March 7, 2026 - Dry Sail Day

Well, another seminar, another success!!! Yes if you missed it, you missed a really fun, productive and social time!! This interactive session highlighted rules and sailing situations while racing, all done by using actual DF 65s on a mock course on the floor. Hence the name DRYSAIL The even highlight simulated confusing situations at turning marks and the starts. People could actually walk (and I mean walk), through the action and get unprecedented vantage points to help them understand the dynamics and rules better, and how to stay out of future problems. I have to confess, I learned a couple things too! There were also discussions on strategy and tactics that I know caused a lot of light bulbs to go off. Even though we were there for almost five hours, the time went by so fast that we really didn’t get a chance to cover everything I hoped. Oh well, that just gives us automatic content to deliver when we hold our upcoming practice days.

Special thanks go out to Commodore Richard Herbert who volunteered his company’s office to host our course in the middle of their office. Because of the amenities, it really couldn’t have been held at a better location. The on site beer/wine taps, refrigerator, seating, restrooms and even parking vouchers for our reserved parking, made the day! Of course we can’t leave out the free pizza and snacks! Thank you so much Richard! When you see him tell him thank you too!

I also want to thank Tom Walsh and Mike Rickels who carried the bulk of the discussion. These guys are great sailors and great friends. They didn’t disappoint! I would have liked to deliver more, but if you got something out of this, be sure to plan and drop in on our practice day. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

As a club, we also dovetailed this into a member recruitment function. I am very happy to report, the club gained two new members and also two people purchased new DF 65s to race. One was assembled and sailing less than 24 hours after the event. There were also a couple people that will be back I am sure, and I am pretty certain will be joining come spring. Recruitment never stops. With membership comes better things for everyone. Like I said at the event, if you know anyone who might like our hobby, invite them to the pond. We will be happy to hook them up with a boat, shove a transmitter in their hand, and wait for the eventual smile!

Finally, both Richard and I took notice of something special. It was very satisfying seeing everyone talk and socialize, and to both of us, looking like they were having fun. After all, that’s the main reason we do this!

This is just a a part of a continuing effort by members of MMYC to help our other members and improve everyone's experiences model sailing. Be sure to keep an eye out for notices of upcoming practices and OPEN Sailing. Lots of good stuff planned for this year!

March 8 Club Prep Day at Tom's Garage 2025

You really realize an event you are having is going to be a success, when people start showing up a half hour early! That’s what happened at MMYC’s recent boat clinic. We decided to hold this hands-on event due to the recent surge of new members into the club. We wanted to make sure anyone who had any questions or problems with their boats, could get them resolved before the start of the season. That way, people would be racing, not fixing or dealing with issues the first race day. Who knew (maybe Dave Branning) that it was going to be such a success? It was a very satisfying time seeing around 20 people talking sailing, tinkering on boats, and socializing. To me, that’s the core mission of any club, to deliver to its members!

We had six or so workstations set up in Tom Walsh’s garage for people to work on, examine, test their boats. Thanks again to Tom for the kind use of your heated (very important) garage. Attendees ranged from Champion Sailor Walter House, past IOM World Champion Steve Andre, to our most recent members and rookie sailors Eric Griesinger, assembling his brand-new DF 65 and Kevin Brennan working on his rebuilt ODOM. Again, that’s the purpose, to hand down the vast experience of our senior members to newer members. That gets more people on the race course and everyone benefits! In addition, a couple of attendees actually didn’t have an RC boat, and they were there to actually check out our club. I feel pretty confident they will have transmitters in their hands and big smiles on their faces in short order!

There were plenty of adult beverages and snacks for everyone. We also ordered pizza, and everyone had their fill before the end of the day. I was very happy to receive many emails thanking us for hosting this event and confirming how much useful information so many people took away with them. Again, the main purpose is to help people get better racing RC boats and to have more fun. In retrospect, I hope we didn’t do too good of a job, winning at MMYC is hard enough! I predict this year it’s going to be a really competitive year!

Thanks again to everyone who came out, helped and participated. That’s what it’s all about!

John Ebel