DATES TO REMEMBER

Happy Holidays everyone.

The month of November is in the rear-view mirror and the New Year is rapidly approaching. Adelaide and I wish all of you nothing but happiness and hope the new year is successful for you.

Through the massive efforts of Club Staff, the Entertainment Committee, member volunteers, and members of the Board, the children’s Meet Santa event followed by the Illuminated Boat Parade later that evening were huge successes. A huge thank you to our General Manager and Office Manager for getting the Club set up, decorated and ready so members and guests and parade attendees could enjoy the day. A huge thank you and well done to PC Pam Grant, Entertainment Chair, Dianne Stewart, Entertainment Committee and #1 Elf, John Pearson as our resident Santa.  Special well done to John for his encore appearance so one of the children could meet Santa…made that child’s (and parents) day.

The Illuminated Boat Parade could not have been better…again, due to the efforts of the staff and member volunteers, the Club was ready and open to all who wanted to attend.  If you were one who stayed home because of the possible chaos, you missed a really fun time. Thank you to all who helped with both of those events. 

The General Membership Meeting on 5 December failed to reach a quorum. Consequently, this meeting will be rescheduled for January. A separate notice will be sent to all voting members. Note that work is also underway to provide online access to meetings later in 2025.

The strength of Newport Yacht Club, throughout its history, comes from the members and their willingness to roll up their sleeves and pitch in.  We are a “do-it-yourself” Club and it’s one of our best attributes. We will need your help with many projects in the upcoming months. Please look for the “Call for Volunteers” messages from the various committees and see how you can contribute.  

Again, we wish you the best of holidays and hope to see you at the Club,

FJ Ritt, Commodore

ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE

The Entertainment Committee has been busy lately.  The Annual Dinner at Green Valley Country Club was a wonderful evening.  Lots of laughs and a good time had by all.  One person from every table walked away with a centerpiece.

As we do every year, Santa and The Elf, (John Pearson & Dianne Stewart) arrived for all the kids.  They may not have arrived via boat ride but certainly were greeted with cheers from the kids and parents, grandparents and friends. Special thanks to Bill Shea for always being the best photographer, capturing special moments with each child and Santa.  Many parents and grandparents also took part in the photo shoot.  Santa made sure to tell every child to be sure to be a good boy or girl!  And no matter what they wished for Santa would respond “I have a warehouse full of that”! Also, thanks to Pam Grant (crafts), Pam Breves (signup/emails) and Cynthia Simeone (Santa’s special helper).  To all the cleanup crew, thanks so much for making the room ready for the Parade of Lights.

The Yankee Swap was filled with so many great gifts. Including a beautiful woven blanket, a grill, a crockpot, Godiva chocolates, and a charcuterie tray with knives, to name a few.  A new twist to the swap was two mystery gifts.  Adelaide Ritt and Pam Grant took those home.  Everyone enjoyed light nibbles thanks to Tim and Bill in the kitchen

The Club decorating crew this year did a fantastic job.  Thanks to Hallie & Lynn for a lot of new decorations. To Lavar and Ray for their expertise in assembling and hanging. To Kim, Pam and Dianne for their general decorating.  

We are working on upcoming events for the winter months.  A couple of ideas are Music Bingo, Trivia.  If you have any ideas please let Dianne Stewart or Pam Grant know and we will see if we can make it happen.

NYC WOMEN ACCEPTED TO SAN DIEGO INVITATIONAL, FEBRUARY 14-16, 2025

On December 9, a group of Newport Yacht Club members received the following invitation:

“The Women’s Winter Invitational Regatta Organizing Authority and San Diego Yacht Club would like to extend to you and your team a formal invitation to the 2025 running of the event. As with each year this event has occurred, we have received way more applications to participate than racing slots available, making the committee’s selection process difficult, so congratulations on your acceptance. The 2025 regatta is scheduled for February 14-16. To ensure fairness, the regatta will be sailed round robin using equalized J/22 sloops provided by the Organizing Authority. The racing will be held in La Playa, allowing competitive racing. We are excited to give our ongoing support to women who sail at a high level and provide a venue for both competition and fun.

At the November board meeting I requested support from the board to represent Newport Yacht Club at this event if selected and was met with an enthusiastic response and the pledge for our entry fee.

The crew representing the yacht club will be Bea Grimmitt, Jackie Dietrich, Helen Vaughan ILYC, and Becky Shoemaker – NYC member in waiting. We’re all thrilled. All have long sailing resumes and years of friendship and J22 sailing experience.

Now comes the “hard part” We need financial support to get a 4-person crew out to San Diego, hotel accommodations for 4 nights and a rental car. Jackie thinks we should have team life jackets and/or team swag. If you know Jackie, she wants us to look good.

We’re asking for monetary donations, points for hotel or airfare if you have any to spare, and support for our fundraising events at the yacht club. We have items to auction off and will solicit anyone who wants to contribute an auctionable item. As this is all new we have lots of ideas and will reach out via blasts and Burgee as appropriate. Lasagna dinner is a definite possibility.

We are proud to represent NYC and look forward to sharing this enthusiasm with all of you.

Bea, Jackie, Becky and Helen

FROSTBITE COMMITTEE-IT’S FROSTBITE TIME

Hello all you cold weather sailors. I hope you paid attention to the email blasts and have signed up to sail.

We had a work party with 22 volunteers in Bristol on the 23^rd. We got all the boats on the ground, compounded and buffed. Checked rigging, fixed boat covers. Thanks to Susan Besse, lines were whipped to help from unraveling and a few people learned a new skill.

The boats were all transported down to the yacht club on the 7^th. I want to thank Jamie and his team for getting the junior float around and in place so we could all take advantage of high tide for removing the 420’s and using the “toboggan” to get the Turnabouts on the float. Again, many hands made light work. We had a great turnout in Bristol to load and a great turnout in Newport to unload.

The boats are now rigged on the dock and await fine tuning and some desperately needed dock work for stabilizing the boat chocks that we hope to do on or before the first. January 1 is race day!

Enjoy the picture of the work crew in the Bristol shop. We were a bit busy once we hit the yacht club to take pictures but it was a smooth group effort.

Frostbiting is Fun!

Bea Grimmitt Chair, Caryn Cummings, Mary Ann Jencks

JUNIOR SAILING

Junior Sailing is preparing for the upcoming season by keeping all informed monthly through the Burgee as well as email blasts as needed.  Keep an eye out!  

Our general manager has developed descriptions for the positions and has posted them so we can secure staff early. 

For fundraising this year we are alerting members that we have two ways you can help.  First our “Name the Boat” event that is $500 per boat, and has a name of your choosing on the water the whole season.  Second, you can sponsor a camper for a donation of $550, which you can do individually as well as by group.  All donations go directly to support campers.   

The big boat event will have a different look this year with a 1/2 day sail rather than a full day event.  We are making this change to extend the experience hopefully to all camp sessions and not just the August group.  The dates for the 1/2 day sail will be posted in the January Burgee.  If interested let us know @ albertsgambato@gmail.com

In addition to the Big Boat Event, we are planning on providing additional experiences for the campers.  For example, touring the Oliver Hazard Perry, Coast Guard boat tour and education session, possibly a 12 meter or Aurora sail.  These are in the discussion stages at this time.  If anyone has a contact, please inform a committee member.

 The camp registration begins on February 1, 2025. Information is posted on NYC website under Jr. Sailing

 Thank you,

 Committee members Albert Sgambato, Aedan Gleeson, Steve Morin, Michael Barszcz (ad hoc)

MEMBERSHIP

(This article was inadvertently left out of the November Burgee)

Greetings from the Membership Committee.  In preparation for 2025, we are beginning to interview applicants to the Club and their sponsors.  We are charged with the responsibility of evaluating applicants to NYC to insure that we have a membership that remains committed to the ideals of Newport Yacht Club including participation in yachting activities, supporting the sport of yachting in and around Newport, supporting a sense of community among club members and visiting yachtsmen, participating in and helping with club activities that promote both the club’s and Newport Harbor Community’s reputation locally, regionally, and internationally, providing access to Newport Harbor and surrounding waters, and supporting boating education and access for the residents of Newport and surrounding communities.

We currently have a fairly long waitlist.  Average time on the list, prior to acceptance, has been approximately a year for Newport residents and three years for non-residents.  If you know someone who would like to join the club, please encourage them to apply sooner rather than later.  An application packet, including information about membership, instructions, and an application can be obtained from Lynn in the Business Office.

Common questions that we receive are:

For purposes of admission to the club and calculation of fees, what criteria are used to determine whether an applicant is a Newport resident? Very simply, to qualify as a Newport resident the applicant must be a registered voter in Newport.

Who is eligible to be a sponsor for an applicant? Each of the two sponsors must have been a voting member of NYC for at least two years.  Also, each sponsor must have known the applicant well for at least three years.  Finally, a member is only allowed to sponsor one applicant per year.  This means that 365 days must elapse from the date a completed application is filed with Lynn for a member to have their name on another application as sponsor.  The 365 days, therefore, apply to the date of the application NOT the ultimate date of admission to the Club.

NYC Membership Committee,

Scott Walker Chair, Coleen Raposa, Tom Malott