This issue rocks! Call me biased and yes, I nearly broke my arm patting our team and all the contributors on the back in December. But this one has content that the WindCheck Community truly represents from cover to cover. I’m thinking about adding distribution at ski areas this month so folks have something to relish in between runs, over a cup of chili. Just don’t stuff it in the boot bag at the end of the day…the recycled paper won’t hold up well.
First up, the traditional What’s New for 2019 opener has a delightful variety of submissions from across the Northeast. Pay attention here, because many are opportunities you need to be aware of for this coming season. The best piece in that section, however, covers the mission of Work Vessels for Vets, a ten-year-old effort out of West Mystic, CT that I am embarrassed to say I had never heard of before; so inspiring.
Next is a truly fun and intricate “CCA” story of a rookie to blue water sailing experiencing her first real cruise. This great piece is then followed by a description of an entirely different kind of ocean sailing; one where helmets, goggles and outrunning weather systems is the norm. Reading it may well be the closest many of us get to an passage from Newport to Ft. Lauderdale averaging in the high teens with breaking 30 knots being a regular occurrence…on a delivery! This article also puts a stake in the ground for WindCheck, as we hope to have regular multihull articles going forward. I for one became a convert to cruising cats while family vacationing in the Caribbean…pretty hard to beat that platform for family fun.
And then…you guessed it…we continue to beat the drum around junior sailing success formulas. I warned you that the conversation would not end, and in this issue we have a truly comprehensive submission from a volunteer head of a successful junior program in eastern Connecticut. I won’t spoil it here, but she has some excellent prescriptions on how to keep kids in!
The last “feature” story I want to point out may just solve a problem for participation in big boat racing. What if you only had three or four phone calls to make instead of eight to ten to line up the team for the next campaign? Adam Loory has an very interesting proposition. He’s been kicking it around for a while and this article actually covers a “Plus One” event that he made happen last fall.
So I can’t detail all the rest here…from whales in New York Harbor and New York Yacht Club American Magic tryouts at Oakcliff Sailing on Long Island, to foiling lessons offered at NESS in Stonington, a great Coop’s Corner (mostly because it was written by kids!), and of course, coverage of the Sea Dog Worlds in Wickford, RI, (36 boats? Hello!), this issue should easily get us through February…and if a bad thaw hits your mountain, you’ll have hours of reading to tide you over!
Happy New Year!
