We are saddened to hear of the death of past GYA Secretary and 1979 GYA Commodore Michael S. Johnson. We know that this is a difficult time for his family, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
There will be a small family service tomorrow. For anyone wishing to make a donation in Mike’s memory, you may send it to:
Zach Fanberg Sarah Taylor Fanberg & Eugene Schmitt place 2nd (representing BWYC)
Mike Holt, Steve Bourdow & Bruce Edwards place 3rd
Staton J. Peele Sportsmanship Award: Ed Feo
Congratulations to all the teams who particpated, to the host club at Bay Waveland and PRO Clinton Edwards. It was a tough three-day event, weather was a little challenging, but all scheduled 9 races were sailed.
Commodores of General and Affiliate Members GYA Executive Committee GYA Past Commodores GYA Standing Committee and Council Chairmen GYA Coordinator of each GYA General Member Club GYA Associate Members
The Semi-Annual Meeting of the Gulf Yachting Association will be held on Saturday, September 3, 2022 at Bay Waveland Yacht Club, 1 Yacht Club Drive, Bay St. Louis, MS (228) 467-4592. Since some mailing and email addresses may have changed since the last meeting, please distribute this information to the appropriate contacts at your club.
GYA COMMODORES of GENERAL MEMBER CLUBS – Your club’s attendance is very important. If you cannot attend the Board meeting Saturday, September 3rd beginning at 1000 hours, please send a NOTICE naming your club’s representative to the GYA Secretary-Treasurer via mail at 1245 Kensington Drive, Biloxi, MS 39530, email secretary@gya.org, or hand deliver a letter at the meeting.
Bay Waveland Yacht Club, will provide all GYA Clubs the program and schedule of events for the Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge competition for the following trophies:
Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Trophy
Sir Thomas Lipton Inter-Club Sportsmanship Trophy
Tim Murray Memorial Trophy, Most Improved Performance
Race 1 Floyd Davis Memorial Trophy
Race 2 J. Fred Clerc Trophy
Race 3 Michael S. Johnson Trophy
Race 4 no permanent trophy, special trophy by BWYC
Last Race Commodore Larry Beauvais, Jr. Memorial Trophy
Saturday, September 3rd 0800 Club Opens 0800 – 1000 Light Breakfast served in bar by Ladies Auxiliary members 0800 – 1100 Registration/Check-In/Weigh-In (Bar) 0800 – 0850 Capdevielle Committee (Main Dining Room) 0800 – 0850 GYA Foundation (Board Room) 0900 – 0945 Trophy Committee (Board Room) 0900 – 0950 Race Management Committee (Junior Room) 0900 – 0950 Offshore Committee (Main Dining Room) 0900 – 1100 Bulk Ice and Drinks by Ice Machine for boats 1000 – 1100 GYA Board of Directors Meeting 1100 – 1400 Lunch Served by Volunteers Under the Club—go boxes, too. 1115 Team Captains Meeting (Board Room) 1100 – 1400 Lunch menu (Served in main bar) 1200 Flag Raising Ceremony 1330 Warning signal for Lipton Race 1; Race 2 and 3 (if possible) to follow after crew changes. 1700 – 2200 Keg Beer (opened after last boat docks until it is empty) and Band on Front Deck Commodores’ Society will cook Jambalaya, and chef will provide light food to supplement jambalaya until Commodore’s party ends and dining room doors can be opened to all participants 1900 – 2000 Commodores party (Main Dining Room) by invitation only. Yachting Attire 2000 Dining Room doors open 2300 Club Closes
Sunday, September 4th 0800 Club Opens 0800 – 1000 Crew Weigh-In and Crew List 0800 – 0830 Sunday Services at the Flagpole 0800 – 1800 Hospitality Desk Open (Bar) 0800 – 1000 Light Breakfast served in bar by Ladies Auxiliary members 0900 – 1100 Bulk Ice and Drinks by Ice Machine for boats 0930 – 1400 Lunch Served by Volunteers Under the Club—go boxes, too. 1030 Warning signal for Lipton Race 4; Race 5 to follow after crew changes 1100 – 1400 Lunch menu Served in main bar 1630 Latest time for Warning Signal TBA Trophy Presentation (Main Dining Room) (approx. 1 ½ hours after First boat docks) Light Hors d’oeuvres in bar while awaiting results 2100 Club Closes
Hospitality/Regatta Desk will be open daily from the time the club opens until 2 hours after the last boat finishes. Pick up your charge number here and let us know how we can be of service to you. Check for messages on message board.
The pool will be open Saturday and Sunday from 10:00-9:00. Please observe our pool rules and SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. There may not be a life guard on duty. Swimming is not allowed from any docks or piers.
This schedule is subject to change – please be sure to check the official bulletin board.
Bay Waveland Yacht Club asks all guests to please pre-register for a guest card prior to arrival (attached).
Due to the holiday weekend, a group room block was not able to be established. Bay Waveland Yacht Club has provided the following location accommodations for your convenience.
Silver Slipper Casino & Hotel 5000 South Beach Boulevard Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 228-469-2777
Econo Lodge 441 Yacht Club Drive Diamondhead, MS 39525 228-586-0210
Hollywood Casino Gulf Coast 711 Hollywood Boulevard Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 228-467-9257
Bay Town Inn (may offer vacation rentals also) 208 N Beach Blvd. Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 504-421-0960
Pearl Hotel, LLC 104 North Beach Blvd. Bay St. Louis, MS 39520 228- 688-0400
Your GYA Flag Officers look forward to seeing you at the Semi-Annual meeting at Bay Waveland Yacht Club. We ask that you share all information about the weekend events with members of your club. Please wear your appropriate blazer, club badge and white dress slacks for the meeting.
TO: Commodores of General and Affiliate Members GYA Executive Committee GYA Past Commodores GYA Standing Committee and Council Chairmen GYA Coordinator of each GYA General Member Club GYA Associate Members
The Gulf Yachting Association Annual Board of Directors Meeting, in conjunction with the Opening Regatta will be held May 14-15, 2022 at the Jackson Yacht Club, 700 Yacht Club Road, Ridgeland, MS 39157, (601) 856-8844. GYA Standing Committee Chairs and Council Chairs should submit their written reports prior to the meeting to the GYA Secretary. As some mailing and/or email contact information at each club may have changed since our last meeting, please distribute this information to the appropriate contacts at your club if applicable.
GYA COMMODORES (GENERAL MEMBER CLUB COMMODORES) – As a member of the GYA Board of Directors, your club’s attendance is very important. We request that you please respond to the GYA Secretary no later than Monday, April 25, 2022 as to if your club will have representation at the meeting, either by you personally or by a proxy (secretary@gya.org). This information will help to ensure a quorum is met for business to be conducted.
If you have recently lost a member of your sailing community and would like to have them included in the silent prayer during the Board of Directors meeting, please contact the Commodore or Secretary with that information.
The host club has established a room block for lodging at the following: Courtyard by Marriott, 601 Baptist Dr. Madison, MS 39110 (601) 605-8810 use code GYA Opening Regatta. Rates are $119 +tax last date for this rate is April 22, 2022.
Hilton Garden Inn, 320 New Mannsdale Rd, Madison, MS 39110 (601) 420-0442 use code GYA. Rates are $114 +tax, last date for this rate is April 29, 2022
Jackson Yacht Club will provide all GYA Clubs the program and Schedule of events for the Opening Regatta competition for the following trophies: ➢ Commodore J. Gilbert Scheib Trophy ➢ Commodore John Dane Trophy (Masters Trophy)
Schedule of Events
FRIDAY, May 13, 2022 1700-2000 Regatta Registration and Check-In – Lobby 1730-1830 GYA Executive Committee Meeting – Board Room
SATURDAY, May 14, 2022 0800-0930 Continental Breakfast & Bloody Mary Bar, Dining Room & Bar 0900-1000 GYA Board of Directors Meeting Registration – Lobby 0900-1100 Regatta Registration and Check-In – Bar 0900-1000 GYA Committee Meetings Board Room, other Trophy Committee Capdevielle Committee 1000-1100 GYA Board of Directors Meeting – Dining Room 1130-1400 Lunch Service 1145-1200 Flag Raising Ceremony 1230 Competitors Meeting – Pool Canopy 1400 Warning Signal all Classes (back to back races to follow) 1700-2100 Southern Buffet – Lower Level 1700-2100 Island Music with Hunter Gibson – Lower Level 1800-1900 GYA Commodore’s Cocktail Party – Dining Room 1900-2000 GYA Annual Awards Presentation – Dining Room
SUNDAY, May 15, 2022 0800-0900 Continental Breakfast – Bar 1025 Warning Signal all Classes (back to back races to follow) 1100-1400 Sunday Brunch – Dining Room 1400 No races start after this time ASAP After Racing – Trophy Presentation – Pool Canopy
The supplemental page, covering the 100th sailing of the Lipton Challenge and other events of that weekend, are available. Pages will be mailed or delivered to yacht clubs this week. If a club bought, for example, 20 books and 5 individuals bought books separate from the 20 bought by the club, 25 pages will be mailed to the club. This is to, hopefully, prevent individual pages from getting creased in the mail. Pages should be available for pickup from clubs by March 11, depending on USPS.
Thank you to the Board of Directors for placing your confidence in me as your Commodore for 2022. I promise you that I will do my very best to demonstrate that your confidence is well placed.
A little bit about me: I grew up in Gulfport where I spent many happy summer days at the Gulfport Yacht Club. It was there that I learned to sail when the teaching platform was the Fish Class Sloop. I remember them having wooden spars, coarse twisted jute lines and being constantly in need of bailing. I really wasn’t much of a racing sailor, but I love to tell people that I had the most important crew position on a Fish boat: Bailer! I had a little yellow Sunfish that we kept on the beach there at the club that I loved to sail around on while dreaming of something bigger. When I hear Jimmy Buffet sing “One Particular Harbor”, the GYC and Gulfport Small Craft Harbor in 1968 is what I picture in my mind.
I didn’t really get into sailboat racing until finishing engineering school and moving to Houston. While there I met a co-worker who was the main sheet trimmer on a Tartan 10 racing on Galveston Bay. Every Monday I would ask how they did and he would say: “Oh, we got first place.” After about the third time, he studied my skeptical look and offered to prove it by inviting me on to the crew. He was right! We had an outstanding skipper named Roy Newberry, a fast boat and a good crew; and, truthfully, we never finished worse than second in a race. I was hooked! A job opportunity got me back to Mississippi in Jackson and I continued sailing at JYC on Catalinas. Eventually I joined the club and now I sail in the J/22 fleet there, on the Viper at GYA events and long distance races on big boats whenever I get an invite (yes, that’s a hint).
Enough about me. The Board of Directors meeting Sunday, January 16 was our first ever effort to do it virtually. Although I missed the face to face interaction, as I’m sure many of you did, I must say it went off well. All credit for that is due to the technical prowess of Robbie and Jennifer Schmidt. Thank you Robbie and Jennifer! The fall out from the meeting going virtual was that we didn’t get to have the Awards Banquet and distribute the awards that were earned in 2021. As Commodore Ruthven noted, we have already started on Plan B. In addition to having the privilege of hosting the Annual Meeting and Opening Regatta, it will be my honor to host the 2021 GYA Awards Ceremony at Jackson Yacht Club! So, it will be a full and busy May 14-15 weekend at JYC this spring but I have no doubt that the members and staff of Jackson Yacht Club will make it fun and memorable. So, I look forward to seeing all of you then for an “Opening Regatta of the highest latitude”. Until then, I wish you fair winds and following seas.
The 2022 GYA Winter Board of Director’s Meeting will be moved from an in-person meeting on Sunday, January 16th to a virtual event via Microsoft Teams (link below with login instructions). All committee meetings scheduled for Saturday, January 15, 2022 will be rescheduled, each committee chair will schedule with date and time to be announced. The annual awards banquet scheduled for Saturday evening is being rescheduled as well, details to be released at a later date.
2022 GYA Winter Meeting BOD Meeting Instructions
The 2022 GYA Winter Board of Director’s Meeting will be a virtual event via Microsoft Teams (There will be NO physical meetings at the Gulfport Yacht Club). The Commodore of each club, GYA Committee Chairs and GYA Past Commodore’s will receive an invite to the Teams Meeting soon. You can either download the Microsoft Teams or continue on a Microsoft Teams supported browser (A dial in only number will also be available). When you Join the Meeting, you will be asked to enter your name, for this meeting we are requesting that you enter your name followed by a comma, then the GYA club you are representing, followed by a comma, followed by your title (C for GYA Club Commodore, DR for Designated GYA Club Representative, PC for Past GYA Commodore, CC for GYA Committee Chair or A for Attendee)
e.g. Jimmy Ruthven, STABYC, DR (See above)
If you are attending as a Designated Representative, you must follow the instructions in the meeting notice:
GYA COMMODORES· GENERAL MEMBER CLUBS – Your club’s attendance is very important. If you cannot attend the Board meeting, please send a WRITTEN NOTICE naming your club’s representative to the GYA Secretary-Treasurer via mail: 1245 Kensington Drive, Biloxi, MS 39530, email secretary@gya.org. or hand deliver prior the start of meeting.
