Season highlights, facts and figures are woven into the report below, so pay close attention! The first fun fact is that ...
We welcomed at least one new sailor at every single race this past season!
Banquet Organizers/Decorators
Mimi Riffle organized the entire banquet with some help: We enjoyed a well decorated dining hall overlooking the water with colorful nautical flag centerpieces and decorations created and arranged in a team effort by Mimi Riffle, Sandi Miller, Nancy Olson, Beth Auld, and Susan Egbert. The venue overlooking the water at Harrison Lakes Country Club was made possible by Lenny and Jodie Verebay’s membership. Trophies were found in various places at bargain prices by Beth Auld, Sandi Miller and Nancy Olson. Jim Riffle painstakingly assembled the rigging for each of the model sailboats awarded as first place trophies. Thanks everyone!
Volunteers
The first to be recognized of course were the Committee Boat
volunteers without whom we would not have races, and whose company we enjoy
immensely. Of thirty-five race
participants this year, sixteen, (nearly half) were Committee Boat
volunteers. And nearly half of those
volunteered for the first time this season.
Humorous highlights of 2012 Committee boat experiences were re-lived and
then our volunteers were given a gift of appreciation.
First-time volunteers in 2012 were Beth Auld, Owen & Cathy
Gall, Charlie Kim, and Ed & Dolores Krome, and Tricia Zachidny. Returning volunteers were Lisa Duret, Norm and Susan Egbert, Emily McCurdy, Jack & Sandi Miller,
and Mimi Riffle.
Club officer Mimi
Riffle volunteered on the Committee Boat for all but one race the entire
season, and taught all of our new volunteers.
So we recognized her with a gift of a brass and copper “Boatswain’s
whistle”. “Boatswain” is one of
the oldest seafaring titles and was first used to denote the commander of the
ship. A boatswain’s whistle can be
heard above the howling of the wind, the flapping of sails, and cursing of the
sailors. Mimi’s numerous other efforts
that kept the club running a true course were also recognized, as was the
bountiful behind-the-scenes help from Mimi’s husband, Jim Riffle. 
Club Officer Tom
Schroeder was recognized for his leadership with a handsome sailboat
trophy. And Tom’s wife Julia Schroeder was recognized for all
her help behind-the-scenes.
Event Hosts
We had some fun social events in 2012 and thanked our hosts:
·
- Max Henry again hosted the Spring Social, and again hosted the Kayak Race.
- Helen and Lee Hodgen, John and Beth Auld, and Ron and Kathleen Schutz hosted the Memorial Day Breakfast
- Lance and Bianca, and Carroll Snider hosted the July 4th breakfast
- Mary and Bob Orben hosted the Labor Day breakfast, which helped end the drought.
- Jim and Peggy Voelz hosted a well-attended seminar and lunch at their home where Jim revealed winning tips, tactics and techniques of the Voelz sailing dynasty
- Wayne and Arlene Truex hosted the protest meeting at their home after every race and hosted “race central” on their dock (precisely orchestrated pre and post-race race set-up, rigging and de-rigging activity).
- John Sohn for serving as our arbiter and judge of protests (and for sharing beer from the World’s oldest brewery – the Weihenstephaner brewery established in 1040).
First some fun facts:
- We had a total of 19 sailors participating this year (not counting 2 guests of the Sniders).
- We welcomed 8 new sailors this year – that’s over 40% of the 19 who participated.
- The average number of sailors in any given race was 13 compared to 9 last year.
- The average number of boats in a race was 9 compared to 5 last year. By the way, Thanks to the Truexes, Orbens and Riffles for lending their boats to our newer sailors, and for helping with rigging them, etc. That really made the higher level of participation possible.
Laser
Class:
· 1st Place: Jim
Voelz
Ghost
Class:
There is a sailor we
did not see at all this year, but at a full moon party he explained that he
really was there with us, even though we couldn’t see him (there in spirit - he really wanted to be there but couldn't be). So this season we have a GHOST SAILOR
class. And this sailor won a very
special 1st place Ghost Sailor Trophy (held by winner in photo below
– look really closely) created just for the occasion.
– 1st Place: Larry Olson
– 1st Place: Larry Olson
Crew
Awards
We have a competition
for those who crew for our captains.
Crew members receive the same number of points as the captain they crew
for in each race.
· 1st Place: Arlene
Truex, who crewed for Jim Riffle on the Hobie catamaran. Arlene also received a tether to make sure we
don’t lose her next year (she fell overboard in one race this year).
· 3rd Place (Tie): Graham Hale. While Graham only sailed for us on one race
date, there were so many other boats competing that day, and he and his captain,
Catey Hale, did so well, that Graham racked up enough points in one day to win
a trophy. Catey accepted the trophy for Graham.
· 3rd Place (Tie): A. Nonymous. The other winner was someone whose identity was
carefully guarded due to the embarrassment of the infamous capsizing and
turtling of the Orben Y-flyer in his very first race.
After receiving his award A. Nonymous agreed to reveal his true identity by removing his mask. And we discovered that he is Paul Hass!
After receiving his award A. Nonymous agreed to reveal his true identity by removing his mask. And we discovered that he is Paul Hass!
2nd Place: Peggy Voelz
3rd Place: Tom Schroeder
3rd Place: Tom Schroeder
Holiday Trophy Races
- Memorial Day Trophy – Jim Voelz
- July 4th Trophy – Bianca Snider
- Labor Day Trophy: – Jim Riffle
Rookie of the Year
This was a difficult
prize to award because we have so many rookies that we would like to
recognize. So we had to go strictly by the
number of races they captained. First
let me mention all of our rookie sailors who sailed with the Yacht Club for the
first time this past year. They are:
o
Jackson Gall
o
John Gall
o
Charlie Kim
o
Riley Leonard
o
Paul Hass
o
Graham Hale
o
Bianca Snider, and
o
Bob Zachidny
· The Rookies of the Year (it was a tie)
are:
o
Bianca Snider
o
Riley Leonard
Booby Prize
Tradition requires
that the white porcelain chamber- pot trophy be appropriately awarded: Last year Bob Orben and Wayne Truex won this
trophy jointly because they disqualified each other in the same race.
· 
This year’s winners are John Auld and Paul Hass for the dramatic capsizing, turtling and successful recovery of the Orben Y-Flyer. Appropriate modifications were made to the trophy as seen below:
This year’s winners are John Auld and Paul Hass for the dramatic capsizing, turtling and successful recovery of the Orben Y-Flyer. Appropriate modifications were made to the trophy as seen below:
(Our
apologies to Mary Orben who had put a very nice African violet plant in the pot
for the Orbens and Truexes to enjoy during their possession):
The Championship
Trophy goes to the captain who scored the most point using our scoring system – Jim Riffle
This means that he
and his crew, Arlene Truex, won the
most races with the most number of competing boats. Jim and Arlene did not miss a single race this
season. There were only two other
sailors who sailed in every single race and those were Lance Snider and
(allegedly) Larry Olson.
Sailors Present Thoughtful Recognition to Club Officers
On behalf of all of
the sailors, Wayne and Arlene Truex very thoughtfully and eloquently expressed gratitude
to officers Mimi Riffle and Tom Schroeder for guiding the Yacht Club. Mimi was presented with a lovely butterfly necklace, and Tom with a brass sailboat wind chime. The kind words and thoughtful, but unexpected
gifts, were warmly and gratefully received by both Tom and Mimi.
