News

Big Weekend

Hey All! A few updates on this weekend. Highlights at the top, fine print below.

This Saturday is the Dyer Derby and end of the season party. Bring a lifejacket (parents too if you want to sail) and your dish assigned by Tori. Parents a cooler of beer always seems appropriate at this day as well 😉 It all starts at Mystic Seaport Youth Training Building at Noon and should last to about 5 pm with dinner and party after.

This Sunday is the CT state champs… looks like we have 70 boats coming! Most of you were assigned jobs the weekend before last, but if you can help we still need people for scoring (need a laptop) and registration (ditto). You must be registered to compete, you may do that here… http://tinyurl.com/optichamps The schedule is as follows:

09:30-10:30 Registration; Rigged & Ready

09:30-10:30 Safety check

10:30 Skippers meeting

10:45 Harbor start

11:15 First warning

We should be done by 4pm.

Sunday after clean-up we will pack Opti’s for the Halloween Howl the following weekend in Newport. The first six Opti’s that complete all the registration steps will be able to ride up on our team trailer. It should be a great end of the season event!

1. Pay the $50 MudRatz coaching fee (this covers two days of on the water coaching, coach boat, etc). Please use the link below to pay.

2. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=J2358RFM2X7JS

3. Register for the event at Sail Newport below.

4. https://sailnewport.worldsecuresystems.com/regattas/halloweenHowl/2014-halloween-howl-registration

5. Email me back at bflack that these steps are done.

6. We will then arrange car pools etc and be leaving for Newport from the exit 91 commuter lot each day at 7am.

Thanks everyone… I hope you and your kids are enjoying this amazing VolvoOceanRace.com with the rest of the world. It’s been an amazing start! See you all soon.

FINE PRINT

DERBY DETAILS:

Admission to the Museum is complimentary to competitors and spectators for this event.

We cordially invite you to participate in the 2014 Dyer Dhow Derby. There are five divisions: Juniors’ (able-18), Men’s (18 and up), Women’s, Mixed, and the Quarter-Ton fun race (2-4 people per boat).

The skippers meeting is at Noon at the Youth Training Building at Mystic Seaport. The Race Committee will be stationed on Cruising Club Dock at the North End of the grounds. Between races, crew changes will take place on floating docks off the main dock. There is ample room on the dock and along shore affording spectators and participants an excellent view of the racing – similar to the America’s Cup, but closer to the action. There will be an awards ceremony and cocktail reception commencing in the Youth Training Building at 1700.

CT STATE NOR:

https://atomic-temporary-74925537.wpcomstaging.com/2014/09/17/connecticut-state-optimist-championship-niantic-bay-yacht-club-oct-19-2014/#more-13

CT STATE REGISTRSTION LINK:

http://tinyurl.com/optichamps

HALLOWEEN HOWL COMPLETE INFORMATION:

https://sailnewport.worldsecuresystems.com/regattas/halloweenHowl/halloweenhowl.html

Reminder – CT State Opti Champs Early Entry – Oct 9th PLEASE SHARE!

Save $10 and guarantee your racer gets one of our awesome long sleeve tech shirts by registering online for the CT State Opti Championships by this Thursday, October 9th!

Teams are welcome to come practice at the club on Saturday the 18th and you may leave your boats and trailers if you are heading on to Sail Newport for the Halloween Howl.

https://www.regattatech.com/registration/action/showEntryForm?clubCode=NianticBayYC&eventCode=CTStateChamp14

420 Events & Dyer Derby

All Parents! We are co-hosting the Dyer Derby as our end of the season party. Tori (Tori Gimple (jyjeep) is looking for each family to please bring one of the following: appetizers such as fruit platters, veggie and dip tray, chips and dip and alike, any snack food that does not need to be cooked or heated on site. crockpots of chili-any flavor…some suggestions are vegetarian, white chicken, regular beans and meat or hot & spicy! chili toppings such as shredded cheese( LOTS), sour cream, fritos chips, goldfish etc corn bread muffins or crusty bagettes a large basket or tray( thinking 5 dozenish) desserts cookies, brownies, bars of any type.. please make sure to note if your items has nuts. TONS! the kids love the desserts!

The kids keep lucking out with great Sunday nights! Hopefully we find some breeze for them in October! Here is some raw video’s we shot of the kids last night…

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jkyb3qxefkfghay/AABdAFWMVZ0nbhBVwphB_fIfa?dl=0

If you want to share one with your Opti kids about how to roll tack right check out this! (notice how little rudder these kids use when turning)

http://www.sailgroove.org/coverage/234176-Technique-Tuesdays/video/199126-Opti-Tack

420 Parents… those of you are planning to attend the Halloween Howl… lets please plan to meet with me next week right at the start of practice. We have some logistics to sort through and plan for.

ACC’s Canceled

Due to lack of interest we have taken this event off the team schedule. It was pointed out that ACC’s would have been three weekends in a row… ACC, CT States, & Halloween Howl… and maybe that was a bit too much for everyone.

So that said we still have plans to host the CT States right at NBYC, we have 28 entries so far… that is 3 more than we had TOTAL last year! Please sign your child up ASAP to avoid the late fee. http://tinyurl.com/optichamps

We will pack up the boats after for the Halloween Howl afterwards for what is sure to be a fun event in Newport to end the year!

-MudRatz

Groupings

Parents,

We are getting a lot of questions over the groupings for this weekend. Let’s be clear that these groups are just for part (half or less) of practice. A big part of MudRatz is kids learning from each other and we intend to preserve that.

The coaches will decide who will sail in what group, but I’ll give you some insight as I know it. My daughter Lily will be in the championship group. This group will focus on drills and repetition. These kids know what to do, they just need more intense practice doing it to get better.

My son Dylan will be in the racing group. This group will have the smallest ratio of kids to coaches. The focus will be teaching every area of Opti racing… From boat handling to tactics. These kids have a ton to learn and we have just the right coaches to teach them in a positive and fun way.

The Devo team will be our kids who are still learning some of the basics of sailing optis. The focus is on gaining confidence in the boat so they can enjoy sailing more.

Nothing is set in stone and our kids will have the opportunity to move up or down from week to week.

See you Sunday.

Week 3 Reminders

MudRatz,

We shut off the auto reminders on the site this week to cut down on the email volume (420 vs Opti etc). However it is still REALLY IMPORTANT that you check in with the site and mark down if your child will be there or not. You can also turn the reminders back on in your preferences if you prefer.

https://go.teamsnap.com/login/signin

This allows us to set up the right number of coaches and coach boats for Sunday to ensure everyone’s safety. By excusing instructors when not needed is how we keep our costs down each season.

The first two week of the program are always meant to be just fun… anything the coaches can do to build trust and make sure kids want to come back is the plan. The next four weeks your kids will see a lot more “meat” to program as we start to step up their games. That first windy week is coming for sure… and as a parent who has been there, all I can say is let the coaches work their magic and the kids will be fine (my daughters coach actually told me to get lost… and she was right).

Don’t forget Zim Sails will have their gear trailer on site around 2pm this week and Bob will be showing kids how to properly rig Opti’s and 420’s. Come early and tap his wealth of knowledge.

We now have a new MudRatz store with some new hats and shirts! You can place an order online for pick up at practice, or we will have some of these items at practice for you to see and buy. There are some great advance order holiday gifts… and 50% off all sales go right back to the team coaching fund!

http://mudratz.ecwid.com/

Please note NBYC does NOT allow dogs on the property… please leave them home. Also the kitchen will be closed this weekend, but will be back in service for the team next week.