Saturday: From Club buoy to Erin Point and return. This was billed as a woman at the tiller race. The rules were a little loose as far as how much time a non-woman crew could touch the tiller. As it turned out every boat had a married couple. Each skipper decided how much they allowed the mate to handle the tiller and after race discussions indicated that this varied. Linda Aabrams reported that she did not let Warren touch the tiller. Charlie Dortch had trouble getting Michael to do what she told him. Charlotte Harrell allowed me to be the strategist but would not always do what I told her and I was threatened every time I reached for the tiller. Jennifer Griffin didn’t like what Ken was telling her so she crash jibbed and the boom knocked him part way down the hatch. The race started with about 8 to 10 mph wind out of the west more or less. The lead changed several times during the race and at the end 4 boats finished within abort a minute. I had reservations about this type of race, thinking that the women would not be willing to take charge of the boat. Boy was I wrong. We have some really competitive women. They really seemed to like having the tiller and reminding the men that their job was to do what they were told. Several women told me that they wanted to do this again. Jennifer was willing but said she wanted to swap husbands with someone next time. Here are the participants and times: – Jennifer Griffin, Hunter 260: 1hr 36 min – Charlie Dortch, Hunter 25: 1hr 36 min. (just a little behind Jennifer) – Charlotte Harrell, Beneteau: 1 hr 37 min. – Linda Morrow, Hunter 26.5: 1 hr 37 min (just a little behind Charlotte) – Charlotte Phillips, Catalina 25: 1 hr 40 min – Crissie Adair: Catalina 22: 2 hr 43 min – Linda Aabrams, Macgregor 25: 4 hr 20 min. In spite of a big knot on his head, Ken recovered enough to prepare a fantastic Irish meal for dinner. We had corn beef and cabbage and Dublin Coddle. Here are some photos submitted by Greg Phillips, Terry Adair, and Jimmy Harrell. http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/2009MarchWomensRace# Sunday: No wind; race was canceled.ving a signing of his latest magazine cover.

Well, it was a lousy weekend for sailing, cold and rainy. Still, Saturday was a fun day. We had about 14 people for the cleanup Saturday morning and 57 people at the spring meeting and dinner, including 8 or 10 kids. Thanks to Ken for an excellent meal and to Donna for the table set ups and to all who cleaned up the place before and after the meeting. After all the excellent committee reports, we had only one motion to acto and that was to adjourn the meeting. The food was good and the drinks were good and the conversation was good and if you weren’t there you missed it. The Muellers took these pictures: [http://tinyurl.com/c53k8q->http://tinyurl.com/c53k8q] If anyone else has pics to share, send them to me and I will post them. Jimmy

Spring has sprung and our annual spring meeting is this coming Saturday, March 14. Make plans to attend and enjoy a meal prepared by Chef (also Vice Commodore) Ken Griffin and hear committee reports. The meal will be served at about 6:15 PM. If you have the skills and time, bring a small appetizer or dessert to share. Please send an email to Jimmy and let us know if you will attend the meeting so we can get a count for preparing the meal. Saturday morning we will have a work day to spruce up the place a bit. We do not have a lot to do so let’s start at 10 AM and be finished by noon. The traditional noon meal will be served. Then go sailing. Here are the projects for the day. – Install amplifier on TV antennae. – Blow off roof, deck and under deck. – Blow off pavilion – Blow off the barge – Clean Bath Rooms – Clean main room – Clean Kitchen – Install water cut off valve and pressure regulator – Install sink near grill

All right if you look outside you will see that the Red Buds and Bradford Pears are blooming. What does that mean? Spring has sprung and that means the Spring Racing Season is about to begin. The first race of the Spring Series is scheduled for this Sunday. Skippers meeting at 12, the race begins at 1. If you look at the extended forecast we will have plenty of wind, so all that will be missing is you, if you are not there to enjoy the fun. See you at the Work Day, then at the Spring Meeting and then at the race on Sunday. Gop

The attached photo was taken by Arlene Mueller and shows a fine group of workers on hand to almost complete the rebuild of the new dock. Seems like a couple of workers are missing from the photo. If you were there and not in the photo, please identify yourself. We still have a few items such as the rub rail, the ladder, and putting the finishing touches on the wiring and plumbing. We are waiting on materials to complete these. Thanks to Charlotte for preparing the meal. Jimmy

Well we no longer have a log jam at the top of the leader board for the Frostbite series. We have just two more races in the Frostbite series. The races are scheduled for this coming weekend on Saturday and Sunday, February 7 and 8. I am not going to say anything about the potential for wind at this time, I am afraid I will put a hex on it. Starting at 11 we will have a discussion about a new race series that Carl has been working on. I would also like to have a discussion on the handicap system and how it works. More to come during the week. Greg

Well I have some good news bad news concerning the Frostbite Series. On the bad side of the ledger we have not had the first race, no wind on any of the three scheduled races. Had plenty of wind scheduled for the weekend during the week, but no wind for the race. On the positive side of the ledger we have an extremely tight leader board going into the the 4th race of the Frostbite series, everyone is tied for first place. We do have wind in the forecast for Saturday, but based on the last three attempted races, that does mean much come race day. So mark your calender for this Saturday, we are going to try to have only one person in first place by the end of the day. We will have a race rules discussion at 12 with the race at 1. Thanks Greg

OSYC Members: We have a work day scheduled for this coming Saturday, January 24, 2009. We will start about 9 and finish by noon. The weather forecast looks good for the afternoon so plan for an afternoon sail. Arlene Mueller has volunteered to prepare the traditional lunch of dogs and beans or whatever she decides. We plan to start re-decking and repairing of Dock B. Bring your carpentry tools including battery powered drill/drivers. We will start on one or more of the finger piers and try to stabilize them somewhat so the don’t sway so much. Probably we will not get more than a couple of these done on Saturday. On subsequent workdays we will finish the finger piers and install water and electricity stations similar to those on Dock A and then re-deck the main walkway. After we get started and figure out exactly how to do the job, we retired folks will probably have a few weekday workdays to try to finish up the job before spring. Of course we would welcome any not retired individuals to participate. Also on Saturday we will also need to do the routine maintenance so bring gas powered yard blower, carpentry, maintenance, and yard tools which you think we may need for the following tasks. Pick out something on the list and have at it.

{{ {Results} }} [Final Results->http://osyc.net/racing/2009results/2009-01-11-Viper-Invitational.htm] {{ {1. Venue and General Information} }} The Lake Sinclair Viper 640 Invitational Regatta will be held on Saturday January 10 and Sunday January 11, 2009 on Lake Sinclair at Oconee Sailing and Yacht Club near Milledgeville, GA. [Directions and Map->8] to the club can be found at [www.osyc.net->8]. Multiple races will be held both Saturday and Sunday, with number of races determined by prevailing conditions. Camping and overnight docking are available for race participants. {{ {3. Schedule of Events} }} {Saturday} {11:00am} – Registration / check-in at the OSYC Clubhouse. {12:00pm} – Skippers Meeting at OSYC Clubhouse. {1:00pm} – Warning signal for first race. {6:00pm} – Dinner at OSYC Clubhouse. {Sunday} {12:00pm} – Warning signal for first race. {15:00pm} – Time limit for start of last race. {{ {4. Race Courses} }} Courses will be Windward-Leeward around inflatable marks. {{ {5. Registration and Fees} }} Cost is $40 per boat and includes dinner on Saturday evening for three people. Additional dinners can be purchased for $10 each. Payment will be collected at check-in on Saturday skippers meeting. {{ {6. Rules} }} Racing shall be governed by the 2009 Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS). All boats are required to adhere to the Rules of the Viper 640 Class Association. {{ {7. Weather Contingency} }} In the case of extreme weather forecasts, the regatta may be canceled or postponed at the sole discretion of the OSYC Board. {{ {8. Safety} }} In any case, the decision to race or sail, or to continue to race or sail, and the full responsibility for the safety of boats and crew rests solely with each sailor and skipper. {{ {9. Club Rules} }} No pets are allowed on club grounds. Please do not bring pets to the regatta.

Saturday’s forecast is now calling for winds to be 3 mph………..not exactly ideal racing weather. If you fast forward to Sunday, winds are schedule to be 13-15 mph with gusts to 22. So we have changed the day to Sunday for this leg of the Long Distance Series. Skippers meeting will be at 12 on Sunday. Hope you can make it.