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The Helmsman
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I begin this month’s Log by thanking Larry Bond, our Vice Commodore, for hosting the first Vice Commodore’s Happy Hour on June 27th. It was a great success and I think the 35-40 members that attended both had a good time and went home with full bellies, the food was stupendous! Thanks to all of our marvelous chefs and chefettes who provided a dish and many thanks to Ken and Margaret for setting up the club for the event. We might have to have Larry host another one!  

June flew by like an America’s Cup Cat on foils! Here we are in July and the 4th of July celebration is almost here! The Clubhouse will be open for members who might want to avoid the huge crowds expected for the FMA sponsored fireworks, so just come over to the clubhouse and enjoy the fireworks- from the comfort of the clubhouse porch or beach you can see Fort Monroe’s, Norfolk’s, Newport News, and Virginia Beach fireworks! Orrin is also arranging a raft up in Mill Creek especially for the fireworks, I hope everyone is able to get out on the water and join the raft up for the 4th!  The anchorage will be crowded- an option might be to anchor out off Fort Monroe  (but not in the shipping channel!) as the fireworks are going to be shot off near the boardwalk. Alan Bomar (our FMA Liaison) has said that the Fort Monroe fireworks display is going to be the largest in the state of Virginia! 

 

June’s racing was very interesting- the Veteran’s Cup went from no wind, wisp of wind,  hardly any wind, to thank the Good Lord, we made it around the windward mark, to light wind, hope for more wind and finished with…wind! The post-race party was a classic, with John Runyan providing the hungry sailors a delicious meal that was followed by a couple of auctions that went towards the Virginia Veterans Services Foundations and finally the Awards Ceremony.

The following week’s Portsmouth Boat Club Cock Island Race had 42 boats sign up, and it was a typical Cock Island Race, light wind at the start, building to a whopping 7-9 knots on the return and  into 2-4 knots to the finish. And once again, Luna Blu’s podium hopes were dashed when the Race Committee decided to score A, B and C Fleet together… oh well, as always, there is always next year. The following weekend , the BBSA  Summer Series Race off Ocean View Pier in Norfolk was another light air affair- no wind, hardly any wind, spotty wind (always the breeze line holding 50 yards on the port bow, always teasing, never closing…) and increased  to 7 knots or so the last 200 yards to the finish.  Fortunately, the Race Committee shortened the course! So, to summarize, other than the 30-40 knot wind on Saturday of SBRW, racing has pretty much followed in the tradition of Lower Chesapeake Bay summertime racing…I do hope we will see more Pointers on the race course as the season progresses though! There are a lot more races to be sailed as Jeff outlines in the Racing section!

   

 I already mentioned the raft up for July 4th, more on that in Cruising. But, Orrin has much more in store for the Cruisers! There is a sail over to Portsmouth to catch a Tides baseball game on July 19-20th. That should be a lot of fun, I hope we have a great turnout!

 

Not to be outdone, Social’s Ken Damon and Bob D’Haem have a Membership Meeting set up at Oozlefinch on July 19th. That has always been a great venue to sip one of their fine beers while listening to the music and enjoying the company of fellow Pointers.

See y’all on the water!

 

Keith Midgette

Commodore              

 

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