Labor Day is Here Vineyard Race
August 31 2010
Greetings!
Earl is near and is influencing the Oakcliff schedule.  First of all the classics will not sail tomorrow night.  See below for an alternate plan.  The Vineyard Race Committee is monitoring the situation and it looks likely that they will postpone the start somewhere from a few hours to a full day. 

We are rolling with the punches and keeping everything moving forward on our short, mid and long term plans.  Read on and plan your post Labor Day sailing.
In This Issue
Hurricane Plan
Classics Alternate
Fall Series
We're so Cool
Hurricane Plan


By now we all know that there is a hurricane coming towards the Eastern Seaboard.   Right now it seems to be weakening and veering off just a tiny bit to the East. 

This is good news for Oyster Bay where the winds at the moment are forecasted to stay in the 30 knot range which I should point out is what we were sailing in on the last IRC practice.  But with mother nature reserving the right to change her mind at any time we are doing a full preparation at Oakcliff.

REDUCING WINDAGE:  We are taking the sails off of the booms and wherever possible reducing windage.  This includes mousing the halyards to the top of the rigs.  A thank you goes out to the Tuesday night match race drills teams who helped take the mains off of the Match 40s.  Tonight we will do the same thing with the Shields.

SECURING: We are double and triple checking that all lines, sheets, backstays etc. are firmly secured as there is often damage from things flapping and working and wearing. The mooring lines will

Finding the Lee:  As many boats as we can will get tucked in in the lee of Center Island.  This includes Anne Caie who is on her way back from the East End of Long Island. 


Classics Last Thursday Turns Social

We need the time to get ready for the arrival of gale winds from Earl so we will NOT sail tomorrow night. Hunt suggests that the regular classic sailors meet on Caper at 5PM to help pack sails on Caper / Clio / Banzai / Nautilus / Dolphin and then meet in the SCYC bar when we are finished for a little bit of a pre-hurricane party.

After Labor Day we will begin racing the Fall Classics Series Saturday Sept. 11 and continuing each Saturday and Sunday through the final race Saturday September 9th.  Sign up on the Oakcliff Calendar:  http://www.oakcliffsailing.org
 
Sign Up for Fall!
American & Manhasset Bay Series
Ker 50Get your name into the mix for the Fall Regattas. Sign up for the American and Manhasset Bay Fall Series.  We will also hold a final IRC practice on Sunday September 19th.

 http://www.oakcliffsailing.org/sail-with-us/calendar/  
Good Luck to everyone in the Vineyard Race.  I'll be speaking at the skipper's meeting and dinner tomorrow night.  I haven't attended this event before and am looking forward to it. 
 
Sincerely,
 

Dawn Riley
Oakcliff Sailing Center
Universities Copy Oakcliff!
Waterbottles
It's not every day that you get to be ahead of the curve when it comes to the college-aged group but here at Oakcliff we are. 

This was just announced:
 
"The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Board of Directors has announced an initiative to eliminate single-use plastic bottles from all ICSA regattas in an effort to reduce plastic waste from the landfills, the oceans, and the environment in general. "

We've been doing this 'forever' :-) and it is making a huge difference.

Remember to bring your refillable bottles and thanks for keeping it green!
 
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Oakcliff Media Training


Oakcliff was recently in  Manhattan for media training.  It was a morning well spent judging by the progress from the first, somewhat stiff, mock interviews through the final sessions and the sound bites'  are continuing in our day to day activities.  We are working to be 'on message' and efficient in our communication at Oakcliff but these skills will also be useful in the future careers of all Oakcliff Team Members.