Commodore's Corner
2nd May, 2013: Well, the 2013 Spring racing series has come and gone – and it
was a great one. I’d just like to offer my thanks to all the RGYC members who
gave up their time to make sure it happened, John, Terry and, of course, Pat
and Carol Anne, as well as all the intrepid sailors who participated.
Congratulations to all the fleet winners, and commiserations to those who
couldn’t compete in all the races – e.g. Mark Swart was looking good in the
Cruiser fleet, but couldn’t sail on the final weekend. Unfortunately, Mark will
be moving to Hawaii shortly (and his S2-27 is still open to a reasonable
offer). John Doherty also gave a very good example of unflappability when his “Sweet
Sixteen” turtled after the last race on Saturday in gusty, shifty winds – he was
out again the following morning – undeterred (“The water wasn’t THAT cold, said
John).
Our next event is a new one – the RGYC Cinco de Mayo
celebration, which will follow the Joshua Slocum Race on Saturday May 4th,
followed by the “Jack and Jill Race” on the Sunday. Elizabeth Calhoon is
coordinating the occasion, so please contact Elizabeth if you have any
questions.
I repeat my plea to our regular sailors/racers, to PLEASE try to take new people out onto the water whenever the opportunity arises. We should all share our joy of sailing with people who haven’t had the opportunity to experience it for themselves, and we should explain why we love it so much.
This “Commodore’s Corner” will be (slightly) less verbose than normal, because the Commodore is leaving for a 10-day cruise in the BVIs in less than two hours, having had about 2 hours sleep since returning from Germany 36 hours ago.
So, its night-night from me, and I hope you all enjoy Cinco de Mayo, the Joshua Slocum and the Jack and Jill Races.
Happy sailing,
Colin
11th April, 2013: "Well, here we are, two thirds of the way through the Spring racing season, and all I can do is offer my commiserations to anyone who wanted to sail the Spring Series 2 races but couldn’t. What a glorious weekend, with water ranging from mirror-like, to periods of white-caps.
I’d like to thank both our Race Committee officers so far, John Doherty and Terry Brower for volunteering to run the first two weekend’s racing, mentioning in dispatches John’s ability to effectively improvise during series 1, and Terry’s determination to run races as long as anyone still had the energy for “just one more” during series 2.
At the Skipper’s meeting before the Spring series 2 races, Race Officer Pat Byrnes held an informative “teach-in” about rules that come into play as boats approach a windward mark. This provoked some lively discussion, and hopefully Pat and other members will continue this practice at subsequent Skipper’s Meetings. The idea is to focus on particular situations, e.g. windward mark, Leeward Mark, Start and Finish rather than focus on specific rules.
Next up is likely to be “The Start”. Understanding the rules before, and after, that start signal will help all our racers confidently establish their position just behind that line as the final seconds tick away. Sitting down in a quiet place with a good rule book is well worth the effort to understand the basic rules, or in a noisy place with other argumentative racers, before diving into the exceptions, and of course there is a basic exposition of racing rules in cartoon form on the RGYC website (http://rgyc.net/basic-racing-rules.html).
We have had some potential new members crewing out on the lake – Art Johnson has come up from Las Cruces for both weekend Spring races, and Tess Fresquez has come down all the way from Espanola. Both have probably enjoyed sailing with Chris - but with me? probably not so much, so let’s make sure that we provide the opportunity for potential new members to sail with the NICE people in our club.
Hal Atencio has accepted responsibility for oversight of the web-site, so please feel free to contact Hal about suggestions, errors, complaints etc about the content or presentation of the web-site - and particularly any questions about events schedule.
Please see Jan’s account of the Great Easter Pickle Race a couple of weeks ago now, a great success by all accounts, in our Newsletter. Hats off to Rich and Sue, and our members, who showed up with enough boats to carry all the kids, with room to spare.
Next upcoming events are the Spring Series 3 races on April 20/21, with a Board Meeting on Saturday April 20, followed by the Jack and Jill Race on Saturday May 4th – with the First Annual “RGYC Cinco de Mayo Party” to be held on the beach by Rock Canyon, starting at 6.30 after the Saturday Races. Watch your e-mail and the Web-site for details. Elizabeth Calhoon will be organizing this and looking for volunteer help.
Finally, for now, please bookmark the website and check in regularly for news updates, weather updates, event updates, and “For Sale” updates – and share these with your friends, family and colleagues. Right now we have a Ranger 32, a Catalina 30, and an S2-27 all available to go to a new home right here in New Mexico!
Happy April!
Colin
Commodore's Corner, 26th February, 2013: It was great to see 12 boats on the line for the Presidents' Day “Chute Out” which provided another opportunity for RGYC Sailors to practice their light-air sailing skills, as the 7-knot wind failed to materialize (until well after the race had finished). There was lots of close proximity sailing (in one case excessive proximity!!) and somewhat unusually, a traffic jam at the first mark, leaving skippers trying to work out who had right of way over whom. Also, unusually, two boats had to take penalty turns; the nameless port-tacker (Colin) for dismally failing to execute a simple bear-away and dip behind a starboard-tack boat without touching it, and another port-tacker for tacking too close in front of a starboard tack boat. And all this in very light wind!
Larry Jessee won in his new Star, with Rich Strasia and Chi coming a very close second, and Mark Swart coming in third in his S2 27. A fun time was had by all! We are putting together a schedule of social and race-training events and hope to hold one training session before the first race of the Spring series on March 16th. That will be followed by other training sessions as frequently as possible, including short “round the cans” races on the water, to practice starts, mark roundings etc. In the mean-time, a simple presentation on basic racing rules is available on the website (Click here), and will be supplemented throughout the year.
We’re looking forward to a series of fun social events at the lake, which will include (tentatively) a Cinco de Mayo BBQ on the beach after the Joshua Slocum race, an on-the water Treasure Hunt after Memorial Day, Raft-ups, including a Full Moon Raft-up during the summer, and a Halloween event. Watch the web-site for announcements. These events will be subsidized for club members and non-members will be welcomed on a "pay on the day" basis.
RGYC members currently have access to subsidized racing and cruising events, subsidized social events, significantly-reduced "Mast-Up" boat storage fees compared to non-members, at a location near Marina del Sol, access to periodic "work-shop days", when club members can bring their (reasonable) "help me fix my boat" problems to groups of experienced and well-equipped sailors and engineers, willing to help and all for a nominal annual fee.
Proposed amendments to the RGYC By-Laws will be presented to the club membership at the March 16th Board Meeting after the first races of the Spring series – venue to be advised.
Please Remember that membership dues are due by March 15th, when the password on the “members only” section of the website will change. Paid-up members will receive the password a couple of days in advance.
Finally, as we trudge through the late February snow, just remember it’s only just over two weeks till the first race of the Spring series! What a cheerful thought!
I repeat my plea to our regular sailors/racers, to PLEASE try to take new people out onto the water whenever the opportunity arises. We should all share our joy of sailing with people who haven’t had the opportunity to experience it for themselves, and we should explain why we love it so much.
This “Commodore’s Corner” will be (slightly) less verbose than normal, because the Commodore is leaving for a 10-day cruise in the BVIs in less than two hours, having had about 2 hours sleep since returning from Germany 36 hours ago.
So, its night-night from me, and I hope you all enjoy Cinco de Mayo, the Joshua Slocum and the Jack and Jill Races.
Happy sailing,
Colin
11th April, 2013: "Well, here we are, two thirds of the way through the Spring racing season, and all I can do is offer my commiserations to anyone who wanted to sail the Spring Series 2 races but couldn’t. What a glorious weekend, with water ranging from mirror-like, to periods of white-caps.
I’d like to thank both our Race Committee officers so far, John Doherty and Terry Brower for volunteering to run the first two weekend’s racing, mentioning in dispatches John’s ability to effectively improvise during series 1, and Terry’s determination to run races as long as anyone still had the energy for “just one more” during series 2.
At the Skipper’s meeting before the Spring series 2 races, Race Officer Pat Byrnes held an informative “teach-in” about rules that come into play as boats approach a windward mark. This provoked some lively discussion, and hopefully Pat and other members will continue this practice at subsequent Skipper’s Meetings. The idea is to focus on particular situations, e.g. windward mark, Leeward Mark, Start and Finish rather than focus on specific rules.
Next up is likely to be “The Start”. Understanding the rules before, and after, that start signal will help all our racers confidently establish their position just behind that line as the final seconds tick away. Sitting down in a quiet place with a good rule book is well worth the effort to understand the basic rules, or in a noisy place with other argumentative racers, before diving into the exceptions, and of course there is a basic exposition of racing rules in cartoon form on the RGYC website (http://rgyc.net/basic-racing-rules.html).
We have had some potential new members crewing out on the lake – Art Johnson has come up from Las Cruces for both weekend Spring races, and Tess Fresquez has come down all the way from Espanola. Both have probably enjoyed sailing with Chris - but with me? probably not so much, so let’s make sure that we provide the opportunity for potential new members to sail with the NICE people in our club.
Hal Atencio has accepted responsibility for oversight of the web-site, so please feel free to contact Hal about suggestions, errors, complaints etc about the content or presentation of the web-site - and particularly any questions about events schedule.
Please see Jan’s account of the Great Easter Pickle Race a couple of weeks ago now, a great success by all accounts, in our Newsletter. Hats off to Rich and Sue, and our members, who showed up with enough boats to carry all the kids, with room to spare.
Next upcoming events are the Spring Series 3 races on April 20/21, with a Board Meeting on Saturday April 20, followed by the Jack and Jill Race on Saturday May 4th – with the First Annual “RGYC Cinco de Mayo Party” to be held on the beach by Rock Canyon, starting at 6.30 after the Saturday Races. Watch your e-mail and the Web-site for details. Elizabeth Calhoon will be organizing this and looking for volunteer help.
Finally, for now, please bookmark the website and check in regularly for news updates, weather updates, event updates, and “For Sale” updates – and share these with your friends, family and colleagues. Right now we have a Ranger 32, a Catalina 30, and an S2-27 all available to go to a new home right here in New Mexico!
Happy April!
Colin
Commodore's Corner, 26th February, 2013: It was great to see 12 boats on the line for the Presidents' Day “Chute Out” which provided another opportunity for RGYC Sailors to practice their light-air sailing skills, as the 7-knot wind failed to materialize (until well after the race had finished). There was lots of close proximity sailing (in one case excessive proximity!!) and somewhat unusually, a traffic jam at the first mark, leaving skippers trying to work out who had right of way over whom. Also, unusually, two boats had to take penalty turns; the nameless port-tacker (Colin) for dismally failing to execute a simple bear-away and dip behind a starboard-tack boat without touching it, and another port-tacker for tacking too close in front of a starboard tack boat. And all this in very light wind!
Larry Jessee won in his new Star, with Rich Strasia and Chi coming a very close second, and Mark Swart coming in third in his S2 27. A fun time was had by all! We are putting together a schedule of social and race-training events and hope to hold one training session before the first race of the Spring series on March 16th. That will be followed by other training sessions as frequently as possible, including short “round the cans” races on the water, to practice starts, mark roundings etc. In the mean-time, a simple presentation on basic racing rules is available on the website (Click here), and will be supplemented throughout the year.
We’re looking forward to a series of fun social events at the lake, which will include (tentatively) a Cinco de Mayo BBQ on the beach after the Joshua Slocum race, an on-the water Treasure Hunt after Memorial Day, Raft-ups, including a Full Moon Raft-up during the summer, and a Halloween event. Watch the web-site for announcements. These events will be subsidized for club members and non-members will be welcomed on a "pay on the day" basis.
RGYC members currently have access to subsidized racing and cruising events, subsidized social events, significantly-reduced "Mast-Up" boat storage fees compared to non-members, at a location near Marina del Sol, access to periodic "work-shop days", when club members can bring their (reasonable) "help me fix my boat" problems to groups of experienced and well-equipped sailors and engineers, willing to help and all for a nominal annual fee.
Proposed amendments to the RGYC By-Laws will be presented to the club membership at the March 16th Board Meeting after the first races of the Spring series – venue to be advised.
Please Remember that membership dues are due by March 15th, when the password on the “members only” section of the website will change. Paid-up members will receive the password a couple of days in advance.
Finally, as we trudge through the late February snow, just remember it’s only just over two weeks till the first race of the Spring series! What a cheerful thought!
Commodore's Corner, 21st January, 2013: Happy New Year to all RGYC Members, Associates, and Friends, and welcome to the new RGYC Team, who, just a few weeks into the New Year, have already held two meetings to identify goals for the year and plan out activities for 2013. We are delighted to welcome back Stan Hafenfeld as Vice Commodore, Jan Zink as Secretary and Dick Alexander as Treasurer. Rick Brown and Elizabeth Calhoon are our two new Northern Fleet Directors and Marilyn Bush has been appointed as one of our two Southern Fleet Directors. Pat Byrnes has agreed to be our new Race Officer, taking over from Steve Hanes. As a racer, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to Steve for his sterling performance in a position that can sometimes appear thankless, and to Pat for stepping up into that same position. Pat will be supported by a Race Committee including active racers such as Terry Brower and Marilyn Bush.
A major goal for 2013 will be to increase and diversify club membership. A healthy club needs an influx of new members and one rule of thumb is to have around 10-15% new members each year. For RGYC, that means about 10-15 new members this year. With our year-round sailing on Elephant Butte, superb climate, three marinas, one with a seasonal restaurant, "Mast-up" storage facility, "mast cranes" for rigging/de-rigging, beaches, etc. we have a tremendous asset that perhaps we take for granted, and need to promote more. So let's all of us aim to bring just ONE new member into the club this year.
Another RGYC priority for 2013 will be to have more training - including sessions on basic boating on Elephant Butte - safe anchoring, racing rules, and how to run the Race Committee Boat. These are issues that Pat Byrnes is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about. Many of our races have relatively long legs that separate the fleet into long processions with the fastest boats at the front and the slower ones at the rear, such that it is rare to have to round a race mark with any other boat anywhere close by, and we rarely have the opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge, or lack thereof, about right-of-way rules around race marks.
In contrast, boats are usually in close proximity while starting races and it is quite common to see cautious skippers stay away from the melee at the line, if they are unsure of the right-of-way rules at the start, and condemn themselves to sailing in bad air, at least until the lead boats have raced away into winning positions! The right-of-way rules before, and immediately after, the starting signal really aren't that complex. Understanding them, and applying them tactically in our small fleets can add a lot of enjoyment to our racing, as long as all our racers feel comfortable in their knowledge of the rules. Making that so will be major goal for Pat and me in 2013.
Since not all family members or friends want to be on the water during a race, we also plan to establish an "Auxiliary Group" to organize activities for partners/friends/family members not sailing while a "significant other" is on the water. Sue Strasia will likely lead this.
Leaving racing aside, several club members have expressed an interest in having more organized social activities during the summer months, in between the Spring and Fall racing, and we have some volunteers to organize "Raft-Ups", on the water "Treasure Hunts", "Scavenger Hunts" and "silly-sailing" events, such as races around very short triangular "beer-can" courses that keep the boats close together and teach right-of-way rules as well as better close-sailing skills. Keep an eye on the web-site for advance warning of upcoming events. Elizabeth Calhoon and Christine Dykes will likely be organizers, and other volunteers will be welcome.
We have many great ideas about how to build on the foundations that previous generations of RGYC sailors have laid, and many volunteers willing to devote their time. Its worth remembering that we all get a lot more out of our "clubs" than we put in, and if we all devote just a little bit more to RGYC during 2013, we will help secure the future of a great club and a great resource for the people of New Mexico and neighboring states.
A major goal for 2013 will be to increase and diversify club membership. A healthy club needs an influx of new members and one rule of thumb is to have around 10-15% new members each year. For RGYC, that means about 10-15 new members this year. With our year-round sailing on Elephant Butte, superb climate, three marinas, one with a seasonal restaurant, "Mast-up" storage facility, "mast cranes" for rigging/de-rigging, beaches, etc. we have a tremendous asset that perhaps we take for granted, and need to promote more. So let's all of us aim to bring just ONE new member into the club this year.
Another RGYC priority for 2013 will be to have more training - including sessions on basic boating on Elephant Butte - safe anchoring, racing rules, and how to run the Race Committee Boat. These are issues that Pat Byrnes is both knowledgeable and enthusiastic about. Many of our races have relatively long legs that separate the fleet into long processions with the fastest boats at the front and the slower ones at the rear, such that it is rare to have to round a race mark with any other boat anywhere close by, and we rarely have the opportunity to demonstrate our knowledge, or lack thereof, about right-of-way rules around race marks.
In contrast, boats are usually in close proximity while starting races and it is quite common to see cautious skippers stay away from the melee at the line, if they are unsure of the right-of-way rules at the start, and condemn themselves to sailing in bad air, at least until the lead boats have raced away into winning positions! The right-of-way rules before, and immediately after, the starting signal really aren't that complex. Understanding them, and applying them tactically in our small fleets can add a lot of enjoyment to our racing, as long as all our racers feel comfortable in their knowledge of the rules. Making that so will be major goal for Pat and me in 2013.
Since not all family members or friends want to be on the water during a race, we also plan to establish an "Auxiliary Group" to organize activities for partners/friends/family members not sailing while a "significant other" is on the water. Sue Strasia will likely lead this.
Leaving racing aside, several club members have expressed an interest in having more organized social activities during the summer months, in between the Spring and Fall racing, and we have some volunteers to organize "Raft-Ups", on the water "Treasure Hunts", "Scavenger Hunts" and "silly-sailing" events, such as races around very short triangular "beer-can" courses that keep the boats close together and teach right-of-way rules as well as better close-sailing skills. Keep an eye on the web-site for advance warning of upcoming events. Elizabeth Calhoon and Christine Dykes will likely be organizers, and other volunteers will be welcome.
We have many great ideas about how to build on the foundations that previous generations of RGYC sailors have laid, and many volunteers willing to devote their time. Its worth remembering that we all get a lot more out of our "clubs" than we put in, and if we all devote just a little bit more to RGYC during 2013, we will help secure the future of a great club and a great resource for the people of New Mexico and neighboring states.