High Tidings August 2024
/The (mostly) Picture Issue
Upcoming Events
August 3-18 Annual Club Cruise. See schedule in this issue of High Tidings
Ongoing Wednesdays, 6:00: Informal Grill Night.
Ongoing Thursdays, 4:30: Thursday Night Racing. See Discord for updates
Friday, August 23, 6:00: Ice Cream Social at the Club
Friday August 30, 6:00: Informal Social/BYOB and appetizers
Saturday August 31- Monday Sept. 2: Labor Day Mini Cruise
Commodore Remarks
It’s wonderful to see so many members out using their boats. North Cove hosted another great Outer Light Classic Regatta event with 22 boats participating in four different classes. We were lucky to have wind–unlike the previous day’s Essex Yacht Club Rum Challenge which did not race due to lack of wind. Our post-race party was a hit and received many accolades from the participants. Credit goes to my daughter Amy for all the advance planning and running the event, and member volunteers serving on race committee and all those involved in the party setup and take down.
amy vinciguerra announcing awards at the outer light after party
Junior Sailing is having a great season and the final session has just completed. I had the privilege of chaperoning eight of our sailors to the annual Invitational Ideal 18 Regatta sponsored by Essex Yacht Club and Essex Corinthian Yacht Club. The clubs graciously allow use of their boats, provide race committee, and host a post-race lunch and awards ceremony. Fun day for our Junior sailors to compete against sailors from Pettipaug Yacht Club and Essex Yacht Club in the full-keel Ideal 18 boats, which handle much differently than the 420s used in the sailing school.
North cove Junior sailors at the ideal 18 race
If you haven’t heard, AMTRAK will be replacing the train bridge over the Connecticut River. Yes, it’s a huge project and will take several years and is currently in the permitting/design phase. A new bridge will be constructed just south of the existing bridge and upon completion the existing bridge will be demolished. The bridge sections will be brought in by barge and lifted into place. AMTRAK has met with the Old Saybrook and Old Lyme Harbor Management Commissions and is well aware of our busy boating season. When river closure is required to install the center lifting span, it will be scheduled during the off-boating season. Barges will be clearly marked day and night for safe navigation. AMTRAK advises they will have in place an active communication network to the towns and public to keep everyone advised of the schedule and major movements of barges, cranes and bridge sections. Stay tuned as this will be an exciting project to watch.
If you have a dinghy storage spot under the clubhouse, please do NOT store fuel in your boat or under the clubhouse, as this creates a fire/safety hazard. Fuel can be stored under the outboard motor racks.
Your BOG has approved a contractor to replace the fencing at the dumpsters. The new fencing will be white vinyl with footprint expanded to encompass the two round concrete septic system risers. Gates will be installed to hide the dumpster and well as gates to access the propane and small boat fuel storage. Work should commence in the coming weeks. Once the fencing is up we will be looking for some volunteers to level the interior for pavers and also construct covered racks for storing grill propane bottles and small boat fuel tanks above the winter storm water levels. In years past these have gotten underway during storm tides and scattered around the parking lot.
bringing the errant propane tanks back after a flood tide in 2023
On the social calendar side, we have boats heading out on the annual cruise August 3rd, Wednesday Grill Nights are happening, the last Friday-of-the-month Informal Social Gatherings, and an Ice Cream Social on Aug 23rd.
Keep a sharp lookout on the club website calendar. See link below Upcoming Events. The calendar is the best place to see upcoming events and launch service schedule.
Happy Sailing, Fishing, Cruising or just being on the water!
Best!
Lou Vinciguerra, Commodore
Vice Commodore Remarks
The Outer Light Race was another exciting and enjoyable event on the water and at the Club. Under the direction of Amt Vinciguerra, everything fell into place on the day of the race. Many thanks to Amy and her committee!
We are looking forward to another great month on the water!
Linda Tuzzio, Vice Commodore
Cruising News
The annual cruise has two departure dates - 8/2 & 8/10 and meeting up in Block. The tides are kind for our eastward treks and we are hoping that the weather will also be kind to our fleet.
We do look forward to our Labor Day cruise to Mystic Seaport where we will enjoy the new docks and cruising facilities. There are still slips available.
The Wine cruise is scheduled for 9/6 to Mattituck with a flood tide starting at 0700 from Saybrook. More details to follow.
Our three remaining cruises are not confined to sea passages. We look forward to meeting up with our land cruisers to share some grub & grog.
The latest cruise itineracy is on our web site, on Discord, and posted here.
Come one, come all and we will share tales of adventure & creativity as we extend our social activities beyond our clubhouse.
Safe sailing,
David Chan, Fleet Captain
A Serendipitous Gathering
Recently, Lisa and I headed to Block Island in our Mainship 34, “Serendipity.” The Turners (Bill and Carolyn) and Tydemans (Tom and Julie) were already on BI. We arrived to NCYC’s club mooring and the Lentnek’s (Ian and Raquel) arrived with their two girls and rafted up to us. (We met the Lentnek’s and their girls Hudson and Dakota in Stonington Harbor– the first time we’d met them. They were eating at the SYC and we were too. Ian had on a NCYC baseball cap and we introduced ourselves. Their daughter raced in a regatta in Stonington through the Sailing Center. Both boats left from Stonington to Block). Then Terri Sullivan and Rod Cross arrived with their son Shawn and a couple of his friends and rafted up to the Lentnek’s that night. The Lentnek’s left Saturday afternoon so they missed the impromptu get together on Serendipity. Everyone did BYOB and each of us brought an appetizer to share. The fun began at 6:30. Beautiful sunset too. A good time was had by all!
Craig Elliott, Serendipity
Jr. Sailing
Taking the Last Boat out for the season. Tradition is every sailor has a finger on it.
Jr. Sailing Pasta Dinner Fundraiser–A Resounding Success!
Watch the awesome video by Katie Porter here:
NCYC Outer Light Classic Regatta
a beautiful day for a regatta
What is it like to race in the Outer Light Regatta?
The view from Shearwater, Ericson 38 sloop
Shearwater had a poor start, crossing nearly last, but we had a good view of a boat tangling on the start pin and sailing in circles. Thankfully it wasn’t us. The first upwind leg was a bit slow; I made the wrong decision to tack close to the land where the wind was much reduced. After rounding the windward mark and heading downwind, we did have enough wind to keep the sails full, but just. We picked up one position then rounded the downwind mark very close since I like to show off when the wind is light and there is no actual risk. On the second upwind leg we made better decisions and gained a little ground on the boats ahead of us but it was no where near enough to pick up a position. After rounding the upwind mark we had a pleasant broad-reach down-current run which was executed flawlessly by my crew while I ate lunch. The crew allowed us to keep our position of 7th place out of nine. A good time was had by all.
Skipper Chris Griffin, Shearwater
The view from Osprey, J Boat 24
This is always a fun and challenging race where everyone wants to place in the money. We were in class 3 spinnaker competing against four other boats. The race course was windward/leeward three times around that gave us plenty of sail changes. We did hit the windward mark at the last turn but did exonerate ourselves with a 360. [racing rules state that if a boat touches the mark (the orange inflated thing that the racing boats go around) that it must execute a 360 degree turn before continuing the race.] The PHRF difference between Osprey and the other boats was significant where they gave us time, but not enough. [ PHRF stands for Performance Racing Handicap Fleet and is is a handicapping system that allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other.] We have a great crew always critiquing ourselves on how we can do better. Maybe next year will be our money year.
Skipper Dan Ferrier, Osprey
The view from Madaket, Nonsuch 30 catboat
There was a full moon, 88-degreesF with a humidity of 93% and intense sun light. There was about 4.2 knots to 12 knots of wind coming out of the West/Southwest. I can assure you that Madaket never saw a 12 knot gust of wind all day. I pointed my Nonsuch into a small mostly westerly breeze that barely propelled the boat forward at 2 knots/hr bucking a 3-knot tide running West to East. I tried to race windward near the beach against a lessor tide (than racing farther out in LI Sound against a stronger tide), but Blue Heron, another Nonsuch made better speed against the tide with a little more off shore wind. After rounding the mark behind Blue Heron, which was difficult to get to since I had to sail out to the mark about a mile from my near-shore position with the tide flushing me back to the starting line, I couldn’t catch up to Blue Heron. And, Madaket, so desperately, longingly, rapturously yearningly wanted to beat Blue Heron. Well, Madaket placed 3rd, and Blue Heron got 2nd in our division. A guy in a racing sloop from out of state won, and we never saw him again. During the race an unusual splash happened behind me. A huge animal came up and out of the water, and landed near our boat with an enormous caboom and a weighty splash. A bigger splash than a 500lb man could make. We saw a seal following us while racing. He seemed to be interested in my crewmate Doug McDonald, but the creature who made the splash-if it was a seal-didn’t reappear after making the huge splash. Another crewmate Diane Stark had a Go-Pro camera running during the race time and that film will be analyzed as soon as it is developed to figure out what the creature is, and why the sail didn’t seem to have the proper roach all day. James (the guy who jumped off the boat on Saturday) reported the previous day that he saw barnacles on my boat’s bottom when he was in the water, so, I learned that the bottom needs cleaning to obtain improved speed in future races.
After the long, and arduous race, Madaket returned to its North Cove mooring and I and my crew took the NCYC launch into the party in the NCYC clubhouse. Doug, Diane, myself, & Capt. Sharon Tracy and her Blue Heron female crew and girlfriends from the Essex Corinthian YC participated in the great party. There was lots of food and drink, and people talking about the racing in the hot sun, light wind, and the full moon force on the tide we fought. After a small period of time, and after consuming some bar refreshments served up by volunteers the racing became a distant memory. My saturated shirt had dried up, and I had purchased new Outer Light clothing that made me feel cooler and better. There was lots of food from Walt’s Market-enough for two parties-and everyone was satiated. A good time was had by all, and I can’t wait until next year’s Outer Light Classic to go through the experience again.
I am sure that everybody had a great time, and hat’s off to Amy and all of the NCYC volunteers that made the Outer Light Classic and party the success that it was.
Skipper Joe Carroll, Madaket.
The Race!
The After Party!
Musings on the Racing Weekend by Joe Carroll
The long awaited North Cove Yacht Club’s Outer Light Classic was successfully held on Sunday July 21, 2024. The planning for this event started about a year ago, with Amy Vinciguerra leading the way in planning the regatta, and the party afterwards. During Fall 2023 and winter, spring and early summer of 2024 weekly meetings were held by the Outer Light Classic Committee. There was lots of work that went into the Outer Light Classic. Sponsors needed to be engaged. Trophies needed to be purchased. The party after the race needed to be planned, and budgeted for, and race officials needed to be hired. The race and party afterwards were flawlessly executed because of Amy’s management of this event. Amy is a very capable young woman, and the racing and party were very fun. NCYC looked very attractive and NCYC members and visitors were impressed and happy with the whole event and the hospitality of our club.
Sunday’s Outer Light Classic came the day after Saturday’s Essex Yacht Club’s Rum Challenge. The Rum Challenge was held on an 88 Degree F & 90%+ humid day with almost no wind and a full moon. My catboat Madaket drifted all day in a very heavy outgoing tide. After about 2 hours of bobbing around, drifting towards Nantucket, and motoring in circles I threw out my anchor and shut off Madaket’s motor. The current whipped around my anchor line and the stationary boat such that whirlpools formed off the stern of the boat. There was a huge tidal current. It seemed like a 3+ knot/hr tide. The sun was very intense, and my clothes were saturated with perspiration. My crew and myself drank many dozen 16oz bottles of Stop & Shop water. Water that originated as charcoal filtered Hudson River effluent water. What the hay? The bottled water was discounted 50%. A defiant & disobedient crew member-James-maddened by the heat and the forced consumption of the yellow-tinged bottled water dove overboard to cool himself off. I threw out 100 foot of 3/4-inch diameter braided dyneema line with a life jacket tied to the end of the rope towards James submerged head. James just barely grabbed onto the life jacket before the tide carried him past it. James appeared to be drinking the LI Sound salt water so I commanded “Don’t drink the salt water”! Where was James headed for? Davey Jones Locker??-Maybe with luck he’d wash-a-shore at Fishers Island. We hauled him back onto the boat after James realized that he never learned to swim-and couldn’t doggie paddle against a 3knots/hr tide. At 3pm The Rum Challenge was called off because there was no wind. Later, at the party at Essex YC I did win a bottle of Goslings Rum which I turned over to crewmate Amy for safe keeping. I believe that the bottle got raffled off.
Thursday Night Racing
From the Chaplain’s Quiet Corner of the Cove
It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear, because that's where the river will know it's not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean
–Khalil Gibran
Wishing you the mystery and beauty of where the river meets the sound.
Peace,
Jean
The Ship’s Store
Hello from The Ship’s Store,
First, we would like to thank the many members who have supported NCYC by purchasing merchandise! We are very happy to hear such positive feedback regarding the new store front as well as the new merchandise.
If you haven’t had the opportunity, please stop by and take a look at “The Ship’s Store” located in the white cabinet near the Steward’s office. To make a purchase, see the steward on duty or contact us anytime. We accept cash, check or just add your name and email to the receipt and our treasurer, John Waanders, is happy to send you an invoice via email.
The men’s and women’s polo shirts, long sleeve SPF shirts, baseball hats and visors have been selling well. We added a hook on the wall outside the cabinet to hang several shirts and hats so you can get a closer look and check out the sizes. Members are also enjoying the insulated wine tumblers, which can be used for any drink, have a rubber non slip bottom and a sipper slide top. They are great to have on board to prevent spills and help keep your wine or other beverages cold. Also, think about upgrading your older floatable keychain with a floatable NCYC keychain for only $5.00!
There are still Outer Light Classic yellow cotton t-shirts designed by Jon Mason available for only $15.00! Whether you participated in the race or not, it’s a wonderful way to show support for a great race sponsored by our club.
For a list of available items and prices, please click the link below. Thank you to Jon Mason for our newly designed web page for The Ship’s Store as well as help with logo designs.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions or input, we appreciate your support!
The Ship’s Store
Tom & Julie Tydeman
Julie: 860-877-3344
Tom: 860-877-3343
Gardening News
Calling all gardeners!
The flower beds and pots around the club require regular attention. This includes weeding, watering, feeding , insect management and occasional replacement of plants. With the help of Kathy Reddington, Frank Borzinski and Bob Murphy we have been managing but we need more helpers. Please contact me if you have an interest in helping. I can be reached by email at cjhmurphy@gmail.com or by phone at 860-227-7122. Please consider helping out.
Thank you!
Cathy Murphy
Dinghy for sale and all proceeds donated to NCYC Jr. Sailing Program
From the Editor
Anyone want to join the “Dog Paddle Club”? Send me your nautical-themed dog (or other pet) photos for inclusion in the next issue of High Tidings. (Thanks to Tanya for this idea!)
Stevie and Abbey checking out the sights in newport
Thank you to everyone who took the photos for this issue. I hope I got everyone’s name, but I may have omitted someone and if I did I apologize (new member David-with-son-Max, I don’t know your last name, so you’re just listed as “David.”
Without further ado, photos by: Eddie Addeo, Elio Betty, Frank Borzenski, David, Craig Elliott, Karl Frost, Walt Gayeski, Jean Golicz, Chris Griffin, Kelley Griffin, Suzanne Miller, Dan O’Malley, Deb Paulson, Nicol Pilon, Katie Porter, Kathy Reddington, Stephen Sheehan, Linda Tuzzio, Amy Vinciguerra, Lou Vinciguerra