September 2021 Papoose Article

The first half of our 2021 racing season has been great, as have been the social events, including two Regatta parties and an amazing MusicFest with 4 live bands, all at the Yacht Club. Recapping the recent racing, on July 5 former long-time members Jeff & Jill Urbanski were in town and Jeff joined us on the racecourse in a Snipe. Rich Miner and Don Okner went head-to-head in one race in their Lightnings with Rich taking first place. Chris Mackey match-raced Jeff in a Snipe and Jeff showed that he has not lost his touch, taking two firsts.

The Marine Base Regatta, sponsored by the Snipe Fleet, was held on July 18. Four boats competed in the timed event, sailing a triangle course in 8 to 12 mph wind out of the southwest. In the first race, Don Okner’s Lightning hit the first windward mark and had to do a 360, putting him behind the competition, which included Rich Miner in a Lightning, Chris Mackey in a Snipe and Mark Marussich in his Vanguard 15. Mark was joined by new members Dave Blackwood and Olivia Platt as crew. Rich Miner won that race, followed by Chris, Mark, and Don in fourth place. In the 2nd race, Rich took another first, followed again by Chris but with Don in third and Mark fourth. The overall results put Rich in first place, Chris second and Don edging out Mark in a tie-breaker for third. Snipe Fleet Captain Constance Gill got some nice keeper prizes that went to the first three skippers.

The Lightning Spring Series ended on July 25 with Constance Gill and Angela Hopkins doing Race Committee for Karl and Susan Hauck so that the Haucks could crew for Don Okner. Three Lightnings, Don, Rich & Gail Miner with crew Bob McNamara, and Peter Roos with crew Dave Blackwood and John Trela in the club Lightning, competed in a 5 to 7 mph, south-southwest wind. Chris Mackey sailed a Snipe. The starts were very close with tacking duals and exciting sailing. In the end, Rich had two firsts, Don had two seconds and Peter had two thirds. The Lightning Spring Series ended with thirteen races. Rich was first with a 1.0 average, Perry Anderson was second with a 2.0 average and Don was third with a 2.5 average.

In June, Constance Gill began organizing sailing and racing how-to ‘Chalk Talks’ on evenings after work at the Yacht Club. Three sessions were held in June and July and more are planned. The LMYC’s resident sailing expert – John Miller – prepared and presented the talks covering the basics of sail trim when sailing to windward, strategy and tactics when beating to the weather mark, and the responsibilities of race management – especially the all-important start. Lots of note-taking and questions from the audience. Some newcomers just meeting John were interested in how he acquired all his knowledge. So... here is our first Sailor Spotlight of the year:

John Miller (pictured here with a young friend) started sailing with his father at age 6 on Packanack Lake and Nantucket Sound. In his early teens, he and his sister bought a Jet 14 which they raced together in High School. John joined Sea Explorers in High School and got big boat experience crewing on the Brilliant – a schooner owned by Mystic Seaport – and many other large boats. At age 17, he won a youth sailing District Championship and went on to finish 4th in the Nationals. In college, John sailed for the Univ. of New Hampshire, and was a youth sailing instructor at his local yacht club. After college, John worked for Steve Colgate’s Offshore Sailing School, eventually becoming Director of the Tortola BVI location. He also taught racing on Olympic class Solings at their Captiva FL school.

In a great stroke of luck for us, John and his wife Shirley decided to raise their family in Lake Mohawk and joined the Yacht Club, where John founded our Junior Sailing Program, now in it’s 26th season. He quickly moved up the officer list to Commodore, and earned Fleet Championships in the Sunfish, Laser and Lightning classes. John generously gives of his time and talents to advance others in the sport.

More seminars are planned on boat-handling and racing tactics and we’ll post the information on our LMYC website as well as the LMCC FB page. Local sailors who are not (yet) members of the Yacht Club are welcome to attend these sessions.

The LMYC is open to any LMCC members who are interested in sailing. If that includes you, please join us. We have already welcomed 14 new faces to our club this year!

For more information, visit us on the web at www.lakemohawksailing.org or you can email us at lakemohawksailing@gmail.com.

Finally – here is our group of Junior Sailors on graduation day, Aug. 5, 2021:

Until next month, smooth sailing and God bless America!