75TH ANNIVERSARY
SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP INITIATIVES
LIMITED TIME OFFERS

In celebration of Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s 75th anniversary the Board of Trustees approved a set of limited-time-offer special membership initiatives, valid in 2014 only.   We are taking these steps to promote the sport of sailing, which is our mission, and to increase membership. Our ten year decline in membership and participation parallels the alarming trends outlined in a report from US Sailing.  Also, we want to recruit members less than 40 years of age.  Reaching a younger demographic is our most challenging objective and the one most critical to our future.

The essence of this year-long membership campaign is a significant reduction in the initiation fee for a …

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All Families with Junior Sailors:

Fishing Bay Yacht Club welcomes you to 2014!  

We are looking forward to another wonderful year of junior sailing, racing and family fun on the water!  

 Please save the following dates on your 2014 calendars:

 Spring Race Team                  March, April & May (specific dates TBD)

 Summer Race Teams             June 7 through August 10 (dates approximate)

 Opti Kids                             Saturday & Sunday, June 7-8

                                          Saturday & Sunday, June 14-15

 Junior Week                          Monday, June 16 through Friday, June 20

 Commonwealth of Virginia        Saturday, June 21 through Sunday, June 22 

 Private Lessons                     May through August (Includes adults & juniors)

 Junior Fun Sail                       Saturday, July 26

 Annual One …

Last summer as a result of fatalities during a race in San Francisco, the USCG banned all sailboat racing on the West Coast. After intervention by US Sailing represented by Gary Jobson and the local Yacht Clubs, racing was allowed to resume pending US sailing adapting new safety regulations based upon this and other events around the country. The first of these regulations goes into effect Jan. 1 2014 and will be enforced through the Racing Rules of Sailing, US Sailing Yacht Club insurance, Protest Committees, and USCG boating safety regulations and Regatta Permits.

Offshore Racing will now fall into three categories of requirements for Nearshore, Coastal and Offshore races. In general terms, “Coastal” refers to races in the ocean …

Ellen McAllister, mom to Opti Development Team member Reed McAllister, put together this photo album of the team's 2013 regattas.  All the kid's contributed their own pages.  What FUN!

The National Weather Service and NOAA have issued a gale watch for the Chesapeake Bay starting Tuesday afternoon or evening and lasting into Wednesday.  Winds are expected to be predominantly SE initially with clockwise rotation through the evening.  Wind velocity is expected to be in the 25-40 knot range.

All slip holders and members with boats stored on trailers or racks are advised to secure their boats with double lines or proper tie downs ASAP.

George Burke, Commodore

THANKSGIVING is this coming Thursday, November 28th.  Gobble! Gobble!
 
36th Annual GABOON RACE – Sunday, December 1st.   GABOON FOR THE SPITTOON!  Entry fee is $30 ($25 for US Sailing members) and must be submitted by 1230 on race day.  This is a pursuit race (slower rated boats start first) and the course is pre-set in the Harbor.  The start/finish line is in front of Hampton Yacht Club.  Staggered starting times begin at 1300. Participants must have a current valid PHRF certificate. Safety and Equipment Category 5P is allowed.  PHRF crew number limitations are waived.  There is a 1630 time limit.  The GABOON SPITTOON goes to the first boat to …

The hoist that services the Dry Sail Area is out of order.

The hoist will not be repaired until the middle of next week at the earliest, depending on what is wrong and part(s) availability.

Apologies to all for any inconvenience.

Thank you - David Clark, Docks Chair

Fishing Bay Yacht Club held its Annual Meeting and Awards Party on Saturday at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, VA. The following is a list of all of the 2013 recipients of the club's perpetual trophies.

HENRY E. HUTCHESON, JR. MEMORIAL TROPHY – awarded to the Optimist skipper with the highest standing in Sanctioned Regattas and intra-club races. Benton Amthor

ROBERTS BOWL – awarded to the Junior sailor who has shown the most interest in sailing as evidenced by enthusiasm, improvement in sailing techniques, awareness of the rules of water safety and cooperation with the members of the Junior program. Eric Roos

REID A. DUNN TROPHY – awarded to the member of the Junior Program between the …

Junior Division Families:

Final Practice - Fall Race Team

The 2013 FBYC junior sailing season finally comes to a close this weekend with the last Fall Race Team practice before the winter break. It has been a fantastic and wonderfully successful year!

Matthew Fontaine Maury Bowl - Allison and David Lennarz

We owe much of that success to Allison and David Lennarz. For those of you who have not yet heard, they were awarded the 2014 Matthew Fontaine Maury Bowl at the Commodore’s Ball. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding contributions to sailing at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. Allison and David have been instrumental in the success and growth of the Junior Division over the past 10 years. They have been a critical …

A quick reminder that Fall Clean-Up Day is scheduled for Saturday, November 23rd!

Volunteers will gather at the Main Clubhouse around 8:30 a.m. for coffee and task assignments.

All ages are welcome!  A complimentary lunch will be served around Noon.

To sign up, email Ken Odell directly at odellken@aol.com or by calling his cell 804.241.6080. Registrations can also be made by clicking the link to the left.

Thank you!

A wonderful time was had with a meeting, dinner, awards, and dancing!  Thanks for photos by Karren Huddle.

The 2014 sailing events committee, led by rear commodore Matt Braun, has been meeting over the past couple of weeks to set the schedule for 2014. That schedule is now available on the website. The cruising events will be added once they are available. While we don't anticipate needing to make any changes, the schedule won't be certified final until the December Board meeting.

A couple new events for this year:

• Open House Regatta - Saturday of Memorial Day weekend 5/24 - this will be Portsmouth racing for one design and offshore boats with a goal of creating sailing opportunities for members/non-members interested in trying out racing. There will be a social following the racing.
• One Design Open …

Video

Some Laser fleet news - Mike Toms is going to be taking over as the FBYC Laser Fleet captain for 2014. For anyone who hasn't met Mike he grew up sailing at FBYC and has been a longtime Laser Fleet member.  He's also been a big help to me with the fleet and it'll be great to have him as our new fleet captain.  Mike can be reached at mtoms [at ] aol dot com

I'm not going anywhere and will still be around and will continue to chair the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters regatta.  I've appreciated the knowledge and experience passed to me from previous Fleet Captain Brad Squires and David Hazlehurst before …

Video on YouTUbe

The Laser Fleet ended their sailing season and the sailing season at Fishing Bay Yacht Club on Saturday with a 7-race 'frostbite' regatta. With temperatures approaching 70, mostly sunny skies and light winds, there was a greater risk of sunburn than frostbite.

Nine sailors came out including 3 sailors from the Hampton Roads Laser fleet who made the trip - Mike Moore, Robert Suhay and Frank Patch. We also had 2 of our junior race team members - Luke Hayes and Nina Willms who both sailed Full rigs with the adults. FBYC regulars Mike Toms, Jon Deutsch, Alain Vincey and Frank Murphy rounded out the fleet.

The light and shifty conditions made the first two races a bit of chutes and ladders …

This past weekend, John Wake and I travelled back to Lake Norman Yacht Club for the annual Fall 48 Regatta. Recall that LNYC successfully hosted the North Americas back in July. It was a big ask of the volunteers of the club to come back and put on another major event a few short months after the NAC’s, but they rose to the challenge and put on another great event. This year’s event also severed as the Carolina District Championship. As usual, the turnout for this event was strong with 35 boats competing over the weekend, including Allan Terhune who has been having an extremely successful year most notably winning major championships in the Lightning, Thistle and J-22 classes.

Saturday …

A new collection of Opti Kids and Junior photos has been posted.... check them out here.

This Saturday the Laser Fleet will hold their final and the club's final organized race of 2014 at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. This is also the 4th and final day of the Laser Series and will help decide the winner of the Blanton Bowl

Expect air and water temperatures to be in the 60's so dress accordingly. Wetsuit/Drysuit not required, but if you start swimming, plan to sail in immediately and park yourself in front of a fireplace.

Coming? Please sign up and let us know you'll be there! Questions? Let me know.

Schedule:

0900 registration
1000 Skipper's Meeting
1100 First Warning

Information

• Sign Up Here
• Notice of Race
• Entry list