Summer Time and the Livin’ is Easy! After that bout of middle of the 90’s temps and July hotter than a firecracker humidity...it's back in the 80’s and feeling mighty good.!!!!!!!!!
Looking forward to great sailing weather this month.
From what I hear, Pirates of the Caribbean or other less notable scalawags are going to invade ECSC around Saturday, August 12!!!!! 6pm to ?????
Scalawag Bob Hickok pictured right ->
BEWARE!!!! If you so choose to venture into the pirates lair, WATCH OUT, you may have to walk a plank or some other dastardly deed.
Look for the posted Pirates Scrolls around the Club and look for information in this issue for all that you will need to know to attend Commodore Evan's & Lady Katie's sponsored event.
Thanks to all who have given their time volunteering at all the social events so far this year. Hats’ off to all of you!!!!!. I still can use more help yet this season so give me a call 566-0353 or email lindajohnson@indy.rr.cm
Upcoming events
Commodore’s Event, August 12 at ECSC 6pm to ?????
Labor Day Cook Out – September 4th at 5pm
Hornback Chili Cook Off – October 7th at 5:30pm
ECSC Final Bash at Celebrations November 4th at 6pm
Good Sailing to All……
| Harbormaster |
Bob Hickok | Interim HM |
Be alert and watchful!
Most are aware of the recent thefts of a couple motors on C-Dock near the end of June. So far, the thieves haven't returned and we don't want to give them any reason to. Please make sure your motor and boat are secured and locked the way you want. That way when you come out enjoy the Club and sailing, it's still just the way you left it.
Another pic of Scalawag Bob, this time doing his Dijiri Tube! ->
Bill & Chauncey have been doing a great job with the harbormaster duties...thanks guys for all the hard work you've put in.
Bob Bodish has a new ride. It's a green John Deere and by the way he's smiling, I think he likes it. Thanks for keeping the grounds in tip-top shape.
Check out the converted old Harbormaster shed. It now holds several kayaks inside and out. Give Jim Hubbard a big hand for his help with that project.
Keep enjoying the summer....
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| Ladies For Sail |
Janet Hickok |
SKIPPERINAS !!!
LADIES FUN RACES & RAFT-UP !!!
SATURDAY AUGUST 5th, 11am
We will need five Helmswomen and as many lady crew as can be transported to careen around Eagle Ocean for a day of fun races and raft-up.
No race experience required!
Everyone's a Winner!!
Please bring snacks and beverages to share...as there will be limited items provided…
Janet, our Leading Lady!
Would a few of our handsome fellars be available to help???
For More Info:
Janet Hickok
852-9227h
698-4655c
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| Safety & Education |
Wayne Myers | Rick Graef |
Junior Bay Week News
The next time you see a 16 year old, blonde, blue-eyed girl (Pictured right) in our parking lot setting up her Laser, please say, "Job Well done." Hannah Fisher won her fleet of 21 Laser Radials in Junior Bay Week this past week. Also to note, RJ Graef finished 10th overall in the same fleet followed further back by the youngest junior at Bay Week, EJ Williams at 17th. Jacob Hubbard, ECSC/ISC Team, finished 8th in the gold fleet (Thistle). Look for Ki's article for details.
Junior Sailing News
The day after returning from Bay Week, ISC held its annual Junior Laser Regatta. EJ Williams (Pictured below) won first place with his sister, Erika, eking out a 4th place using a kickaround ISC club Laser.
“ JOB WELL DONE TO OUR ECSC JUNIOR SAILING TEAM....”
Something To Think About
It takes a long time for some people to accept something new. One simply has to recognize that progress is about change and development. By definition, attitudes will always follow one step behind.
For all the educational books, courses, and videos, you can’t duplicate time before the mast.
ECSC Junior & Master Team Calendar
Toilet Bowl Regatta, NY
August 19 & 20
Finn
2006 Laser Master N. A. Championships
September 8-10
Milwaukee, Wis.
Must be over 35 years old & member of the Laser Class.
Laser Radial & Full Rig
All juniors, families, and coaches at Junior Bay Week
Cowan Lake Sailing Club
September 9 & 10
Laser Radial & Full Rig
Wawasee, Indiana
September 17 & 18
Laser Radial & Full Rig
Low Tide Regatta
Berlin YC
September 30
Laser Radial & Full Rig
Lake Lemon Regatta
September 23 & 24
Laser & Finn
Laserlips !
Ohio, Saturday Oct. 14
Laser Radial & Full Rig
Louisville
October 28 & 29
Laser Radial & Full Rig
If you or your junior would like to travel to one of these regattas, please call or talk to us. The Club will supply the boats and some funding is available.
Lasers ready to launch at Junior Bay Week
See you on the water....
Have a teenager that will be just staying home and playing the video games this summer? Let us help .... Junior program open to ages 13 - 18, m/f…
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ECSC Sailing School
Saturdays
Classes are over for
the rest of this Season
9:30am - Noon
Free to Club Members
$25 per class day for Non-Members
Equipment/Boats provided
2 Man Boats to Learn In
Lasers and FJs
Some Classroom Learning
Small Boat Drills
Life Jackets Required
Afternoons Open for Sailing
Contact:
Wayne Myers
AlarmCo@NetDirect.net
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| Junior Bay Week |
Ki Hickok |
Junior Bay Week is a great experience for our juniors. They have to practice if they want to do well because competition is extremely tough...essentially the best of the Midwest area. My dad and I left on Saturday July 15th at 3:30am and arrived on the ferry to Put-In-Bay about 8:30am. We then setup camp on a site that was nice and large. It overlooked Lake Erie from the south west and there was a nice breeze even though it was hot all week. Bob picked out our campsite from the year before because it was on a hill overlooking the campgrounds (Pictured right).
Sandy and Rick Graef's campsite, although it had a great view, was within three feet of the cliff (Pictured left). This was compounded in that since Rick arrived later that weekend, Sandy had to setup the tent late Friday night in the dark, rain, and high winds coming up the cliff!
My dad was sad because he was going to miss Sunday races at home, but he was more than happy to help out the juniors.
On Saturday afternoon, the juniors went out to practice sailing using the campground’s ramp so they would be ready for the upcoming junior week. On Sunday the 16th, Junior Bay Week started. Before checkin, the kids set up their boats to make sure they had everything they needed. Dr. Joyce Hubbard helped by giving the team shirts along with longer towlines for the lasers.
Tony Hubbard brought his boat, Integrity (a 38-foot yawl), and invited the kids to go swimming Sunday afternoon before the evening events.
The juniors started racing on Monday the 17th. The harbor gun was at 7:30am each day and they had a launch and recovery crew (which Bob Hickok and Evan Williams were a part) of to help the juniors get onto the water. It is a sight to see with about 22 full Lasers, 21 radials, and about 40 CFJs and 420s (along with some Thistles) all trying to get onto the water at the same time on a lone single ramp.
For this event, our four ECSC juniors combined with five ISC juniors to form one team representing Indianapolis (All pictured right). Our ECSC kids, Hannah Fisher, Jacob Hubbard, RJ Graef, and EJ Williams did very well. They raced hard and did their very best. Hannah Fisher finished 1st in the Laser Radial fleet. RJ had a strong finish the last day and pulled up to 10th in that same Laser Radial fleet. EJ ended up 17th.
Jacob Hubbard raced in one of the two Thistles with the five juniors from ISC. Jacob's Thistle made it in the gold fleet. Our two Thistles got an 8th and 11th place out of 11 boats.
Part of my job during Junior Bay Week was to help load and transport the boats back to the Indy. I was also the assistant coach for moral support.
This week was a great time for all of us who went and it definitely helped to better our junior sailors. I would like to thank the people who helped out for the week and our club and its members for helping funding the juniors.
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| ECSC Regatta |
Jim & Carol Dolder |
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WHITE SAND & OMELETS
The ECSC Regatta began on Friday afternoon with drinks, chips/salsa, and burgers grilled to perfection by Janet Hickok. We met the Catalina 22 skippers and crews, some of whom came from as far away as Florida, to race in our little Regatta. Actually, this is the first (of many, hopefully) Midwest Regional Championships for them. Nice group of fellow sailors! Also, we anticipated the annual arrival of our Comet fleet. It is their Regional championship...also their 24th year at the ECSC! They came from Ohio and Missouri and most didn’t arrive until midnight, or so.
Saturday morning dawned as hot and humid with our usual light July “wind.” Since this is Carol and my first year chairing a regatta, we wanted to do something special for our racers. We were fortunate to have the help of Joe Traub and Rich Fox in our planning and the idea of omelets for breakfast sounded intriguing. So Joe Traub and Nan Schulze (both pictured right) worked the grill with Chauncey Olin, our utility guy, taking orders. Joe’s wife, Barb, even made some biscuits & gravy to go with our usual assortment of Long’s donuts (Annie Cameron) and fresh fruit (Kelli Morehead). Steve Pithoud made the coffee and served up milk and OJ.
The sailors’ meeting was conducted by our top-shelf Race Committee of Ralph Merriman, Rick Ahrbecker, and Nick Marson with a second RC boat of Bruce Berner and Ethel Morgan. Wow! If there was any wind on our Lake, these guys could find it. They managed to get in three races Saturday and the racers arrived thirsty and hungry. Big Earl’s Avon Catering did a nice job on the dinner and left us some frozen steaks for breakfast the next morning. We gave away some door prizes courtesy of West Marine. John and Joy Gilmor tossed in four 18-packs of drinks in case we ran low. Wayne Myers had some white sand delivered to the beach inviting dancing to the tunes of EJ the DJ (mostly his dad). With daylight saving time, it’s tougher to dance off-rhythm in the daylight, but some people continued up until at least 11pm or so...including Mike Kaschak, the best dancer in the Western Hemisphere.
Sunday dawned with coffee at 6am. Breakfast was a repeat of Saturday with a twist: steak & eggs were also on the menu. Sunday was a windier day with three additional races run and the awards were given out to the first three places in each division. Additionally, Sweeper awards (this would ordinarily be my award) were given to the racers in the last place...a broom and bottle of the cheapest champagne we could buy with a twist-off cap! After a lot of laughs and group photos, our guests were on their way up the hill.
Good friends, both old and new, and good times...can’t beat it!
Thank you to our sponsors — Sailboats, Inc., Associated X-ray Services, West Marine, and Joe, Rich, and Carol.
Jim awarding Steve and Le Roy their winners burgee
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| C22 Sailing Association |
Rich Fox, Commodore |
On behalf of the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association, I wish to thank everybody for their warm hospitality at the ECSC Regatta as we co-hosted our Region 4 Championship Regatta.
As you may know, we had ten out-of-state boats attend, coming as far away as Miami, Ohio, Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, and various other cities in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois.
All C22 racers pictured right ->
All the Catalina 22 racers have told me that they had a super time and the hospitality demonstrated by ECSC was exceptional. Race Committee (Rick Ahrbecker and Ralph Merriman) did a super job setting courses and conducting a total of six races in very challenging conditions. Not a single complaint was heard from any of the thirteen Catalina 22s that were on the start line on Saturday and Sunday. We are also very pleased that ECSC Club Members Eric Jones and Ken Lockhart made this their first Catalina 22 class regatta. And special thanks to Jim and Carol Dolder and Joe Traub who pulled out all the stops as Regatta Chairs to make this a great regatta for everybody involved.
What a tough act to follow! Thank you.
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| Racing |
Chris Cunningham | Mike Irwin |
The ECSC Regatta
This regatta, chaired by Jim and Carol Dolder, was a great success Also, a big Eagle Creek thank you to everyone who helped put on such a great event. Congratulations to all the sailors who participated (results will be posted at the Club and on the website).
Governor’s Cup Regatta
The largest regatta of the year at Eagle Creek will be the weekend following Labor Day, September 9Th-10Th. Notice of Race and Registration forms will be on the website and posted on the bulletin board. All Club members are invited and encouraged to come out for all our regattas. It’s fun to just watch the competition from your boat on the water or Rick’s if you’re so inclined. You also can purchase meals from the regatta chairman the day of the event and attend the race party for FREE!
Spring Series Results
The complete results are posted in the race bulletin board.
RJ, Tyler, and EJ above
Smooth Sailing......
Remember, all we wanna do is have some fun!!
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| Scoring Series Racing at ECSC... |
Nick Marson |
…and living to tell the story after you’ve posted the results!
I had a difficult time titling this article because, let’s face it, reading an article about scoring sailboat races sounds really boring. In fact, the whole process of scoring isn’t overly exciting- that is, until you mistakenly transpose a 3 for an 8 in a finish time of a boat that’s running for the Series Championship! Before you know it, you’re being chased by an angry skipper wielding a tiller extension!
I decided to write this little article after several skippers approached me with questions about ECSC Series scoring. Luckily, these individuals weren’t wielding tiller extensions! Most of questions were easily answered. “What does ‘DNS’ mean”? “Why does this guy have ‘RDG’ next to his name? Wasn’t he on Race Committee Duty?” (If you don’t know the answers to these, don’t worry; we’ll cover it later). There were also more challenging questions that I didn’t have immediate answers for. In those cases I would typically hide in the RC shed until it was safe to come out. Or, I’d look into the issue and come back later with an educated answer.
Ki flying the hull!
The key to understanding Series scoring is studying the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) 2005-2008 edition and the Sailing Instructions (SI) that are released for our ECSC Racing Spring and Fall Series Championships. Here at ECSC Racing, we use the Low-Point Scoring System that is outlined in Appendix A of the RRS. All sailboats are scored “Time-on-Time” using PHRF ratings assigned by ECSC Racing. This means that boats are scored taking two factors into account: 1) the amount of time it takes the sailboat to complete the race, and 2) the PHRF rating of said sailboat.
PHRF is a locally administered handicapping system using the perceived speed potential of a sailboat as the basis of the handicap. An initial handicap is assigned to the sailboat based on comparisons with similar sailboats and may then be adjusted based on the performance of that sailboat’s class. You receive a PHRF rating after submitting an ECSC Racing Registration Form to ECSC Racing (Remember: Racing at ECSC is FREE!). Some factors that can affect your PHRF rating are modifications made to the boat and the sails you declare to use when racing. ECSC Racing then assigns you to a “Class” or “Fleet” with sailboats of similar ratings that will typically determine when and with whom you will start on the race course. The Racing Registration Form can be found on the ECSC Racing website or at the Results Post Board at the Club (http://race.ecsail.org).
Austin hiking out
During a Series race, the Race Committee uses Scratch Sheets, provided by ECSC Racing, to check-in sailboats and to record start/finish times. It’s important to use these super-special Score Sheets for a couple of reasons. First, they are really easy to use, and are quicker for me to interpret than the napkin you decide to write on that came with your lunch. Second, they help you write legibly, so that I can quickly and accurately score the race.
What takes place between collecting these Score Sheets and their final post to the bulletin board and website? Well, I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say it involves a laptop, printer, some great FREE software I use called RaceSail, and a healthy dose of patience. You can learn more about RaceSail by visiting www.racesail.org
The Scratch Sheets used for RC duty can be viewed at www.ecsail.org/ssheet.pdf while the Race Results Sheet can be viewed at www.ecsail.org/results.pdf. I added some notes that will help you better understand the results and have included a key for translating all of the acronyms!
Did you know that you can get a FREE First Place score for the day you volunteer for RC Duty? Read the Sailing Instructions for more info, and contact Chris Cunningham (ECSC Racing Chairman) to sign up!
Chair party at the PowWow Regatta in Ohio ->
Did I mention the new ECSC Racing website? View past/present results and see all of ECSC’s Racing documentation at http://race.ecsail.org (The “Racing Program” link on the ECSC home page will soon link to this new racing site we’ve created).
If you have questions regarding Series scoring, please contact me:
Nick Marson
nick@nickyscarfa.com
317.809.3659
If you have questions regarding Series Racing at ECSC, please contact Chris:
Chris Cunningham – ECSC Racing Chairman chris@serviceplushvac.com
Mike Irwin – ECSC Racing Assistant Chairman mikirwn@yahoo.com
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Please welcome our new members to the Club:
Al & Burnice Wilkins of Indianapolis.
Matt Kiger of Indianapolis sailing a Buccaneer 20.
Rick & Kathleen Wood, who are moving to Indianapolis from Ohio...sailing a Laser.
If your address, phone number, or E-Mail address has changed, please notify the Membership Chairperson via e-mail at ecsc_membership@yahoo.com or leave a message at phone number 317-815-8599. This is important so that your 2007 Annual Dues and Fees Statement, which will be mailed in January, is delivered to the correct address.
Sandy & RJ using the Iron Sail on a windless day
Attention New Members – the 2007 Annual Dues and Fees will be due no later than February 28, 2007. Members whose dues and fees are received or postmarked after February 28th are subject to lose their wet slip or position on the wet slip wait list.
Membership Count: 259
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Chapter One
It all started about twenty-six years ago when I was working in Corpus Christi, Texas. I stopped by the local marina to look at the boats. On my walk up and down the docks, I saw a man working on his boat and started a conversation. After a short time, I asked him if he took people out sailing. He said I could go if I helped him clean the boat. So, for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon, I cleaned, pulled ropes, talked, gybed, came about, and anything else you do when you have a sailboat and go sailing. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing or what the terms meant, but I knew I had been bitten by the bug!
Chapter Two-Nine
As I fast forward and reflect on my sailing experiences, more good times are brought to mind than anything else. A sail from Michigan City to Chicago and back is always in the front of my memories. We started in the morning and came back at night. This was my first time to steer and use a compass to get from point A to point B.
I then bought my first boat and spent most of the summer learning the finer points of sailing. The most important of which was to sail away from the dock! Then sail around all day, drink plenty of fluids, and be able to sail back to the dock.
Mikey in both pics sailing in last year's Hornback Regatta
I joined our Sailing Club because by this time I really had the bug and needed to find my special purpose. I was told by a good friend of mine to sail it or sell it...so I sailed. Of course, that didn’t make her very happy, but I was in my element! I started to race, go to social events, help work the Club grounds, make some lifelong friends, and found a sailing family that I still have today.
Chapter Ten
Time brings about many changes. I’m not as obsessed as I was with my time spent here...but, it’s still my favorite place. I miss friends that have moved on, moved away, or don’t come to the Club as much. I miss the chair parties, C-Dock parties, the BS encounters at the Liar’s Table, and the hot dogs on Wednesday nights. The Club is my sanctuary….and when I’m on the water, I feel free with no worries. I’m reminded of a quote on a paper towel: “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
Love ya….Mean it!
Mikey BooBoo
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Board Meetings |
January 10* |
February 7 |
April 11 |
May 9 |
July 11 |
September 12 |
| October 10 * |
November 4 |
| November 14 |
* Exe Com Only |
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| 2006 Racing/Social Calendar |
2006 Social Calendar, Click Here.
2006 Racing Calendar, Click Here.
2006 Overall Club Calendar, Click Here.
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It’s also interesting to see how other clubs operate such that we have ideas to draw upon come the budgeting time of year.