FROM THE EDITOR...
By Steve VanderVoort, Telltale Editor
 It’s now winter, and things have pretty much shut down for Sail Chicago. For most of us it’s too cold to work in the boatyard. There are a few maintenance projects that folks can do at home, but that’s about it. Now’s a good time to curl up in front of the fire with a good sailing adventure yarn. I read one recently that I can heartily recommend. It’s the harrowing story of the first ship in the Age of Exploration to sail the Pacific Ocean from South America and return to the same port. Its title is Conquering the Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery, by the noted historian Andrés Reséndez. It’s got everything an armchair voyager would want: politics, warfare, mutiny, adventure on the high seas, but unfortunately, very little romance. If you’ve got a good sea-going adventure story you can recommend, let me know and I’ll include it in next month’s issue of the Telltale.
This might also be a good time to think about how you’re going to fulfill your service requirement for the coming sailing season. You wouldn’t want to be caught “high and dry” next summer, would you? Check out the Volunteer Positions Sign Up page on the my.sailchicago.org website and see if there’s anything that interests you.
And finally, our very best wishes for a wonderful Holiday Season with you and yours, from all of us on the Telltale staff!
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SPRING, 2022, BOARD ELECTIONS
By Rachel Grannemam, Board Secretary
It may be winter now, but it's not too early to start thinking about our 2022 Board elections! Serving on Sail Chicago's Board is a rewarding opportunity to step up and help run our all-volunteer organization! We will have several vacancies to fill at our Annual Meeting next spring. Information on Board structure and expectations can be found here, and a great way to get a sense for what serving on the Board is like is to attend a Board meeting. Board meetings are the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. (next meeting is December 14) and are currently "virtual" meetings online. Members are welcome at Board meetings and we'd love to see you there! The link is available in the "Announcements" section on the landing page of mysailchicago.org. We are also planning on hosting a Q&A session early next year for folks interested in running for a Board seat. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Rachel at grannemr@umich.edu or to the Board at board@sailchicago.org.
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COLUMBIA YACHT CLUB SAILING SCHOOL HOSTS HOLIDAY PARTY
 Columbia Sailing School will host their annual Holiday party on Dec. 18! Sail Chicago and Columbia have developed a fantastic partnership over the last few years, and many SC members are members of the Columbia Yacht Club as well. The fundraising event will feature games, a great opportunity to meet other sailors, and will help support the sailing school in 2022. All are welcome! For more details and how to register to attend click here.
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CHICAGO BOAT SHOW CANCELLED
The Chicago Boat Show, which normally opens for a week in mid-January at McCormick Place has been cancelled for the second year in a row. Sail Chicago has traditionally had a booth at the show which has welcomed many visitors over the years. NMMA, the show’s organizer, hopes the show will return in 2023.
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NEW SKIPPER CLASS OF 2021
By Norris Larson
 Forty-two Sail Chicago members completed the on-the-water (OTW) part of the Skipper Prep course in 2021. Skipper Prep is our most rigorous course and completing the OTW portion is the main test of whether or not a member can handle a boat on their own. Lead instructor Matt Stuczynski reminds those who have passed Skipper OTW that they need to take the written exam to complete their certification as a Sail Chicago Colgate skipper. Next season, as new skippers in training, they will be entitled to reserve Colgates for personal sails accompanied by an experienced skipper. Matt also reminds new and old skippers to take time over the winter to review Sail Chicago Rules and Regulations, OTW Skipper Skills, and US Sailing materials.
The “graduation” of the new class of skippers was celebrated with a very successful special happy hour put together by Daniel Hazlett and Ashleigh Luttery. We look forward to another such occasion at the end of the next season, perhaps with a semi-formal ceremony. Sail Chicago extends its congratulations to all of our new Colgate skippers!
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MANY HANDS LIGHTEN THE LEARNING
By Matt Stuczynski, Lead Instructor
This is a great time of year to extend a hearty THANKS! to all those many volunteers that keep our instruction program running and help bring so many new skippers into the sport year after year. Of course, thanks to the maintenance program that keeps our boats shipshape and in Bristol fashion. Thanks next to Program Coordinator, Matt Smith, who arranges classes, registrations, schedules Instructors and deals with drops/adds all season long. Thanks to Mary Ann Wilkens and Pete Hays who coordinate the Pre-Sail Orientations and, thereby, welcome new members to the organization. Thanks to David Simoens and his team who administer, grade and provide feedback on the SC Written Skipper test. Thanks to Marj Benson who patiently and diligently keeps track of student records and who eventually grants Skipper status. Thanks to Alan Summers who coordinates the US Sailing Basic Keelboat Certification. Thanks to Nicole Chen who sends out surveys to Instructors and keeps track of student progress and appropriate placement. Thanks to Vildana Celik and George Posner who have been administering and coordinating student surveys of their classes. Thanks to Monte Lewis who coordinates our Basic Keelboat Instructor Certification and his team Aldo Caronia, Daneil Hazlett, Tom Hertel, Adam Jabs, Jim Monk and Tim Rice who have raised the bar of our Instructor training considerably over the last few years. Of course, a very special thanks to our nearly 40 volunteer Instructors who are the heart of the program!
Of special note; thanks to Nick Brait, Daniel Hazlett and Tim Rice who taught four classes each last season and thanks to Tim Keiderling and Michael Swisher who each taught three classes! Also of note and thanks to Instructors Dan Stein and Melchior Dikkers who adeptly and professionally handled an equipment and medical emergency during one of their classes this season. Finally, a warm thanks to Instructors Nick Brait, Daneil Hazlett and Mario Rolden who at a moment's notice volunteered to cover the classes of a fellow hospitalized Instructor.
The sense of duty and volunteerism of these last three Instructors exemplify the willingness to give and the passion for sailing amongst all in our group and this shining quality is what makes me so proud to be part of our Sail Chicago Instruction program.
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SPOTLIGHT ON VOLUNTEERS
By Norris Larson
Richard Costello likes working on boats and has introduced a work order (WO) system which will transform how Sail Chicago manages the maintenance of its Colgate fleet. Rich joined Sail Chicago sometime in the past, before Colgates, when Rhodes 19s were the only small keelboat in our fleet. Rich grew up in Boston and Maine around boats. He learned to sail as a teenager one summer on a Lightning, a classic racing class boat, and sailed in summers that followed. After spending some time in New York, Rich moved to Chicago and made some friends who were Sail Chicago members. They all went sailing together.
What is a WO system? A WO is a digital document that tracks maintenance tasks, on a vehicle, equipment, property, or in our case a Colgate. Each boat is associated with a WO that shows what tasks are needed to get the boat ready for launch or repaired during the season. The beauty of the system is that all the tasks and their state of completion for each boat are in that boat's WO which supports the coordinator’s management of our fleet.
It is an understatement to say Rich enjoys working on boats. In addition to managing the WO project in its first year trial, Richard works closely with our Colgate maintenance manager, Don Burman, on other projects. This last season, Rich kept outboard motors running--diagnosing and fixing problems and replacing motors when needed--important work that keeps boats available throughout the season for classes, tiller times, and private sails. He also worked on rigging hardware, painted bottoms, and other pre-season tasks needed to ready boats to splash into the south branch of the Chicago River.
Rich is retired and was a maintenance project manager for a local community college where he managed preventative maintenance WOs and developed 5 and 10 year maintenance plans. He and his family live with two dogs and a cat in Roscoe Village on the city's north side, an easy trip down to Monroe Harbor. He looks forward to becoming a grandfather this spring.
[Author’s note: What’s to like about maintaining a Sail Chicago boat—scraping bottom paint, working with smelly paints and solvents, getting into uncomfortable positions in order to work in tight spaces, …? The answer is that it’s the best preparation for the day you acquire your own boat.]
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GET CREDIT FOR YOUR 2021 VOLUNTEER SERVICE
The Sail Chicago Volunteerism team would like your help in documenting all the work that you contribute to Sail Chicago. We’ve developed a helpful tool to gather information from members about what roles they fulfill, and what the jobs entail.
Some of you may have participated in the previous method of tracking volunteerism. This update to our process will help us manage and improve the monumental task of placing volunteers in positions that are both desired and critical to keep Sail Chicago going.
The process is as follows:
- Members fill out the form that indicates their volunteer role for the prior season and describes their basic jobs duties.
- Other members, volunteer leaders, or department coordinators confirm that service and add or embellish descriptions if needed.
- The Volunteerism team uses the data to create a record of who does what, how they do it and publish brief job descriptions for each role.
- Sail Chicago gains a clearer picture of how volunteers help make it successful.
Please help Sail Chicago get better volunteer data by submitting details of your volunteer role to our online system! Please access the form here and scroll down the page to report your volunteer service.
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ANATOMY OF A BOAT COLLISION
Sail Chicago member John Lemon sent along an interesting article from a recent issue of Boat U.S. Magazine. It hopes to answer the question “Who’s to Blame” from a legal perspective. Bottom line: if the skippers of both boats had simply followed the sailing rules-of-the-road, the collision would never have happened in the first place. To read more, click here.
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SAIL CHICAGO REMINDERS
Who to Contact
Need information on an area in Sail Chicago, but don't know who to contact? Just click here.
Join or Renew Your US Sailing Membership at a Discount Through MVP
Sail Chicago members can join or renew their US Sailing membership at a $10 discount through the US Sailing Member Value Partner program.
Sail Chicago Gear
Purchase gear with the Sail Chicago logo on it. Caps, shirts, pants and other gear are available. To shop now, click here.
Like us on Facebook
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Shop Amazon Smile and Donate to Sail Chicago
When you shop online at Amazon Smile, Sail Chicago will receive a donation of .5% of your eligible purchases. It's a great way to both give and receive. To get started, click here.
Missing Previous Issues of Between the Sheets?
You can always find the current issue and an archive of previous issues of Between the Sheets at the first (and open to the public) page of the Sail Chicago website.Look under "News/Newsletter."
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Click on the links below to find more information about Sail Chicago.
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