January 17, 2006
A New Year
Well, it's been a long time since the last post, and a good cruising season. The year 2005 has come to a close, and with a new year, we have a new Yachting Chair. Sandy Cheyne will be once again taking over the committee.
We'll try to get more use out of the yachting pages this year, and as ever, look forward to seeing you all out on the water in the spring.
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
Fire Island Fourth
Another fine cruise! This description from LuAnn Rathemacher:
Total of 12 boats left AH harbor between 0700 and 1000 hours on Saturday morning. Nice morning northerly breeze kept everyone sailing until reaching Jones Inlet, at which point motoring began. Once everyone was safely inside the inlet and anchored, Dennis and Linda Ziemba provided cocktail hour on board Moonshine (rum drinks galore). Small groups gathered on different boats for dinner on board Saturday night.
Cool temperatures and stiff breeze on Sunday, made for comfortable walking-on-the-beach weather, relaxing, napping, reading, etc. Dinghy rides ashore were a little more wet than preferred. Preparation started for our beach bon fire around 1800 hours. We all lugged firewoood brought from home to the beach. Grills were prepped so the cooking could begin. Roasted clams, appetizers, and salads began the meal. Then everyone cooked whatever they brought: steaks, chicken, sausage, etc. I don't remember much after this point. . .having too much fun (wine) :-).
Park rangers notified us that fires were not allowed (a big surpise to us this year), but as long as we put the fire out soon after dark, we'd be OK. An even bigger surprise, was that our canine friends, of which there were 4, were not allowed on the beach!
Monday was a picture perfect day. . clear skies, calm seas. Light easterly made the going quite slow. Boat that had cruising chutes, made good use of them until the southeaster filled in just west of Jones Inlet. Most skippers commented that the rest of the sail home was some of the best sailing they've done all year.
And, as I said, the meal was an even more pleasant surprise. Here's who went:
Restless
Moonshine
Invictus
Incandescent
Sanctuary
Gertie
Segovia
Blue Star
Killala Bay
Bay Breeze
My Love
Lithium
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2005
Raritan Cruise
The first official cruise of the season was a terrific success!
The cruise left the AHYC about noon on Saturday, June 25 with little to no wind. After a short while, the breeze filled in to between 5–10 Knots. While not the quickest trip we’ve had, we had a great sail, on the calm (but warm) Bay.
Arriving late afternoon, several cruisers enjoyed Gertie’s hospitality for drinks, then most shifted the party to dinner on shore. The warm, clear evening was refreshed by a nice breeze, and we were greeted by a sunny, clear morning.
The return sail varied from light to fresh breezes (depending on your departure time). In all, a great weekend. Our thanks to Cruise Captian Dan Ritter for a great time!
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
May 28, 2005
Cruise Notes from Sheepshead Bay
This, contributed by Steve Colitz:
On Friday, the Asher’s and Colitz’s decided to go to the Miramar YC in Sheepshead Bay. We had a fast run in about 23k of wind and arrived at the club and were each assigned a mooring. The trip is about 12 miles and takes from 2 to 3 hours. The launch driver from the Sheepshead Bay YC took our pendants and tied it to the shackle on the mooring. Miramar and Sheepshead Bay launches cover for each other during the week. They monitor channel 68. For mooring reservation call 718-769-3548.
On land, we met the vice commodore named Alberto and several others, who could not have been more accommodating. He gave us a key to the security gate so that we could get back to the club from the street. The Miramar YC is nicer than the Sheepshead Bay YC, because it does not have a bar and is non smoking. Sheepshead Bay is a great place to walk and listen to Russian and Turkish languages, the people are friendly, and it has may very nice restaurants and some stores.
Sheepshead Bay has clean clear water we watched horseshoe crabs mating in the shallow water at the YC. On the negative side, there is a lot of ambient light and party fishing boats come and go frequently.
Steve
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2005
Rolex TAC Cruise
What looked like it should be a simple cruise to schedule turned out to be a little more difficult. Poor weather offshore created high seas and bad weather offshore, although the predicted storms onshore never developed. This caused the NYYC race committee to postpone the start of the race until 2PM on Sunday, playing havoc with the plans of many members to view the start.
The weather was threatening, and the seas just past the hook to be a little lumpy, but by the time we reached Ambrose Tower, things were flattening out. Unfortunately, the wind was also on the light side, and the start was on the slow side. Still, it's not every day you see boats of this caliber in a start. Some of the race drama may have been lacking, but the spectacle was still there.
We saw a number of AHYC cruisers and racers out there.
Some brief rain dampened the return of some, but overall, it was a great day.
The season is on!
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
Meeting Summary - April 20
The fine spring weather added to the enthusiasm at the latest Yachting Committee Meeting. We filled out the bulk of the scheduled cruises, but are still looking for a captain, date and destination for an October cruise. There may yet be additions to the schedule of weekend cruises, but we are looking at adding a few evening cruises and local on-the-water events to round things out.
Paula Del Coro had the though of a "Dinghy Predicted Log Race". Everyone thought this was a great idea. Past ideas have included dinghy based treasure hunts; either of these would go well with a dock party or in-the-harbor raft/picnic. We're looking for dates and people interested in helping to organize these events.
We are looking to encourage members to share information about their cruising plans with each other so they can meet up along the way. We will also be trying to promote another "Meet Down East" event to provide some cruising in company off towards the Cape, and a rendez vous somewhere in the Buzzards Bay area in late July when many members are in the area.
Gathering information in support of these has been difficult in the past. It was suggested that we put a questionnaire out at Lobsterfest to solicit more information about members' plans. We will try this, and have a prize drawing from the submitted forms to try to encourage participation. We will look at other ways to annoy cruisers into sharing their plans with us.
In hopes of getting cruisers together, and getting new members involved, we will try to organize a pre or early season event to have a few short presentations of "what I did last summer" (or "what I'll do this summer"). Members will talk about their cruising experiences or intentions, and others will be able to ask questions, or contribute information about their experiences in the same or nearby locations. We will be talking with the Speaker Series Committee to see if this can fit into their schedule, or whether we should look at a separate event.
Stirling Levie suggested we offer a prize for the best cruising photo of the season to encourage entries for the website (which is a little outdated where cruising photos are concerned). He also suggested we might host an event where members could relate their "tall tails and pirate stories", recounting the exhilarating events and disasters that have befallen them in the past season. We will be looking to put something together along these lines, probably towards or after the end of the season.
Details of the plans for the TAC cruise were discussed and will be circulated. There was also some discussion of the upcoming cocktail party AHYC will be hosting for the InterBay Cruisers; we hope to revive the activity within this organization.
The next meeting was set for May 18 at 7:15.
Thanks to all who attended.
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2005
Cruiser's Race - Change of date
Just to keep things interesting, the date of the season opener has been changed from June 12 to June 5. Therefore, we will be rescheduling the 'Cruisers Race' from the 12th to the 5th.
We can, at the next meeting, consider some other on the water event to take its place for the BOF weekend, although this is certainly not required.
For the race, we will have a special start for cruising boats, distinct from the 'B Fleet'. Last year, the race committee calculated PHRF ratings for all the starters, and handled the entrants with no fee, as an enticement to club cruisers to try their hands at racing. We expect that the same arrangement will hold this year.
It looks like this year we'll be having two separate "B Fleets" for formal races, allowing for a much better competitive situation in the non-spinaker fleet. This is a great year to get more folks participating in the fun of Wednesday night racing, and the club's race programs in general. Remember, any time you're away from the mooring it's a cruise, and any time there is another boat present, it's a race!
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2005
Preliminary Cruise Schedule
Thanks to everyone who came out on a rainy, unspringlike evening to talk about the season ahead. Also, my apologies for taking so long to get this report to you all.
To get right to it, although there will likely be additional cruise and other events scheduled, the following is the current list of events. Where cruise captains have volunteered, they are indicated:
May 21 - TAC Cruise
May 28 - NY Harbor Cruise
June 11 - Blessing of the Fleet
June 12 - Season Opener - Special Cruiser's Class
July 2 - Fire Island Cruise (Pete Rathmacher)
July 23 - Richmond County Cruise (Steve Spinello)
August 13 - Keyport 'Dinner Cruise' (Sandy Cheyne)
September 3 - Labor Day LI Sound Cruise
September 17 - Full Moon Cruise
TBD - Fall Cruise
In addition to the above, we'll be looking at scheduling a few evening events in and around the harbor. We will also, once again, try to do some coordination for a 'Meet Down East', for interested cruisers who will be in the Cape Cod area mid-summer. We will also try to get information about other area cruising events which may be open to members.
Things are beginning to come together. Anyone looking to take responsibility for one of the unassigned scheduled cruises should be in touch. The next meeting is scheduled for April 20 at 7:15; I look forward to seeing you there!
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 07:55 PM | Comments (0)
March 04, 2005
Next Meeting - March 23, 2005
I’ve put the next meeting of the Yachting Committee on the schedule for Wednesday night, March 25. This night seems to be free of other meetings which would keep interested members from attending. The meeting is set for 7:15, hoping to split the difference between too early and too late.
Agenda topics will include:
- Setting future meeting dates, including a weekend meeting in April or May.
- Discussion of the cruising schedule, filling in dates, but likely looking to finalize the schedule at the subsequent meeting.
- Discussion and scheduling of the committee’s season kick off event.
- Discussion of other potential activities and programs.
The Committee of Members has been working to re-activate the InterBay Cruisers. We hope to have a report on progress of this initiative. Dan Ritter has been working on a winter cruise for next year; we hope to hear more about that as well.
Just to get everyone thinking about the cruising schedule, we discussed the following at the last meeting:
- We’d like to consider starting the season off with a day cruise to watch the start of the Rolex TOC on May 21. (See http://www.nyyc.org) The race will be starting off Sandy Hook Although early in the season, weather permitting, this should be an exciting start to witness.
- In general, we’d like to schedule at least one cruise per month, and at least 2 events per month (with the second potentially being a second cruise).
- We’d like to avoid club race events (with the likely exception of the regattas), allowing cruisers who race to avoid the conflicts.
- We’d like to encourage the communication and organization of informal cruises and on-the-water events to the interested membership as part of the committee activity, rounding out the schedule.
I hope to be able to distribute a tentative calendar (dates only) prior to the meeting.
If you are reading this, you already know about the experimental blog I’ve set up for discussion of committee business. There is also a bulletin board at http://ahyc.sailthere.com/forum where topics for discussion can be posted and commented upon. If these turn out to be useful, we’ll work on getting them linked into the Club’s official site.
As ever, please let me hear about your thoughts for the committee and the season ahead.
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2005
Welcome
Welcome to the committee weblog (blog). I've set up this site to experiment with some ways of improving communication among the members of the Yachting Committee, and the club's cruisers. We'll see if any of the ideas work out!
As many of you know, the committee has a small first meeting on February 2. The committee report summarizing topics discussed at that meeting is attached.
I'm now searching for a date for our next meeting. Major topics for discussion will be the general cruising schedule, and season kick off events. Wednesday night seems like a good temporary time for meetings, although when racing season comes, we'll want to move it to another evening.
Let me know your thoughts about meeting times and any other items.
Posted by jeff goldfarb at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)