Commodore's Log

  Carl Crothers, Commodore

  S/V Sanctuary

Commodore’s Log October 2021

It’s not too late to register for this year’s Oriental Cup Regatta this weekend, Oct. 15-17. Presented by the Nautical Co-op of Oriental. We’re cutting off reservations for the Saturday dinner at the Oriental Marina & Inn today, so don’t delay. There aren’t many NSA boats signed up besides Sanctuary, so it would be nice to see more NSA boats out there. The racing is for all classes and levels of experience. And if you don’t want to race, you can still come to the Saturday dinner and Sunday’s annual NSA Bloody Mary Breakfast. Go to orientalcupregatta.com for information and to register.

We were able to stick with West Bay for the Fall Cruise, Oct. 2-3, because of favorable E and S winds. Sanctuary was not able to participate, but we’re told it was a grand time with a cookout in a sand pit on the beach with thanks to Erik Hardtle, NSA construction engineer extraordinaire. As some of you may have heard, your Commodore “got the ‘rona,” to quote Don Trump Jr. Thanks to the vaccine, I had a very mild reaction. Breakthrough cases are not that rare, so be careful out there.

The final cruise of the season, the Halloween Cruise, is coming up at the end of the month, Oct. 30. Howard has recommended we stay close to home this year to allow members to enjoy the many Oriental Halloween festivities. There may be a South River raft-up if conditions are good. Howard will keep us informed.

Registration is open for the Commodore’s Ball, Saturday, Nov. 13, at River Dunes. It will be an outdoor event at the Harbor Club at River Dunes, similar to last year. Check out the details and register here. We need a good head count in advance, so please register soon.

We normally hold our annual members meeting the morning of the Commodore’s Ball, but with a number of people still avoiding large indoor gatherings, we’re considering other options. More on that later.

There is still time… to see you on the water.

Sailing quote of the month: “Sailing a boat calls for quick action, a blending of feeling with the wind and water as well as with the very heart and soul of the boat itself.” – George Matthews Adams

Carl Crothers
Commodore
commodore@neusesailingassociation.org

 Howard Cheethan

  VC Cruising

  S/V Misto

At last! The weather more or less cooperated with us for the Fall cruise to West Bay to go ahead as planned. Hurrah! Through the day Saturday, light NE winds meant that it was really a motoring event out to West Bay. Kudos to Erik and Jean Hardtle who persevered under sail tacking back and forth down the Neuse (and catching some nice fish along the way). A  fleet of 10-11 boats made it to West Bay and anchored comfortably off the beach with a slight chop on the water, but as we gathered on the beach in the late afternoon the wind behaved as forecast and clocked to the SE, blowing off the shore and with the very short fetch we had an almost flat calm anchorage for the night.

Members old and new who had never been to West Bay before were thrilled with the idyllic conditions and the "desert island" like beauty of the beach and seeming remoteness from civilization. Erik Hardtle recruited some help and was, at last, able to set up his beach grill for an event and an abundance of food appeared. The wind blew our smoke off the beach and not into our eyes as we all enjoyed cooking over an open fire. As always we had a wide selection of beers and wine on ice that were imbibed with gusto.

As afternoon turned to dusk the grill was disassembled and replaced with a bonfire using driftwood from the beach. Some s'mores sticks appeared for dessert and sundowners until it clearly became time to return to our boats before it became too dark. Sunday morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise, but with the wind still light and now clocking to the SW we were again doomed to motoring home. Nevertheless a thoroughly enjoyable weekend was had by all.

The next and final cruise of the season will be the Halloween cruise, which this year, will remain around Oriental so that we can enjoy the town's festivities for a change - the witches crawl, Halloween dress party at the Tiki Bar, or whatever the other local venues put on for the weekend. During the day on Saturday we will probably head over to South Ruver (wind and weather allowing) and  hold a dinghy raft up for a lunchtime drink and snacks on the water. It will be a great opportunity to get your cameras out so we can get pictures of other boats to share with the owners, and in return get some wonderful pictures of our own boats from others that are out on the water.

Cheers!

Howard Cheetham

S/V Misto

A Great Deal for New NSA Members  

If you know of someone who might enjoy being part of the NSA, please let them know that now is a great time to join – no need to wait until January! Anyone who joins the NSA from now until the end of the year gets the same deal as those who join in 2022 – their membership will be good until April 1, 2023. By joining now, they have the opportunity to take part in the NSA Halloween festivities and also the Commodore’s Ball. So be sure to mention this to your friends and neighbors!

See you on the water!

Donna Crothers

Vice Commodore, Membership

S/V Sanctuary

Happy fall to all! If you haven’t bought your NSA merchandise this year take a look at the tees, caps, visors & koozies available on the Marketplace. As I’m not informed automatically when someone has made a purchase, please inform me when you order so I can arrange to deliver to you in Oriental. 

We all enjoy seeing photos of each other’s sailing adventures so please continue to post on our Facebook group. Take lots of photos on the Halloween cruise as I’m sure there will be lots of great costumes!  

Kathy Kenny

Vice Commodore, Social Media

S/V Cool Change

 Jeff Kenyon
 S/V Calitri (website)

Pat Thomaier
S/V Wild Goose (Neuse Juice)

More photos!

Keep those great event photos coming to to jeff.kenyon@gmail.com for inclusion in the main website scrolling photos area. We’ll also select one photo per month as the website background picture. For the background, the photo needs to have "interesting" content along the top and sides, since the website content consumes the entire middle.

Jeff Kenyon

S/V Calitri