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Cat Tales |
August 2007 |
 View from the Bridge |
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Bob Klimek, Commodore The end of our on-water raft-ups is rapidly approaching. For those of you that have failed to attend a raft-up, there are still enough events left for you to begin amortizing your $35.00 investment. Our Labor Day raft-up is a must attend. Baby Owl Cove and Trippe Creek are two of my favorite anchorages and Dave and Lois Zonderman (Walkabout) are two of my favorite people. What a combination! Then on September 15, we are going to have an event that could be a spectacular success or a logistical nightmare. Variously called the “Movable Feast” (a-la-Hemmingway); the “Progressive Dinner”; or “Round Buffet.” This event should be fantastic if for no other reason than we have five charming, gracious and talented raft captains so that alone makes this an affair to remember. Of course, to remember it, you have to be there! Rounding out our September schedule will be Oktoberfest hosted by Wayne and Joan Savage (Jubilee). All this will be followed by a special night at The Army and Navy Club on October 13th. If you missed the Crab Feast, not only did you miss a great feast (the crab cakes were superb) and incomparable company, but you also missed my imitation of Napoleon. It is archived in the photo section of the web site. I would never have worn that chapeau if happy hour had not started at 3pm. It was a great evening and the weather was astonishing for mid-August. It was a calm, clear, sleeping under a blanket night. The dean of the CCYC Language Institute, Roy Gillim (Troubador), reported on the curriculum and registration procedures for the fall 2007 schedule. Adjunct professors Mario Taisch and Lori Burkhart (Sea Cara) were in attendance. See the information in a later section of this newsletter. Take some time out of your busy schedule to join us at one of the remaining events as the season winds down and the weather cools down. Commodore Bob |
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Labor Day Weekend Baby Owl Cove and Trippe Creek September 1-3 |
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Dave and Lois Zonderman, Walkabout Join us on Walkabout for a Luau to celebrate the official end of summer over Labor Day weekend. Think of the Pacific islands as we sail off to Baby Owl Cove on Saturday and Trippe Creek on Sunday. The Happy Hour flag should be hoisted each evening by 5 PM so bring your best island munchies and wear a grass skirt if you dare!! We'll be monitoring channels 16 and 72 hourly from 12 noon so check in as you arrive, or call us on (973) 219-8735. |
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Progressive Dinner Raft-up Drum Point (Wye River) September 15-16 |
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We are going to try a Progressive Dinner at the raft-up. There will be four rafts and four raft captains to host different courses, e.g., Bar and Beverage boat, Appetizer, Entrée, Dessert. Each raft will have a maximum of four boats who will assist the raft captain to prepare, etc. The Senior Raft Captain is Don McBride (Coelumar) and the raft captains for the courses are Mark Turner (The Goose), Marilyn Van Tassell (Resolve), Jeanne Helldorfer (Ragtime), and either Claire Miller (Viewfinder) or Lucia Casale (Lucia). Members are asked to go to our website and complete a questionnaire on the raft-up page to indicate which course you want to join. Then, when you arrive at Drum Point, each raft will be flying a distinctive burgee so you can find the "course" raft to which you belong. In addition to the Progressive Dinner, there is going to be a raffle drawing for a Puerto Vallarta vacation! Mary Ann and Don McBride own a share of a marina-side studio apartment in Paradise Village Resort and Spa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They cannot use it this year, so they have decided to raffle it off at the raft up. There is no charge for a chance but please enter only if you know you can use it. For details, go to our website to complete an entry form on the same raft-up page and you'll be automatically entered. |
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Army Navy Club Sleep Over Camp Ties and Socks Required! October 13-14 |
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Lucia Casale, Lucia Several members have asked to repeat last year's Army and Navy Club event in downtown Washington D.C. It was an elegant evening, with good food, good wine and good war stories. Back by popular demand is the ANC sleep over event. Book NOW as room availability is limited. We have two possible spill-over locations (Small hotels within walking distance of the Army Navy Club.) if demand for the event is high. Please call Lucia at 202.785.0491 if you are interested so she can determine if she should book the spill-over locations. For the Club itself the room reservation procedure is as follows:
Make sure you have called in your credit card number for the room, either through Louis or call the front desk at 202.628.8400 by September 13. After September 13, the club will release the rooms for open booking and we'll loose them. The Saturday dinner menu will follow shortly; Sunday morning is always a fabulous brunch. We'll leave the light on for ya! |
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CCYC Language Institute |
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Lucia Casale, Lucia CIAO BABY! Well, it's official! CCYC is opening its language school. Our first course offering.... but of course ITALIAN! Raffaella Calabria, a friend of Lucia's and an Italian teacher in the Annapolis area, bravely accepted Lucia's challenge to act as Chair of the Italian department. Roy Gillim has graciously agreed to serve as Dean and Registrar. Lori Burkhart and Mario Taisch have been volunteered as adjunct professors. Through a Blue Moon haze Lucia was certain they said SÍ or is that Sea Cara? Details Raffaella (Rafi) teaches in Annapolis and, for her adult students, uses public places (restaurants and coffee bars) to gather the students for conversation, real world experience in Italian only and formal class. This is a type of language immersion that should kick start our beginners and keep the intermediates and experienced speakers entertained. Rafi's hourly rate is $40.00 an hour per student. If, however, we have lots of interest there has been talk of sorting out a group rate flat fee for each class and whoever makes it to class makes it to class. Then Rafi's fee for her valuable time does not depend on schedule fluctuations and good intentions. Roy has proposed the initial concept that we meet first at Rafi's restaurant pick, then Maryland members could host classes, at a minimum once a month in the off season. Marie Yates was the first volunteer dinner! Reason enough to start the school! Working out a regular schedule for the serious students interested in more than how to order off the dinner menu will be something the Dean of the school and Rafi could work out. We'll look to Roy to formulate the details and schedule with Rafi. Lucia has volunteered to help Roy if he needs an extra hand. Contact Information Rafi welcomes CCYC members to e-mail her at rcalabria2@comcast.net. You can reach Roy at roydavid312aol.com or Lucia at lucia@kkcnet.com Until we meet again, Arrivederla! |
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Meet a Member |
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Gerry & Jeanne Helldorfer (C42 Ragtime) Our first boat was a Morgan 22, then an Irwin 31, an 18 ft. speedboat, a Catalina 30, a Gulfstar 44, a Tiara 31, and now the Catalina 42. That’s 33 years worth of boats. We’ve covered most of the Chesapeake and most of it was on the Catalina 30 and the Gulfstar. We chartered boats in the Caribbean several times and made a few offshore excursions. I was co-captain on a Tartan 37 that sailed with the Annapolis-Bermuda race in the early 80s. Our plan was to join the Caribbean 1500 race/cruise from Norfolk to the BVI. At that time we had the Gulfstar 44. It was probably capable of making the blue water trip, but it needed a lot of upgrades to do it. So, we looked for a more suitable boat, especially a Hylas 46 (my dreamboat). Unfortunately, the price for one of those babies was way beyond what seemed reasonable to spend on a vacation. It was on to Plan B. In the 1990s several boats in the CCYC made annual trips to the Bahamas via the ICW. Plan B was to fix up the Gulfstar and do the Bahamas. In the process, we crewed for Bill and Liz Wesley on their C36 from West Palm Beach, Florida to West End on Grand Bahama. We had planned to go with them to Marsh Harbor, but the weather didn’t cooperate and we ran out of time. Then in 1999, I took a Leave of Absence from work (I had a great boss). We packed up the Gulfstar and headed down the ICW with the Wesley’s (C36 True Blue), the Gandy’s (Irwin 38 Luv It), and a trawler named Good Crews Inn. We spent two months in Key Largo with the Gandy’s and others in a great marina. Then we crossed over to the Bahamas with a buddy boat that was also staying in the same marina. We made the usual stops along the way and sailed much of the Exuma chain. We returned in May (I had to go back to work) and met Joan and Wayne Savage in Hilton Head with their new C36 Jubilee. The Wesleys on True Blue met us there, as well, and we all made the trip home together. When we got home it seemed that we had motored more than we sailed. We had a buyer for the Gulfstar so we reluctantly said goodbye. But, we needed another boat, of course, so why not a powerboat. We bought the Tiara in Connecticut and brought it home offshore. That’s another story. It turned out that we didn’t adapt well to the powerboat lifestyle so it was goodbye Tiara. The next sailboat had to have everything the Gulfstar had and also everything it didn’t have. A broker suggested we look at the C42 (now Ragtime). It’s not a center cockpit boat, he said, but it has all the creature comforts and it sails really well. The rest is history. Why Ragtime? Well, we had both “Stinkpots” and “Rag Heads”. Before we left for our cruise to the Bahamas we renamed the Gulfstar. We were going to have nine months of rag(sail) time. We’ll probably keep the same name on our next 5 or 10 boats. (Editor's note: Gerry was CCYC Commodore in 1985) |