Dear Member,

I would like to thank the more than 130 members who attended the Annual Dinner. It was our largest dinner ever. The mood and crowd were festive and enjoyable. It was great to see so many friends and especially fun to see them dressed up rather than in their sailing attire. The restaurant, La Belle Époque, provided a cozy atmosphere which added to the overall celebration. Thanks to Pamela Kenton for finding this location for the club.

Those of you who were unable to attend missed an exciting announcement - we are building our first clubhouse! The club has purchased a 35’ by 85’ barge from Weeks Marine. We are building a small clubhouse on the barge similar in size to our existing facility at North Cove. The barge will be moored at Pier 25 and become our base of operations there. It will also serve as the Town Dock facility. The clubhouse is currently being constructed in the Morris Canal in Jersey City. It should be ready for transport to its home at Pier 25 in late January.

Special thanks go to Doug McKenzie who helped locate the barge, Scott Surbeck and Stephanie Dayton who helped in the architectural drawings and Antonio Nicoletti and Stanley Dahir who helped in the structural plans.

Once the clubhouse arrives at Pier 25, we will hold the "Last Nail Ceremony" and symbolically hammer the final nail which completes the construction. This will be a historic celebration. Keep an eye on your newsletter for announcement of the date.

A number of members have asked that with the new clubhouse, whether the club plans to move its boats out of North Cove. The answer is no. The club plans to keep the current 13 J/24s at North Cove, along with the floating clubhouse. These facilities are enjoyed by members and used very actively. Pier 25 will be used for our expanded fleet of J/24s and Lasers and in 1999, for the Sandbaggers as well.

Also at the Annual Dinner, awards were presented for the 1998 season. Congratulations to Paul Olsen, winner of the 1998 Commodore‘s Award for his leadership with the New York Harbor Sailing Foundation. Last year, the Foundation organized the Third Sailors Ball and the first Lady Liberty Regatta. Next summer, the Foundation will be the organizer for the International Sandbagger Series at our club. Congratulations also to Danielle Gallo for winning the 1998 Sportsmanship Award. Danielle has been an enjoyable. enthusiastic and inspiring presence at our club for many years. She is currently part of an all-women team which competes on Tuesday evenings.

On Saturday, December 12, I was lucky enough to watch a race in the afternoon Frostbite Series. It was very exciting and the quality of competition and skill has increased ten-fold since the program began last year. As the sailors came off the starting lines in full hiking positions, they battled hard to keep their boats flat. It was a physical workout to get around the modified Olympic course. At the finish of the race I saw, Rear Commodore John LaGrassa crossed in first place.

The frostbite program will take a break for January and February and then pick back up for March and April. The Lasers are launched from Pier 25 and races take place between the piers in front of the West Side Highway. It’s a lot of fun and I encourage interested Laser sailors to sign up for the spring series.

In mid-November, the "Last Call Party" was held on our floating clubhouse at North Cove. As you may know, our liquor license is for summer only which requires all drinks and beverages be stored in a bonded warehouse or liquidated at the end of the season. We have always chosen liquidate as the more sensible option and a full crowd of members showed up to help in the task. Special thanks go to Rob Chase who convinced a local Chinese restaurant to deliver appetizers ("make a left at Liberty Street and its the boat with all of the people on it").

The New York Harbor Sailing Foundation is again organizing the Sailors Ball to celebrate the start of the next sailing season. This black tie ball will be held at the end of April or beginning of May. Last year, 650 people attended. If you would like to serve on the Benefit Committee and help organize the ball and sell tickets, please contact me at (212) 786-3323 or mike@myc.org.

We have begun to "bulk-up" our fleet for next season. Another J/24 has already arrived and a second is scheduled by the end of the year. Plans call for our J/24 fleet to grow to 19 or 20 during next season. New boats which are added to our fleet will be painted red and named after the great clipper ships which sailed in the harbor in the mid-1800s.

Once the New year arrives, we have a number of projects on the schedule. First and foremost will be the printing of a new club directory. Second will be a survey of members to see how the club can improve. Third will be signups for next year’s racing programs. Also this winter, our safety committees will publish their reports for all members to read and consider. Some of their recommendations will be adopted by the Flag Officers into new club procedures.

As you can see, it will be a very busy off-season. We have many things to look forward to when sailing begins again next May. My best wishes to you all for a enjoyable holiday season and a Happy New Year.