Today over 16 OSYC kids enjoyed their very own day at the lake with swimming, hotdogs, a slip-n-slide, a rowboat, a geocache search, and even a little very light air sailing. At the end of the we all took home some very tired kids…

With Tropical Depression Barry looming in the Gulf of Mexico, OSYC was in line to receive it’s first good rainfall in several months. But that didn’t deter the Viper Fleet from having a fantastic regatta. What had been planned as our annual Sinclair Open quickly turned into the First Annual Viper 640 Southeastern Championship with four Vipers on the line including locals Bill Shaw and Jay Harrell along with Alex and Tyler from Columbia South Carolina and Justin Scott from Marblehead Mass. Saturday’s races started out cool and rainy with a spotty southeast wind, giving us one race in the light and variable conditions. A 90 degree wind shift then sent RC Ken and Jennifer Griffin scrambling to reset the course to the new NE wind and we managed one more race in the increasing wind before the increasing rain got the best of us and we headed in to fire up the grill. The rain continued all night, but finally stopped early Sunday morning, leaving us heading out under clear skies and a NW wind blowing little whitecaps down the lake. NOAA radio said 15 mph gusting to 20. A busted pintle left us one boat short, so Justin gave his to the younger crew and spent the day hopping from boat to boat doing a bit of on-the-water coaching and tuning. We decided to run single-lap races around the mid-leg WL course so that we could have more starts – which gave everyone a chance for some much needed practice. With enough wind to fill the spinnakers we managed to hit top speeds in the 12-15 mph range and complete three more races giving us a wonderful five race regatta. Despite the splendid conditions, we had to cut the day a little short so that the out-of-town folks could hit the road early. And in the end, everyone left with big smiles and a bit more knowledge about our Vipers. * [Sinclair Open Final Results ->/racing/2007results/2007-06-02-SinclairOpen.htm] {{Photo Album}}

2007 OSYC Viper Open

Time for some more friendly intra-club round-the-buoys racing with the continuation of the OSYC Spring Series this weekend May 19-20. Come welcome back our traveling members and hear their stories of the Mug Race. Skippers meeting each day at noon, with first start at 1pm.

In case you’ve missed it, the Americas Cup TC coverage is now in full swing on the “Versus” network with daily live coverage at 8:30am, and replays at noon and 4pm. For more information, visit the Versus Americas Cup home page at [http://www.versus.com/americascup->http://www.versus.com/americascup] {{{Online Video Player}}}

The annual Sinclair 29 (formally the 21) is this coming week-end, April 28th and 29th. We will race 21 miles on Saturday and 8 miles on Sunday. Skippers meeting: 10:30AM Start: 11:00AM on Saturday and Sunday Courses: -Saturday: A 7 mile lap with a gate in the middle of the lap in both directions. 3 laps, actually 6 half laps = 21 miles. The south mark will be near the dam. The north mark will be upriver from Airport Island. The gate will be adjacent to the club so that times can be taken from the shore. -Sunday: A single out-and-back course from the club to Hauck’s Reef and return. (Wind permitting) -[Course Maps click here…->http://osyc.net/racing/Sinclair21/Sinclair21NOR.htm] All marks to be taken to port Timing: Times will be taken each time you go through the gate. Boats not completing all of the laps will be scored by the time of their last gate crossing Deadline: Saturday: Boats can not start another half lap after 4:00 PM. Boats will not be scored after 5:30 Sunday: Boats will not be scored after 4:00 PM All boats should carry a VHF radio tuned to channel 68 to hear announcements from the race committee. This is an open event, so bring all your friends and their boats. If there is enough interest at the skippers meeting, we will put together a hot dog / hamburger supper for around $3 a head. Anyone wanting or willing to do committee, please volunteer. The race is run from the OSYC dock, so you are not stuck on the barge for the full event. There will be plenty of help setting up the course. All you will have to do is take boats time as they go through the gate.

The club schedule says we have a Workday and Cruise or Raft-up scheduled for this coming weekend. The weatherman says “warm and sunny”, which will be a welcome change from the last couple of weeks. Workday plans will be announced here later this week, and cruise plans will involve getting together around the swing and deciding what to do. I’m sure we’ll figure out something.

Frustrated by some splendid weather combined with a decided lack of wind, we broke out the fishing poles. Joseph and Salena decided that it was best to harvest their own bait and so collected clams from the beach, which it turns out are very attractive to catfish. Eleven catfish, two bass and one bream later we headed home for a fish dinner… Click below to see the photo album, including Salena with her very BIG fish.

View the album: Fishing at OSYC…

The Club Spring Series continues this weekend with race day #2 this Saturday, skippers meeting at noon. NOAA says we’ll have nice weather with a high near 67 degrees and wind 5 to 10 mph.

As always, there will be sailing, socializing and a great dinner. (Sailing Classes by Carl Saylor start at Noon. If you aren’t sailing, be there about 5pm for dinner.) But this year, there are also some very important issues before the club that will be discussed and voted during the business meeting following dinner. As you probably know, at the Fall Meeting the membership voted to ask the board to research the membership procedures and propose changes to address certain concerns. Since then, the board has worked very hard to integrate all of the variety of ideas and feedback into five solid proposals. The details of these proposals, with exact language and explanations have been mailed out to the entire club membership, so watch your mailbox for details. In accordance with the Bylaws, they have also been posted on the club bulletin board at the clubhouse. Suffice it to say, your participation and opinion are very important in this process. Please take a close look at the materials you receive in the mail and contact any board member if you find anything unclear or have anything to add. It is certainly the board’s intention to accurately represent the membership on these issues and if refinements are needed, it will be much easier to try to do it ahead of the meeting if possible. And if you find the idea of a business meeting too tedious to bear, then find someone who you trust and give them a proxy for your vote so that your opinion is heard. (But still plan to come to dinner!) BTW, shortly we will also be sending out emails asking for RSVPs so that we can plan numbers for dinner, so save the date and start making your plans.

It is official, the schedule is out and we have a couple of days. March 24, after the workday, and March 31, both starting at about noon. Plan on running as long or as short as we need. Please bring a friend and any questions you can think off prior. The first Saturday we plan on discussing the Main sail and all of its controls. The second Saturday we will move forward to the head sail/jib-Genoa. These sessions will not be just classroom type stuff, there will be actual hands on (weather permitting) looking at sails and rigging, lines, and controls. Please do not feel intimidated, these sessions will start at the basic level and are not focused towards racing. The information shared can and is used by all forms of sailing from cruisers, to racers, mega-yachts to dinghies, and even wind surfers. We are all here to learn, share, enjoy, and better the sport of sailing. The sessions are open to all, so please come and share with us. We would like to know how many plan to make it to each session. If you would please reply so we can get a head count. Also if you have any specific questions or concerns email me and I can be sure to have thein formation ready to give you and others a reply. Depending on the response and the desire we can look at more dates to cover other areas of sailing, boat handling, rules of sailing, or any other topic you might want. Thanks for your time and see you at the lake, Carl Saylor