Grand Traverse
Grand Traverse
Yacht Club
Yacht Club
WATERLINES
WATERLINES
Have July winds really blown us into August already? Time flies while you are on the water.
Congratulations to the GTYC Chicago Race to Mackinac competitors: Kokomo (Schulz) (3rd Place Section 1, 9th Place overall Chicago Mackinac Trophy Division), Relentless (Hagan), Driven 2 (Milliken) (6th Place J109 Section), Illusion (Porter), Wicked (Young), Highlander (Sorbie) (2nd Place Section 8) and TFWB Relentless (Petriz) (3rd Place Doublehanded Division). Congratulations to GTYC sailors Bill Babel (3rd Place Turbo Section, 3rd Place overall Chicago Mackinac Trophy Division aboard Stripes (Bayview YC)), Dave Gerber (1st Place Section 2, 4th Place overall Chicago Mackinac Trophy Division aboard Flash Gordon (CYC)), Than Dykstra (2nd Place J105 Section aboard Buzz (Muskegon YC)), Clark Phelps (3rd Place Section 6, aboard Aftershock (Muskegon YC)), Eric Geiser aboard The Jabberwock (St. Joseph River YC) and Bill Fromm aboard Zephyr (CYC). Congratulations to Wes Schulz for sailing his 25th Chi-Mac race, which is qualifying criteria for becoming a member of the Island Goat Sailing Society. Be-tween GTYC vessels and GTYC sailors racing with others, we made a strong showing this year. Impor-tantly, we safely prevailed through severe weather. Our thoughts and prayers as competitors and as a Membership are with the crew of WingNuts (Higgins Lake BC), and their families and friends, for the ter-rible loss during the race.
August brings our second mid-distance race, the Melges 24 regatta, and Omena Knot Just a Regatta. Knot Just a Regatta is an event to which we invite the Charlevoix Yacht Club, and which includes a Satur-day night party in Omena. GTYC and Charlevoix boats race to Omena on SaturSatur-day and home on Sun-day. All racers and cruisers are welcome, and this event is traditionally a road trip for those on land who wish to meet everyone for the party in Omena. Event chair Libby Tomlinson has been planning Omena for months and it should be a great event.
With July’s heat, it has been wonderful to see our beach being used nearly every day by swimming fami-lies, kids with sand toys and retrieving dogs. And of course, the GTYC cruisers are dominating the fresh water seas this time of the year. We cannot wait to hear about your adventures and see your pictures. Let us enjoy our last full month of summer to the fullest, continue to make smart boating decisions that put safety as our top priority, and treat fellow Members with the high level of decorum and respect de-manded by the tradition of our GTYC family.
Best regards,
Katie Horvath
Commodore
Hey - did anyone see what happened to July??? For some reason it seems to have disappeared. Exciting month with a ton of activity plus some long awaited HEAT!!! After all the whining this Spring, I don’t want to hear any complaints.
First, I would like to thank everyone that pitched in and helped make the Sears/
Bemis/Smythe Area Qualifier a huge success. We had about 85 kids from around the Midwest compete in 44 boats and what a great bunch of kids they were. They were here for 4 days and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. I guess we didn’t tire them out enough during the day as they managed to take in the Cherry Festival and some other activities around town at night. Another event that GTYC & TACS can be proud of!!!
Sadly, that Friday was the last conversation I had with Tom Orlow who passed away a week or so later following the Mac Race as a result of a stroke. Tom was a big part of the sailing community in Northwest Michigan and he will be sorely missed.
As you know by now, we also lost Gordon Cornwell a few days ago. Gordon and Jean were instrumental in the formation of the Club back in 1960 and have been major supporters of TACS since its inception as well. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Gordon over the past 10 or 15 years and will miss seeing him at the Club. Sail on my friend!!!
This month we’ll host the Melges 24 Invitational which is always a fun and highly competitive event. Hope-fully the wind will blow and provide us with a bit of exciting sailing to watch. If you’d like to help out, let me know. We’re using yachtscoring.com this year and are hoping to score direct to the internet from the RC boat. Stay tuned.
Don’t forget the Knot Just a Regatta weekend sandwiched between the Melges event and the annual trek to Charlevoix for the Red Fox Regatta Labor Day weekend. We’ll race to Omena on Saturday and back on Sunday. For those not racing/cruising, make the drive and join us for the great dinner/party on tap for Saturday evening.
This will be my 14th year doing RC for the Red Fox and I think we’ve finally got it figured out!!! Great weekend with lots of friends, fun, food, and on and on. Also some sailboat racing - Friday night triangle in Charlevoix; Saturday race to Boyne City; Sunday back to Charlevoix. Come on up and be part of it. Most of your friends will be there.
If you want to walk the bridge on Labor Day, I’m doing it again this year. What an absolute HOOT — over 40,000 people walk the bridge in about 4 hours!!! Truly a spectacle and a ‘must do’ at least once in your lifetime.
Looking ahead to September, the E-Scow Nationals are at Torch Lake the weekend following Labor Day. If you’d like to be involved, let me know as they may need additional help. They are expecting more than 70 boats all on one start line and it’s amazing how they handle them.
Tech Alert — for you weather geeks out there, Radarscope is a $10 app, but it’s worth it. Level 3 Nexrad radar, multiple alerts, and more. Just got it and learning to use it. More later.
All for now, see you on the water!!!
Nauti-ble Notes
Blast from the past:
"High water is a problem which will need to be addressed. Commodore VanWesten mentioned
that sand bags could be an inexpensive route to take. Norm Kline is going to look into the costs."
"G.T.Y.C. Board Meeting
January 17, 1986
TO BE OR KNOT TO BE
Be there:Traverse City, Michigan September 9 – 11, 2011
Be a part of:
The Third Annual Michigan Schooner Festival
www.michiganschoonerfestival.org
Volunteers are needed! Please visit www.michiganschoonerfestival.org and click on “volunteer” to lend a hand.
GTYC Food Service Reminder -
Please remember that GTYC is a volunteer club with limited
food service. We do not have staff available to bus tables, so please clean up after yourself
and guests. Receptacles and silverware bins are located near the kitchen door, and glassware
should be returned to the bar.
Thank you!
Send newsletter articles, stories, advertisements, photos, or free Caribbean charters to:
waterlines@gtyc.com (Please include “waterlines” in the subject line) Next deadline is Monday, August 22, 2011.
The Grand Traverse Yacht Club newsletter Waterlinesis published monthly.
Bay Breeze Charters
Bay Breeze Charters
Bay Breeze Charters
Basic thru advanced
sailing instruction. Short
and extended sailing
charters-bareboat or
captained.
We’re right next
door!
231-941-0535
www.bbyc.com
US Sailing Renewals - USS Golden Anchor Program
-
Instructions for US Sailing Renewals - The specific link that GTYC members need to use to be a
part of the program is:
Members must use this link to be a part of the GTYC Golden Anchor Program, this link cannot be
found on the US Sailing website.
for the Calendar of Events,
Cal Karr, Barb & Steve Hutchens, & the Wyckoffs
enjoy a live concert on Beaver Island at the
Baroque on Beaver music festival held annually
the last week in July.
GTYC MuG SHoTs!
GTYC MuG SHoTs!
The GTYC “Billy-Bob” Sailing duo!
Photo by Dietrich Floeter
Photo by Karin Willman
