1999 Activities

19 November - The Annual Installation/Awards Banquet was held at the Viking Hotel on an unbelievably mild evening.  136 people enjoyed the meal and the James Montgomery Blues Band afterward (they had the place swinging till about 1130, we even had some people from the other party show up and dance).   The new JYC Board was sworn in.  The new Fleet Captain/Race Committee Chairman was announced - Steve McInnis.  The JYC awards were announced (see the JYC Awards page); Buckey Brennan was voted as the JYC Yacht Person due to his work at increasing the membership and his ideas on providing sail boats for juniors.  Cheryl Rienzo announced the Racing Awards for 1999 and I handed them out to the recipients.  After the racing awards, the crowd gave me a warm reception which I greatly appreciated - this is my last year of four as the Fleet Captain/Race Committee Chairman.  I wish the best to Steve McInnis.

15 October - We had the JYC Annual Meeting at the Fire House this night.  Thirty adults and four children attended.  Profits from the Fools Rules were again assigned to various non-profit organizations: Jamestown Fire Dept, JFD Truck fund, Land Trust, Jamestown Medical Fund, Police Citizen’s Academy, Hospice Care of RI, Hospice Care of Newport, Millenium Quilt Committee, Women’s Resource Center, North Kingston Hight School Sailing Team, and Rocket Dawgs.  The nominated JYC board for 2000 was identified by Dennis Stoops ; the Nomination Committee Chairman.  All approved the new board nominees (Samira Hakki replaces V.G. Gooding as Member at Large and the rest return for another year).  Lois Cone notified the members that Roy Guay (me) was not going to continue as Fleet Captain/Race Committee Chair next year and that she is looking for a replacement.  Mary Brennan, filling in for Bucky, announced that membership this year climbed dramatically to 96 members.  There were eighteen new memberships this year.  Thanks to Julio DiGiando for providing the refreshments.

3 October - This was our last race of the season and the race committee (Cheryl Rienzo) decided to send us to a mark that we have never been to - Race Mark 18 just south of Prudence.  It ended up being a great race.   This has been a strange Fall Series - the lightest wind Fall Series that I can remember but the weather was great.  We had a great year of racing.  I hope all enjoyed the racing and see you next year.

12 September - Today was our second Fall Race but our first Sunday race and we used quite a bit of the day racing.  Initially the wind was out of the North, light and adverse current.  From there the wind got lighter until about 4PM the wind died and then picked up to 10 knots from the SW about 4:30PM.   It took us about 3 hours to go 6.4 miles.  Five boats gave up, did not finish and missed the nice breeze.

26 August - If you hadn't guessed, we were a little late with the results.  I am on travel in Arizona and didn't get the results, via email, until Wednesday night so I did not get the results up until Wednesday night.   I found out that the wind died last Tuesday night and people were finishing after 9PM.  Cheryl didn't have a chance to get the results done and to me.  What a way to finish the summer season.  Puts a crimp on the after race party although I hear we had 95 people attend.  The Golf Club finally had to kick us out at 11 PM.

22 August - The Family Picnic was held this evening at the Potter Cove.  It was a little cool and it was cloudy but the company was great.  The beach fire help some of us keep warm (me for instance).   Everyone (well almost everyone) brought a food item.  Great cookies Rich.   Nick and Sue sailed their new F28R to the beach which created a lot of discussion.   Looks like fun.  The kids enjoyed a pie eating contest and the adults chickened out of the same thing.

21 August - The Fools Rules Regatta was held today.  About 47 boats raced in decent winds from the North.  Looks like it was another great time.  It has been reported that a group of people go through an elaborate process of deciding on the name of the boat to be, a graphic for the t-shirts, all decided under the Roberts Rules of Order, then make the t-shirts and then design the boat.  All this the night before the race.  Makes for a long night.  This is a group of people that come from several parts of the country as well as Germany.  

14 August - We had a wonderful surprise today for the JYC/CYC challenge.  The weather was suppose to be lousy; rain and small craft warnings.  It was great - 10 to 12 knots, never rained and the sun actually came out after finishing.  There was a tremendous turnout for a day that was forecasted for bad weather - 24 boats, 13 CYC and 11 JYC.   I found it interesting that the two Fleet Captains were called over early at the start - Gerry Bay and I.  I would like to declare a moment of silence for the starting line pin.  The pin developed a leak and barely lasted for the start.   The Race Committee had to go get a replacement buoy in the Race Committee dock box (above picture) after the start before we returned for the finish.  Wai Rere had a great Spinnaker set at the windward mark.  Unfortunately it was a non-spinnaker race.   I'd like to thank all the people that participated, the Race Committee (Cheryl Rienzo, Lois Cone, Judy & Vic Calabretta) and Steve Garnett for the use of his boat as the Race Committee boat.  I hope all enjoyed the afternoon.  I certainly did.

27 July - The Crew Rotation Race was held tonight.  Just another great turnout.  We had so many spinnaker boats that we created two classes - A and B.  All seemed to enjoy it due to the comments I heard afterward.  Unfortunately the Finish Pin jumped in front of us on Brijan and Fall Line.

9-11 July - The Block Island Cruise Weekend went very well with nine boats attending - the Andersons on Night Owl, the Mungers on Island Lassie, the Armingtons on Spice of Life, the Hakki-Browns on Gabrielle, the Calabrettas on Katie C, the Boes & the Lanes on Fall Line, the Buckleys on Imagine, the Grahams on Blue Light Special and the Nicholsons on Sorcerer.  The gang was so big, the cocktail party on Night Owl was not possible.  The crowd just showed up on the beach early and so as not to break tradition, all the appetizers were piled high in the inflatable "Hoot", so cocktails were still served on the Andersons boat!

29 June - Fog put a damper on the the race tonight.  Unfortunately, sometime after we canceled the race, the fog started lifting.  Oh, well.

26 June - A couple of years ago we changed the name of the Overnight Race to the Night Race because it can end early if there is wind through out the race.  Well, last night all the boats finished by 11:13 PM.  All said it was a wonderful night.  They didn't get rained on, fog wasn't a problem and they had wind the whole night - lighter on the west side than the east side (did going down wind   have something to do with it).   There was the usual questions, did they round GC"5"?  We use to have the same issue when we rounded Prudence Island years ago.  Maybe next year we will either delete GC"5" or add a mark that has a flasher on it to make it easier to find the mark.  With the tremendous turn out and the wonderful conditions, I wish we had raced in it.  I did promise earlier that the wind would be great.  Well 1 out of 4 years any way.   The results are posted now.

25 June - The Night Race started today.  We had the best turnout we have had in many years.  Ten boats started - five in spinnaker and 5 in non-spinnaker.  We first set the pin what looked like slightly Race Committee end favored but having "R" as the first mark we thought that people would want to be at the pin end anyway.  The wind was coming out of the SW at about 15 knots.  Well, with the current and the really long line on the pin, the pin went way to windward thus extremely favoring the pin.  However, the pin could still be made on starboard easily.  It was interesting to watch the start: the boats ranged in size from large (36 in A and 43 in B) to small (22 feet in each class).  Breakaway (S2 6.9) was on the line at the start and was squeezed out the back as the bigger boats went by them.  Fall Line got really close to the motor sticking off the stern of Breakaway just before the A start.  The B fleet had  Octopus's Garden (2nd year in the row for them) and honky tonk Attitude (first time in many years) port starting between the starboard tackers while Impulse was the only one on the line at the gun and at the pin end which gave them an immediate lead on all of them.  Great Republican was the 22 foot boat in the B fleet and only had two people on it.  The weather had been clear all day but just before the start the clouds came in and a few rain drops were seen after the start.  Looks like a sail by the moon is not in the cards however like I promised, there should be wind for the whole thing this year.  I didn't make it out on the course this year but I hope all enjoy the night race.  Check the race spreadsheet for the list of boats and results.

23 June - I missed posting the racing results Tuesday night.  Sorry about that.  We were all setup to do it.  I was on travel in Arizona.  Cheryl emailed me the results.  I got the email and was getting ready to post the results when a city wide power outage occurred which affected the phones also.  I was unable to post them then.  I did post them today when I got home.  Good story huh?

15 June - This was the first summer race.   It was a little rough on the edges for the race committee (actually me).  We had one of those nights that the wind shifted after the start and caused reaching legs for most of the race.    Sorry about that.  We hope to do better; may the winds be better.

11 June - Tonight, the JYC Race Committee (Bob Jannelle, Lois Cone, Judy Calabretta, Maggie Shuhy and Roy Guay) started the Race For Hope.   This is the first of what is hoped to be an annual event.  This year the proceeds will benefit the Kosovo Refugees.  Sean McCarthy and Geoff Van Gorkom are the race organizers.  The racers were given course W1, about 66 miles.  Starting at Race Mark 3, they were sent to Race Mark S then north counter clockwise around Jamestown, around Block Island counter clockwise then to the finish off Castle Hill, Newport.  Several boats participating are racers in our Tuesday night series; Trice & Chris Bouzaid on Wai Rere, Geof Van Gorkom on Surprise, Lori & Richard Boes on Fall Line and Lawerence Buckley on Imagine.  There were two classes, 6 boats in Spinnaker and 4 in Non-Spinnaker.  The boats should be finishing by mid Saturday the 12th.  The race started with Calvin, Aerodyne 38, rounding the windward mark a couple of boat lengths ahead of Wai Rere, Thompson 30.  While waiting for Osprey to get to the starting line, and very late I might add, we watched Wai Rere chasing after Calvin downwind under the Newport Bridge toward the North end of Jamestown.

8 June - The last Spring Series race is over and 69 people joined us in a cook out at the Jamestown Country Club.  People were still coming in at 9 PM.   Thanks all for coming.  There was plenty of discussion about the spring races and what the PHRF breaks should be for the summer series.  I hope all enjoyed the evening and I certainly hope the sailing was great. 

1 June - The finish mark changed again in the continuing saga of the outer red channel marker.  We started the season with the top of the outer red channel marker missing.  We were still using it even though one could not see it until close up.  then recently a temporary red nun showed up next to the original channel marker base.  The Jamestown Harbor Master tells me that this temporary channel marker will be replaced with a new permanent one when it arrives.   From now on we will be using the red nun channel marker (outer with a top) as called out in the 1999 Race Circular.  Now it is the temporary one but eventually the temporary nun will be replaced by a permanent one.

11 May - This was our first race of 1999.   It was a little rough on the edges.  The finish mark, outer red buoy, lost its top piece and most boats went to the inner red buoy.  The Harbor Master says it will be replaced so I have decided to keep using it.  Even though it has lost it's top, it can still be seen.  Just head for the outer green can and you will then find the red one.  The race committee didn't make the Jamestown Country Club afterwards due to extenuating circumstances so the results were not seen at the Club.  Sorry about that.

4 May - Several people were having problems downloading the 1999 Race Circular (it was 1.7 MB) so I decreased the size (took out all the pictures) and reposted it.  Now it is 384 KB.  It is a PDF file which can either be viewed or saved to your disk.  You need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to do that; see the download page.

2 May - The Fools' Rules Press Release and the Rules & Application have been added to the Fool's Rules page.  View or download the Rules & Application.

28 Apr. - The Skippers Meeting was held at 7 PM at the Jamestown Fire House.  We had a tremendous turnout.  About 30 people attended.  Several new faces showed up as well as familiar names but not faces.   It was great seeing all the people.  I went over the 1999 Race Circular, our unique rules, series notices and changes from previous years - the use of the 720 penalty rule and not requiring the proof of insurance for registering.  Rich and Laurie Boes showed us pictures of their new boat, a Morgan 36-5.  Other new boats to the fleet are a J/24, a J/30 and an Islander 30.  Another new boat was mentioned however I didn't get what type it is.  Donald Bresnan, who owns a beautiful Peterson 43 and started racing with us last fall, submitted a new membership application and another two people expressed interest in joining the JYC.

25 Apr. - The Commissioning Brunch and Marine Jumble was held at the Jamestown Portuguese American Club this morning.  The food, which was provided by Joe & Jinny Perry, was just wonderful; great muffins and quiche.   About 45 adults and 15 children enjoyed the meal. While most of us were eating , the Marine Jumble was going on outside.  Thanks to Bucky Brennan and Julio DiGandio the Jumble came off pretty good.  The Cones sold most of the material they had brought which paid for their meals.  Bucky did pretty well also, however he was seen on a slow moving pickup truck afterwards with a roller furling stay which was much longer than the pickup truck; he didn't have any luck selling it.  It looks like we have a wining combination and expect to do the same next year. This year's winner of the Joshua Leonard Sailing Scholarship is 8 year old Katie Stafford.  Katie was awarded half of the tuition for lessons at the Conanicut Yacht Club by Bob Leonard (the sponsor of the scholarship) and Chris and Candy Powell sponsored the other half.

22 Apr. - The final version of the 1999 Race Circular was posted here today in PDF format.   It can be viewed and also downloaded and printed.  For those that can not download it can get a copy at the following times and places: 25 April at the Commissioning Brunch, 28 April at the Skipper's Meeting, at the Conanicut Marine Store or give me a call or email and we'll make some kind of arrangement.

27 Mar. - The following is from our Commodore Lois Cone.  "The re-instated Pot Luck Supper at the P.A.C. was a great evening with 16 families present—the food was truly fantastic! Although there was a conflict with Jamestown School’s Ice Cream Social, the kids who came really enjoyed the balloon artistry of Ron Sargent. The adults had as much fun as the kids, and one of the adults (?)no names, Bucky, has found a new career opportunity. No other Yacht Club has so many balloon literate members!"

26 Feb. - The Annual Dinner was held at the Coast Guard House in Narragansett.  About 36 people enjoyed great food and afterwards a speech by Dennis Webster, Chairman of Jamestown's Quonset Point/Davisville Liaison Committee.
Webster discussed proposed development plans and options available to concerned boaters and he answered many questions from us.

17 Feb. - We held the Race Circular meeting at the Fire House.  Thanks a lot to the following people for participating: Lois and Bill Cone, Bob Jannell and Cheryl Rienzo.  We went over suggestions from several people including Chris Bouzaid, Scott Murray and Bill Cone.  I will be updating the Race Circular and should have it ready for the skipper's meeting at the end of April.

Created by Roy H. Guay - 30 April, 2000