Welcome to the WBYC Sailing News Blog - scroll down to read all the latest news from our community. If you like something, you can easily share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook. Just click the "Tweet" and "Like" links. News items are posted in chronological order with the most recent items on top. At the bottom of each page you can click on "Next" to see subsequent pages of older news items.  You can add comments to each item, but be nice, we know who you are.

As we gear up for the first weekend of Club racing, there is a small change to the SI's allowing the Race Officer more time to get a postponed race underway.  This change is due to the back-to-back scheduling and the desire to get as many races in as possible.

A slate of new laws designed to curb the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) was approved in a recent bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Gov. Mark Dayton. A program requiring watercraft owners to place an AIS rules sticker on their boats is being discontinued and replaced with an online education program.

Watercraft owners will no longer be required to place on their boats the rectangular, silver and black decals, which include a summary of the states AIS laws.

The DNR was given additional authority to require mandatory inspections of water-related equipment before a person places or removes equipment into or out of a water body and to set up inspection stations at a centralized location to cover multiple lakes. The new legislation also allows the DNR to delegate this authority to local governments that have an approved inspection plan.

Click Here to read the full announcement.

The Spring Laser Regatta will be held this coming Saturday the 12th of May at WBYC.

08:30 Registration and Rigging

10:00 Skippers Meeting and Launch

10:45 Warning Signal - 1st Race

12:45 Lunch on shore

14:00 - 16:30 Racing Continues

18:30 Social – Dinner at Martin’s house in Lino Lakes.

NOR, Amendments and SI's in the PDF.

 

 

Please make a note - our WBYC Race Information phone line has changed numbers.  The new number is 612-564-WBYC or if you don't want to look at the tiny letters on your phone just dial 612-564-9292.

The Race Information Line is typically updated one hour before race times with any news about postponements, etc.  Please note that this notification method is done as a convenience to sailors and does not substitute for official race signals ashore or on water.

Congratulations to White Bear sailor Andy Johnson! At the Annual General Meeting of the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference in April the Board of Directors nominated and unanimously approved the University of Hawaii Sailing Team Coach, Andrew Johnson, as the recipient of the 2012 Richard H. Lough Memorial Service Award.

This award is for extraordinary service to collegiate sailing within the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference. Richard Lough, while a graduate student at U.C. Berkeley in the 1940s, helped to start the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association (now PCCSC).

Andy Johnson has served as the head coach of the University of Hawaii Sailing team for 22 years. In that time he has developed the team into a nationally recognized program with 37 national championship appearances, 15 All-American team members, nine All-American crews and two Olympians.

He is a leader in the Hawaiian sailing community running clinics for the area yacht clubs, junior sailing programs and high school teams in addition to coaching the UH sailing team and managing the UH Campus Recreation programs. Andy has held many positions in the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference leadership including Executive Vice President, Intersectional Coordinator, Eligibility Committee Member, All-American Committee Member and Championships Committee Member.

 

Over the winter the NCESA members voted to add a new wrinkle to the Scantling Rules. According to the Scantling Rules, you are racing an E-Scow only if it has a valid annual sticker on the transom (similar to the design you see above). No Sticker – Not an E-Scow!

The reason behind this proposal was to provide equitable funding of the association by all boat owners in the four NCESA regions. Two NCESA regions have always required skippers be NCESA Regular members to compete in their regional events, but the largest region, the ILYA, has not. Many ILYA skippers would only join the NCESA if they attended the National regatta. This has been somewhat of a contentious issue within the class, because the regions that required membership didn’t think the ILYA region owners were contributing their fair share to the NCESA.

Creating the annual boat sticker requirement in the class Scantling Rules has the dramatic effect of having every racing E-scow owner support the NCESA through their membership. The benefit of full participation is significant – it has been well established in One-Design sailing that, “the value of your boat depends on the success of your class”. The NCESA has a long track record of successfully managing the E-Scow class. The NCESA National Championship regatta is consistently one of the best attended national regattas for all One-Design sailboat racing in North America – a testament to the strength of the NCESA.

Our WBYC races are sailed under NCESA Rules and Scantlings (per our SI's) so if you want to be scored, you need to join and support NCESA.

Click Here to see who is a current member of the NCESA. The member information is always current and your name should show up as soon as your payment is processed.

Click Here to join or renew your NCESA membership.

The list of all of our summer social events is now online and up to date.  There are just a couple more items to be resolved, but it looks like we have a great line up again this year.

Click Here to check it out.

The REVISED WBYC Sailing Instructions have been posted on the website.  You are encouraged to download the PDF and take time to read through them as there are some significant changes over prior years.

Also note that we are using new Race Course designations this year. The course diagrams have been updated to reflect these changes.

Click Here to go to the SI's or link to them from the Home page and Members page of the website.

The new Race Courses can be found Here.

WBYC maintains a "Crew List" on the website.  Interested persons can fill out a form and enter their information.  There are currently 14 people looking for crew jobs.

To see the list simply login to the "Members" area using your WBYC credentials and choose "Available Crews" from the User Links on the left side.

Click Here to login and start looking for crew.

Here is a great recruiting video made by our high school sailors!  Click Here to visit their FaceBook page.

 

The annual spring Laser Regatta at White Bear is just a month away.  The event will be held Saturday May 12th this year.

More details will be available soon.  Stay Tuned!

Your 2012 Board of Directors works hard to organize all the fun - please thank them for the work they have already done organizing and planning for our summer racing/social program.

Besides the Board, there are numerous committee members whose contributions of time and talent are also greatly appreciated. Board fleet rep positions are on a 2 year rotation. This means many of you will also have the opportunity to represent your fleet as a volunteer to support the success of your club. Committee work can be ongoing.

Please consider the numerous ways that you can participate to support your Club's success as a volunteer.

Jim Markoe - Sailing Captain
Jack Madill - Executive Officer
Karen Alnes-Deputy Executive Officer
Missy Stoddart - Past Executive Officer
Janet Callahan - Recorder/Administration
Tom Garske - Cat Fleet Rep
Lee Alnes - A Fleet Rep
Matt Markoe - E Fleet Rep
Steve Johnson - C Fleet Rep
Harvey Mills - MC Fleet Rep
John Weiss - Laser Fleet Rep
Ed Cox - 420 Fleet Rep
Mike Crary - X Fleet Rep
Michael Hsu - Sailing School President

Executive Officer Jack Madill is still looking for someone to run the Social Program for this summer. Much of the planning is done, what we need is someone who is energetic, outgoing and likes to organize events. If you don't want to be responsible for the entire Summer Social Program, but would like to take charge of one of the Parties, we would like to hear from you too. You will get support from everyone. Please E-mail Jack if you are interested.

Due to the early arrival of spring we have moved the lift-in party to Saturday April 14th.  Yes, that's soon and the Yacht Club wants the lifts off the lawn and in the water! We will be gathering at 8am sharp to get the waterfront ready for the summer.

The crane will be on-site ready to roll, which makes the process quite easy. We will also help the Sailing School get all their equipment in place and ready for the summer. Please bring a few tools, waders, gloves and appropriate clothing.

With a good turnout it should take just a couple of hours. See you there.

Our 2012 Racing Calendar is finalized and can be viewed a number of ways.  On the website, simply click on the Calendar button or Click Here to view and print calendars. A nice new feature in our Calendar system allows you to "electronically subscribe" to the Calendar from your mobile devices such as Android smartphones iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch.  You should only have to do it once and it will work next year and beyond. Any devices using the iCal standard should work.

Subscribing to a Calendar means that any changes online should get automatically replicated on your device.  Keep in mind that technology is not always perfect and some quirky devices may not update reliably. Click Here for simple instructions. You can add just your fleet(s) or get all the fleets and social activities.

We have implemented a web-based system to automate many of the tasks required to keep our Club operating. The new system includes both "public" web pages (that anyone can access) and "private" web pages (those that our members will access with a User name and Password). Registered members who were active in 2011 should have gotten an E-Mail message with their login information in April. If you lost your password, Click Here, then enter your valid E-mail address, check the box that says "I forgot my password, please e-mail it to me" and then click on the "Submit" button. Within a short time you should get an e-mail with your password.

Winter Inland Saturday Feb. 11, 2012 - Will Crary was awarded the prestigious Pillsbury trophy today at the ILYA Winter Inland in Chenequa, WI.   The Pillsbury Cup is given annually to the outstanding skipper at the annual regatta.  Not only did Will win the Class X Senior Inland, he put together an impressive series of regatta performances this past summer.

In August 1952, Mr. and Mrs. John S. Pillsbury and family in memory of Edmund Pillsbury presented to the Inland Lake Yachting Association a trophy to be known as The Edmund Pillsbury Memorial Cup to be awarded annually to the skipper of the yacht, irrespective of class, who scores the outstanding record in the annual Inland Lake Yachting Association Regatta.

Will is only the second White Bear Yacht Club member in history to win this coveted award (Stu Wells won it back in 1968).  In his acceptance speech he thanked his parents, his crew Suzie Voltz and everyone who has helped coach him along the way.  What a great way to cap a wonderful season.  Please join us in congratulating Will Crary on this remarkable achievement!

For a look at the cup and a list of past winners go to:  http://www.ilya.org/classes.html

Eddie Cox finished first and Willy Crary finished second at the Great Oaks Midwest regional qualifier at Lake Okauchee, WI October 8-9. The top two finishers qualified for the Great Oaks National regatta in New Orleans, November 18-20. Thirty-eight schools from all over the United States qualify for this high school regatta. Eddie and his crew Natasha Skaalrud represent White Bear High. Willy and his crew Peter Brady represent Mahtomedi High. Congratulations and good luck in New Orleans.
Submitted by Mike Crary

Looks Like great breeze on tap.  Results will be posted here:  http://www.aquarius-sail.com/wbyc/currentresults/2011leukemiacup.htm

Saturday and Sunday August 6-7 saw some of the best 420 sailors compete in the ILYA Youth 420 Championship Regatta at Lake Calhoun. Saturday was some of the best sailing all season with winds out of the south at 10-20 and six races completed. White Bear sailors Wheeler Morris and Eddie Cox finished the day one point apart for First and Third. Minnetonka's Harrison Burton was tied with Morris for First after Day 1 of the regatta with recent ILYA Class X inland champion Will Crary sitting in Fifth place just six points back. Sunday morning winds were out of the north at 5-10. Cox started strong with a second place finish in the first race of the day moving up into first for a moment one point ahead of Morris and Burton fell back a few spots. The second race on Sunday (Race Eight) had a major wind shift and all the regatta leaders ended up sailing their throw out. Race Nine was light and Wheeler Morris got the jump on Cox who had to sail through a few boats and Crary was making moves as well. The day ended with Wheeler finishing in the top ten, solidifying his lead, and winning the Championship Cox moved into second and Crary moved up two spots to finish third overall.

White Bear youth sailors once again proved their skills on the water finishing 1 - 2 - 3 in this hotly contested event. Congratulations to all the teams and to the Calhoun Yacht Club for making this a great regatta.

Final Results will be online at the ILYA website soon:
First: Wheeler Morris with Crew Colin Voight
Second: Eddie Cox with Crew Maddie Loosbrock
Third: Will Crary with Crew Andrew Hed

Thanks to all who support the White Bear Sailing School and these great sailors. They couldn't do it without your support.
Submitted by Ed Cox

Despite stormy and rainy conditions that produced a complete wash out on Monday, we were able to get in three races on Tuesday to complete the regatta. 24 boats competed in the Green fleet with Meta Simon from Mendota taking top honors with 3 first place finishes! Luca Maraban from Pewaukee took second with a 2, 2, 3 and Catie Malone from Pewaukee captured third with finishes of 4, 5, 6.

49 boats competed in the Red, White and Blue fleet with Henry Chapman of Nagawicka taking overall top honors with a 2, 1, 2 record. Jack Bitney of Minnetonka, fresh off his third place finish at Clear Lake in the ILYA X Junior fleet, finished second with a 3, 4, 1, and Alex Keck of Beulah was third with a 14, 2, 4. Kate Cox was the top White Bear finisher. 

Jack Bitney finished first in Red Fleet scoring, Henry Chapman took first in the White Fleet and Alex Keck was first in the Blue Fleet scoring.

Congratulations to all the kids who participated and special thanks to all our volunteers and Race Officers. Extra special thanks to Emily Cox and husband Ed Cox for Chairing the event! 

Complete results are online here.

Congratulations to WBYC sailors Will Crary and crew Suzie Voltz who won the 2011 ILYA Class X Championship regatta in the Senior Fleet today.  The regatta was sailed in mostly light winds and difficult, challenging conditions.  The first day with little to no wind saw Will and Suzie take a 9th in the only race that was completed.  They took to the water Saturday and easily took 1st in both races.  Racing Sunday started quite early as the PRO tried to catch up the schedule despite continued low winds.  They won the first race, then took 2nd and 5th to win the event with a final (9),1,1,1,2,5 for 10 points total.