volume 50 number 7 the clew · 2020-06-30 · the clew july 2020 volume 50 number 7 covid-19 smsa...

The Clew

July 2020 Volume 50 Number 7

COVID-19 SMSA UPDATE

SMSA Family— your Board of Directors continues to monitor the CDC, Federal and State guidelines.

See the SMSA COVID-19 Safety Plans and Guidelines policy document which is being sent to members via email, can be found on the SMSA Website and will be updated to keep pace with the changing environment

———————————————————

Happy Hour

Friday’s 5:30—8:30 pm

Last call will be at 8:20 pm. At 8:30 pm we will ask members to please depart so the club can be sanitized.

Racing—Keelboat & Smallboat Returns

Please check the race information on the respective webpages For questions contact:

Keelboat: Dan Shannon ([email protected])

Smallboat: Dan Bowman ([email protected])

(July 4th Pot Luck is postponed to Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 5th)

Please continue to watch your e-mail for any changes due to COVID-19

NOTE: There will be no hard copy distribution of the Clew until further notice

The Clew, JULY 2020 www.smsa.com

Ahoy SMSA shipmates!

We’re open! The government’s restriction on our ability to operate has been lifted. I am very excit-ed to see us hosting on-the-water AND ashore activities. For the first time since February I am feeling less like a Coronadore and more like a Commodore. It’s long-overdue for us to add entries into our club’s log-book on shared experiences and activities. Please keep in mind that the state still has restrictions on the size of gatherings we can have on clubhouse property (inside and outside) as well as associated require-ments for mask usage and sanitization all in order to minimize the risk of members sharing any possible in-fection.

ASHORE - We’ve had two successful happy hours since the lifting of the restrictions. Thank you to all who have come out. It’s great to once again be a venue for us to share tales of sailing adventures, races and all the joys of boat ownership. Activities are limited to the front and rear patios and the front room of the clubhouse for now. This helps us constrain our sanitization requirements to a manageable number of “touch surfaces”. These limitations will be removed as soon as the health crisis is over and we are no-longer under executive order restrictions. Your program chairs and officers are working on adding social activities beyond Happy Hours. The Solomons Business Association has postponed the July 4th Fireworks to Saturday, September 5th so we will be moving our “Fireworks Social” to coincide with the new date.

ON-THE-WATER – Informal and Formal Keelboat racing events are both in the logbook and the cen-sus at the start line is growing! Cruises are coming together now that we can raft up although some of the ardent cruisers are still awaiting parts and completion of preparation work. Our smallboat racing is starting up with precautions for yard activities including the addition of outdoor greywater washbasins.

POLICIES - We have developed a separate COVID Policy document that codifies deviations in our normal policies for compliance to state mandates, CDC recommendations and county guidelines.

ORGANIZATION – Over my first 6 months as commodore, I’ve heard about and witnessed several operating areas and practices we need to work on to improve their efficiencies and effectiveness. We have several volunteers who are spending 20-30 hours a week over a varying number of weeks per month in or-der to operate, transition and improve our club. We need to find ways to scale that back so that they too can enjoy their personal lives, membership in the club and time on the water. Part of the challenge is the lack of volunteers. We can either continue to operate as a volunteer-operated organization or we will have to pay for these efforts to be accomplished. Please consider volunteering your talents and time to help us operate effectively. We will be working hard over the next 4 months to improve our organizational records to clarify roles and responsibilities and facilitate transitions. In addition, we will be performing a bottom-up review of our administrative and accounting practices and assignments to improve the transparency and efficiency of these functions..

Continue on Page 3

Commodore’s Corner By Marc Briere

[email protected]


Continue from page 2

CORINTHIAN Behavior – It has come to my attention that we have had members who need to be reminded of Corinthian behavioral standards. Let us all remember to treat one another with dignity and respect. Similarly, the property and possessions of the club are shared resources that shall not be used for personal gain and returned in the same or better condition than it was issued. We operate under rules of behavior, compliance and fairness both ashore and on-the-water. None of us are above these rules. None should expect to be. Most of our members are wonderful examples of Corinthian standards of behavior. Let us all follow their lead.

ANNIVERSARY - In 2022 we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary. We are going to start plan-ning soon for the celebration. This is the same year our current lease runs out. I'd like to hear your input on what you think we should do about our facilities as we enter the final two years of our lease.

See you around the clubhouse and on the water!

Marc

Wednesday Night—Heading back to the slip


Robin Witte

Rear Commodore

[email protected]

FACILITY

STATUS

Members,

It’s amazing how fast the rules are changing and your Board of Directors is working dil-

igently to keep up and provide you the members with the latest and greatest infor-

mation and how we’re applying that to our facility and sailing programs.

Governor Hogan’s Executive Order #20-06-10-01 now allows us to open our clubhouse

provided that the total number of persons permitted inside does not exceed 50% of our

Maximum Occupancy. The Executive Order strongly recommends that we follow the

current guidance from the CDC and MDH regarding social distancing, etc.

While this doesn’t allow for a full opening of the facility we can start to enjoy some of

our events in a slightly new way.

We have created a COVID-19 Safety Plans and Guidelines document which details the

policy for our ability to comply with the Executive Order while keeping the member-

ship’s health and safety at the forefront of our decisions. Updates will be provided to

the members via email and subsequently posted on the SMSA Website Homepage.

We expect this document to be updated frequently as we establish procedures for each

of the SMSA activities and to align with the intent of the most current Executive Order.

The clubhouse is currently only “open” for Happy Hour on Friday evenings with access

being limited to the front/back patios and front room only. The rest of the clubhouse is

still closed to members with the exception of essential personnel.

By now we should have two handwashing stations outside in the yard thanks to John

Blaney. Please note they are for HANDWASHING ONLY (gray water) and dumps into

the ground.

We thank you for your patience as we work through many of details needed to ensure your safety as we slowly begin to reopen the club. If you have any questions or con-cerns feel free to give us a call or send an email. On behalf of your Officers,

Robin Witte

SMSA Rear Commodore


SMSA Members,

YOU CAN STILL VOLUNTEER EVEN DURING COVID!

We have several opportunities for you to volunteer where you can socially distance, so no excuses.

What about being our Communications Chair? How about being the Clew Editor? These are two positions can easily be done from home. For now I’m just managing to do both but could really use your help. We need new ideas for communicating with our SMSA family and our community. Please contact myself ([email protected]) for additional details. Thanks to those of you who have already volunteered, your service is greatly appreci-ated.

Robin Witte SMSA Rear Commodore [email protected]

Outdoor Handwashing Sinks (NEW)


SOCIAL

Cori Grant

Social Chair

[email protected]

Greetings SMSA Members,

There is not much news to share on the Social Scene as we are open with re-

strictions on clubhouse use etc. We continue to organize the warming kitchen

and look forward to using it for our next social event.

The planned 4th of July festivities have been rescheduled to Labor Day Week-

end as Solomons has rescheduled the usual fireworks display to Saturday, Sep-

tember 5th.

The Friday Happy Hours will have to do for now for our club socializing. Stay

tuned to The Clew for new details on events as they become available.

Have a great 4th of July weekend and GO SAILING!!

Cori

Frost-Goode Race


Carl Kemp

Cruising Chair

[email protected]

With restrictions eased, June saw the opening of the 2020 SMSA year and the first of-ficial cruise, see the article below. Although the eleven day Philadelphia Cruise was cancelled because marinas would not accommodate transient boats, SMSA cruisers could be seen around the bay and rivers throughout the month. Three cruises are planned for July. The first is the 4th of July Cruise to St Marys River (Horseshoe Bend and Price Cove) July 2 to July 5. Because the concert and fireworks at St Mary’s City have been cancelled, the schedule has been changed. The first night, July 2, will be at St Mary’s City (Horseshoe Bend) and the picnic on the beach in Price Cove will be on the second day, July 3. If you plan to attend, bring beach chairs/blankets and all the food you need since sharing is not recommended. A grill will be provided but feel free to bring a portable grill if you wish. Contact Jerry Taylor, the Cruise Leader, if you have any questions. The second cruise is the is the Rock Hall Cruise, July 12 – July 17. If you plan to at-tend this cruise, you need to contact the two marinas for reservations. We will contin-ue to monitor the local conditions as we get closer to this cruise. Call or email me if you have any questions or comments about this cruise. The final cruise of the month is a two day Happy Hour Raft Up in Mill Creek (St Mary’s), July 25 - 26. Looking ahead to August, mark your calendars for the Mixed Couple Race/Battle Creek Raft- up on August 15 - 16. As you can see, we have something for every SMSA member on our cruise schedule, so…... THINK CRUISING!

CRUISERS

CORNER


Mill Creek (St. Mary’s) Cruise

Jerry Taylor – Cruise Leader

Due to COVID-19, this is the first official cruise of the new 2020 decade.

On June 5th, Rod and Pat Schroeder on Ruste Nayle, Dave and Lois Zonderman on Walka-bout and Jerry Taylor on “No Sched…” departed for Mill Creek. The wind was up and down and all around. When we got tired of looking for ‘cat paws’ the engines went on. The last few months have been rough for all, so it felt especially good to be out playing with the wind. Every boat owner on Mill and Cuckold creeks seemed to have the same idea. The an-chorage was very crowded with lots of pent up energy being released with laughter, talk and music. With some innovation for social distancing, we all hung together while catching up on the latest news.

The wind came up early Sunday morning out of the North. It was a beautiful sailing day for everyone. With 16 knots true, 7.8 gps knots, and only having to slightly touch the wheel every 2-3 minutes, it was a sail to remember until the next great one comes along!! Let the season begin!!!


Dan Shannon

Keelboat Race Chair

[email protected]

KEELBOAT

RACING

We are racing again!

SMSA Keelboat Racing Program began on June 3rd with a few boats competing in the

Wednesday night Fleet Building race. That race was conducted without a Race Com-

mittee which is a new procedure in our revised Sailing Instructions. The latest SI’s

are posted on the SMSA website Keelboat section. Some big changes in the SI’s are

addition of a “Light” class to Wednesday night races. This class starts with the Non-

Spinnaker Class. The class is for those boats that has a smaller crew or slower

boats do to COVID19 social distancing recommendations. Boats in this class can fly

a spinnaker or double head sails. With a smaller crew; starts, finishes, tacking, gyb-

ing and mark rounding maneuvers may take longer to complete, so please be mind-

full of each boat and crew capabilities. Also, for Wednesday Night, the start times

have changed to give some spacing between the fleets. Non-Spin and Fleet classes

warning signal will be at 1815 and Spin A-C warning at 1830. Both starts are using

a 5-minue start sequence. Another change this year is no start or course flags. Sig-

nals will be made on channel 72. This change reduces race committee duties and

require less crew to preform the race committee duties. There are other changes

that we made to the SI’s since our season was cut in half, so please read through

the new SI’s.

Many thanks to Bad Cat, Elan, Tennounce, Wild Horses and Wicked Good crews for

volunteering for race committee duties. For the next two Wednesday night races,

July 1st and 8th, Cheetah and Whirlaway have volunteered for the race committee

duties. July racing will consist of 4 Wednesday night races and Sharps Island middle

distance race on July 29th. Please sign up for race committee.

Little Choptank Race was held on 13 June with two boats, Cheetah and Barba Roja

competing in the spinnaker class. Our Summer Invitational had four boats on the

starting line. Cheetah won the event with Rakali 2nd, Wicked Good 3rd and Barba Ro-

ha finishing 4th. We had 7 boats on the starting line for our Wednesday night race

on June 10th and five boats racing on Wednesday, June 17th. Results for Wednes-

day, June 24th, have not posted, however, there were at least 10 boats on the race

course. It is great to see everyone on the water again.

Sail fast and have fun.


Screwpile News Update

We have been planning Screwpile 2020

since last Fall. As noted in past CLEW

articles, prospects for a very successful

regatta were enhanced by the return of

the party and awards to Safe Harbor

Zahnisers, coupled with teaming with

AYC for a late September weekend, tak-

ing advantage of their “feeder race”,

cooler temperatures and more wind.

And then, the Covid-19 Pandemic hit the world. This terrible disease has affected us all di-

rectly one way or another. Our Junior Camp has been cancelled, our Cruise and Race pro-

grams have been highly modified, and the virus mitigation rules as we operate around town

and the clubhouse are substantial, to say the least. Many regattas across the country have

been cancelled, and others are planning to be run in a highly modified way… no parties or

social contact. This is not the sailing culture that we know, and we don’t really know when

it’s going to be normal again.

Despite the chaos and uncertainty of the times, our Screwpile committee has continued to

work with event sponsors, venders, advertisers, and competitors to target 27/28 September

for Screwpile 2020. We know we need to be ready to put on a major regatta if we can do

so safely given the current situation.

Here is the caveat that you will see in our Scewpile ad in the July issue of SpinSheet:

Screwpile is still on... for now. But, with concerns regarding Covid-19,

the Screwpile Organizing Committee intends to make a GO/NO-GO call

on the regatta by early August. We do not wish to compromise the health & safe-

ty of our competitors, race committee, and shore side volunteers,

or the viability of the traditional Screwpile experience.

In the meantime, and hoping for the best, the Screwpile web site is up and running

<www.screwpile.net> with the Notice of Race posted. If you are an SMSA racer or cruiser/

racer, please register early. You can also register by going directly to the Yacht Scoring web

site…https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=11776.

Note: In spite of the current uncertainty of the event, the Screwpile 2020 Executive Committee is so-

liciting volunteers to help with the regatta… on-the-water, shoreside, and other miscellaneous tasks.

It takes a lot of volunteers to successfully prepare for and execute a big-time regatta like Screwpile.

Whether you are an old-timer working Screwpile or a newcomer volunteer please contact Jim Keen,

Screwpile 2020 Regatta Chairman at [email protected], williwaw66@hotmail, or by phone…

240 925-1173. Thank you and stay safe!

https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=11776

mailto:[email protected]


COVID-19 VIRUS: CLEANING AND STORING YOUR PFD The Life Jacket Association (LJA) provides the following guidance. For more information on the LJA please visit their website at www.lifejacketassociation.org If you think your product has been exposed to a virus, clean as recommended by the manufac-turer and then let dry in warm, low humidity environment for at least 72 hours before reuse. Manufacturer’s recommendations for cleaning your PFD: CLEANING AND STORING YOUR PFD: To clean your inflatable PFD, hand wash or sponge down in warm, soapy water, taking care not to submerge the inflator. Rinse your PFD with clean water and hang to dry on a plastic coat hanger. Do not dry-clean, use chlorine bleach, or apply direct heat. Always store your fully dried PFD in a warm, dry, well ventilated place out of direct sun-light. • Inherently buoyant PFDs (foam) are cleaned in the same manner except they may be fully

submerged.

If you must reuse your product within 72 hours, the following precautionary guidance is suggest-ed. • COVID-19 virus may exist 3 days on or in clothing. Virus can exist longer on porous surfaces. • Synthetic fabrics, plastic and metal surfaces may harbor the virus longer. • Buckles, zippers, other hardware and hook/loop fasteners (e.g. Velcro®) are hard to clean

due to crevasses and metal/plastic construction. • Using 60 – 90% solutions of alcohol sprayed/wetted on these components is acceptable. • Avoid spraying inflatables with specific disinfectants that are detrimental to the fabric. e.g.

bleach-based products. • Do not machine launder life jackets. • Life jackets should be hand-washed with gloved hands – wash as hot as possible (< 60C) to

kill virus. • Ensuring complete drying is critical, heated air drying is encouraged < 60C • Virus likes moisture and can survive in cold – virus dies by drying out and by heat, which

some fibers can enhance. • This pandemic is a new challenge and it is truly not known how all materials and the virus

respond to laundry. • If hang to air dry, allow 72 hours (3 days) before reuse. • Do not share garments.

http://www.lifejacketassociation.org/


Dan Bowman

Smallboat Race Chair

[email protected]

SMALLBOAT

RACING

We are restarting racing! First warning will be on July 2nd at 1830 hours (6:30pm) with Jim Whited as RC. A full schedule for the remainder of the sailing season will be sent out and like many of you, I want as much as I need to get out on the water and forget about the world for a while and enjoy being on the Patuxent River. The club owned 420’s are available for charter use by club members, conditional based upon prior expe-rience with dinghy style sailboats. Please contact myself or the Vice Commodore for more details.

• The Smallboat Series is restarting from July 2nd to September 24th with High Point scoring occurring during the months of July and August.

• The Saturday Series races for July 18th and August 22nd we be held as scheduled. • The Broken Rudder has been moved to August 8th. • Fall Series will be held as scheduled on September 19th and 20th.

Unfortunately, the 2020 Buccaneer North American Championship has been postponed until 2021. This was a difficult decision but the class decided to delay its 50th BNAC. The current rumor is that SMSA will be holding the 50th BNAC in 2021. The yard needs your help! With little to no use over the past three months the yard needs some work. Any amount is not too small, weeding and cleaning up the cement area of debris that has piled up during the rains. If you come by consider dedicating 15 minutes to working in the yard. We are working to remove the over growth that has ap-peared behind and under boats. The racing schedule and volunteer signup page for 2020 has been updated. Please sign up! Note that we have instituted a policy of mandatory face mask use while in the yard during SMSA sailing events, prior to launching and afterwards. Help keep your fellow members safe. Be safe, stay well, and I look forward to seeing each of you at the club again.


Olivia Sowa, a Great Mills High School

graduate class of 2020, is one of 880

high school students nationwide selected

as a recipient of a $2,500 P.E.O. STAR

Scholarship for the 2020-2021 academic

year. She was sponsored by Chapter AC, of Solomons, MD.

Olivia graduated in the top five percent of her graduating class, re-

ceiving The State of Maryland Merit Scholastic Award, as well as,

the STEM Academy Endorsement. Olivia spent much of her time on

the water sailing. She is a skipper with crew experience including

trapeze, spinnaker, FJs, and C420’s. Olivia sailed for the Great Mills

Sailing Team, North East River Yacht Club Bay Racers CBYRA Travel

Team, and is a Southern MD Sailing Association Instructor for Ad-

vanced Sailing. She will be attending North Carolina State Universi-

ty and plans to sail for NC State's sailing team in the fall. Olivia will

pursue a degree in biomedical engineering.

The P.E.O. STAR Scholarship is based on excellence in leadership, extracurricular ac-

tivities, community service, academics and potential for future success. The program

is open to young women who are citizens or legal permanent residents of the United

States and Canada and who are graduating seniors at the time of application. A stu-

dent must be recommended by a P.E.O. chapter.

The P.E.O. Sisterhood, founded January 21, 1869, at Iowa Wesley-

an College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is a philanthropic educational or-

ganization interested in bringing increased opportunities for higher

education to women. There are approximately 6,000 local chapters

in the United States and Canada with nearly a quarter of a million

active members.

Olivia Sowa awarded the P.E.O.

STAR Scholarship Award


CLASSIFIED ADS

FOR SALE: 1986 Nelson/Marek Merit

28 Safe, Fast, Fun, & Ready to

Race. Grand prix deck w/open tran-

som. Includes trailer but will sell

separately. $20K Contact Elliott Pe-

terson 443-624-8662

FOR SALE: SHERMAX, 1981 Catalina 30

#2276 is a classic family cruiser/racer de-

signed by Catalina Yachts owner Frank

Butler in 1974. Stable, safe, friendly sail-

boat for any coastal/inland sea. Cruised

extensively in Chesapeake Bay and raced

in Wednesday night beer can series with

Southern Maryland Sailing Assn. Asking

$14,000. Contact Max Munger

([email protected]) 410-326-9024

FOR SALE: LICKETY-SPLIT, 1980

Pearson 32. Well maintained perfor-

mance racer-cruiser, in very good

condition, actively raced and cruised

in Chesapeake Bay by same owner

for 35 yrs, racing PHRF rating 168.

Rebuilt engine and new interior

cushions. Comes with a treasure of

sails, dinghy, bimini and many ex-

tras. Asking $14,000.

Contact Donna Maneely

[email protected]

301-863-2231.

FOR SALE: Slocum 43 blue water cruiser.

Perfect liveaboard. Updates and refit in-

clude replaced decks, new seacocks,

pumps, sump pumps, plumbing, sinks, fau-

cets, toilet, counter tops, many new elec-

tronics, transducers, refrigerator, blinds,

canvas, air conditioning new engine, etc.

Recently installed a hot air heating system.

New Quantum sails. Asking $100K. Con-

tact Charlie Collins @ cco-

[email protected] or 240-577-1004

View listing on Southern MD Craigslist

Southern Maryland Sailing Association P.O. Box 262, Solomons, MD 20688

Place Stamp

JULY 2020 Volume 50 Number 7

volume 50 number 7 the clew · 2020-06-30 · the clew july 2020 volume 50 number 7 covid-19 smsa...

Documents