May 2021 Ditty Bag - Lake Canyon Yacht Club

May 2021

Commodore’s Report

by Scott Wells, LCYC Commodore

Spring us upon us. Best turnout ever for the spring work day with over 70 volunteers. Many thanks to Pete Prados for heading this up and organizing a prolific event. Beth and I got in a superb sail this past Sunday after all the rain ended on Saturday. The wind was just right from the southwest at about 15 mph. Temperatures in the mid 80’s for a nice afternoon sail up and down the lake. Under just the main, we managed to hit 6 knots at times without having to tack or jibe even 1 time. Anytime the wind is from the southwest you should go sailing; it is amazing. Looks like St. Thomas to me!

Repairs to the marina: The BOG is considering a proposal from MDI this month to repair our marina due to the storm damage in February. Total damage is quickly approaching $300K. A claim will be filed with our insurance carrier. The deductible is $25K. If approved, work should begin June and be completed mid July.

Youth Sailing: The BOG is considering a new charter statement for Youth Sailing this month. It will include intro, intermediate and advanced sail training. Course fees will cover the costs in the intro and intermediate classes. The advanced class will require more financial participation from the parents depending on the individual sailors goals.

E-Dock Task Force: Work is complete and the task force will stand down. Many thanks to Chuck Begley for heading this up and completing and delivering a comprehensive plan. Project is now pending funding.

Small Boat Work Area: On hold for now.

Regatta’s: May will see increased regatta activity . The Longneck multihull regatta is up first followed by the Leukemia Cup Regatta and concluding with the Memorial Day distance race. Historically, LCYC has been a significant contributor to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through the Charles L. Branch M.D. Leukemia Cup Regatta. All time (6 years) our little club has raised almost $300K for this worthy cause. This year however, donations have been a bit slow to come in thus far, but there is still time for a stronger than ever finish. If you have not taken time to make a donation, please do so now by contributing to one of the teams at https://lcyc.net/racing-regattas/leukemia-cup-regatta/ . Join Beth and I in making a donation today!

Covid19: Yes, it is still with us unfortunately and looks like it will be for the foreseeable future. The BOG in May will consider the next step of re-opening activities at our club. Do your part and be smart.

Just Go Sailing!

7th Annual Charles L. Branch Leukemia Cup Regatta – May 22 & 23, 2021

by Ray Leubner & Phil Crane, LCR Co-Chairs

With 4 weeks remaining as of the writing of this article until the 2021 Leukemia Cup Regatta, LCYC has raised donations and commitments of over $15,000 for the South-Central Texas Branch of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The 11 fundraising teams listed on the LCYC LCR webpage are working hard to make a difference in the fight against cancer! If you are interested in setting up your own team, we are happy to help in that effort. Just let us know.
Please choose your favorite team on the LCYC LCR webpage and a link will take you to their LCR team webpage. Or, you can make out a check to LLS and mail it Ray Leubner who will aggregate them and forward on to LLS.

Sponsors signed up so far include CEMEX, McCracken and Carroll Wealth Management, Roeschmann Design, Pete Macler Associates (supporters of all 7 LCYC LCR’s!), and Intruder Alert Systems (Mike Samulin),

The NOR is up. Expectations are that we will have fleets in PHRF Spin, PHRF Non-Spin, PHRF Cruiser, PHRF Big Boat, PHRF Trimaran, Portsmouth Catamaran, and Portsmouth Dingy. Three or more one design or level class boats may choose to race as a class. Volunteers are needed to help with Race Committee. Please give Ray Leubner or Rick Mella (PRO) a call or text. Hot dogs, chips, and beer will be served following the racing on Sunday.

Joe and Lonna O’Brien need help with dinner Saturday, all outdoors of course. We will be serving a box dinner of roast pork prepared by Joe and Lonna, potato salad, and a cold green bean salad, and dessert. An RSVP is required for the Saturday dinner. Remember to include your guests and crew! Music will be provided by Charlie Mayer. Awards will be presented to sponsors and fundraising teams after dinner. There will be no Silent Auction this year to comply with the Club’s COVID Protocols.

Please check the LCYC website and blast e-mails in May for details re the wine tasting and raffle at JS Fine Wines in San Antonio on May 15th, and Cocktails with the Commodore on May 21st.

Welcome New Members

Mark and Emily Nicola, Austin, TX

Adaptive Sailing

by Bill McVey

As of April 22 we have 8 of the 10 boats needed for the May 8 outing, so we still need 2 more skippers with their boats. We do have eight crews and the lunch crew all signed up and ready to go.

Our first Adaptive Sail Outing for 2021 is scheduled to host wounded warriors and their family members from Operation Comfort. I’m sure you recall that last year we weren’t able to have them due to the COVID restrictions, and in fact Operation Comfort had to cancel every planned activity they had for the entire year. They are really looking forward to this sailing outing as it will be their first activity since 2019! We have not finalized our plans regarding lunch yet; the clubhouse is off-limits, but I am asking for consideration to cook and provide hot dogs and eat them outside keeping plenty of distance between everyone. If that’s approved, they will go by the schedule below;

The second Adaptive Sail Outing will be coming up just four weeks later, on June 5th. It will be following the same schedule, and we will be asking for the same number of volunteers and boats, that is 10 boats and skippers, along with 10 crews, and 3 folks to help with the lunch.
Our guests for this event will be from the Door-in-the-Wall Texas.org.

After that, our third and final outing won’t be until September 11 as we try to avoid the summer doldrums!

Our normal schedule is

11 am- orientation to our club and sailboats
11:30 – lunch; LCYC provides sandwiches, chips, cookies, and drinks for both guests and our volunteers. Please join us.
12:00 – assign guests to boats
12:15 – go to boats, sail
2:45 – return to docks
3:00 – end of event

We would like to have 10-12 keelboats and skippers and also 10-12 additional experienced sailors so we can accommodate up to 25 guests. WE will be limiting guests to two on boats under 28’ and to three on larger ones. All guests and LCYC members will be required to wear masks.

We will also need two- three volunteers to prepare the lunch and clean up afterwards.

May 8 is just six weeks away so please let me know if you would like to help with this outing. Please contact Bill McVey 210-601-9144 or email bmcvey@gvtc.com Thanks very much!

LCYC Workday

by Pete Prados, Docks and Grounds chair

Over seventy volunteers participated in the spring work day on April 24 and did an outstanding job sprucing up the clubhouse facilities, cleaning up the grounds along the drive from outside the entry gate down to the shore line (including parking and ramp areas), painting-carpentry-electrical work on the Youth Dock and Super Dock, and removing vegetation from the marina.

It was a great team effort and the results are very noticeable and very much appreciated by the D&G staff

Series Racing

by Rick Mella, Race Director

Keel Boat race series number two got underway Saturday, April 17th, 2021. Weather forecast for strong winds gusting up to 33 mph was on the horizon for Saturday afternoon racing. LCYC PRO decided to postpone the afternoon start for an hour to give sailors a chance to reduce sail in preparing for the days racing. At race start (1400), wind speed was measured between 14-16 mph, from the North direction. Three starts were run with 23 Keel boats registered. Two Keel boat races were completed Saturday, with Beer & Chips on the LCYC Club house patio supporting tired sailors, many thanks to our LCYC Port Captain, Mindy Rogers. First place standings are:

J-22 Bruce Dunn – Alyssa Rose
PHRF Spinnaker Chuck Begley – Chili Pepper
PHRF Non-Spinnaker Gus Medellin – Rhapsody
Big Boat Ray Leubner – Hugo

Ray Leubner on Hugo and Chuck Begley on Chili Pepper

Sunday, April 18th, 2021, Board Boat series number two, had three races scheduled with weather improving from Saturday’s strong winds. Race Committee volunteers put together a 1.4 or 2.8 mile race course, with wind measurements around 4-10 mph, shifting more than 30 degrees from the North/Northwest wind direction. Twenty-Two Board Boat sailors had registered for Sunday racing, where three races were completed under sunny skies. First place standings are:

Flying Scot Chris Powers – 6081 – The Full Catastrophe
Sunfish Dave Sanford – sail # 10
Portsmouth Philip Hughes – 115 – Echo
Multi-Hull Jeff Hiller – sail # 86

Dave Sanford on his Sunfish and the Race Committee

Again, my special thanks for the Race Committee volunteers. They worked very hard to set & manage the race course for our LCYC Series Regatta for the second Spring Series weekend. Volunteers are always welcome, no experience required! Working as a Race Committee volunteer, it’s a great way to view the monthly racing at LCYC. For those LCYC members / non-members, who want to help with Race Committee duties, please reach out to me since we have plenty of openings for volunteers throughout the year. Contact info: Email: richardamella@hotmail.com or RaceDirector@lcyc.net

TSA

by Chris Fogle, TSA Representative and Travis Grahmann, Youth Regatta Chairperson

Stay tuned to the Ditty Bag for more updates as the season progresses. You can also check out the TSA website at https://txsail.org/ for more information, or check us out on the Facebook TSA Junior Sailing Page www.facebook.com/groups/172730702754870

2021 Texas Sailing Association (TSA) Youth Racing Circuit Dates

Check the TSA website for updates.

8-9 May	Silly String Regatta	Grapevine Sailing Club
5-6 Jun	Roadrunner Regatta and Alumni Regatta	Austin YC
19-20 Jun	Rockin Rockport Regatta	Rockport Yacht Club
TBD	TX Youth Race Week
24-25 July	Round Up Regatta	Texas Corinthian YC
11-12 Sep	Rock the Rock Regatta	Corinthian Sailing Club, (White Rock Lake)
25-26 Sep	Jr. Ol’ Man of the Sea & USODA Mid-America Champs	Fort Worth Boat Club
9-10 Oct	Pirates of the Corinthian	Dallas Corinthian Yacht Club
30-31 Oct	Chocopalooza	Rush Creek Yacht Club
20-21 Nov	TSA End of Year Regatta: Changes in L’attitude Regatta and KO Sailing Texas State Optimist Championship	Corpus Christi Yacht Club