For those who are called to the sea.

 

Lots of early season activity in the Jonesport Shipyard, where Steve Rankin, Joe Bell, and Dana DeVos kept their boats for the winter. There were four other sailboats getting ready as well, including two from the Petite Manan Yacht Club. Harry Fish got our competitiveness off to a good start, putting the starting line buoys in the water in June! Time for plenty of practice on the race course.

The annual meeting was held on June 26 at the Bluebird Ranch in Machias with a good turnout, including the Commodore of the Petite Manan Yacht Club. Stim Wilcox, after many years of service, passed the office of Commodore on to the Vice Commodore, Dana DeVos, and Joe Bell was elected as the new Vice Commodore. The proposed by-laws were approved. The scholarship fund was named for Art Totman, who had recently passed away. Tom Transue volunteered to work on the Club’s website (http://portandstarboardyachtclub.org ), and has worked steadily on adding information to the site. Bernie Sund aided Tom with feedback and information. Email sent to webmaster@portandstarboardyachtclub.org will get to them if you have input or want to help. Harry Fish and Virginia Transue are also helping with the Club’s history. Crystal Bickford provided many photos which added interest to the stories.

As Vice Commodore, Joe Bell assumed the role of Race Commodore for the Wally Kurz Memorial Regatta. The captains’ meeting was held at Joe’s house, and Starr Sweeny conducted the meeting, reviewing rules and procedures.

The day originally scheduled for the Regatta turned out foggy, and at about 10:00a.m. it was decided to postpone the race. Shortly after, the fog lifted and it turned into a beautiful day. Such is life! The next scheduled day for the race was also foggy, but learning from the experience of the previous postponement, we went ahead with the race. This time the fog did not lift, and most of the race was held in extremely poor visibility.

The race began and the boats went off into the fog. One Captain, Backwards Bob Price, decided the weather looked better up the Bay and went around the course in the opposite direction. Joe Bell retired after the first leg, thus avoiding a mutiny from his crew. Bernie Sund and Dana DeVos magically found a bit of an opening in the fog, and were able to see the bell. Harry Fish, with a faster boat, started 20 minutes after the Cape Dories. When Harry started, the wind had shifted, which allowed him to sail west of Ballast Island directly to the bell, while the Cape Dories were tacking around east of Ballast.

The race ended with no injury or accidents, and Harry secured another first place. Bernie was second, Dana third. Bob won his race, but he was the only one in it. A small party was held at the Fish Compound with burgers, hot dogs, and desserts and of course fog and mosquitoes. Silas Towler, who was spending some time in Jonesport with his partner Lisa Patton on their boat Coot, sailed with Dana, and Silas and Lisa came to the party. Each captain wrote up a story of his race experience, and Tom posted the stories on the web site with pictures from Crystal.

A Re-race was scheduled with the same five boats, Harry, Bob, Bernie, Joe, and Dana. Plus we had two competitors from the Petite Manan Yacht Club: George Arey (The Ancient Mariner) on his Ericson, and Andy Wilson on his Island Compact. The PMYC boats came up the day before the race and spent the night in the Cow Yard. The Cape Dories visited them in the PM and passed on a minimum of race information. Race day was beautiful, with sun and some wind. The boats assembled at the start line, and figured out a few more rules. There would be two starts; the slow boats (Bernie, Andy, Joe, Bob, and Dana) first, followed 20 minutes later by the fast boats (Harry and George). Crystal got things organized, sounded the horn for the start, and the first group of boats were off.

Bernie had already gone around the first mark at the bell, when five other boats arrived almost at the same time and tacked and maneuvered their way around the mark. Harry caught Bernie and stayed in front to win. George followed Harry downwind, but couldn’t keep up with Harry’s spinnaker. Harry took first place, George second and Bernie third. Dana edged Andy out at the finish line, making them fourth and fifth respectively. Bob was sixth after some center board problems, and Joe was seventh.

It was a great race, and a good time was had by all. Another party was held at the Fish Compound, and whimsical home-crafted trophies made by Angie, Tova, and the grandchildren, were presented with much fanfare and applause. The captains wrote up their race stories, and Tom posted them on the web along with lots of photos from Crystal.

Sarah Davis, a local seamstress, will be making up 10 new burgees for the Club. They should be ready in the Spring. We have provided her with the materials, and Sarah believes they should not be too hard to make. Having them made locally will allow us to order fewer at a time and still get a good price.

The three Cape Dories often sailed together, and were sometimes joined by Bob in his O’Day. They made a lovely sight out on Chandler Bay, and coming and going up the Reach. The three Cape Dories took a sail to Mistake Island and went ashore. Crystal got some great photos of the Island and the lighthouse, which are posted on the web site.

Connections were made with the two adjoining yacht clubs. Starr Sweeney and Steve Woolsey attended the PMYC annual meeting, Tova and Dana DeVos went to two PMYC potlucks, and their grandchildren attended the PMYC sailing school. The PMYC sent two boats to our race, and their Commodore Andy Wilson and his wife Sarah attended our annual meeting and our End of Summer Potluck, along with two other PMYC members. The Commodore of the Passamaquoddy Yacht Club, Robin Gautier, and her husband Phillippe attended our End of Summer Potluck.

The End of Summer Potluck Gathering was hosted by Sune and Twig at the Shipyard. A good crowd turned out, including some new faces. The PSYC Commodore’s awards for 2018 were given to Crystal Bickford for her photos, and to Tom Transue for his work on the website. Commodore Robin Gautier from the Passamaquoddy Yacht Club presented PYC burgees to the PMYC Commodore Andy Wilson and our Commodore, Dana DeVos. There was lots of good food, a slide show of the PYC sailing school, and another slide show of our races, and a nautical trivia game. After a very blustery morning the weather turned perfect, sunny and warm. A nice ending for the season.

2018 was a good year. Looking forward to another, with time spent together enjoying our friends, our boats, our stories, our history, and this beautiful part of the world we get to live in.