Volume XXVIII No. 5 - A Publication of the Masthead Cove Yacht Club -September-October 2006

The MastheadThe MastheadWeekend Cruise

Story & Photos by Marilyn Gerber

MCYC's July 4th

Celebrating America's independence - and, for mostpeople, a nice long weekend - Masthead Cove YCenjoyed a wonderful cruise to Manhasset Bay.Beautifully organized (again) this year by Linda andDavid Strickler, the MCYC fleet was graciously host-ed by Knickerbocker Yacht Club in Port Washington.

The sail over on Saturday morning brought warm sun-shine and wind - although not necessarily in the rightdirection. But, that was no problem for ambitiousMCYC sailors, many of whom took advantage of thelovely day - and took their time getting to their desti-nation - by tacking to make the most of the nice wind.

On Saturday and Sunday some people spent timelounging on-board boats or at the pool, while otherswalked into town. The Saturday night dinner at KYCwas delicious and fun and on Sunday we patronized

And the rockets’ red glare . . .Fireworks over Oyster Bay

a variety of local eateries in town. All in all, it wasanother terrific weekend cruise. Sailor caps off to theStricklers - as well as to all those who participated!

Editor's Note: Be sure to read another interestingaccount related to the weekend in this issue - “The Travails of Tiki”.

The “Kids’ Table”L to R: Elliot Tuck, Justin Martinolich, Alexandra

Martinolich, Luke Mazzotta, Jessica Martinolich,Anna Shmulak, Paul Mazzotta, Levi Tuck.

The kids – plus one Big kid – have fun in the pool.

�

2

From the HelmBy Commodore Tom Mazzotta

rience. Everyone had a great time visiting the manyports of call, including a side trip, via a rented mini-van, to watch Pipin (staring Mickey Dolenz of “TheMonkees” fame) at the historic Goodspeed operahouse.

There was little time to rest upon our returnp; finalarrangements still needed to be made for TheMasthead Race scheduled for the end of August. Thisyear we were sponsoring the event to benefit theMarcincuk Fund for ovarian cancer research at ColdSpring Harbor Lab. In spite of the weather, a record23 boats participated in the race, more than 60 peo-ple enjoyed the party held at the Bay Club that day,and through the extreme generosity of our members,friends and local merchants, we raised $5,600 forCSHL in the process… not bad!

Again, the weather was not cooperative over LaborDay weekend which required us to cancel our cruiseto Milford. However, while this was the last scheduledcruise for the year, there is still plenty of great sailingto be had on the “back nine” of the season. In fact,the Target Rock Fall series starts September 24. Notto mention the many land events we have planned forthis fall. All in all, we still have a lot too look forwardto before the year is out!

As I write this column (post-LaborDay), I'm happy to say that it hasbeen quite an eventful sailing sea-son to date. We kicked off the “unof-ficial” start of summer with a very

successful cruise to Knickerbocker Yacht Club overIndependence Day weekend. As many of you know,KYC is a favorite venue for our club; their hospitalityis always impeccable and Port Washington is only aleisurely day-sail away. Upon our return, we plannedto hold the annual raft-up and commissioning party,however, due to threatening weather, it was not to beuntil the “redo,” just over a week later. In addition toour traditional spectacle of flying the commodore(yours truly) as a “human burgee,” this year featureda reporter and photographer from Newsday as ourguests for the event. Their visit would later produce aspectacular cover article dedicated to MCYC in the LILife section of the newspaper!

By the end of July we were off on our summer cruis-es. The first week set sail for points east on LongIsland, with the second week featuring a trip up theConnecticut River. In spite of the heat wave, Ithought our cruise of the river was a wonderful expe-

@ Sea, at sea – well, on the Sound.

AHOY, NEW MEMBERS!

•Eileen & Tom Conneely sail a Catalina 32named Loose Foot.

•Sailing My-Own, a Westerly Cirrus, is Mary Jane- “MJ” - Malone.

•Also new to the Club this year are Myrna &Charles Pitman, who sail Cast Off, a Catalina 27.

•And rounding out this current group of newmembers is Wendy Radcliffe-Miller, who has a36-foot Mariner Sloop named Radcliffe.

MCYC wishes them all a warm“Welcome Aboard!”

3

Taking Amenity Southby Bob Harrison

I was in the company of past MCYC Commodore DickBurton and his boat Amenity, heading south. As youmay know, Dick has purchased a condo inGeorgetown, SouthCarolina, and moved hishousehold there. All thatremained in New York washis Pearson 323. At onepoint he considered sell-ing her, but I don't thinkthat was ever a seriousconsideration. So aroundthe time of the Club's 4thof July cruise to PortWashington, Dick askedme if I would join him inbringing the boat south.

My first question was, "Doyou have an Autopilot?"Having done a few thou-sand miles of deliveries, Ihave grown to value this piece of equipment as rightup there with drinking water! Dick quickly acquireda Simrad wp32 and installed it and we were set. Wewere joined by Kathy, a third crew member. The boatwas provisioned and we departed City Island onSunday, July 30 at noon.

I had plotted the tides for the best ride through thecity and we were whisked down the East River at 8 to9 kts, while the traffic on the FDR bathed in its ownbumper-to-bumper exhaust fumes (Ha!) Sometimes,though rarely, sailing is faster than car travel.

We cleared under the Verrazano Bridge around 3:00pm, an 8 to 10-kt. breeze came up, the sails were setand the New York City skyline merged with the haze ofthe day. We had decided to go through the night, con-ditions permitting, and we reached Cape May, NewJersey approximately 20 hours after leaving New York.

A word of advice for a trip like this: BRING THE BESTBUG REPELLANT YOU CAN FIND! As the day ren-dered itself nearly imperceptibly into night, the colorsturned from blue to blueish to red to purple to dark.Sailing is a wonderful opportunity to dissect thistransition sky-wide. Fabulous! But, you must shareall this glory with cockpit flies! Tiny sharks withwings that eat your legs with electric stings! So yes,do bring good bug repellant!

We took on fuel, water, etc. in Cape May harbor thenanchored out until 4am, at which time we putteredout into the Atlantic Ocean for a six-hour trip toOcean City, Maryland.

Though not a sailboat port - it's more for fishing,parasailing, high-speed gas-guzzling adventure rides,and toerail tearing dockage conditions - there wasavailable sustenance for both the boat and the crew.We docked overnight during the early August heat-wave and survived by placing a 5k btu air condition-ing unit in the companionway, which made it 79

degrees inside, while itwas 90 degrees outside!

The following day at noonwe departed Ocean Citylike popping out of theseamy side of a modernDickens novel. We neededshowers! Again throughthe night we motor-sailed,tacking upwind to keep themain full and stabilize theboat. After dawn we were atthe bottom of theChesapeake! A short hop tothe Naval AmphibiousBase at Little Creek,Virginia found us at a

marina for 75 cents a foot,cheap food and dollar beers at the CPO club (ChiefBurton is retired Navy).

It was now Friday, August 4th and the party wasending. Kathy and I flew back to New York and Dickwas hanging out for a week awaiting new crew for thetrip down the Intercoastal Waterway to Beaufort,North Carolina.

Being in MCYC has broadened and brightened mysailing life in many ways, not the least of which is thepeople I've come to be close with. One of these is ourfriend and past Commodore Dick Burton. I washappy and personally rewarded to join his crew andwe all wish him well in his new life/adventure!

Farewell NY City: Under the Manhattan Bridge

Amenity in Ocean City, MD. Note the A.C. unit in thecompanionway to combat the 100 degree heat

7

The morning that my daughter Judith (she prefersJudi and I call her Jude) and I cast off from the docksat the Little Creek Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia,“Smitty” was there in his dinghy. He wished us a safetrip and acted as a tug boat, pushing our bow outagainst the prevailing wind. So, father and daughterset off for the eight-day trip to Georgetown, SC, a dis-tance of more than 400 miles via the AtlanticIntercoastal Waterway, or ICW as it is commonlyreferred to.

My son and my daughter bothused to sail with me years agowhen they were kids. Now Joe is30, married and living inIndianapolis, and Judith is 26,grown, with her on ideas of life.It has been a while since wesailed together and even longersince we spent hours and daysat a time together confined to aspace 32 feet long and about 10feet wide. But, she was deter-mined that I was not going tomake this voyage alone and nowthat it is over, I must say shewas right.

The morning was beautiful. A steady breeze out ofthe southwest, gentle seas, clear skies and a fresh-ness to the morning air that you could smell and feel.We motored out of the channel and headed to Norfolkand the start of the ICW, passing Naval ships, sea-going tugs pushing barges, container ships and,finally, part of the “mothball fleet” (Navy ships put

out of commission but kept afloat in case they areever needed again).

As we passed the first of the mothball ships I did adouble take. It was the LY Spear, a ship I had actu-ally been aboard when it was commissioned andbrand spanking new back in 1971. “Dad, you lookbetter than that ship,” commented Judith. “Thanks,Jude,” I replied. It was pretty sad. Rust dribblingdown the side, multi-colors of gray paint, and com-pletely deserted, tied to the dock and dying from lackof use. We passed on with my memories beingreplaced by the next channel marker and the need toconcentrate on my course.

For months I had been working on this voyage in mymind. There were two possible routes to take. One tothe east and more traveled, the other the “DismalSwamp,” described in the all the books as the less-trav-eled route. I now understand why it is the less traveledroute. Needless to say, that is the route we chose.

It was a very narrow, calm waterway, straight as anarrow to the horizon, lined with trees so that the skyand the trees formed a reflective pathway meeting at thehorizon. Water looking like tea and tree stumps lying inwait for my sailboat. Judith was on the bow warning ofhidden dangers just below the surface, while I was at

the helm, trying tocontrol my bloodpressure.

We pushed on andmade good time,ending the day atthe North CarolinaWelcome Center,just four miles fromthe lock that woulddrop us down eightfeet and send us onour way.

The next day sawus up and at the

lock when it openedand then on to

Elizabeth City, the Albemarle River, the AlbemarleSound and then the Alligator River. I am sure thepeople of North Carolina really love the wildness ofthis area, but to me it was really a very unfriendlyplace and I had terrible thoughts of engine trouble,no cell phone signal and no one to receive a distresscall on the radio. But my little Volvo diesel ran like a

Taking Amenity South – Part 2by Dick Burton

* A salty, wet dog - Captain Burton on a rainy day.

Exiting Deep Creek Lock and enteringthe Dismal Swamp Canal

4

top that day and the next and on and on. There wasa little bit of white smoke trailing us as it has sincethe day I bought the boat, but it got us here withoutever a hiccup.

So each day became sort of a ritual. I would wake upat 6:30 without ever setting an alarm and then wakeJude. I would start getting things ready and Judewould fix my coffee and make us a breakfast of bageland cream cheese (Oh, we're still sort of NewYorkers). We would cast off a little after 7am and beon our way.

Lunch was around noonand by dinner we wouldmake a new destination.After Alligator River, wewere in Belhaven, a cutelittle town where the mari-na gave us a golf cart to gointo town for supplies.Then Oriental followed byBeaufort (pronounced“bow fert”), where wedecided to push on downthe ICW, rather than goout to the ocean. Highwinds and very roughseas helped in that deci-sion. The marina atWrightsville Beach toppedthe golf cart hospitality by giving us a loaner car forthe evening. Not as much fun, but by that time weneeded to go to a grocery store.

On leaving Wrightsville Beach we were just cruisingalong on a beautiful morning, me at the helm, Judedown below getting our breakfast when a CoastGuard RIB (rigid inflatable boat) with about sixguardsmen flew past us. I waved and smiled. Thenext thing I know, I am being boarded by them for aninspection! To Jude it was great fun as she got to flirtwith the cute ones. I, on the other hand, had to sweatout whether I had all the proper safety equipment,life jackets, distress flares, whistles, lights, horns,etc., and whether I was properly disposing of my

trash, oil and sewage. Luckily the only thing I did nothave was a poster warning everyone on-board not todispose of trash overboard within three miles of thecoast. So after convincing them I was not a terroristbut a comrade, having retired from the Navy, they letus proceed, minus Jude's telephone number.

The morning of day eight, we left Little River, SC withonly 50 miles left. As each mile fell behind, I becamemore and more proud of what we had done as a fam-ily. Jude and I had not only reacquainted with each

other, but we had donesomething to sort of bragabout in the process.Together we had experi-enced and passed throughwilderness areas, roughseas, high winds, being alittle lost at times, a cou-ple of near groundingsand one hard grounding.We had learned aboutlocks and bridges thathave to open for you. Wehad experienced currentsso strong against us atone point we barely madein through a bridge pass-ing. Finally, as we passedunder the last bridge, I

called ahead to a couple offriends who met us at the dock and we all celebratedwith a little champagne Jude had bought for theoccasion.

As I write, we are expecting Tropical Storm Ernestoto arrive tomorrow. The boat is all latched down andhopefully secure, but I am finding out that “swingingwith the flow” down here may not be as easy as Idreamed of. True it is probably okay for this one, butwhen the big ones come along, boats around herehave to run and hide in the nooks and crannies of therivers and that may be interesting.

But, for now Amenity is out on the river at anchor,swinging with the flow.

Cruising along the Alligator River

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There is an expression called the"80/20 Rule," which I believe canapply to Masthead Cove YachtClub. In our case, I interpret it tomean that 20 percent of the mem-bers do 80 percent of the work tokeep the club going. I'm hesitantto use the word "work" since, after

all, we are a group formed to enjoy leisurely activitiesin a pastime we all love. But, somehow those activi-ties must be planned and executed, including theone-time events, as well as the overall smooth opera-tion of the club.

At the risk of leaving someone out - I certainly hope Idon't! - I'd like to publicly acknowledge those people whogo more than an extra mile to make Masthead as won-derful as it is. The list begins with all of the officers andboard members - what a group! They are: Tom Mazzotta,Jim Martinolich, Bob Bergsten, Nancy Kinney, StanO'Marra, Jack Posner, David Strickler, CharlotteBerman, Jackie Martin, Ron Laufer, Bob Harrison,Marilyn Posner, Barry Zusman, Linda Strickler, MichaelGorwits, Ken Lotterhos, Allan Pearlman and JohnWest. Every one of these people does an amazing job ofmaking sure MCYC is the best it can be.

Although I don't want to be “politically incorrect,” I'dlike to single out a few people from this auspiciousgroup as truly being “heroes:” Dave Strickler (for theprinting and, recently the layout, of the newsletter, aswell as his continuing efforts with the racing pro-gram; Linda Strickler (for her tireless, non-stop sup-port overall); Jack Posner (for the racing program,and he and Marilyn for their heart-filled “Day in theSun” Special Olympics program); and Tom Mazzotta(for… everything!). And personally, my thanks go outto Dick Burton, for continuing to do the layout anddesign of The Masthead - from wherever he is! - aswell as to ALL of the MCYC folks who have con-tributed articles, photos and other items for thenewsletter. And, on that note, I invite you to enjoythis month's edition! (Okay, so maybe this is morethan 20 percent.)

Till the next time, sea 'ya… Ed.

Message From the Editor

6

The Travails of TIKIby Anita Stein

We started out with high expectations on the MCYCcruise to Knickerbocker Yacht Club for the July 4thweekend. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful dayto sail to Manhasset Bay. Since the wind was notalways in our favor on the trip over, we decided tostay out in the Sound and play awhile, following thewind. It was great!

Once we turned the motor back on, however, andcame into the harbor, Tiki's rpm's started rising andfalling, and the engine slowly died. We were able tosail part of the way in, and the launch at KYC towedus the rest of the way to the mooring. Sunday morn-ing Howie got up and did whatever he could do withthe engine (changed a filter we had on-hand and bledthe system) and ran it for 11⁄2 hours. We thought shesounded fine, so we took her off the mooring andstarted to motor. She didn't even last 10 minutes!Luckily, we were able to sail back to the pin. Now wereally didn't know what to do. Brewer's and KYC saidthere were no mechanics available till after the holi-day, no club members knew of anything further tohelp, so we were really stuck!

Thank goodness for the KYC dockmaster, Will. Whata great guy! He not only hooked us up with amechanic who lives on his boat, he took us by dingyto a dock near West Marine for a primary filter,because it was too far to walk. After changing the fil-ter Howie could no longer get any flow to bleed thesystem and it was time for a mechanic.

The mechanic, Ralph Miller, came at 6:00 pm onSunday and worked on Tiki for nearly two hours,restoring good flow. He felt there was a blockage, butcould never really identify any specific item causingthe problem. Tiki sounded great, so we were happy tomotor off on Monday toward Oyster Bay.

We were unable to sail, so we used the motor thewhole way and everything was fine. We anchored atCenter Island with no problem and started socializ-ing. A few hours later, as we were all on Strickly Ours,Howie said to me, “Where's the boat?” I don't know ifthat's ever happened to you, but what a fright! Wesaw where she had drifted and realized she actuallymust have passed right by us!

We jumped in the dinghy and, as we got to Tiki, wefound out she had hit a big trawler. In Howie's excite-ment, he fell out of the dinghy trying to get on-board!The people on the trawler said our flag had hit her andbroke off - it sure did! Thankfully, we did not see anydamage. We moved her back and reset the anchor.After we left the party, Howie wanted to make sure wewere anchored well for the night and put her in reverse.I was down below and when I came up, we had brokenloose again! We saw an unused mooring ball nearbyand since it was so late, we jumped on it. Fortunately,we were fine and set out on Tuesday for the raft-up.

Once again, in less than 15 minutes, the rpm's start-ed to drop and we crawled to an open mooring. Howieblew out the hoses and bled the system again andshe started up. Right about this time Strickly Ourscame by and saw we needed help. They stayedbehind us, but the motor died again and that's whenthey towed us all the way home! We were really gladit was not good sailing weather or we would have feltawful that we had them motoring!

When we got into our harbor, we called our launchoperator to tow us the rest of the way to our mooring.The Stricklers had certainly done enough. The pinsituation would have been really hairy to negotiate!Fortunately, Howie had already made an appoint-ment with Bob at Long Island Yacht Service for nextweek, so we hope all will be well for our next trip.

All things considered, no one was hurt (other than ourflag and flagpole). It could have been much worse.Due to the true kindness of others, we were able tomake it home in one piece. Although, it was not exact-ly how we thought the weekend would turn out!

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8

Sailing into Retirementby John Forbes

After 50 years of toiling, more than 45 of them withThe New York Times, I have abandoned Times Squareand the rigors of photo editing for the “Science” andthe “Escapes” sections. And already I have spentmore time on Bluejacket. The reduction in the anxi-ety/high-speed level is remarkable, as those whohave been before me well know. I even thought that Imight run out into traffic on Third Avenue in the city,just to jostle my serenity. I promptly discarded theidea.

I have been expanding my weekends to Mondays withmy new-found freedom. As a city guy, spendingweekends aboard has always been a healthy releasefrom concrete and asphalt. I have discovered thatthere is a qualitative difference to the harbor after theweekend hustle. Sunday I often awake to enginenoises, and happy voices of sailors boarding neigh-boring boats, getting ready for a day-sail. Mondays,though, the harbor becomes still, perhaps a clam-mer's outboard or and occasional great black-backedgull barking. During our last soggy Monday, the onlysounds below at dawn were creaking mooring linesas Bluejacket swung in the breeze and the spatteringof rain on the overhead. What a great, new way tostart the week.

I had a great sail up to Milford, Connecticut on arecent weekend to visit a sailing chum and his, forhim, new boat, a Cal 33. The wind and tide were fair,NNW at 8-10, on the way up. Coming back, the tideturned favorable at the Middle Ground andBluejacket and I flew (if that's the word for hitting 7knots) in on a veering SSE breeze that piped up to 16knots in the late afternoon.

These are the days I must remember on those sleetyFebruary days when all in the city is gray. Hope tosee you all soon on the water or at the Club mooring,

10

11

The Masthead

Editor: Marilyn Gerber, Publisher: David Strickler, Photography: Various Advertising: Allan Pearlman, Mailing: Jim and Loy Norris

E-mail your materials to editor@mastheadcoveyc.org, or call 917.225.2977.All rights reserved. Published by Masthead Cove Yacht Club, Inc. P.O. Box 433, Huntington, NY 11743. Not for profit.

www.mastheadcoveyc.org

The Sunshine Cornerby Helene Laufer

“Yes, I will!” Four MCYC families celebrate engagements this summer…

Rose & Phil Averbuch are delighted to announce the engagement of their daughter Stacey to Tony Munoz.

Lauren Strickler, Linda & Dave's daughter, was also recently engaged. The lucky groom-to-be is Ben Yarbrough.

Sandi Shulman, daughter of Bobbie & Larry, was proposed to by Randy Udell. She accepted, of course!

Beverly Smith and Bob Harrison are proud to announce that their daughter Mercedes is engaged to marry Jason Thomas.

More leisure time ahead for me. I officially retired from teaching after 22 years “in” first grade.

Two more girls, to be exact!

Charlotte & Len Berman's daughter, Maggie, and their son-in-law, Richard Ewell, gave birth to baby SarahCharlotte, named for Charlotte's father and grandmother. There has been a Margaret and a Charlotte inevery generation of Charlotte's mother's family since 1820!

Vicki & Dave Schwartz are also thrilled about the birth of their first grandchild, Alanna Rebecca Meyer.The proud parents are Vicki & Dave's daughter Elizabeth and her husband Bob Meyer.

Happy Anniversary - 40 years! - to Karen and Dan Kalina.

MCYC member Rose Huergo recently underwent knee replacement surgery. We understand she isdoing well and hope she continues on the mend quickly.

It is with sadness that we announce that Al Delli Paoli's granddaughter, Jessica Mihok, recently passed away.Our most sincere condolences go out to Al, Eva and their entire family.