breezes and blows - osyc.com€¦ · breezes and blows ocean springs yacht ... lesson for me, my...

Breezes AND Blows

Ocean Springs Yacht Club April 2017 100 Front Beach Drive

Ocean Springs, MS 39564

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From the Commodores & the OSYC Board

Hello fellow Club members! On behalf of the entire Board, I hope this finds everyone happy, safe, and well as we officially welcome in the spring season at the OSYC!

There is a lot going on at the Club this time of year, and I want to run through some of the upcoming events and activities, as well as my recent adventures in getting recertified on the Club Hobie Waves, but first I wanted to provide an update on Club management. As everyone is likely aware, Darlene and Elaine are no longer part of the management team at the Club. While we all appreciate their efforts and contributions at the Club, the Board, after an involved process and deliberate consideration, determined that the interests of the Club and its members would be best served if the Club were to move in a different management direction. For obvious reasons, this transition has required a tremendous amount of time, effort, and skills of many hard-working members and officers, including past officers and commodores, who are all working with one objective -- to ensure that the Club continues operations and serving members and our community to the absolute best of our abilities.

As with any major transition, there have been challenges and bumps along the way but we are glad to be able to report that operations have continued without major interruption and policies and procedures are being put in place to improve conditions and operations going forward. It is not possible to acknowledge everyone who has

contributed to this effort, but it would be remiss to not recognize and thank the following: board members Shannon Smith, Chris Minke, Tina Demoran, Jay Shuman, and Ray Hughes; Past Commodores Roger Gardner, Dee Smelley, Barney Banks, and Ken Altman; and past board member Neal Olive, as well as Marilyn Minke, Brenda Gardner, and Linda Shuman; and a former Club bookkeeper Jeanette Evans. Our staff has also been tremendous during this time, and to a person have helped out however possible to keep things running as smoothly as possible. In addition, we appreciate the professionalism and understanding that our prior management team has demonstrated during this transition. In fact, as many of you know, Darlene has been engaged with the Board and staff to help ensure that the operations of the Club continue uninterrupted and she deserves our collective thanks.

Looking ahead, our hope and expectation is that we will have a new manager in place very soon. To that end, we have had a search committee solicit applications, review resumes, and consider candidates in an effort to ensure that the Club has the benefit of the most qualified, experienced person who will best fit with the Club, and work to improve and promote the atmosphere at the Club. The dedication and professionalism shown by that committee has indeed been impressive, and we will all be well served by its efforts. Stay tuned for more news on that in the days to follow!

Turning to the ongoing business of the Club, our various standing committees continue to be hard at work, and collectively are making every effort working to put as many of the good ideas and suggestions we have received into action. The Social Committee,

Ocean Springs Yacht Club ~ http://www.osyc.com

P.O. Box 821, Ocean Springs MS 39566 (228) 875-1915

spearheaded by Patty Hughes and Robin Cooley, have an exciting slate of events planned for the rest of the year. Roger Gardner is redeveloping the approach of the House Committee to more efficiently prioritize and take action on areas needing attention at the Club. Past Commodore Cyndi Moncrieff is continuing to spearhead—often singlehandedly—the efforts of the Pool Committee. We also have a talented team working on the Financial Committee, including Benton Howie, Roger Gardner, Past Treasurer Jude McDonnell, Tina Demoran, and Dee Smelley. The Sail Committee, headed by Linda Shuman, continues to drive the sailing wing of the Club in the right direction. Everyone heading or serving on these committees deserves a tremendous amount of thanks. And, while these areas and others are in good hands, there is always room for additional input and involvement, so if you are interested in helping out at the Club feel free to contact any of those mentioned, or any Board member who can put you in contact with the right person. As you’ve heard us say before, this is a “Member Driven Club,” and we need the help and support of anyone and everyone who is interested in and cares for the Club!

While we couldn’t highlight every event at the Club, special recognition should go to the Sunset Cruises developed and organized by Rear Commodore Chris Minke. They have all been sold out, at times months in advance, and by every account have been wildly successful and fun. That was an idea offered by a member, Mark Stevens, and put into action by a board member. When we all work together, and put good ideas into action, great things can happen!

Also of note, we have reintroduced the Sundrop event on Friday nights, where members and guests are invited to guess the time the sun will “drop out of sight” from the Club deck in the evening as part of a fundraiser. The person with the winning time gets to ring the bell heralding sunset, and share in that night’s fundraiser—not to mention the bragging rights and refreshing beverage that come with the win! On Fridays, consider making the Club part of your evening plans and see if you get to ring the bell!

Lastly, I also want to mention a personal note: I just got recertified on the Club’s Hobie Waves! I’d been certified before, but had gotten rusty—and Jay Shuman and the good folks at the OSSS were gracious enough to coordinate a training/refresher

lesson for me, my oldest son, Nate, and two of our good friends. The water was not as cold as I had expected—brisk, but not cold—and the feeling of being out on the water was exhilarating! And, the best part is, now I can chart a float plan and take a Wave out whenever the opportunity allows, all at no cost! In addition, I can participate in the Friday Night Races—who knows, maybe I will even win a run or two? Challenge on! If you aren’t certified, I highly recommend you contact Jay or any member of the OSSS and get certified…then challenge the Commodore to a sail!

As always, let a Board member know if you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas to help improve the Club in any way. And invite your friends and colleagues to come visit and join the Club, where, after all, we’re all family!

Thanks for all you do for the Club!

Stopher Haug, Commodore 2017, for the Board

3-31-17

“Sailing Class Returns”

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Mystic Charter Sunset Cruises

Ahoy fellow OSYC members and guests!

The hugely popular "Sunset Cruise" on the Mystic has been scheduled for two more dates! OSYC has the boat reserved for 22 April and 13 May 2017. Occupancy is limited to 25 souls on board, so make your reservations early! This is a very enjoyable 2 hour cruise on the bay with lots of photo opportunities and fun with your friends. We normally sail at least 90 minutes prior to sunset and I will get you specific "show time" information prior to the event. We will plan a "Pre-Boarding Happy Hour" at the Club to accomplish the required "sign-in" and boarding passes so plan to come early, enjoy a beverage, and meet your shipmates!

$20 per person BYOB

(Consider buying a bottle of wine at the Club to take on board!)

And now the “fine” print: - $20 per person will be charged to your account one week prior to cruising. - The events are open to members and their guests. - Cancellation less than one week prior to the cruise will be honored if the boarding passes can be sold to another member or guest for that cruise. - Reservations will be taken by responding to this email at [email protected] in the order that I receive them. - I will maintain a wait list for each cruise upon request and honor any opportunities to come aboard according to the order on the list.

So … WELCOME ABOARD! Your Rear Commodore, Chris

[email protected]

Chris Minke, 2017 OSYC Rear Commodore

Cruise away on the Mystic, a 65 foot wooden 1930’s Chandeleur boat built in the 1930's. Operated by Coast Guard Licensed Captains Matthew and Casey Hinton.

http://www.mysticchartersms.com/

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From the Fleet Captain, Jay Shuman [email protected]

Hello OSYC! It has been a month of furious activity! March 11

th we held a

work day to get the club fleet ready for the season. We had excellent volunteer turnout and the boats are ready and in use. We ran our first session of adult group sailing lessons and our Commodore plus three more

members are now ready to go sailing. The High School Sailing Team is back in action on their 420s. Sailing is happening! Next weekend, April 6-9, will be the first two major regattas of the year with Alter Cup/Hobie MidWinters East-North. There will be 30-35 boats here for the two events and there should be good racing viewable from the deck – come on down and check it out. On Saturday night we are throwing a party that will have a fundraising dinner hosted by the OSHS Sailing Team. We’ll have real Cajun food prepared by a Boudreaux, live music, the Boat Bar will be open for business and you’ll be able to meet and hang out with the competitors who have traveled far and wide to sail here at OSYC. Meet new people, eat good food, hear good music and support the OSHS Sailing Team – all that for $15.00/person at 6:00P under the club April 8

th!

The next regatta, on Saturday, April 29

th, is the 1699

Regatta and our first try at the Pro-Am format. If you want to see what it is like to race a catamaran, we’ll have skippers looking for crew for that day – here’s your chance to try it out. Come on down, experience the thrill first hand! On to sailing education: sales for the June 5-16 and July 10-21 2-Week Youth Classes have been brisk. At the moment, the June 5-16 Morning Session has been most popular with 5 spots left; July 10-21 Afternoon Session follows closely with 10 spots left and the other two sessions are wide open. The early registration price of $220 continues to 15 May and goes up to $250 after. Sign up while it’s still less expensive . At the moment, I have one Adult Group lesson instructor who would love to be teaching more and another available in May. Many folks have approached me indicating a desire to take lessons. We can accommodate your desire now. Let me know who/when and we’ll set it up! If you want to know more about the adult group lessons ask your Commodore, Stopher Haug – he and his son took the class together a few weeks ago and had a great time.

As we move towards summertime we get into the next set of Big Regattas – Slip to Ship on Memorial Day Weekend and Island Hop the weekend after July 4

th. This year Rear

Commodore Chris Minke, our Minister of Fun, has vowed to make these regatta weekends the most fun ever. Be on the lookout for party details and opportunities to help put on the events. Another thing we are working on with these regattas is our fundraising efforts. We support the sailing program (boat maintenance, OSHS Boats & coach stipend, instructor salary, etc) through storage rentals, instructional fees and regatta revenues. We plan to have fund raising raffles at the major regatta weekends and are seeking donations for door prizes or basket raffles, etc. We’d love to have anything from can coozies to 10% off cards for your business to a free dessert coupon for your restaurant to a cool piece of art or pottery we can dazzle out-of-towners with and raffle off. If you have something you’d like to donate please contact Linda Shuman at [email protected] or (703) 268-9205 (cell number, talk or text). She is also on the Facebook. I think that’s enough for now. The weather is great, the water is warm – get out there and play! Sailing drives all the usual daily clutter out of your mind and makes everything better for a while – go do it! Jay Shuman Fleet Captain H16, H17, H20

2017 OSYC Regatta Schedule

6-9 April US Sailing Multi-Hull Championship / Alter Cup – Hobie 17

7-9 April Hobie Mid Winters – East-North

29 April 1699 Regatta (one day this year)

27-28 May Slip to Ship Regatta

8-9 July Horn Island Hop Regatta

26 August Katrina Memorial Regatta

21-22 Oct Shearwater Regatta

Other possible events on the horizon …

High School Sailing Fleet Championships October/November of 2017

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March Wine Tasting Event

“Wine is sunlight, held together

by water.” ― Galileo Galilei

Another one in the books! On the 10

thof March we did

some good work for the Club! The wine tasting began with a “Blue Danube” Champagne Cocktail and a cheese and bread tray put together nicely by Cookie. Kim Rivard brought her killer goat cheese again and not a crumb was left. The really cool etched ‘Bordeaux Style’ wine glasses that Linda Shuman designed sold for $10 and were very popular with our guests (I have 6 more if anyone would like one!). Many more tickets were sold for the Wine Basket Fundraiser and the fun began! Forty-seven members and guests enjoyed 5 California wines and the votes are in!

Wine

Total

Score

No. of

“5 glasses”

Ratings

1. 2014 Conundrum Red

Wine Blend

$26

124.5

11

2. 2013 Franciscan

Oakville Estate Merlot

$22

120.5

7

3. 2015 St. Supéry

Sauvignon Blanc

$20

117

9

4. 2013 Benziger Family

Winery Sonoma County

Cabernet Sauvignon

$21

104

9

5. 2014 Franciscan

Oakville Estate Chardonnay

$20

102

8

Our intent for the voting is to empower the membership to help us select great wines for you to enjoy at the Club. Particularly impressive at this tasting was how seriously involved everyone was in the evaluations! The descriptors being used by the tasters of each individual wine would have impressed the wine evaluators at Wine Spectator. There were even a few tasters who were compelled to spilt

the “5 glass rating” into decimal numbers to more accurately convey their evaluation! Great job! As you can see from the votes, all of the wines were enjoyed without a clear statistical winner or loser. So, just as we did after last quarter’s wine tasting, we will sell all five wines by the bottle at the bar and monitor sales. Let your bartender know if you like the wines and if you would like to keep them in stock. Our “By-the-Bottle” service is intended to ensure your wine is fresh and at its best when you open the bottle. If you do not finish your wine, you may ask the bartender to re-cork your bottle and keep it behind the bar for you; or you can take it home if you would like. In case you are wondering, there is approximately 4.5 glasses of wine per bottle. So, it is easy to share a bottle among friends! I can’t thank y’all enough for attending the event and supporting your Club! We could not have provided the “FUN” if it were not for the staff and volunteers that put it all together. Kristina, Carl, and Gordon did the heavy lifting for the set-up and take-down, Cookie put the cheese trays together, and Trish, Rachelle, and Brandon all were instrumental in customer service to support the event. When you see them, please say thanks to Diane Farris, Linda and Jay Shuman, Ray and Patti Hughes, Brenda and Roger Gardner, Shannon Smith, Steve White, and Marilyn Minke for the few hours they were on their feet pouring wine and taking care of the tickets and check-in. Huge thanks go out to Dee Smelley and Roger Gardner for making the Wine Basket fundraiser a big success! Scott Blair was the lucky winner of the elegant wines so ask him which ones he liked the best. I could not talk him into

opening the wines Friday night! Finally, I’d like to express our appreciation for our special guests Scott and Karen Davis from Republic National Distributing Company. Scott and Karen generously donated wine, wine openers, and their expertise to the event. Maybe I can talk them into becoming members of the OSYC! Watch your emails for the next event. Ciao! Chris Chris Minke 2017 OSYC Rear Commodore

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HIYC Burgee Presentation On the evening of March 7, 2017, the official burgee of the Hemingway International Yacht Club (HIYC), Havana, Cuba, was presented to Ocean Springs Yacht Club. Here’s a brief article covering the event, plus a few photos from the OSYC and from HIYC in Havana, Cuba. Science and sailing transcend borders. Hopefully, so will baseball. Over the past few years, scientists Jim Franks and Harriet Perry from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (USM-GCRL) and local entrepreneur Bobby Carter (executive at Golden Nugget Casino, Biloxi MS), have made several trips to Cuba. Franks, known internationally for his billfish work, and Perry, who is well-recognized for her contributions in fisheries and shellfish research, have established a relationship with fellow Cuban scientists for scientific research through USM-GCRL. Carter’s travels have focused on the promotion of friendship and business connections, ranging from export trade to a trip in March of 2016 that included Yankee Hall-of-Fame member Richard "Goose" Gossage and a few cases of baseballs for a training camp in Havana. Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba (HIYC) supports science through the International Game Fish Association and the Billfish Foundation. The latter was an instant connection for Franks and Carter, who are both very involved with the annual Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, Franks as lead scientist and Carter as director – and a bond was formed with the Commodore of the HIYC, José Miguel Díaz Escrich. During a November 2016 trip to Cuba, Perry and Franks stopped by the HIYC to visit with Commodore Escrich, and Perry, a member of the Ocean Springs Yacht Club (OSYC), presented an official club burgee from the OSYC to the HIYC Commodore. On that same trip, Franks renewed his membership in the HIYC; Bobby Carter also became a member there.

On a Tuesday evening before the monthly gathering of the Hitoric Ocean Springs Saltwater Flyfishing club (HOSSFly), the official burgee of the HIYC was formally presented to Commodore Stopher Haug of the OSYC by Perry, accompanied by her friends Franks and Carter. “Friendships are important to Cubans”, said Carter, and that helps to promote everything from science to sailing, and hopefully baseball. He is working towards creating an offshore sailing event similar to the Miami to Havana Race, now in its second year (http://www.havanarace.org/). In addition, he hopes to facilitate a baseball tournament at MGM Park with the Cuban national team and a team from here in the Unites States. Carter, Perry and Franks will be hosting a visit from Commodore Escrich in April of 2017, which will include an evening at the Ocean Springs Yacht Club. Interested in learning more about yacht club burgees and the collection that’s hanging on the walls in the Members Bar at the OSYC? Stop on by the Club, find a past Commodore of the Club, a sailing OSYC member, or even a current member of the OSYC flag officers or Board, and they may have a little history to share with you. As an FYI, the HIYC burgee is now proudly displayed hanging off of the Commodore’s Shelf at the Club. OSYC’s official burgee: HIYC’s official burgee:

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Burgee Presentation Photos Below: Bobby Carter, Tom Herrington, Harriet Perry, Jim Franks, and OSYC Commodore Stopher Haug display HIYC burgee presented to the OSYC by Commodore Escrich of the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba.

From left to right: Bobby Carter, Tom Herrington, Harriet Perry, Jim Franks, and OSYC Commodore Stopher Haug display HIYC burgee presented to the OSYC by Commodore Escrich. To the Right: Commodore Escrich of the Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba receives the Ocean Springs Yacht Club burgee from OSYC member Harriet Perry (top); Commodore Escrich presents the burgee of the HIYC to Harriet Perry (bottom image).

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Club Reminders

Greetings, Members! Reminders: Grill Your Own Steak Night will be on the last Saturday of the month, April 29

th – please make your reservations!

April sailing events include the Hobie Alter Cup and the Hobie Mid-Winters. Please make our sailing guests feel as welcome as possible. Other April events include Easter Sunday. “Happy Hour” at OSYC is from 3 – 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday, offering House Wine, Well Drinks, and Domestic Beer at half price. The Café Grill is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 3pm till 8pm, Saturday Noon till 8pm, and Sunday 1pm-6pm; don’t forget about our Sunday Breakfast from 10:30am-1:00pm. Our Club Hours are: Monday Closed, Tuesday thru Thursday 10:30am – 9:00pm, Friday and Saturday 10:30am – 10:00pm, and Sunday 12:00pm – 9:00pm. Don’t forget about our weekly Bar Bucks Drawing every Saturday at 6:30pm (must have a minimum of 12 members present). If the name drawn is not present, we have a consolation drawing of $50 on Bar Bucks.

We request that members do not enter the kitchen area. Please see management or the bartenders for food orders or for questions about food. State ABC Laws prohibit outside Alcohol being brought on property. Please don’t be the reason we lose our Liquor License. As always, when you have a concern or a question, please inform your OSYC Flag Officers or an OSYC Board member so that they can work to resolve issues for you in a timely manner. Thank you!

OSYC Special Events Reminder Please RSVP for all advertised Club events to [email protected] or by phone at 875-1915 Our staff wants to ensure that you have the best Club experiences as possible and we want to know to expect you!

Thank you!

If you wish to have the OSYC Newsletter mailed to you on a monthly basis, please complete the information below and drop it by the Club to the attention of our OSYC Board Secretary or mail it

to the OSYC office to the Board Secretary:

Name: _________________________________

Address: _______________________________

City: __________________________________

State: __________________ Zip: _________

Attn.: OSYC Board Secretary Kathrin Williams

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Club Event Photos

Enjoy these pictures of club members and kids coming in from a sail or jockeying to be on the next trip after Commodore Stopher Haug and Dave Denison became officially certified as OSYC sailors. Our Commodore hopes that these kinds of pics will help to generate interest in sailing and in Club events, and hopefully we will receive some of your favorite pictures to feature in the OSYC newsletter. Photo credits will be given to any and all submissions that are used, if provided with the picture(s)!

“Sailors Returning to the OSYC Beachfront”

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breezes and blows - osyc.com€¦ · breezes and blows ocean springs yacht ... lesson for me, my...

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