Newsletter Number VII SPECIAL SUMMER EDITION July 1998

Editor: George Lippert WEB EDITION

What a summer so far. I hope that all LECOA members have had a chance to take advantage of what has been for the most part a very enjoyable summer. Karen and I have been out at least once each and every weekend. On July 25^th, Karen and I met Ernie and Eileen Haupt and sailed their Catalina 25 from their dock in Vermilion to Lorain. Once we entered the Black river, we motored under the vehicular and rail road bridges so we could view the Kobe steel plant. It was quite an adventure. Did you know that the vehicular bridge on the Black river opens on the half hour but the bridge operator will not open the bridge until the vessel signals its intent to cross under the bridge (motoring around the base of the bridge is not the proper signal either). After motoring to the steel mill, we proceeded back up the river and stopped at Spitzer Lakeside Marina for lunch. If you have not been down to Spitzer’s it is very nice. They have a finger dock next to the restaurant where boats are allowed to dock for up to three hours. Once docked you can get a bit to eat and drink at the Jackalop (the restaurant) or take advantage of the picturesque picnic area.

Is there a point behind this story other than recalling a great day of sailing with some fellow LECOA members? Yes there is, keep reading for more details.

Let me just add one more interesting fact about our cruise. Ernie, like some of us, never used his air horn before. And to be honest, we would still have been waiting to cross under the bridge had it not been for another sailboat who was also passing up the river and it was that boat that signaled the operator to raise the bridge. Being quick studies (i.e., one is a quick study after all four of us were looking at our respective watches trying to figure out what exactly ‘on the half hour’ meant as were waiting for the bridge to open), we figured out that we had to signal the operator or suffer the fate of being on the "wrong" side of the bridge as we were motoring out of the river to the marina. Well, remember one thing, point the air horn into the air and not into the bulkhead. You should have seen the four of us jump and thank goodness none of fell into the river which is not exactly all that clean, or so it appeared.

That is what makes boating so much fun. Good sailing, a good laugh, and learned a bit about seamanship. Now, if I could just get this ringing in my ears to stop….

Peg Bergstrom

Bridge members will remain in office through the Annual Meeting of the Association.

Burgees can be purchased by contacting Co-Commodore Alan Wolf. The cost is $20.00 and postage to mail them out is picked up by the LECOA. Chapter Six is flying the LECOA burgee and it looks great!

Attached is a copy of the revised 1998 LECOA Membership Roster. The roster is being distributed once again due to the number the changes from the roster that was distributed with the last newsletter; to include: our new members, changes of addresses, e-mail accounts, area codes, etc. Call up a fellow member, go sailing together, learn how to pass under the Black river bridge, have fun!

This is YOUR section. It is where you, the members of the LECOA, get to put in anything you want into the newsletter. Selling some gear, selling your boat, going on a long cruise and would like to know if anyone else has already cruised those waters, or anything else you may want to convey to the other members. If you would like to place something into the newsletter, please contact the editor.

William Russell, 32 Lennox Road, Hudson, OH 44236 regrets that he has to sell "HEREWEGO" a 1992 Catalina 34. The boat is docked at Battery Park Marina, dock A-12. Bill indicates that the boat is lightly used, the diesel engine has less than 200 hours, and all equipment is in excellent condition. If you are interested, please contact Bill at 330-650-2955.

Bob Brandt reserved 12 docks for Saturday, July 11^th. Although I understand that the turnout was a bit disappointing, I look forward to having Bob and the other members that made the rendezvous discuss the cruise at our next meeting. As a side note, I must say that as I was flying from Cleveland to Detroit on that Sunday to catch my connecting flight, I have never seen the lake so smooth. I did not see too many rags out on the lake but the motor boaters seemed to be everywhere. For those that did go over to Leamington, I hope you had a great time. Leamington is a great destination for those of us on the western basin of Lake Erie and I hope that any future outings will have better participation. Thank you Bob for reserving the docks, organizing the rendezvous, and being part of the LECOA.

Ken Marshal reserved the Edgewater Yacht Club pavilion for Saturday, August 1^st. A planned pot luck cook-out starting at 6 p.m. was the order of the day. In addition to the cook-out, LECOA members were offered the opportunity to dock several nights at EYC.

I will provide a first hand account at the next meeting for Karen and I plan to land sail over to EYC for the rendezvous. Hope I can report a good turnout in addition to the good time.

Ernie Haupt received only two calls for dockage at Vermilion for the rendezvous scheduled for Saturday, August 29^th. Vermilion, like Leamington, books up fast and we were not fast enough even for a handful of docks. In fact, Ernie tells me that when he was talking to Linda Wakefield, the Dock Master, she thought Ernie was inquiring about next year!

So there will be no Vermilion rendezvous for the LECOA this year.

Editorial: We need an honest commitment early by LECOA members if we are going to reserve dockage for a rendezvous. I realize that we would all like to wait till the morning of the rendezvous to insure the weather is fair to our sailing ability. But if that is the prevalent thinking then we will be hard pressed to get such popular destinations as Leamington and Vermilion in the future.

Remember that lead-in to the newsletter and how I indicated that it would tie in later in the newsletter, well this is it. Ernie did some checking and found that Spitzer Lakeside Marina in Lorain would be more than happy to host the LECOA rendezvous on Saturday, August 29^th.

It is a wonderful destination and an equal distance, 25 miles, from Cedar Point and Cleveland. Those of you in Vermilion have a nice 2 hour sail down to Lorain. The picnic area is outstanding with two covered pavilions and two grills. The marina has also offered the use of there pavilion if we so choose. The restaurant, Jackalop, offers live music on Friday and Saturday night. Daily dockage is offered in five lengths: 25’, 30’, 36’, 40’, and 45’. Dockage cost is one dollar per dockage length; examples: 25’ dock is $25, a 36’ dock is $36. Advance reservations are needed for weekends, holidays or for groups of five or more boats.

Other useful information:

Way points for the Marina are for the white light on the breakwall: North 41-28.90 West 82-11.70

Spitzer Lakeside Marina, 301 Lakeside Avenue, Lorain, OH 44052 1-800-321-DOCK

The next meeting will be held at the Flat Iron Café in the flats. The meeting date is Thursday, October 15^th with dinner at 6 p.m. and the meeting starting at 7:30 p.m. No information has been passed along as to a speaker. But regardless, we will all have plenty of sailing adventures to talk about, so the night will no doubt will be filled with tall tales, fun and friendship. That’s the LECOA.