Come to the club Friday and/or Saturday and celebrate the holiday. It’s going to be hot, but there is usually a cool breeze at the pavilion. If you get too hot, you can take a dip at our newly replenished beach. We plan to start happy hour at 6 PM or maybe earlier. Bring your own meat and drinks and a small appetizer or dessert to share. We will have the fire ready for your meat at about 7 PM. FRIDAY Let’s try to have an after dusk cruise, starting with a skippers meeting about 7 PM. Depending on the wind we can choose a course: Hauck’s Reef, Erin Point, or around the buoys and hazard markers near the dam. We could even cruise up to Dukes at Temple Bay for hot dogs and spirits. Or we could have a race. Come and see what develops. SATURDAY Happy Hour starts at 4, 5 or 6 PM, depending on how much happy you need. 7:00 PM Fire will be ready for the meat you bring. Optional: Bring a small dessert or appetizer to share. Don’t forget – bring your own drinks. Club will provide the side dishes. Food and fellowship until whenever.

June 20th was hot, hot, hot, but there was a good breeze. With the wind blowing across the point, it wasn’t too bad if you stayed in the shade or in the water. Of course the 13 or so kids had no trouble at all with the heat. Ronnie Young brought two sit-on-top kayaks, I brought an inflatable boat and there was one already at the club, Jay brought an inflatable row boat. The peddle boat that Greg Phillips found on the lake was also available. Everyone, including the adults had turns at whatever they wanted. I also brought my pontoon boat and a pull behind tube and that was a big hit. Every kid that wanted to had a turn or two at being towed behind the boat. The boat and captain got tired before the kids did. We also had a treasure hunt on Airport Island and found the geocache. Every kid took a one treasure out of the cache and someone found a note that described a treasure also buried on the club grounds. The kids made short work of finding the treasure in the pile of dirt near the swimming area. Another big hit were water balloons. They had a ball filling up the balloons at the spigot and throwing them at one another. Charlotte brought hot dogs, chips and cookies and Michael Dortch grilled them and they were ready at 4 PM. After everyone had their fill, the left overs were left on the table and by 7 PM all those were gone. It was a fun filled day and if everyone was as tired as I was, they went to be early that night and did very little the next day. Click on this link for a few pictures of the event: [http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/OsycKidsDay62009->http://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/OsycKidsDay62009#5349937448553944050]

Hello from Sandersville. Well I am back home, but let me bring you up to date on the remainder of the trip. Our wives flew into Marsh Harbor on the Thursday June the 4th. We had a great time showing them the sites. The first stop was Treasure Cay, voted one of ten most beautiful beaches in the world. We walked the beach and found some shells. It was a pretty beach. To me it was not as pretty as some of the other stops we made. We all day sailed over to Treasure Cay and on the return trip, while trolling we caught dinner, about a 10 pound snapper. We stayed at Marsh Harbor while the wives were there and just made day trips to the other Islands. Man-O-War Cay, where they still make boats out of wood, one of my favorite places in all of the Bahamas. They have great beaches for walking, a great bakery, where they make bread and Cinnamon rolls every morning. They do not allow alcohol or tobacco to be sold on the Island. In most of these Island, they do not have many if any cars, everyone drives golf carts and the roads are very narrow. Guana Cay, home of Nippers. This is one of the most famous hang outs in all of the Abacos. where they have a pig roast every Sunday. Some people get their fill of Sundays at Nippers after their first visit. We went twice and we are looking forward to seeing it again. Hope Town, where they have an old time, still in operation light house. They still burn their light with kerosene, that they light every night. It is one of the most famous landmarks in all of the Abacos. We did not sail over to Hope Town, we took a ferry. This is the main transportation that people use going to and from work on another Island, if they do not happen to live where they work. Man-O-War, Guana and Hope Town are only about 10 miles each from Marsh Harbor. Little Harbor, the home of Pete’s Place, a one of a kind bar and restaurant. It is nothing more than a hut on a very remote beach, complete with sand for the floor. On the back side they have a beach that is great for walking and looking for Sea Glass. In fact we looked for sea glass every chance we had while walking the beaches. Sea Glass is just regular glass that has been in the ocean for at least thirty years. It has been worn smooth with no sharp edges. People make necklaces and ear rings from it. Last year after I got back from the Bahamas I gave Charlotte a Tee Shirt. I mentioned that I was going to buy her pearls but got her a tee shirt instead, you can imagine how that went over, NOT TOO GOOD. Anyway this year, I tried to buy pearls, but we were not where the bargains were, so she got some sea glass jewelry and another tee shirt. All of the wives agreed that this was one of the best vacations any of us had ever had, everyone had a great time. The wives flew out of Marsh Harbor on Thursday June the 11th at 1. We set sail at 9 AM on Thursday for the return trip. The wives saw us off. We sailed for 65 hours straight from Marsh Harbor to Brunswick. We docked the boat at 2:30 AM this morning. We caught several fish on the return trip home. One snapper went from the hook to the pan, to our plate in less than thirty minutes. Late yesterday we got caught in a little storm, but other than that we had great weather for the return trip. In the course of the trip we logged a little over 1400 miles and stopped at 16 different Islands or towns. We caught a lot of fish and walked several miles exploring the various beaches or the Island. We met several other cruisers from all over the world and met some really great Bahamian people Charlotte had dinner over at some friends house, while I was gone. She told them that she hoped this trip would get sailing out of my system, how did that work you might ask?…..Not Too Good. I Like, I love it and and want some more of it. We are all ready making plans for next year’s trip, do not tell Charlotte. Greg

Well we are now at Man O War Cay. It is about 8 miles from Marsh Harbor, where our wives will be flying in tomorrow. Man O War is really a neat place, very friendly and small. The population is 350 and is rich in history. They used to build wooden boats. They would go over to the big Island and cut down the trees. They would even dig up the roots, they were used for the ribs of the boat. The roots were already curved to the contour they needed. Even though they are not making wooden boats that much the old ones are still in demand. We actually saw a 60 foot boat they had made sailing. They are still making some wooden boats and are making small fiberglass boats. Before we left the Exumas we stayed at Warderick Wells. This is a state park headquarters. The park covers several hundred miles and several Islands. The island we anchored at had several 100-200 foot limestone cliffs over looking the water. The views were drop dead beautiful. The highest point is called Boo Boo Hill. They claim it is haunted because of a ship wreck off the Island and no survivors. At the top of the hill people have been leaving their name of their boat on a piece of driftwood. There are several hundred pieces of wood on the top the hill. We saw a couple of sharks just cruising close to shore and little birds that would eat out of your hand, We should be heading home next Thursday. It should take us 4-5 days to sail back from Marsh Harbor. We anchor out one night, then sail straight through. We have meet several people from all over the world. We met one girl who was 31 that has been sailing a wooden boat, complete with wooden mast for the last two years, she is from Canada. We met another couple with their 6 year old son have been sailing since the 2007, they were from England. Several other people we have met come over to the Bahamas and stay for six months and then go back. If you anchor out it is really amazing how little money it takes and how little you actually need. See you in a couple of weeks Greg

Hello from the Bahamas. We are now located at Staniel Cay. This is where they filmed the James Bond movie Thunderball. We are going to dive the caves tomorrow and then start our trip back North. There are several Nurse Sharks that call this Marina home. They are about 6-9 feet long and they are really nothing to worry about, but they are neat to look at as the water is only 8 feet deep and very clear. Our longitude is 24.09, if you drew a a straight line to the east that would put us half way between the Keys and Cuba. To date we have gone 735 miles. We finally left Marsh Harbor last Sunday and sailed to Little Harbor. We had to wait on the in coming tide to get into the anchorage. Little Harbor is surrounded on two sides with high limestone walls. The place we ate supper was called Petes, nothing more that a hut on the sand. The next day we left Little Harbor, we had to wait once again for high tide, we started a little early and ended up heading the bottom and getting stuck. We were able to get off the sand bar and get to open water. Our next stop was Nassau. We got into Nassau at 11:30 PM and anchored to the right and right behind the Cruise Ships. We left Nassau at 8 AM and headed for Allen Cay, the home of the Iguanas. As soon as you got out of the dingy, those guys started for you. I am guessing the largest was 3 feet. They were only interested in our hotdogs, they would get about two feet from you waiting for you to throw them a hotdog. Why anyone would want one of those guys as a pet is beyond me, they are Ugly. We took off the next day after some snorkeling for Norman Cay. This was the headquarters for Carlos Ledher, a famous Drug Lord. Anyway we saw the plane in the water, a drug delivery gone bad and several houses that have been abandoned since the 1980s and one with several bullet holes. Carlos is serving life plus 133 years in the house of do right. Our wives will be flying into Marsh Harbour on June the 4th, so hopefully we will be there when they arrive. The weather forecast is good so it should not be a problem. To date we have caught 20 fish. We had a Mahi Mahi right up to the boat and for some reason we didn’t use the gaff and as we were pulling him into the boat, he got off. It made me sick. Been diving total of 5 times, I have yet to see the first lobster. More to come. Greg

Hello OSYC Let me give you an up date of our trip to the Bahamas. We left Brunswick at 3:30 PM on Tuesday May 5th and sailed for the 48 hours on the outside, actually we motored because the wind was on the nose and we wanted to get as far south as we could as quick as we could. We developed motor problems, the alternator was not charging the batteries. We pulled into Sturart and we were able to locate the problem, nothing major. We left Stuart on Friday and started south, we were still motoring, then we turned due east and started sailing. We sailed through the night, or to about 12-1 AM and decided we were getting to far off course and we started the motor..We ended up at West End in the Bahamas on Saturday. We left West End on Monday and got on the Little Bahama Banks and sailed to Great Sale Cay. We arrived at about 3 and anchored out.We notice two small sailboats anchored close to the Island and it looked like John and Sherry along with Bob Horan. We took the dingy over and it was in fact the John, Sherry, Bob and Erwin, a friend of Bob’s. Their trip across was a little more exciting, they check in at Walkers Cay, the very northern most of the Bahama Islands, they sailed for about 36 hours straight trying to get to the Bahamas. John and Sherry joined us for supper on Martini, Bob had all ready started his supper and decided not to join us. The next day we ex pored Great Sale, snorkeled and fish. We left Great Sale on Wednesday and headed for Allen-Pensacola Cay, we arrived at 3 PM.. This is really a neat Island, lots of sandy beaches and pretty water. We only stayed the day and left at first light. Our next stop was Green Turtle Cay. Then we sailed to Guana Cay, the home of Nippers, a famous Bar of the Bahamas. The view is beyond words, it is really a neat Island and we are off to expore the Beaches. There are no other Islands east of Guana. So far we have sailed a little over 525 miles. We have only stayed at the marina for four nights. The other nights we have either anchor or have been sailing. We are 11 days into our 49 day trip. More to come Greg

{{{NOTICE OF RACE}}} {{{2009 Sinclair Open Regatta}}} {{Oconee Sailing and Yacht Club}} {Saturday May 16 & Sunday May 17, 2009} {{{1. General Information.}}} The Regatta will be held at Oconee Sailing and Yacht Club on Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, Ga. Directions and a map to the club can be found at www.osyc.net. Racing will be held both Saturday and Sunday with buoy courses both days. Camping and docking are available for race participants.Showers are available. {{{2.Schedule of Events.}}} {{Saturday}} – 9:30 a.m. Registration till 10:30 at club house. – 11:00a.m. Skippers meeting at OSYC clubhouse. – 12:00 p.m. Warning signal for first race. – 6:30 p.m. Social hour and pig roast dinner. {{Sunday}} – 10:30 a.m. Skippers Meeting at OSYC clubhouse – 11:30 a.m. warning signal for first race The Portsmouth rating system will be used. All races are expected to be visible from the club grounds. Cost will be $30.00 per boat (2 persons) for guests of osyc and will include dinner saturday night and a sunday continential breakfast. beverages will be included. Each additional crew will be $5.00 for food and beverages. Contact Bill lewis for additional information (615) 383-6924 or wlewis12@charter.net Motels in the area: (all are on hwy 441 N of Milledgeville) – Quality Inn 478 452-92190 – Days Inn 478 453-8471 – Holiday Inn Express 877 410-6681 – Super 8 Motel 478 453-9491

The Sinclair 7X is scheduled for April 18 and 19, 2009. Skippers meeting is at 10:30 AM on Saturday and Sunday. [Click here for the notice of regatta. ->http://osyc.net/racing/Sinclair21/Sinclair21NOR09.htm]

Well I wish you could of seen Charlotte’s expression during the race on Sunday. We had a lot of wind and Charlotte was not a happy camper. I am thinking that Ken had a mutiny on his hands as well. This weekend April 4, we have our forth Spring Series race and on April 5th we have our fifth Spring Series race, now that is good planning to have the race schedule the same as the date. Skippers meeting will be a 12 noon and racing begins at 1 PM. Winds are scheduled for 8-9 mph on both days, hopefully I can sweet talk Charlotte to come back out. We only had four boats in Sundays race, let see if we can do better this weekend. If you want to sail better there is no better place to get better, than on the race course. At least that what I have heard, I must be a slow learner. However, I am always glad I came out wind or no wind. Give it a try you just may like it. Greg

Saturday’s race has been canceled due to rain, thunder, lightening, and little wind. Sunday’s race is still on.