All posts by Julie Lenczycki

News, Series Racing

We’re finally back!

Happy 4th of July week!!
Thank you to everyone who responded to our email and accepted the recent By-Law revisions and that our sailing season for 2020 will begin on July 7th.  The start time will be 6:30 pm with hopefully two races.  We will have two fleets, Portsmouth A & Portsmouth B with one start per race.  Our wonderful Race Committee will determine the time between races based on conditions.

We cannot emphasis enough to practice safe social distancing/sailing, as outlined in the emailed ALCA Safe Sailing Practices document.  Our webmaster will be posting these to our ALCA website soon.
Please fill out and either mail in or drop off your racing membership to Faith prior to Tuesday so the Committee Boat and our Statistician know your sail numbers and who is crewing for you.  Faith said you can put forms in her mailbox at her house if you are out sailing and want to drive by.  Her address is: 9702 East Shore Drive Portage 49002.
The first two weeks of racing, look for the Mohney red tri-toon with Jerry being the Race chair and Keith & Dixie on the Committee Boat.  Jerry will contact members on the lake to determine the following weeks protocols.
Be safe, be proactive, wear a mask and sail smart!
Julie Lenczycki

ALCA Secretary

News

Summer Series Week #1 – July 7, 2020

Welcome sailors!
Hopefully, everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend, we saw several boats out practicing and making sure they found all of the boat parts!  I have emailed the updated 2020 ALCA Directory (as of tonight) and as you can see, we have some of the ALCA “Sailing Kids” who grew up in the fleet joining us this summer as skippers with their Mom’s as crew!!
The weather forecast for Tuesday looks HOT and sticky…at 6 pm – 91° feels like 94°  Sunny WNW 7 mph.

See you at the start 6:30 pm sharp for hopefully two races.  Be sure to follow our FB page and look for emails if we cannot sail.
Happy 1st night of Sailing!

Julie Lenczycki, ALCA Secretary

Events, News

Upcoming Dates to Know

Your 2020 ALCA Officers met in January and we have some updates:

Dave D and Kathy attended Fleet 126’s (Michigan City) meeting to see what is going on with their fleet and to get information on the Hobie 16/20 North American’s this September that they are hosting in Michigan City.  We believe our own Miss D10, Gail Stiemsma, will be there too so they should bring back Division 10 updates as well.

The officers will meet again on February 26 so if you have anything to bring up, ideas or comments, please respond directly to one of us or reply to this email.
Steve Weatherford has coordinated with Dave Stiemsma for a rules seminar, Dave would like to do this on Tuesday, March 3rd from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm.  Faith has offered to bring some snacks and the host location is still TBD.  If you would like to offer your home, please contact Steve – 269-323-7805.  Then look for an email from Steve as the date gets closer.
SAVE THE DATE – the ALCA Spring Kickoff Meeting is set for Saturday, April 18th Happy/Social Hour at 5:00pm; followed by a meeting and dinner.  Hosts: Kathy Rubino & Dave Dunlap, 5061 S. Long Lake Drive.  Please bring ideas for summer parties, dates that we need to avoid and other thoughts to share.
Everyone was sent a 2020 Membership form for you to fill out and either mail to Faith or bring to the Spring Kickoff Meeting.  I will keep your email active until the end of May, then only if you have joined will you receive further emails from me or if you do not wish to be included, message me.  We are updating the facebook page as well. 

Follow us and post on Twitter @alca_519 and remember to tag us using any social media (Facebook/Instagram/Twitter) – #fleet519  Let’s see who can get more hashtag posts than Austin Lee!!

Events, News

2019 is our 35th year

As a reminder, 2019 will be a fun year for ALCA…it’s our 35th Year!!!  Yep, some of us have been racing on Austin Lake since before others were even born!!  Kathy and I have been going through old stuff and have some pretty cool things from the past!!!  Does anyone know who Mr. Austin Lake is??  I saw him at the Kalamazoo airport a few weeks ago, we were on the same fog delayed flight to Detroit…or did you know that for the Austin Lake Regatta in 1998, you could rent an Airbnb before that name even existed…found my coupon for a free night’s stay!!

Given this, the new slate of officers for 2019 will be meeting in the upcoming days to start to get things rolling for the year. An upcoming FLEET meeting will be announced soon.

Good News/Bad News: Our 2019 fleet Vice Commodore, Austin Lee has graduated from WMU and taken a job in (and will be moving to) Petosky Mi. Austin is one of our fleet members who was born AFTER the fleet started in 1984. We wish him all the luck in his new job and location and look forward to seeing him at upcoming sailing events.  It would be nice to have someone step up for Vice Commodore and run our education program to replace Austin.  

Our 2019 Fleet Officers

  • Commodore: Dan Troup
  • Vice Commodore:  need somebody to volunteer
  • Race Chair/PRO: Julie Lenczycki will step up to coordinate but will lean on others for advice .
  • Treasure: Faith Akert
  • Statistician: Andy Lenczycki
  • Secretary: Kathy Rubino
News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #5 – Aug 7, 2018

David Dunlap is the Race Chair for this Tuesday night with Dixie and Keith and maybe Steve Brown, but could use one additional person to assist.  The forecast is light winds so watch our FB page and email…it was pretty glassy flat tonight when I got home from work :(. Let’s hope the wind is in our favor….see you on the water!

As noted in the ALCA Pontoon Float Recap post, it was advanced, discussed and voted by present fleet members that we would extend the Summer series to the full amount of 10 weeks, as previously sailed in years past.  This means we will be sailing past the end of August, to include September 4th and 11th.

Events, News

ALCA Pontoon Float Party Recap

Great time at Sunday’s Annual Pontoon Float and like usual, it was hard to get off the water!!  Thanks to all who supplied the Jell-O shots, everybody sure enjoyed them!!  Check out some photos posted on Facebook….if you are not a member of our closed group, friend me and I will send you an invite to join in the fun!!

NOTE: After dinner, we had some discussion about extending the summer series and those in attendance voted to do so for two more weeks!  The Lenczycki’s volunteered their pontoon boat for September 4 and 11 with Austin signing up to be the Race Chair on the 4th.  Andy will need help on the 11th because I will be on an adventure in Portugal with our daughter Erin, please let him know if you can assist.
Our IHCA liaison, Lori Mohney, got us excited to consider racing in the 22nd Hobie 16 Worlds in Captive Island, Florida!  The last time they were held in the USA was 35 years ago!!  We have several ALCA members considering to compete or maybe just go and support our fleet members who plan to sail.  Mark your calendars for November 1-16, 2019 and here is the link to the event – https://hobieworlds.com/
Looking for the World’s link, I found this nice article….WOW, 50 Years ago this past July 4th was the first Hobie Regatta!!!!  http://hobieclass.com/50-years-ago-on-july-4th-the-very-first-hobie-races-took-place/

We got a nice letter from Hospice Care of Kalamazoo for our donation in memory of former fleet member Sue Geerligs.
Events, News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #3 – July 31, 2018

Dave Stiemsma volunteered last Tuesday at Brewster’s to be the Committee Boat this Tuesday so races are on!!

There has been talk of extending racing to September 4th – think about it and let’s have some discussion this Tuesday at Brewster’s.

I posted on the Facebook page the party invite but some of you are not on FB so here is your official invite for the Annual Pontoon Float – please rsvp to either FB or this email by Friday, August 3.
When: Sunday, August 5th meet at the deep spot around 2:00 with your motor boat and bring ties to connect the boats.  Message me if you need a ride to the party on the water.
What to bring:  a snack and your own beverages for the pontoon AND a dish to pass, lawn chairs for the dinner and any adult beverages.
We will try to get off the water by 5:30 to have dinner at the Lenczycki host house – 9833 Woodlawn Drive.  The fleet will provide everything for pork tacos, including some lettuce wraps and the slaw, along with lemonade.  We will have yard games and maybe get the volleyball net out for some more fun!
I have included some previous members, if you want to join us it will be $5 or you can join as social members for $10 and be included on our Year End Party too…hint, hint!  Same goes for significant others and kids under 18 are free.

Looking ahead, I’m traveling most of September and into October so vote for one of these possible dates for the Year End Party –

  • September 22,
  • October 6,
  • October 13, or
  • October 20.

BTW, October 6th is WMU’s Homecoming game against EMU so this would not be my first choice and I can make the other days work with travel schedule and our incredible Social Committee members!!  Any suggestions as to where to have the YE party??

See you on the water Tuesday and don’t forget the sunscreen next Sunday!
News, Series Racing

Reminder – No Racing This Week (7/17/18)!

No Sailing tonight – ALCA has lost one of their founding members, Sue Geerligs, who passed away on June 5.  We encourage sailors to attend the memorial service tonight, Tuesday, July 17 at Lakeland Reformed Church (10442 Sprinkle Road) from 7:00-9:00 pm.  Sue and her husband, Jim were very instrumental in our fleet start up and will be missed.  Here is the link – http://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/kalamazoo/obituary.aspx?n=sue-geerligs&pid=189325946

Summer Series will continue on Tuesday, July 24 with Jerry Mohney as the race chair; along with Keith and Dixie working the Committee Boat.  We still need boats and members to sign up to fill out the rest of our season.  Please message Dave Dunlap if you want to volunteer.

Looking ahead, Sunday, August 5th is scheduled for our annual pontoon float.  The Lenczycki’s will be the host house.  Look for the flyer shortly….
News, Series Racing

Summer Series Week #1 – July 10, 2018

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July week, boy were the fireworks in abundance around the lake!!
Tuesday night starts our 2018 Summer Series, let’s hope the wind gods like us better than in Spring!

Tuesday:  Isolated showers or weak thunderstorms south of I-94 through mid-afternoon otherwise partly to mostly sunny, very warm, and trending less humid before dinner.  Highs in the upper 80s inland, middle 80s at the Lake Shore.  Winds NNE-N 10-15 mph.  Tuesday Night: Mostly clear and comfortable with a low in the mid 60s.  Winds N-NE 5 mph.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Committee Boat!  See or message Dave Dunlap for open dates, rumor has it the last two weeks of July and all of August are open.  Tonight the Mohney’s are the Committee Boat along with Keith and Dixie.
See everyone on the water!
Events, News, Series Racing

Summer Series Begins 7/10/18

Happy 4th of July Week!!  Enjoy our week off (July 3rd) watching fireworks, a little sailing, staying cool and maybe having some apple pie!!

Reminder that we also have the week of July 17th off, to allow most of the senior fleet members to attend a memorial service for Sue Geerligs, wife of our first ALCA Commodore, Jim.  Jim is still semi-active in the fleet, offering to help on the committee boat from time to time.  The fleet sends it sincere condolences to Jim at this time.
Summer Series starts on Tuesday, July 10 with Jerry Mohney as the race chair; along with Keith and Dixie.  They will also be the committee boat on Tuesday, July 24 but we need boats and members to sign up to fill out the rest of our season.  Please message Dave Dunlap if you want to volunteer.
Looking ahead, Sunday, August 5th is scheduled for our pontoon float.  Looking for a host house.