Steve graduated from the University of Maryland in 1976 with a degree in Zoology. His junior and senior years at Maryland were

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join GISC? Most people join an organization because someone they know asked them to join. Make a New Years resolution to share the fun and ask someone you know to join.

Simons Island, GA 31522 Springer Takes Over as Commodore Steve Springer took the reigns from Kevin Heying as GISC s newest Commodore for 2011. One of my dreams for retirement was to learn how to sail.

Commodore Shortman asked me if I had any experience sailing, I replied No to which he replied, Perfect! I am now part owner of FRENZY and love sailing and racing in the Golden Isles!

1 Official Newsletter of the Golden Isles Sailing Club The Burgee January 2011 Volume 5, Issue 1 Mark Your Calendar! January 2 Frostbite Race 11AM January 8 Board Meeting; Commodore's house February 5-Club Bonefish 7PM March Oyster Roast; date TBA Do you know someone that should join GISC? Most people join an organization because someone they know asked them to join. Make a New Years resolution to share the fun and ask someone you know to join. A membership form can be downloaded at: Complete and mail long with a $50 check made payable: Golden Isles Sailing Club 347 Major Wright Rd. St. Simons Island, GA Springer Takes Over as Commodore Steve Springer took the reigns from Kevin Heying as GISC s newest Commodore for One of my dreams for retirement was to learn how to sail. In 2004, GISC past commodore John Shortman, announced that he had recently purchased a racing sailboat called FRENZY, and he was looking for crew. I eagerly volunteered. Commodore Shortman asked me if I had any experience sailing, I replied No to which he replied, Perfect! I am now part owner of FRENZY and love sailing and racing in the Golden Isles! Steve graduated from the University of Maryland in 1976 with a degree in Zoology. His junior and senior years at Maryland were Frostbite Racing Starts By Dave Heine The first race of the Frostbite Series was held on Sunday, January 2. It was an unseasonably warm day, with wind out of the southwest at knots. Only three boats competed, PASSION and CONTENTE racing in Spinnaker Steve Springer and crew on FRENZY during a race. spent taking electives in criminology and law enforcement. Upon Continued on page 2 Class, and MASTER FOX was by herself in Cruising Class. The race started at marker 20A behind Jekyll, went southwest toward the Sidney Lanier Bridge, turning at marker 26 for Cruising Class and marker 28 for Spinnaker Class, finishing back at marker 20A. Passion Continued on page 2

2 Page 2 The Burgee From the Commodore Sailors, Happy New Year! Wow! I am entering my term as your Commodore with some really big shoes to fill. Since joining the Golden Isles Sailing Club in 2005 I have seen the Club grow in leaps and bounds. Membership has increased, the Burgee has become a first class publication, the website is outstanding, the social functions have increased in number and participation, the cruises now have more exciting destinations and sailboats in attendance and the races seem to get better every year with more and more boats joining in on the fun! We have also added the summer series and frostbite series. In fact, as you can see from my photo, I had a great time crewing and even spending some time at the helm on the MASTER FOX during the first race of this year s Frostbite series. We owe a world of thanks to those who have been working so hard to make all this incredible growth happen. You know who they are: Kevin Heying, John and Mary Shortman, Dave and Pam Heine, Nancy Richmond, Durell Hall, Mike Harris, Mike Turner, Brian Blue and many, many others. One only has to visit our website or read through the Burgee to realize that this club relies on these folks and many others to make it run as smoothly and effectively as it does. Welcome Jim and Leslie Hamrick, our new Rear Commodore and Secretary. I am looking forward to working with you, Durell Hall, our new Vice Commodore, and all our committee members to meet the challenges of making 2011 the best year yet for GISC! I think we all got a glimpse of things to come with the wildly successfully 1 st Annual Christmas Boat Parade out of Brunswick Landing Marina. If you haven t visited the website and seen the photos and a really cool video Leslie put together you should! It is guaranteed to get you planning on how you will decorate your boat for this year s parade. I know I am making plans right now for FRENZY! Fair winds and following seas. Your Commodore, Steve Springer Springer Continued graduating from college he moved to the north shore of Boston to Rockport, MA working for NOAA s National Marine Fisheries Service as a special agent. Throughout most of his career, he was simply known as NOAA s Fish Cop! That career has spanned 35 years and has taken Steve all around the country and the world. His international work involved helping negotiate marine conservation agreements with over 20 countries. He retired to Brunswick, GA, in the summer of 2003 with his wife Marsha. Marsha and Steve have four children and two grandchildren. His retirement lasted all of about one month when he was asked to work for his former agency in its training office at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) where he has been working since.

3 Volume 5, Issue1 Page 3 GISC Grows in 2010 By Pam Heine 2010 was a record year for membership! Thanks to Kevin Heying, Membership Chairman/Commodore, 20 new members joined the Golden Isles Sailing Club, giving us a total of 73 members in good standing. Consequently, we re doing well financially. The club had an income of approximately $4000 and expenses of $3000, leaving a $1000 surplus at the end of the year. In addition, the Parade of Lights raised $600 for the Glynn Academy and Brunswick High Sailing Teams. I will be sending out invoices for the 2011 GISC Dues in February. Happy New Year! LOGO GEAR ORDER/PRICE INFO Logo items can be seen on display at most club functions. To order Contact: Kevin Heying at kevin.heying@gmail.com or Can Coozies $3 Coffee Mugs $5 Wine Glass $8 License Plate $5 Burgee $20 Ball Cap $15 Contributions to the monthly BURGEE newsletter is encouraged. If you have an article, photo, question, member biography or topic you would like to have published, please the information or photo(s) to lrhamrick@comcast.net by the 25th of the month. Polo Shirt* $30 *Please designate shirt size: Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large, and XX-Large. Racing Continued from page 1 was able to get the lead at the start, and did a good job of covering CONTENTE the entire race, never allowing us to pass her. If only there had been more boats racing, mixing things up, maybe Brett would have become distracted, and we could have snuck by him... Let s hope for a better turnout for the rest of the series! The Frostbite Race Series will consist of four races in all, one on each of the first four Sundays in January. Skippers meetings will all be at Brunswick Landing Marina, Dock 2, at 11 AM, and race starts will be at 1 PM at marker 20A. There is no entry fee, and there will be no trophies, so no one is penalized for missing a race; it s all just for fun, just show up at the skippers meeting for whichever races you can make. Race classes will depend upon who shows up. We ll celebrate after each race at Spanky s Marshside Restaurant on17. The next local high school regatta will be on Saturday, February 26 at Brunswick Landing Marina. As usual, we will need help from the Sailing Club to host this event. We re looking for volunteers; if you are available to help, either on the water or on shore, contact Dave or Pam Heine.

Page 4 The Burgee Boat Parade Raises Funds for High School Teams By Leslie Hamrick The holiday spirit was alive and well for GISC s first annual Parade of Lights.

It was soooo much cooler than I'd imagined it would be!...great fun! said Richard White, of Cocoon.

addition to being fun, the parade was also able to raise $600 for the high school sailing teams. It was more than I thought we would Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus joined Come Monday for the parade.

4 Page 4 The Burgee Boat Parade Raises Funds for High School Teams By Leslie Hamrick The holiday spirit was alive and well for GISC s first annual Parade of Lights. Six boats participated in the event, which began at Brunswick Landing Marina. Luckily the weather warmed up making it more comfortable for participants and spectators. It was soooo much cooler than I'd imagined it would be!...great fun! said Richard White, of Cocoon. ARDNAGEE Best Humor and Originality COCOON Best Use of Lights and Animation COME MONDAY Best Live Performance CONTENTE Best Sail Boat JUST LIMIN Best GISC Entry MASTER FOX Best Boat 30 & Under In addition to being fun, the parade was also able to raise $600 for the high school sailing teams. It was more than I thought we would Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus joined Come Monday for the parade. raise: said Leslie Hamrick, the event coordinator. Next year we will start in August in order to recruit more boats, obtain prizes and strategize on how to raise more funds for the high school sailing teams. A big thank you goes to our three judges, Jim DeLong, Shari Clifton and Jeanne Shiramo and Doug Casey (HAWKE) and Katie Heying (MASTER FOX) for photography, Durell Hall (COME MONDAY) for website registration; Nancy Richmond (ARDNAGEE) for the postparade reception, Kevin Heying (MASTER FOX) for the prizes; Brunswick Landing Marina for overnight accommodations for visiting boats; and Leslie Hamrick (JUST LIMIN) for the overall event coordination. Contente was awarded Best Sailboat by the 3 judges 2010 GISC Parade of Lights: Contente, Cocoon, Ardnagee, Master Fox, and Come Monday (not shown: Just Limin).

Page 6 The Burgee Passion Represents GISC at First Coast Sailing Association By Brett Grover Many club members might not be aware that the GISC is a member of the First Coast Sailing Association

6 Page 6 The Burgee Passion Represents GISC at First Coast Sailing Association By Brett Grover Many club members might not be aware that the GISC is a member of the First Coast Sailing Association which is a group of sailing and yacht clubs in north east Florida that affiliate themselves to the sport of sailboat racing. The participating clubs include the St. Augustine Yacht Club, the Epping Forest Yacht Club, the Florida Yacht Club, the Rudder Club,the North Whisper, Ghost, Passion, Skimmer and J/24 on the final downwind leg of the Navy Day Regatta, sponsored by the Navy Jax Yacht Club Florida Cruising Club, the Women's Sailing Network and of course the Golden Isles Sailing Club. Clubs sponsor regattas through out the year where yachts from all clubs race against each other. There is a fall series,a spring series and an off shore series where much like the Golden Isles series' the low point scoring method is used to determine 1st through 3rd placement and awards. The Women's Sailing Network also sponsors four regattas per year. Most of the races are held in the St. Johns River but the off shore races are held between Mayport and St. Augustine or north to St. Marys. These clubs are vastly different but come together to promote sailboat racing. The Florida Yacht Club as well as the Epping Forest Yacht Club are up-scale facilities which offer exclusive amenities to members as well as visitors. The Rudder Club members are the speed freaks of the river. Racers are kept on lifts and are not treated with bottom paint that can create drag. Then there is the North Florida Cruising Club, which mirrors the GISC. This bunch of laid back cruisers and racers don't have a yacht club but much like Golden Isles meet monthly at a local restaurant. Don't, however let their laid back attitudes fool you some of the very best sailors and fastest boats sail out of this club. Myself and two of the worlds best crew (Watson Ackart and Chuck Clark) took Passion on a Walkabout several months back to compete with the boats from the FCSA and we had the opportunity to participate in Regattas sponsored by all the afore mentioned clubs. Passion sailed in 11 races all together including 2 off shore,6 series, 2 women's sailing network races (which Susan and fellow Golden Isles sailor Molly Knowlton won by the way) and to end the walkabout I participated in the annual single handed regatta. We had had an absolute blast! We were fortunate enough to pick up some great sailors from the area to fill positions on the foredeck as well as fill in the many gaps of our local knowledge. If you have not cruised the St. Johns river, it's certainly worth a look. Singletons Seafood is in Mayport,close to the entrance and offers great food right on the river over looking the shrimp boats. It's very casual and there is a model boat museum with replicas of sail and fishing boats. Apparently the owner has a talent for boat design. The Morning Star Marina is a short walk from the restaurant. Epping Forest Yacht Club offers free overnight dockage for yachts participating in their regattas as well as an incredible spread of food after the race. A little further up the river at the Mandarin Holiday Marina in Juling-

Volume 5, Issue 1 Page 7 ton Creek you can enjoy reggae Sundays with half price pitchers at the New Orleans Cafe which is the meeting place for the North Florida Cruising Club.

7 Volume 5, Issue 1 Page 7 ton Creek you can enjoy reggae Sundays with half price pitchers at the New Orleans Cafe which is the meeting place for the North Florida Cruising Club. And who could forget gorging ourselves on conch fritters at the Conch House before an all night spinnaker run back to St. Marys in the First Coast Off Shore Challenge! We competed against PHRF boats with ratings as low as the 60's and although PHRF is by no means perfect in the end it works. Typically the best maintained and best sailed boats come out on top regardless or their rating. It is true that lighter, race oriented boats have an advantage in lighter airs but typically as the wind increases the greater waterline of the performance cruisers gives them a slight advantage. For the system to work however all boats should race in as many races of a series as possible. In other words the heavier boats need to continue to practice against the smaller lighter boats in lighter airs to improve, race against yourself, if the lighter boat is typically beating you by 5 minutes work on cutting that down to 3, there are lots of things you can do to get a little more out of your cruiser in lighter airs. I'll try and discuss some tactics in a future burgee. On the other hand the lighter boats shouldn't bow out of a race because the wind is blowing a little to hard for their comfort level. Give the other guys a chance to win and also take the opportunity to improve your boats performance in less than optimum conditions. Not always but usually a series of 6 races will have a mixture of light, medium and heavy air races to give everyone a chance. On the subject of PHRF ratings one thing we noticed in the FCSA is very little whining about ratings. Basically the attitude is the rating is what it is. After races the discussions seem to center more on tactics and things to do to get you boat to sail more to it's rating rather than complaining that a certain boats rating not being low enough or that crew should be penalized for cleaning their bottom before each race. On the contrary, going into a race with a bottom that wasn't cleaned before the race would be viewed as a sure way to lose. In fact the winner of the fall series on paper is no speed demon. She is a Ron Holland designed Cal 9.2 meter (30ft.). She has a rating of 171, her skipper has owned her for many years and she is impeccably maintained. Yes she has great sails and gear but more than that a very skilled skipper and a great crew that has sailed together for several years. We raced against her 8 times and were only able to beat her once by 56 seconds in an off shore 20 mile race. The following day in a race of similar distance she corrected over us by 1 minute and 4 seconds. In the in shore races twice we were within 1 minute and 27 seconds but could not beat her. In light airs she would step all over us as she was optimized for the mug race and the typical conditions of the St. Johns. When the wind would pick up and we Skipper and Crew of GHOST, the FCSA Fall series would have the advantage spinnaker class winner she would simply out sail us. I remember one race with 12 to 15 knots of wind, perfect Passion conditions, where we walked away from her and several J/boats at the start. We had a 6 mile windward leg and my attention quickly turned to the fastest heavy air boat in the fleet, a C&C 38, which I was struggling to cover. A crew mate mentioned that Ghost had tacked. This tactic at the time made no sense to me and I continued focusing on staying within my time on the Continued on page 8

8 First Coast Sailing Association Continued C&C. What I didn't know was that Ghost tacked to the eastern shore of the river where they knew they would pick up a 20 degree favorable lift and not have to sail as far to make the windward mark. They actually beat us to the windward mark that day as well as over the water in our perfect conditions. Was their rating too high? No,they simply out-sailed us. When you have a chance go to com to explore the FCSA, you will find sailing tips and topics about improving the performance of your boat. I would encourage GISC sailors that race to apply for a valid PHRF certificate,it cost $35 and is renewed yearly. I am currently the chief handicapper for GISC and will work closely with Dave Heine on getting you a favorable rating. The FCSA gives allowances for things like extra cruising gear i.e. generators, ac/heating, davits, cruising anchors etc. On the website you can view the ratings of boats similar to yours as well as see mine. Also I would encourage our race committee to adopt the FCSA rating system to make it easier to compete across club lines. On a final note, after sailing at all the different clubs and areas I must say that we have the very best area here at St. Simons to sail. Our large protected sound and dependable sea breeze make for a great racing venue. Not to mention a great group of folks to race with! I look forward to the upcoming series and working to make GISC the best place to race sailboats in the southeast! Position Name Phone Commodore Steve Springer springerm@bellsouth.net Vice Commodore/Website Durell Hall durrellhall@hotmail.com Rear Commodore Jim Hamrick, Jr. jhamrickjr@comcast.net Treasurer Pam Heine pjheine@bellsouth.net Secretary/Newsletter Leslie Hamrick lrhamrick@comast.net Cruising Chair Michael Turner Michael_Turner@bellsouth.net** Race Chair Dave Heine dwheine@bellsouth.net Membership Chair/Merchandise Kevin Heying kevin.heying@gmail.com Publicity Chair Maura Butler Social Chair Nancy Richmond NRich38299@aol.com

Golden Isles Sailing Club Monthly Newsletter

The Burgee November 2010 * Volume 4, Issue 8 Golden Isles Sailing Club Monthly Newsletter Now in our 31st season, The Golden Isles Sailing Club currently has 83 members. Our sailing waters are St. Simons