Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club

Mon, 08/13/2018 - 8:45am

Many members are still starry eyed after the dinner dance on Saturday night. Many hours by many hands transformed the club into a glittering ballroom and the fact that some rain fell outside during the event did not damper the enthusiasm of both organizers and participants inside but the stars were shining inside.

Twenty pairs of youthful sailors from locations across the country competed in the US Sailing National Championships held last week on Lake Erie in Michigan and they came home with a strong second place finish in the Bemis trophy competition. Considering that the event was open to youth from 13 to 19 years of age our team of 13-year-old Hamilton Barclay and 15-year-old Ella Beauregard really pulled off a miracle finish.

The other news from Michigan is that on the strength of how spectacularly you the membership ran the Junior Olympics, BHYC has been asked to consider hosting the Nationals next year. What a feather that would be in our sailing caps since it was back in the 1950 when the Sears Cup finals were held here racing in BHYC One Designs.

It is wonderful that the One Designs are still active and vibrant on the sailing front. In the Wednesday race series last week C FEVER (Carol Matwiczyk), BITTERSWEET (Jon Dunsford), and OSPREY (Deanna Clarkson) finished 1, 2, 3 in the first race and BITTERSWEET and C FEVER traded places in race two with OSPREY taking third. In the J-80 Division GHOST (Ken and Ginny Colburn), SILKIE (Jeff Curtis) and SKYROCKET (Craig and Madeline Preston) finished in that order in race 1 and SILKIE and SKYROCKET traded places in race two and three.

Saturday and Sunday the winds were light and rain threatened but the Commodore’s Cup races did happen. Saturday WIRED (Dwight Poler), C FEVER (Carol Matwiczyk), BITTERSWEET (Jon Dunsford), SARABANDE (Richard Rush),WILDFIRE (Ken Culbert) and BABYZ (Cathy Latta) finished in that order.

In better winds on Sunday BITTERSWEET, C FEVER and BABYZ finished in that order while GHOST (sailed by Geoff Rand), WIRED (Chip Baker) and SILKIE (Jeff Curtis) scored in that order for the J80 fleet.

The weekend was still busy on Sunday night after the races with a dinner and presentation by Sandy AC Lee on the Reliance Project and as the evening ended the folks from the New York Yacht Club cruise started arriving in the harbor and they visited our club on Monday evening.

Tuesday the daughter of former very active members, the late Biz and Rupe Neily, Sandra Neily spoke to a huge gathering of members and friends. She spoke on her book “Deadly Trespass,” a mystery in Maine. It was good to have Sandra with us as she and our daughter Debbie were close friends growing up and a regular visitor to our home. We never imagined that Sandra would become a nationally celebrated author,

Let’s look ahead to the future and highlight some special events coming onto our calendars, like Aug. 19 when we will have Tomatoes and Antique Cars (not thrown but celebrated). The Tomato festival is a spectacular event not to be missed and Claire Tomlin is the maestro in charge. Likewise the car spectacular, open to all aficionados of vehicular antiquity is chaired by Jerry Maben, Nick Mace and honchoed by Jim Newton.

The very next day Aug. 20 the Book Club will feature a presentation on Kenneth Roberts’ “Arundel,” led by Tom and Eva Johnson. On the 21st Dr. Jim McManus of the Bigelow Lab will present the topic, “Meeting the Challenges of our Changing Oceans.” Please also pencil in the J-80 Championships on the 24th, 25th and 26th (we have 15 boats registered as on this week), Louis Sell presenting his book, “From Washington to Moscow,” on the 28th and, of course, sign up for Shots and Shots on the 30th.

If that doesn’t take your breath away, nothing will. By the way thanks to Chef Raymond for the new August menu which , like his food, is spectacular in its own right. You are missing a very special opportunity if you don’t make regular use of the dining room for both lunch and dinner on a regular basis. And no, I was not asked to say this; I was persuaded by quality, variety, presentation, service and taste ... all the elements of a viable and successful dining operation. Bring your friends and show them what we have to offer.