Our 2005 racing is complete, except for the Commodore's Regatta, which counts in the 2005 Boat of the Year scoring. We had ten spinnaker boats that participated in the Winter Series and the weather cooperated for each race weekend. We managed to have a variety of winds from very light to the upper edge of our acceptable wind range. From every comment that I have heard, the Race Committee staffed by crew from the spinnaker fleet did a great job. Overall, it was the best Winter Series that I can recall. Congratulations to Tom McKnight and crew on Boartaint for winning against a very competitive fleet.

Please mark your calendars for February 25 and the Commodore's Regatta and Ball. The Spinnaker BOTY is still up in the air with at least three boats still in the running. Note that the Commodore's Regatta is not included in the Winter Series and will have a separate registration and skipper's meeting. See the Racing page for NOR and SI .

The Commodore's Ball will be held after the regatta. It will be the same format as last year at the Chelsea in downtown New Bern. Please register early so the social committee can plan appropriately.

In other business matters, for the past year we essentially broke even on our expenses and income and we continue to have about a $4000 balance in the bank. We would like to see this increase somewhat in order to have a larger margin for safety. The best way to do this is to increase our membership. We currently have about fifty members and I would like to see that grow to at least sixty for 2006. If you are enjoying the racing, please support NYRA even if you are not a boat owner. All crew and owners are welcome to join and support Neuse River racing.

For next year we are considering changing the BOTY scoring to better reward a boat that competes against a larger fleet. For example, it seems reasonable to reward the boat that beats six other NYRA boats in a fleet more than the one that only beats two or three other boats. We have a few ideas but any input on this subject is welcome.

NYRA is again the sponsoring club for NCYRA this year. Eric Rosenbaum is the chairman of this event and we are trying to turn it into a more popular event for the boats heading up the east coast from Charleston and Miami races. If you would like to help support this event, please let Eric know.

Finally, unless someone steps forward to do RC work for the coming year, we will use race volunteers as we did in the Winter Series. I would rather have one dedicated PRO, but the racers have done a good job to date. Thanks to all that staffed a RC boat this year and I am confident that we will have quality RC work in the coming year also.

We are committed to providing the best racing in the area and any input, good or bad, on how to improve is welcome.

Lee King
NYRA Commodore
lrk30470@yahoo.com