Welcome New Members!!!
WRYC welcomed the following new members in February.
Matthew, Pam and son, Reid of Gloucester. They are interested in sailing, socials, tennis and pickleball!
Jeanne of Yorktown is interested in joining other like minded people who enjoy small boat sailing. She’s come to the right place!!! Thank you Alyssa for referring her to WRYC!
From the Commodore
We started the year with rough seas. Our annual meeting in January was postponed and the dues increase was the first order of business. It passed. This is my third turn at the helm of the club and I look forward to working with this strong, hard working board. Collectively they have accomplished many good things and we hope to grow on that success. Jim Garrett held an all hands sailing meeting last week that was well attended and has many facets: junior sailing, summer sailing camp, women’s sailing, dinghy racing aka Sunday Series, adult keelboat lessons and cruising. Lookout, we are turning into a sailing center.
During my last term, as Commodore, I oversaw a dues increase and received quite bit of negative feedback. The most common refrain was that the members used to do all the work and now we hire it out. This is true and thus the dues increase then and now is appropriate. An annual cost of living increase of 5% for dues should be the norm but we try to be thrifty, frugal sailors. This is your clubhouse, dock, pier, boat yard and ramp. We all have to pitch in physically and fiscally to maintain the property.
We have 136 members. We are authorized to have 175 members. A member is one family unit regardless of whether you are the Waltons with 8 kids or single. We have room to grow and we need to attract more members. The sailing program have been a big draw and we hope to capitalize on this wind. Please spread the word that we are looking for new member applicant and that we have a lot to offer in terms of social activity, boating and access to the water.
Financing keelboats and tennis courts. I am sensitive to the financial obligations of belonging to the club. We have maintained many boats with baling wire and bubble gum. We have used our club members to repair and build many parts o the club. We have members make anonymous donations to the club, e.g. the large, flat screen television. In 2021 a proposal was put forward for anyone interested to make a specific donation to the club to purchase another keelboat. That fundraising effort was successful and our boat is in the final stages of launch preparation. Likewise a fundraising effort was implemented to restore the tennis courts to their former glory. Thanks to the excellent work of Gary Hermanson, the forest around the courts has been thinned and the resurfacing will commence in 2022.
The pier is slated to be repaired 100 feet at a time. This work will be performed by an outside contractor as we need new pilings, stringers and walk boards. Please be patient as the work takes time but is well worth the effort.
It is time the interior of the club gets makeover. Perhaps painting the walls, new carpet, chairs, tables, lights? This is a big, expensive project the board will consider. We welcome your input.
I look forward to seeing you at the club.
John A. Singleton, Commodore
Sailing Awards and Winter Meeting
Happy almost March! For those who couldn’t be with us at the annual meeting I’m happy to report it was well attended and all our awards recipients were there in person to receive their awards. It was my honor to present The Wesley C Morck Award for promoting WRYC and Sailing throughout the Southern Chesapeake Bay, to seasoned member and former Fleet Capt. Scott T. Besides Chairing the Gov Cup Regatta last year, Scott also participated in the Cape Charles Cup Race in his Alberg 30 and continues to promote our Clubs involvement with sailing thru his postings and shared articles using social media. Congrats Scott!
I was also honored to present The Sailor of the Year Award to newcomer Stephanie P. who has been a wonderful asset to the Club and helped all year to promote both our Sunday sailing as well as the adult sailing Saturdays. In addition, Stephanie crewed in the Gov Cup Regatta, Albacore Nationals and Hampton OD Nationals, and helped organize a women’s sailing group I’m calling “Women on the Ware”. Steph and her husband Gary joined just last year! Congrats to Stephanie and all the award recipients.
In addition, we held our annual winter sailing org meeting on February 19th and were fortunate to have 15 members in attendance. We were able to line out our sailing season for the year, discuss a reservation calendar we’ll be rolling out soon, use of our keel boats and some cruises around the bay, as well as setting dates for spring cleaning, boat prep, and organizing our sail loft. Several new members stepped up to take Chair positions and I want to specifically recognize those folks for volunteering:
Dinghy Sailing/Loft - Stephanie P.
Boat Maintenance - David W.
Adult Sailing - Joe M.
Cruising - Scott T.
I’ll be taking on R/C duties and helping the other Chairs manage things throughout the year. We have some seminars planned around racing rules and hopefully some more clinics to set up. MORE TO COME!
Respectfully
Jim Garrett - Fleet
Social Season 2022 Underway
We are excited to kick off 2022 Social Season at WRYC! This season, we say goodbye (but not really…) to our previous Social Committee Chair, Jane. Jane promised Autumn a smooth transition, and we thank her for her time served! As your new Social Committee Chair, I am impressed with the volunteers we have gathered so far to help out with our planned events—we cannot have the fun without you! We still need many volunteers throughout the year to host, help in the kitchen, or on clean-up crew. Take a look at the Socials Sign Up sheet below for positions we desperately need filled—if you are feeling compelled to keep our Club lively post-pandemic, please reach out at bariautumn@gmail.com or (240) 520-2109.
Our next Social is hosted by Jane! Mark your calendars for the event on Saturday, March 19th for St. Patrick’s Day! Be on the lookout for a email with more details. Looking forward to a fun-filled Social Season!
—Autumn
2021 Jr. Sailor of The Year
Each year since 1994, the WRYC Board of Directors has presented an award to the Junior Sailor that best exemplifies not only sailing skill & character on the water but is an example of these traits on shore. With three full Jr. Sailing sessions and several young sailors participating in the Regattas that were held in 2021, there was a sizable pool of young sailors from which to choose. However, one experienced sailor who was enrolled in our Jr. Sailing Camp stood out for several reasons:
She showed a genuine love of passing along her knowledge of sailing to new sailors - both on land and on boat - by asking different beginning sailors to crew for her.
She planned to race in the Jr. Division of the Governor’s Cup and could have asked any number of experience sailors to join her. However, she heard about a novice sailor who was extremely eager to participate in the regatta but who lacked the skills to captain his own boat. So she asked this young man to join her and they sailed together finishing just outside of the top 3 spots.
This kind of character is what we love to see, not only in the sport of sailing but in life itself.
The Ware River Yacht Club presented the 2021 Junior Sailor of the Year award to Naomi D. at the Annual Meeting on February 12th. . Best of all, Naomi and her entire family came down from Purcellville, VA for her award presentation.
2021 Booster Award
Thank you Harry and Autumn T., the WRYC Boosters of the Year for 2021. Your hard work and dedication, getting involved and helping out whenever needed is exactly what WRYC needs to keep it alive and vibrant for the next 50 years!
We also look forward to having Autumn as the new Social Chair. She has some really fun ideas for upcoming events to get the new year rolling!
2021 James V. Morgan Award
The 2021 James V. Morgan Community Service award was presented to Bobby R. Her tireless involvement in many community organizations made her an easy choice.
Bobby has served on the board of the Samaritan Group. She has been active for many years with the Ware River Circle of the King's Daughters & Son. Assisting with their annual open house fund raiser. Bobby was instrumental in the preservation project of The Woodville School. She is a member of the Ware River Garden Club giving her time and talents to their many community projects. Her involvement with countless other organizations make her a very deserving recipient of the James V. Morgan Award for 2021.
Welcome New Members!
New Member Welcome
WRYC would like to welcome Charles and Anne and their two sons, Noah and Elijah.
Charles and Anne are very active in their Gloucester community and became familiar with the Club through friends and the web-site. They are both looking forward to plugging into the various club activities and in addition, both boys will be attending Jr. Sailing Camp.
We look forward to the next Social and the opportunity to meet and greet them in person.