September 1, 2016

My Favorite Sailing Month

Imagine that you are cruising along as smooth as a Cadillac on a newly paved road.  You can hear the ice softly rattle against the side of your cup as the puff subsides and the smooth ride shifts gears. The sun feels wonderful on your face this cool day.  The coat you are wearing is light but easily keeps you warm.   As you feel the heel of the boat subside, relaxation courses through your body, you know that every one of your muscles can just let go and unwind completely. Puff on!   You take a sip and feel the pressure increase as you realize intuitively that this girl wants to rise higher to the wind.  The more the wind blows, the more she rises until you are in the grove.  You love that feeling, the same one you get when a singer leads up and finally hits the high note.  The boat heels, the wind whistling by your ears is deafening.  The ride is a thrill! Sooner or later the puff relaxes and you take another sip of your drink.  It is a sad feeling knowing that sailing season is nearing it's end, but the last vestige is a good one.  It is a windy one, a cool one, a time when hot chocolate sounds better then beer.  It is football season, a time for chili and fall leaves. Welcome to September.  This sailor's favorite month of the year! If you like September you may like joining the ECSC board!  Let me know your interest.  commodore@ecsail.org
September 1, 2016

LobsterFest a Huge Success

Big Shout OUT to Eric Jones and his crew for putting on a fabulous Lobster Fest Event!  Despite the weather, we had a great turnout! He had so much fun, he has already volunteered for next year!  Thanks Eric!!  Please check out the pictures on the our Facebook Page.  Great fun had by all!  Jack and Cindy Hale are gearing up for our Labor Day Barbecue.  Please plan on coming with an appetite and a dish to pass.  We anticipate GREAT weather this weekend so this too should be a successful event!  First Burger Served at 3:30.  
September 1, 2016

September Harbormaster Report

No report this month.
September 1, 2016

Governor’s Cup is just around the corner!!

Hello Race Fans!!!   As the title of this month's blog reads.... Governor's Cup is coming soon to a lake near you.  Get those bottoms scrubbed and boats ready for one of the best regattas of the year. The racing will be September 17th and 18th.  We expect to have at least five  fleets racing. J-24, Highlanders, Red Fleet, Green Fleet and White-Blue Fleet. Our Principal Race officer for the event is Geoff Endris.  The onshore regatta activities are being coordinated by myself, Nick Mates and the Newgents. If you are able to help on the water, contact Geoff. If you can help during the onshore activities let myself or Nick know. I am still looking for  volunteer for breakfast duty.  Saturday evening will have a live band and dinners will be $10 for the first dinner purchased and $5 for each additional dinner.  This is way less than the actual cost of the dinners and is intended to make it affordable for more ECSC members to attend the dinner even if they didn't race.  The Notice of Race will be published to the website soon.  Registration will start at 8 on Satutrday with a skippers meeting at 10.30 and the Harbor Gun at 11. Speaking of racing,  August has brought Sunday races to a close. Congrats to all who came out for the various club championships.  Your Sunday prizes will be distributed when I see you. Our Ladies skipperina winner Was Janet Hickok, Sailing with her hubby on their Hobie 20. Dennis Robertson is our Multihull Champ for 2016, and I believe our J22 championship resulted in a tie between Cody McCoun and Tony Hubbard.  If I missed any club championships, email me and let me know. Wednesday racing continues to be fun and has been some of the best racing we have had in years.  I am super excited to see a rebuilding of our White/Blue fleet and the competition in this fleet has been great. Thanks to Rich Fox for leading some Q and A sessions during July for our newer racers. Earlier this week we had many emails bouncing around some of our racers about some perceived issues when fleets meet on the race course. Keep in mind, just because the Red Fleet racers like to get uber-serious, yell a lot and go faster than many of our other fleets,  they do not get extra rights under the Racing Rules.  We all play by the same rules.  That means if a slower white fleet boat is at a mark rounding and a faster red fleet boat has to go out of their way to round the mark because they didn't get an overlap in time..... that is racing (This happened between Tom Newgent's S2 and my J24).  Also if you are unsure about being seen by another boat and you feel you have rights (starboard-port for instance) give the other boat a loud hail "starboard".  Obviously if you think you need to avoid contact,  the rules require you to do so. If you feel you were fouled by another boat, even in another fleet, you can protest.  If you do, the racing rules require you to hail the word "protest" AND to fly a red flag as soon as possible. Our Racing rules also require you to notify the RC boat upon finishing. You also should keep the red flag flying until either notifying the RC boat, or seeing the other boat complete a 720 to exonerate themselves.  While nobody wants to spend their time after racing in a protest, there are times when they are necessary. Having said that, if you feel you did violate the rules, even if nobody saw you (hit a mark for example) do your turn or turns and race fairly. Reminder that the race rules call for a 1 turn penalty if you hit a mark of the course (including start and finish marks) and a 2 turn penalty for most other violations (port-starboard, windward-leeward or mark rounding boat on boat infractions) Also coming up on September 10th  is our annual INDY 200 regatta. The NOR will also be on the website shortly. Registration is at 11 with a skippers meeting at 11.30.  This is a great one day regatta for white-blue fleet boats with a PHRF of 200 or over. Rich Fox will again act as our PRO for this event.   See you on the water.   Rick  
September 1, 2016

September Membership Report

Welcome new members Tony and Carol Gentry of Avon and Mike Blackwell of Indianapolis.  The Gentry's are Family Members. Mike has been involved in our racing program and is joining as a Race Fellow. The last New Member Orientation session of the season will be held on Sunday, September 18th. Meet Christy in the upper shelter house to learn more about ECSC. This is also a good session for any prospective members to learn more about the club and the steps involved in becoming a member. So spread the word. Along that line, anyone joining after 9/1/16 will pay only the initiation fee for 2016 ($1,000). They will be able to enjoy the club for the rest of the season and more than likely, our Harbormaster will find a wet slip for them to use for the remaining months. This works well for those who may have been thinking about joining and haven’t yet pulled the trigger. Three chances left to join in the social activities - The Labor Day Cook out on 9/5 at 3:30, the Chili Cook-off in October and the Final Bash in November.
September 1, 2016

Douglas Wins I-LYA Junior Traveler Series

[one_third] 2016-ILYA [/one_third] [one_third] Congratulations are in order for ECSC's Cameron Douglas who finished his season well by finishing 1st in the I-LYA Junior Traveler Series!  Out of a total of 51 entrants in the series, Cam scored a series low 10 points to take the win by four points.  ECSC's Reagan Lessick finished in 7th after ending in a tie for 6th.  Complete series results available here.  Cameron did not sail the last two events due to leaving for college, we wish him well! [/one_third] [one_third] 2016-ILYA-2 [/one_third] [one] Reagan attended the last two I-LYA events at Erie Yacht Club and Berlin Yacht Club, finishing 3rd and 5th respectively, and earning her first race win in series competition.  There are still a few regattas the Juniors will be attending to continue to develop their sailing skills and represent ECSC across the Midwest. 2016-ilya-3   If you have been to the club recently, you may have noticed that one of the buildings at the junior school area has been torn down.  This was the oldest building on the property and was almost falling down from age.  We have removed that building to make way for its replacement.  The new structure should include a covered area for instructing the kids at sailing camp in the summer.  We are hoping this will end the need to conduct any camp activities under the main shelter, and all the campers will be centralized around the junior area.  Stay tuned for updates as they happen. [/one]
September 1, 2016

September Store Items

Welcome aboard your Ship’s Store. FEATURED ITEM The featured item this month is a silk touch ECSC Polo in Navy or Pink. [one_second] store-1 [/one_second] [one_second] Store-2 [/one_second] Embroidered with our club logo, it’s so easy to look your best when wearing this wrinkle – fighting shirt. It’s yours for only $14.00.   DISCONTINUED INVENTORIES We are still pushing to deplete all discontinued items with the following sale prices:
$5ITEM                                                     OLD PRICE                         NEW PRICE
Gildan T Shirt $  6  $4
Ladies Ribbed Tank Top $13 $4
Ladies Tank Top (old model) $14 $4
Ladies Tunic $34 $4
Missy Fit T $  9 $3
Rapid Dry Polo $35 $4
Check the onsite catalog for further product information on these and all items as well as contact information. The store will also be open in the upper shelter during the Labor Day Cookout and the Governor’s Cup Dinner Party for your shopping pleasure.