Summer 2004 JYC Cruise Report
The annual JYC Summer Cruise to Long Island Sound was an enormous success this year. Seven boats partook in the scheduled cruise, as well as several other boats participating in an abbreviated version. Hamburg Cove located up in the Connecticut River was the first official stop and once again a favorite with everyone. Swimming in the warm fresh water was a real treat. An exploration up the Seven Mile River, which feeds the Cove, was attempted during low tide. Kids and adults explored the River with dinghies, kayaks, and whatever else they could find that floated. We traveled just about as far up the river as we could, until a team from a local Environmental Agency tagging the fish in the river held us back. The rag tag flotilla from JYC watched the fish tag operation for a while, and then floated back down the River for an ice cream lunch. Later in the day the Kallfelz family hosted spinnaker flying for kids and adults. Evening events included a movie projected from Aurora and shown on Luna’s sail.
Next stop on the itenery was the Thimble Islands, and unfortunately, torrential downpours were forecast for the days we were visit the Islands. A quick cocktail hour emergency meeting was held to determine if we should to attempt the trip or make a detour to a more protected location where activities could be found if the weather ended up being as bad as predicted. In the end, it was decided to travel to Mattituck Inlet, on the North Fork of Long Island. After a fantastic fast sail across the sound, and an interesting journey up the inlet, we stayed at a marina with showers, electricity, fuel, water, and most importantly walking distance to several local vineyards. While the JYC children went to a local movie theatre, several adults partook in wine tasting activities. Maybe we can make the Thimbles next year.
The next stop was Coecles Harbor on Shelter Island. We were glad to see Steve and Rita Brin waiting for us in the Harbor when we arrived. They took a slightly different route for the cruise traveling first to Block Island at the beginning of the week, meeting up with a smaller group of JYC Cruisers, and then traveled on to Long Island Sound to meet up with the larger group in Coecles.
Here at Coecles Amina Brown showed great promise as a future International Olympic Committee leader by organizing the 1st annual JYC Olympics. Events included a diving competition, swim race, and dinghy racing. The diving competition was held from a 13-foot diameter floating island, that the Cohen’s inflated and anchored off the raft of seven boats. Judging was held from the stern of each boat, with diving scorecards. The overall winner was 6-year-old Josef Cohen, with his nearly flawless hand placement for each of his dives. Memorable dives includes Julie Kallfelz’s handstand dive, and Samira Hakkis’ “Cousin It” dive.
A long distance swim to the anchorage maker was held, with the Kallfelz family blowing away the competition with their 1 – 2 placement in the ½ mile swim. Casey Brown was the child’s winner, an amazing feat since he was swimming in the opposite direction for a good portion of the race.
The dinghy racing was the culminating event of the day. We had Anna Minuitti, a local high school sailing star, Steve McInnis, JYC champion for the last several years, and a newcomer, 12-year-old Sam, from another boat in the harbor that was interested in participating in the competition. With 6 dinghies competing and several heats the competition was intense. Highlights include Steve McInnis, the reigning champion gibing at the mark and swamping the Trinka. The rescue crew of Erin, Casey, and Jack responded in the inflatable, and Julie and Eliza stood nearby in the kayak to offer assistance. Since it was practically impossible to bail out the Trinka and right the boat, Steve was very ungraciously towed in behind the Trinka. Please check out the photos at the annual diner and for your viewing pleasure we are planning on creating a screen saver of Steve being towed in for JYC members to purchase for their PC.
Given the fact the Steve was indeed the champion for the past 3 years, the race committee decided to let him enter the final sailing round. Once again Steve proved his sailing aptitude by winning on corrected time with the lighting fast Walker Bay 8.
Following the dinghy races more Spinnaker sailing was undertaken. Andrew Kallfelz generously donated use of one of his last remain spinnakers for event, (he blew out 2 in the Newport to Bermuda Race this year) and some of the lightweight kids were really flying high. Please mark your calendars for the attend the annual banquet in November to see photographic evidence of Elizabeth Minuitti and Gretchen Cohen flying through Coecles Harbor about 40 feet in the air. They sure look like a couple of 21 year olds having a great time swinging through the sky.
Our last night as a group was spent at Fishers Island. Once again this year we held our annual vortex blender party. For those of your who don’t know about this appliance, Samira located a blender which is operated without electricity by cranking a lever similar to a winch handle. We hold this party at the end of the cruise with whatever fruits (and rum) we have left over from the week. (The JYC cruisers are very concerned about scurvy). Last year we broke the vortex during this event, and received a replacement blender. Once again this year the JYC Cruisers proved to be too much for the blender and once again it broke. A letter was immediately drafted to the Vortex blender company explaining the problem, offering technical assistance with design ideas, as well as offering the annual JYC Cruise as the testing phase of the product.
The JYC Cruises are always an enjoyable time. We welcome everyone and encourage all JYC members to cruise with us. Hope to see you next cruise.
Mary Brennan
JYC Cruise Chair