Volume 9, Number 2
The Official Newsletter of The Sailing Club, Inc.
http://www.thesailingclub.org
October 2000
Another Successful Sailing Season Ends
Here it is, October already. The trip out of Rock Hall has just finished, officially ending the Club’s 2000 Charter
season. It seems like only last month that the Memorial Day trip was heading out of Back Creek in Annapolis for
points south, some of the stops being new to the Sailing Club, in particular, Knapp Narrows and Tilghman Island.
As with most (but not all) of the trips this year, the winds and weather were generally favorable (only one day of
light rain), but not enough to dampen anyone’s spirits. And, in spite of various “technical difficulties” on the Nantucket trip, those that made the trip were glad they did. The Club does not get many opportunities to get to Nantucket, mostly for logistical reasons. Nevertheless, there are a few less lobsters living in the area, having been devoured by our fleet.
The August trip sailed out of Oxford, Maryland and across the bay to Deale. One of the diversions on the trip was
an “I’ve Got A Secret” contest. Everyone submitted theirs to ‘Judge Joy’, who presided over the answer sheets.
We certainly have an interesting and diverse membership! Who knew you could get a tattoo there! The San Juan
Islands trip is highlighted in a separate article and worth reading. Finally, there was the aforementioned October
trip from Rock Hall. The weather was again ideal, with the best winds on the last day, naturally.
In between these excellent adventures were several smaller events. The On-Water Training again proved to be
very popular for the novice and the experienced alike. In a supportive and well-coached environment, participants
learned how to handle keel boats under power and sail, and refine existing skills, all the while sharing experiences
with the instructors and fellow crew. A Small Boat Day sail went off in May on Long Island Sound, despite some
very inclement weather. Just about everyone said they would do it again, but requested no rain next time. So another Small Boat Day is happening October 22, this time out of Jersey City, with a sail past the Verrazano Narrows Bridge . All predictions are for fine weather. There are bound to be some good stories at the end of season
party on November 4th, so be sure to stop by.
Next year’s schedule is listed elsewhere in this issue, so start planning now for more fun next year!
DON’T FORGET—THE END OF SEASON PARTY ON NOVEMBER 4TH, 6:30—11:00PM AT THE GREEN
VILLAGE FIREHOUSE. BRING FOOD AND PHOTOS!
Welcome New Members
The following people are additional new members this
year. Please help them enjoy the Club experience.
In This Issue
James Burke
Felicia and Martin Fleisher
Barbara Hall
Kim Hall
Tova Mayer
Melanee and Gary Robertson
Dolores Spencer
Kathryn Winthrop
Roy Wright
Season Summary
New Members
Commodore’s Corner
San Juan Islands
Trip Calendar
1
1
1
2
3
5
Commodore’s Corner
There have been a few bright spots this year. The On-Water Training students were among the most highly skilled to
have participated in this event. All the instructors were very impressed with the enthusiasm and the level of demonstrated abilities. The Long Island Day Sail, originally conceived by George Gross, was a success in spite of very inclement weather and challenging sailing conditions. George and Larry Sherwood are investigating the feasibility of repeating that opportunity at least once more.. The Day Sail was the only trip that needed to add a boat! Most recently,
Don Shelton and Larry Miloscia ran a very successful trip to Nantucket Island. Mechanical problems notwithstanding,
I am told that it was a good time for all. Don and Larry are to be congratulated for a job well done!
However, the trend in decreased trip participation is continuing this season. Almost every trip has sailed with fewer
boats than planned either because not enough regular members signed on or because not enough skippers were available. The Board of Trustees is very much aware that there are not enough skippers, as are many of you. Indeed, this
may have impacted some of you. The issue is this: due to relocations, retirements, and/or competing activities, our
corps of regularly participating skippers has been reduced.
One solution is to actively recruit new members who could eventually enter our skipper qualification program. Another solution is to seek qualified individuals from our existing members…and we have done that somewhat successfully in recent months. It should be noted that neither of these methods offers a quick solution.
The problem of regular members not signing on for trips may be for one of two reasons. Some veteran members have
verbally indicated that many trips no longer capture their imagination. Some of our newer members have indicated that
they wish to try sailing on a smaller scale than even a 3-day weekend before committing more time and resources to the
sport. These can be orthogonal problems.
Trip planning for the 2001 season was recently completed. The Board has approved a trip to the Netherlands for next
year. We also accepted proposals for a continuing series of small boat day sails like the one that was held this past
May. However, our “normal” schedule is somewhat reduced compared to recent times. Nevertheless, we are here to
serve our members. We want everyone to feel that the club offers something of value. That could be First Aid and
CPR training, on-water training, scheduled sailing trips, or social events. If you have any opinions or ideas for trips or
other activities, contact any trustee or officer. We want to hear from you. We need to hear from you. This is your
club.
I will see you on the raft!
[Rob invites you to e-mail your ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc. to him at [email protected] - Ed.]
Get Involved!
The Official Newsletter of The Sailing Club, Inc.
487 East Main St., Somerville, NJ 08876
Steven Krakauer, Editor
The positions of Commodore, Vice-Commodore and
Membership Secretary will be up for re-election at
the end of the year. A Nominating Committee will be
formed soon to seek out individuals interested in one
of these positions, or as a Member at Large.
The Sailing Club Board
Officers
Commodore
Vice-Commodore
Membership Secretary
Treasurer
Charter Liaison
Past Commodore
Don’t wait to be asked. Step up and have a say in how
your club is run. Board meetings are only once a
month.
Perhaps you would like to help plan one of the trips.
The Club is always looking for fresh ideas on where to
sail and what to do on trips. Become an Assistant
Trip Leader. It’s easy, and fun!
Rob Chichester
Marianne Goldberg
Cindy McCann
Liz Bantle
Larry Sherwood
Ray Gray
Members at Large
Joe Brozek, Bob DuBois, Linda Erchard, Steve Krakauer, Joy
Montgomery, Jim Nixon, Vic Oburg, Joe Ott, Stan Richmond,
Dave Steward
Please send all newsletter submissions to:
Steve Krakauer, 11 Clark Court, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
YOUR CLUB WANTS YOU!
Email: [email protected]
2
San Juan Islands
much closer but we still can’t see anything visibly or on
radar. Our course for this third day has taken us out of
Rosario down and southwesterly through Upright Channel. This will be our most robust day of steaming. Our
destination is Stuart Island, north and west of San Juan
Island roughly 33 miles from Rosario. The fleet has
elected to go the long way in hopes of spotting Orca
whales. GPS, radar and dead reckoning with our chart
keep us where we want to be. A horn from Lime Kiln,
on the western edge of San Juan Island, confirms our position. The water is blue with gentle ripples. There is no
wind so we are motoring. This would turn out to be true
for 90 per cent of the trip. At roughly 1400 hours the fog
magically begins to break and lift. We can now see the
top of the hills along San Juan Island. To our west, the
fog also has begun to lift. The deep foghorn sounds and
from out of the lowered cloud appears a massive
freighter. It’s less than a mile off the port beam. We’re
doing 7 knots, and it’s moving out. Standby for angles
and dangles! Within the next half hour the fog has lifted
to reveal another beautiful day. No wind, but the views
are spectacular. The fleet steams into Prevost Harbor
where Crow and his crew have already dropped a hook.
Four others soon attach themselves alongside. The Niye
Keema leads a songfest that night in the cockpit. The hit
was Andy Emerson’s mellow tenor voice serenading us
in songs that were known by some, and unknown by
most. A brilliant sun shows itself the following morning.
Crews from various boats hit the beach for a walk up to
the lighthouse on Turn Point. On the way to the lighthouse, a charming lady selling T-shirts beside the trail
greets us. She accepts no money. It’s an honor system
where you take an I.O.U. and send her a check later.
Most of us succumb to the well-made and attractive
shirts. The lighthouse affords us a spectacular view to
the west. Boats dot the horizon and the currents that can
be fearsome at times can readily be seen. We make our
way back to the boats, weigh anchors and head toward
Sidney, BC, on Vancouver Island, Canada our destination for that evening.
By Dave Steward
The horn was loud and deep. Very deep! Not like the
other foghorns we had been hearing around us for the
better part of the day. This one was attached to something big and it made our foghorn sound like a party favor. Our fleet of 6 boats had left Rosario Resort on
Orcas Island mid morning. We were into the third day of
a 10 day cruise amid the San Juan Islands, which are located in the Strait of Juan de Fuca; Orcas Island being
one of them. This day had greeted us with dense fog and
visibility reduced to a quarter-mile in some places. The
radar aboard our 52 foot sailing vessel Niye Keema, skippered by Jim Nixon, was doing a good job pinpointing
other vessels around us. Off our port quarter was Don
Gilmore’s cat ketch, an all male crew that soon came to
be known as Los Malos and the Lost Boys. Off our starboard bow was Carl McDanel and his crew, and somewhere several miles astern were Jo Johnston, Bob DuBois and a “friends of the club” vessel skippered by Tom
Crow. Most of the time we couldn’t see them, but we
knew they were there. The deep horn sounded again but
there was nothing on radar. Our radar could only sweep
from a little forward of each quarter – roughly a 270 degree view. The horn and what it was attached to fell just
outside of this sweep. It had been following us for 45
minutes and still had not appeared. Gilmore’s boat and
McDanel’s boat would ghost in and out of the fog from
time-to-time allowing us to fix them relative to the radar.
Other vessels could be seen out ahead going across our
bow, or wallowing in the morning mist fishing.
The adventure had begun the Friday before on the 8th of
September when thirty-plus sailors arrived at Anacortes,
Washington. Several stops were made on the way to the
boats to pick up provisions. The first day called for a 9
mile sail to Guemes Island just north of Anacortes. Once
there we put together a raft, boarded the other boats for a
general look around and shared some appetizers. The
next morning, heading for Rosario Resort on Orcas Island up East Sound, the winds were light, but seemed to
be freshening as we got closer. The fleet passed through
Obstruction Pass and headed up East Sound. The day
was exquisite—a freshening wind, clear blue sky and
temperatures in the high 60’s. Very little boating traffic
made for easy tacks and water fights. (McDanel’s boat
started it). The wind abruptly fell off so we wallowed
off Rosario for several hours in absolutely flat and mirror-like water. We watched other vessels moving in and
out of the small harbor and the ever-present seaplanes
landing and taking off along the water’s edge. The fleet
enjoyed a fine evening meal ashore and retired early.
Port Sidney Marina is one of the finest marinas one can
experience. Wide cement docks are kept clean daily and
even the pilings have large hanging flower baskets
equipped with drip irrigation. Some members of the
fleet make a day trek to Victoria to our south, while others remained in Sidney or day sailed during our two-day
stay. Those that sailed were presented with fine winds
off turn Point and dolphins racing to greet and ride the
bow for extended periods. A seal’s head would pop up
from time to time to check us out. Seagulls flew by
laughing at us as we ate lunch in the cockpit. Most of us
couldn’t stand the pressure!
We heard the fog horn again, deeper still. This time it’s
(Continued on page 4)
3
(Continued from page 3)
From Sidney we headed to Roche Harbor, our 6th day underway. US customs wants you to enter here or Friday Harbor, both of which are on San Juan Island. We found US Customs not very “customer focused”, especially in light of
the reception we were given in Canada; which was a friendly-welcome-to-our-country kind of greeting. US Customs’
hours are government-issue with closing time at 1700 hours. Some boats received a tongue lashing for putting their
anchor down in Garrison Bay overnight without checking in with them even though we arrived after closing time. In
fairness to US Customs, there is a toll free number to call after hours, and they did smile the whole time we were being
dressed down.
We cared not, for those on Niye Keema the evening before had been presented with a gift. Jan Nixon and Betsy Steele
monitored the whale-watching boats that also happen to be on the same channel we were using. Orca whales had been
spotted east and slightly north of our position the day before. We screamed (at 7 knots) toward the whale watching
boats drifting several miles ahead of us. Suddenly, a blow, a mist and a dorsal fin broke the water. We counted over a
half-dozen feeding just off Jones Island along the west coast of Orcas Island. How appropriate! We drifted with the
whale-watching boats for over an hour and during that time a very nice lady with Soundwatch, a group supporting the
efforts of whale watching, approached our boat in a Zodiak and handed us some information on the pod we were viewing. We headed to Garrison Bay for our overnight stay.
Garrison Bay was a beautiful, peaceful anchorage. Again, the fleet was met with flat water and a spectacular sunset
and sunrise. We awakened to clear sky and after clearing customs we headed toward echo Bay on Sucia Island. Our
stalwart whale watching-watchers/listeners heard of Orca feeding just off Waldron and Skipjack Island. Five of the 6
boats managed to make it to the scene that afternoon and we were all treated to roughly a dozen Orca feeding and playing in the currents. We soon found our way into Echo Bay, put together a raft, crabbed off the stern and fed our faces.
The next morning we discovered that breezes and currents acting together had placed 3 to 4 wraps around our anchors.
With one outboard boat in forward, and the opposite outboard boat in reverse we twirled to the delight of our anchoring neighbors who were having coffee and breakfast in their cockpits. Free again, we all headed for Friday Harbor on
the east side of San Juan Island for an evening in a slip.
Friday Harbor is a quirky, “kewl” kind of place. Ferries seemingly run all night, and seaplanes land gently on the water and taxi right to the dock. It is crowded, though: A kind of a suburbia for sailing vessels from all around. Our first
designated dock had about 45 feet of space for our 52 feet of length – don’t think so! The second spot, where we came
to rest, was about 55 feet. Others in the fleet were given 40 foot slips for 42 and 44 foot lengths. The town had interesting shops and some good food. And contrary to published reports of crummy weather, we continued to enjoy fair
sky and warm temperatures.
What happened to the sky? Sunday the 17th greeted us with a cool breeze and gray sky. Again, there was little wind.
Our destination today was Massacre Bay on Orcas Island. The original area, Skull Island, turned out not to be such a
good anchorage. The fleet ended up just south of Indian Point, still in Massacre Bay, in a small area where two private
residences and a pavilion were seen on land. All was private property so we stayed aboard. We ate heartily that night,
since we had provisioned at Friday Harbor. Mr. Nixon took an early morning swim, and we were underway for the
last night of the cruise to Hunter Bay on Lopez Island. Three boats decided to head for Anacortes early so they could
hold field day and get the boats squared away. The remaining three rafted in a delightful area of Hunter Bay, and we
all gathered in Niye Keema’s cockpit this last evening for a community dinner of heavy appetizers. Fog settled in over
night, but began clearing early in the morning. The water was perfectly still and it was hard to know one was on a boat
because of it.
Anchors were raised to high lingering cloud as we made our way toward Anacortes. In many respects the trip seemed
long, but now time seemed to have passed quickly. As we made our way across Rosario Strait I couldn’t help remembering an old sailors tune,
I don’t want a harp nor a halo – not me, Just give me a ship and good rolling sea.
And I’ll play me old squeezebox as we sail along, With the wind in the rigging to sing me a song.
The Waggoner Cruising Guide says this of the San Juans. “The San Juans have a feel about them that is different from
most other coastal cruising areas. In the San Juans you don’t just head down the coast to another bay, or out to a little clutch of islets for the night. Instead, you are cruising among the peaks of a majestic sunken mountain range, and
each island peak is different from the others. You truly have left the city behind, and you’ve found a corner of paradise”. I think we would all agree. Shall we return?
4
Sailing Club Trip Schedule for 2001
Additional Offerings
Dates
Location
Dates
Event
May 25—28
Chesapeake Bay
May 5—6
On-Water Training
June 2—16
Netherlands
May
Small Boat Day
August 4—10
Eastern L.I. Sound
July
Small Boat Day
September 15—17
Chesapeake Bay
October 12—15
Chesapeake Bay
c/o Krakauer
11 Clark Court
Basking Ridge, NJ
5