C.Y.C New Keelboat Racer

Dear Sailing friends.

I would like to introduce and welcome our new C.Y.C member and Keelboat Racer. The family Richard. They will be joining us the next race.

Sailing tragedy remembered “The Fastnet disaster August 14th 1979”.

August 4, 2009, I would like to share and stand still a moment by the biggest Maritime Rescue Operation ever. The Fastnet Race Disaster 1979. As a young sailor in the Royal Dutch Navy stationed on the Destroyer Hr.Ms. Overijsel, I took part of this recue mission.



“The Fastnet disaster 1979”.

The 605-mile Fastnet race is considered one of amateur yachting's greatest challenges. From the start line at Cowes, competing yachts sail down the English Channel to the end of Cornwall before striking out across the Irish Sea towards the lighthouse-topped Fastnet Rock, off the south-west tip of Ireland. Once round the rock and without stopping, the yachts re-cross the Irish Sea to finish at Plymouth. The race can take up to a week to complete.

The 1979 Fastnet began in fine weather. But within the space of 48 hours it had turned into every sailor's worst imaginable nightmare. The race was hit by a violent Force 12 Huricane storm that swept across the North Atlantic and into the southern Irish Sea, catching forecasters almost completely unawares.
For almost 24 hours, the estimated 2,700 men and women crewing the fleet were pounded by monster waves whipped by screaming 60-knot winds. Dozens of boats capsized or lost their rudders. Crews who escaped to what they assumed was the safety of an inflatable life-raft were horrified to discover that their floating shelters simply disintegrated under the force of the 40 foot waves. Lifeboats, rescue helicopters, merchant ships and the navies of at least three countries were involved in a desperate struggle to save them.

The storm wrought its vengeance in an era which was still without the modern navigational aids that today's sailing legends such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Samantha Davies take for granted. Thirty years ago, sailors had no recourse to GPS receivers which can pinpoint a yacht's position with a degree of accuracy which allows for an error of a mere 15 feet. Neither could they rely on satellite phones, or sophisticated computerized weather-forecasting techniques, or DSC radios which can relay a yacht's position to a rescue-service command centre at the press of a button.

By the time the 1979 Fastnet had officially finished, 15 people had died, five yachts had sunk, 24 crews had abandoned ship and 136 sailors had been rescued.





In the garden of Cowes Holy Trinity Church there is now a memorial to the 15 who were lost. It is a simple sculpture made from large stones collected by Irish sailors from the barren, windswept ledges of the goal they were all aiming for – the Fastnet rock. Only 85 boats out of 303 managed to complete the race that year.

For more information about this please visit original publication at: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/sailing/hell-and-high-water-the-fastnet-disaster-1748093.html

Rescue of Brian's Boat

At 8 o’clock Saturday morning Henk received a call from Shannon that Brian’s boat was sinking. It took a few minutes to let it sink in, while he was waking up.Henk went to Calhoun to see what was going on. Shannon, Alberto and Henk rowed to the aspirating submarine and they pushed, rowed and pulled the boat as close to shore as they could.


Later when the other keelboat racers, (Rich, Roger, Larry, Marcos and Bill) arrived with Nabil and Zaid closing the group,we decided (unfortunately) to cancel the race due to too much wind with gusts over 20 knots. So we all helped Brian to get his boat floating again.


Bill and Rich took the motor boat to straighten up some capsized C-Boats and Linda’s 420.
Later that morning when the wind dropped, most of us went sailing and had a great time.




See you at the start of the next Race 8/15

Keelboat Race Summer Schedule 2009

Keelboat Race Summer Schedule 2009

Month.........Day......... Time......... Skippers Meeting
August 1......Saturday.....11am.....10:15
August 15.....Saturday.....11am.....10:15
August 29.....Saturday.....11am.....10:15

September 12..Saturday.....11am.....10:15
September 26..Saturday.....11am.....10:15

October 5.....Saturday.....11am.....10:15
October 12....Saturday.....11am.....10:15

November..... Champion Reward’s during CYC gala diner

3th Keelboat Race Saturday August 1

Dear Sailing Friends,
Now that the CYC Aquatennial races on Lake Calhoun finished last Sunday,with special thanks to Shannon, Alberto and Marcos for running the crash boats, we can concentrate on the Keelboat race next Saturday August 1. The start will be at 11am and we will do a second short race right after the first race so that we can compete a little longer as the first race does no take more than 45 minutes.

We hope we can count on you.

Nabil recovering one of the buoys

Next Keelboat Race and BBQ

As the sailing season and being at the lake having racing and sailing fun is under way and summer start showing some warmer days we all are excited to continue, after the Aquatennial Sailing Races this weekend, with the 3rd Keelboat Race to be held Saturday August 1 with a starting time at 11am.

As a race takes only about 45 minutes depending the wind a few of us have the idée to do a second short race starting 20 minutes after the first one is finished. What do you think ......Please send me some feedback what you think of this idée.

There will be a C.YC. BBQ Saturday the 1st after the race to socialize and have some fun discussing after-sail stories, please bring your wife kids, lovers or any one close to you.


Ohh, by the way bring a salad and/or desert and something to drink.



Nabil and his brother Said

Teen becomes youngest to sail around the world

By Scott Thompson;

A Southern California teenager has serious bragging rights: After docking back in his home state late Thursday morning, Zac Sunderland, 17, can claim to be the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

Sunderland sails into Marina del Rey, California, on Thursday.
3 of 3 Sunderland was greeted with thunderous applause and congratulations as he arrived at Marina del Rey in his 36-foot sailboat.

"It's kind of crazy to have it done now because, I mean, for the past year I've been just fighting for the next ocean, fighting to get back. And now I'm back so it's amazing," he said.

The teen acknowledged the 27,500-mile voyage wasn't easy. He told CNN that pirates off the coast of Indonesia gave him quite a scare.

"[I] had a boat circle in and ended up calling in the coast watch and they chased them off but, yeah, [I] lucked out there! About an hour and a half of hell."

Severe storms also were a problem, he said.

Sunderland's Web site says he bought the boat with his own money.

His parents had hoped he would find something that would spark a fire in him, a passion that would direct him away from all the negative and harmful influences that are so prevalent in society, but even they were stunned by the scope of his dreams and desires, it says. Watch Sunderland give advice to fellow teens »

He was 16 when he left Marina del Rey on June 14, 2008, aboard his boat, Intrepid. Solitude and exhaustion were just a couple of factors that faced him each day.

"The hardest constantly was the tiredness," he said. "I mean, you get over the loneliness, but tiredness, it's an ongoing thing. Half the time I haven't slept in 48 hours and it's just hard to get enough rest."

Sunderland said he made some good contacts along the way.



"It's interesting just thinking back to the different places in the world because I have so many friends in different parts of the world that are like family, you know, and all these different experiences," he said.

"It's an amazing year. It seems like yesterday that I was here but in other ways it seems like a hundred years."

So what's next? "Yeah, I don't know, just go chill with my friends," he said. "Go skate. Go do something normal for a change, you know."