Among the early sign-ups for Summer Sailstice 2015 is The Sailing Club, Inc., homeported - sort of - in Morristown, New Jersey. (More on that in a minute.) This will be TSC's second year with Sailstice, and the 2014 plan worked so well, they're going to do the exact same thing this year: On Saturday, June 20, Depart Rock Hall, MD, in chartered boats, head to the Miles River on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, and pick a good creek for a raft-up.
“Our raft-up party on Saturday will include a toast to the setting sun on the longest day of the year, sharing myths about summer solstice, and spinning a few sailing yarns...both true and hearsay!” says TSC's Mary Ann Gordon. The boats will set out again on Sunday morning for more great sailing on the bay and another raft-up in another location Sunday night. They'll head back to Rock Hall on Monday.
At this writing, Gordon says there's enough interest to fill three boats. More may be added as the departure date approaches.
That “sort of” in the opening paragraph refers to the fact that The Sailing Club, Inc. is a “paper club”, which is to say there is no actual clubhouse. And no actual boats! All sailing is done aboard chartered bareboats in the 36-44ft range, skippered by one qualified member and one qualified first mate. Members keep in touch electronically, at occasional meetings, and of course aboard boats for their six to eight local group charters a year on Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound and/or Newport, Rhode Island. There's usually one destination charter, too. Past trips have been to Maine, the Great Lakes, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, Europe and the Caribbean.
The cruise to Bar Harbor Maine caught this shot as the sun set and the moon rose.
Like so many good ideas, The Sailing Club started in a bar – in this case, a little tavern in Morristown, New Jersey, back in 1983. It was springtime and members of the AT&T ski club were drowning their sorrows over the rapidly warming weather. What a shame there wasn't some activity they could do together to buoy them through those brutal summer months until the snows returned. As the story goes, one of the more bleary-eyed participants asked if anyone had ever been sailing. Greeted by largely blanks stares and shrugs, he said, “Well, do you want to try it?”
As it happens, that fellow was a sailor, but had just sold his boat. So he chartered one, everyone had a blast and the rest, as they say, is history.
TSC currently boasts about 160 members. Membership runs the gamut from longtime sailors to fresh-faced newbies who want to try something new. Short, overnight trips (often the first time a person has spent the night afloat) ease new members into the fold, and it goes from there. Sail training in both large and small craft is offered, and during charters “Everyone on the boat contributes,” says Mary Ann, “whether it's taking the wheel, raising sails, grinding winches, manning the anchor, cooking or cleaning up. Working together helps to make a well-run boat.” That it does!
A hearty “Welcome aboard!” to The Sailing Club, Inc. for another year of fun. For more on TSC, go to www.thesailingclub.org.
Maine, Belize, San Francisco and beyond. TSC finds sailing adventures almost anywhere.
