News for Competitors
Hospice Regattas National Championship 2009
Chairman’s letter # 6 - May 29, 2009
1. We are excited and look forward to welcoming you to Rochester Yacht Club next week. ....a. Registration opens at noon WED until 1700 ....b. Reopens at noon on Thursday until 1700 ....c. Boats are available for practice at 1000 on Thursday ....d. The RC may have a practice start at 1300 on Thursday
2. Let me review with you the Schedule:
Wednesday 03 June
1200-1700
Registration
Burgee Bar
1800
Welcome
Reception
Burgee Bar
Free Keg beer
Thrusday
04 June
1200-1700
Registration
Burgee Bar
1000-1700
Practice
Sailing on
Sonars
On the Water
First Come First served
1800
Competitors
Meeting
Burgee Bar
Free keg beer
1830
Welcome
Reception
Burgee bar
Open dinner night
Friday
05 June
0800
Breakfast at
RYC
Free for teams
0955
1st Warning
Signal
More races to follow
1800
Buffet & Daily
Awards
Burgee Bar
Free keg beer
Each team get 4 tickets
for dinner, additional tickets
may be purchased $20/person
Saturday
06 June
0800
Breakfast at
RYC
Free for teams
0955
1st Warning
Signal
More races to follow
1730
Daily Awards
Burgee Bar -free keg beer
1800
Dinner and
Auction
Main Dining Room
Each team get 4 tickets for
dinner, additional tickets
maybe purchased - $40/person
Sunday
07 June
0800
Breakfast at
RYC
Free for teams
0955
1st Warning
Signal
More races to follow
1400
No further
warning signals
1600
Awards
(target time)
Northwest Deck
Free Pizza and keg beer
3. All events will be casual; blazer and tie are not needed.
4. Willard Bond posters for 2009 available for purchase.
Mr. Bond will be here to sign posters and exhibit original art work.
5. Coral Reef Sailing Apparel will be on site to sell event clothing. They will have many items to keep you warm and stylish.
6. Kristina will be in charge of the registration desk, she looks forward to meeting you. Please be sure to have your ISAF sailor classification number/category. Each team will receive a very special gift bag with 4 hats and more.
1. In 2 weeks you will be racing in Rochester New York. We look forward to welcoming you to the Rochester Yacht Club. ....a. Have a great weekend on the water for this Memorial Day weekend.
2. Saturday night June 6th is a regatta dinner and auction. Our committee person Julie Blakley is coordinating that event. She has probably been in touch with each of you. ....a. Fort Lauderdale Skipper Stuart Hibbs has offered the use of his summer home in Lunenburg Nova Scotia as an auction item. It is a postcard picture type of location about an hour south of Halifax. Already bidding interest has begun. Thanks Stuart. ....b. I hope other teams can bring exciting regional items for either the live or silent auction part of the event. This is a traditional event at the Hospice Nationals and your enthusiastic participation is appreciated.
3. Our program book sales topped all expectations, we added 4 extra pages. Jane Kinsella, RYC member raised over $5,000 at a pass the hat event at the RYC bar last Wed night.
4. I will have one more Chairman’s message next week Friday.
Chairman’s letter # 4 - May 15, 2009
1. NOR Amendment # 2 has been posted on the event web site. ....a. The amendment regarding “on the water” safety and personal items permitted to be brought on board. ....b. The Lake Ontario water temp is 48-50 degrees but getting warmer each day. www.coastwatch.msu.edu/ontario/o2.html ....c. If the wind is from the north the air temp can be cold, so please be prepared for cold temps. That said today it is 70 degrees with a southeast wind, beautiful. ....d. Coral Reef Sailing Apparel will be at the event to offer great values on sailing gear.
2. The preliminary sailing instructions will be posted on the web site this weekend. Final sailing instructions will be provided at registration.
3. Regatta Program Booklet w/ sailing instructions: ....a. We will be producing one, we need some support. ........i. $600 Full page ........ii. $300 Half page ........iii. $ 50 Business Card size ........iv. Contact Helen McDermott 585-214-1324 ........v. Helen.McDermott@lifetimecare.org ........vi. Thanks to several teams that have bought
Chairman’s letter # 3 - May 8, 2009
1. The official yellow hats are here. We are getting ready to host a great event and look forward to welcoming you to Rochester Yacht Club.
2. Willard Bond to personally attend the Championship. He will be at RYC to celebrate his birthday and will set up a display of his original art work. For many years Mr. Bond has donated images that we have used on shirts, posters and web site images. This year we will again feature a Willard Bond poster available for purchase. We are excited to have Willard join us at the championship.
(This year’s image – Breaking Through by Willard Bond)
3. Regatta Program Booklet w/ sailing instructions: ....a. We will be producing one, we need some support. .........i. $600 Full page ........ii. $300 Half page ........iii. $ 50 Business Card size ........iv.Contact Helen McDermott 585-214-1324 .........v. Helen.McDermott@lifetimecare.org
4. Your Regatta Chairs:
John and Lauren Doyle Mary and Hank Stuart
5. Last call for Skipper/Team bio info: ...a. Please contact Larry Sill: lsill@frontiernet.net
6. Teams please remember to bring a raffle/auction item that represents your home region. We will collect these at registration. Julie Blakley is coordinator. ...a. Please contact Julie: jblakley@rochester.rr.com
7. With 4 weeks to go before the event, we are working hard to be sure all the pieces are in place. If you have any questions, please contact us at hospicenationals@rochesteryc.com
8. Team photo at Competitor’s Meeting ...a. Thursday June 4th at 1800
9. Special Thanks to the NHRA Board:
Jean Swink Kluttz, President NHRA - Vienna VA
Debbie Bishop, Treasurer - Oswego NY
Linda Ambrose, Director - Annapolis, MD
Ken Batzer, Director - Ft. Lauderdale FL
Wayne Bretsch, Rockville, Maryland
Virginia Brown, Director and Founder - McLean VA
Douglas B. Finlayson, Director - Annapolis, MD
Bob Wardwell, Director - Watertown, NY
Doreen M. Voigt, Director - Shepherdstown, WV
Ken Zimmerman, Director - St. Joseph, MI
Chairman's Message #2 - email 04-30-09
1. The Organizing Authority has published on the event web site Amendment #1 to the NOR.
2. Once you arrive at Rochester Yacht Club, please go to the Burgee Bar on our North Deck to get regatta information and sign in at the registration desk. This will be the regatta headquarters throughout the event.
3. The boats are available for sailing on Thursday.
4. As the NOR amendment describes we will be switching boats (on the water if possible) and teams will stand by on the water when not racing. The stand-by boats are large sail and power boats that you will be able to leave gear on board and bring your own food/drink on board.
5. Teams that start the day in a Sonar may want to put gear onboard the stand-by boats before leaving the harbor. The boats will be at RYC and available to do this each morning.
6. The race committee will try to get as many races completed each day. The goal will be to complete three round robins.
7. Competitors will be asked to change boats as quickly as possible and be patient between races while waiting to race again.
8. The OA wishes to thank the 12 sail sponsors that each contributed $3,000 for a suit of sails. As you can appreciate raising $36,000 in today’s economic environment was a challenge and we were very thankful for the sponsors that responded so faithfully to our cause.
Doyle Security Systems (John Doyle)
Shumway Marine (Skip Shumway)
Morgan Stanley (Hank Stuart)
Bank of America (Joe Rulsion)
Sleepinsights (Scott Blodgett)
Shumway Foundation (Frank Shumway)
Julian Weller
Bud Rusitzky
Jerry Castle
Eric Snavely
Quality Vision International (Tarry Polidor)
Wolfgang Pfizenmaier and
Brown and Brown (Dan Peck)
9. We still have hull and boom sponsorship opportunities if you have an interest to support the event, please contact me as soon as possible.
10. On Saturday night, we will host a dinner and auction for all competitors. Each team will receive 4 tickets to the dinner. Additional tickets can be purchased at registration.
11. Part of the Championship tradition is for each team to bring a raffle item to be auctioned off at the Saturday night dinner. Items should be representative of your local region and should carry a value of $100-$200. Please be prepared to help action off your item, with witty commentary and descriptive text of the item to be sold.
Chairman's Message #1 - email 04-24-09
Dear Skippers,
Let me begin by congratulating you at winning your local Hospice event.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2009 Hospice Regattas National Championship hosted by Rochester Yacht Club.
This message and the messages to follow will be posted on the web site.
The chairman's committee for the regatta this year are Hank and Mary Stuart and John and Lauren Doyle. We are delighted to have this opportunity. We have a big planning committee and have been working hard to get ready for the event.
We have 12 new Sonars and 12 new sets of sails for the event.
There will be a boat rotation schedule and an amendment to the NOR, now that we know we have 21 teams planning to compete this year.
In the meantime, please contact us if you have any questions.
Larry Sill has been in touch with each of you requesting bio info, please get back to Larry this weekend. Otherwise he will use whatever info he can find on Google about you.
Best regards,
Hank Stuart
2009 Chairman of the Hospice Regattas National Championship at Rochester Yacht Club
Dear Hospice Regattas National Championship Participant,
First, let me thank those of you who have already responded to the short questionnaire I included in the last email. I encourage those who haven't yet to please take a moment to look over the questions and send your answers to me. We find this information very helpful in promoting the regatta.
Next, as the regatta approaches, you can expect more frequent emails concerning schedules, events and race format. You will find attached, besides the questionnaire, an overview of accommodations, dining, car rental and shopping in the vicinity of the regatta. I will forward an update to the NOR shortly as it becomes available.
We look forward to meeting all of you and expect an enjoyable weekend and an exciting regatta.
If you have any questions, please send me an email and if I cannot answer I will forward it to the person
who can.
Larry Sill
Hospice Regattas National Championship Committee
Communications Coordinator