TELLTALES 25 (Apr. 23, 2008)

• We have three birthdays this week. Portsmouth skipper and certified instructor Kyle D'Arcangelis' birthday is tomorrow (Thursday). Two Green Fleeters, Stefan Johnson and Andrew Sosa, have their birthdays Friday and Saturday, respectively. Congratulations to one and all.

• No birthdays come up for two weeks until Aubrey Khachetoorian celebrates hers on May 7. Then we skip the rest of May, all of June and most of July until Chloe Dietrich has hers July 25.

• This Tell Tales is serving as a Notice of Race for the annual David Swett Memorial Regatta which will be on Roberts Bay this coming Saturday, Apr. 26. An all-day event beginning at 0830, we will have some races in the morning, have lunch and go back out for more races in the afternoon. Sylvia Turner and other ladies from the Venice Women's Sailing Squadron will provide hot dogs, cup cakes and soft drinks for lunch at the Higel Park pavilion. This regatta was originally scheduled for May 17, but moved up because Jabbo will be in Fort Myers for a course that weekend. And as in the past, all Optimists (Green, RWB) will compete together as one fleet.

• Last week, we announced that the RWB skippers will be sailing aboard John Lynch's C&C 36 for a Venice Sailing Squadron regatta May 3. Coach John Thomas has extended that invitation to all Portsmouth Division sailors who would like to take advantage of this great opportunity.

• Also on May 3, Venice's YMCA will host an open house from 0900 to 1400. We will have an Opti and some sailors there to hand out fliers and answer questions about our summer program. Thanks to Andrew Sosa and Sami Tornese who have volunteered already to assist.

• A sign-up sheet is up and six VYBA sailors have signed up for the annual School's Out Regatta which will be at Tampa's Davis Island Yacht Club on May 24-25. The deadline is May 10.

• Our summer learn to sail program is right around the corner, and the first parent orientation will be Saturday, May 31, at 9 a.m. Charlotte Sims, our head instructor for the summer, is looking for a couple of volunteers who would like to demonstrate a capsize and recovery drill that morning.

• After that first parent orientation (about 10:15), we will conduct an abbreviated Sailing Counselor course for all our year-round sailors who want to be helpers. Then there will be a pizza party for those who attend and stay to make final boat preparations for our summer sessions. Sails need to be re-rigged with older ones and boats must be cleaned. Our schedule calls for optional sailing that day, but going out will happen only if and when the work is done.

• There will be sign-up sheets posted THAT Saturday for those who want to help during the following two weeks. However, all helpers must go through the Sailing Counselor course. We have to schedule our sailors so we don't have 15 one day and none the next.

• Also on that day, our Ernest Green Fleet graduates to Red, White and Blue because we have to make room for those new Greenies at the end of the summer. During the summer, all Optimist skippers will sail on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on those days when we have parent orientations. On those dates (June 14, June 28, July 12 and July 26) sailing will start about 10:15.

• All Optimist skippers need to tell Jabbo their intentions for next year and to pick out a boat. Priority will be based on current assignment, care of that boat and attendance this past year.

• Coach Robert will be taking a leave of absence during the summer again, but has agreed to return in mid-August after our learn to sail program is over and we start our 2008-09 schedule.