16 Sept 2020

I want to remind everyone about the 3rd Saturday Racing this weekend. Again racing starts at 10 for the Vics, 12:30 for the One Meters and 3 for the DF 65. There are only 3 months left in the season and points are more critical now. Be sure to turn out and enjoy a great day of racing. I understand we may have some new/missing people show up this month, so I am eagerly looking forward to this exciting day.

There is a very important event taking place next week. Dave Ramos of CPM is holding CPM Race Week in Queenstown over on the Eastern Shore. This event is being held all week long for several different types of model boats. This unique event will contest J boats in a Regional Championship, while CR 914s Star 45s and EC 12s will battle for their National Championships. It will truely be a whos who of model boat racing.

I am proud to say that MMYC will be well represented by Walter House, Marc Smith, Jim Latoff and Danny Thomas.

Also proud past MMYC members Scott Todd, Jarle Wathne, and Doug Watring will be competing there as well.

Please wish these guys Good Luck for next week. Of course We also wish our Region 2 Director Dave Branning the best too. Dave is a great guy and has done a lot for this sport/hobby. Dave has sailed with our club several times and helped out at a couple of of MMYCs events.

Since this is a local event, you all should make an effort to drop in and cheer on these guys. It actually is a.great opportunity to watch and learn! I know I am going. You can go to the web site for the event to see the schedule of races and who is participating each day. The link is:

http://www.rcyachts.com/2020_cpm_race_week.htm

Finally, I want to mention some things to keep in mind for this coming Saturday. There should be several new people there this week, so if you don't know someone, take the initiative and introduce yourself. Remember, you all were new to this once yourself.

The club needs to finish compiling an accurate membership list. To do that, we need filled out membership forms. If you havent filled out yours yet, please do so before racing. If you are a returning member and havent raced yet this year, MMYC has a special going on. Sign up now and MMYC will wave membership dues for all of 2020! A 20 dollar savings! Heck if you cant be there this weekend, download the form and mail it to Walter. You will save 20$!!!!!

Because of increased turnout, there also might be more traffic on the race course. To help with this condition, we will set long courses and a long starting line. However, it is up to every skipper to operate his/her boat safely and avoid hitting other boats. Practice exercising the rules of the road, use common sense about crowding rounding marks. Trust me, you actually will be faster in the long run. Remember, this is a fun hobby, "playing with toy boats"!

The last point I want to stress is that this is a club, and there are no paid positions. We all have to contribute to make the club fun and successful. To that end, please if you can, either help set up in the morning, or assist with the clean up at the end of the day. It makes it so much easier and quicker when more people lend a hand.

If anyone has any other concerns please feel free to email me at jebell2694@msn.com

Thanks and I look forward to seeing all of you (yes, especially you) Saturday!

John

14th of Sept 2020

It was a fun evening at the Melford practice pond. With a designated start time of 4:30 it was very encouraging to see Tom Walsh and Jim Latoff already there with their boats set up before 4 pm! Tom prepared his new throwable marks, and then the three of us proceeded to use them to set a decent windward-leeward course. After we finished, and before we could get all our boats in the water. Alan Krusinger, Jervis Dorton, and Walter House pulled up. After talking to them, then Danny Thomas pulled up. I knew then it was going to be a good time!

From when we first set the course, the wind lightened a little and presented challenging conditions to keep the boats moving. Danny Thomas in his DF 95 proceeded to show everyone how well he has learned to keep his boat speed up and in keeping his boat moving. Several races were spent again chasing him around the race course. After a few races, Steve Howard dropped in to join the schooling Danny was giving us. Both Walter House in a Vic, and Jervis Dorton in his newly energized home built one meter, also were fairly successful in working though the light air conditions. The balance of us chased them around the course. It was a very educational time as tuning and settings were played with to improve performance. If there are light air conditions this weekend, I assure you , there are several sailors who are prepared for it.

A couple of positive club notes: Past Club member Steve Andre has just purchased the MMYC Odom. He was a longtime MMYC member and a consummate sailor. He intends to have it back in race condition so as to compete with it by October. He drove all the way from Baltimore to pick it up this evening. He also joined us for a couple races.. It was great to see him again.

Speaking of members we haven’t seen in awhile, missing member Tom Phillips dropped in to watch the activities. I guess I shamed him into to coming by with all my emails. It was great to catch up with him too. He also says he might be back out soon. I would be great to see him back on the pond with the rest of us. I have missed him!

Another New member should be showing up this coming Saturday with her new boat. Emily Howard has purchased ODOM 414 and should join the fun. You might remember Emily from a couple months ago, as she was the scorekeeper. When you see her at the pond, please welcome her.

Bart Drummond continues to regularly improve and enhance our web site. There are tuning guides, weather information and a lots of other great stuff to see. Give it a look see.

Finally, The 2020 Capital Cup is approaching. If you sail a DF 65 give thought to participating and defending MMYC’s honor. You can find information at our Web site.

John

Sept 8th 2020

Message from the Commodore:

Well everyone, there have been some big happenings going on. First off, Google is modifying how they will handle web sites and is forcing a new format on the world. New Web Caretaker Bart Drummond has converted our site to the newest Google generation and has made some improvements along the way. This is still very much a work in progress but click on the website and check it out. We are working on bringing an enhanced format, new pictures and other updates that will give it a fresh look with excitement. As I reported before, we now have a fleet of used boats for sale and they are listed on the Website as well. So, if you know of anyone looking to get into our fun hobby please direct them there. If anyone has any suggestions that they would like to see incorporated in the site, please feel free to share your ideas. This Site's sole purpose is to serve MMYC members and promote the club. Email me any ideas you have.

However, the most exciting thing is, after so many years, MMYC is finally putting on a Regatta! New DragonForce 65 skipper Bart Drummond approached me earlier in the year with an idea to have a fun regatta for the Dragonforce 65 class. His concept was to have an interclub competition. I told him if he wanted to organize it, we would give it a try. Well it is happening! This November MMYC will hold an interclub Dragonforce 65 Regatta, competing for the coveted "Capital Cup"! As it turns out, the DF 65 is even more popular than we thought, as there are 6 clubs (or more) that have expressed interest. For all the information, go to our Website and click on "Capital Cup". The Regatta is free to entrants. So if you don't own a DF 65 this might be enough reason to pick one up and join the group to help defend the honor of MMYC. Check it out! And even if you don't race, you all should plan seriously to come out and cheer on your MMYC fellow members. It promises to be a fun time, so definitely put it on your "To DO" list. DF 65 skippers that want to compete please contact Bart Drummond to sign up.

Thanks, John Ebell

Sept 8th, 2020

Practice

Hey everyone! We are holding another practice race/fun sail session at the Melford Pond this coming Monday, 9/14/20, starting at 4:30, or whenever you want to get there. As I have said before, we will be there several hours so feel free to drop in whenever you can. We decided on Monday to make it easier for you Heritage Harbor racers to make it. So come on out!

Fibonacci Fountain at Melford. Address: 16800 Science Dr. Bowie, MD .

Tom Walsh (following Marc Smith's method) has made himself some new throwable race marks. We are very eager to try them out. This is the perfect opportunity to freshen up before our 3rd Saturday race day in September. Or, if you havent sailed yet this year, its a perfect opportunity to brush aside the cob webs, check out your boat, and get everything ready to go. That way you will be fully ready, so you can come to the next race day. Several experienced skippers will also be there, and there is no better way to improve than ask questions and learn from proven winners.

I look forward to seeing you all there. Who knows, a picture of your boat might happen to make its way onto the Web site!

See ya at the practice pond Monday Night!

17 Sept 2020

Hey Everyone! The weather for Saturday is calling for Sunny conditions with temps in the 60s and wind from the N NE 8 to 11 mph. Sounds like perfect model yachting weather. Don't miss this excellent sailing day! Come out and have some fun. Don't forget to try and get there early or stay late to help set up or take down! And most importantly don't forget a mask!

Look forward to seeing everyone Saturday!

John Ebell

22 Sept 2020

This month I wanted to make some improvements to the club to enhance our members experience. Over the past few weeks we have been working on improving Club operations such as the Web Site, increasing club communication, increasing number of club members, creating a club regatta, establishing boats for sale and other club resources. We also worked on improving the club dock, race marks and scoring system clipboard. So this month I was very excited to get to the pond and put these improvements into the works. Well I said I was looking forward to our Sept 19 Race because I knew it was going to be exciting. And Boy was I right.

I was very excited to try out the dock, as I had reinforced it with steel plating, an end support and installed rope handles and launch/retrieval lines. I arrived very early to deal with the six boats I had to bring for people, and then started setting up. To my surprise and delight, at 8 am Tom Walsh arrived to help set up. We proceeded to set the Dock up. It assembled easily, was easier to position, and I am happy to report, now it has no more wobble. Hopefully next time when the pond is at a normal level, we can get a better bottom to rest on.

We then worked on modifying and making several race marks. I am also happy to report we now have 8 race marks to allow us to set the multi start/finish longer courses. All our Race marks now have the Walter House bottom extension and adjustable chain set up to prevent entanglements. It was gratifying to see it work flawlessly, as not one boat hung up on a race mark! Walter really hit a home run with that set up! I do want to acknowledge as we were almost finished, several people did arrive early to help, but we had just about finished. Thank you for coming early, and I hope you can do so next month as well, as I don’t plan to be there as early next month! Finally, I don't know if everyone was aware of it , but we now have a new storage clipboard that holds scoresheets, membership forms and most importantly, extra pens! Hopefully we are now more organized.

Now that we had the course set up and the dock set, all that was left to do was race. Sounds easy right? Well the one thing we can’t set up or improve upon is the Wind. Boy it needed some help! The wind coming out of the North, was puffy and fickle. This led to some of the most difficult racing conditions I have ever experienced at this pond. It placed a premium on boat handling and being in the right place. But I guess anything it is better than a drifter. As I said, due to the wind, racing was quite difficult. Position on the race course and keeping ones boat moving were paramount. While racing finishes varied, Top skippers in the Vic Class, Walter House, Craig Huzway and Tom Walsh faired the best with the conditions. Danny Thomas, Steve Howard, and John Ebell rose to the top of the One meter Class. And Craig Huzway, Danny Thomas and Alan Krusinger persevered in the New Dragon force 65 class. All in all, it was a great day of racing and I think everyone left knowing they had sailed a full day!

A lot of Club activity took place besides racing Saturday.. This month we had a couple new people race with us, several new members join, several old members renew, and even old members drop by. It was amazing! To add to that, incredibly In the Victoria Class we had 15 competitors! I can’t remember ever having that many at a MMYC Race day. There were 12 One Meters and 9 in the DF 65 Class! It was great to see! Visitors Kirt and Victor Zimmerman dropped by from Delmar to race their Vics. It was great to have them join us. I immediately also noticed Covid Prisoner, Craig Huzway showed up for the first time this year. He has been hiding out at Cape Cod! It was also good to see first time returning Vic skippers, Marc Smith, Bob Stuart and Aleso Pesce make it out today. Hope you can attend October and November. In the One Meter Class, newcomer/new ODOM skippe,r Emily Howard put her new #414 on the course today. Emily also was a volunteer score keeper for the Vics and took a lot of pictures for us today. Thank you Emily for your extra help. If anyone knows who the gentleman was who volunteered and kept score for us during the One Meter racing, please let me know. I want to send him a big Thank You too. Also in the One Meter Class, long missing Old Member, Steve Andre rejoined the club and returned with his just purchased ODOM #88. It was great to see Steve back out after such a long break. But the break didn’t slow him down any. Steve went out and won the first One Meter race of the day! Finally, Andy Barron joined the club today and purchased an RG 65 from the club. He also fearlessly competed in his first ever sailboat race with us today in the DF 65 Class. Way to go Andy and Welcome! Finally, word must be getting out about our sailing. During the day, old member and EC 12 skipper Larry Johnson stopped by to say Hi and recount old racing at Lake Kittimagunde. He was quite interested in the DF65. Who knows we might get him to join the fun! As the Day was closing down a gentleman and his daughter walked up and said hi. It took a second and then I recognized his voice. It was Will Wagner! Will was an EC 12 and ODOM skipper when we sailed at Lake Kittimagunde, and had not been by for years. During his absence he and his wife started a family and had two children. It was good meeting his daughter and talking to him . And, it looks like he and his dad might be back soon. We look forward to it!

A few people I was hoping to see didn’t make it. Missing Old Member Tom Phillips, new member Tom Price, and new ODOM skipper Mari Spina missed the fun. Hopefully they can make our next practice or race day.

Finally, I want to thank all those that stayed to clean up. Danny Thomas took on the difficult task of retrieving all 8 marks and everyone else pitched in on putting all the equipment away. It went very fast with so many hands, and all your help was very much appreciated.

Scores are up and there are a few pictures added to the Gallery Section! There are even more pictures and possibly video of this weekend coming, so keep an eye out. Also, people have asked for another practice/fun race day so I will be sending a notice out about that soon as well.

Don't Forget about the Big Regatta over on the Easter Shore this week!

Stay Safe Everyone!

15 Oct 2020

What an incredible time sailing. Mix one beautiful cool comfortable sunny day with a delightful breeze and you have RC sailing nirvanas. That pretty much describes tonight's practice sailing. Tom Walsh, Walter House, Alan Krusinger, Jervis Dorton, Jim Latoff, and myself enjoyed the wonderful sailing at Melford. The wind did tease us a little and come stronger from the far shore, but that put a premium on sailing smart. Like anything too good the breeze was fleeting as the wind wound down as the sun kept gettting lower in the sky. Right after we concluded racing the wind Gods shut off and the pond at Melford turned into a mirror. Beautiful but a real pain in the ass if your boat was in the middle of the pond. (Don't ask)

This Saturday is race day. Be sure to come out and enjoy the fun.

John

19 Oct 2020

Our October Race day was as challenging as ever. While the wind was up when I first got to the pond, by the time we started racing, the rising temperatures and resulting thermals played havoc with both the direction and strength. We set a long windward-leeward race course and made the best of it. Most of the races for the Victoria class were long one lap races, but we did manage to get in a few long two lap races. Like last month, the longer courses were successful in spreading out the fleet. Staying in the favored wind and protecting a favored side was often the deciding factor in many races. Despite the wind, it was good to see the days racing results were fairly very spread out, with Walter House, Tom Walsh, Jervis Dorton and John Ebell taking bullets(1st place) in the Victoria Class. The wind built a little for the One Meter Class, but it still had it's fickle points and strength. A couple races the direction even changed 180 degrees! Mostly two lap races were run for the One Meters. The results were even more spread out in the ODOM class where Steve Andre, Tom Walsh, Allan Krusinger, John Ebell and Steve Howard took Bullets. It also was heartening to see old #450 Bubbles back. Bart Drummond put an incredible paint job on his new 777 boat. (pic above) I am sure by next month all the kinks in the sail system will be worked out and the boat will be as fast as the paint job. In the Dragon Force 65 class racing, the wind was dropping almost as fast as the setting sun. The class started in a dying wind and it turned on and off many times during the racing. The term "On Golden Pond" or "mirror" kept coming to mind. Never the less, 4 boats competed through all 7 races. I am happy to say that Bullets were taken by Craig Huzway, Allan Kursinger, John Ebell and even rookie Bart Drummond! Congrats to Bart!

It was good to see Ara Sahakian bring his hand made one meter and race with us. Sorry the wind was so strong and damaged your boat. I am sure you can fix it. In addition, Ara raced his Dragon Force 65 with us and did particularly well for his first day of racing. Also, Andy Barron joined us again for his second time racing his 65. He must have been practicing this past month, because he had the boat moving very well. It also was great seeing Emily Howard getting used to her new ODOM 414. I am sure after a few more times out, she will be knocking on the door fighting for Bullets.

While the racing was painfully slow at the end of the day all had a great time. Thanks to the crew that helped me put the equipment away (Bart, Ara and Allan). I think we set a new worlds record of 20 some minutes putting everything away. Its amazing how fast it goes with more hands!

Finally, we also held an unofficial meeting before the One Meter Class. I discussed the upcoming year and that we will need a new Commodore for year 2021, as well as a club secretary and the revived positions of Victoria, One Meter and DF65 Class Coordinators. If you can help out and serve, start thinking about it now, and let me know if you can help with the 2021 year. Oh and don't forget about the Capital Cup coming up November 7th between MMYC and all the other Yacht Clubs. If you don't have a DF 65, you can still come out and help or support the MMYC members sailing. We need all the help we can get from our great members. Information about it is on the web site. Finally, put the 3rd Saturday in November on your schedule. That's the final day and year end positions are on the line! Don't miss it!!

John

Commodore Message:

28 Oct 2020

MMYC members this is the time of year similar to Baseball playoffs. The next month's scoring will determine our 2020 champions. So, November's racing day is "Crucial" as Danny Thomas says. Be sure to tune your boats and give it your best. Most importantly attend!!

Speaking of scoring... Octobers results and standings are now posted, so check them out. Since its crunch time and I know there will be questions, I also asked our beloved Scorer Craig Huzway to give us an explanation of the scoring system. His write up is down below.

Finally, I want to remind everyone about the upcoming Capital Cup regatta on November 7. This is a pretty big deal and the reputation of the club is on the line. We could use a hand or two and volunteers are needed. If you can help, come out and support your fellow club members, as we defend MMYCs honor. Bart Drummond is working very hard on this project. He can be reached at bartdrummond@yahoo.com We already have 22 sailors signed up and a dedicated photographer (Andy B.). Please help us make this a great event!

Oh and one more thing for everyone. Please, please don't let your guard down. Keep practicing social distancing and wear a mask. It is still a requirement at our pond. We want to keep everyone healthy and safe on and off the pond.

From our score keeper Craig;

Well, we are nearing the end of an interesting season. A good many of our regulars decided to stay home because of COVID 19, but another group of new people showed up. I have a feeling that is due to our hard working Commodore John Ebell. Because of that, I wanted to share how our daily scoring and season scoring work for the new people. We schedule 7 races for each class, each race day. Monthly races are posted under the LOW POINT system 1st get 1 point 2nd gets 2 and so on for how many boats sail that day. If you win every race, your total would be 7 points. If 10 boats sailed and you were last every race, your total would be 70 points.

The season total is done under the HIGH POINT system. When you look at the scores for the season everything is reversed, so win all 7 races and you get a score of 70 if 10 boats sailed. Last place in a 10 boat fleet gets 7 points. Our schedule for the year is one day each month, April to November for a total of 9 days. So 9 days, with 7 races comes to a total of 63 races for each class for the year. So, we all know it is very hard to be able to sail that much for "most" people if your not retired. To help even this out, we have throw outs (21 of them) that equals 3 race days that you can miss and still come out closer to that guy who sailed EVERY week because he is throwing out points and you are throwing out zeros for days you missed. This being said, the season only counts your best 42 races. Throw outs are only added at the final tally after the last race. I use a program called Sailwave that does all this automatically for me.

Because the DF65's started so late (Day 5 I believe), you guys and gals wont have the benefit of throwing any races out this year.

So, to review the throw out situation as it stands as of today, The Victoria's are the only class that someone might have a chance to throw out any scores if someone sailed every available race day, 7 out of 9 (if they sail in Nov)

The One meter class already missed 3 days, 2 were cancelled due to COVID and 1 due to weather. That takes care of the 3 day/21 drops.

DF class missed the first 4 days. So you'd better sail fast, as it all counts for you!

The biggest problems for managing the scoring are when people don't sign in on race day, use a different boat/sail number, or I simply cant read the writing on the score sheet.

Questions and comments are always welcome. Please just ask me or John.

Craig

Commodore Message:

November 19th, 2020

Well, there has definitely been a change in the weather. Unlike most of the sailing season here, yesterday we had PLENTY of wind here in Maryland. They say "real sailors look forward to a blow", well Tom Walsh, Ken Szek and I went out at Heritage Harbor to try our DF 65s in the blow. It was fun to tune to the conditions and learn how the little boat handles the conditions. I am happy to report the boat can handle the wind and while we were out of control a few times, we all were using the A rig. A "B" rig would definitely settle things down. However, I don't think we would continue to sail club racing in conditions like those, so unless you are considering doing regattas with the DF 65 I think the A rig is really all most skippers will ever need.

Speaking of DF 65, there is lots of news going on. First, I am happy to report Tom Walsh is now the latest MMYC member to purchase a DF 65 and that brings us to a total of 11 , 65 class owners in our Club. Great progress by a great boat.

Finally, in Big DF65 news, congrats go to our own Bart Drummond, who has been asked and has accepted the position of DF 65 Region 2 Director. Bart has some ideas for the Class for this upcoming year, and one part may be a Region 2 DF Championship to be held by MMYC. Since this size and type of a regatta would require the cooperation and assistance of many members of MMYC, I want to ask the Club for their opinion as far as "yay or nay" . So please respond to my email at JEbell2694@msn.com with your input. I also will take a hand count this month pond side. It would be a great opportunity to hold a high level event at our home pond.

The club over the years has obtained many assets. There has never been a formal record of them and one thing I have been working on is an inventory of our things. After much research, I think I have a complete list. However, there is one thing I can not account for. The club had a trolling motor and Battery. While the Battery I am sure where ever it is, would be junk, I do not know where the clubs trolling motor is. Does anyone know the location of our motor? If anyone knows please let me know by email at JEbell2694@msn.com

This Saturday, November 21 is the last Club Race Day for the Year. Please come finish out an amazing year. It will be a very special day. The individual class champions haven't been settled and this day everything is on the Table. I want to also let everyone know past member Norman Watkins is working on a book about model yacht clubs in Maryland. As part of his research and development, he is taking pictures of all the members of all the Yacht clubs in Maryland. He will be at the pond on Saturday to take a club picture. If you want to be included in the picture, please make sure you are present at 12 noon sharp. The extended forecast is looking like sunny, 64 degrees and winds of 4-5 mph. Should be great sailing weather!

To close out this Commodore's message, I again want to ask for volunteers for next year's Club Commodore position. I can not serve again next year. We need someone new to step forward and take the helm. We already have all other positions staffed for next year, except for he Commodore position and possibly a new position of Membership Director. So the task isn't as daunting as it might appear as you have a great support staff already in place. Please give both positions consideration and get back to me. This club has established itself as one of the best in the four state area because we have great members and volunteers. If we are going to continue this, we all need to do our part. Please volunteer. More great things are awaiting us in 2021!

Look forward to seeing you at the pond Saturday!

John Ebell

MMYC Commodore

Commodore Message:

November 25th, 2020

Wow, here we are at the end of the sailing season! November 21 was the final race day of the year, it surely went fast! Earlier last week, I spoke to Danny Thomas and we discussed the wind forecast. We both agreed it was going to be brutally light. Unfortunately, we were not wrong! The wind was extremely light for the Victorias, light and building to be manageable for the One Meters, and light and dying for the 65 Class. I couldn’t believe it took almost 30 minutes to complete a one lap race in the Victoria class. Steve Howard can tell you exactly how long it took, but I prefer not to relive it.

Only 5 Victorias came out this month (our smallest attendance this year I believe). I think everyone else heard the weather forecast. As usual, Walter House for the most part showed everyone the way around the race course. The wind was so light at one point, even Walter couldn’t make his boat go! Walter got 4 bullets with Steve Howard, Tim Rulon and John Ebell each notching one.

In the One Meter Class I was lucky enough (I guessed the wind correctly) and got 5 official bullets, with Danny Thomas and Tom Walsh also each notching an official bullet. I use the term official bullet as Walter House who actually took 6 guns, raced his IOM, which is not scored. There were 10 competitors in the One Meter class this month. We also were graced by the attendance of Original Member Norman Watkins and his ODOM #24. It was good to see you out Norm. Please come back again.

We had 5 skippers test their mettle in the 65 Class this month. When we started, there was workable wind, and we went with a long once around course. As the wind died, the courses kept getting shortened, so as to allow us to finish in time. We actually did get in the 7 races (Much to the delight of Bart Drummond. Explanation coming). Danny Thomas, using the MMYC club DF 65, took 3 bullets, I took 3 bullets, and Rookie Bart Drummond solidly took one himself.

Saturday’s complete results for all classes are posted on the website. Be sure to check it out!

While I highlighted the great performances Saturday on the race course, there were several great performances going on off the course. For those of us there, I am sure you saw Walter House and Danny Thomas. Did you see what they were doing when they weren’t racing? They were coaching, helping people set up their boats, helping set up & take down, keeping score and helping call items on the race course. We are really lucky as a club, to have both of them as mentors/resources/etc. I want to thank them for their support this past year. I am sure all of you have been helped by these guys too, so next time you see them, be sure to thank them again!

With November’s race day, we have completed another successful race day and race year, and this is even despite COVID. I am very happy to report that in spite of the virus, club membership is actually up this year. We already have a slate of officers for next year, so I know once COVID is worked around and we start returning to normal, our club will really take off.

Finally, I am also so happy, proud, and excited to report MMYC continues to be a trend setter. We will soon be fortunate to have Koni Drummond assume the rank of MMYC Commodore. I believe this is a first that I am aware of, a Female Club Commodore. Koni is a recent new member of our club and the wife of new member and Web Master Bart Drummond. She presently races a DF 65 and is still learning the aspects of our sport. However, she brings excellent organizational skills and experience, coupled with tons of enthusiasm. More than enough qualities to be an excellent Commodore. Like any new officer, she will need our support and backing, and I ask that everyone of us give her all the help we can. We all should thank her for stepping up and answering the call to volunteer. This club is the best because we all pull together as a team. Between now and the end of December I am going to be asking for a couple more volunteers to round out a how the club needs to be staffed. If you haven’t volunteered yet, now is the time to, as we are all going to be very active this next year. We are lucky to have been given the opportunity to host the DF65 Regionals next year and of course will be traveling over to Hagerstown for the 2021 Capital Cup. The DF65 class is getting exciting!

Next week, I will highlight what the club still needs, and will release the hot off the press 2020 MMYC Year end results and will announce the Class Champions. So, stay tuned!

Commodore Message:

December 8th, 2020

Well, winter sure appears to be on us now. Its been cold out recently and the days are getting really short! However, if you are like me, always in the back of your mind is the thought of a fast boat, cutting through the water, sailing on the edge and harnessing all the power possible from the forces that God gave us. It seems nothing is as pure and satisfying, as that feeling. That applies to real and model boats! Too bad we have a few months to go until we can all be out doing it again! Until that magic time comes though, there are always things to do to make next year even better!

During this off time, I recommend spending some time doing some things like servicing your boat, running new sheets, taking apart, clean, lube and corrosion proof your gear. Besides servicing your boat, now is also the best time to improve yourself. You should take this time to work on learning the rules, read about sail trim/theory, racing tactics and strategies. There are so many useful publications out there, you can't go wrong. I promise you, come next racing season, you will be glad you did. To make it even easier for you, Bart our webmaster has done a great job this past year putting together a wonderful source of information on the website under "New Captains Start Learning Here". I guarantee you, even if you have been sailing for a good long time, you will learn something there. Check it out!

Besides working on improving you and your boat, I ask you to please help to improve OUR club, MMYC. While now is a lull period in sailing, there are many things that the club needs now in order to be ready for this upcoming year. One of the most important things you can do now, is sign up, renew your membership with the club for 2021, and send your dues. This will give us the financial backing to renew our pond insurance, identify what our membership is, plan for the upcoming 2021 DF 65, Region 2 Regatta and be prepared for next year's activities. Go to the website, under MMYC Homepage, click membership, then click "Membership Application" to download, then print it. Fill it out and send it in with your dues. Remember, our dues are paid each season, not by the date we paid the dues. With COVID still omnipresent and future events somewhat in limbo, we may not have a timely true club meeting. So getting membership paperwork and dues in as soon as possible, is very important.

Besides dues, the other component of club membership is participation. This not only includes participation in the fun of what we do, but sharing some of the duties and chores, so everyone can enjoy the club. What I am referring to is race day set up and take down. Did you ever arrive to the pond, look around and magically all the race marks are already set up, the dock erected, scorers and starting area ready to go? Trust me, there are no elves that magically put everything up and take everything down. It is all done by your fellow members. I will soon be contacting everyone about signing up and committing to a designated volunteer day helping with up and down. Don't worry, everyone will still be racing and scoring will be performed using the first finishing method. This volunteer schedule only applies to set up and take down. I understand not everyone can negotiate a dingy and dropping marks, and I am arranging a lead set up crew for each day to be able to handle those duties. But, everyone can help inflate the dingy, screw together the dock. move the equipment, etc. My plan, based upon available members, is to staff each day with a lead crew and two helpers. With 3 people, setting up and take down goes pretty quickly. It is also my plan, that if the numbers work, each person should only have to serve one day of race service a year. Do it once and you are done. So, give it some serious thought now. There are nine months of racing March through November. Think of a month that works for you. I will be contacting everyone shortly to get commitments.

As we have said earlier in the year, Yahoo will be terminating our Group Service. This next week we will be sending out information regarding our new Google communication network. Keep an eye out for it and sign up for it when you receive the info.

Finally, I want to let everyone know, the "Year End Season Totals" for the club racing have been tabulated!!! The results are posted now on our website, so everyone quickly run over there and peruse the scoring. The scoring was very, very tight, and in all instances it came down to the last day of racing to determine the final results. As usual Walter House dominated the Victoria Class with John Ebell and Tom Walsh chasing. In the ODOM Class, John Ebell (1st) and Steve Howard(2nd) were lucky enough to overtake Tom Walsh on the last fluky light air day of racing. Steve nipped Tom for 2nd by 2 points! The New DF 65 class provided rookie skipper Bart Drummond (1st) with his early Christmas present, as with the last 7 races he was able to overtake non-present Alan Krusinger (2nd) to win the class. John Ebell(3rd) followed up holding off Danny Thomas (4th) to snag 3rd Place. The scoring was tight here as well. Only 5 points separated 1st and 2nd, and 1 point separated 3rd and 4th! I want to congratulate all the winners and all sailors on another successful and fun year. We should all be proud, as this was even in spite of COVID! There are several more things I will still be working on before I turn the over the helm to Koni (Connie) Drummond. So keep a weather eye out for another communique before the end of the year.

John Ebell

Commodore's Message 22 Dec 2020

We are now using google as the distribution method for email blasts. Make sure you received this message through email. It is also posted on our web site and our Facebook site. If you didn't receive it as an email, please notify me directly at JEbell2694@msn.com.

So, who has sent their membership dues in? My membership renewal and dues are in the mail to our Treasurer. Join me and get it out of the way now. The cost for pond insurance has just risen dramatically, The club needs funds!! Thanks to everyone in advance for making it a priority. Speaking of joining, don't forget about the AMYA. We always need a certain number of our members to be AMYA members to maintain our club and insurance status. Besides that, they produce a great magazine and are a great resource for model yachters. If you don't belong please join, you will be glad you did.

I recently was speaking to past ODOM owner Andrew Miller. He told me he had a light blue ODOM and sold it to someone in our club back in 2012 or so. We are always on the look out for idle ODOMS. I know this is not Tom Walsh's #37. I would be curious if anyone in our club remembers it or has it laying around. I also would.be curious if anyone has or knows of any other ODOMS around not being used. We would gladly purchase any that could be located. Please let me know directly at JEbell2694@msn.com. Is anyone working on any new boats over the winter? I know Bart Drummond is getting a couple new ones going. Let me know.

Tom Walsh recently contributed a great tidbit of info about cleaning the scum off your boat at the pond. He has discovered that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works wonders to quickly remove the scum and put back on a clean fast shine. This sounds like a worthwhile addition to any toolbox I say.

The Heritage Harbor Club continues to race (weather permitting) Their Commodore Ken makes the call to race or not, usually that day given the conditions. For those of you wanting to stay fresh during the off months, this is an excellent opportunity. Drop in and get some stick time.

Again, I will be contacting everyone very soon about volunteering for race set up/takedown this coming year. I have already had a few volunteers. Think about what day you would like to participate.

We have new 2021 applications and Sailing Instructions coming soon, so be on the look out for them.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and that Santa brings you the new sails and transmitters we all want.

Thanks,

John Ebell

Commodore Message: 28 Jan 2021

MMYC members, this will be my last communication to you as your Club Commodore. As you know, Koni Drummond has stepped up to “Take over the Helm”. Since a club meeting isn’t in the stars to officially do the change of officers, we have decided she will officially assume the Title/role/job, effective February 1, 2021. I am eagerly looking forward to her energy and enthusiasm and I am excited as to what great new things will happen at MMYC this next year. I hope all of you are too. Here are a few teasers: Dragon Force 65 Regional Regatta, Alternate Pond, training seminars, EC 12s sailing, no mask sailing! Possibly even more new sailors! So everyone get excited!

To help make next year a really successful one for our club, it takes everyone’s help. Now is the time to renew your membership and send in your dues so our club has funds to operate. Another important member responsibility is participation in Race day set up. There are still lots of members who haven’t signed up yet. Do your part, please contact me (Jebell2694@msn.com} with which month and an alternate month you can help. This will allow us to hit the ground running this year! Help spread the fun. If you know of anyone who might be interested in our fun hobby, invite them out to the pond. We will always hook them up with a boat and transmitter so they can actually try our sport.

Hey, have you all really looked at our Web Site lately? There is a tremendous amount of information there. Quite handy to look at right now, is a review of the new 2021 rules of racing. Now is the time to go over them, not on the pond in March. Since we are experiencing a lot of cold inclement weather, spend some time snug and warm at home, and flip through the site. You will be impressed with what Bart has compiled.

The 2021 Racing Season starts for MMYC the Third Saturday of March on March 20th. Since a club meeting isn’t practical now given the Covid issues, there will be a short club meeting between the Victoria Class and the ODOM Class on that first race day. Plan on attending, as I am sure the new Commodore Koni Drummond will have a couple things to discuss and then help last years Trophy Winners celebrate, as we hand out the 2020 trophies.

Finally, here is something to judge how long you have been a member of MMYC. If this pic makes you shiver and makes you go “Oh No!”, you have been here a long time. Only the few know what I mean!

See ya on the Water

John Ebell

Commodore Message: 6 Feb 2021

Happy February!! I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm in this freezing, snowy weather!! I would like to start off by thanking John Ebell, for all his work and dedication as our Commodore last year. The Maryland Model Yacht Club will continue to be a great club, as it has been in years past! John and his other club officers, Craig, Walter, and Bart were able to increase membership, participation and the website had some changes which by the way, looks great!

Just a little recap…John and Bart led the First Capital Cup in November 2020, which was one of the best events of the year. It has earned us National Recognition!! Walter and Danny did an amazing job as Scorer and Race Directors. We are already looking forward to this year’s cup, which the Cumberland Valley Model Yacht Club will be hosting. If you do not have a DF65, now would be a great time to get one so you can participate in this fun event!! It was great seeing 18 boats sailing at one time and the different clubs being represented. Thank you, John, for your dedication to this great club!! I know everyone appreciates what you have done. I, definitely have some big shoes to fill…😊

Foremost, I would like to thank the members of this club for giving me the honor of being their new Commodore. I have some great ideas and plans to make the 2021 season even better than 2020!! In order, for the club to continue to be successful, we will need full participation from all our members. We have so many great members that bring their own unique talents to the club. I empress upon everyone to get involved. No one should be just showing up and racing, then going home. This is our club, and we all need to support it.

One of the ways, our members can get involved in the club is by volunteering. We have a list for members to sign-up and volunteer in many areas. So far, we have some members who have already signed up to volunteer, but we still have a couple of spots left, such as setting up and taking down after each event. Or you can sign up and volunteer as race scorer or working the DF65 Regionals on September 25th. I want to thank those who already have signed up to volunteer and make this season great! Without members volunteering, there would not be any racing!! Imagine showing up to a race and nothing has been put out? Therefore, it is so important that we all get involve and help! We have a great club, and it will get even better if we have 100% commitment and participation.

I also want to thank our Class Coordinators…Bart Drummond who holds two positions, as he is our Webmaster and DF65 Class Coordinator. Tom Walsh is the ODOM Class Coordinator and John Ebell is the Victoria Class Coordinator. It is their jobs to help in all areas related to their boat classes. Andy Barron is our club Secretary, as well as a great photographer for club events.

We need to all do our best to support this club, other clubs and, the hobby as well. Let us all commit to asking all our friends and family to come out to our first practice day on March 6^th. The event will start at 10AM and end at 1PM. This is your chance to tune your boat for the up-coming season, see your friends again, help other members with their boats and talk with potential newcomers to the club. Please pencil in this event on your calendar and let us make this event a great one!!

Also, the awards for last year will be given out on the first race day (March 20th) in between the Victoria and ODOM classes. I would also like to have a Sportsmanship award for this season. This award could go out to as many as three people every year to recognize members for their dedication to the club, membership, and the hobby. Let us make sure everyone is there to recognize our sailors!

We are the largest group of RC Sailors in the area and club membership is a great way to show your support for our club, as well as others that you may sail at. My husband and I belong to Cumberland Valley Model Yacht Club, as well as our own. Our club does let members of other clubs come race for free and a lot of them let our members do the same thing. We need to support the other clubs as well. For example, if you race with them more than two times a year, then maybe you should consider joining the club and pay the membership dues. Other clubs do have expenses, just like we do, and it all goes to support our hobby. Not a dime goes into anyone’s pocket. We are all volunteers in these clubs. Speaking of membership dues, if you have not already done so, please send your dues in for this year. Time is of the essence! Our club starts next month in March, so please do not make Walter chase you down for your membership dues. I have been in his position before and it is not fair to our treasure.

We will continue to update our website. I know Bart’s goal is to make it the best of its type in the world!! If you have any suggestions or stories for the website, please let him know. If you have not explored the website in detail, you are really missing out!! It has the largest reference section for articles and videos of its kind. You literally, could spend hours looking at the many pages of articles, pictures, club news and other events. There is even a Hall of Fame on our site. Maybe, I will ask Bart to come up with a scavenger hunt game for us to explore the website? There are so many pages to explore!! Did you know there are over 35 different areas of our website? I was shocked to learn that over 2,300 people from around the world looked at our Capital Cup Page alone. So please check it out!

Lastly, I cannot stress the importance of every member to get involved this year! Please invite your friends and families, support other clubs, and please get your dues to Walter and take some time to explore the website.

Please stay safe and keep social distancing, as we continued to deal with the COVID pandemic. We are going to have a great year!

See you at the pond!! 😊

Koni (Connie) Drummond

Commodore Message 12 March 2021

Hello Skippers,

Just a Friendly reminder that our 1st Race Day will be Saturday, March 20th at our pond location.

Our Fun Sail Event was a success!! It was really nice seeing some of our members tuning their boats and having a great time sailing them, even though that cold wind was beating our sails down. Danny to the rescue!! Thank you, Danny for tuning our boats and getting them ready for our race season.

We still have some volunteer opportunities in our club. For those of you, who have signed up, thank you for volunteering!! Without members volunteering, there would not be any racing!! John and Alan have graciously volunteered to set up and take down for our first race day. Make sure to thank them!

Another Friendly reminder, please do not forget to pay your membership dues. Please send your dues to Walter House, as he is our Treasurer for the club and he does use Pay Pal. The form and his contact information can be found on the “Membership” page on our website.

The Awards Presentation and Commodore Address will take place, Saturday, March 20^th at 12 noon (between the Victoria and ODOM races). This will be a great time to recognize our member’s achievements!

We have some great things happening in our club this year and it will be shared on the 20^th, so mark it on your calendar. It’s going to be fun!

See you at the pond!!

Koni (Connie) Commodore MMYC

25 March 2021

Commodore's Message

Hello Skippers,

We had our first race day of the season last Saturday, March 20th! We had a good turn out and the weather was perfect! It was nice to see our club members sail their boats and compete in our three classes: Victoria’s, Any One Meter and Dragon Force 65. So many people now compete in all three classes! Most people stayed the whole day which was nice. Bart and Any took video and pictures. The links are at the very bottom of the page.

We had our awards presentation for 2020 season. The awards were given to the top three skippers in all three classes. Congratulations!

Victoria Class:

1st Place: Walter House - scored 324

2nd Place: John Ebell - scored 283

3rd Place: Tom Walsh - scored 236

ODOM Class:

1st Place: John Ebell - scored 258

2nd Place: Steve Howard - scored 237

3rd Place: Tom Walsh - scored 235

Dragon Force 65 Class:

1st Place: Bart Drummond - scored 109

2nd Place: Alan - scored 104

3rd Place: John Ebell - scored 90 (Danny Thomas scored 89...just one point of a difference from John Abel). That was a close race indeed!

Remember Skippers, it is important to sail and participate in every race...those points do add up!

A new award was given out for the first time. It’s called the Commodore’s Achievement Award. This award will be given every year to the member who exhibits the best combination of club spirit, volunteerism, and sailing enthusiasm for the previous season, as selected by the incoming Commodore. The winner for 2020 was John Ebell. Thank you, John, for all you have done for the club.

Couple of Reminders:

All sailing race days are on the 3rd Saturday of every month. There are 9 races for the season. Go ahead and save the date now on your calendars, so you are free to sail with us. Our 2nd race day will be on April 17, 2021. The first race starts at 10am right after the pre-race meeting. We may be getting a visit from the DF95 Region 2 Director as he would like to sail with our club. I’ll bet you’d guess he has a DF95 to sail in our “Any-One-Meter” class, but he also has a Dragon 65 to race with us.

We officially have the DF65 Regionals Regatta scheduled with the AMYA for September 25, 2021. MMYC will be hosting this event and the winner will get Chevrons. It is limited to the first 20 skippers who sign up, so hurry to the AMYA website and sign up under “Regattas”.

Good News!! We were given permission to use Milford’s Pond and planning on a race or practice day. We just have to sort out a couple more things. More to come...😃

Lastly, I’m so proud of our members volunteering. Tim Rulon is our latest volunteer, as he signed up for the month of October. We still have a few more slots to fill, so please contact any club officer to support your club. I want to thank Alan and John for setting up and taking down for March. Craig, Jervis, and Mari are taking care of April. We all thank you!

Everyone be safe,

Commodore Koni

Awards:

https://sites.google.com/site/marylandmodelyachtclub/mmyc-home-page/Race-Results/2020-awards

Pictures:

https://sites.google.com/site/marylandmodelyachtclub/news-page/gallery/race-day-20-mar-2021-columbia

Video Page (New Video is at the bottom):

https://sites.google.com/site/marylandmodelyachtclub/news-page/gallery/videos

22 Apr 2021

Hello Skippers!!

What a great turn-out for our 2^nd Race Day!! It was so much fun watching our three fleet classes race. The weather was a little chilly, but the winds were perfect for sailing.

It was nice seeing new members join and hopefully, additional visitors that will join our great club in the future. Let us welcome our newest members to the club: Sangeet, Doug and Drew. Thank you for joining our club and hope to see you guys next month!!

We also had visitors from the Bear Creek Model Yacht Club. Dave and Mark, who came down to sail and race their Dragon Force 65s. It was nice having you guys race with us and hopefully, consider joining our club! Our Dragon Force 65 fleet continues to grow and it is such a fun group to sail with!!

2^nd Race Details:

We hope everyone saw the new ODOM that joined our fleet. By the way… we have the largest fleet on the east coast. Pretty exciting stuff!! Maybe a Regionals is in order?

The Any One Meter fleet had an ODOM at the top of the standings this week. John’s boat took no less than 4^th place in any of the 7 races. Danny’s DF95 had 4 bullets (1st) and finished no less than 3^{rd place}, but unfortunately a DNS the 6^th race. Craig’s ODOM had 1 bullet, as he finished in 3^rd place. The ODOMs are beautiful boats, as they glide through the water. They have a reputation for being the best sailing boat and is now sought out after by savvy sailors. We have 14 members that currently own and love their ODOMs. Our club has many members wanting to sail them. If anyone knows of one for sale or one not being sailed, please let us know.

The Victoria Fleet was again dominated by Walter, as he won 6 out of the seven races. Craig took 2^nd place and John finished 3^rd place. This fleet had a great turnout as 10 skippers competed in winds that were nice, but shifty at times.

Our largest fleet of the day was the DF65/ RG65 Affinity Group. Twelve skippers competed in this competitive class. Craig crushed the competition with his Affinity taking a bullet and three 2^nd place finishes. John and his DF65 finished 2^nd place with one bullet and Danny, who sailed a club loaner DF65 took 3^{rd place} with three bullets. It’s pretty amazing that Danny was able to have such success with a boat he just borrowed. We were happy to hear that Danny purchased one of the club’s new DF65s later that day. I think everyone would agree that seeing 12 boats competing at once was pretty exciting!! I have a feeling that this fleet is going to grow rather quickly after seeing so many smiles. There are a lot of talented skippers in this class, so don’t forget to sign up for the Regionals. Remember, there are only 14 slots left. When they are gone, they are gone. Chevrons are at stake for the first time in Region 2!

Great News!! A little change up for next month, we will be sailing at Melford Pond. We have been hearing great things from our members, who have been testing out the Melford Pond. It will be a good opportunity for all skippers to test these waters, as well. (Pond address: 16800 Science Dr. Bowie, MD.) We are also going to start at 9 AM with the Victoria Fleet, 1130 Any-One-Meter and 2PM for the DF65/RG65 Affinity fleet. John has been working out all the logistics and we are finally going to be able to test it out as a club. The restrooms are inside the Marriot Hotel and they do ask, if we use their restrooms that we buy a water bottle or something else. Our pond testers have mentioned that the location is much better to sail. Possibility a better location for the DF65 Regionals? Something to consider. The Marriot hotel does have a restaurant that is open for breakfast and is again open at 5PM for dinner. I’ve already heard that some of you may eat breakfast there to start the day. It would be a great place to have a club meeting at some point.

We would like to thank Mari, Jervis, Danny and Craig for setting up and taking down the course!! We greatly appreciate the help!! As you all know, Jervis Dorton, recently had surgery and is still recovering. He still managed to come out and do his club duties this past Saturday, as he showed up early and helped set up. Thank you for dedication!

We still need volunteers for June, August, September, October and November. Please send Bart an email if you can help out. Bart’s email address is: bartdrummond@yahoo.com Part of what makes our club so great is how we all work together in order to get things done! The club is not a club without full participation!!

Just a quick reminder, next month in May… John, Steve H. and Emily have volunteered to set-up and take down. Thank you in advance!

As always, we would like to thank our Class Coordinators Bart, Tom and John for insuring two smooth running race days. Also, Walter, has done a great job collecting dues and keeping are finances in order. If you have not paid your dues to Walter, you’ll be glad to know he is also set-up for PayPal. His information is on the membership page. We also want to thank Craig for doing a great job with scoring!

Lastly, I cannot stress the importance of every member getting involved this year! One of the ways you can do this is to invite your friends and families. Once they see what a great time we are having, they may want to become a part of it. Also, please don’t forget to take some time to explore the website. Bart has done an amazing job in making the website fun and resourceful!

Please stay safe and keep social distancing, as we continued to deal with the COVID pandemic. Please also keep in mind, that we still need to wear our masks in accordance with CDC/local rules. So far, we are having a great year and it is only going to get better!

Once again, as a quick reminder, we will be meeting at the Melford Pond for our 3^rd Race. Every fleet starts an hour earlier.

Melford Pond

Address: 16800 Science Dr.

Bowie, MD

See you at the pond!! 😊

Koni (Connie) Drummond

25 May 2021 Commodore's Message

Hello Skippers,

We had our 3rd Race Event of the year at the Melford Pond on May 15, 2021. It was fun sailing at the new pond even though we had a few hiccups that needed to be sorted out. Thank you, John for providing our members with information about Melford Pond. We appreciate the hard work that went into getting approval for the usage of the pond.

The Executive Officers had their First Zoom Meeting to discuss the pros and cons about the new pond. Based on the votes from our executive officers and paid club members in good standing, it was agreed to use the Melford pond for the months of May, June, July, August and September. Then use the Columbia pond for the months of March, April, October and November. I know, a few club members still want to keep Columbia as our go-to pond for convenience and the ease of loading and unloading boats. By using both ponds, we get to benefit from the winds at both ponds during the different seasons.

Safety is our number one priority for our club members! We will be adding a First Aid Kit to our club equipment in the event of an emergency during any of our race events.

Just a friendly reminder to refrain from cursing at the ponds. We have children and families stopping by to watch us sail. Our Bylaws states… “It is the responsibility of our members to sail fairly, be in compliant with the rules, and to treat all members and guest participants with respect and conduct themselves in an orderly manner. Article II Sect 1. The Club will encourage a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play and develop our member’s skills and understanding of the joy and spirit of yacht racing among a group with shared interests.”

Sail Wars was filming the Victorias on race day and the first video featuring our club will be premiering this Saturday. To find it go to YouTube and search “Sail Wars” then look for our club’s video. Make sure you “like” and "subscribe" as there are many more videos coming from that race day and by subscribing, you will be notified of new releases. I have seen the video and it is impressive. I’ll have Bart post the link on the site after the premiere.

Lastly, our race time will continue to be at 10AM. Our Class Coordinators will determine the course and it will be communicated to all skippers prior to the start of the races.

Let's make June's race day our most attended event yet! So save the date on your calendars "June 19th". We only meet once a month, so let's plan in advance to be there.

See you at the Melford Pond!!

Koni 😊

Commodore for MMYC

18 June 2021

Sunday Fun Day (13 June 2021)

Normally on the Second Sunday of the Month, Tom Walsh and Steve Howard travel to the Northern Virginia Model Yacht Club to participate in their monthly racing series. Unfortunately, Tom recently had back surgery, and a long road trip and a full day of racing wasn't what the Doctor ordered. Tom however was itching to Sail, so Steve and Tom decided to coordinate a last minute short practice day/fun race, closer to home, so Tom could still sail that day. Hence, the June 13th Practice day was unceremoniously created. Well, what was hastily pulled together, turned into an extremely fun and club productive afternoon. 6 racers spent time honing and refining their skills in Vics, One Meters and the DF 65. The pond provided reliable wind as always. and we sailed from the board walk promenade. It was kind of nice to have a railing to lean on, and a secure level walkway to enjoy while sailing. While all those who came definitely honed their skills, MMYC as a club also benefited from this get together. We were joined during this practice by new sailor, Chris Carpenter from Laurel. He has become interested in our hobby and had researched us through the great web site that Bart has diligently and patiently built. On the Web site he easily discovered when and where he could find us next, and then sought us out. At the pond, after a few minutes of conversation, the person who this get together was about (Tom Walsh) hands Chris his controller and makes the day about new members and our club! Good Job Tom! Needless to say, Chris seems hooked now, and is buying a boat, and also expected to join our club! Just goes to show how important it is to have Web exposure that is first in cue on Google, a good Web Site that interests prospective members and conveys all the information they seek, and finally, as much public exposure (the club sailing) as possible. So, when you think about practice, its not all about sailing, it does have a cumulative effect for the potential benefit of the club! Chris was also taking pictures of the days racing and was kind enough to contribute the photos of this day posted here. If he is as good of a sailor as he is photographer, we all better watch out!

Finally, speaking about watching out, Sangeet Khalsa, just purchased the Victoria the club has listed. He also has purchased a DF65. I don't know if you were aware, but over the past couple months he has been watching us race and participating at NVMYC, and doing thorough research, talking (at great length) to many club members. He also has sailed Flying Scotts. He is joining us this coming Saturday for the first time. Keep your eyes out for him! Two other new members should be joining our club soon as well. Today, each just bought a Seawind the club had for sale. More info to come!

Finally, Saturday is again our monthly race day. Remember to park on Curie Drive at the end of the pond. Of note for everyone, I have purchased for myself, a good sized, foldable cart. I am looking forward to using it getting around the pond. I will try and have it available to anyone/everyone who wants to borrow it to bring their gear pond side. It is a black Gorilla Cart. If you see it setting there, feel free to grab it and use it. I used it the other night and it really made getting pond side a breeze (no pun intended)!

Look forward to seeing everyone Saturday!

John Ebell

3 July 2021

Hello Skippers,

We had our 4th Race Day Event on June 19th. It was so nice to see everyone at Melford Pond. We started our first class with Victoria’s and it was a slow start for our skippers as the winds did not cooperate. Half way through the Any One Meter Class is when the winds started to pick up. The Dragon Force 65 Skippers were the ones with the best winds.

Our club has some new sailors racing with us and we have another new member (Chris). Please say hi to him next time you see him and welcome him to our club!

We also had a member asking for vote totals for the vote to sail at both Columbia and Melford ponds this season. The good news for the club is that almost all our members felt the same way. We only had 1 club member vote against the use of the Melford Pond. The rest of our club members voted to use the Melford Pond and Columbia Ponds this year.

Our DF65 Regionals Race Event is quickly approaching!! If you have not signed up to race, please go to theamya.org site and sign up under regattas. There is also a dedicated web page on our site. The link is on the home page. The Regionals will be held on September 25th at the Melford Pond. We already have a couple of our club members who have offered to help with this fun event! Thank you, John, Steve, Bart and Carl, for volunteering. If you are interested in helping out for this event, please email Bart Drummond. (bartdrummond@yahoo.com)

Quick Reminder:

Every 1st Friday of the month, John Ebell will be doing a Fun/Practice Race Day. All club members and guests are encouraged to attend.

Our 5th Race Day Event will be on Saturday, July 17th at the Melford Pond. Bart, Andy and I have set-up and take down.

We have new stars appearing on “Sail Wars” almost daily! To see some of our classes complete, go to YouTube.com and Search “Sail Wars” There is about 40 videos on there and most of them include our club members.

See you at the Melford Pond!

Connie

Commodore for MMYC

Commodore Message 1 Aug 2021

Hello Skippers,

My apologies for the late July’s Newsletter...I haven’t been feeling well. Hope everyone is doing well and keeping hydrated. Speaking about staying hydrated...July’s weather was steamy hot!

We had our 5th Race Event of the season on July 17th and the heat was brutal!! Even though the heat was testing our patience and we were sweating bullets...we had a great turnout at the Melford Pond. We had 15 boats sailing "Any One Meters", 10 boats sailing Victoria’s and 12 boats sailing DF 65s. It was nice seeing all these beautiful boats on the water! The Sail Wars Team got good footage of the races and some videos have already made it up to the YouTube website. Wait until you see race 7 on August 14th!

Another good note...It was nice to see the ladies back...Nancy, Mari and Emily! Hope to see you guys more often!! We even had 4 new members join our club on our race day!! Welcome to the MMYC Ken, Peter, Mike and Kyle...where our motto is all about having fun and supporting each other! We now have a total of 29 paid club members so far!!

If anyone is inquiring about the July’s scores...it is still under review due to penmanship issues. It has been brought to my attention that the writings on the score sheets are not legible which makes it harder for Craig to calculate the scores. Moving on forward...anyone who volunteers in keeping scores, will need to write down the numbers legibly. Numbers need to be written clearly and concise. Scribbles are not acceptable and delays the scoring. Also, any club member that comes in late and wants to sign in and sees someone scoring the race... Please do not disturb the scorer and wait until they are done scoring the race. We promise, you will have time to sign in before the next race. I had a couple of club members trying to sign in at the last minute when I was scoring the first race which distracted me in writing the scores correctly... :(

Safety Reminder:

Please do not swim in the pond to rescue a boat! Bart and I have purchased and donated an inflatable boat, oar, pump and two life vests for the club to use whenever a Skipper needs to rescue a sail boat. We had a scary situation when a Skipper jumped in the pond to rescue a boat and then needed help in getting out of the water. Your life is worth more to us than any RC boat. We do not want to see a Skipper drown!

Quick Reminder:

Our next 6th Race Event will be on Saturday, August 21, 2021 at the Melford Pond. Expecting another great turnout!

Don't forget to sign up for the DF65 Regionals which we will be hosting on the 25th of September! The trophies look great and Sail Wars will be recording for the nation to see.

August volunteers for set up and take down= Emily and Kyle. Please be there by 9 AM.

See you at the pond!

Koni (Connie)

MMYC Commodore

_{2 September 2021}

_{Commodore's Message}

_{Hello Skippers,}

_{We had our 6th Race Event of the year at the Melford Pond on August 21st, 2021. It was fun sailing at the pond as the weather was amazing. Thank you, John, Steve and Kyle for setting up and taking down the course. We appreciate the hard work that goes into providing a great course for all the rest of us to sail on. By the way, we still need two volunteers for September. Please, if you haven’t already volunteered or want to volunteer again, let me or Bart know so we can put you on the list.}

_{Safety is our number one priority for our club members! We debuted our new raft, life vest and First Aid Kit to our club equipment to be used in the event of an emergency or a stranded boat during any of our race events. The raft was used for the first time to rescue a boat and proved adequate. Bart did go out and buy a battery-operated pump for easier inflation!}

_{Racing was super fun and those that didn’t show up missed a day of almost perfect winds. Walter dominated the Victoria Class by winning 5 of the 7 races. John and Steve each won one race preventing the sweep. It was strange seeing only 4 boats in that class after having 10 the previous two race days. Where did you all go?}

_{The ODOMs had the best winds of the day and John took full advantage of them. He was able to beat out Danny and Tom by winning 5 of the 7 races. Walter and Tom each won a race in the day’s fierce competition. Sangeet even took a 4th place finish in a borrowed boat! Now to the class where everyone was tuning their skills for the upcoming DF65 Regionals.}

_{The Dragons were out in full force as 9 skippers honed their skills. Danny crushed the others on this day by winning 6 of the 7 races! Walter won the last race denying him the sweep and finishing second. Steve managed a third by being very consistent as he finished no worse than 6th in any of the races.}

_{The Season’s Overall Standings aren’t available as Craig is on vacation. We will let you know when they are posted.}

_{We have a very busy stretch of events over the next few months as the season ends with a grand finally. Here is a list of opportunities that are available in the local area:}

_{11th Sept-Saturday, Hagerstown, MD races EC12s and DF65s}

_{12th Sept- Sunday, NVMYC race day (Please double check the date before showing up).}

_{18th Sept-Saturday, Bowie, MD, MMYC Race Day 7}

_{25th Sept-Saturday, Bowie, MD, MMYC hosts the DF65 Region 2 Regionals. We host the first Region 2 Regionals and Sail Wars will be there!}

_{2nd Oct- Saturday, Hagerstown, MD, 2021 Capital Cup, MMYC has a team if you want to join us for this free event. Let’s win back the trophy!}

_{The season really winds down in November as we have our last race day, then we have three months of no racing!}

_{Let's make September's race day our most attended event yet! So, save the date on your calendars "September 18th". We only have so many race days left, so let's plan in advance to be there.}

_{See you at the Melford Pond!!}

_{Koni 😊}

_{Commodore for MMYC}

_{Melford Pond}

_{Address: 16800 Science Dr.}

_{Bowie, MD}

_{28 September 2021}

_{Commodore's Message}

_{Hello Skippers,}

_{We had our 7th Race Event of the year at the Melford Pond on September 18, 2021. It was fun sailing at the pond as the weather was amazing. The only thing that could have been better were the winds which were light at times. Thank you, John and Tom for setting up and taking down the course. We appreciate the hard work that goes into providing a great course for all the rest of us to sail on. By the way, we now have all the volunteers we need for the last two race days (October and November)! Steve A. and Tim are scheduled for October (Columbia) while Danny and Sangeet volunteered for November (Columbia). Thank you all so much for the help! We, ALL appreciate it…😊}

_{Racing was super fun as always. John led the Victoria Class with two bullets followed by Craig and Walter. The Vic Fleet decided to show up in force as 8 boats competed. This turn-out of boats was double the number that showed up last month and everyone had a great time!}

_{The ODOMs had the best winds of the day and Craig took full advantage of them with his big IOM. He was able to beat out Danny and John by winning 4 of the 7 races. Danny won the other 3 races in the day’s fierce competition. This class was fun to watch, as the fleet tied the DF65 class with a total of 10 boats on the water. Now to the class where everyone was tuning their boats for the DF65 Regionals.}

_{The Dragons were out in full force as 10 skippers honed their skills. Danny crushed the others on this day by winning 4 of the 7 races! Was this a preview of the Regionals? Steve won two races and Walter won 1 in a barrowed boat.}

_{Speaking of the Regionals…}

_{Our club did a fantastic job of hosting Region 2’s first ever DF65 Championship. We should all be so proud of our volunteers and skippers! We could not have had done this nice event without our volunteers. These people, most of whom weren’t sailing took the time to come out and make this event one to remember. Thank you, Bart, Dave, John, Kyle, Steve, Andy, Peter, Carl, and Walter! You are all amazing! Someone said …” This will go down in the history of the club for being a great event” and I, definitely agree on that! This event included comradery amongst our skippers, good will, great racing, beautiful trophies and great food. I can’t wait for the Sail Wars videos. This is definitely a must attend event for next year so if you don’t have a DF65 this is a good time to get your order in. We should all be so proud as the top spots went to OUR club members. I don’t want to spoil the Regatta Report, so I’ll stop now and put the link at the bottom.}

_{We have a very busy stretch of events over the next few months, as the season ends with a grand finale.}

_{Here is the list of opportunities that are available in the local areas:}

_{2nd Oct- Saturday, Hagerstown, MD, 2021 Capital Cup, MMYC has a DF65 team if you want to join us for this free event. Let’s win back the trophy!}

_{9 Oct-Saturday, Hagerstown, MD, Monthly club racing of EC 12s and DF65s (Their last club race day of the year)}

_{16 Oct- Saturday, Columbia, MD, MMYC Race Day #8}

_{20 Nov- Saturday, Columbia, MD, MMYC Race Day #9 (Our Last Race Day of the Year)}

_{Sadly, after our November race day our club is done for the year, then we have four months of no racing!}

_{Let's make October's race day our most attended event yet! So, save the date on your calendars "October 16th". We only have so many race days left, so let's plan ahead in advance to be there.}

_{See you at the Columbia Pond!!}

_{Koni 😊}

_{Commodore for MMYC}

_{Columbia Pond’s address is 8890 McGaw Road, Columbia, MD 21045 (Oct and Nov’s location)}

_{https://sites.google.com/site/marylandmodelyachtclub/mmyc-regattas/df65-regionals-region-2}

Commodore's Message 28 Oct 2021

Hello Skippers,

Our 8^th October Race Event had a skeletal club members attendance due to club members attending the Hagerstown Regatta, Boat show, and the prediction of bad weather. The weather was so bad that both the ODOMS and DF65 classes had to be cut short due to heavy winds. Despite the bad weather, those in attendance for this event still had a good time!

Walter dominated the Vic fleet as he won 6 out of the 7 races. John finished 2^nd place and was the sailor who won the one race that Walter didn’t win. Tom came in 3^rd place.

The ODOM class did not complete enough races (due to the weather) to be officially scored in the season standings.

The Dragons did finish 4 races and Tom ended up taking 1^st Place as he won 3 of the 4 races. Kyle took 2^nd place as he won race one and added a second in race two. John finished 3rd with a couple of second place finishes.

I am sad to say that November’s 9^th Race Day will be our last race for the season. Let’s all clear our schedules now so we can all see each other for our last race event this season. I know Bart and I will be there. The four months of no racing will be hard, as we enjoy seeing everyone!

We had two members (Bart and Danny) compete in the Hagerstown Regatta. Danny ended up winning the whole thing! There will be a Sail Wars series of videos covering the racing at some point.

Speaking of Sail Wars, the team just finished the 13 videos covering the Annapolis Regatta and four Compass sailboat review videos. Why am I telling you this? Well, this means the DF 65 Regional Championships that we hosted will be the next races produced. I’ll bet everyone except Bart is excited about seeing them! Just kidding, Bart say’s he had a great time. That event was fantastic and our club did a great job both racing and hosting. The rest of the country will get to see us through those videos. Maybe we should try and host a regional for one of our other classes next year? Maybe the ODOMs?

It’s also that time of year to start thinking about electing officers. Start thinking about if you would like to step up and run for one of the positions. You can look at our officer’s page to get an idea of the positions our club offers. I will let everyone know when the nomination period is open.

November’s Race Date is the 20^th. Please put this on your calendar as I’d like this to be our best attended race day of the year. Our club has had an incredible year and everyone’s racing skills have improved so much.

See you at the pond!

Koni

Commodore of the MMYC

Hello Skippers, 27 Nov 2021

We had our 9^th and Final Race Event on November 20^th and it was a great turn-out of club members! The weather was a little chilly, but John’s heater and tent kept us warm in between races. We had our pizza party, after the Victorias raced and it was so nice to see everyone! Our club showed great comradery and we had a fantastic time, both of which MMYC has become known for.

Danny did a great job as Race Director for the day. He and Sangeet also volunteered for Set-up and Take-down duties. You guys did a fantastic job! Also, thank you to all the other members that assisted in some fashion to make the day a smashing success!

Bart tested a new easy-to-use scoring program (A Fleet) on a tablet and it worked great. The Victoria Fleet knew their results within minutes of the last race. He couldn’t enter the other two fleets at the pond since he was racing. Those results were entered after he arrived home using the paper copies. I know our scorer Craig was happy with the electronic results, as it made it much easier for him to tally.

Walter dominated the Vic fleet, as he won 1 race, but took 2^nd in 4 of the races and completed the day with a 4th as his lowest finish. Great job Walter! Danny finished in 2^nd place and won 4 of the races, but a 4^th, 5^th and 6^th place finish had him finishing just behind the leader. Craig came in 3^rd place. Steve finished in 4^th only 1 point behind Craig. We had a good turn out for our first races of the day, as nine sailors had a great time in this class. After this class finished racing, we all enjoyed some good pizza and beverages before the next set of races.

The Any One Meter class saw 12 beautiful boats competing in really nice sailing conditions. Danny impressed us all as he won all 7 races! Craig finished 2^nd by taking 2^nd in 6 of the 7 races. John was Mr. Consistent, as he took 3rd. Walter and Steve actually tied for 4^th with 41 points. It was so nice to see so many of these big boats on the water moving so gracefully. This leads to our smallest boat, but our largest class. My, how we have grown in a year!

The Dragons had some amazing racing, as all our members have gotten so good with these boats. Danny ended up taking 1^st Place as he won 4 of the 7 races. John took 2^nd place, as he was again Mr. Consistent finishing no lower than 7th. Chris finished 3rd with a couple of bullets (1sts) and took lots of kidding for using A+ sails. Walter and Bart tied for 4^th just one point behind Chris. Sangeet was the next highest finisher and we were so happy for him, as he won his first race ever! Way to go! The Maryland Model Yacht Club has grown into one big family and it is so nice to see our fellow sailors grow.

Mark your calendars for next year, our 1^st Race Event of 2022 is on March 19^th. We have so many great things happening for next year including the privilege of hosting the Capital Cup! Let’s all clear our schedules now so we can all see each other to start the season. I know Bart and I will be there!!

This month Danny competed in the EC 12 Nationals ended up finishing 6^th out of 21 Sailors! Bart traveled to The Villages, Florida to film the event for Sail Wars. The first of the series of videos has already premiered on YouTube. Congratulations to Danny!

Speaking of Sail Wars, the team just finished the 18 videos covering the DF 65 Region 2 Championships that we hosted. The event was fantastic and our club did a great job both racing and hosting. The rest of the country will get to see us through those videos. I’ve watched the videos that have already been released and you all were wonderful!

Quick reminder, it’s also that time of year to start thinking about electing officers. Please start thinking about if you would like to step up and run for one of the positions. You can look at our officer’s page to get an idea of the positions our club offers. We have let everyone know when the nomination period is open and closed. Please follow the instructions that Bart has provided in our google group messages. I will let you know more about the actual election in future correspondence.

I would like to thank our club members for electing me as the club Commodore last year. I love serving our club! Thank you all for your guidance!! I have been reflecting on our achievements from the beginning of our time with the club to present. I know the list is long, but you all should be so proud of the club’s accomplishments!

1. We invented and hosted the first Capital Cup. Yes! Our club did that!

2. MMYC sent a team to Hagerstown and won back the Capital Cup. (Thank you, Tom for being Team Captain and Sail Wars for showing us off to the world. It was the best!)

3. We hosted the first ever DF65 Regionals for Region 2. Yep! The first ever! We even were lucky enough to even get Dave Branning (R2 Director) to come RD it for us.

4. We grew our fleets substantially. We currently have the largest ODOM fleet west of the Rockies.

5. Our DF65 fleet is 3 times larger than it ever was. 13 DF65 braved the cold on Saturday. Only 12 raced because I volunteered to score the races for us. We now have about 16 of these little boats in our club. That’s 5 times more than we had when I joined the club.

6. We have great turn outs for the Vic fleet and that fleet is really healthy. Even Danny is racing a Vic again!

7. We now have a second pond for sailing (Thanks to John, and the rest of the club officers and membership for supporting and approving this addition). We now have two ponds to love!

8. Our club has supported Sail Wars by being featured in about 50 of the 119 videos to date. And while I'm on Sail Wars.... Everyone who has been a volunteer or supportive of Sail Wars should be applauded. I know a couple of people that make fun of it. Please don’t as Bart has shared with me why he is trying so hard to promote our sport. In case you didn't know, AMYA membership is way down. This sport is shrinking and fast. The national organization lost about 10% or more of their membership in 2021 alone! The AMYA has very little going on to try to expand this sport. The volunteers that are producing Sail Wars are trying to introduce new people to our great hobby! Remember, no one is making any money off of Sail Wars. The hundreds of hours that are spent just to produce a series of races is done for love of this sport. Yes, Bart, Justin, Helen, Weston, Andy, Corey, Mike, Bob and I all donate our time and money to help our hobby. Yes, you heard that right the volunteers pay for our own travel, over $3000 in equipment, and over $1100 in T-Shirts that has been given away. Again, the volunteers do it because they love our sport. The sailors that have given great interviews and love to race on Sail Wars should also be thanked. Including “our” great members. Did you know 36 new AMYA members have reported first hearing about RC Sailing from Sail Wars? How many have joined clubs across our nation that we don't even hear about? People have watched those videos over 17 thousand times. Bart and I are so thankful for those members that love and support Sail Wars. Thank you MMYC!

9. Our MMYC has grown from 7 paid members in 2020 to 30 in 2021. That's more than 3 times more members in good standing! Our family is growing!

10. We have developed business cards and tri-fold fliers to give out to passer-byes to introduce them to the club. (Yes, Bart used up six cartridges of ink to print them on our printer. Ha!! It took him hours!)

11. We have been offered to host an ODOM Nationals or Regional Event by the National Class Secretary. (Not saying we have to, but it's great to have it offered.)

12. Our club's funds have grown so much, that it surprised us at our last meeting.

13. Our Executive Committee has discussed giving club hats or t-shirts to all our members. By the way, Bart and I bought a T-Shirt/hat machine and it can be used to make them. We even have hats and t-shirts of many styles that just arrived to do some test prints on. (Don't worry, we paid for everything out of our own funds.)

14. Our club had people volunteer for setup and take down every race day. Special thanks to the other members that have also help the volunteers. I still remember the very first time Bart and I came to a sail event day at Columbia and noticed John taking down alone, as he stood by the boat and other equipment. We were new to the club and didn't realize he was on his own. Goodness! After Bart talked to him again on the phone, we felt so bad. We just didn’t know. John was almost always on his own setting and taking down. Bart and I started helping the very next sail event. Now our club is in a better place. Almost every member has helped with this during the season. Yay MMYC! Some of us have even filled in when others couldn't make it. Thank you all. I love your commitment to our family!

15. We have many new members that have improved dramatically, as we have fostered an environment that includes helping others and congratulating their achievements.

16. MMYC now has a club DF65 to introduce potential sailors to the hobby. We even have a club flag now!

17. Our club is the best club in the area and a known leader, as we have established great working relations with the other clubs. Clubs from as far away as Menno Haven, PA. We need to keep this up and also help the other clubs grow, as it helps our sport.

18. This year, we had our end of year race with donuts and a pizza! 😊

19. We have expanded our social presence having not only an internet website but getting an Instagram, Facebook, Yahoo Mail and Google Groups. Wow, that’s awesome!!

20. We elected unanimously, the clubs first female Commodore (Me!). We are now a really inclusive club and I’m so proud you have allowed me to lead MMYC.

21. We also had additional new events added to the club, such as “Friday Fun Sail” “Evening, Practice Sails” and a “Before Season Club Fun Sail”. Thank you, for supporting those events!!

22. Our club members are now competing in more Area, Regional and National Events. You guys are doing really well!

On a Special Note…The Executive Committee reviewed Danny Thomas contributions to the club and hobby. We voted unanimously to award Danny Thomas a “Life Time Membership” in MMYC. Congratulations Danny! You are now a permanent part of our great family and part of its history.

Our club had an incredible year and everyone’s racing skills have improved so much. 2021 was a great year and I am looking forward to an even better 2022! You are all the best!

See you at the pond next March if not before!

Koni (Connie)

Commodore of the MMYC