so that people may get information on who is going where, to facilitate members hooking up with others who may like to travel with other boats.
Huntington Bay Champs – With nearly twenty boats in
three divisions, LHYC ran a fantastic two race regatta in conjunction with the
Huntington Yacht Club. With a forecast that called for rain early on and severe
thunderstorm activity, both midday and late afternoon, the day appeared dubious;
in fact, the Capt. of the Northern Vee’s, our posh Race Committee boat, was
worried about their anchor dragging and possibly having to cut the event
short. But, with the high tech electronics onboard, weather projections showed
storm activity well to the north and slightly to the south, which never seemed
to reach the race locale and provided winds no higher than approx. 16 kns.
(albeit with a little rain). For the Huntington Day race, a large, pin-end
favored starting line kept the action safely away from the “RC yacht” end of the
line and with heavy ebb current, made for some heavy bunching up at that end.
But with a nine and half mile course for the spin. boats, things shook out
nicely and corrected finishes in div. one were within seconds of each other.
Resolute edged out Rogue and in Div 2, Shakedown rocked, finishing over eight
minutes ahead of second place Loki. Rascal with a little competition from
Capricorn, an even rated Masthead YC boat, came in first and second
respectively. For race two, the Lloyd’s Trophy, the weather seemed settled but
not to tempt fate, PRO Roy Sherman opted for getting the boats off
ASAP, and if
need be send the yacht home and use the Melrose to take finish times. However,
despite the rain and squally conditions in the bay, we had a great second race;
with the committee boat down the rhumb line, a great show was had from the
Northern Vee’s salon. This time Resolute had a challenge (no pun intended) from
the hot, new Farr designed Beneteau 10R, sailed by Team Willis, which was raced
for the first time that day. Despite missing first by a mere four seconds, the
team Willis boat seems incredibly fast and if a boat showroom had shelves, this
one would fly off them! Again in the second division, Shakedown sailed a great
race, was approx. seven minutes ahead of the next boat and won over the Double
Vision team of Walters and Suss, who corrected out to second. And
in another squeaker, Rascal prevailed in the
JAM division. The overall
championship was a tough call between two boats, Resolute and
Shakedown, each with two firsts, with Shakedown, at the committee’s
discretion edging out the 44. HYC did a splendid job in providing RC
assistance, as did the Rubel family, Janet and Mia,
staffing the clipboard, flags, Ollie and camera (please check out our web site
for the link for photos of the whole event), thanks to Chris Dara on the
Melrose mark boat, and again, kudos to Roy Sherman for running a great race and
working under adverse conditions to get the preliminary scores out. While the
scoring for the event at first was contentious, what I can tell you for certain,
the two types of cracked crab and raw bar on the RC boat were divine.
Miscellaneous Illuminations:
Jamie
Boeckel – LHYC boats Dreadlocks, Resolute, Rift and Tizona went to
the Jaime Boeckel charity regatta and represented our club in grand style.
Resolute in the first race garnered a bullet, Dready got a couple of seconds and
placed second in the series, Rift sailed consistently and placed third and
Tizona fifth. At Sewanakah, LHYC’s burgee is well known as a force to be
reckoned with - congrats to all. ~~__/) Sprit Fest: With son Erik
steering Rumor, the Storck family dominated the J -80 class at Sag Harbor
over the May 30th weekend. John’s boat was victorious again over
world champ and sail maker Kerry Klinger as well as a number of other sprit boat
sailors. Hosted by Breakwater YC, and sailed in Noyac Bay, Sprit Fest is a
great venue for J 80’s, 105’s and 109’s. Be sure to check out the June issue
of Sailing World for John’s views on family sailing; now I’m not sure,
but is that a LHYC cap you’re sporting? ~~__/) LHYC cruisers, please be
reminded that our club has received invitations to use the house and anchorage
facilities of the Sea Cliff Yacht Club in Hempstead Harbor and the Huguenot
Yacht Club of New Rochelle.~~__/) The LHYC Commodore’s Cup was held on Friday,
June 6 and with the promise of a beautiful evening preceding a sweltering
weekend, 16 boats showed up to do the beer can course. The Commodore was the
race committee from his trusty dory, “Sweet 16,” with the help of Sleepy Head
crew Bob McBride and afterwards approximately a dozen boats rafted up on the
Lloyd Harbor mooring. There is no such thing as a causal race, as I was to
learn. The racers were scrappy at the start, aggressive in the roundings and
pulling out all the stops at the finish. Fortunately, the protests and
assertions diminished over beers and snacks. Congratulations to all from both
the cruising and racing divisions; your win, place and show boats were as
follows:
Cruising Racing
First Pegasus – Chris Dara Pied Piper – PC Bob Storck
Second Atlantean – Mark Ambrosious Shakedown - Jordan Mindich
Third Spirit – Tom Bolen Rogue – PC Ed Dole
2008 J-24 Midsound Regatta: This year’s J24
Midsound Regatta was
another success
with our own team of Phil Walters and Glenn Suss taking first
place honors with their crew aboard Double Vision. The weather for the weekend
was questionable with little or no wind expected in the midst of an August like
heat wave hitting us in early June. Temperatures in the 90’s were expected and
it looked like we were in for two days of bobbing and baking midsound. Saturday
we all made it out in the early morning fog to locate the Race Committee where
we waited with a postponement and then eventually an abandonment due to no
wind. Although RC determined that wind was expected to roll in around 4pm they
made the right call to get us out of the heat with hopes that Sunday would be
better. Sunday morning began without the fog and with a light breeze that
looked like we would at least get a few races in and have a regatta. Regatta
PRO Roy Sherman threw a few quick windward/leeward’s at us to make sure we
had a regatta. When the wind held he gave us four more races for the maximum
number of races allowed for the regatta – six races.
The competition was very close and seconds separated the finishes in each of the races. The team of Double Vision after the first tune-up race honed in on the conditions and smoked the fleet with four bullets and a second taking first place overall. Blue Moon from Noroton YC sailed an excellent regatta and finished second. The Z twins (NA champs and winners in just about every other event they have entered the past year) were merely human this weekend and took third in a very closely contested battle for the final award spot.
Thanks to CYC and LHYC for their continued support of this event and to Roy Sherman our PRO, PC Chris Schneider on chase boat and Eric, Jared and other friends who volunteered their time to make this regatta a success.
On a final note, the RC finished with an upwind (westerly) finish so that our entry from New York City could start their long trip back home. After we finished hauling out boats and settled in for a drink at CYC we were hit with a huge storm front that brought plenty of lightning and gusts in the 40’s. We all wondered how our friends from NYC were faring. We heard the next morning that the team from NYC, too far from any port to take refuge when the storm hit, kept sails up, stayed the course and happily made it home safe and sound.
Submitted by Joseph Scarpulla Fleet 106
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Race 1 |
Race 2 |
Race 3 |
Race 4 |
Race 5 |
Race 6 |
Total |
|
|
|
2123 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
Double Vision |
|
|
4298 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
15 |
Blue Moon |
|
|
5259 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
22 |
Twins |
|
|
1357 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
25 |
Liquid Soul |
|
|
5257 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
6 |
26 |
Mental Floss |
|
|
3474 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
26 |
Hoptical Illusion |
|
|
3342 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
42 |
Trinity |
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Come join LHYC for the 4th of July Weekend at Oyster Bay
This year with the 4th
of July on a Friday, LHYC will be
spending
the weekend at Oyster Bay. Join us on Friday as we anchor in West Harbor and
play by day and enjoy fireworks by night. Stay for the weekend if you can, or
drop by for a day and bring your “water toys.” This is an excellent opportunity
to meet other members, fly our burgees proudly and make Oyster Bay a sea of red,
white (and blue). Hope to see you out there for all or part of the weekend!
Remember to Sign up on Regatta Manager for the running of the:
13th Annual Make-A-Wish Regatta
Lloyd Harbor Yacht Club’s Stratford Shoals Race in conjunction with Northport Yacht Club’s Junior regatta. All proceeds to go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
The 36th ANNUAL STRATFORD SHOALS RACE formerly the Masthead Master Mariners Race: Saturday, July 19, 2008
Past Telltales