HELMSMAN | OPCYC

The Helmsman

Prior Issues

2026
2025

In January 2022, you the members of OPCYC made me your Commodore. I hope I have served you well and not overstayed my welcome. I owe many thanks to each of the Past Commodores who took the time to mentor me throughout my tenure, in particular Tim and Jeff. Here I am now writing my last Commodore’s Log before turning the helm over to the capable hands of Ken Damon at the Commodore’s Ball on January 17th.

A lot has changed but remained much the same during my term as Commodore. Luna Blu, my beloved Bristol 39 yawl, quite unexpectedly became a Sloop this year and unfortunately, still remains in that state as I type this. Hopefully in 2026 the weather gods and yacht repair elves will agree on a date and time and she will be restored to her two masted glory.

We thought that OPCYC would be moving to the Torpedo Station building with the start of the Pack Brothers expansive vision for rework of the marina and surrounding area during Tim Etherington’s tenure. But, COVID-19 had other plans and with everything shut down in 2019 and 2020 the 37North project was placed on hold and has remained in that status throughout my term. I have recently heard rumors that negotiations between Pack Brothers and FMA on the project have been renewed so perhaps something may be in the works for 2026. Our lease with FMA is still being reviewed and so our rent has not changed so far. But, we anticipate at some point in 2026, FMA will present the new agreement and our rent will be increased to some degree. One other change that was implemented with the marina that enhance our reciprocity with other clubs is that the marina agreed to recognize any visiting boats from clubs with agreements with OPCYC by granting a free overnight stay at the marina.

The clubhouse itself has remained virtually the same, although you might have noticed a couple new burgees up, and some new boat pictures have replaced those that are no longer members. You might also notice there are around twelve empty frames, waiting for your boat picture to be displayed! We have a large number of boat owners who’s boats aren’t represented on the picture board. If you have a picture of your boat and would like it displayed at the clubhouse, please send me a .jpeg of it and I will have it mounted! I would like to turnover a full picture board of current members boats by January 31st!

During my term the membership level dropped from a little over 200 members before COVID to our current membership of around 169 which has been of concern and needs to be a continuing priority for Ken and the 2026 Board. It would be great to get our members back up to over 200. So if you know of anyone interested in being a member, please have them come to PMU or a membership meeting!

After much deliberation and recognizing that dues have been the same for several years, the Board increased dues for new members to $95 a year with renewals remaining at the existing level of $65. We believe that even at the new initial dues level, OPCYC provides a big bang for the buck for anyone interested in joining a yacht club. Our Webmaster Russ Harper assisted Secretary Mike Corley in making membership application and renewal easier (and cheaper for the club, too, given postage costs!) through online application and payment. Additionally, Mike set up our Ship’s Store online for merchandise purchases (hint- our long sleeve polos are great post-Christmas gift purchases!) and helped Racing Rear Commodore Jeff Rogers to make payment for races online. We created a committee headed by Bob Williamson and Sandra Kay to review all of the historical records in the clubhouse and digitize them for perpetuity. It is still a work in progress but many of the newsletters and documents are now digitized for future member research and use.

By the time you read this our annual Dana Dillon Memorial New Year’s Race will be in the books and a number of hardy Pointer Skippers will have led their steeds around Hampton Bar! A great tradition to kick off the New Year, hopefully it won’t be too cold!

January means PMU is starting, Norm, Dutch and Dennis are planning another semester of quality lectures, so please plan on taking time out of your Saturday morning to come to the club to participate or Zoom in from the comfort of your home - or boat!

On tap for 2026 is our country’s 250th birthday. With events all over the country, Virginia’s recognition of our birthday is going to be celebrated throughout the State and Sail250 will be part of that. The Hampton Roads part of the celebration will be the Tall Ship’s arrival in Norfolk, Hampton, Yorktown and Smithfield.

OPCYC will join in the fun and on June 19th will have ten of our members and their boats escort the tall ships from Lynnhaven to Norfolk. Details are still being worked out and there will be more information later, so stay tuned. As of this writing over 30 tall ships will be coming to Tidewater making it a spectacle that one surely won’t want to miss. Since the route will take the Parade of Sail right by Old Point Comfort, OPCYC will be planning to support it from ashore as well. Again, more to follow, but this is going to be a very exciting celebration.

Finally, planning for the Commodore’s Ball is in full swing

and the RSVP and JotForm are already up on the website,

available for signup and payment. Please take a look and

sign up, it’s going to be great fun with dinner and dancing!

More information in Social section. Hope to see you there!

R.S.V.P. by January 12th at

www.opcyc.org / Members Tab / Commodore’s Ball

Tab to make your reservation and select one of the

following, for each of the RSVP's:

Malibu Chicken,

Roasted Prime rib of beef AU JUS,

or Grilled Fillet.