Messing About In Sailboats

Teaching Sailing This Weekend - Any Advice?

This weekend Raritan Yacht Club runs it's annual 2-day Learn To Sail course. It's free of charge, for people in the area to get an introduction to sailing, taught by the members. Part of the program is to get the students out on the water, learning how to get on and off a mooring, raise and drop sails, steer, tack, gybe, do a spinnaker peel, etc (OK kidding about the spinnaker peel). Alice and I will be taking four unsuspecting newbies out on Cadence. Any advice or teaching tips are welcome, especially humorous ones. Read more →

Raritan Yacht Club Back In The 50s And 60s

Bob Schuldenfrei who I blogged about last week, sent me a great selection of photos of RYC back in the 50s and early 60s that his dad had taken. Thanks to Bob for carefully scanning them. The thing that struck me most about these photos is how little has changed in fifty to sixty years. The clubhouse has been significantly renovated, the dock is bigger and there is now cupola on the end of the dock but the spirit of the club hasn't changed. It's still about active sailing, especially racing. It's still about people working on their own boats in the yard. The boats are bigger and mostly fiberglass but it's still a club run by the members for the members. Read more →

Moving On Up

Yesterday was the first of what I hope will become an annual tradition at the club. It was technically known as The Annual Mooring Meeting but in reality it should be called the Annual Meeting Where Members Air Their Grievances About Unjust Mooring Regulations And Placements - AKA Down With Tyranny. At RYC, we have a large mooring field with a couple of hundred boats spread out between the entrances to Arthur Kill and the Raritan River. My boat, Cadence is at the crap end of the mooring field, by the railroad bridge. It was the fair place for me to be as she draws 6'8" and was only added to the fleet two years ago. It's a pain to be there, as it takes the launch forever to get to us and on a busy race night, we can wait for 45 minutes. It's also noisy by the bridge.... Read more →

Sunset Over Raritan Bay

A few photos taken by my club-mate Jim Schlott at RYC of views from the mooring fields and a sunset shot over Raritan Bay taken by yours truly. Read more →

Hamilton Island Yacht Club

I can't figure out if I like the architecture of this place or not. It's definitely different and quite the contrast from the 19th and early 20th century clubhouses I normally frequent. Read more →