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Writer's pictureAmanda Hodges

September 2023 | Issue 36

The Dog Days of Summer, the next GeneraƟon of Y sailors, a New web

presence, and great regaƩas ahead! From our President


So, it is 101 degrees and HUMID here in Georgia. I remember to count my blessings: reasonable health,

sailing available every Saturday and Sunday, wonderful sailing family and friends and a husband who is

reƟred from 55 years in the HVAC business. Yes, I am blessed in more than one way.


But these Dog Days sure do cause trouble if you want to race on a weekend aŌernoon when the starƟng

signal is 2 PM in the aŌernoon. Used to be, if we had races scheduled, sailors drove to the club and got

on the starƟng line to duke it out with other Y sailors no maƩer the wind, waves, or motorboats. Now

we look at 3-4 weather Apps and decide if the predicted breeze is enough to jusƟfy the gasoline to drive

to the club. So some days I launch my boat and Ɵe up at the dock all by itself at 11:30 in total calm and

get a pleasant breeze come up at 2 or 2:15. Or nothing at all. But there is always a chance of a breeze.

Even when it isn’t predicted on Windfinder. My opinion is that just because the weather is posted on my

phone in a slick App doesn’t mean that the weather predicƟon is any more accurate than 30 years ago.

As the saying goes, “Meteorologist is the only job where you can be wrong 50% of the Ɵme and sƟll have

a job tomorrow.” So I tell other sailors to ignore the wind and weather predicƟons and head on up to


the club every chance they can. Worst case scenario, we use the bow as a diving board and pull out the

squirt guns. As my Dad used to say.... “If it isn’t fun, they won’t do it.” And we always seem to have fun.


The next GeneraƟon of Y sailors are out there. Some we know about and others have come from

unexpected places. Y sailors come in various forms, ages, sizes and families. The obvious source of the

‘Next GeneraƟon’ is the child or grandchild you take out on the Y to introduce sailing to them in the

form of splashing, squirt guns, bubbles, swims, oar ball, and dragging various body parts in the water.

But I have realized that we have been able to recruit from sailors of other classes; even if they have

been sailing that other class for generaƟons and appear to be ‘die hard _________ sailors. (Insert the

boat of choice) At AYC we now have two “Thistle” families and one “Snipe” family that have added sailing

Ys to their resumes. They will never give up their allegiance to their first love boat (and I’d never

expect them to), but have seen what a wonderful, simple, and fun way it is to get kids in a sailboat when

that boat is a Y – stable, low to the water, easy to sail/race single-handed, a simple introducƟon to

crewing skills and quickly pop on a plane for a thrill ride! Will they sƟck with sailing Ys as they get older?

Time will tell. But for now, the Y Flyer is the perfect boat at the perfect stage of their family sailing life.

I’ll lay bets that these early fun experiences in a Y will keep them in the class 20 years from now. Look

for new recruits in unexpected places – and fleets.


And, finally, we are geƫng a new Web presence and a re-build of our yflyer.org website. The class has

hired RJA Studio LLC to build a website to suit our needs and offer a great presence on the web. In the

next few weeks I hope to get our web designer all the info, documents, schedules, photos, and history to

get up and running. She thought she was doing a re-design, but unfortunately, our current site keeps

crashing so much she cannot seem to get much off it to re-design anything. So, she is starƟng from

scratch. This takes a lot more Ɵme. But be paƟent. The result will be great!

More good news: NaƟonals 2024 will be June 24-28 at Carlyle Sailing AssociaƟon on Lake Carlyle! Mark


your calendars and block out those dates now for a week of sailing, camaraderie, and fun in the Mid-

West. And the Carolina Yacht Club along with the Y fleets of Charleston are eager to bring NaƟonals


2025 to Charleston Harbor. They will be locking down dates and planning a beachy NaƟonals on the East

coast. Those are two wonderful sailing venues eager to host our NaƟonal RegaƩa. Good news indeed.


The Sailing Siren,

Amanda S. Hodges

Y 2660


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