Notice to OPO Mariners, January 1st, 2006
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Hank Schmitt, P.O. Box 2032, Halesite, NY 11743
631-423-4988, 1-800-4PASSAGe, Fax 631-423-9009
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Editorial
Winter months are for Maintenance and Marketing. Maintenance is working on the web site and updating forms. Marketing is attending boat shows and direct mailings. Marketing is also attending the National Yacht Brokers Annual meeting and promoting our crew services directly to the yacht brokers. We advertise in their annual and quarterly publications.
We also contact organizers of offshore events to offer or crew services to their participants and offer to place ads in their programs. We get in touch with other delivery skippers and delivery companies to help create more opportunities for our members. This summer we are also bringing back an organized summer weeklong cruise to help create more mid summer opportunity for our members. We plan to partner with a local sailing magazine to open up participation outside OPO membership and to help plan some great parties along the route.
In addition to the 10 magazines we run classified in, we also have a DVD of the NARC Rally, filmed this past fall, to help build participation in the rally and create more opportunities for members. We will let you know when copies are available.
The spring and the fall will continue to be the busiest times for crewing opportunities. For members that feel they have a little less sea time than necessary for qualifying for some of the offshore opportunities with private boat owners we will continue to offer the Swan Program Opportunities. Our Swan 48 allows us to offer unique opportunities to race in some of the Winter Regattas and to offer definite timetable for members that have more rigid schedules and must plan days at sea, well in advance. It also anchors our fleet north in May and the NARC Rally south each fall. In this issue we will lay out the Swan Program for the first 6 months of the year. If you have enough experience and time and have little trouble getting enough sailing opportunities then you can skip the information on paid opportunities in our Swan Program and wait for the free opportunities in the spring.
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OPO Waterfront Network
We have had several OPO members who live very near the water offer to act as local guides and helping hands for OPO members that are passing through. I have always considered myself open to have any OPO members sail into Huntington Harbor for a visit or a helping hand. This winter I would like to collect a list of members willing to have us publish their names and contact information for other OPO members who may be passing through. Besides myself, I think I have the Miners on the C & D Canal, Capt Neil down near Norfolk, and Charles near Kittyhawk. Who else lives near the waterways (ICW or anywhere along the coast) and would not mind helping out other OPO members as they pass through your area. Simply contact me and I will include a list to members in the spring.
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Toronto & Chicago Boat Show
Last year we spent a lot of time going to boat shows. Since they cancelled the Philadelphia Boat Show this year and we have Avocation in St. Martin, we use this as an excuse to scale back the boat show circuit. This has not kept Rick Butler from using the OPO Boat Show booth north of the border. I will be in Toronto for the first weekend of the Toronto Boat Show, which runs from January 14th until January 22nd. Rick will be there for the entire show. Plan to come to the show and find our booth to say hi. We may try and get together one evening.
Since the booth is in the area we will also be exhibiting at the Chicago Boat Show February 2nd to the 5th. Active members get a free ticket good for any day of the show. Please call or e-mail me that you are planning to attend the show and I will mail you a ticket a few days before the show starts. We should also have one night to get together in Chicago. When requesting a ticket to the show let me know what day you are attending and if you are interested in getting together after the show that night.
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Mother Duck Cruise
In 1987 when I first bought and moved aboard my Tayana 37, I started a one-week cruise around Long Island Sound out to Block Island and back. Boat owners were invited to join our flotilla for the week and have a good time. As late as 2003, we were still organizing the mini-flotilla and had a number of OPO members join with their boats or on someone else's boat. In 2004 it fell apart when I made participation free to OPO members. The need to sign up in advance so I could make reservations for the fleet, evaporated. In 2005 we raced in the Swan Rolex Regatta in the middle of the summer and skipped the cruise. Since the Rolex event is a bi-annual event, this year we are in discussions with a local magazine (Plans are still in the talking stage so we do not want to announce anything yet) to promote a summer flotilla to sail around the area and plan a few parties in different ports. Traditionally we have reserved the last week in July or the first week in August for the flotilla. We will let you know as soon as details are worked out in the next few weeks. We will then see how many OPO members have boats and want to join us and who may want to sail aboard someone else's boats. We can also try and charter two or three boats if we need to. We will keep you posted.
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Credit Cards
Sometime this month we will be set up for taking credit cards for payments of OPO dues and for the Swan Passage Opportunities. This will allow members to collect frequent flyer miles or points that they can use towards getting to and from passage opportunities. We will let you know as soon as we are all set up.
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Charter Opportunities
Jan-Feb 2006 - Over the years we have learned that some OPO members would
like to charter in the islands, but do not know enough other people to put
a charter together. Members also prefer to charter a nice boat like a Swan
48 rather than your average charter fleet boat. We are also not restricted to
day sailing and certain islands so we can add a couple of overnight passages
to the week long vacation experience, something you can not do if you charter
with one of the many charter companies. After all, we call ourselves "Offshore
Passage Opportunities", not eye-ball navigation opportunities. We have picked
two dates early this winter. The first from Jan 22nd to the 29th is already full.
We have two people already interested in the 2nd week we have open. If you would
like to join Avocation for a one week trip from St. Martin overnight to the BVI
for the week and then sail overnight back the following week then please let me
know and we will put this 2nd week of charter together for you. It is a nice
combination of offshore sailing and a few days in the BVIs.
(FULL) 1) Sunday Jan 22nd to Sunday 29th - One week cruise. Fly round trip to St. Martin, but sail over to BVI for the week. Hank is the skipper. One cabin left for two people $2500 or $1400 each bunk.
2) Sunday Jan 29th (depart St. Martin 30th) to Monday February 6th - Same trip the following week. Hank will see you and the boat off with another skipper on Sunday Jan 29th. Fly into and out of St. Martin. One week to BVI and back. Three bunks are taken, but we have another cabin for two and a single berth left open. $1400 per person or $2500 for the cabin.
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Winter Program
The cornerstone of our winter program are the three winter regattas we are competing in this winter.
Feb/March 2006 Heineken Regatta - Monday 27th February to Monday March 6th - Three days practice and three days racing. The 26th Annual Heineken Regatta starts the Caribbean Racing Circuit with over 150 boats participating. Many of them are from the charter boat fleets and race non-spinnaker divisions. We will be racing in the big boat spinnaker division with the big privately owned boats on a different starting line and racecourse. The races are Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the big Beach Party and Awards Ceremony on Sunday Night. Crew arrive on Monday and help finish with lat minute preparations for practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Accommodations are in (2) three bedroom apartments (Total 6 rooms) that we have rented for the week. Both are located very close to the Simpson Bay Marina where the boat will be docked for the regatta. We also have a van rented for the week to move us around to the parties. The van is also included in the price for the week along with the accommodations.
March/April 2006 BVI Regatta - Tortola - (Fly into St. Martin on March 25th and sail over to Tortola on the 26th with us or fly into Tortola on the 27th of March. Fly home April 3rd from Tortola or April 5th from St. Martin) The BVI Sailing Festival and Regatta are back to back and cover the spectrum from fun sailing to serious racing. To begin with some crew will have the option of flying to St. Martin on Sunday March 26th to sail over to the BVI's with us. The rest of the crew will fly into Tortola March 27th for the first party opening the BVI Spring Festival. As the web site states, the first three days are racing over to the Bitter End Resort for small boat racing and parties with a race to and from the resort. Upon return to Nanny Cay (where the boat will be docked) the serious racing starts with three days of around the buoy racing. This is a mixture of fun and serious racing. Some crew will depart from Tortola for home and a couple or three crew may sail back to St. Martin. We will be chartering a big sailboat for accommodations besides the crew staying on Avocation the Swan 48. The chartered sailboat will be our support boat for the week and a place to keep our supplies and extra gear while we are racing the 2nd half of the week. The sailboat is included in your fee for the regatta.
April/May 2006 Antigua Sailing Week - Fly into St Martin Friday 28 April (or fly into Antigua Saturday April 29th to Saturday May 6th) or sail back to St. Martin and depart later. Five days of racing. Antigua Sailing week wraps up the Caribbean Circuit for the season and is considered the Granddaddy of them all. We raced last year in the non-spinnaker division since we had just sailed down from the states the week before. This year we are moving up to the full on spinnaker racing division like the other regattas. Antigua Sailing Week is five days of racing starting on Monday. Again some crew will have the choice of sailing from St. Martin with us (18 hours) and then back after the regatta while most will be flying into and out of Antigua. We already have dock space in English Harbor and we will be chartering a 45-foot catamaran for our support vessel. The first two days of racing have finish lines in Dickinson Bay and Jolly Harbor, so we need to have a floating support boat to stay aboard rather than places ashore. Hence the 45-foot catamaran as opposed to staying in rooms ashore. The boat is once again included in the fee for the week. Join us for this last and granddaddy of them all.
The price for all three Regattas is the same. $2100 per person. The price does include accommodations ashore and a van in St. Martin for the Heineken Regatta. For the BVI and Antigua Regatta we will have a support boat to stay aboard. You do not need to make any hotel or car rental reservations. OPORT Sailing Team members get a $500 discount. As of January 1st we are taking $500 deposits to secure a berth with the full amount due 30 days before the race. I will be mailing invoices to participants this week. We are getting set up for credit cards this month so if you wish to pay with a credit card we will let you know as soon as we get everything set up.
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May 2006 Scuba Dive Trip
OPO Member, Swan Skipper and Dive Instructor, Tim Tulloch has offered to put a dive package/sail week together if we can find the right boat and crew for him. We have found a boat, the 45-foot ex-Moorings Catamaran (also owned by an OPO member), that we are using for our support boat for Antigua Race week. That means we can offer Tim and the boat for a week for a dive week/sailing week. Crew would meet Tim in Antigua May 6th and depart from St. Martin the following Saturday May 13th. Tim can certify you for diving. If you sign up Tim will need to be in touch with you to get pre-course material to you. You will sail and dive with Tim as captain and dive instructor. Tim estimates it will cost about $350 in tank rentals and training materials for the open water Padi course. The cost for the boat is $1000 per person for the week. All other boat expenses will be divided by the number of crew berths (Hopefully divided by 6). We do have two people already interested in sending in a deposit and as soon as we get two more we will work on putting the final details together and collecting money. Wait until we verify that we have enough people before sending in a deposit. We should know in a couple of weeks. If you are interested in this unique dive and sail opportunity please let me know. Tim is a very nice guy who has been an OPO member for a long time and has worked his way up to delivering Swans for us and boats trans-Atlantic on his own. We will put you in touch with Tim directly after you sign up to get all the dive instruction material to you beforehand. Tim's PADI instructor number is 192633. The courses offered are from Open Water to Dive Master. Tim will conduct the exams on the boat.
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May 2006 Trip North
Our annual passage from St. Martin to Newport with a stop in Bermuda departs St. Martin May 14th. Crew would arrive the day before May 13th and the passage will take two weeks until Saturday May 27th. We have been making this passage annually since 2000. This is a very good first offshore passage since we start in warmer waters and work north to the more challenging 2nd leg from Bermuda to Newport. We will have two or more Swans making the trip. In addition, his year, for the first time, we are also offering to crew a 45' catamaran for the growing OPO segment that wants to experience sailing offshore on a catamaran. The cost to sail on a Swan is $2665 per person and to sail the catamaran $2465. The price includes everything except your airfare and meals ashore. All onboard food, fuel, linen, taxes, captain and boat are included.
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June 2006 Bermuda Return
This June 24th we will be sailing back from Bermuda aboard Avocation after the Bermuda Race. This is a great time to make a 1st Offshore Passage or add 700 offshore miles to your resume. We will sail to Huntington NY and the trip will take about 5 days. The trip is only $1000 per person, which includes all provisioning, fuel, linens and captain. I will most likely be making the passage as captain. Sign up early since this will fill up fast.
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