NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

 Saturday, November 8^th 2008

West River Sailing Club

5PM to 6 PM: Class Association Meeting

6PM to 7PM: Potluck Dinner

7PM to 8:30PM: Speakers: Will Keyworth and Molly Winans

 

October 28, 2008

 

Dear Chesapeake 20 Fleet and Supporters:

What a great season!! I’m sorry to see it end.  But again we have much to celebrate at our annual meeting having had so many good times together. 

 

SEASON WINNERS:  At our annual meeting, we will be honoring participants and winners of the 2008 season. Congratulations to our overall season champion Roger Link who won six major regattas including the Nationals, Heritage, Nelson Parks and Captain Dick Hartge Regattas.   Clay Taylor dominated the Chester River and Rock Hall Regattas with two firsts.  Randy Watson crewing for Jonathan Bartlett won our thunderstorm ending All-Stars race.  Carol McCullough won the Tred Avon Regatta; Maury Neibur won the WRSC/Billy Heintz Regatta; and Bob Blomquist won the Fall Series.  I, (Ted Weihe) was CBYRA High Point (mostly because other members had not joined and I accumulated the most points under the scoring system). 

 

In addition to those above, we had strong participation from Robin Hartge (with a new centerboard and going faster all season), Bob Angle (putting America upfront), Andrew Resnick (improving after every race), Bill West (returning to the racing scene), Lorenzo Dialti (our Italian speedster), Jay Addison (going fast often) and Ari Schragger (racing various 20s to their perfection).  Each had great moments on the race course.

 

We held 53 races in 17 events with 376 starts and 15 active Chesapeake 20s.  We achieved record turnouts at the Nationals and Captain Dick Hartge Regatta. 

 

We will have surprise awards for winners and all participants at our upcoming annual meeting.  You need to be there to receive one. I have posted the complete racing results on our web page: www.Chesapeake20.org

 

 AGENDA FOR CLASS MEETING:  Class officers will review minutes from the spring meeting and provide a treasurer’s report.  The major business items are election of 2009 officers and next year’s race schedule. 

 

We have confirmed that our Nationals will be held at the Annapolis Maritime Museum which has new docks and has a newly restored building which will make our weekend on June 20^th at lot easier on docking and inside if it rains again.  Given their busy schedule, we needed to confirm these dates early. 

 

We would like to discuss scheduling options: more or fewer Sunday races;  more events in May; possibly skipping the Rock Hall Regatta (it’s so far away and expensive on the gas that many people can’t take that much time off, or afford it) and instead going to the Miles River Regatta in early August (or even other options). 

 

The officers would also like your ideas on how to get better turnouts and additional skippers for our two “club” boats which Clay Taylor and I own.     

 

We do not propose any rules changes but we are open to suggestions for the spring meeting. If you have rule change ideas or suggestions offer them at this meeting.

 

POTLUCK DINNER:  Our potluck dinner is a long tradition and lots of fun.  Since it always seems to be big hit, Clay Taylor will bring a beef roast as our main dish.  If your last name is A to G – bring hors d’oeuvres; H to S, salads and side dishes; and R to Z, desserts.  If you’re bringing hor d’oeuvres, please have them ready to serve right after the class meeting.  Please trade with someone if you prefer to make something other than what you are listed to bring.

 

SPEAKERS:  We have lined up two wonderful speakers: Will Keyworth and Molly Winans – both Chesapeake 20 sailors. 

 

Will Keyworth, manager of North Sails in Annapolis, is well known to many of you.  But you may not have known that he learned to sail at West River Sailing Club and was one of the youngest Chesapeake 20 racers to win major regattas.  He worked for Blue Water Marina on Rhode River where he helped restore several Chesapeake 20s, and began his career under the tutelage of Bobby Orme who raced Chesapeake 20s in the 40s in Washington D.C. and after the World War II at West River.  Willie will talk about his early years in Chesapeake 20s, Bobby Orme, and operations at the North Sails.  We can also kid him about capsizing Stormy at the All-Star Event.  On our website, under “pioneers”, there is an article detailing his Chesapeake 20 racing career.

 

Molly Winans, Editor of Spinsheet, has been crewing for Bill West in Mischief and Andrew Resnick in Contrary.   She will discuss her recent visit to Galway Bay, Ireland with a slideshow; and plans to sponsor a Spinsheet trip there for the Volvo 70 stopover, May 23-June 6, 2009.  Several of us are already planning to go.  See galway@spinsheet.com for details or read the October issue, pages 116-123.

 

CHESAPEAKE 20 WEBSITE:  I want to thank Elsie Whitman for sharing her mother’s (Elsie Hartge/Schlegel/Wallace) albums including wonderful pictures from the 30s.  Also Will Keyworth shared his collection of clippings from the 1960s. They are all posted. Check them out.  We have also posted many race results and clippings from Helen Hedler’s scrapbook.  The Hedler family was very active, early 20 racers in the late 50s and 60s.  Clay and I are always looking for additional archival documents as well as electronic pictures of each Chesapeake 20 in “our fleet.”