Venture/MacGregor Yacht Club
Venturing
Last updated: July 14, 1996 @ 16:57 CDT
1996
JULY FOURTH CRUISECOMMODORE With An Echo - Larry Featherston
VICE COMMODORE'S REPORT - Steve Hanes
TREASURER'S REPORT - Jennie Taylor
26 FLEET - Dave Taylor
TWENTY-FIVE TELLTALES - John Vaughan
23/24 FLEET - Ray Pryor
22 FLEET - Mike Kmita
ASSOCIATE FLEET - Sandi Cook
CRUISING - Sam and Donna Blake
RACING - Alfred Barboza
SOCIAL NEWS - Lora Featherston
RACING THE WIND (Or Surviving the Gale) - Steve Hanes
SAILING FREE - Author Unknown
CONGRATULATIONS!
THANK GOD IT'S A VENTURE - Submitted by Steve Hanes
WE'VE FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT... - Submitted by Gus Gusler
DO PEOPLE DRING MORE WATER NOW... - Submitted by Gus Gusler
1996 OFFICERS and BOARD OF DIRECTORS
1996 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
DOOR PRIZE!
THE SALE MAKER (Classified Ads)
COMMODORE
With An Echo
I like for the wind to blow, but come on now, enough is enough. Even the old Aminal gets a little nervous when you’re anchored in 60 knots of wind and the oncoming waves are breaking over the bow. Yep, it's just a little too much wind at that point, and I don’t mind saying it. When you can see no further than the stern of your boat and have had nothing to drink but soda pop and not a drop of T.Q., John, you just know that you could be in for a real wild ride. If some of you are wondering what I’m talking about, this happened on the official last race date of the Spring Series.
We are now into the month of June, and everything seems to be going pretty good. The 26 Fleet just keeps on growing by people bailing out of other fleets. Internal growth is good I guess, but you see, this also gives us a chance to regain to those other fleets because of upcoming sails of the other boats to potential new members of our club. We can always stand some new ideas and ways of thinking. Right Dale, or is that starboard? We have a lot of good stuff going on in our club, and we should be proud to share some of it with new members. I think that's probably why a lot of people join, just to have fun.
We were knot at the last meeting because Lora’s doctor decided to move her surgery up by one day, but she is on the road to recovery, but knot quite as fast as she would like to be. We have really enjoyed all the cards and food that some of the club members have shared with us. Thanks a bunch, it really helps to know that a lot of people really care. Family right, you bet. By the way, I can always tell were Lora is at on a quiet night. She keeps right on ticking, and that's great. No more sneaking up on me anymore, dear.
Let's keep on the big one, and party, darn it, party.
VICE COMMODORE'S REPORT
What an exciting month this has been as the height of the sailing season hit full swing, and we have even more exciting events in the coming months!
First, congratulations to Marshall McKenzie and Larry Featherston for their overall First Place victories in their respective fleets at the May Day Regatta at Joe Pool Lake! Sure wish Linda and I could have been there to compete as planned and witnessed your great victories. Congratulations also go out to Marshall for his sweeping victory as 'B' Fleet First Place winner in the Cancer Regatta. Great month, Marshall!
While missing these events were very disappointing to us, they came at a time of personal tragedy, that while overwhelming, was made so much easier to deal with due to the support of all our friends in the V/MYC. Linda and I want to express how grateful we are for all the thoughts, prayers, cards, plants, Heart Fund donations, and encouragement that we received during the unexpected deaths of my mother and her sister. This, coupled with the loss of Linda’s dad only a month earlier, would have been a much heavier burden without the support of so many loving, caring friends. I cannot express in words how thankful we are.
On a more enjoyable note, our first big cruise of the year proved to be quite successful. Sam and Donna Blake hosted the activities for this year’s Memorial Day Cruise which helped us all to unwind and kickoff the cruising season in style. Read all about it elsewhere in this issue or visit our site on the Internet at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vmyc to read my recap of the event. (There is also a new picture on our site of our Commodore and crew racing under full spinnaker at Lake Lavon.)
And if the Memorial Day Cruise was not exciting enough for you, the last scheduled races of the Spring Series should have been enough excitement to last for many years. Read my perspective on this event elsewhere in this issue, or watch the newsstands for the next issue of Telltales/Yachting Texas Style for a similar article.
Our membership continues to grow as we have added 5 memberships since last month and now have 70 families in the V/MYC! In addition to a couple of renewals, please welcome the following new members: Charles Morse who lives in Dallas has a new 26X, Proyard, which he sails from his slip on Lake Grapevine. Dan and Mary Hebert are new sailors in Plano and have a recently purchased Mac 26 "classic" that they will be trailering to various lakes. And, Paul Lange from Irving recently purchased a Venture 22 that he slips at Silver Lake Marina on Grapevine and is looking for help from members with his new boat. (You all likely remember Paul as the "22 Fleet Captain" at the May meeting!) Please make sure to welcome these newest members at the next meeting or event and see to it that they receive the help that our club members have become known for.
Smooth Sailing, and enjoy the Summer Night Race Series at Lake Lavon. Come out and enjoy this more relaxed racing environment and please join Linda and I afterward as we plan to raft up or anchor behind the island and spend the night after these races for a leisurely cruise on Sunday.
PS: If anyone ended up returning with an extra yellow webbed lawn chair after the Memorial Day Cruise, please give me a call. Somehow I misplaced it while loading up our boat to return on Sunday afternoon.
THANK GOD IT'S A VENTURE
(I received the following via Internet eMail that was posted as an actual event by one of the MacVenture On-Line Yacht Club members in the Northwest. - Steve Hanes)
Amazing occurrence this weekend. Evidence of a higher level of animal intelligence than I ever thought existed.
Bellweather day here on the North Pacific, 70 degrees, delightful sunshine, flat ocean. Cruising along on a "Mother's Day picnic" with family at a nice 4 kts back up the bay, when a squadron of Canada geese appeared low on the horizon.....moving fast.
The "V" altered direction towards us, coming in about 100' off the water, from upwind. At the PRECISE moment necessary. the leader gave a loud honk and 6 or 8 of the birds in front of the "V" did what geese do best......
Like a U-boat commander being depth-charged, I immediately put the helm hard over, taking what evasive action I could.....but we could only watch with a mixture of horror and awe as the droppings floated lazily downward, fragmenting as they came, in a perfect "V" formation. We awaited what seemed to be certain disaster....
The water around us erupted in white and grey splashes as the bomblets hit home, forming a perfect letter "V" around the boat. But not a single drop hit the Venture.
Looking up at the sail, I realized the geese had seen the large black "V," recognized the symbol, and replied the only way they knew how.....
Looking at the pattern in the water, I was truly thankful I wasn't in a MacGregor.......We would have been plastered!
TREASURER'S REPORT
26 FLEET
Another successful Memorial Day Cruise! Sam & Donna Blake did a great job putting this one together. Our fleet had six boats at North Island: Jim & Margie Hutchison, Steve & Linda Hanes, Al and Gina Grikis, Lee & Dale Howard, David & Cathy Young, and the Taylors.
The Texoma Keel Shark Strikes Again...
Last summer you may remember that we lost the swing keel from Puffin' at Texoma. We figured wind, waves, and unknown abuse combined to drop the thing in the lake. Well, Lee & Dale Howard were hapless victims of the "shark" on Sunday of the Memorial Day Cruise. They made safe landings but needed a keel, since theirs had joined ours on the bottom as a fish attractor. Lee has a theory that the shark has a sweet tooth for '90 Macs.InterNet to the Rescue...
Our local purveyor of MacGregor parts and service could not get a new keel from the factory for several weeks, so Lee turned to another source - he put his quest on the net, and sure enough, found a supplier with a keel in stock.Small World...
Jim Froelich's crewman, Vic Owens, turned out to be a neighbor of Jennie's when they grew up in a small town in Southeast Texas.Cruising World...
Al & Gina Grikis cruised Possum Kingdom Lake at the end of May. Said the weather was good and the lake picturesque.Intense, Windy, Wet, Stormy World!!...
By now you have probably heard about 70+ mph winds on Saturday, June 1st, just at the start of the last scheduled Spring Series. It's a tribute to Roger's boats, and the men and women in our club that know how to handle them, that noone was hurt and no appreciable damage was done. Kathy Peele and her all women crew saw the storm coming and got an early start for the shelter of the marina. (We've already agreed that women are smarter than men because they don't go on cruises in February).Dream World...
By the time you read this, Jennie & I will be, as John Vaughan says, on "Island Time". B.V.I., clear blue water, colorful fish, friendly people, no schedule, no phone, don't worry--be happy.Yes,
we intend to take lots of pictures - if I'm not too relaxed to push the shutter.Yes,
I wish all of you were going with us.Yes,
we will drink a Pusser's in your honor. Hmmm, that's a lot of "honors."Yes,
I will behave myself, and be a credit to the V/MYC.Yes,
we will conserve water while showering.Yes,
we promise to....Yes...
No...
...think "Island Time".
TWENTY-FIVE TELLTALES
There’s a secret going round, and those in the know just aren’t talking about it. You know, it’s kinda like turning those lights off after rounding the island in a night race. You know it’s there, or was there, or maybe it really wasn’t there at all, but you just can’t eyeball it or put your finger on it. Of course, we don’t know anybody who would actually do that kind of dastardly deed, but when it’s pitch dark, it’s pretty hard to tell one way or the other.
At any rate, back to the tellin’. Did ya ever notice that the same folks seem to win, place or show in the skippers' cook- off almost every time we have one? Does it ever make you wonder how they do it? Does it make you a little paranoid to learn that your beanie-weanies just aren’t appreciated as the fine French cuisine they really are, especially given the amount of time it took to open that can and plop them in the pot?
You know the drill. The skippers mix up or cook up or stir up their best culinary delights to gain the favors and the votes of the ladies, and the judges drift merrily down the beach stopping at every dining canopy and cook pot sampling your wares.
We’ve even had some skippers go to great lengths beyond the cooking in a blatant attempt to bribe the electorate. We’ve heard soft music, seen special table cloths and exotic settings (well, as exotic as you can make a dining fly) and we even saw the desperate act of one skipper who did a speedo dance for the assembled crowd of ladies. (Don’t know if he won or not, but did cause a bit of commotion.)
Before you say, "It’s a mind boggling thing, and we don’t serve no fat yeller chickens," we took an informal (and extremely small) survey of what it takes to win a skippers' cook-off. Some folks say serve a hot dish on a cool day and a cool dish on a hot day. Others say, special sauces or spices do the trick, and still others believe that the setting is as important as the dish.
Maybe it’s the little extras the skippers do that win the votes, such as washing the pot you’re going to cook in, or not scratching "sandy itchy body parts" or brushing your teeth in the cooking area while the ladies are eating. It might help if the bathing suit and "T" shirt you have on isn’t the same one you wore changing the oil in your car before the trip.
Whatever it is, if you learn the secret, be sure to tell the rest of us would-be chefs. We "guarantee" we won’t pass it on.
23/24 FLEET
The Tuckers, Hardins, and Pryors showed up in force at the May meeting. The program was on lightning protection methods for sailboats by a sailor in Florida (think plenty of lightning) who is an electrical engineer interested in the subject. The video showed what lightning damage to the hull can look like. The damage footprint was very interesting to me, since I routinely measure the electrical breakdown characteristics of integrated circuits. But the damage I create requires a high powered (10,000X) scanning electrical microscope to see. The protection advise was practical.
The June 1st race (Spring Series 7 & 8) was my first attempt at committee duty. Jeff Tucker decided to crew with Dick and I, while Larry Featherston and Debbie Miller would be the chase boat and set the windward and turning marks. Both our boats had cell phones and pagers, so communications were no problemo, just page me and I’ll call ya right back. First we dropped the down wind mark as soon as we cleared the East Fork marina slough; since we were headed straight into the northwest wind. Then Larry came back and wanted us to move the mark out further, so we did and then anchored off the tip of the peninsula/island. Funny we did not use the phones, we just yelled and pointed. We finally got the race started at 11:31 amid a darkening sky and rising winds. At about 11:35 it started raining and the wind picked up from 10 to 20 knots and visibility dropped to less than 200 feet. The rain stung on bare skin. The NOAA weather broadcast reported there was a major storm cell over Lake Lewisville with hail and 50 mph winds moving south at 35 miles mph. That sounded like the worst weather missed us. But before we could decide to call the race, everyone headed for shelter. Six boats headed for the sheltered side of the island, 2 went back to the marina, and Larry (we found out later) anchored out. We elected to remain at anchor since releasing the anchor meant a trip across a very, very bouncy foredeck. The wind increased to 25 knots and we decided to go below. It was about noon, and there was very little to do except wait out the storm. Jeff and I decided that eating lunch was a very reasonable way to pass the time. Jeff enjoyed his, but after about 2 bites of my sandwich I was very seasick. I ended up sitting in the cockpit, partly because I felt better up there despite the weather and partly because I might need to lean over the rail. The waves were 3 to 4 feet high, and the angle that the anchor rode was making to waves seemed to fluctuate between straight down and horizontal. After about 40 minutes the storm blew past and we tied a float to the end of the anchor rode, cast off and motored over to the island. There everything seemed calm and peaceful - what a great feeling. Jeff dug Larry’s number out of his duffel bag, called, and found out that Larry and Debbie were OK. After a while longer, everyone headed back to the dock or the ramp. After everyone was ashore, the sun peeked out and started drying us off. The afternoon proved to be nice sailing as several of my friends let me know when I went down to check on my boat in it’s slip at Lake Grapevine. Oh well, I hope this committee duty experience is not the start of a trend.
+ + + + +
There was a male engineer on a cruise ship in the Caribbean for the first time. It was wonderful; the experience of his life. He was being waited on hand and foot. But, it did not last. A hurricane came up unexpectedly. The ship went down almost instantly.
The man found himself, he knew not how, swept up on the shore of an island. There was nothing else anywhere to be seen. No person, no supplies, nothing. The man looked around. There were some bananas and coconuts, but that was it. He was desperate and forlorn, but decided to make the best of it. So, for the next four months he ate bananas, drank coconut juice, and mostly looked to the sea mightily for a ship to come to his rescue.
One day, as he was lying on the beach stroking his beard and looking for a ship, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Could it be true, was it a ship? No, from around the corner of the island came this rowboat. In it was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen, or at least seen in 4 months. She was tall, tanned, and her blond hair flowing in the sea breeze gave her an almost ethereal quality. She spotted him also as he was waving and yelling and screaming to get her attention. She rowed her boat towards him.
In disbelief, he asked, "Where did you come from? How did you get here"?
She said, "I rowed from the other side of the island. I landed on this island when my cruise ship sank."
"Amazing," he said, "I didn't know anyone else had survived. How many of you are there? Where did you get the rowboat? You must have been really lucky to have a rowboat wash-up with you."
"It is only me", she said, "and the rowboat didn't wash up, nothing else did."
"Well then", said the man, "how did you get the rowboat?"
"I made the rowboat out of raw material that I found on the island," replied the woman. "The oars were whittled from Gum tree branches, I wove the bottom from Palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a Eucalyptus tree."
"But, but," asked the man, "what about tools and hardware, how did you do that?"
"Oh, no problem," replied the woman, "on the south side of the island there is a very unusual strata of alluvial rock exposed. I found that if I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable ductile iron. I used that for tools, and used the tools to make the hardware."
"But, enough of that," she said, "where do you live?" The man was forced to confess that he had been sleeping on the beach. "Well, let's row over to my place," she said. They got into the rowboat and went to her side of island.
The woman easily rowed them around to a wharf that led to the approach to her place. She tied up the rowboat with a beautifully woven hemp rope. They walked up a stone walk and around a Palm tree. There stood an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white.
"It's not much," she said, "but I call it home. Sit down please, would you like to have a drink?"
"No," said the man, "one more coconut juice and I will puke."
"It won't be coconut juice," the woman replied, "I have a still, how about a Pina Colada?" Trying to hide his continued amazement, the man accepted, and they sat down on her couch to talk.
After a while, and they had exchanged their stories, the woman asked, "Tell me, have you always had a beard?"
"No", the man replied, "I was clean shaven all of my life, and even on the cruise ship."
"Well, if you would like to shave, there is a man's razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom."
So, the man, no longer questioning anything, went upstairs to the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a razor made from a bone handle. Two shells honed to a hollow ground edge were fastened on to its end inside of a swivel mechanism. The man shaved, showered, and went back downstairs.
"You look great," said the woman. "I think I will go up and slip into something more comfortable." So she did.
The man continued to sip his Pina Colada. After a short time, the woman returned wearing fig leafs strategically positioned and smelling faintly of gardenia.
"Tell me," she asked, "we have both been out here for a very long time with no companionship. You know what I mean. Have you been lonely, is there anything that you really miss? Something that all men and woman need. Something that it would be really nice to have right now?"
"Yes there is," the man replied, as he moved closer to the woman while fixing a winsome gaze upon her, "Tell me ... Do you happen to have an Internet connection?"
--- Author Unknown
22 FLEET
ASSOCIATE FLEET
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© Copyright 1996 Steven J. Hanes, All Rights Reserved