Issue 59-12 December 2017 In This Issue From the Helm p1 Misc. Ramblings p2 JO Elected p3 Reciprocity p4 RC Fleet News p5 Junkie Page p6 Uncle Homer p7 Wow! Where did the year go? Kind of a blur! But all good things must come to an end. Thanks to all of you for all you did to make this year so special for me, and so fun at the club. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays! It has been an honor to Submissions due by the 4th Tuesday of the serve you! month prior to publication - 500 words or less please Commodore Dave Phelps [email protected] Misc. Ramblings PC40 Miscellaneous Ramblings…………………………………………..PC40 Well it’s past Thanksgiving and I haven’t heard any reports of ice anywhere nearby, but that doesn’t stop the iceboaters from meeting the first Tuesday of each month thru April. Come and enjoy some good food and camaraderie and learn about the fastest sailboats on the planet!!! All are welcome. Here’s an interesting article from Soundings about survival gear titled “What Goes Wrong With Survival Gear And How To Prevent It”. It also has a few links to some related articles that are also quite good. Back in ‘98, Doug and Sarah organized a Safety at Sea seminar which some of our members attended along with some down-staters. Since most of our membership cruise as couples, safety should be a top priority for all. Here’s a short video from Sailing Scuttlebutt on the Cruising Club of America’s popular Safety for Cruising Couples seminars. Speaking of safety . there are more and more devices available for locating a MOB. (if you don’t know what that means sell your boat ASAP!!!) This one is from Ahoy Captain and is made by CrewWatcher. No boater should be without one. I can’t remember where I saw this short video, probably Scuttlebutt, but technology continues to create solutions for boater safety, or swimmers, or anyone in the water. Here’s a remote controlled buoy called U-Safe that uses 2 jet drives for propulsion. I found the manufacturer’s website, but no pricing or availability info yet. I’ve had a few email conversations with the guy who has developed a robotic mark which is pretty amazing, but expensive at $4-5,000 each. My concern is the use of a trolling motor which has a propeller. Maybe the U-Safe technology could be incorporated and eliminate the safety hazard of the propeller. That's all for this month. Hope to see you all at the Club!!! JO Elected! JO elected as the New Commodore of LMSRF At the annual meeting of the Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation in November, GTYC Past Commodore Jordan Owen was elected the new commodore of the organization. LMSRF is the regional sailing organization that serves to promote and facilitate sailboat racing through coordination of scheduling, administration of protest appeals, and provision of grants-in-aid. PC Owen has served the past two years as the Vice Commodore for LMSRF's Area V, which encompasses Lower Northern Michigan. Grand Traverse Yacht Club is one of the 37 member clubs which comprise LMSRF. Moving forward into 2018, new Commodore Owen is looking to broaden the profile and activities of the organization, which traditionally has been more prominent in the Chicago and Western Michigan areas. Currently, GTYC has begun discussions about hosting the two day 2018 LMSRF Youth Championships this coming July. There is no word yet if Commodore Owen plans to revive the series of "Commodore's Videos" seen locally in 2015. Club Reciprocity Guidelines Kim Marion Club Reciprocity Guidelines Secretary, Kim Marian ‘Tis the season for exploring other shores and potentially visiting another yacht club or two. Many yacht clubs offer reciprocal privileges to visiting sailors and GTYC is proud to honor other yacht club memberships. What do you do if you want to go to a yacht club in an area you’re visiting? To honor reciprocity privileges, which vary from club to club, yacht clubs typically request a Letter of Introduction (LoI) from your home club Secretary (that’s me … until December 31). How do you get one of these magical letters? Its quite simple: Step 1: Find out if your target club offers reciprocity (New York Yacht Club and Nantucket clubs do not, but Royal Bermuda does!) Step 2: Gather their contact information • Physical address • Contact person (Secretary or Club Manager usually) • Appropriate email address Step 3: Email GTYC Secretary ([email protected]) with the contact info of the club and the dates you plan to visit said club Step 4: Wait patiently for a response. I will CC you on the email to your target club. Typically, LoIs go out within 48 hours, but please leave time to draft the letter and send it on your behalf. Your intended club will appreciate advance notice. Step 5: Upon arriving at your “vacation club”, be sure to have your GTYC membership card and a copy of the LOI available. Are you visiting someplace unusual or a club whose burgee is not yet in our collection? Talk with Jordan “JO” Owen or Commodore Phelps and they’ll gladly outfit you with a GTYC burgee to execute an exchange. Safe travels and bring back your tales to GTYC! (or keep them “out of town” if it’s more appropriate) Radio Control Fleet News Tom Lechota All Radio Control Sailors! Dr. Rob has tasked me with getting the RC fleet out of the garages land in the water! I would like to get an idea of how many RC boats we have to work with and get some meetings scheduled. The YC has 2 Dragon Force 95 (available for any member to sail) and I have a Soling 1M....what do you have? Please email me at [email protected] and will see what models we have in the club. The DF 95 is the newest fleet in AMYA ( American Model Yachting Association) and looks to be the fastest growing. It’s so new that AMYA hasn’t recognized it as a sanctioned fleet....yet! The Soling 1M is the largest fleet in AMYA. Pentwater Yacht Club purchased 15 Soling Kits a couple of years ago and look forward to sailing completed boats this next summer. I sailed in club with 13 Soling’s in the Kazoo-Holland-Grand Rapids area. The sailing we will do will be casual but we do follow the Racing Rules ( see app E of RRS) and there can be a Race Committee, although the course is a group decision. Maybe we can get Eric to watch the start line for us! Usually a race takes about 15 minutes so we can run 6-8 races in a couple of hours. And it is about having fun. One club in Florida has a “lawn chair” race as final race of the day. You sit in a lawn chair of your choice, with a beverage of your choice....and if you get out of your chair during the race you are DSQ! (And I’ll tell you, it’s hard to stay in that chair!) For you Florida snowbirds, check around your area for local clubs. It’s a great way to spend some time looking at different model boats...and many times they will encourage you to sail a race or two with them. That’s how I got to experience Micro Magic sailing. That boat is small enough to fit in the back floor of a sedan without taking sails down! And I won the first race I was in!! So please let me know if you are interested....my thumbs are already getting itchy!! Sailing Junkie Page Stream live at starsailors.com The Star Sailors League Finals are being sailed this week. The champion will be crowned Saturday. Full coverage of all five days of action is being streamed live on the internet with expert commentary from special studio guests, including America’s Cup four time winner Dennis Conner and double Olympic champion Shirley Robertson. On the water, the latest in hi- tech camera technology, as well as Virtual Eye 3D Graphics, will provide thrilling viewing. Go to starsailors.com and spend the day watching really great racing. After three of days of competition three former Star would champions find themselves in the bottom 6 in a 25 boat fleet. There’s some tough sledding out there. Here’s Thursday’s summary: Despite a second light day that perhaps should have favoured the lighter crews, US heavyweights Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih posted a solid 1-2 on day three of the Star Sailor’s League Final off Nassau to take the lead overall. In truth, the US occupation of the top spot was equally down to the impressively consistent Brazilian Olympic legend Robert Scheidt and Henry Boening vacating it after an uncharacteristic error when they hooked the weather mark and had to carry out a penalty turn in today’s second race. This resulted in a 19th place finish and, despite discarding this, the Brazilians are now second, trailing Mendelblatt/Fatih by eight points. “It was a great day – I am very happy with it. We survived the light air and then some, so that was good,” said a beaming Mendelblatt. “Brian has good movement in the boat, which is key as the big guy [ie crew]. You have to heel the boat right and always be moving with the pressure and the waves. He did a great job of keeping the boat powered up at the right angle.