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Date: 7/17/2020
Subject: Email To The PPYC Membership
From: Communications Director



PPYC Newsletter
 
Commodore's Corner
Ahoy sailors! I am excited to announce that Metro has approved our COVID-19 Policies’ document that will allow us to move forward on re-opening at least the Club Boat Program! The policy limitations will still make it difficult to host anything but small educational events, and we are exploring options. And we hope that with all the new measures taken by Metro that the COVID-19 rates will decrease sufficiently that the policy can be liberalized to allow our normal fall events to take place. The actual policy document can be accessed through links on the Coronavirus Updates page on our web site, thanks to Charles Jones, our right-on-top-of-everything Communications Director. He has really done a super job on keeping our website current and informative.

Hopefully by now, all members have received a surprise in the mail, and we hope you like your new membership card!  If you did not receive one by the end of this week, please let me know.  Our team has been working on this for months! Credit goes to the talented team of John Calvano and Alicia Noble for their graphic skills, and to Charles Jones for providing all the lists and information necessary for Alicia to prepare everything needed for the mailing. I only laminated and mailed!

Take a look at the photos below from Sara Shamblin!
 
Gary Pack has provided us with an excellent article on “right of way” rules. Ouch! BoatingMag.com Story.

In a conversation last week with US Sailing on another matter, Lorie sent me the link to connect with their US Sailing organization resources which could be interesting to our members. USSailing.org/membership.

If anyone’s interested in sitting for 23 minutes and watching the fascinating salvage of the classic 75’ yacht, catamaran “Ppalu” after it hit a reef in St. Maarten, it was really innovative and interesting. Cruising World video.

Hoping to see you soon!!

Kathy Ware, Commodore
A few weeks ago, I went with Narragansett Sailing School on a 5 day trip from Providence to Martha’s Vineyard and Cuttyhunk. This was their ASA 106 course, so since my credentials are through US Sailing, I went for the experience, not the certification. We dealt with fog, currents and tides; it was great experience!  On the boat was the captain and another guy from Houston, just the three of us. I had a great time and enjoyed seeing the buoys and lighthouses that have been on my coastal nav training chart!
Sara Shamblin

Upcoming Events And Other Items Of Interest
 
Upcoming Events
 
All of our scheduled activities for 2020 so far have been cancelled. Those that remain on the Events Calendar with future dates are currently marked “CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE” in the titles of those through August. For events after August, the Calendar is consistent with our status as outlined by Kathy in her July 10 Newsletter column, as is the Coronavirus Updates page.
 
Please see the note Charles added in the Communications Corner section below about a special page we've added to keep you regularly and frequently updated on the overall status of the Coronavirus situation, including its impact on our Events schedule.

 
Communications Corner
This Summer has taught me a lot about being thankful — and about focusing on the half full view of the glass of life and paying less attention to the half empty view. I may have mentioned in the past that although I’ve been an avid sailor for well over 35 years, this is the first time in my life that I have lived in a place where I could leave my home and be out on the water under sail in about an hour. Almost all of my experience since my very early years on Hobie Cats and 18-22 foot monohulls has been on chartered boats in the 35- to 45-foot range with wheels, inboards, self-furling headsails, self-tailing winches, great instrumentation, etc. You name a city on any coast in the U.S., and I’ve probably chartered a boat out of a harbor within a few hundred miles of it. Fewer harbors, but the same with large inland lakes — Michigan, Pontchartrain, Tahoe, Mead, etc.

After semi-retiring in Nashville and fully retiring a few years later, I was traveling a lot less and had fewer opportunities to “tack on” a day or two to business trips to do some sailing. Last year, I thought, gee, I’ve only sailed on a small inland lake [Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia] once quite a few years ago, but maybe there’s something on Percy Priest Lake or Old Hickory Lake I might like. Well, by early June I was a PPYC member and Club Boat Program member, and the next month I was a volunteer LATH Skipper. I have “re-learned” and learned a great deal about small lake sailing, working with tillers, “hanking on” jibs [I didn’t even remember that term until I was reviewing John Thomason’s Club Boat Check Run procedure,] etc. Plus, I was lucky enough early on to meet some of the nicest, most welcoming people in our club who were eager to share their local knowledge with me and let me sail with them until I got my “lake legs” [I guess one would say, instead of “sea legs.”]

Having had one of the best sailing summers of my life last year, and now going through what we’ve had to endure so far this year, I’m “chomping at the bit” [to use an analogy from horseback-riding when I was growing up in a small rural town about an hour North of New Orleans] and ready to get some sailing in. And I’m staying focused on the half full view — what a great year last year was and how great this year can yet be before cold weather sets in.
 
Don’t forget to check the Coronavirus Updates page regularly for the latest information on how that plan relates specifically to PPYC [Link below.]
 
Please Note. We’ve added a special Coronavirus Updates page to the Member Resources section.  We will post the most current PPYC-specific information we have about the Coronavirus situation there. You can access it through the Member Resources Menu, by clicking the link in the top banner on this page, or by clicking here: Coronavirus Updates

Charles Jones, Communications Director
communications@ppyc.org

Thanks for reading this communication. We'll see you around.


Percy Priest Yacht Club  .  PO Box 290485  .  Nashville, TN 37229