TELLTALES 23 (Apr. 10, 2008)

• There will NOT be sailing at the Pram Shed on Saturday, Apr. 12, because VYBA is going to the Florida Optimist State Championships, which is being held in conjunction with the annual Clark Mills Memorial Regatta in Clearwater this coming weekend. Admittedly, this was not on the original schedule, but when officials added the state championships, enough sailors signed up to go. And board policy dictates that when VYBA goes to a regatta, there is no sailing here.

• There will be regular sailing here Apr. 19 with series races. Speaking of series races, we need the Green Fleet results from Series Race 2. So put your heads together and come up with some scores. Give them to Coach Robert or Jabbo so we can update the standings.

• On Saturday, Apr. 26, we will have the David Swett Memorial Regatta, which is only for VYBA sailors, on Roberts Bay. It will be a day long event, but we will come in for lunch. This was originally scheduled for May 17, but we moved it up because Jabbo will not be here then.

• Jabbo will be conducting a Sailing Counselors' course at the Palm Beach Yacht Club on Apr. 19-20, and will be doing a Level 1 (small boat) instructors' course for the Edison Sailing Center in Fort Myers on the second and third weekends in May (10-11 and 17-19).

• The annual School's Out Regatta at Tampa's Davis Island Yacht Club is slated for May 24-25.

• As of this writing, there are 21 youngsters signed up for our summer learn to sail program. Some of the signees are related to various members. So encourage some of your friends to come too.

• Since "Telltales" was not published last week, we missed Jonathan James' birthday which was Apr. 3. Congratulations and many happy returns. The next birthday boy is Kyle D'Arcangelis.

• We are hoping to have an Opti available when the VMCA does it summer showcase on May 3. We may need some sailors to pass out literature as well. In addition, we are hoping to put up a display in a shopping center and would like some volunteers to come help share your sailing successes with the public. You can answer questions and promote our program.

• If you are interested in taking the 420 course this summer, please let Jabbo know. We need at least four, but more is better. It will be June 2-13. The Special Optimist course will be June 16-27. Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and you will be eating on the water.

• Paul Kreider is moving up to the Portsmouth Division and will be sailing the family Sunfish.

• Jonathan James helped Coach Robert for a couple of days during spring break at Manasota ARC.

• Joe Garlick, a former sailor here who subsequently became an instructor himself, has joined the Air Force and was graduated from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Tex., on Mar. 27. We received a picture of him in front of the Alamo with his mother, Deb, who is a past VYBA board member. He is a graduate of Lemon Bay High School.

• Some sad news: You may have read about Mr. Harry Lawrence who died in a plane crash off Sharkeys Pier a couple of weeks ago. Well, Mr. Lawrence, a former Venice Yacht Club member, was always very supportive of our program, and his daughter, Alicia, was one of our year-round sailors in the late 1990Õs. In addition, she was one of the sailors interviewed one summer when SNN (Channel 6) did about a four-minute feature spot on VYBA.

• US Sailing has announced that a new rule book "The Racing Rules of Sailing 2009-2012" will be coming out in December. This will replace the current book, which is for 2005-2008.