Cultivating a Rich and ISSUE 56-08 Proud Legacy of Boating AUGUST 2015 for Pleasure and Sport Waterlines Editor Kim Marian Submissions due by the 4th Tuesday of the month prior to publication - 500 words or less please. [email protected] In This Issue From the Helm p1-2 Social Committee p2-3 From the Helm Race/Interlakes p4-5 Bonus From the Helm p6-7 Our Annual Regatta Race/Hound Dog p8-9 Race/Mac Wrap-up p10-11 As we rapidly approach the Hound Dog Regatta, I’d like to Misc. Ramblings p12 use my bully pulpit to again invite and implore all of our Nominations Time p13 membership to take part in the weekend’s activities. In my Coast Guard Day p13 mind, the idea of an “annual regatta” is not just the high Coming Events p14 point of any yacht club’s sailing season, but a time-tested Heard ‘Round the Club p14 responsibility in which our club serves to both draw us together as well as welcoming guests from across our region. On the bulkhead of my Tartan 27, Olin, hangs a framed postcard from a very different era that depicts an extremely familiar scene. Most likely produced in the late ‘40s or early ‘50s, it depicts the awards ceremony at the end of a regatta at the Put-In-Bay Yacht Club on Lake Erie. The scene is identical to that of similar occasions that most of us have attended. If you’ll indulge my practice of undergraduate-level art history interpretation, I’ll point out many of the constants that we see to this day. On the perimeter of the assembled crowd we see all the familiar types we find at a regatta -- racers, stalwart club members, significant others, and kids in bathing suits. On the porch, (continued on page 2) Check the Club’s ONLINE CALENDAR for Up-to-date Event Info. Refer to NORs and SIs for official racing dates, not the online calendar 1 (From the Helm, continued from page 1) the old guard of the club’s officers and organizers, and at ancillary lesson we can draw from this is that GTYC is center, the hosts and race committee presenting a trophy eligible to defend or challenge for the America’s Cup, to a race winner, whose posture - award-flag tucked under as both the host of an annual regatta and the precedent his arm - radiates a Gary Cooper-like casual confidence. of Chicago Yacht Club’s Heart of America Challenge, When we gather on an August Sunday afternoon at which successfully cleared due our club, we’ll re-enact much the same diligence to compete in Perth for ritual, in doing so, reaffirming the Cup in 1987. our personal investment in our community. That’s what As the Hound Dog Regatta annual regattas do - they serve chairman these past three years, as the tentpole that is the life I’ve worked on building an event of a yacht club. that appeals to the breadth of our membership - the sort that The idea that an annual regatta is creates memories. I sincerely central to the life of a yacht club hope you’ll choose to join us has precedent in both the culture for some part of the weekend. and law of sailing. The New York My fondest wish is that you join us Yacht Club, from which so many on the water - to race, tour, or spectate - but it’s fine if you of the traditions of the world’s yacht clubs stem, recently can only join us at the club. Maybe for purely sentimental conducted their 161st Annual Regatta, with GTYC club wishes, it would be great if you can be with us on Sunday members Tom Babel and David Gerber in attendance. In for awards on the lawn for a small tradition that spans the 2007, the Golden Gate Yacht Club successfully appealed past, present and future of our annual regatta. to the New York Supreme Court that the Club Náutico Español de Vela of Spain, a “paper” club consisting of Cheers, 4 Spanish sailing officials propped up by the defending Swiss Alinghi Syndicate, did not constitute a genuine challenge according to conditions of the America’s Cup Deed of Gift due to the fact that they did not conduct an JOJordan Owen annual regatta on the arm of the sea. This led to the Deed Commodore of Gift challenge in 2010 that gave us the giant cat versus [email protected] trimaran contest which put the America’s Cup in the hands of Larry Ellison’s Oracle Syndicate. One ancillary CLUB SHOW & TELL DAY — July 17 2 SOCIAL COMMITTEE In Case You Missed It ... LOCKWOOD DOCK RIBBON-CUTTING — July 3 JULY 4 & NATIONAL CHERRY FESTIVAL — July 4-11 3 RACE COMMITTEE Interlake Nationals: Aug 1-4 GTYC HOSTS SAILORS FROM ACROSS THE USA Bob Sagan, Interlake Fleet Captain Interlake Nationals is the national GTYC event of the PARKING!! summer! Hopefully you can enjoy watching, racing, To accommodate the onslaught of boats, parking at socializing, and helping GTYC continue to maintain and GTYC will be limited starting Friday, July 31. We grow its fine reputation amongst the sailing community. will resume the traffic pattern used in last year’s Chubb Regatta, where the south entrance will be open for entry Sailors from thoughout the US will descend on West Bay to the lot and the north entrance for exiting the lot. Should August 1-4 to compete for national titles! We anticipate you come to the Club for any of the race events (please having 40 boats on-site for Interlake Nationals. Within do!), please plan to park across M-22 behind the Westport the regatta, we’ll see Juniors and Women race for their Building. national trophies on Saturday then on Sunday, the National Championship Division kicks into high gear. Sign up sheets are available at the club or contact Bob Sagan ([email protected]). Thank You! Interlake Nationals Itinerary (subject to change) Fri, Jul 31 6pm-9pm Registration & Measurement Sat, Aug 1 10am-6pm Registration & Measurement (Women/Junior closes at 12pm) 11am Women & Junior Competitor Meeting 1pm 1st Warning - Women & Junior Nationals 7pm Championship, Challenger, & Masters Competitor Meeting Evening Picnic/Potluck Dinner Party (no cost to attend) Sun, Aug 2 1:30pm 1st Warning - Championship, Challenger, & Masters Mon, Aug 3 1:30pm 1st Warning - Championship, Challenger, & Masters Evening Dinner Party ($25 per person) Tue, Aug 4 10am 1st Warning - Championship, Challenger, & Masters (no starts after 2pm) Afternoon Awards Presentation 4 RACE COMMITTEE Interlake Nationals: Aug 1-4 VOLUNTEERS WANTED As you know, it’s the volunteer nature of this Club that allows us to do all that we do including hosting national events. To make launching and retrieving the Interlake fleet possible, safe, and efficient, we will be using two Quad-Runners. We need Quad-Runner operators. The plan is to have dedicated operators running the Quad-Runners and have the trailers brought to them. This has worked great in the past and the Quad operators said it was fun. Volunteers are needed for launching on Aug 2-4: Sunday & Monday 11:30am-1:30pm and again 4-6pm after racing, and Tuesday, 8am-10:30am and 12:30pm - 2:30pm. Sign up sheets are available at the club or contact Bob Sagan ([email protected]) if you can help. Thank YOU! LADIES, JUNIORS — COMPETE IN NATIONALS! LADY & JUNIOR SKIPPERS - you may borrow a boat, choose ANY crew you wish (1 or 2 crew), and compete for the Interlake National Women’s or Junior’s Title! Heck, we even have a skipper who is volunteering their boat and their crew services to any who wish!! Ladies & Junior races are on Saturday, August 1. Registration is available online or even that morning (early registration is encouraged as it encourages participation in others). Need a boat? Questions? Contact any Interlake fleet member (especially Bob Sagan), they will be excited to help you. 5 FROM THE HELM Bonus Edition WHAT’S IN A NAME? Commodore Jordan Owen The business of putting on an annual regatta for GTYC District Championships. As the health and numbers of starts with the most basic question: what do we call it? the GTYC Lightning fleet grew, so did their participation In our case, coming to an answer requires us to take a in the Michigan District regatta circuit. The first time the roundabout path through our club’s history. “GTYC Invitational” appears on the club calendar is 1970 as a Lightning event in West Grand Traverse Bay. Didn’t this event used to be a Lightning event From that year through 1978, the event was sailed in called the GTYC Invitational? Yes. Lightnings, with two of the regattas held in Omena. Didn’t it used to be up in Northport? Yes. The records go dark from 1978 to 1983, but that year we see not one but two Invitationals, with the PHRF fleet Didn’t we race to Leland that one year? Yes. sailing at Northport on the first weekend of August, and the Lightnings sailing at home on the Bay on the Doesn’t the Melges fleet call their annual event the second weekend. From this time, we see the growth of the “Invitational”? Yes. PHRF version of the GTYC Invitational, paralleling the rise of the Northern Offshore Racing Council (NORC), a When and why did we start calling it “The confederation of GTYC, Charlevoix Yacht Club, Boyne Hound Dog”? We’ll get to that. City Yacht Club, Little Traverse Yacht Club, and Leland Yacht Club.