DATES TO REMEMBER

Season’s Greetings!

What a busy time of year for everyone. Our club is no exception. Santa arrived at the Club for our annual children’s Christmas party with much anticipation by all the children in attendance. Once again the turnout for this event was tremendous.

That evening, we hosted the Newport Parade of Lights. There were approximately 30 boats in the parade this year, one better than the next. The entire Club both indoors and out was filled with very excited visitors and Club members. As a judge, it was very difficult to pick the winners from so many great entries.

The adult Christmas party on December 2nd was sold out again. The band, food and service was outstanding. Great job by our staff and entertainment committee.

Lastly, I am pleased to report our proposed 2024 operating budget was approved at the December General Membership Meeting. Thank you to our board and finance committee chaired by Larry Girouard and all members in attendance for a great budget. As a result, we were provided with a conservative balanced budget for 2024.

Wishing you and your families a Happy and Safe Holiday season and a healthy New Year.

Bob and Rosalie                                        

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STAFF!

The Newport Yacht Club received the “Elite Fleet” Boater’s Choice Award for 2023. It takes a lot to earn the regard of the experienced boaters who visit Newport and our marina. Clearly, they see what we see-an exceptional team doing an exceptional job! Congratulations to all!

OFFSHORE COMMITTEE- GO COLE!

One of our Bermuda One-Two participants this past race, who by the way won both legs of the race, is participating in the Global Solo Challenge. This is a race around the world non-stop sailing by yourself.

Cole Brauer is racing in the same boat she raced in the Bermuda One-Two, a Class 40 called First Light. She initially started on 29 October in eighth place and was in third place at the time of this article, per the tracker website, just past the southern tip of Africa.  You can track her via the website https://globalsolochallenge.com/tracking/ and she gives regular updates via Instagram colebraueroceanracing. 

The Global Solo Challenge website https://globalsolochallenge.com/  has plenty of information about the race. The website showed her in 2^nd place (via the tracker) projected to finish around the end of February to early March 2024. The start was staggered. Being down south she is in colder weather.  Every time I look at the tracker Cole seems to be going faster than all the other boats.

One of the included pictures is of the inside of First Light just after it broached and is on its side.  Cole went flying down to the bottom from the top and bruised herself but otherwise ok.  The other picture is of Cole at the Finish line in Bermuda.  Cole is 29, small and all of 106 pounds sailing a big 40-foot offshore boat.  Cole has plenty of experience with offshore sailing and especially with this boat now known as First Light and previously known as Dragon.

The start and finish are at Marina Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.

Roy Guay, Chair

EDITORS NOTE: Last month, this information was mistakenly left out of the Burgee:

We conducted a Bermuda One-Two Skipper’s Forum/Shore Party Saturday 4 November at the Newport Yacht Club.  About 30 people participated; past and current skippers and several interested in doing the race in the future.  Our guest speaker was Chief Warrant Officer DJ Holcomb. The Chief was peppered with questions mostly about EPIRBs and PLBs.  Afterwards during the gab session the club’s cook provided us with food.  It was a nice evening and nice to see past and future skippers.

FROSTBITE COMMITTEE

The boat dings are filled and all boats are polished. The turnabouts are on the dock. What a tremendous group effort to get it all done. There’s still a bit to go, rudders and mast rigging, but we will be good by Jan 1.

Many hands do truly make light work. The volunteerism of time, talent, trailers and technology was in full supply. Check out the photos. Those little 10′ boats are heavy! It was also fun. Using the turnabout toboggan is key. Maybe the next step is some small rolling trailer on the dock. The member sign up deadline has past. If any members have not turned in their registration please let me know.

I now need past qualifiers and newbies or returnees to register. Now is the time to reach out to past sailors or those that have expressed an interest in NYC frostbiting.

The registration sheet is online on the NYC website. Fill out and return via email to frostbite@newportyachtclub.org or to the physical frostbite mailbox at the Newport Yacht Club. 

Thank you all for doing all that you do to make this fleet the most fun. Special shout out to Mary Ann Jencks for keeping the volunteers moving and coordinated; FJ Ritt for coordinating fiberglass repair, mast rigging and the three boat trailer;  Jonathan, Peter Fernberger, Whitney and Bill Kneller for new boom configuration. Thank you to all the volunteers that compounded, buffed, waxed, fixed covers, moved boats and cleaned up the shop. You all rock!!

Frostbiting is Fun!

Bea Grimmitt, Chair

JUNIOR SAILING

Junior Sailing 2023 Sailing Season Recap

An end to another great season for the Newport Yacht Club Junior Sailing program.  129 young sailors participated in the program this year and we were proud to provide 16 scholarships to kids from the City of Newport.  In addition to having fun on the water, the young sailors experienced a cultural exchange, with all instructors this year from Ireland and for many of the Irish instructors, it was their first trip to the US.  What an experience, their first trip to the US was to Newport RI! 

Each year, for each of the four sessions, we try to organize a “Big Boat Sail” where club members volunteer their boats and time to take the kids out sailing for a day on a “Big Boat”.  We want to thank those members who gave their time, sailing expertise and boats to provide a special day for our campers!  A “big” thanks to:

Lew Abramson, Jonathan Bixby, Casey Fasciano, Pam and Jack Grant, Mark Nannini and Peter Sheehan

Finally, as we’re sure you know, it takes money to run the program.  A special thanks goes out to all club members and members of the community who generously supported the Junior Sailing program by naming a boat.  We had 15 sponsors in total and the pictures below are boats and names from some of the sponsors.

Thanks once again to our generous sponsors:

Don’t feel bad if you missed the chance to volunteer for a “Big Boat Sail” or name a boat in 2023. . . you will have the opportunity again in 2024! 

Happy Holidays from the Junior Sailing Committee, Michael Barszcz, Al Sgambato and Aedan Gleeson

FINANCE COMMITTEE

The 2024 budget passed at the General Membership Meeting on December 7^th. Thanks go out to the Finance Committee (Renee and Janet), the committee chairs and our club managers. Over 50 members participated in the preparation of the 2024 budget making it a true “bottom up” budget that reflects the collective thinking of more members this year than ever before.

The books for November have not closed yet but the NYC’s performance through October is ahead of budget year-to-date which is excellent considering the sub-par performance for the bar and restaurant. Weather over the summer cancelled many grill nights and weekend festivities in addition to other issues that sadly kept many members away. There are minimum costs associated with keeping these two segments of our club open and will continue to drain fiscal resources if not used. This is the reason why the bar/restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesday in December.

Larry Girouard, Chair