April, 2011 The Log www.rochesteryc.com It’s A WONDERFUL WEEKEND FOR THE FAMILY APRIL 8TH, 9TH, AND 10TH! GAME NIGHT WITH SUPERVISED PLAY Friday, April 8th Relax & Enjoy Your Dinner There will be SUPERVISED PLay with Video and Board Games Galore! CHIldren’s THEATER PRESENTS: “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie” Saturday, April 9th Dinner 5:00 pm Adult Buffet: $19.95 Kids 4-12 $7.95 Show Begins 6:00pm 5555 St. Paul Boulevard Rochester, New York 14617 585-342-5511 2 Rochester Yacht Club Commodore’s Message Dear Fellow Members, The ice in the basin has melted, the high school sailing program has started and the geese are on the lawn again. So it is official now - Spring has arrived! I want to thank Renee and Charlie Brown for their wonderful presentation detailing their two-summer cruising adventures on Rhapsody in the upper Great Lakes. Everyone that I talked with enjoyed their presentation and learned something useful about cruising. I’m looking forward to their next adventure – vicariously of course! Who says that Rochester Yacht Club sailors only have a 3 month sailing season? I am pleased to see so many of our members participating in events in far away places. Key West Race Week - PHRF 2 (7 Boats) - 2 - Jack Cavalier, Etchells Jaguar Cup Series (53 Boats - 4 Regattas) -3 rd Overall - Flipper Wehrheim , J/24 Midwinter Championship (27 Boats) - 9 - Flipper Wehrheim; 16 - Travis Odenbach J/22 Mid-Winter Championship (33 Boats) - 5 - Travis Odenbach; Jim Barnash St. Pete NOOD Regatta - J/24 (20 Boats)- 2 - Mike Ingham; 3 - Travis Odenbach Thistle Mid-Winters East (46 Boats) - 4 - Mike Ingham, Cayman Island Invitational – J/22 (12 Boats) - 5 - Marc Fischer, St Barths Bucket Regatta (40 Super Yachts) - Hank & Mary Stuart, Texas Team Race Shoot Out (3x3) - Sonar - Gunnar Richardson, Eric Snavely, Eric Voss, Caribbean Cruise Charter – Gardner’s, Bryant’s & Lai’s – (knowing them - they will be racing), Charleston Race Week - Travis Odenbach, Sarah Enright, Mike Ingham & Peter Cucci Other RYC members crewing and making their skippers look smart include Bill Farmer, Jack Odenbach, Jon Faudree, Bob Bryant, Jeff Sullivan, Skylar Munger, Scott Napier, Karen Sladden, Tim Sladden, Liz Bower, Mark Lawless, Donna Faust, Curtis Gilbert, and Noah Doolittle.Thanks to all for representing Rochester Yacht Club and helping to elevate our Club’s stature all round the sailing world! It is always risky to name people, so I offer my apology to anyone that I’ve missed. The Racing Fleet meeting is planned for Wednesday April 27, so mark your calendar and please plan to attend. Several initiatives have been considered and will be discussed. Here at RYC, John Odenbach has been promoting and lobbying for RYC to shift to IRC racing. With the IRC North American Championships in Toronto this summer, an opportunity for greater RYC member participation has developed. Tarry Polidor has offered to help our members get IRC measured, and he is waiving the measurer’s fee to help get this started. We are continuing to offer the Racing Crew Membership – without any changes to the program. $200.00 Fee – grants privileges on scheduled race nights from May until Cups ‘N Flags. Please encourage your crew to participate – not only is it the right thing to do - but they can splurge and buy their favorite skipper (that’s you) a drink and dinner after racing. For our less serious racers, we are planning to give boats an “RYC-JAM” rating (Jib and Main), and include all RYC sail boats on our Friday Night “Fish Fry Race” roster to encourage participation. We believe that it has become overly difficult to participate in what are supposed to be “fun” activities. On the Collegiate Racing Circuit, I can report that RYC is represented by many graduates of our Youth and High School sailing programs. Did you know that we are currently represented by Killian Corbishley at The US Naval Academy, Merrit Moran at Georgetown U., Julia Gardner at George Washington U., Graham Gardner at Fordham U., Sam Ingham at The US Coast Guard Academy, Roy Ingham at RIT, and Ainsley Thomson at St. Mary’s College, Kira Munger at Christopher Newport U., Julia Weisner at Old Dominion U., Olivia Graham at Bentley College, Serena Lofftus at Boston College, Alden Sonnenfeld at Cornell U. and Matt Guenther sailing at Stevens Institute? I am hopeful that all these bright young adults will find their way back to sail with us at RYC in the future. Our membership activity cycle is now entering our busy season. So please remember to contact Betsy Lawless if someone that you know expresses interest in joining our Club. Our membership committee really appreciates your help and support through the membership process. Susie and I hope to see you at the Club soon. Fair winds, Keith Burhans, Commodore 3 Rochester Yacht Club RYC Board of Directors Meeting RYC Board of Directors March 17, 2011 Meeting Highlights Commodore Keith Burhans called the meeting to order at 1918. Treasurer John Miraglia reported that February was a good month for the club. Revenue exceeded the budget forecast by a small margin of $269. Food and Beverage margins were running slightly behind budget, however spring and summer are just around the corner and should give the house a boost. Winter repairs to club-owned boats contributed to most of the negative expense variance of $5105 for the month, but still leaving the club with a $9000 positive variance for the year-to-date. Club Manager Mary Smith reported that we have a new staff member, James Hennessey, at the bar and two interns start in May. The Burgee Bar will be ready to open in April. Recent events included the popular Southern Rendezvous and a program with a physical therapist about avoiding sports injuries. Summer sailing youth programs signup is currently being taken on-line. Sunday’s waffle and omelet stations continue. Frost biters are finally sailing. Friday April 1st is the next happy hour, with beer tasting and Empire liquor tasting with William Hill wine. April 6 continues winter Wednesdays. Joni Hardy will talk on organizing. April 8-10 is kids weekend with supervised activities for younger children and upstairs games for older kids. Saturday night will feature children’s theater and will finish by 7PM to accommodate the little ones. Sunday will be pasta, bingo, and orientation to summer sail programs. Wear you summer clothes. April 13 Hank Stuart and Laurent Esquier will host an America’s Cup discussion. April 16 is Prime Rib night and on the 19th the club will open for lunch for the season. April 23rd brings Breakfast with the Easter Bunny and an Egg Hunt. Last year there were 1000 eggs to be found. Be sure to make reservations for the Easter Brunch on April 24th. Racing season gets underway with racing fleet skippers meeting onApril 27. It is, also, April “Ladies Night Out”. April 29th will be a return of the popular wine dinner, a “Tour of France” with Chris Fox. Don’t miss it. Skip Shumway promised a beautiful weekend on April 30th for the annual “Fools Regatta”! Tim Sladden reported on team racing. It’s much different than regular racing and great fun, even for the inexperienced. Racers will be on the water for the next ~5 Saturdays and there are several future events where RYC teams will compete. Tim also reported some suggestions from a group of committee chairs on their vision for the future of sail racing at the club. A strong sailing program contributes much value to RYC and there are many ways that we can support the strength of our sail instruction and racing programs. Membership Committee Director Betsy Lawless welcomed new member Todd Howe. Prospective members Peter Rivoli and Sophie Esquier are ready to post. Currently we have 337 total resident members, 2 higher than February. Jon Faudree reported that the Centrals Regatta will be in Cazenovia July 9-10. RYC will have at least one 420 competing in North Americans in Buffalo. HS sailing starts Monday. Thank you to Bud Webb and Miles Bliss for all their hard work. Boats look awesome. Docks are in, thank you to Skip Shumway and Steve Wilde. The HS program has gained around 15 new racers. Betsy Lawless did a great job getting on-line registration up and running. The staff has been hired and scheduling done. Natalie Steo reported that in April RJYC members are helping the Women’s Association with Easter events and they also have boat washes planned as a fundraiser. Hank Stuart reported for the Rolex and Hospice regattas. Plans are coming together for both events. RYC will also host the 2012 LYRA Stoltz Cup that is the selection race for the Richardson Cup Linda Gardner reported for the Women’s Racing Association. The association is recruiting “old” and new women to participate. May 5th they will rig boats and start racing on May 12. Bud Webb says spring is wonderful! The floating docks are in.The 420s are launched and on the dock. A security upgrade included clubhouse critical systems and a boiler sensor. It has already proved its worth when the boiler malfunctioned and the alarm saved the day! Pool supplies are being ordered. The sail dock in the east basin has been improved. Commodore Burhans reiterated our thanks to Bud Webb and Miles Bliss for their work on the 420s. The discussion on the proposed purchase of the small parcel of property near our entrance was reopened. After hearing appraisal details and contract options available to the club, it was decided that the club would authorize counsel, John D’Aurizio to pursue and negotiate a purchase and sale agreement with the City of Rochester for the land.