by Cathy

Front row: Bob, Cathy, Bruce, Amber. Middle row: Jackie, Burton, Laurie, Larry, Martha, Doug P., Jim. Back row: Sandy A., John, Nancy, Marshall, Paul, Gary.  Photo by the other Bob.

This year's annual Christmas party was hosted by Jim and Selena. It was a perfect place for the party. Great turn-out. Great food. And their beautiful home with lots of Selena's beautiful paintings as a backdrop. Wow!   

Thank you Paul, Jim, and Selena for all your hard work in putting the event together and thank you to everyone who brought food. It was all wonderful.

Awards were presented at the meeting and then there was some discussion about whether or not we should be sending dues to the National Butterfly Association. I am not sure what was decided. Maybe that we should request their treasurer report to see how they are spending the money and what we would get for our dues.  

The series winners for 2016 were:

Winter Series: Paul, Burton, Gary / Cathy

Spring Series: Paul, Sandy, Gary / Cathy

Summer Series: Paul, Sandy, Burton / Nancy
Fall Series: Sandy, Paul, Bruce / Laurie

Butterfly sailor of the Year: Paul

Below: Paul presents the Fried Shroud award to Bruce. Previously this was the Broken Dagger-board award but as that has gone missing and since it was rather cumbersome, Paul created this smaller plaque for the most spectacular accidental sailing event of the year. Bruce certainly earned it this year when his sailboat was struck by lightning during the Butterfly Nationals! Poof.

Note from Paul: Bruce was the inaugural winner of the award when he hit a hidden log underwater, it split the board lengthwise, still all the way down in the trunk. He didn't capsize but knew something was wrong, no flow of course as the board went two different directions. He could barely get it out when he got to the dock and I believe it was in 2013. 

Lots of clapping as the awards are presented. Burton accepts his various quarterly awards. Gary accepts his awards and details the winners and sailing participants by quarter and Paul presents the awards:

The ladies accept their quarterly trophies! Yea! 

Paul accepts the Butterfly of the Year award for the 3rd year in a row:

Congratulations to all!!

The new officers for 2016 are:

Fleet Captain: Paul

Race Chair: Jim

Secretary/Treasurer: Bob

Gary continues in his mostly thankless role of scoring the races! This can be time consuming and it's great that he keeps track of things then hands off the results to Frank who posts the scores. See link at the top right of the blog site.  

Thank you Paul for being our fleet captain since 2014. You make it look easy and are such a hard act to follow that no one is even considering stepping into your shoes. Seriously. You do so much for the fleet. We thank you!

And I am not sure how long Bob has been secretary/treasury but as long as I can remember and we appreciate your keeping track of everything and continuing in your role. Thank you!

As for Jim as new race chair. You will do a great job and put your own twist on it. Race chair is a funny behind the scene role - setting up combos where people have fun together and we all keep safe. Sometimes it is challenging to find those perfect combinations but our program is the best and everyone does their part! 

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                                                                                                                                                    by Cathy

Congratulations to Marshall for placing 1st in his Butterfly in the portsmith handicap fleet. Eight boats participated in the fleet.

Congratulations to Doug P. who placed 1st out of 25 Lasers.

Lots of CSC sailors also participated. Full results are here: Wurstfest results

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results                                                                                                                                    by Cathy
more photos

Sharing a course - 11 Butterflys, 9 Lasers, and 9 Snipes.

It was a gorgeous October day with winds 5-10 mph and even lighter in the first race. The wind was mostly from the north - pretty shifty with a few auto-tacks for the unwary. A total of 44 boats participated in the regatta with the Flying Scots and Corinthians split into a separate race course on the South end of the lake. That left the single handed boats and the Snipes on the north end.

Sandy took 1st place overall in the regatta.

He was 3rd in the first race and said that he'd considered giving up and calling it a day since the wind was so light and he was pretty far behind at the beginning of that race.

We broke for lunch after the first race and then Sandy took 1st in both the second and third race.

Way to go Sandy.

Paul took 2nd overall with one bullet and two seconds.

Bruce took 3rd overall with two fourths and one third.

Marshall took 4th overall with a fifth, third, and eighth place.

Other Butterfly sailor prize winners: Frank took 3rd in the Flying Scots and Doug P. took 2nd in the Lasers.

It was great to see the Butterflys so well represented plus even better to see so many sailboats out on the lake.

Full results and more photos in the links above.

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link to results                                                                                                                            by Cathy

Sandy takes 1st place with 7 bullets, a 2nd, and a 7th.  Congratulations Sandy!

The fourth annual Commodore's Cup 2-day regatta was a great success featuring good food and lots of fun with participation from five different fleets. The Flying Scots, Corinthians, and Snipes set their courses on the south end while the Butterflys and Lasers stayed on the north end. 

Kelly G. and Bowman set up Triangle and Gold Cup courses with a mid-line start and finish line which allowed both upwind and downwind finishes plus by not moving the committee boat it allowed more races. Frank was on RC for the Flying Scots, Corinthians, and Snipes. We appreciate all those who volunteered for RC allowing other sailors to race.  Thank you!

Racing was wisely delayed on Saturday due to the light wind but then the breeze filled in and we managed to get in 6 races for the day. Sailing started early on Sunday which was a good thing because we managed to squeeze in 3 races before the wind picked up into the 15-25 mph range.  

Nine Butterfly sailors participated in at least some of the races.  Overall results:  Sandy 1st, Burton 2nd, and Bruce 3rd.  Nancy placed 4th in her new Butterfly.

Congratulations to everyone who participated!

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by Pam

Smiling faces at the Butterfly Christmas party.

This year's annual Christmas party was hosted by Cathy and Cameron who graciously opened their home. We had a good turnout and the food was great but the array of delicious desserts made my heart sing. I had one of everything.  

Thank you Cathy, Cameron and Paul for all your hard work in putting the event together and thank you to everyone who brought food. It was all wonderful.

The meeting was short and sweet.  We’re doing well financially, dues remain the same budget price and there is talk of putting in a bid to have the Open Nationals in Dallas again soon. 

The series winners for 2015 were:

Winter Series: Paul, Burton, Bruce / Cathy

Spring Series: Paul, Gary, John K. / Cathy

Summer Series: Paul, Bruce, Gary / Cathy

Fall Series: Paul, Bruce, Burton / Cathy

Butterflyer of the Year: Paul

Congratulations to all!!

The new officers for 2016 are:

Fleet Captain: Paul

Race Chair: Cathy

Secretary/Treasurer: Bob

Fleet Liaison: Jackie

Thank you to the officers for all their work in 2015 and thank you for volunteering again for 2016. Looks like we’ve found a winning combination. 

A special thank you to Cathy for all her hard work this year. She has maintained the blog all year, kept track of the racing schedule and committee duty assignments, silently watched out for our safety all year through her mindful selection of duty assignments, sent out regular email updates, organized the Wrangle, and even checked on boats after the floods. Oh, and in her spare time, she won the State Fair Regatta. Cathy will be learning the fine art of delegating this year so when she taps you on the shoulder and asks for your assistance, please be willing to help. She has done so much for us and has earned a little break.

Let’s have a great year!

2015 Butterflyer of the Year

2015 Top Woman / Sparkplug of the Year

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                                                                                                                                                    by Cathy

The Flying Scot open house was a great success with 4 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.  Fun was had by all and the food and music was great too.  Thank you to all the Butterfly sailors who volunteered to help make it a success:  Gary E., Gary T., Larry, Kurt,  Doug G., Bruce, Cameron, Marshall, and John L. with a special thanks to Paul for keeping everything on track.  Also thanks to Miles and John K. - as extra volunteers on standby if needed.

Here is a link to the results with some photos and some videos by Houston Brown Photography. Watching the Scots rounding the marks from the drone is very cool.

  Flying Scot Open House - 2015

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results                                                                                                                  by Cathy and Frank
day 1 qualifiers
day 2 qualifiers
day 1 blog
day 2 blog
day 3 blog

Frank and Bowman finished 4th and Burton and Amanda finished 11th in the Challenger division at the Flying Scot NAC in Mississippi.   Congratulations to all of you!

Results and day by day blogs are in links above.  

Some comments and a photo by Frank:

We thought we had 3rd nailed and had to do turns just as the starting gun went off in the last race.  Tried too hard to make up the delay and ended up tanking the race and dropping to 4th.  We had a great time and are good with 4th in challenger fleet.

Photo was taken about 4pm Wed just after the boats had gotten back to the dock.  About half were still in the water.  We were out, but Burton was still in when the storm hit.

Storm on day 1. 

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results                                                                                                                                         by Cathy

The third annual commodore's cup 2-day regatta opened the 2015 sailing season.  This great event featured lots of food and laughter with participation from five different fleets.  The Flying Scots and Corinthians set their courses on the south end while the Butterflys, Snipes, and Lasers stayed on the north end.  A stormy Friday found us sailing a debris field dodging trees and branches in addition to trying to gauge the wind shifts and keep track of our fellow sailors.  Fortunately the debris blew downwind and mostly out of the way during the day.  Saturday's wind tended to be gusty and shifty from the west in the 6-20 mph range.  By Sunday the wind shifted southeast, with lighter winds in the 5-10 mph range.  

Nine Butterfly sailors participated, plus Frank sailed his Flying Scot, Doug P. sailed his Laser, and I crewed for Cameron on our Snipe.  Since the Snipes, Lasers, and Butterflys shared the course it was fun to see all my friends at various parts of the course. Through 7 races we sailed several different courses including Olympic, W 2 1/2, W 1, practicing both upwind and downwind finishes.

Overall results for the Butterflys:  Paul 1st, John 2nd, Gary 3rd.

Frank finished 2nd overall in the Flying Scot fleet, Doug P. finished 2nd overall in the Laser fleet.

Congratulations to everyone who participated!

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by Pam

Paul wins Butterflyer of the Year

This year's annual Christmas party was at Bowman's house. She and Paul coordinated to put on a real sit down meal. That's a first since I've been a member. Well done! 

Thank you Bowman for opening your home to us all, thank you Paul for all your hard work cooking the brisket and helping Bowman clean up after us, and thank you to everyone else who brought sides. It all turned out quite nice.

We've finally gone through all the little short Butterfly glasses that no one really wanted and found a new supplier to match the larger Butterfly trophy glasses that we had for years. So this year's series winners all got the nicer glasses.  Yeah!

The series winners for 2014 are:

Winter Series: Paul, Frank, Bruce / Cathy

Spring Series: Paul, Burton, Bruce / Cathy

Summer Series: Burton, Paul, Gary / Pam

Fall Series: Paul, Burton, Bruce / Cathy

Butterflyer of the Year:  Paul

Congratulations to all!!

The new officers for 2015 are:

Fleet Captain: Paul

Race Chair: Cathy

Secretary/Treasurer: Bob

Fleet Liaison: Jackie

Thank you to Paul, Bowman, Bob and Jackie for their work in 2014 and thank you Paul, Bob and Jackie for volunteering again for 2015. Good luck Cathy in your new role as Race Chair.

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by Pam

2013 Butterflyer of the Year

A very icy metroplex in December delayed the annual Butterfly Christmas party until January (this past Friday). The series winners for 2013 are ...

Winter Series (12/12 - 2/13):  Frank, Bruce, Sandy / Cathy

Spring Series (3/13 - 5/13):  Paul, Burton, Bruce / Cathy

Summer Series (6/13 - 8/13):  Bruce, Burton, Paul / Cathy

Fall Series (9/13 - 11/13):  Paul, Burton, Bruce / Cathy

Butterflyer of the Year:  Burton

Clearly, Cathy was the Top Woman Butterflyer of the Year but we don't give out a trophy for that. Nevertheless, well done! But watch out girl, I plan to be back to give you a run for your money this year.

Congratulations to all!!

The new officers for 2014 are:

Fleet Captain: Paul

Race Chair: Bowman

Secretary/Treasurer: Bob

Fleet Liaison: Jackie

Thank you to Brad, Bowman and Bob for their work in 2013 and thank you Bowman and Bob for volunteering again for 2014.  Good luck Paul and Jackie in your new roles of leading and liaising in 2014.

So, to start the year off with a little controversy (I'm baa-ack), Doug and I are going to be doing things a little differently this year. I'm an impatient, short-cut, kind of girl.  We are planning to carry waterproof two-way radios with a hands-free headset that will allow us to communicate all the way around the course or even when one is doing duty and the other racing. I want to know (real time) what Doug sees and why he's chosen the left, right or middle and why he just tacked. He's talented enough to broadcast exactly what he is doing while he is doing it and not have it affect his performance too much. And I still want to ask questions all around the course so that I can learn at an accelerated pace. 

So either the fleet determines this isn't fair and we don't score our finishes or the fleet embraces this as a new way to sail and buys additional two-way radios and beginners in the fleet boats can tune in and learn and ask questions all around the course or even the experienced sailors could have a little fun exchanging tactics and strategies as they go.  It could be an interesting way to make the entire sailing experience more social and educational. I think the entire fleet would get better as a whole much quicker.  But that's just me ... an outside the box, rock the boat kind of girl.

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by Pam

Our annual Christmas party and meeting was Friday.  We had a good turnout, good food, and good times catching up with everyone.  This has been a tough year for the fleet.  Many of our regular sailors have been sidelined for various reasons … economy, health, family, politics, and various other distractions.  But let’s face it.  Times spent with the Butterfly fleet are some of the best memories you have.  You know it’s true. 

The evening began with the regular eating and socializing time and then we moved onto the annual meeting and awards presentation.  When it came time to decide upon officers for the year, it seemed a bit like a game of 'not it.'  However, Brad was quick to remain willing to stay at the helm as Captain.  Bruce (Secretary/Treasurer), Amber (Race Chair), and Jackie (Fleet Liaison), all sought replacement. 

Our 2013 officers are:

Fleet Captain - Brad

Race Chair - Bowman

Secretary/Treasurer - Bob (maybe)

Fleet Liaison - Brad

Then it was time for our annual awards.  The recipients are:

Butterflyer of the Year - Burton

Fall Series - Burton, Frank, Paul / Cathy

Summer Series - Bruce, Burton, Frank / Cathy

Spring Series - Burton, Sandy, Gary / Bowman

Winter Series - Frank, Bruce, Sandy / Cathy

Thank you for Brad, Bruce, Amber and Jackie for serving as officers for 2012.  And a very special thank you to Bruce who may or maybe not have been relieved of duty but has served as our Secretary/Treasurer for many, many years and done a fantastic job.  Good luck to our 2013 officers.

Congratulations to Burton as Butterflyer of the Year and all the series winners.  A special congratulations to Cathy for winning 3 of the series. 

Thank you to Burton and his wife for opening their home to host this party/meeting for, I believe, the 3^rd year in a row.  

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by Pam

Photo by Skip Rhodes

It was a windy weekend.  The Butterflys had a good turnout despite several Flyers bailing and sailing in the 76th Snipe Southwestern.  Cam, Cathy, Luigi, Doug and I all sailed in the Snipe regatta and watched some of the Butterfly racing from the docks as we prepared to go out.  It looked like a wet and wild day with at least 3 tippings and one dismasting.

Scott Young once advised me to get on a double handed boat with a good skipper and no spinnaker so I could learn tactics.  It was good advice and I was glad to see other Butterflyers doing the same thing and learning from different sources.  We'll all get better together.

The traveling Snipe fleet brings extra boats to the regattas which are available for charter.  It would have been a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity.  However, our first time out on the boat was Friday afternoon and we tipped it almost immediately.  No tippings on Saturday or Sunday but our heads were in the boat in survival mode most of the time with winds gusting to 30.   I guess that means we'll have to try it again so I can learn tactics, instead of how unexpectedly physical the boat is.  I only thought I'd been hiking on other boats.

Cam and Cathy did well and even went flying past us on one reach like we were sitting still.  They handled some pretty challenging winds and ended up in 10th place.  Luigi and his skipper ended up in 7th and Doug and I somehow managed a 4th.  It was good competition with lots of opportunities to learn more.

One more weekend before the Butterfly Nationals and we have 34 sailors registered!!

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Results

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Results
Frank and Bruce finished first in the challenger division at the Flying Scot Mid-Winters in New Orleans.  Congratulations guys!

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by Pam

Doug finished 4th in his division at the Laser Master Worlds in Brisbane, Australia.  Of note is that he spent some time with Brett Beyer who showed him some new techniques for downwind sailing that appears to be perfectly suited to the Butterfly.  He'll be posting about it once he gets a chance to try it out on the Butterfly. 

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Congratulations to our trophy winners:

2011 Butterflyer of the Year - Frank

Winter Series - Bruce, Frank, Burton / Pam

Spring Series - Sandy, Burton, Bruce / Pam

Summer Series - Frank, Bruce, Sandy / Catherine

Fall Series - Bruce, Frank, Sandy / Catherine

New Fleet Captain - Brad

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by Pam

Results

Wurstfest Regatta is an event everyone should experience at least once (or as often as possible).  Lake Canyon Yacht Club puts on two sensational Wurstfest regattas each year.  The first is for centerboard boats and the second is for keel boats.

This regatta is usually the last stop of many sailing circuits and this weekend wrapped up the Sunfish and Laser circuit season.

There were 86 boats in several fleets competing this weekend.  The Sunfish had the biggest fleet with the Flying Scots a close second.  The Lasers actually had a fleet this year which was welcome news for Doug. 

Several White Rock sailors made the trip down to sail in various fleets.  Burton and Frank were sailing a Flying Scot and finished in the top 10.  Doug was sailing a Laser and took first. 

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Results

Paul Foerster, former Butterflyer, wins silver medal at the Pan Am Games in the Sunfish class.

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by Pam



The Championship of Champions is in the history books.  CSC put on an impressive first class event.  The race management was top notch getting in 20 races over three days with the marks moving constantly to keep a true course.  The boat and sailor transitions on the water were an impressively quick and smooth operation.  The club was alive with volunteers that left a very positive impression on the sailors.  It seemed that everything had been well planned and nothing left to chance.  Even Mother Nature kicked in and did her part providing a wide variety of conditions such that if a sailor said ‘I just wish we had less (or more) wind’ they soon got it.

The racing results were like a roller coaster with only one or two teams separating themselves and everyone else having an impressive race or day followed by a not so impressive race or day.  Really fun to watch.

Final Results

Cindy Cady Photography

Cathy's Pics
Pam's Pics
Doug's Videos

Andrew and Marcus Eagan Win Big at 2011 Championship of Champions
Eagan Takes Control of Leaderboard at 2011 Championship of Champions

Raab Takes the Lead at 2011 Championship of Champions

And a bonus link for the team that didn't sail due to a lost fingertip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_OI4TtzlDw
http://singularityhub.com/2011/07/12/miracle-powder-regrows-fingers-now-thigh-muscle-for-marine/

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US Sailing Press Release
Results as they happen

If you have the time, this is a rare opportunity to see some serious sailing talent.

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