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Chesapeake Sailing ClubAnnapolis, Maryland |
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May 2008 SCUTTLEBUTTNewsletter of the Chesapeake Sailing ClubCalendar at a Glance Commodore's Columm This month the snowbirds will be returning from their winter roosts in Florida.
Actually, the return of the snowbirds is always a good sign. It means that the sailing season is right around the corner. I'm sure we'll be seeing the snowbirds at our May events. It's always a great time getting caught up with our friends as we welcome them back to the Chesapeake. Saturday May 3 is dinner at Squisito's Restaurant in Eastport. Then we'll be gathering for an afternoon happy hour and dinner at Pirate's Cove in Galesville on May 10. Please respond to the email blast you'll receive to let us know if you'll be attending so we can make reservations. I'm looking forward to all of the birds in our flock gathering soon. Let's Get Started! Here we go! The sailing season is upon us and our boats are almost commissioned. Hopefully, members can make some or all of our planned May events. Here they are:
Memorial Day Weekend
Summer Cruise Summary - Join all or part of this cruise.
Let Fleet Captain Jim Luciano know if you plan to sail with us to Tides Inn. We'll try to get the CSC fleet as close together as possible at the Tides dock. Gordon Palmer Memorial Race Rules
That's it from here. See you out there. Social Report
Welcome New Members Dona and I met and married in south Italy in 1986, she was working as a teacher and I was serving my country in uniform.
For years we would either rent sailboats at the Annapolis Navy base or help crew friends boats every chance we could. A couple of years ago we decided to finally make the big jump and buy our first sailboat. First hailed as the "Worthless Wench" (for some reason Dona just didn't like that name) and located in North Carolina, our 35s5 Beneteau would soon find a new harbor and a new name. With the help of Frank Cingel, my dad, and I, we brought our boat up the inter-coastal waterway and slipped her into her new home at the Belvedere Yacht club. Having met in Italy, Dona and I decided we needed a name for our boat that would tie her back to the fond memories of our life overseas. Today we cruise the bay on Andiamo, loosely translated from Italian as "Let's go." News from our Members
From the Editor 
Several members have kindly thanked me for taking on the CSC Newsletter and have complimented me on the first issues. I want to make it very clear that the real work is done by our behind the scenes Webmaster Frank Cingel. For those of you have never prepared text and photos for the Web, here are just the first few lines and photo of Tom from last month's newsletter, after Frank has manually tagged it for Web presentation:
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<p>April 2008</p>
<h2><i>SCUTTLEBUTT</i></h2>
<h3>Newsletter of the Chesapeake Sailing Club </h3>
<p><small><b>Calendar at a Glance<br>
April 5 - Party at Tom and Gina Muha's Condo - 5pm<br>
May 3 - Squisito's Eastport - 5:30pm<br>
May 10 - Cruise to Galesville.</b></small></p>
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<p><big><b>Commodore's Columm</b></big><br>
Tom Muha <i>Taj Muha</i></p>
<p>The sad news that long-time CSC member Wes Miller
For more entertainment, the next time you pull up the CSC Newsletter in your browser, go to the "View" menu and View "Source" to see the extent of Frank's handiwork. All the consistency and formatting is all carefully crafted. It's no accident that you don't see broken links or anything that doesn't present nicely in the Newsletter or on the site as a whole. So let's give a big hand to Frank; in fact, be VERY nice to him always. (That doesn't mean he has to win every race though.) From the Webmaster Thanks Eve-Marie. Flattery will get you everywhere. Reiterating what I said when I started this job, if anyone doesn't like a picture I post on the website, let me know and I will not hesitate to remove it. Eve-Marie likes to put in pictures. I do too. I think that they add a lot to the newsletter. But it introduces additional responsibility for the webmaster to not put in pictures that might offend someone.
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While those of us who have endured another winter in the northern climes are enjoying the temperatures climbing up into the 60's, the snowbirds will complaining about having to endure what seems to them to be an artic blast. Apparently once you have a permanent tan your skin can't tolerate temps below 70. Jealousy makes us say terrible things, doesn't it?
It's one of those early spring days on the Treasure Coast when the temperatures struggle to get to eighty degrees, April showers are in the air and there's a cold front on the way. But we're sailors and we laugh at the weather.
And so it was that the Luciano's hosted a CSCSC beach party with special guest - - a three foot long Blimpies' sub to go along with the coleslaw, potato salad, chips and dip, salad and chocolate cake for dessert. We also took time to toss the football around and count the porpoises as they swam by. Attending were guests Ginny and Howard Knott, members Sue and Joe Shreiber, Sue and Jack Buckley, Gail and Bob Doremus, Judy and John MacDonald, and our hosts Binnie and Jim Luciano.
A group of 21 members and guests gathered on April 5 at Tom and Gina Muha's condo overlooking Back Creek and hundreds of sailing vessels waiting for the CSCSC group to return. It wasn't a beach, but the weather was warm and several folks ate outside on the deck, enjoying fine food, drink and good company. The highlight was watching the YouTube video of Tom and Gina's Rescue 911 filmed in the BVI. This group photo is also included in the May issue of Spinsheet, p. 79.
Our first move back to the United States brought us to the shores of the Chesapeake where we crossed the bay bridge for the first time. Looking out across the water on a mid fall day, we saw the waters dotted with sails and immediately knew that we were destined to be one of them.
With little boating experience, none of it on a sailboat, Dona and I began taking sailing lessons at the Annapolis Navy base. Our first course was basic day sailing where we were ushered to separate boats. Questioning the wisdom of why we had to be on different boats, we were told that commands shouted out at the helm by wives were not always well received by their husbands. Soon after we followed up our training with cruising and navigational courses.
sent this lovely photo of a felucca at sunset sailing on the Nile at Luxor, Egypt. Ralph and Dale were in Egypt this past fall and had sailed a felucca
on the Nile at this location, just a couple of hours before he took this photo. See Ralph and Dale sailing a felucca and a photo of the felucca they sailed. He writes: "Because of the huge size of the rudder, which you can see in the photo of OAKAR, I found that it took a bit of strength to handle the tiller.
That is quite a contrast to the tiller on the 15 foot Albacore I began with a number of years ago. The felucca sails quite well on the river, seemingly to just glide along even in only a slight breeze. A great design indeed and after all, the Egyptians "weren't born yesterday." 
Lacroix report that when there isn't any wind in the spring on the Chesapeake, sailors should go fishing. They recently joined friends on a charter out of Solomon's for a day of rockfishing. We left the dock at 6:15am and by 8:21 had caught 5 fish over 34 inches. It took another two hours to catch our limit. The photo documents this isn't just a fish story. Joe wants the CSCSC members to note that by the time they return to the Chesapeake, these big fish will be gone.