Awards to many, thanks to all

The Menantic Yacht Club held its last series of 2024 Sunfish races this past Sunday.  At race time, the wind was blowing around 9 to 13 knots. Two boats took that proverbial dive in the stronger winds, causing the stake boat to go into action. No rain had been predicted during the two hours that we race, but that changed in dramatic fashion between the fourth and fifth races, when radar showed a strong cell coming in, causing the race committee to cancel the last two races.

Overall, the MYC had a successful season, with 50 different sailors participating, 23 of whom qualified for the season.  Fourteen different sailors each placed first in at least one race, and all of our sailors have greatly improved.

Betsy Colby ran the races all season along with Amy Cococcia, Debra Mintz, and Marian Thomsen. This team is as professional and dedicated as any race committee anywhere. Betsy really works hard all summer making sure the races are run smoothly. Thank you all for your devotion and hard work. On Sunday, Nancy Miller joined them.

The same professionalism that the race committee showed each week can also be said of the chase and mark boat captains and crews:  Matt Fox, Betty Bishop, Dave Daly, Ben Gonzales, Rita Gates and all the sailors who volunteered from time-to-time when the regulars went on vacation. Thank you all for a superb job this season.  On Sunday, Elizabeth Cummings’ friend Cullum Barnes joined them for the first time.

Betty jumped overboard from the stake boat on Sunday when she heard a capsized sailor call for help from under the sail, which had landed on top of her. The sailor’s life vest prevented her from diving down to get out from under the sail, and Betty quickly dove under the sail and helped her to safety. Great work, Betty.

Prior to the awards ceremony the MYC held its annual meeting and elected Denise Fenchel, Bill Martens, Charlie Modica and Peter Beardsley to the Board of Governors, and thanked Linda Gibbs for her service the past two years. Good luck all.

Betsy and John Colby graciously hosted the very well-attended annual awards ceremony. Everyone enjoyed the cuisine and the camaraderie, as well as the excitement over the trophy presentation. The conversations were varied, and at one point 8-year-old Nate Sloan, Alicia Rojas’s son, mentioned to me that his mother had placed first in one race this summer and wanted to know why I hadn’t mentioned that fact after reading about Rachel Beardsley taking a first in the Reporter two weeks ago. Good catch, Nate, sorry for the omission, Alicia.

Peter Due, who didn’t get lost at sea last week as he sailed back to Cedar Point in very light winds, came to the party with his wife, Julie, who may join next year’s races. Larry Thomsen drove Marian 188 miles to make sure she didn’t miss out on Sunday. We missed front-runners Lee Montes and Eric Ryan at the party. Really, guys, as if a family wedding and house guests are valid priorities!

Prior to the main awards ceremony, Dave Olsen was posthumously awarded the Pete Bethge Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of service and devotion to the MYC.  Letters were read from Sonja Olsen, Dave’s daughter, and from Commodore Bethge that extolled Dave’s virtues and love of the MYC and sailing. He will be sorely missed not only by the MYC but by the whole Shelter Island community. 

Peter Beardsley, Betsy and I presented the following perpetual trophies:

Windels trophy for winner of the first race of the season: Peter Beardsley

Burty trophy for the winner of the very last race: Paul Zinger

Season First Place trophy: Lee Montes

Season Second Place trophy: Peter Beardsley

Up the West Neck Creek Race trophy: Eric Ryan

Most Improved trophy:  Tom McMahon

Best Ladies Sailing trophy: Caitlin Cummings

Good Shipmate trophy: Ben Gonzalez

Commodore’s Cup:  Matt Fox

Corinthian trophy: John Modica

I think Linda Gibbs was as excited by Tom winning the most-improved trophy as Tom was surprised.  Eric was a shoo-in for season second until he had a really bad race on Sunday, which put Peter into second. Lee Montes placed first on the season. As Peter said as he was going over the numbers, both he and Lee owe their first and second spots to the fact that Derek Webster didn’t qualify for the season, having something to do with putting his son in school in California. Priorities, priorities! Sharon Wicks, Caitlane Cummings’ mother, accepted Caitlan’s award because she was off sailing in the Stamford Vinyard Cup. Priorities again! Just like last year, Paul Zinger really wanted to win the last race of the season to win the Burty trophy. Paul knows his priorities. He actually wound up placing first in all the races on Sunday. Also during the ceremony, Charlie Modica had to sit back, not too quietly I might add, and accept the fact that his younger brother John placed ahead of him in both day racing and on the season.  They have a great rivalry going and bring much fun to the MYC.

Besides the above awards, Matt, Betty, Marian, Amy, Melanie, Dave, Ben, Debra, Tom, Charlie, Rita and Jonathan Brush were all given awards for the jobs they did on race committee and chase boat, and in some cases, for lending their boats to the fleet.  The MYC has an incredible volunteer staff that shows up week after week as if it were a paying job, which it isn’t. Your dedication is awesome.  Each volunteer was awarded a MYC hat.

To honor Commodore Pete Bethge, who now comfortably resides in Florida with Sallie, a plaque has been placed at the North Silver Beach Landing reading “Commodore Pete’s Landing,” in recognition of his love of Sunfish and the hours he spent with the MYC at the Landing. Thank you to the Shelter Island Town Board for giving permission for this project and to Highway Superintendent Ken Lewis for helping to make it happen. Thanks also to Denise Fenchel for creating the plaque.

We are a very congenial club, open to all, with no clubhouse but the sailing is great, the camaraderie is superb, and we just have tremendous fun. All sailors, novice to expert, are welcome.  You can get more information about the MYC at the MYC Facebook page: Menantic Yacht Club, or from Bob Harris at [email protected].

Enjoy the Fall and see you on the water next year.

On another note: the Women’s North American Sunfish Championship will be hosted by Jim Koehler at the Dinghy Shop in Amityville, NY this weekend and a number of MYC’s women sailors are entered in the race.  Good luck to all.

Results:                      Pts      Place

Paul Zinger 4 1

John Modica 19 2

Charlie Modica 19 3

Alicia Rojas 22 4

Eric Ryan 28 5

Joan Butler 29 6

Steve Shepstone 29 7     Denise Fenchel 30 8

Peter Due 37 9

Matt Zahn 42 10

Bob Harris 47 11

Ruth Hakansen 48 12

Kate Duff 50 13

Linda Gibbs 50 14

Bill Martens 58 15

Tom McMahon 59 16

Ellen Leonforte 65 17

Jonathan Brush 71 18

Doug Kadlec 74 19

Brett Mintz 81 20

Jodi Sisley 86 21

Sharon Cummings 91 22

Liz Cummings 93 23

Season standings:

Lee Montes 3.1200

Peter Beardsley 4.6207

Eric Ryan             4.7742

Paul Zinger         5.3171

Caitlin Cummings 7.4231

John Modica        7.7692

Charlie Modica Sr. 8.1429

Joan Butler          8.6944

Alicia Rojas         9.1628

Rachel Beardsley 9 .5200

Denise Fenchel 9.8947

Bob Harris           10.7692

Rick Prieto          11.4400

Linda Gibbs         12.5135

Will Lehr              13.4737

Eugene Van Rynbach 14.2500

Ellen Leonforte 14.6279

Kate Duff 14.7500

Tom McMahon 16.2500

Jonathan Brush 17.3171

Jodi Sisley            17.8158

Bill Martens 17.8276

John Colby          19.8421