Grandview Yacht Club

STARBOARD COLUMN - Event Reports

2011-10-16T11:00:00.001-04:00

Notice: Reports are loosely based on actual events and people. We tease, embellish and exaggerate, so don't take anything you read here too seriously.

Fall Banquet and Awards Report

2011-10-14T19:30:00.020-04:00

Several unlikely coincidences peppered the lively 2011 fall awards banquet that celebrated some highly revered sailors and the first fifty years of the Grandview Yacht Club.

The anniversary theme was very much a part of the evening. Mimi Riffle’s 50^th anniversary décor, fifty years’ worth of club memorabilia spread out on “history tables”, along with a continuous 1960’s Grandview sailing slideshow (all from the Voelz’s archives) kept the significance of the event front and center. Thanks to Mimi and Sandi Miller for all of the preparations, and to Nancy Olson for helping decorate the venue.

The first coincidence was that with one exception, the attendees last names were all from the last half of the alphabet. Just for fun, and maybe a little too convincingly, Commodore Schroeder and Secretary/Treasurer Riffle staged a scene in which they “discovered” that the A-L half of the alphabet mistakenly never received their invitations. Actually it was just a coincidence, with the attendance of the Galls being the only exception. Faking embarrassment that he had “dropped-the-ball”, Commodore Schroeder nervously announced that it must be time for a prayer. Bob Orben delivered a very thoughtful prayer of thanks to begin the evening.

50^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED

During dinner, members completed a list of 50 Great Reasons to Love the Grandview Yacht Club. The complete list can be found in a post below this one.

After dinner the program began with recollections sent in by Robert Kirk, which included his list of founding members of the Yacht Club (Terry Chambers, Frank and Betty Hoffman, Jay Kress, Bob and Judy Lindsey, Bill Luzius, Griff and Betty Marr, Larry Quick, and Joe and Phyllis Voelz).

Joe and Phyllis Voelz

We were very pleased to have Joe and Phyllis Voelz join us for the evening. It must be very gratifying for them to realize that something they were instrumental in starting has continued to be a source of enjoyment and camaraderie for 50 years, and continues to be to this day. We toasted the club’s long history and colorful characters, and wished that it continue to be a source of competition, fun on the lake, socializing, and goodwill among Grandview lot owners.

At our request, Bob Orben shared his remembrance of the sinking and raising of his Y-Flyer which is a testament to the spirit of the Grandview Lake community. His account is contained in a separate posting below this one (scroll down to below the "50 great reasons..").

OUR MANY VOLUNTEERS WERE RECOGNIZED FOR MAKING A GREAT SEASON:

We recognized our 2011 event hosts including:

Max Henry (Spring Social and Kayak Race); Ruth Davee (Memorial Day breakfast); Wayne & Arlene Truex (July 4th breakfast and all those fun protest meetings); and Brad & Carole Arthur – Labor Day breakfast.

We thanked our 2011 Committee Boat volunteers who made our races possible, with 50^th anniversary-themed certificates: Lisa Duret, Norm and Susan Egbert, Dave Faatz, Dave and Linda Maudlin,

Emily McCurdy, Jack and Sandi Miller, Joe and Joan Prosser, and Mimi Riffle.

And we recognized John Sohn for being our arbiter of protests, a few of which required a fair amount of research. We were fortunate to have his good judicial temperament and judgment.

Secretary/Treasurer Mimi Riffle, Commodore Tom Schroeder and their behind-the-scenes support, spouses Jim Riffle and Julia Schroeder, were presented with gifts jointly given by all of the sailors in appreciation for their three years of service. They were presented with stirring words of appreciation, thoughtfully prepared and sincerely delivered by Bob Orben, and warmly received by the Riffles and Schroeders.

Bob also presented Arlene Truex with a gift to recognize her pride in our sailors that she expressed by painstakingly hand applying letters to each of the sailors name tags, spelling out “s-a-i-l-o-r”. She did this for each of the social events. Her gift was custom made self-inking stamp with the word “sailor”.

Sailors Emeritus:
Bob and Mary Orben and Wayne and Arlene Truex:

Bob Orben and Wayne Truex had informed us that this was their last season of competition as skippers. Bob and Mary, and Wayne and Arlene have been such a part of our races that this is quite a loss to us sailors. Relative to the five stages of grief, it was explained that we are firmly planted in the “denial” and “bargaining stages”. However, Dick Pitman’s well-timed quip that maybe he can win first place next year, kept the presentation on a light note. While recognizing their accomplishments with plaques of recognition, we tried to convince them to change their minds, or at least crew for us (bargaining), and are still holding out hope. We are also pleased that they will remain very much a part of our socializing. As “Sailors Emeritus” whether sailing or not, they maintain their rank and status with us as award winning sailors.

SAILING AWARDS

Not every participant receives 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd place in a normal year. But by coincidence there were three ties which resulted in every sailor or crew participant placing 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd, and receiving a handsome 50^th anniversary-themed trophy.

Crew Awards (Crew gets the same number of points as their skipper in each race)

1st Place: Arlene Truex

2nd Place (a tie): Mary Orben and John Auld

3rd Place – Larry Olson

International Class:

1^st Place (a tie): Peggy Voelz and Tom Schroeder.

This surprising result (Tom is the surprise) requires some explaining: To make sure our captains are not penalized when they allow their crew to take the helm and get some sailing experience, we give that captain the same number of points that their crew earns at the helm. This gave Tom the opportunity to get more points, by having better sailors than him, take the helm while he acted as their crew. Accordingly, Tom gave credit to Catey Hale’s and John Auld’s fine racing skills for his tie for 1st place.

2^nd Place: Jim Riffle (despite the punitive handicap assigned to the Hobie Jim sails).

3^rd Place: John Auld (in his first season, and first time at the helm)

Laser Class:

1^st Place: Jim Voelz

2nd Place: Tom Jennings

3rd Place: Kevin Pruess

Y-Flyer Class

1^st Place (a tie): Bob Orben and Wayne Truex.

The result of this coincidental tie is that in their last season at the helm of their Y-flyers, fierce competitors Bob and Wayne are both going out with 1^st place trophies. As humorously played out at the banquet, there is even more to this story which we will be happy to share on request at future protest meetings or breakfasts.

2^nd Place: Catey Hale

3^rd Place: Dick Pitman

Rookie of the Year: John Auld.

John studied a sailing manual prior to the start of the season, and crewed for a couple of our sailors on a number of occasions. He took the helm for the first time, winning third place in the International Class.

Trophy Races

Memorial Day – Jim Voelz.

July 4th – Wayne Truex

Labor Day – Catey Hale

Booby Prize

A famous and historic trophy has been repurposed for the third time, continuing a long tradition. The much loved and somewhat rusty chamber-pot trophy, formerly the Labor Day trophy is now the “Booby Prize” to be awarded for the best, most humorous or most controversial misadventure of the season.

Wayne Truex and Bob Orben are very competitive and they sail against each other aggressively. As a result they sometimes incur protests, many times by each other. Twice in the last two years they were both disqualified from the same race. This year, their simultaneous disqualification earned them the Booby Prize. Fierce competitors on the water, they are even better friends off the water. So we awarded the chamber pot to them jointly so that they would have to decide in whose residence the award will be displayed. We figured that they would either fight over it, like they might on the water, or kill each other with kindness and offer it to each other, like they would off the water. We were all entertained as Bob and Wayne chose the latter approach and came up with all sorts of reasons why the other should display the trophy at his home.

Championship Trophy: Peggy Voelz

According to our scoring system, this trophy goes to the person who won the most races with the most competition. This year’s winner, Peggy Voelz, keeps a long family tradition going.

And so ended the fiftieth season of the Grandview Yacht Club. Our decorative balloons said “and the party continues…”. And so it will!

Fifty Great Reasons to Love the Grandview Yacht Club

2011-10-14T18:30:00.003-04:00

1. Great place to meet hot young men :-)

2. Great place to meet hot young women ;-)

3. Friends for life

4. Really good donuts

5. Good, fun competition

6. On the course marriage therapy in the form of yelling and screaming at each other

7. Quick lessons on how to rescue submerged sailboats

8. Creative trophies…from tin urinals to cut glass

9. Wonderfully dedicated commodores

10. Wonderfully dedicated treasurers

11. Sitting in the middle of the lake lighting a pipe to see which way the wind was blowing

12. Martini races

13. Beer races

14. Moonlight races or better known as drinking parties

15. Barney and Bobby racing Butterflies

16. Fantastic sailing lessons from one of the best racers in the state – Jim

17. Dave Brown’s story about sailing with Kathryn Hepburn

18. Frank Hoffman’s Thistle with the shark painted on the front

19. Iceboating

20. Sunday afternoon races and how good the beer tastes after the race

21. Offering my competition beer between races in hopes of slowing him down or better yet, he might fall off his sailboard so I could pass!

22. The sense of panic when you hear Jim Riffle yell: STARBOARD!

23.Challenging Grandview wind patterns

24. Performing a 720 degree penalty vertically instead of horizontally

25.Courageous race chairmen - Making the “race” or “no race” decision

26. Sailor’s birthday parties

27. Holiday Open houses

28. Musical sailboats

29.” Messing about in boats... “

30. Recruiting a rookie

31. You meet the nicest people

32. The youthful mindset of GYC sailors

33. Navigating ocean sized waves on a 400 acre lake

34. Always having the right-of-way (though that’s not universally known)

35. Crewing on the “bidet” boat

36. Discovering that sailing is a contact sport

37. Arbitrating protests using beer bottle caps as markers for boats

38. Learning that turning the boat over during racing is not “required”

39. Dick Pittman’s jokes – during and after sailing

40. Protest meetings at Truex’s

41. Parties on the committee boat

42. Time warp between the committee boat and the sailboats

43. A free sauna when the wind dies before the race finishes

44. The exhilaration and FUN of racing

Added by Banquet Participants:

45. Great Place to meet “hot” old men

46. The old guys are always right.

47. Only time you can count on the wind not blowing

48. Watching the sunset as you finish

49 (a). Great Way to relieve life’s other stresses

49(b). Learning to rig a Laser (differently each time)

50. Most friendly people on the lake!

Thanks to Peggy and Jim Voelz for getting this list started, to the Riffles and Schroeders for numerous additions, and to our banquet participants (whose identities will be kept confidential) for finishing it off.

The Sinking and Raising of the Orben's Y-Flyer

2011-10-14T17:30:00.005-04:00

For the Yacht Club's fiftieth anniversary we asked Bob Orben if he would share an account of the sinking and raising of his Y-Flyer, which is a memorable event to many of our current sailors. At our awards banquet, Bob delivered on our request by sharing the following account:

First, a little recall of a humbling experience. There was an individual who participated in a spirited, high wind, holiday sailboat race several years ago. The skipper managed to finish a hotly contested race, and then assisted other sailors who failed to negotiate the turbulent wind. Then he proceeded to turn over his Y Flyer in water off of the Truex’s lot.

Thereafter, with the assist of many sailors, the Y Flyer was returned to an upright position but the boat had taken on so much water, that it spouted some bubbles and sank to the bottom of the lake. It was a very embarrassing experience for the skipper; however, that is not the end of the story. A very alert former Y Flyer skipper, Joe Voelz, was watching the fatal drowning from his front deck and took a reading on the location of the Y Flyer as it departed. The skipper of the ill-fated Y Flyer spent the balance of the following week assembling a game plan to raze the sailboat.

On the following Saturday morning, a hearty group of Grandview residents assembled to help with the recovery effort, Max Henry and a friend arrived in their diving gear, Leon Berjais made available his barge, complete with hoisting gear. The flotilla consisted of several party boats, each with contributors full of suggestions, and the project got underway. The divers attached a line to the front of the Y and in less than an hour, although a modest wind made the rescue a bit tricky, the Y Flyer surfaced and was beached on the shore front of the lot next to the Truex’s. Would you believe the ladies provided coffee cake and coffee, and a festive celebratory party broke out. So the initial acknowledgment this evening goes to the sailor who demonstrated that if you do not succeed on the first pass, try again. The humble pie goes to none other than Bob Orben. An interesting aside, Mary lost her glasses when the Y turned over, but guess what ?? The glasses, and a fish, were located under the air tank in the aft section of the Y.

Sept 11th Trophy Race Report

2011-09-11T21:00:00.000-04:00

Emily McCurdy, and Norm and Susan Egbert, answered Mimi’s short-notice call for Committee Boat help for this rescheduled race (on the afternoon of the first Colts game of the season) and we are very grateful to them and to Mimi for officiating. This was Emily’s first Committee Boat experience and she is now a veteran. Jim Riffle was nursing an injured leg, but that did not keep him from beginning to take down the course after the race which prompted Jim Voelz to beat him to removing the remaining marks. And Wayne Truex could not keep himself from helping out when Tom Schroeder showed up at the Truex dock to set up the course himself. Our races couldn’t possibly happen without such willing and helpful members.

With almost no other traffic, the lake was incredibly quiet allowing shouts of comic relief of one kind or another to be heard all over the main lake: Norm Egbert tortured us with updates on the Colts/Houston game; Max Henry shouted words of “encouragement” to us from his balcony when the wind died; and Dick Pitman told cow jokes. Although we have no photos, plenty of paparazzi observed the race: Jim Riffle in his pontoon; Julia Schroeder on a jet ski (after towing Tom and Larry Olson out from Howling Dog Cove); and Jim Voelz in his ski boat (there was not enough wind for him to get his sailboat out of Jennings Cove to compete), and of course Max Henry on his balcony.

We were delighted to welcome Alexander (“Sasha”) Bouis and Tara Chaille to the sailing community. Sasha captained the Riffle’s M-Scow with John Auld as his crew, and won the International class in both races over Tom Schroeder and crew Larry Olson. Sasha and Tara also joined us for the well-attended protest meeting that we are thankful to the Truexes for hosting.

In the first race Catey Hale and crew Dick Pitman led the field by a substantial margin and Schroeder and crew Larry Olson were far behind the rest of the field. A rain squall hit, so we all got wet. Bob Orben’s socks were wet for the first time since the Memorial Day storm incident many years ago. After rounding the second mark the wind became multidirectional with varying velocity. Hale/Pitman were ahead of the field and suddenly lost all wind, while the rest of the field, only four boat lengths behind, suddenly got enough wind to accelerate and pass them. Wayne and Arlene Truex claim the wind forced them to do a “360” with no control of the boat whatsoever. Hale/Pitman were able to regain the lead and were first to the finish line, followed by Bouis/Auld. Bob and Mary Orben rounded the third mark at about the same time as the Truexs who made it around first and were third to the finish line. Meanwhile the Orbens lost their wind, and must have touched the mark since they did a 360 penalty turn. Despite a significant delay, they still finished ahead of laggards Schroeder and Olson. The Truexs have very graciously disqualified themselves, feeling they did not give enough room to the Orbens at the third mark. While waiting for the second race to begin, Catey Hale shouted out that her crew, Dick Pitman was responsible for their first place finish, prompting Schroeder to likewise shout that he was giving credit for his boat’s performance to his very appreciative crew, Larry Olson.

In the second race Schroeder and Olson were delayed with an unusually poor position at the start of the race, and waited for an interminable period for enough wind to correct their situation. In an unusually well-coordinated display of sportsmanship, after rounding the second mark the rest of the sailors stopped and waited patiently for Schroeder and Olson to catch up. Yes, that is what they were doing; waiting……right? Then, Bouis/Auld were first to the finish line followed by the Orbens, then the Truexes then Hale/Pitman with Schroeder/Olson just seconds behind, but beating Hale and Pitman on a handicapped basis (they’re just saying).

The following is the handicapped finish order (although the handicaps are only applied to the International class boats* for scoring purposes):

1^st race (Trophy Race) from first to last:

Hale/Pitman, Bouis/Auld*, Orben/Orben, Schroeder/Olson* (Truex/Truex self-disqualified)

2^nd race from first to last:

Orben/Orben, Truex/Truex, Bouis/Auld*, Schroeder/Olson*, Hale/Pitman

The Orbens and Truexs have mentioned that this would be their last sailing race, making this, the last race of the club’s 50th year, truly the end of an era. There will be more on this, but in the meantime we are having trouble getting out of the “denial” stage.

Labor Day Breakfast & Kayak Race Report

2011-09-05T22:00:00.001-04:00

Labor Day Breakfast

A large turnout of Grandview lot owners, families, and friends were welcomed by hosts Brad and Carole Arthur for the 50th anniversary Grandview Yacht Club Labor Day breakfast. We enjoyed the brisk weather and view outside, and the warmth of their beautiful home inside. Many storm stories from Saturday night were shared. Yacht Club officers Tom Schroeder and Mimi Riffle were presented with handsome wooden plaques for organizing Yacht Club events. Thanks again Brad and Carole for your hospitality, and the opportunity to enjoy our neighbors.

Kayak Race

The third annual kayak race, organized by Max Henry, was held during the Labor Day breakfast. The idle zone next to the Arthur’s home made for a great, protected race course. In the men’s race, brothers Jack and John Gall took a commanding lead over the rest of the field, with Jack edging out a win over John. Tom Berry finished third. In the women’s race Adria Essex prevailed over second place finisher Cathy Berry. Coolers, duffle bags and water bottles were awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers. Thanks Max for organizing the race and furnishing prizes, and to Jim Riffle and the Safety Patrol for monitoring the area from their boats during the race.

August 21st Race Report

2011-08-21T20:26:00.013-04:00

Joe and Joan Prosser and Mimi Riffle were our Committee Boat heroes and also dismantled the course after the race. Their timekeeping was exquisite! We are grateful to them for making our race possible. Thanks to Jim and Peggy Voelz for setting up the deja-vu course. Following in Jim Riffle’s footsteps from the last race, the course was set up perfectly, not to mention identically.

We enjoyed a perfect day for sailing. Not too hot and a good wind. Like the last race, the first mark was a challenge. After being last to the mark in the first race, Schroeder and Riffle took a gamble at the start of the second race that paid off. They went through the starting line on a port tack unlike everyone else. Keeping that course to accomplish most of their westerly progress, they were first to the mark. Like the August 7^th race, the final leg had a very shifty wind approaching the finish line. This had a big impact on the Y-Flyers finish in two tight races with the wind favoring one or the other. Catey Hale and John Auld, sailing Orben’s Y, edged out Wayne and Arlene Truex by one second in the first race. In the second race Wayne and Arlene won by a fraction of a second. At one point in the race, Kevin Pruess touched the Hale/Auld boat, as he struggled with a mainsheet caught on the stern. At the protest meeting Kevin assured everyone that he not only did a 360 degree penaly turn on a horizontal plane, but did a wet 360 on the vertical plane as well in the process of straightening out his rigging.

Jim Voelz won both of the Laser races with Kevin in second place. Peggy Voelz won both International Class races on a handicapped basis versus Tom Schroeder and Jim Riffle on the unconscionably handicapped Hobie. Although only the International Class is scored on a handicapped basis, the handicapped results for the entire fleet would have Jim Voelz coming in first with Peggy Voelz second in the first race. Then Peggy came in first followed by Wayne and Arlene in the second race.

The protest meeting was actually a protest meeting! After breaking out the refreshments and a few minutes of our usual banter, we called on John Sohn to officiate the protests from the August 7^th race. He diagrammed each incident based on Riffle’s and Truex’s accounts. Our Intense concentration on the matter at hand left late-comers wondering what exactly they had gotten into – this was not the kind of protest meeting we are used to! Although he had submitted a written account, with Bob Orben absent, we decided we really needed to have him present to make a final ruling, and got back to socializing. So now you know what is on the agenda for the Labor Day weekend protest meeting! Thanks to John Sohn for his preparations, expertise and patience, and thanks to Wayne and Arlene for hosting us again.

The following is the raw handicapped finish order (although the handicaps are only applied to the International class* boats for scoring purposes):

1^st race from first to last:

Jim Voelz, *Peggy Voelz, Hale/Auld, Truex/Truex, Pruess, *Schroeder/Riffle

2^nd race from first to last

*Peggy Voelz, Truex/Truex, Hale/Auld, Jim Voelz, Pruess, *Schroeder/Riffle

August 7th Race Report: Can you spell PROTEST?

2011-08-07T18:00:00.003-04:00

Norm and Susan Egbert, Mimi Riffle and Dave and Linda Maudlin and Mimi Riffle were our Committee Boat heroes and also dismantled the course after the race. We are grateful to them for making our race possible. Thanks to Jim Riffle for setting up the course with help from Wayne Truex.

The course was refreshingly up to our standards this time, with the last mark downwind of the finish line and the appropriate colored directional flag properly placed.

The most important outcome of this race is that John Auld is now among the ranks of the skippers, having captained Tom Schroeder’s JY 15 with Tom as crew for both races. This was John’s first time at the tiller after having crewed several times. We'll spare you the long story, but we are grateful to Catey Hale and her son Graham for graciously making John and Tom’s race possible (you're right, we haven't spared you from long stories in the past).

It appeared the Committee Boat was the most entertaining place to be on the lake. The “gallows humor” of the game of “hangman” spelling out the word “PROTEST” on the time sheet is hereby duly noted, and we got a good laugh from it. Nice touch, and here is why: Several protests have yet to be decided, so race results are not yet final and will be published after the next protest meeting on August 21^st. For those unfamiliar with sailboat racing, protests are very common, since strategy is important and racers use racing rules to their advantage as much as possible. A small change in a boat’s momentum or course, if it is required to yield to another boat, can make a big difference. Conversely, the ability to stay the course, if not required to yield, can easily win or lose a race. Our club has had very few formal protests requiring a decision, so we were overdue. Protests that need to be decided from this race include failure to yield (Riffle vs. Orben) and failure to make room at the mark (Orben vs. Truex and Riffle vs. Truex).

It was a hot day, but we had a decent wind and a long course. The first mark was difficult, requiring multiple tacks, good ability to read the wind, and some good luck. The third mark was well into the large, east inlet. This is where Wayne and Arlene Truex, Bob Orben and daughter Janet McMilan, and Jim Riffle and Larry Olson all found themselves rounding the mark at the same time, resulting in an aquatic version of bumper cars with contact being made by all three boats, and protests being registered right and left (or port and starboard as the case may be). For deciding these protests we will wish we had Dick Pitman recording the event with his camera, but we were not that fortunate.

Without the results of the protest decisions, the following is the raw handicapped finish order (although the handicaps are only applied to the International class* boats for scoring purposes):

1^st race from first to last:

*Peggy Voelz, Truex/Truex, Pruess, Orben/ McMilan, *Auld/Schroeder, *Riffle/Olson

2^nd race from first to last

Orben/ McMilan, Pruess, Truex/Truex, *Auld/Schroeder, *Riffle/Olson

July 24th Trophy Race Report

2011-07-24T21:00:00.001-04:00

This race served as the “Fourth of July Trophy Race” which had been cancelled. In small doses, this race had a variety of dramas; weather, start/finish, boat contact, potential protests, and course irregularities.

Dave and Linda Maudlin and Mimi Riffle were kind enough to take on the Committee Boat honors and also dismantled the course after the race. We are grateful to them for making our race possible. Thanks to Wayne Truex for helping Tom Schroeder set up the course. We are also grateful to Wayne and Arlene Truex for hosting the protest meeting after the race, despite the weather that was rolling through.

Even with a wide starting line, everyone wanted to start on a starboard tack near the committee boat resulting in contact among several boats, which could have resulted in a debatable domino-effect barging protest, but no protest was raised.

The first mark was very close to the wind and in one race Bob and Mary Orben were able to make it on their original tack, making it around the mark on boat speed. But closely-following Wayne and Arlene Truex stalled in their attempt at the same. Jim Riffle and John Auld started ahead of the entire field (as pictured), and chose to sail a little further from the wind, but had to tack and, suffering a wind change, ended up well behind. In setting up the course, the (ahem) commodore neglected to follow the agreed upon course set-up guideline, which is to have the final mark downwind of the start-finish line. This contributed to some finish line confusion in which the Orbens rounded the finish line mark from starboard instead of port, allowing the Truexs to slip in ahead of them.

Weather-wise it was very hot, but with a decent wind for the first race (trophy race). Sailors decided to proceed with a second race despite some clouds rolling in. Upon finishing, it was pretty apparent a storm was approaching. The wind from the west made Tom Jennings' and Tom Schroeder’s return to their docks a bit challenging. Schroeder dropped his sails, bungeed them, and employed his trolling motor, giving Jennings a tow for a portion of the trip. After they split, Jennings made it in, but Schroeder’s trolling motor was overpowered by the gusting wind and he had to tie up to a dock and wait out the gusts, thunder, and rain in an unoccupied pavilion (thanks Kinards!).

Y-Flyers: In the first race, Wayne and Arlene Truex came in first over Bob and Mary Orben. Bob and Mary won the second race.

Lasers: Tom Jennings went unchallenged, so for scoring purposes won 1^st place in his class in both races.

International: Tom Schroeder came in ahead of Jim Riffle and John Auld in the first race winning 1^st in the international class. Jim and John came in ahead of Tom in the second race, but not by enough to overcome the Hobie’s handicap. Since there were no other International Class boats in the trophy race, Jim may want to consider redeeming the coupons for minutes that Tom gave him at the awards banquet last year.

The overall handicapped finish order of the first race was as follows, from first to 5^th:

Truex/Truex, Jennings, Orben/Orben, Schroeder, Riffle/Auld.

The overall handicapped finish order of the second race was as follows, from first to 5th:

Jennings, Orben/Orben, Truex/Truex, Schroeder, Riffle/Auld.

The next race is August 7^th.

July 17th Race Report. The wind decided to show up!

2011-07-17T23:00:00.005-04:00

Could our Grandview wind be trying to redeem itself? This make-up race looked doomed to be cancelled on Saturday evening, but excellent sailing conditions surprised us all on Sunday afternoon. The wind blew straight out of the west for the first race and straight out of the east for the second race. And just to make sure we didn’t take it for granted, it suddenly faded for a few minutes at the start of the first race, totally messing up the sailors pre-race strategies developed during a windy warm-up. At the end of the 2^nd race the easterly wind provided sailors from the western inlets a rare, speedy run back to their docks with no tacking required, and saved us all from, a downpour that occurred moments thereafter.

As an unscheduled race, we had no committee boat, using just a 5-minute warning and starting horn courtesy of Tom Schroeder who was crewing for Catey Hale in the JY-15. Racer’s elapsed times were recorded on his life-jacket since his note card had gotten soaked. To his embarrassment he discovered that he used a green (marks-to-starboard) directional flag for his intended marks-to-port course. Thanks to Tom and to Wayne and Arlene Truex for course set-up and take down. And, having experienced a race without a committee boat, we are that much more thankful for our beloved committee boat volunteers!

In the Laser Class, Jim Voelz won both races (but on a handicapped basis was beaten by wife Peggy in her Butterfly in the first race), with Tom Jennings coming in second.

Wayne and Arlene Truex were sailing the only Y-Flyer in the race, so took first in their class racking up some points for the season total.

Peggy Voelz won both races in the International class, beating the JY-15 captained by Catey Hale with her multi-tasking crew, Tom Schroeder.

The overall handicapped finish order of the first race was as follows, from first to 5th:

Peggy Voelz, Jim Voelz, Hale/Schroeder, Truex/Truex, Tom Jennings.

The overall handicapped finish order of the second race was as follows, from first to 5th:

Jim Voelz, Tom Jennings, Peggy Voelz, , Truex/Truex, Hale/Schroeder

July 10th Report: No Race, but Fun Party!

2011-07-10T10:37:00.004-04:00

Although the race was cancelled due to no wind with extreme heat, we are grateful to those who were prepared to orchestrate it. Dick Pitman was prepared to set up the course, and Dave and Linda Maudlin were looking forward to a fun time on the Committee boat with Norm and Susan Egbert, Mimi Riffle, Dick Pitman, and others. The lack of a race didn’t keep most of them from their pontoon boat party though, and it appeared as if they picked up a bunch of others. Speaking of parties, our protest meeting at the Truex’s turned into a birthday party for Jim Riffle to his surprise. We enjoyed quite a feast with brats and chicken Wayne cooked on the grill, and many other dishes brought by Jim’s sailing-race well-wishers. What a feast! And another big thank you to Wayne & Arlene Truex for their unending hospitality!

July 4th Breakfast Report

2011-07-04T10:35:00.002-04:00

Grandview lot owners and their guests were joined by the club’s sailors of the past and present, for a 50th anniversary version of the annual July 4th breakfast hosted by Wayne and Arlene Truex. We were pleased that former sailors John McLachlan and wife Connie, and Kent Fishvoght and wife Debbie were able to join us. We expressed thanks for our freedom with a big Independence Day cheer. Then, sailors and race volunteers were recognized. There was quite a good turnout, despite the early rain, and we enjoyed each other’s company over fruit, donuts and beverages. Thanks to Wayne and Arlene Truex, for hosting us and for the many ways they regularly support the Yacht Club. Bob and Mary Orben’s grandchildren created the colorful poster pictured above to thank Wayne and Arlene – nice job!

June 26th Race Report

2011-07-01T10:28:00.002-04:00

The June 26th race report was cancelled at 1pm due to lack of wind. The wind showed up at 2pm (the scheduled start time). The race already cancelled, we had a protest meeting instead. John Sohn entertained us with tales of the Yacht Club of days gone by. Thanks to Wayne & Arlene Truex for their hospitality. Also, we are very grateful to Jack and Sandi Miller and Mimi Riffle for being prepared to officiate the race on the Committee boat and to Bob Orben and daughter Janet for setting up the race.

June 12th Race Report

2011-06-12T11:01:00.009-04:00

This was the first race of the season, and served as the “Memorial Day Trophy Race” since the May 29^th race was cancelled due to high winds.

Most importantly, we are very pleased to welcome John Auld to the sailing ranks of the club as he crewed for the first time for skipper Catey Hale.

The Committee boat was well-staffed with Dave and Linda Maudlin in charge and helped by Norm and Susan Egbert and their weekend guests, Terry and Deb Hendricks. We are grateful to them for making our race possible, and we are also grateful to Wayne and Arlene Truex for setting up the course and hosting the protest meeting after the race. Jim Riffle graciously served as race chairman, coordinating the entire race.

The official GYC reporter did not actually attend the race, so an additional full shaker of salt should be taken with this report, and everything except statistical race results should be considered unreliable hearsay:

In response to the protest by the Committee boat crew: We are very, very grateful for your service, and we wish the GYC budget allowed us to stock the boat with beverages for you, but alas, it does not. Tom Jennings threw you a Gatorade bottle but apparently it was either empty or maybe not what you had in mind.

In the Laser Class Jim Voelz won both races despite stiff competition from Tom Jennings. Jim’s handicapped time also beat the rest of the field in both races. Committee boat notes indicate that Jim had been showing off “fancy maneuvers”. Word has it he also used his right of way to his advantage, as he certainly should. Starboard!

Bob and Mary Orben won both of the Y-Flyer races versus Wayne and Arlene Truex. A rigging glitch on the Truex's boat in the first race resulted in a wide victory margin.

In the International class, handicapped results have Peggy Voelz as the victor in the first race over 2^nd place Catey Hale/John Auld and 3rd place Jim Riffle/Larry Olson. In the second race Larry Olson took the helm of the catamaran, winning the class. Apparently the Olson/Riffle combo intimidated Voelz and Hale/Auld who did not sail in the 2^nd race. And we hope the Olson offer to bribe the committee boat volunteers (with beverages perhaps?) did not figure into their decision to take a pass on the second race. Or…. hmmmm…. perhaps the bribe worked, and the Voelz and Hale/Auld times for the second race were simply not recorded? We’ll look into this.

The overall handicapped finish order of the first race was as follows, from first to 7^th:

Jim Voelz, Tom Jennings, Peggy Voelz, Orben/Orben, Hale/Auld, Truex/Truex, Riffle/Olson.

The overall handicapped finish order of the second race was as follows, from first to 5th:

Jim Voelz, Orben/Orben, Truex/Truex, Tom Jennings, Riffle/Olson.

MEMORIAL DAY BREAKFAST REPORT

2011-05-30T14:06:00.001-04:00

A large crowd of Grandview lot owners, their friends and relatives descended upon Ruth Davee’s lakeside pavilion for the Yacht Club-sponsored Memorial Day breakfast. Those who served in the armed forces (a significant percentage of those in attendance) were honored for their service to our country. Shade, a nice breeze, donuts, and coffee made very enjoyable morning catching up with lake neighbors on the events of the past winter/spring. The sailors in the group were heard telling tales of torn sails and capsized boats from their unsuccessful attempt to race in high winds the previous afternoon. Thanks to Ruth Davee, her daughter Jane, and son-in-law Walt for hosting such an enjoyable gathering.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND TROPHY RACE REPORT

2011-05-29T14:03:00.005-04:00

Do you remember the outcome of last year’s Memorial Day Weekend trophy race? It was cancelled for lack of wind. With nine captains and four crew anxious to race, the fate of the 2011 Memorial Day Weekend trophy race was the same as last year’s with one major difference; Yes, that’s right; it was cancelled because of high winds. And they were gusty and shifty as well. The main body of Grandview Lake was littered with overturned boats and those struggling to stay upright. Andy Jennings intentionally capsized just to get some rest, and Jim Riffle and Larry Olson limped to port with a torn jib. The committee boat crew made a good call from the GYC home-port and signaled a cancelled race by waving the blue checkered flag and blowing the horn. Thanks to Kevin and Lisa Pruess, Dave Faatz, and Mimi Riffle for race set up, take down and having been ready to start and time the race. Despite the lack of a race, a protest meeting was held anyway courtesy of Wayne & Arlene Truex to whom we are grateful. It has been infrequent that we have had more crew volunteers than our available crew spots, but we were short two boats for those wanting to sail. However, another Y-flyer is about to be put back in service - stay tuned! Also, if you are an experienced sailor, we may be able to arrange a "loaner" for you to sail, and find you a crew as well. Contact Tom Schroeder to arrange.

SPRING SOCIAL REPORT

2011-05-07T23:30:00.005-04:00

Landlubbers and sailing members of the Yacht Club met at the home of Dr. Max Henry for the Yacht Club’s annual Spring Social pitch-in. His home was very nicely decked out with 50th anniversary decorations to celebrate the Yacht Club’s first half-century, carefully chosen by Mimi Riffle and Sandi Miller. Everyone came to see each other, but would have been very satisfied if they had only come for the food prepared by the lake’s many skilled chefs, or to enjoy the expansive view of the main lake on a nice evening.

After dinner, stories of the club’s colorful history were shared. We all heard about Cleopatra and the rowing slaves, the period when windsurfers outnumbered sailboats, and the unusual features of some of the races such as sailing boats backward, sailing at night, and sailing with other handicaps. Jim Voelz, shared his specific memory of one of these events, so we know from at least one eyewitness that these are not just “yarns” being spun.

Non-sailors were encouraged to join in our sailing fun on the “Committee Boat” where they can lend a hand starting and timing the races while aboard. The Committee Boat is THE place to be on Sunday afternoons! Just contact Tom Schroeder at 812-342-9958 or the Committee Boat volunteer on our race schedule.

We also enthusiastically welcome anyone with an interest in actually sailing, and will see to it that you get trained and on a boat immediately.

Finally, a request for volunteers to host the 2012 holiday breakfasts was made so that we can keep these fun events going in our next half-century.

Thanks again to Max for hosting and to Mimi Riffle for handling all the many details, with help from Jim Riffle, Sandi and Jack Miller, Cindy Dunlevey, and Tom and Julia Schroeder.

RARE ICE BOATING OPPORTUNITY SEIZED! ICEBOAT RESCUED FROM DAVY JONES' LOCKER - PICTURES

2011-02-12T17:49:00.004-05:00

Carpe Diem! Conditions have to be just right for ice boating. Thick ice with no significant snow covering it. We get the opportunity once every few years, and GYC'ers seized it during the week of February 6th. Wayne and Arlene Truex hosted several days of thrills, chills and yes, some spills. Participants included the Truexes', Dick Pitman, Bob Orben, Kevin Pruess, Jim and Peggy Voelz, Tom Jennings and Tom Schroeder.

OK, you want to know if there were any mishaps, especially falling through the ice. Yes, one one of the iceboats did go speeding right into a section of open water and was submerged! Fortunately a 911 call was not necessary. At the Spring Social We will reveal the simple reason why this was not a disaster, but in the meantime did you know some of the ice boaters (yes the smart ones) carry spikes they can use to pull themselves up onto the ice in case they fall in? More pictures are on the way, so check back!

Thanks Wayne and Arlene!

Dick Pitman buzzes the camera man

Arlene Truex taking no prisoners

When the wind dies, you have to push


Wayne Truex readies Kevin Pruess for a run

Jim Voelz speeds by