TELLTALES - No. 3 - Aug. 28, 2007

• On the lost and found. Color it gone. Items will be taken to the Nautical Trader or Goodwill soon.

• The Wash House washed all of our blade and sail bags. They had not been cleaned in years and no one volunteered to wash them this year. I think they were 50 pounds lighter after all the sand and grime had been removed.

• Blake Waldron and Jackie Sims successfully completed the Level 1 (small boat) instructor course at the Pram Shed on Aug. 13-16. Samuel Dolby, who started with our program but who sails for Englewood Sailing Association, also is a new instructor. Beth Anderson, a member of VYBA's board of directors and captain of the Bitter Ends (Venice Women's Sailing Squadron), was the honor graduate by scoring the highest average on the three written tests.

• A group of 10 VYBA sailors participated in the practice drills which the new instructors held on Aug. 15. The instructors welcomed the opportunity to work with a group of youngsters because it made it more "real world" than practicing with their teammates. And our sailors seemed to enjoy another day on the water before returning to school.

• The summer learn to sail program went very well, thanks primarily to Sammy Waldron and Charlotte Sims and we have nine new members of the Ernest Green Fleet. Eight of last year's Green Fleet have joined lone holdover Tyler Thorpe in our Red/White/Blue Fleet. Some former Opti sailors have moved up to our Portsmouth division.

• On Aug. 11 (the first day of the new year-round program), boats were assigned and sailors participated in a "be kind to your boat" session in the morning.Then they competed in a scavenger hunt which took several teams to various island sites, searching for mysterious clues. The VYBA provided pizza and soft drinks for everyone after the hunt.

• The fall series races started Aug. 18. Sailors and their parents helped load boats after series racing on Aug. 25 in preparation for Sarasota's annual Labor Day Regatta which is scheduled for this coming weekend, Sept. 1-2.

• Our Jim Pique Memorial Regatta will be all day on Saturday, Sept. 8. A notice of race will be sent next week. We will have races in the morning, come in for lunch, go back out for more races in the afternoon, and then clean up. Trophies will be awarded at the annual dinner which will be at the Venice Yacht Club that evening, beginning at 6 p.m. (1800 hours).

• Looking ahead further, we would like to go to a one-day regatta in Dunedin, birthplace of the original Optimist Pram, on Saturday, Sept. 22. This is a relatively new regatta and our part depends on board approval and having enough skippers.

• Then there will be the Crow's Nest Regatta here Oct. 6 and the River Romp Regatta in Fort Myers on Oct. 20-21.

• Looking way ahead to 2008 already, US Sailing's annual national sail training symposium will be in St. Petersburg on Jan. 9-13 and the Jabbo Gordon Regatta has been set for Englewood on Mar. 22, the day before Easter again,

• A special thanks goes to Mike Tomkins and Emily Rom who filled in on some Saturdays during the summer.