DATES TO REMEMBER
AUGUST
6, 13, 20, 27 – Tuesday Grill Night
9, 16, 23, 30 – Friday Grill Night
7, 14, 21, 28 – Wednesday Grill Night
COMMODORE’S CORNER
The Summer season is in full swing at the Newport Yacht Club with many events happening. Sailors from around Newport enjoy the spirit of competition on Tuesday and Wednesday evening racing. Thank you to the many Club volunteers who make this happen twice weekly all summer long. The New England SOLO/TWIN race was kicked off on July 26th. Thanks to Roy Guay and his committee for their continual support of offshore racing. Many members choose to come to Grill Nights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and now Fridays for a quick bite and to enjoy the Club and its fantastic harbor views.
On Tuesday, July 30th, the NYC hosted the Gold Star Kids for the sixth consecutive year. This time, 21 kids were in attendance along with their counselors/organizers and went out on member’s boats for an afternoon of sailing followed by dinner at Grille Night. The Mayor of the City of Newport attended as well and had dinner with the kids. She also presented each with a commemorative City of Newport coin. This was an honor to host these children who have lost a loved one in combat and to see the camaraderie and friendships they form during their weeklong stay in Newport is amazing. A burgee exchange was performed – the Gold Star Kids burgee will be proudly displayed in our lounge. These happy sailors left with their own personalized Gold Star NYC ballcap. Thanks go to Norm Bailey for organizing this successful event every year and to the many Club volunteers who provided their boats, time, conversation, and monetary donations.
Behind the scenes, the Nominating Committee has been busy interviewing prospective committee members all summer long and will be presenting their recommended slate of officers and committee members by August 15th. Also an ad-hoc committee has been meeting throughout the summer to rewrite our Club bylaws. This effort is nearing completion and will then be presented to the Board of Directors for approval before being submitted for reading and approval at two consecutive General Membership meetings. Thank you to these committee members for your invested time and efforts.
The 125th Anniversary Gala is rapidly approaching. As a reminder, this event will be held at Ochre Court on 17 August and will be a night to remember. It is amazing that after two years of planning, this event is finally on our doorstep. I am looking forward to an elegant evening and to celebrate our 125th Anniversary with you. You can still purchase a copy of the NYC 125th Anniversary book and tee-shirt in the lounge.
On August 31, a Texas BBQ and pig roast will be held at the Club – tickets are on sale now. This has proven to be an annual favorite and will sell out fast.
Wishing you fair winds and following seas,
Tom Rowe, Commodore
GOLD STAR SAILING
Every year Gold Star Sailing puts a group of teenager together from all over the USA and from the UK. We fly them here to Rhode Island and cover all of their expenses. For the last six years, our Club has hosted these teens for a week of sailing and fun.
This years group consisted of 18 American kids and 4 from the UK. They range in age from 14 to 18 years old. Sadly, all have lost a parent in defense of our freedom. To be clear, this is not a grief camp.
Their week of activities consisted of sailing on Rhodes 19 and kayaking at CHNYC, rappelling from a 70 ft tower, swimming, walking the Cliff Walk, touring some of Newport’s mansions, enjoying a lobster bake at Third Beach, and sailing on 4 of our members boats for two afternoons followed by a ride on a US Coast Guard Patrol Boat from Station Castle Hill. The teens also attended a grill night supper at our Club with Mayor Jamie Bovia and our Flag Officers. The Commodore and Vice Commodore presented each teen with NYC/Gold Star Sailing ball caps. It was quite obvious by the smiles on their faces they all of these kids had a wonderful time at our Club.
BG(ret) Rich Keene, who is a member of the GS Sailing’s board wrote, “NYC is the only yacht club we approached that opened its arms to these kids from day one. The members of Newport Yacht Club are truly heroes. Thank you for your compassion and continued support.”
Thank you to the members who have continuously supported this event with their boats and volunteer crew. Thank you, Roy Guay, Pat Clayton, Stew Abramson, Dick Bowman, Dan Storsteen, Jon Bixby, Dave Mclaughlin,
and Tom Robinson.
Lastly, I would like to thank those members and staff who for years have generously supported this event financially.
Norm Bailey – Past Commodore
A Note from Bill Shea
The Newport Yacht Club was honored to host the Gold Star Sailing teens for the sixth consecutive year. Many thanks to former commodore Norman Bailey for bringing this wonderful group to our club. After an afternoon out sailing on various members boats, they returned to the club for grill night, meet Newport Mayor Jamie Bova plus other flag officers of the club. A Gold Star Burgee was presented to Commodore Tom Rowe.
Gold Star Sailing is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization dedicated to providing unique opportunities and adventures to the surviving children of fallen military service members in order to instill self-confidence, build character, teach teamwork, develop leadership, and promote healing in a positive environment of hope, adventure and friendship.
HOUSE COMMITTEE
Introduction of the Friday Night Grille night has been welcomed and very successful. However, the Main Lounge bar has not been as popular. We are awaiting the installation of a dedicated POS so to eliminate the “cash only.”
Parking at the Club continues to be problematic. The cost to rent additional space from the city became prohibited. We just ask that you follow the rules sent to you earlier in the year.
ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE
Limited tickets are still available online for our 125th Anniversary Gala. The next event at the club is our ever-popular Pig Roast and BBQ on August 31st. Sign-ups here!
Respectfully submitted,
Pam Akgun, Entertainment Chair
FLOAT & DOCK COMMITTEE
The results are in from the dinghy float area reuse proposal. Let me present them first and elaborate as necessary.
| Support for proposal with no other comment | 21 |
| Support, but rejects South West parking lot location for kayak rack | 5 |
| Support and requested kayak rack space (new users) | 3 |
| Support and requested Small Boat Dock space | 3 |
| Support and are in favor of <22’ boat option | 2 |
| Reject proposal and wants present rack redesigned | 2 |
| Support and want one 54’ slip instead | 1 |
| Support and wants regular marina slips set aside for free short-term use | 1 |
| Support and wants kayak pull up dock for storage on inner marina slip area | 1 |
| Support and eliminate all dry storage of dinghies and kayaks | 1 |
Interesting, as always. To start the analysis, I will not comment on the single votes. The rejection of using the South West corner of the parking lot for the kayak rack does make sense. After receiving the rejections, I checked the “unofficial” parking spaces that would be affected if and kayak rack were put there and it was clear that more people would be displaced from the parking lot than would be supported by the kayak rack, so that location is out. The requests for the <22’ boat option does not reflect boats that are in 30’ slips now and could move. The request to rebuild the present rack is missing the big picture which is that the useful life of the float is being approached, which why this proposal is being presented. The responses are leading us to pursue quotes for the docks and heavy lifting services necessary to do the job. Obviously, these quotes would have to be such that the costs would be covered by additional income from the new dock system in a 3 to 5 year time period. This would mean that the members would not be paying for this unless they are using it. And after the 3 to 5-year payback period, the added income would contribute to the Club’s bottom line.
Steve Damas, Chair
Bob Morin
Roger Hemond
Frank Pearson III
David Stewart
REGATTA COMMITTEE
Hi everybody! Hard to believe we are only a few weekends away from the end of the season!! With the exception of a few weather hiccups, it’s been a great summer! Thank you to all who came out and participated in the racing and a very big thank you to those club members who gave of their time to volunteer on the race committee. Without them – there would be no racing!!!
RACERS!!! Save the date: October 26th at 3:30 pm – the awards party!! Bring your crew! Celebrate the season!!
Regards -Nancy Parrillo, Chair Regatta Committee
Alan Renfrew
Al McCoy
Tom Pederson
Lee Parks
OFFSHORE COMMITTEE
New England Solo/Twin 26/27 July
27 boats started this year’s New England Solo/Twin on Friday 26 July. Again the prediction was for very light wind so shorter courses were given. Fortunately, there was a South-East wind for the start and we were able to get them started. Unlike the prediction, the wind lasted most of the race except as usual in the early hours of the morning when it died. The slower boats again took it on the chin for finishing. Even with that the last boat to finish, Highlander, was at 10 am so it was a fairly fast race. Highlander was the last boat mainly because they sailed the wrong course which was longer than the course they were supposed to race. The first boat to finish was Artemis at 28 minutes before midnight. The first multi-hull finished was Swamp Fox at 26 minutes before midnight. Four boats didn’t finish.
The Awards were held Saturday 27 July with about 40 in attendance.
The following people made the event a success:
Race Committee: Steve White, Roger & Jane Fontaine, Caryn Cummings, Roy Guay and Alyce Croasdale taking pictures. Below pictures are from Alyce.
Duty Desk: Alyce & Bill Croasdale, Rosa Tysor, Pat Clayton, Kristen Wenzel & Roy Guay.
Food: Caryn Cummings, Jodi Sullivan, Jim Oblinger, Alyce & Bill Croasdale.
Rudy and the dock staff.
Dates of Interest:
- Mitchell Columbus Regatta October 12-14
- Skippers’ Shore Party November 2
Roy Guay, Chair
Kristen Wenzel
Ted Singsen
Betsy McClintock
Pat Clayton
George Crocker
Brian Clayton
Caryn Cummings
Tristan Mouligne
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Larry Girouard, Chair
If you have something you’d like to share with the Club membership in the Burgee, please send your submission to: communications@newportyachtclub.org for review and consideration.
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