Fellow LPYC Members, Water, Sailing, & Boating Enthusiasts,
We are now done with the Summer Covid Blues, & have moved directly into the Autumn Covid Blues! It has been a challenging year thus far for any club activities. The board of directors has continued to meet via ZOOM; however, there has been very little action for the membership. Even our very popular Fall Race Series, headed up by Jim Stevenson, has been cancelled - partially due to lack of participation. The weather & wind always play a part as well, and this year, Jim also had hip replacement surgery – hope you’re recovery is going well! Ben has not been able to sail due to a leg injury that forced him out of the boat for the past few months. Then, of course, John & Kitty haven’t been on our lake, because they were forced to spend the summer on Lake Michigan....too bad! Thanks again, John & Kitty, for the virtual tour of your boat & the Lake Michigan views back in July.
Lynn Easley consistently keeps our website up to date. The site has lot of interesting club information, & you can keep up with board meetings by reading the minutes each month. www.LPYCboating.com Steve Lowe, & a few others, have done a great job posting interesting stories, videos, webinar info, & pictures on the Lake Palestine Yacht Club Facebook page, where we have almost 60 members, but how many members are in the LPYC? (Just a thought) Also, thanks to Steve Lowe & Les Bentley for making repairs to the marina dock, & attending to the boats after the storm damage in mid-August.
There has been quite a bit of movement with boats the last few months, & several Lake Palestine sailboats have new owners. So, a lot of you enjoyed at least 1 of the best 2 days of boat ownership: The day you buy & the day you sell! Don’t believe that myth – there are a lot of great days in between! Why else would most of sell our boats, then turn right around & buy another one! Congratulations to those of you who bought, & to those who sold – well…we all know you are looking for your next boat.
With cooler weather in our near future, we need to think about having some outdoor membership activities, where we can practice social distancing, if necessary. Our 3rd Friday Socials & other events have been on hold for way too long, & we owe a big thanks to Rich Munson for trying very hard to keep them going. There are a lot of restaurant venues with plenty of outdoor seating, live music, etc., and our present governor has finally broadened the seating capacity to 75%. It would be nice to see everybody @ the Lake Palestine Marina or @ a restaurant – anywhere besides ZOOM! There are a few things on the calendar for October & November, including the Wednesday evening fun sails. We also have our Christmas party scheduled for Friday, December 11th. I am not sure if any or all of these events will take place, but we are working to make something happen!
Please watch your email for upcoming events, as we try to add some normality back to our lake life. Also, Rich Munson, who has had to struggle with planning, then cancelling events all year, would love to hear your ideas. Any input on activities that could be done during this weird time would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for supporting the LPYC. This may not be the ideal time, but please help us grow our membership by inviting others to join.
As always, stay safe, and spend as much time on the water as possible!
Rick Walker
Commodore
Ps. REMEMBER TO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 3rd – Early voting October 13 – October 30
Good Day Mates,
I pray that you and your families are safe, and doing well in these trying times!
I am glad that many of you joined us on Lake Michigan in mid-July to meet John & Kitty Springer for the virtual tour of their boat. Although, the video feed had some issues, it was fun to see the boat, & hear how the Springers are coping with the beautiful weather & clear water! Thanks again to Chuck & Steve for hosting that Zoom meeting.
Meanwhile, back here on Lake Palestine, we are experiencing a much different setting. As you know, we always pretty much suspend club sailing in July & August due to the extreme heat; however, this year, due to Covid-19, we also had to “shut down” our social activities as well. Even though restaurants reopened, most would not accommodate our group, and still be able to offer proper social distancing, and we had many comments that our members were not ready to go out; therefore, we, the board decided it best to postpone our monthly social get-togethers. Hopefully, we will be able to make some activities work this fall, and will continue the Wednesday evening fun sails, & our Cheeseburgers in Paradise on the dock.
Not getting together is frustrating, especially for our new members, who have yet to even meet most of us, and some don’t have a boat, so they are not getting on the water. All I can say at this point is “Thank you for hanging in there…watch for any activities that we can provide – virtual or real…the LPYC will get back to some kind of normal as soon as possible!”
Although several avoid the July & August heat, some of us are not sailing for various other reasons: my boat still waiting on parts (will Dicksie & I ever sail again?), John in Michigan, & Ben still not walking - wouldn’t affect his sailing abilities, but I guess you do have to be able to get on the boat! J I have noticed a few sun worshipers from the south end of the lake & from the Lake Palestine Marina doing some sailing. If anybody that is sailing these days is ok with the limited social distancing on the boat, maybe you could put out an email to the club…that you could use a crew…or just want some company. I feel like there are some of us that would love to get out in the wind, heat or no heat!...and somebody might even supply the beverages for the day!
As always, stay safe, and spend as much time on the water as possible!
Commodore Rick
Ahoy Mates,
Update on April's activity at LPYC:
Wednesday evening fun racing is off to a good start. We had 6 boats participate on our first Wednesday. The race was within sight of the Marina in Saline Bay. In fact, the Knotta Yachta offers a great view of the hour long race for those who are interested in viewing. The race offered a great opportunity to gain experience in starting and competing within close quarters of other boats, all in a relaxed environment. The second Wednesday we had to call it off due to weather alerts. The third Wednesday we had 4 skippers show up under heavy wind conditions. This lead the skippers to join up on two boats and sail as a group. The winds quickly subsided and we all enjoyed a late night cruise. The evening ended about 10 pm. It was a beautiful evening sail. This next Wednesday night (April 12th) offers a temperature of 61 degrees, cloudy skies, and SE Winds at 5 to 10 knots. Should be a perfect evening with our short course for practicing and improving our sailing skills.
Ahoy Mates, March 2016
It’s been a very exciting few months since our annual meeting. Your Board has been very busy. Thanks for giving me this opportunity to be your Commodore!!
We have had several members pulling their sailboats from the lake to do repairs and enhancements. Here is hoping that they get them back into the water soon with the prime sailing season coming up fast.
Brad Root owner of the Lake Palestine Marina is a great supporter of LPYC and is allowing us to berth a pontoon boat or barge at the end of the sailboat dock. This will give us additional space for our outside events!
Our spring race series is to begin Saturday April 16th. Details can be found on our website. Weather permitting we may try and have a motor boat takes out an observation party to watch the race. It has been rumored that this year’s series will be very intense. Some talk of mines being deployed and drogues hung in the water behind unwary racers.
Other activities that are soon coming up are; St Patrick’s night (Friday March, 18th) cocktails at Dana’s house followed by a dinner at Happy’s Fish house. Those NOT wearing the appropriate color may be penalized!
Then on Saturday April 23rd we will be having the second annual cheeseburger in Paradise dock party at the Marina. An overnight in May. Other fun events planned all year!! What about a Fishing Contest….Where you have to catch the fish while underway and under sail?
Please feel free to post to our Face Book page. Also invite your spouse and any others interested to join.
Last, I have heard a rumor that some of us want to Bareboat sail in the Caribbean! We did it before, multiple times and one with 6 LPYC couples on two 46 foot Sailboats.
We need a volunteer to create this newsletter. Please let me know.
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
Steve Lowe
Commodore