DATES TO REMEMBER

COMMODORE’S CORNER

Looking towards the upcoming summer season at the Newport Yacht Club, I would like to make you aware of a few things.

Parking: The House rules were recently changed to make parking rules clearer. All cars in the lot must have a NYC-issued parking placard, unless an exception has been granted by the House Chair, the Steward, or the Commodore.  Examples of an exception that would be granted include Club-sponsored visits with City officials such as Opening Day or visiting contractors serving the club or members’ boats during limited daytime hours. Please note that guests who are not members may not park in the lot. We have secured 10 parking spaces in the pump lot immediately behind the club for weekends and holidays in July and August. A valid parking placard is required for these spaces as well. As always, parking within designated spaces is a must. 

Rules Updates: All committees are in the process of updating their rules which will be posted on the members section of the NYC web site when approved by the board. Please take a moment to review these so you can be aware of current rules. 

Guests: If you bring guests to the Club, remember it is the member’s responsibility to sign them into the guest / visitor log. This log is required as a condition of our liquor license so everyone’s cooperation and compliance here is essential. You are responsible for your guests. 

During busy times in the lounge, we will have a lounge monitor present to keep track of occupancy (to avoid exceeding the Fire Marshall mandated limits in the lounge and on the  west deck), to monitor reciprocal privileges being used by yacht clubs listed in the Register of American Yacht Clubs and also to ensure the log is properly completed. Please know that this is being done for safety and compliance reasons. If you are asked to sign your guests in, please do so with decorum commensurate with the environment you are in. 

Budget: The budget approved for 2020 has two capital projects of interest:  replacement of the East deck and replacement of the awnings on both the East and West decks. These projects will begin once the quoting/negotiations process is complete. We will do our best to minimize impact to the Club. 

Our Dockmaster Danni has completed her USCG 100 ton captain’s course. Congratulations to her!  For this sailing season, we will be putting her credentials to good use as the captain on Volunteer for race nights. For the times she is not available, it is the board’s intention to have another USCG credentialed captain at the helm. This action will improve safety, make needed repairs known to the Steward for implementation and standardize launch/return checklist completion. 

There are a lot of great things happening at the Club. These are but a few of them. As always, if you have any concerns or suggestions, please reach out to one of your four members at large or myself at commodore@newportyachtclub.org. 

Wishing you fair winds and following seas,

Tom Rowe, Commodore

WINTER BLOOD DRIVE EXCEEDS GOAL! 

The NYC winter blood was held on Feb.23 2020  in memory of BETTE MAYNARD and LESLIE GRAY..

We had a goal of 20 pints. We had 33 donors sign in, resulting in 29 pints-9 pints over goal.

One pint of blood helps three people. Our 29 pints will help save 87 lives. Our next blood drive

is Tuesday June 9, 2020 4 PM – 8 PM in the MAIN DECK.

I would to thank NYC staff RUDY, LYNN, CHARLENE, DANIELLE and Ryan  for their help.

Harry Scott, Blood Drive Chairman

FLOAT AND DOCK

I have an update on our plan for the dinghy float.  This is an optimistic plan, so please realize that we may have to make other plans for storing dinghies, kayaks and paddle boards if our plan is not successful.

Our plan is to rebuild the pile bracket that supports the SW corner of the dinghy dock with steel.  It appears that the top flange of the “I” beam that makes up the main structure of the dock is in solid condition so we believe we can drill threw it to attach the pile bracket.  The questionable issue is whether the remaining sections of the “I” beam will withhold the added stress because they are very corroded.

Our goal is to continue using the float through the 2023 Summer season.  The year 2023 is the goal  because F&D is budgeting a payment of $73K per year toward early payment of the outstanding loan on our East-West main dock in October of 2023.  We simply will not have enough money to take on a major expense until after that date.  Be aware that the future use of the area that the dinghy dock occupies now has not been determined, but will be by a vote of the BOD on proposals presented by F&D.  F&D will conduct email surveys as part of our proposal process.

Meanwhile, be aware of the following dates of interest because Summer dock fees are coming due and Dock Day is coming up as well as the usual fun stuff we look forward to.

Also, the transient dock reservation procedure has been updated and is presented after the Dates of Interest.

F & D Dates of Interest

March 12^th:  Limited transient slips opens.

Week of March 16^th:  Electric hoist in service.

April 1^st:   Final payment for all slips, dinghy and kayak/PB rack and small boat                                          corral due. Advanced member transient slip reservations period begins.

April 11^th:  Dock Day, marina prepared for Summer season.

April 30^th:    Winter slips terminate.All dinghies and paddle boards not staying in leased rack spaces must be removed.

May 1^st:        Summer slips open. Limited launch service begins.

May 16^th : Regular launch service begins.

May 22^nd : Friday before Memorial Day:  Transient rate increase to summer rates.

June 30^th: Deadline for 50% refund of slip fee and slip termination.

September 21^st:  Transient rates decrease from summer rates.

October 13th:  Launch service reduced.

October 31^st:  End of Summer slip season, launch service terminates.

TRANSIENT SLIP RESERVATION REQUEST AMENDMENT

• Touch and go: < 31 min (preferably on 30 min loading dock [no charges apply])
• Temporary tie: 31 min – 5 hours (charges apply)
  • On race nights, some boats come into slips for over 30 min – charges should apply
  • Starting fee: $15, additional $10 per hour
  • Limit of stay is determined by Dock Office (due to other incoming reservations)
• 1 Night: > 5 hours (charges apply $50 minimum)
• Maximum length of stay per reservation: 14 nights

• If a vessel wishes to stay longer than 14 days, a separate reservation request must be made
• Beginning and after April 01, no more than 3 reservation requests per day per vessel/member
• $50 holding deposit for confirmed slip assignments (either per reservation request or per Diem)
  • Exception of temporary ties (which are less than $50 minimum per night fee)
  • Canceling reservations requires a 2×2 rule – reservation must be canceled by 1400 hours (2pm) 2 days prior to reservation
  • $50 holding deposit is non-refundable once 2×2 cancellation period has been exceeded unless otherwise omitted (by general manager/dock master) due to inclement weather or other reasonable emergencies

If a reservation is created by dock office AFTER the 2×2 rule effects (due to last minute float plans, last minute reservation requests, etc.) no holding deposit will be taken, and the reservation must be paid in full at time of stay. 

Float & Dock Committee,

Steve Damas Chair, Bob Morin, Roger Hemond, David Stewart, Frank Pearson III, Peter Herne, Andy Vouras

OFFSHORE COMMITTEE

A joint event with the Jamestown Yacht Club was held at NYC on 20 February with over 60 people participating.  Sheila McCurdy gave a brief presentation on Weather Patterns and Forecasting then it broke up into table discussions: Battery Maintenance, Tips and Tricks to Boating, Galley Management and iPad Navigation.  Trisha McElroy coordinated the whole event. Read more in the article below about this and the next educational event.

Mark your calendars for these coming sailing events:

22-25 May – Mitchell Memorial Regatta

30 May – Coastal Safety at Sea Seminar from 1-5pm, limit of 40 people

10-12 July – Offshore 160

24-25 July – New England Solo/Twin

Roy Guay, Chair Offshore Committee

SUCCESSFUL CRUISING EVENT TO BE FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER!

On Thursday Feb 20th, the Newport Yacht Club and Jamestown Yacht Club hosted a gathering of cruising enthusiasts for an evening of camaraderie and information sharing. Seven area yacht clubs were represented with a total of 70 people attending. A cash bar was on hand as was an abundance of delicious food & appetizers. 

Sheila McCurdy a local well-known sailor, mentor and USSailing Official gave a very informative talk on weather. The crowd was very engaged with questions and Sheila certainly had the answers. People then broke up into discussion groups. Mike de Angeli, a patent lawyer and sailor from Jamestown discussed battery maintenance. Carol Vernon a Naval Architect and delivery captain, author for Cruising World and many other sailing magazines led a talk on iPad navigation. Cruising sailors Miriam Ladin and Mary Giffin talked about provisioning and galley management. Trisha McElroy, a sailor, delivery captain and jack of all trades, talked Tips and Tricks. USCG AUX representatives Marcus Mitchell and others from Flotilla 07-11 gave a talk on their role in helping boaters and keeping us all safe on the water.  Tyson Bottenus from Sailors for the Sea discussed their Clean Regatta initiative. Jen Kendrigan, Education Director for the Oliver Hazard Perry, RI’s flagship talked about their programs and volunteer recruitment. 

The event was put together by Trisha McElroy and Marc Ladin of Jamestown Yacht Club. Their next event will be a Coastal Safety at Sea class with Sheila McCurdy. For details and to sign up email EventsJYC@yahoo.com

FROSTBITE COMMITTEE

Frostbite racing continues to be competitive and well attended. Heading into March we are more than halfway through the season with the top positions still very much up for grabs. The Club is so fortunate to be the home of such an enthusiastic group of winter sailors. The participants are not only devoted to racing. I want to give a shoutout to Scott Chase, Dave Wilson, Dennis Ferreira and Bea Grimmitt for participating in the Club’s Blood drive on February 23.

Winkle Kelley, Frostbite Committee Chair

JUNIOR SAILING ADVENTURE CAMP GETTING READY FOR 2020 SEASON

Registration opened February 1 for the 2020 Junior Sailing Program Marine Adventure Camp (MAC) and we’ve had a strong start, with 25% of the spots filled. We are interviewing Staff and are inspecting the fleet to ensure everything is safe and ready for the 2020 season.

Each year the program provides 130+ young sailors an opportunity to get on the water, gain sailing experience and water safety skills. We are proud to be able to grant scholarships to 25-30 young sailors in Newport and Newport County, giving those who otherwise would not be able to afford the program, an introduction to sailing.  If you would like to sponsor a young sailor, please contact one of the committee members.

Join us on Friday May 15 for our annual fundraise, silent auction and cocktail party. It was a fun event last year with some real competitive bidding wars going on right up to the closing bell for the auction.  More information to follow shortly. . .

Please contact one of the committee members if you would like to sponsor a sailor, donate to the program or help with the fundraiser:

Michael Barszcz                mbarszcz@aol.com

Kate Wilson                       kate.wilson@me.com

Jon Bixby                            jonbix@cox.net

FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

The committee is working on the 5 year plan to be presented at the May General Membership Meeting.

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.   

NEWPORT YACHT CLUB WIFI