CASTINE YACHT CLUB
17 May 2010
Dear Members:
It is hard to believe that summer is almost here. Your Flag Officers have been working hard organizing another outstanding season of yachting activities. I am confident you will find exciting and enjoyable times at CYC this summer.
Sailing Program: Last Fall, the Flag Officers, Past Commodores, and I created a mission statement for CYC’s sailing programs. The mission of our sailing program adopted by the leadership of CYC last November is as follows:
Castine Yacht Club Sailing Program Mission Statement
The Castine Yacht Club Sailing Program offers sailing and racing instruction for the entire Castine community. Our goal is to provide a safe and fun on-water opportunity to learn or improve skills in traditional seamanship, boating safety, racing and cruising. We promote competitive sailing as an important educational tool and are committed to fairness, good sportsmanship, and the pure joy of sailing.
Jamie Bicks and I, together with the Junior Sailing Program Flag Officers and Instructors, have memorialized our outstanding junior sailing program in a detailed manual that will be posted on our website before the start of the season. A few hard copies will also be posted at the Yacht Club. The manual contains detailed requirements for each level in our junior sailing program, instructor assignments, code of conduct, flag officer responsibilities, a fleet overview, and weekly schedule. As we assembled this manual, it became clear to us how substantial and impressive CYC’s sailing program has become.
One result of our comprehensive review of CYC’s sailing program is that we are changing how instructors are assigned this summer. Each level in the sailing program will have a different team of head instructors. The head instructor assignments are as follows:
Level Head Instructors
Apprentice Maggie Hynes, Anna Weinstein-Perez, and Mary Clara Musgrove
Seaman Rachel Pedersen and Emily Bicks
Boatswain Maggie Hynes and Matt Weklar
Mates Rachel Pedersen and Aaron Cyr-Mutty
Skippers Will Buchanan and Maggie Hynes
Day Sails Aaron Cyr-Mutty, Matt Weklar and Maggie Hynes
Adult Racing Will Buchanan
The head instructor team will be assisted as necessary by additional CYC instructors so that the ratio of students to instructors is typically 4 or 5 to 1. Given clearly defined goals and responsibilities, and a focus on one or two classes instead of five, we expect our instructors will be both better rested and better prepared for their classes.
In addition to the staff listed above, Astrid Kettis, who will be visiting Castine from Oslo, Norway will also be a CYC sailing instructor. As part of their seamanship program, Bob Scott has generously agreed to give our Skippers big boat sailing experiences on Falcon including spinnaker training.
The junior program day sails, which are open to Seaman and above, will take place on Wednesdays. Adults (parents too!) are encouraged to come along and, if possible, bring a boat.
In addition to our normal program, Tom Brown, who is MMA’s Varsity Sailing Coach, will be offering advanced 420 sailing clinics on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Space is limited to a maximum of 16 students per clinic with priority being given to Skippers and Mates with 420 racing experience. The first clinic will start the week of June 28th and will last for three weeks. The cost is $150 per student. Two additional two week clinics will follow in July and August; the cost of the two week clinics will be $100 per student. The program description is:
The seminars will consist of two afternoons a week in the months of July and August.
At least three hours each day will be needed to teach and assess. The sailors will be
using 420s shared by MMA and CYC. The first day will be instruction on the water followed by a debriefing. The second day will be implementing what they learned through repetitive racing followed by a debriefing. Each week a new component to competitive sailing will be covered and each week will build off the previous one. The areas of focus will include:
Boat Handling Sail Trim
Race Preparation Starts
Upwind/Downwind Mark Roundings
Rules Tactics & Mental Game
Tom Brown will also be offering a sailing program for women on Monday mornings. The Salty Sisters program is described as follows:
This is a program for woman to learn basic boat handling and racing skills using MMA’s Mercury fleet. This group will meet once a week for three hours. Skills will be taught in the first two hours followed by some race time to implement what they just practiced. This program is for woman 18 and above who want to learn how to sail and have some fun racing with their peers.
More information on the Salty Sisters program will be available at CYC’s opening meeting.
CYC’s Fleet this summer will include eight fully operational Turnabouts, two Optimists (leased), the Elizabeth B and the Margaret A (class use only), six 420s, access to the MMA Mercury fleet, two Whalers, and one inflatable. All boats have been properly maintained over the winter with improvements made where necessary. All eight Turnabouts will have spinnakers this summer. CYC is cooperating with MMA on the future purchase of a new fleet of 420s that will greatly benefit our 420 sailing programs and allow Castine to host a variety of regional and national 420 sailing competitions.
Colgate 26 Racing: CYC’s and MMA’s cooperative program for adult Colgate 26 racing will continue to run on Thursday afternoons starting July 1st. The Colgate Cup challenge race is scheduled for Thursday, August 19th. Please contact Bill Light, Jim Raber, or Tip McDonald for more information.
Mercury Racing: CYC’s and MMA’s cooperative program for adult Mercury racing will take place on Tuesday afternoons starting June 29th. Please contact Chair Par Kettis at 207-326-4548, cell 266-5755 or kettis@myfairpoint.net for more details.
Castine Class Racing: The first Castine Class race of the season is the Robinson Cup race on July 4th. Skipper’s meeting is at 1:00 pm. The Eaton Cup race is scheduled for Saturday, August 14th and the Labor Day race is scheduled for Saturday, September 4th. Other weekly races are scheduled on most Saturdays during July. David Bicks has once again generously agreed to coordinate the Castine Class races.
Castine Classic Yacht Race: The annual Classic Yacht race to Camden is scheduled for Thursday, August 5th. A reception will be held at CYC on Wednesday evening, August 4th at 6 pm. Please contact Bob Scott and David Bicks for further information. Classic Yacht race entry forms are on CYC’s website.
The Michael Jordan Race is scheduled for Sunday, August 22nd.
Club Cruise: A six day club cruise to the Roque Islands is scheduled to leave Castine on July 17th. Seven boats have already signed up. The cruise is being organized and coordinated by Wallace and Alice Alston, David Bicks, and Kevin Coady. Ports of call include: Northeast Harbor, Trafton Island, East Jonesport, Roque Island, Cows Yard, and Little Cranberry Island. The proposed itinerary is posted on the CYC website. Anyone interested in participating should promptly contact Wallace and Alice Alston for more details (207-326-8432 or wallalston@myfairpoint.net).
Kayak Program: Viktoria Gres is coordinating CYC’s very popular kayak program. Harold Hatch is once again expected to be the guide for these events. Kayak tours generally leave from the clubhouse at 10 am on Tuesdays during July and August.
Speaker’s Program: Elaine Cinciva has lined up a number of great speakers for this summer’s speakers series on Tuesday evenings. Topics include Super Yachts of the Mediterranean; Tales of the Intracoastal Waterway, an account of a passage from Florida to Cape Cod on a seventeen foot Catboat; and the Bowdoin’s trip last summer to Canada. Please check CYC’s bulletin boards and website for dates and topics.
Lord Nelson Model Boat Race & Cookout: One of my favorite events of the season is the model boat race followed by a club cookout. Please plan on joining us for this great race at 4:35 pm on Monday, August 2nd. The cookout will take place immediately after the race. CYC will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, and beverages.
Eaton Lobster Stew: Please plan on joining us at CYC on the evening of Saturday, August 14th for the wonderful Eaton Lobster Stew Party. David Ziff and Alan Bell have once again graciously agreed to oversee this event. Please contact Jean Pedersen (jrpdsn@aol.com) for more information or to make reservations for the best lobster stew in Maine.
The Castine Golf Club Yachting Theme Dinner is scheduled for 6 pm on Sunday, July 18th at the yacht club.
Theannual Pond Island Rendezvous is scheduled for Friday, August 20th. Although I do not look forward to the end of the season, I do look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Pond Island. Please plan on arriving between 12:30 pm and 1:00 pm.
Dinghy dock: As we all know, dinghy space at CYC is very tight during some weeks of the season. Our membership has grown at the same time that inflatable dinghies have become more popular, more sophisticated, and bigger. Unfortunately, our dock space has limits. Please let the dockhands know of you do not plan to use your dinghy for an extended period of time, and, if possible, consider storing it elsewhere. We will try to identify some convenient storage options for dinghies that will not be used a few weeks after the season gets underway. This year, we changed the fee structure for dinghies over 14 feet in length or 6 feet in beam. These large dinghies/tenders will be allowed to tie up at CYC only when adequate space is available (i.e., during off-peak weeks). The cost of tying up large dinghies/tenders at CYC during off-peak periods will be $2 per foot of length per week. Please let our club steward, Debbie Rogers, or me know if you have any questions.
I hope you all have an enjoyable season in Castine this summer. We have done our best to organize excellent programs. During the process, we have developed a much deeper appreciation for the contributions of Commodores and Flag Officers who preceded us. We salute each of you and thank you for all your contributions over the years. Each of you has helped make CYC a very special place.
Hope to see you all at our opening pot luck dinner meeting on Saturday, June 26th. Have a great season, and please be careful out there.
Cheers!
Tom Pedersen
Commodore