Catalina Fleet 21 - Chicago
Region
FleetSheet Newsletter
July 2003
Chicago’s Lakefront will host the Tall Ships Festival beginning July 30th for one week. To coincide with this event, our July 15th Fleet meeting at the Burnham Park Yacht Club will feature a presentation of a well-known artist’s depiction of these beautiful vessels.
Mr. Burt Jacobs, curator for the past thirty years of the Clipper Ship Gallery in La Grange will focus on the life and works of Charles Vickery, an internationally collected seascape artist. Vickery, a lifelong resident of the Chicago Suburbs had a great love for Lake Michigan. The exciting Chicago lakefront and the sand dunes across the lake are the subject of many of his works. The Los Angeles Maritime Museum has proclaimed Vickery as the finest seascape artist of our time.
Mr. Jacobs will share with us a number of individual prints and paintings of Vickery’s work. His explanations will give us insights of the works along with an appreciation of the art of the sea.
Incidentally, the Clipper Ship Gallery donated a tall ship work of art to our annual awards banquet last year. Our lucky winner was Pete Duerr.
The meeting is Tuesday, July 15 at the Burnham Park Yacht Club located
at 1500 S. Linn White Drive. Follow the signs to Meigs Field (if
they are still there or watch for new signs that say Northerly Island Park!).
Dinner begins around 6:30 . A pasta bar for $14.00 is planned. It
will include salad, cooked to order pasta, bread, coffee or soft drink. Many
Fleet members have been very happy with the pasta bar. If you haven’t
tried it, we urge you to do so! The regular menu will not be available. If you
plan to have dinner, please call the Yacht Club at 312-427-4664 for
reservations. Tell them you are part of the Catalina group. It is
crucial that you make reservations if you plan to have dinner. The program and
business meeting begin promptly at 8:00 p.m..
COMMODORE’S MESSAGE
I can't
believe that it's July already. It seems that summer has just arrived and here
we are already sailing half way through it. July is an indication that my term
as Commodore is more than half over. Before you know it we'll be dancing at the
November Awards Banquet looking forward to next year’s
festivities. Time
surely waits for no one. So get out there and sail, enjoy each second of
it. While I'm enjoying each second of being Commodore, it is time to look
forward. The Nominating Committee has been formed. Cheryl Kuba from Montrose
will lead the group in this year’s decisions. Brian Ruxton, Vice Commodore from
Burnham Harbor, Barry Garr, Treasurer from Burnham Harbor, Barb Stewart
Mariner's Fund from Monroe and Linda Reed from Hammond will all work hard to put
together a winning team for next year.
I took the opportunity to
attend the Chicago Yachting Association meeting last month at Jackson Park. I
can now tell you first hand that joining this Association was the right thing
for the Fleet to do. This meeting really pulls together
everything that is
happening in the harbor systems. It was good to see Jerry from Westrec. He had
all the updates and information on all the harbors. Lori will give an update at
the next general meeting. Fred Poppie talked more on the Boaters PAC. Our Club
has decided to withdraw the donation that we made last month in light of the
fact that PAC wants individual members to sign on and not Not-for-profit
groups.. Our board will meet again in August to discuss this further and in the
mean time I'll be attending the PAC board meeting to gather up more information.
I will keep my phone line open to anyone from the club that wants to have an
input in this decision process. I'll take your concerns to the board and your
input will count in the final decision. This is your club and you need to have a
voice as well.
A Big Sailor HURRAY to Hazel and John Luther (Ventura). The July 5th outing was very enjoyable. All your hard work paid off with a wonderful time had by all. The Brats and Chicken hit the spot. This outing gave me the chance to meet many of our Catalina Friends that normally don't make it to the general meetings. I had my own little "Tour De Boats" as everyone graciously invited Brian, the girls and I to come aboard and view their living space. All the boats are beautiful and I thank them for opening up their summer homes to us. Those of you taking off for Holland from this outing I wish you fair weather and a pleasant sail. Say Hello to all our LMCA friends for us.
If you're not out traveling the seas this month I hope to see you at the next
July meeting. The topic this month is Tall Ships.
Deborah Ruxton,
Commodore
UPCOMING
EVENTS:
Catalina LMCA Rendezvous. Lake Macatawa July 11 – 13, 2003.
DuSable Weekend, July 12-13
Fleet General Meeting, Burnham Park Yacht Club, Tuesday, July 15
Hammond Social & Symphony, July 19-20
Robbie Newmann Regatta, July 26
Chicago Venetian Night, August 2
Fleet 21 30th Anniversary Cruise on the
Windy, August 9
Fleet General Meeting, August 19
Fleet 1 Awards Banquet. November 15, 2003.William Tell Holiday Inn.
MEMBERSHIP
Please note the following corrections in your Fleet Directory:
WINDY SAILS AUG. 9
Subject:
Anniversary Celebration aboard the Windy
To: Catalina Fleet 21 30th Anniversary Celebration LATE COMERS!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE!! Over one hundred Catalina Fleet 21 members and guests have already signed up and sent in their money for our Fleet 21 gala Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration aboard the WINDY sailing out of Navy Pier on August 9th from 9 pm prompt to 11pm. Chicago Fireworks that night! Bring your family and friends, but remember we can only take the first 150 paid. So, send in your $30 per person now. $15 for children 12 or under. Please call Kathy Ahern to make reservations. Send check made payable to Catalina Fleet 21 to Kathy Ahern at 1011 Blackburn Drive, Inverness, IL 60067. (847)-358-4295 kahern1@attglobal.net
VENETIAN NIGHT
Enjoy Chicago’s
Venetian Night on August 2 and watch for our Fleet entry! A group is hard
at work interpreting the tale of Leif Erickson and the Vikings in lights and
sails.
RACING
Racers! Racers!
Racers! Don’t forget the Robbie Niemann Memorial Regatta, on July
26. Sponsored by the Corinthian Yacht Club in Montrose, this race is the
perfect time for you to try your hand at racing or get yet another trophy.
There are jib and main and spinnaker sections, and sections for women
skippers. If we have 5 or more Catalinas of the same size, we could have
our own start. A great party follows the race with a band and bar.
For more information go to the Corinthian website for a race application www.corinthian.org. Overnight docking
available at Montrose after the race—there is a fee.
PICTURES WANTED
Photos of
Fleet Activities are wanted for a 2004 calendar we hope to put together this
fall.
Capture this year in photos and send the best ones to Mary Beth Cybul
who will be working on this project. We’re also looking for some vintage
photos to reflect our 30 year history. Photos will be returned to
you. Photos (35mm) are also needed to submit to the CYA’ s Annual
Ball in November. Their committee proposes to highlight their
evening with a fantastic light show illuminating power and sail photos of this
year’s events, so all of you camera photographers get clicking to earmark the
greatest moments of our Outings! You can also send digital
photos to Bob Kuba for our website. This is an excellent way to capture
Fleet 21's good times!
WWW
Catalina Fleet 21’s
website, www.catfleet21.org
has won a “Golden Web Award” for 2003 – 2004, from the International Association
of Web Masters and Designers. The Golden Web Awards is a free service of the
Association and is “presented to those sites whose web design, originality and
content have achieved levels of excellence deserving of recognition.”
The Fleet will also receive a listing in the Associations Annual Who's Who on the Web Directory.
SailNet, www.sailnet.com , our gracious sponsor, provides space on their server free of charge, which saves the club approximately $200 – $300 per month in fees. Incidentally, the SailNet Online store offers FREE shipping and NO sales tax through their online links posted on the Fleet 21 website, and almost always has lower prices than Boat US or West Marine.
The most popular web pages are:
1) For Sale page, 2) Home page, 3) Guest
Log, 4) Rigging & Equipment, 5) Sailing Charters, 6) Harbormasters
Information, and 7) the Nautical Links page.
The For Sale page is very active, and approximately 15 boats in the last 8 months, have been sold from ads posted on this page.
BUY/TRADE/SELL
WANTED:
Horizontal windlass for 40 foot sailboat. Call Jim Wright @ 312-467-1348
or
Email wright.james.h@att.net
FOR SALE: 1980 Catalina 25. Ready to sail!
Ice box, stove, vhf, reconditioned outboard, main, genoa, spinnaker, tiller,
dinghy, & trailer.
Moored at Montrose Harbor for 2003 season.
$6500. Call Neal @ 630-717-1371