This coming weekend is a big out of town event for OSYC sailors. Eleven members are planning to travel to the St. Johns River, Florida to participate the the 53rd annual Mug Race sponsored by the Rudder Club near Jacksonville, Florida. Be prepared for a lot of bragging and lying when we get back. Those planning to go are: -Bill Shaw, Ronnie Hartley, Ronnie Young racing Bill’s S2 -Calvin Smith, Ken Griffin and Jimmy Harrell racing Calvin’s Tristar. -John Davis and Pete Ekstrom racing Jonn’s O’Day 240. -Ashley Saylor in her Raider. -Paul Keller in his Railder. -Carl Saylor sailing ? For more information check this site: [Mug Race Book->http://www.rudderclub.com/2006MugRaceBook.pdf]

You may have noticed a bit of wind at your house last weekend, right? You may have remembered that I was up at the AYC Open sailing a Y Flyer, too. Oh boy. So when my normal crew had “other plans”, I sought out a random partner via the grapevine and ended up crewing for Fred Dorr using Karl Anderson’s boat. Very nice arrangement – Fred is very experienced and very good. Lots of local knowledge. And Karl’s boat was first rate. Saturday comes and the wind is really blowing. Remember that time we took the Capri out on Pamlico sound? But more wind. People were having trouble leaving the dock. Snipes almost flipping, Thistles almost swamping. We sailed out and proceeded to smash our way around the starting line, while getting thoroughly soaked from head to toe. It was a blast – the boat was really flying and spray was going everywhere. My jacket and bibs were working. I was running the timer, trimming the jib, hiking hard and watching traffic. We got a reasonable start, but being too heavy guys with “plenty” of wind, we out-pointed and out-paced the boats nearby and after a few tacks were near the front. Fred picked the left side perfectly and stayed on the lifted tacks. We rounded the weather mark in second place. Had a bit of trouble with the whisker pole due to the wind, but by the gybe mark we had left behind the following boats and were gaining on the leader. The pole gybe went fine – it was the main that caused the problem. I think we were focused on catching the boat ahead, but that didn’t work out. The bow caught under a wave, and that was all she wrote. Darn near pitch-poled. Turns out that Y’s turtle very quickly in 20+ mph wind and are difficult to right. Water wasn’t warm either. We ended up back at the dock for the day, after a rather long swim. I think we were the first boat to flip, but certainly not the last. I ended up separated from the boat and rode back on the rescue boat – we righted a couple of other boats and picked up two other swimmers on the way. That night the camper shook with the wind, but by morning it seemed calmer. At least relative to overnight. Turns out the wind had just clocked a bit and we weren’t as exposed. I got to the dock, and Fred said his ribs hurt too much to sail (I have a big bruise on my arm). Since I was dressed in full gear, I jumped on the rescue boat (a cut-down Carolina skiff). The fleet had shrunk substantially. The first flip came before the first start when a Snipe decided to head back in and didn’t make the tack. We pulled in a mother and cold daughter in shorts and tee shirt, and proceeded to try to right their boat right in the middle of the starting line while the committee went ahead with the starts all around us. And that was only the beginning. Before long boats were flipping left and right. Seemed to be the gybes that got them. We towed one snipe with a snapped shroud (but upright!). We would have rescued more, but the motor sucked in a rope and we couldn’t drive very fast. There were 4 or 5 rescue/safety boats running around. By the end of the race only 4 Y Flyers finished (out of 20 registered), plus 3 Snipes and 3 Thistles. I know that two of the Thistles had swamped at least once during the race. 10 boats left – at least an 80% attrition rate, but the Y’s finished the most boats. Despite the large quantity of flipped boats and swimming racers, as far as I know now one was hurt and no boats suffered more than minor damage. Compliments to AYC for putting so much safety on the water and pulling off a fun regatta in trying conditions. It certainly was fun and I’m ready for more! Jay

We had 20 members at the work day on Saturday March 25. In addition to the regular club maintenance projects, we made progress on the A dock rebuild project. We also buried the electrical line to B dock which was cut during the seawall project. We ran out of lumber about the same time we ran out of time and energy. The project is complete except for the two outer finger piers which are almost finished and two of the other finger piers have not been started. My time estimates in the past have not been very reliable, but I think we can finish the dock A rebuild project in one or maybe two more workdays. With about an hour or two of work the electricity to Dock B should also be complete. {{Several members of the ROF group will meet on Wednesday, April 26 at about 9 AM for another Weekday Workday.}} If you are available and would like to join us, let me know via email(jimmy.harrell@riverside.net) or phone (706-484-1405) or you can just show up. We will provide sandwiches for lunch.

The Thistle Disctrict Regatta will be held April 22-23, 2006 at the Oconee Sailing and Yacht Club. Any Thistle Sailor who is a member in good standing of the Thistle Class association with a boat that has a current measurement form may participate. In addition, other club sailors are encouraged to attend to watch, socialize, and help out with the race committee and shore preparations. Friends, let’s go racing! Jay Harrell is rounding up folks to help with Race Committee. If you might be able to come help, please click {{“Reply to this article”}} below and sign up. The Thistle Fleet is bringing their own Prinicpal Race Officer, but we are still on the hook for supplying the labor.

The OSYC will host races on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. On Saturday there will be a skippers meeting at 12 followed by first gun at 1. Sunday will start with the gun at 1. The National weather services is listing a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms from 5:00AM until about 11AM on Saturday. But… and this is the good part… it will be clearing and the wind will be blowing 12-15 mph. Bring your foulies and LET’S GO RACING! See you on the water,
Doug MacMillan

{{{MARK YOUR CALENDAR}}} {{{OSYC SPRING MEETING}}} {{{Saturday March 25}}} {{{Dinner at 6:00 P.M. – Meeting to Follow}}} It’s important, so please plan to come and participate in running your club. The Board will be reporting to the membership and listening for input. Here are some of the items to be discussed: Review of Club Upgrades Review Planned Projects Financial Report Membership Report Dock Report Racing Events/Sinclair Challenge/Trophy Presentations Cruiser Quest and Club Cruises Building and Grounds Report Please click “reply to article” below and RSVP. {{{SCHEDULED WORK DAY}}} Saturday is also a scheduled Club Work Day. If you can make it, we plan to start about 1000 A.M.. Our work day project list is Power to “B” dock Continue “A” dock work Repair fence at dumpster Reinforce legs on grill table Plant grass seed Fix drain on women’s shower Adjust the dragging entry gate Clean the club house and police the grounds Bring the usual carpentry, cleaning, and yard tools. We will be digging a ditch so several shovels will be needed. Battery powered drill/drivers are usually in short supply so bring, at least the battery power is. {{{UNSCHEDULED WEEKDAY WORK DAY}}} If any of you ROFs(retired old fellows) and women are able to join this ROF for a “weekday workday” during the week of March 20 to March 24 to continue work on Dock “A,” let me know. Dick Mueller and I are available on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. Send me an email or call with the day you will be available one or more of these days and I will pick a day which suits the most volunteers. You can respond even if you are not an ROF. Jimmy Harrell 706 484 1405

The Oconee Sailing and Yacht Club will host its third and final frostbite race during 2006 this coming Saturday, March 4. At present, the forecast is calling for 70 degrees with a 20 percent chance of rain. With weather like that, why don’t we set a goal of having at least 10 boats on the line? As an incentive, I’ll buy a beer (a good one too, none of that swill Ronnie Hartley drinks) for the first skipper in each class. As usual, the skippers’ meeting will be at noon and the first race will start at 1 PM. Get there early and rig your boats. We WILL have a skippers meeting for this race (you can, of course, ignore it) and we will start on time so we can sail plenty of races. Anybody interested in helping with race committee? No experience is necessary and your service counts the same as a first place finish for the day. E-mail me to make arrangements. See you on the water! – Doug (2006 Race Chair)

What a beautiful day, sunny and warm and winds between 10 and 15 mph. The whole crew was sorely tempted to abandon the dock and go sailing. We got started about 9 AM and knocked off about 2:30, with a break for lunch. There were five of us working – – Dick Mueller, Mike Bragg, Ronnie Hartley, Jack Sterrett, and me. We finished the main dock and one finger pier. That’s three finger piers down and five to go. We worked on the main dock first and after we finished it, before lunch, we had to decide which finger pier to do next. We eliminated the piers on the left next to Mike Bragg’s and Ronnie Youngs’s boats because the piers are crooked and will require a little more engineering. That left the ones on the right. The next one in line going away from shore is the one next to Howard’s boat. I suggested that since Howard was not present and we would need to move his boat that maybe we should do the pier next to my boat since I could easily move it out of the way. Dick said that since his boat was on the opposite side of the pier next to Howard’s and that he had purposefully left his out of the water so we could do his next and anyway we could just work from his side of the pier and wouldn’t have to move Howard’s boat. I pointed out how particular Howard was about keeping his boat just perfect and that I was just looking out after his interests. Out of respect for the immediate past commodore’s distinguished service I yielded and we started to work on the pier between his empty boat slip and Howard’s boat. Dick and Mike boarded the jon boat with crow bars in hand and started ripping away. At first everything went fine, but then the jon boat tilted and shifted and one dropped his crow bar in the jon boat and both started flapping their arms and hands like they wanted to fly, trying to regain some equilibrium. I mentioned that only one dropped his crow bar. Well, the other just did his flapping with the crow bar in hand. Two men trying to regain balance in an aluminum boat sure does make a lot of noise. It reminded me of some sort of mating dance you might see on the nature channel. After about 10 seconds or less, it seemed longer, they regained control of the jon boat and settled down. We did an inventory of tools and apparently all were either in hand or in the bottom of the boat and the dropped crow bar did not puncture the jon boat. Everything seemed to be fine, except for the little dark spot on the side of Howard’s boat that was similar in shape to the end of a crow bar. Did that happen during the dance? Weren’t sure, but it was only a small hole and it was above the water line. A little Marine-Tex and it will be fine. Just kidding, Howard. Your boat is fine and some of the above is fiction. You now have a nice new finger pier that extends three feet past the outermost pole, just like you ordered. Don’t forget; there is a race this weekend. Jimmy Harrell

Sunny and warm during the week and rainy and cold on the weekend, was the weather forecast for most of the week. They said that it might rain on Friday but the weekend was definitely not going to be good for outside activity. I agonized all week about what to do about the scheduled dock work day. My experience is that a lot of the time the rain is a day or so late in getting here, so I waited. Friday, late, I got an email from Ashley Hawkins who lives in Forsyth asking that if I decided to call off the work day to send him an email early Saturday and an email from Ronnie Hartley saying that it did not look good. What should I do? Call it off or wait. Felt like I was in a poker game and trying to decide if the weather player was bluffing. Decided to check and wait until Saturday morning. Got up early and looked out at the lake, like being dealt another card, and the weather raising the stakes. Got a call about 8:30 AM from Bob Horan who said it was raining in Warner Robins. Bob and I both agreed that the rain usually moves from West to East, so it was probably going to start raining here soon. I knew that Bob always has a long list of projects he is working on, so I told him that we would forgive him if he stayed at home. Then I got a call from Pete Ekstrom who lives in Madison, and he said the weather looked like it was clearing and the sun might break out. I decided to send out an email saying that we may or may not be rained out, and I left for the club and arrived there a little after 9 AM. I was the first to arrive. Put on a pot of coffee and started hauling the tools and supplies out. Still no rain and the weather looked better. Shortly, a few hardy workers started to arrived and by about 10 AM, the official start time, work was well under way. One crew started tearing out the old deck boards, another started sawing deck boards, another started preparing the new stringers, another started hauling the old dock boards off the dock, another started pulling nails out of the old dock boards. Then the wrecking crew moved over to reinforcing the old sub structure which was barely hanging on, others started removing the old temporary walk way and rebuilding it, others started to attach the decking. Another very important crew started preparing a gourmet hot dog lunch prepared by Grayson and her crew. We had 12 workers: Charles Ballard, Mike Bragg, Brian and Erin Davis, Howard Gregory, Ronnie Hartley, Ashley Hawkins, Dick Mueller, Calvin and Grayson Smith, Jack Sterrett, and me. (I know it is risky to list the people for fear of leaving someone out. If anyone was left out please let me know.) We finished about 20 feet of dock and about 15 feet of walkway before the rain looked imminent, and we ran out of lumber at about 1:30 PM. We quickly attached a few critical cleats so we could retie the boats and put the tools and supplies away. The food was good, the fellowship was good, and we got a good bit done. We also created a large pile of debris which we decided to wait until later to clean up. Check out the photo link below. If anyone has a little time and wants to help out a little, here are some tasks that can be done at any time: 1. Pull the nails out of the old dock boards that are in reasonable good shape and stack them on the concrete pad beneath the deck. 2. Discard the old boards that are in less than reasonable shape into the dumpster. 3. Discard any bits and pieces of new lumber that is less than 1 foot long. 4. Discard any old boards that are less than 3 feet long. Several people have said that they are available to work on a weekday. I would like to schedule a weekday workday between February 27th and March 3rd. If you are able to participate, let me know at jimmy.harrell@riverside.net or 404 234 8463. [Feb 18 Work Day photos->http://www.osyc.net/photos/2006-02-18-Dock/page_01.htm]

What: Dock Raising Work Crew When: February 18, 10 AM to 2:30 PM A few of us, Bill Shaw, Ronnie Young, Dick Mueller, and I met at the club on last Friday and added a few more boards to the main dock. Before adding the boards we discovered that much of the old structure holding up the dock had separated from the poles and we had to reattach it before we could proceed. That portion of the dock was really in bad shape and really was not safe. We were able to rebuild the sub-structure and add about 15 more feet of dock boards. If a few people can make it, I would like to put together a crew for next Saturday, February 18. Hopefully, we will be able to finish the main dock and if we have enough workers, at least one finger pier. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, warm and little or no wind so we won’t be tempted to go sailing. Anyway, if the weather is warm and the wind just right, we can knock off in time for a sail in the afternoon. BTW, someone from the last work day left a DeWalt battery powered Drill and a hammer at the club. They are in the basement. Bring battery powered drills and extra batteries; we tend to run out of battery power. If someone has a 1/2 inch electric drill, we need it to drill the bolt holes in the posts. We will also need a couple of circular saws and other common carpentry tools. Email Jimmy Harrell at jimmy.harrell@riverside.net if you can come to the work day.