It has been a very busy month since my last newsletter. We sponsored the NYRA Invitational and NCYRA and provided the race committee for the Oriental Cup. I cannot thank the volunteers enough for their contributions that made these events successful. Of particular note was the effort of the Talberts to do RC at the NYRA Invitational, and Bill Jarvis for coordinating the on the water activities at NCYRA and Larry Gupton for coordinating the shore based activities. At NCYRA we had 12 boats, fed over 100 sailors, and had around 25 volunteers for RC, logistics, shore based activities, etc. Hopefully we will be able to grow NCYRA next year but not need 1 volunteer for every 4 sailors to keep them out of trouble.

Once again, I would like to thank Carolina Investment Properties, Signal Seals and Fasteners, Bald Head Island Resorts, Harris Wholesale, and Omar Sails for their support and Terrell Floyd for being our official photographer. We will soon have her pictures on the web site.

The NYRA Invitational was held in the now usual 20 to 30 kt winds on Saturday and a rare very light air race on Sunday. AfterThought sailed well both days and won the event. This race was also the debut of Bulldog, Don Gray's Mount Gay 30. The boat looks to be loaded with potential and it will be interesting to see as they get it dialed in. Saturday night Moore's BBQ provided dinner. As a note the NYRA members, please buy your meal tickets early. At the end of the skipper's meeting we had sold 32 meals. By the time they ran out of food we could have sold 60. I know it's hard to plan ahead sometimes, but planning ahead 8 hours does not seem like too much to ask.

We had put a lot of effort in to organizing NCYRA this year. It was the first year that NYRA has run the race and I was quite proud of the effort and results. After some stormy weather on Friday, which resulted in a spectacular double rainbow that ended on the race course, we had some great racing on the ocean. Saturday saw about 15 kt winds and large swell. The inlet was a bit rough but the racing was fun. Apparently the swell did not treat the race committee quite as well as it did the competitors, but they hung in there and did a great job. Sunday saw light NE winds and calm seas. Over all we had 5 races. Cash Flow won the Spinnaker A division, Dream Catcher won the spinnaker B division and Water Phantom won the non-spinnaker division.

Bill Jarvis provided the RC for Oriental Cup. It is ironic that the race was moved from September to June to avoid hurricane season as we had significant rain during and after the race. I don’t have any results as the boat that I was on was so far back and knowing if we were last or next to last didn't seem to matter.

The next few races are the Hancock Regatta on July 9 and 9 and then the NYRA ParrotHead regatta and Dragon's Breath Regatta in Oriental. Both Hancock and Dragon's Breath are NYRA BOTY races and Dragon's Breath is also a ICRC event. As such, please support your club and race for NYRA.

Lee King
NYRA Commodore
lrk30470@yahoo.com