HELMSMAN | OPCYC

The Helmsman

Prior Issues

Happy New Year, Pointers, here’s to a great 2025! I hope Santa was good to everyone and no coal was found in any stockings! I also hope your New Years Eve party was great and without a New Year’s Day hangover!

Usually, December is the month that most Skippers put their boats to bed to rest comfortably in their slips or on the hard for the winter. But again, Mother Nature with few exceptions blessed Tidewater with pleasant weather throughout the month, allowing a few extra weeks for the fisherman to extend their season and a couple of days of exceptionally pretty days with just enough warmth and breeze for everyone to get out on the water.

For a number of Pointer Skippers and crew, New Year’s Day provided an exhilarating experience- hangover or not! The Dana Dillon Memorial New Years Day Madness Race, co-sponsored by OPCYC and HYC, was this year closer to madness than in recent races. With winds forecast to be from 16 knots, gusts to 32, it was with some apprehension that Luna Blu left the pier at HYC. Pre-race discussion between Skipper and crew whether to rig for Spinnaker, Blooper and Mizzen Staysail or not, dominated the talk right up to less than two minutes to our start when a gust knocked Luna Blu down just off HYC piers and the Skipper made the decision that maybe it would be wise to reef the main and just wait on the rest of it until we get out the river and see… Well, as expected, the winds were stronger once we cleared the river and made the turn to head up Hampton Flats to the windward mark and we saw 18 knots of wind with at least one gust to 30. No spinnaker, blooper or staysail today - and a sigh of relief from the crew…! It was a battle to keep Luna Blu on her feet throughout the race, but the crew managed to keep her in good trim with a partially furled genoa and the reefed main and we passed a couple of boats on the way to Mill Creek and the finish line. Many thanks to John McCarthy from HYC, and Tim Etherington who served as Race Committee for the start and Tim and Ken Damon who recorded the finishes at OPCM.

Skipper and crew were pretty tired after the race but not tired enough to not enjoy the post-race party at the clubhouse. Social Rear Commodore Ken Damon, his better half Margaret, Linda Williams and Social Captain Bob D’Haem had a splendid layout of grilled cheese sandwiches, salad and chili ready for the hungry sailors. Additionally, MG Williams provided an Irish Coffee Bar to warm the tired sailors. With Racing Rear Commodore Jeff Rogers handing out the awards that included a bottle of champagne for all racers, it was again another great event! Congratulations to Jeff Rogers and Halala, who was the first boat to cross the finish line and first overall, and to all of the Skippers and crew that participated in this classic New Year’s Day Race now in its twenty fifth year.

Winter is here, and that means Pointer Maritime University will begin the semester with a very interesting set of lectures that should scratch the itch of all boaters. A priority for the club is to increase the number of boats participating in our Yankee Station Series racing program, so to that end there will be a couple of lectures on racing. Not to the exclusion of cruisers, we will also have several lectures on local cruising destinations with emphasis on trips that can be made within a day. We will also have a couple of maritime history lectures that will be very interesting and maybe a few short maintenance related lectures thrown in.

Lastly, don’t forget that the Commodore’s Ball is set for Saturday, January 18th at Hampton Yacht Club. First Call has been sounded, so time to break out the formal attire (or coat and tie and evening dress) and get ready for what promises to be a grand evening at Hampton Yacht Club.

See y’all on the water!

Keith Midgette

OPCYC Commodore

Cruising with OPCYC

Old Point Comfort Yacht Club
100 McNair Dr, Bldg. 183, Fort Monroe, Va
37.00'06.7" N, 76 18' 53.2"W

The Helmsman