March 9, 1999

I am happy to announce that the New York Mercantile Exchange has renewed their sponsorship of our club for this coming season. This will allow us to purchase new sails for the J/24 fleet! I hope all members will join me in thanking the New York Mercantile Exchange for their ongoing support.

Since the New York Mercantile Exchange moved into their new headquarters overlooking our docks at the World Financial Center, they have been a sponsor of our club. Many members of their exchange have taken sailing lessons at our school and joined our club as members. If you know anyone connected with the New York Mercantile Exchange, please take a moment to thank them personally. And over the course of the summer, we should all work together to increase the number of NYMEX members who use our facilities.

In other news, on March 4, more than 30 members showed up for the Community Board 1 Hudson River Park Committee meeting which was considering approval of our sailing barge for Pier 25. We won this first battle by a slim 2-0 vote (3 members of the committee did not vote citing "conflict of interest" and one abstained). Thank you very much to every member who showed up at that crucial meeting. If we did not have so many concerned members of the community in the room, we might have lost the vote.

Now, the full Community Board will vote on the committee’s recommendation on Tuesday, March 16 . The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and our sailing barge will be one of the first items on the agenda. This meeting will be at 390 Greenwich Street (the smaller Smith Barney Building) on the second floor mezzanine. People have again suggested that a large turnout of members would help the club’s cause. So if you can attend, please do. If we win this vote, the last hurdle is approval from the Hudson River Park Trust.

This is the last call for racing team captains from last year who wish to race again this season. If you haven’t signed up for your boat, please do so now. There are many eager new teams on the waiting list and we want to get everyone assigned to their boat as soon as possible.

Have you looked at the "Notices to Members" page on the club website at www.myc.org. You’ll find lots of interesting tidbits there. You can also use the website to reserve a week of sailing vacation on "Miss Manhattan," our 43-foot Beneteau.

Spring Launching weekend will be April 10 & 11. This is the annual "Rite of Spring" when members show up in the boat yard to paint the bottoms and polish the topsides. As was the case last year, the bottoms will be all pre-sanded and the topsides polished. Every member is encouraged to participate in the preparation of our fleet. Be sure to mark your calendar and plan to arrive in the boatyard at 10 a.m. At the end of each day, the club will fire up the grill for the traditional first bar-b-que of the season. There will also be ample refreshments, compliments of the club.

This year, our boats have been wintered at the Liberty Harbor Marina on the north side of Morris Canal (last year they were on the south side at Liberty Landing). More information on the spring launching, including directions to the marina and helpful tools to bring, will also be available at our website soon.