This is a report on our first OSYC Easter Egg Hunt. A late report for sure, but better than never. The whole thing was Commodore Ken’s idea – hunt for easter eggs from a sailboat. How in the world to do that!? If you’ve been to any “egg” hunt lately, you already know that no one uses real eggs any more – those days are long gone. Instead the kids hunt plastic eggs with candy inside. Well, those little plastic eggs are clearly too small for hunting from a sailboat, so it was only a short stretch to use balloons instead, and to drop them from the club barge while everyone else sails around and picks them up. They’re brightly colored and easy to spot on the lake, and with just a little water inside, they will even move downwind slow enough to be caught. So the challenge becomes not so much finding the eggs/balloons as it is getting them out of the water and into the boat. Small boats with low sides have a bit of an advantage over the big cruisers, but if you give the cruisers a fishing net it evens it up a bit. Now, for some reason people got the idea that this was a kids game, so despite the beautiful warm and windy (but not too windy) spring day, we only had boats with kids going after the balloons, and by extension only the kids got the prizes. Next year we want to see everyone out there, as it’s about the most fun you can have on a little sailboat. And surely everyone needs some man-overboard practice, right? As it was, we had my whole family on the Impulse, and Fred Falchok and his two kids on their Hunter, with Bill Lewis and Jennifer Griffin setting the “course” from the RC barge. Sailing out from the dock we were left with the question, “How exactly do we get these wet slippery balloons into the boat?” And Ken said we had to bring them back un-popped too. Joseph thought it would be a great idea to hang onto a rope dragging behind the boat and swim for them. That worked too – we got two balloons in the boat with that method, although it was slow. And it was a warm day for March, but the lake water didn’t know that and shortly he the little blue lips that kids have when they start the swimming season too soon. Time for plan B – just reach over the edge and pick them up. While sailing past at 4 knots. Did you know that an Impulse kicks out a good sized bow-wave at that speed? Enough to knock a balloon out of reach of even adult crew. Better slow down a bit. That was the trick – careful steering and sail trim and three crew on the rail grabbing as we sailed past. The pictures tell the story. We took turns steering and pulled in 17 balloons (plus one popped) before heading back to the dock. Fred’s crew pulled in about a dozen using the fishing net approach. Prizes were given for most balloons collected, balloons with magic numbers and for anything else – all the kids got to pick a prize from the stash, and there were even special prizes for those over 21. (See, I told you that you should have come down. And yes, that azalea is growing nicely by my front walk. Huh? What kind of prize did you think I was talking about?) So that was it for the “First Annual Lake Sinclair Sailboat Egg Hunt” – clearly it works, so we’ll do it again next year. Start making your plans now. ([More photos here…->http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell26/2010OSYCEasterEggHunt])

OK, We are finely over the Frostbite series, which on many occasions lived up to it’s name. We did have a good set of races for the last Frostbite a couple of weeks ago: good wind, reasonable temperatures, some close racing, and some really good race committee work but the good conditions were the exception for the series. NOW, Its Spring and the Spring series starts this Saturday. So if you wussed out for the Frostbite series (like most did) it’s time to go racing. The weather is predicted to be 75 degrees and 7 mph winds. This is not severe conditions! The Cherry Blossom stuff is over, your boat needs the pine pollen washed off, and the weather should be good. No excuses left. If you are new to racing, come out and we will be glad to run down the basic rules, which is all most of us know, and allow you some starting benefits if people sailing on port yelling starboard bother you. Skippers meeting will be at noon with the first race at 1:00 PM. Bill

We left Marsh Harbor on Saturday April 3 and sailed straight through to Brunswick. We arrived in Brunswick last night at 9:45 PM. The trip from Marsh to Brunswick was 408 miles and it took us 60 hours. We sailed, motor sailed and motor. We had no wind yesterday the ocean was like glass. I am guessing we saw over 50 turtles and we had a couple of dolphins following us for a while. On Sunday afternoon we had a visitor, a small sparrow looking bird. Now mind you we were over 50 miles from land and how this bird manage to fly this far out is beyond me. He inspected the whole boat and finally spent the night in the dingy before continuing his journey the next morning. We had two hour watches for the trip. Some of the watches went by really quick and I always managed to get the 2-4 AM watch, which I really enjoyed. Jack was on watch from 6-8 AM and he as well as Scott saw the space shuttle launch on Monday morning. They called us up on deck and we saw the tail end of the launch, very impressive. We fish a good bit on the trip home and manage to catch several small Tuna, Snapper and one Barracuda. We took the poles out of the water on Monday when we were really trying to make good time, to avoid getting into Brunswick at night. What Islands did we like the best, hard to say each was different. Bad weather. The first half of the trip was cold and rain a good bit. The highest winds we had was 37 mph and we were tripled reef and never felt uncomfortable. Went we landed we all had a glass of Baileys and toasted the trip. Before the last of the Baileys there was all ready talk about next years trip. The total trip covered 1429 miles. Living the Dream The Crew of the SV Celebration

The club has an Easter Egg Hunt with a unique twist to it this Sat. Instead of eggs it will be colored balloons, they will not be hidden in the traditional fashion, but floating around in the lake. The hunters will use their sail boat to retrieve as many as possible. Some of the balloons will contain prizes, some will be worth prizes and other are just for fun. The weather prediction looks great, temps in the low 80s with southern winds at 9mph. The Hunt will start at 2pm. Hope to see you on the water. –Ken

I accompanied the West Point keelboat sailing team to the [“Safety at Sea Seminar”-> http://offshore.ussailing.org/SAS/Seminars.htm] at Annapolis last Saturday and helped with on-the-boat training on Sunday. As part of the seminar on Saturday there were on the water demonstrations of various mob rescues procedures including a Coast Guard helicopter lowering a basket onto the deck of a Navy 44 sailboat. Observation stands on the Severn River: [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112688815519170] Navy 44 close hauled with Midshipman preparing to “fall” off the stern: [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112753952057730] Another pic of Navy 44 flying spinnaker with a Midshipman (red suit) preparing to “fall” overboard. [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112744972400034] CG helicopter lowering basket onto deck of Navy 44 [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112769927088722] On Sunday, the 5 members of the Army team, their keelboat coach (who is also a civilian physics professor at West Point), two volunteer coaches, and I boarded one of the 44 footers and took her out into the Chesapeake for some much needed practice. The Army does not have any large keelboats, so they practice on one of the Navy 44 footers. The Navy has 30 of them, more of less. A full crew for racing is eight; two on the foredeck, one at the mast, two jib trimmers, two main sheet trimmers, and a skipper. Some of the cadets were not able to make the trip so two of the coaches had to crew as well as coach. Out in the bay, there was little to no wind. No problem; use the engine in reverse and create your own wind. This did not work as well as the real thing but the crew got a good workout setting and tacking the spinnaker. Since we did not have enough cadets, I did double duty teaching a new-to-sailing cadet as well as pulling and grinding on the main sheet. Wish I had had time to take more pics of the action, but I was too busy. Anyway, here are a few pics during the checkout, before we left the dock. Five members of the Army team and their keelboat coach/physics professor: [-> http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112555879839346] Coach telling a fish story: [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112577240908754] Checking out the boat #1: [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112604481506642] Listening intently: [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112618586869410] The mast is that vertical thing: [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112631896940738] What’s that? [->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/ArmySailingTeam#5454112652399374610] I wish I had remembered to take more photos of the details of the boat. Maybe, next time, if I get a chance to go out again. Jimmy

Well, we arrived back in Marsh Harbor late yesterday. If you recall we were having engine trouble week ago Saturday and that was the reason for our visit here. Well we were lucky, minor problem and it was quickly fixed and we were able to get underway at 11:00 AM. We sailed straight to Nassau. We had Mackerel, which we caught and cheese grits for supper. This was a 18 hour sail. We arrived at five in the morning anchored for a couple of hours before heading on to Allen Cay. We were at Allen Cay last year, but since Scott had not seen all the Iguanas, we stopped again. They are as homely as they were last year, they are really ugly and I can not imagine why anyone would want one for a pet. We did find out one thing about them, that is that this one species is not found anywhere else on the planet. That may be a good thing. Oh, yes for breakfast we had home made rolls, George is a great cook. Our next stop was Waterderick Wells, which is a national park. I could spend more time there exploring. We were able to spend two days here. The highest point on the Island is Boo Boo Hill. On the top everyone leaves a piece of drift wood with the name of their boat. We left ours up there as well. There are names of boats from all over the world. The view from the top is nothing but spectacularly and the photos do not do it justice. The view to the water to the east looks down on the clearest water, I would really love to dive this area. The view to the west looks down to the lagoon and all the boats at anchored. This view could be on any travel brochure.I am guessing that the Hill was about 100-150 ft in height. There are an abundance of trails leading throughout the Island. We walked several. We also took the dingy to do some exploring to the remote areas of the Island. This is one place I plan of visiting again and again. Our next stop was Norman Cay, the home of Carlos Ledher. Name does not ring a bell? He was one of the major players in the Cocaine business. He supplied over 80 percent of all the drugs to the eastern US and all the drugs came through Norman. He took over the Island, extended the runway and built several buildings, including his home called the volcano. We explored all of these. No too long ago some of the locals found a bag full of guns buried, I was in hopes of finding buried money. In the lagoon there is a DC3 the had engine trouble and crashed. We were able to dive the wreck. During his peak Carlos had 10 planes a night leaving Norman for the US. I just read a book about it call the Turning of the Tides. Carlos was captured and sentence to life in jail, but there is no record as to what jail. One interesting note, we got up ready to leave for Marsh Harbour and had no dingy. We called on the radio and looked. The dingy line had broke and it could of drifted out into the ocean or drift into the lagoon. We were extremely lucky it drifted into the lagoon. Somebody called on the radio and said they would get it for us. His name was Sid and what a character, no shirt, beard and a hat with feathers. His boat was a homemade, made of wood and his sails had more patches than original sail. He has sailed that boat all over the Bahamas. We left Norman and sailed straight back to Marsh Harbor, this was about a 32 hour sail. Two of the wives are flying into Marsh today to spend a week with us. Charlotte was unable to make the trip. We will start heading back shortly after the wives leave. From the crew of SV Celebration

Hello from Marsh Harbor We talked with several people over here and they say this has been the worst winter they ever remember and since we have been here the weather has not improved. With that being said today is great, 80 and sunny but Sunday it goes back to rain in the forecast. We may of had our foul weather clothes one or two times last year and this year we have had to wear them all but two days. It still has been a great trip and we are having a great time, we have had some great sailing, we may not of been the warmest sailors but we have had great sailing. We left West End on Tuesday. We did buy some more lobsters before leaving. George’s boat, Celebration has a freezer which is great. We stocked up with chicken,ham steaks, and steak before leaving. We were able to make it to Great Sail Cay on Tuesday. We were hoping to do some exploring but arrived too late.After setting the anchor, we had steak and lobster for dinner. You know if I had been home I might of had a Healthy Choice dinner, life is good. Tuesday night we had winds of 30mph the anchor held and the crew slept great. We slept in the next morning and got under sail at about 10. Our next land fall was Powell Cay. We were able to go ashore and explore. We didn’t get back to the boat until after dark. For dinner we had Pecan Crusted Salmon, one of George’s creation. We had one or two bottles of wine as well. Life is Good. One thing that is kind of neat is, that we have been sailing on the little Bahama Banks since leaving West End. This body of water is big several hundred square miles and the depth of the water averages 10 to 15 feet. We are trying to sail all the time we can for two reasons. One it is a sail boat and two we have developed engine trouble. The engine will overheat after about 1 hour of running. That is the reason we are now at Marsh Harbor. Marsh Harbor is one largest of the town in the Abacos and they have several marine mechanics, in fact one is on the boat now as I am writing this. Depending on what is wrong with the motor will determine where we will go next. Being stuck in Marsh Harbor for a couple of days will be hard, but we will adjust, I am sure. If the trouble with the motor is minor we will try to go down to the Exumas after leaving Marsh Harbor. The Exumas are another chain of Bahamian Islands. From the crew of SV Celebration

There is going to be a St. Patrick Day dinner served at the Club this Saturday. I plan to cook Corned Beef with cabbage and carrots, Sheppard Pie and New Potatoes (Hot dogs for any children). Appetizers and dessert would be greatly appreciated. Cost of the meal will be somewhere between 5 and 10 dollars per person. Happy Hour will start somewhere around 4:00 and the meal will be served around 6:30. Please RSVP to Ken at kennifer@windstream.net or call at 478.804.1139. Volunteers for set up and cooking will be gladly accepted.

We left Brunswick last Wednesday and had to take the ICW to Daytona, this took us three days. We were finally able to go outside on Saturday and sailed for the next 54 hours to West End, Bahamas. The reason for the ICW was weather related, it was raining, high winds and cold. The ICW is a inland waterway going up the East Coast of the US. The trip across the Gulf Stream was quick, for sailboat standards, about 12 hours. We sailed across with a triple reefed main alone and with a west 25-30 it was really an easy sail. However we arrived at West End at about 2 AM and had to sail down the coast and then back, this ended up taking us about as long as the rip over the Gulf Stream. The reason for the side trip down the coast was because it is not a good idea to sail into a strange port at night with gusting winds to 37. The boat we are sailing on is a 42 foot Tanya, which George just bought back in November of last year. The crew consists of George Bloodworth, his son Scott, Jack Sterrett, and myself. We are planning on being gone another 5 five weeks. The weather appears to be improving and we are heading down the Abacos tomorrow. The Abacos are just one chain of the Bahamas. Yesterday we bought four lobsters from a guy diving for $20, this will be our dinner for tonight. I hate to pay for lobsters when we having our diving gear with us, but the water is really cold. Well I have to go take my cloths out of the washer and put them in the dryer. More to come Crew of the SV Celebration

{{Racing Saturday}}: It was a little chilly. Never the less, we had 8 boats racing. Wind was about 10 mph and the sun was out at the beginning of the first race and with the sun it was not too cold. By the end of the second race, the race committee, me, was getting cold. Results have been posted on the Web site on the [Race Results Page->http://osyc.net/SPIP/article.php3?id_article=221]. {{Sunday}}: Weather was better but only one boat showed up so the race was canceled. New Member Candidates: Barry and Suzanna Kirkland. Barry and Suzanna met with the membership committee on Saturday morning. They are from Sylvania Georgia. Their boat is a Hunter 23 and is currently berthed at Little River Park. Their application is in the process and they have been invited to attend any and all club functions while we are processing their application. If you see them at the club, introduce yourself and make them welcome. Jimmy Harrell