Our members brought lunches, foul weather layers and binoculars to search the horizon. We were happy to see about 10 or more seals, showing themselves to us, and curving back into the deep. It was wonderful to learn that the seals spend the winter with us off Long Island’s south shore. There are harbor seals, gray seals, and other marine mammals ‘hibernating’ here in Hempstead Bay. There are also multiple kinds of hard shell turtles in these waters, although we did not see them.

When we were out in the bay near Jones Beach our guides alerted us by pointing to seals that we observed, and not to scare them away by shouting, “Look!” So we became more subdued, but remained excited to see “bowling balls” emerging from the water, looking our way.

After our seaworthy safari, all were invited back to Lynbrook to Mary Donohue’s house for tastings: Italian seafood salad, smoked salmon, salad and cheeses by Mary Ann, scallop and shrimp corn chowder with Irish soda bread, quarters of shrimp, fish and crab cakes, chicken salad and salmon squares. Guests brought a variety of desserts. The little house was packed like a boat, and some people sat out in the yard, where they could view the burgeoning camellia bush. There was much hubbub and conviviality as the wine flowed plentifully. ~Mary V. Donohue and Photos by Sally Small Krimphove and Mary

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz.  I wonder where the flowers is?  Possibly they are under the white shrink-wrap that we are taking off of our boats due to this beautiful, early spring weather.  Last weekend the sailing club held it’s first, annual (?) seal watch off of Freeport, LI and it was a hug success!  We saw many of the little critters and wanted to adopt them.  Many thanks go to Mary Donohue for hosting the dinner party afterwards!  Food was delicious and plentiful.

Onward to the next events.  I have attached a flyer listing the upcoming events for the sailing club.  The first one will be on Thursday April 19 at our new meeting location:  Da Rosina Restaurant, located at 342 West 46th St. (between 8th and 9th Avenues).  The Nature Conservancy will be presenting a seminar on shellfish restoration going on in our area.  Please do not miss this important event.  Dinner starts at 6 PM (order off of the menu) and the presentation will begin at around 7 PM.  Hope to see you there.

Sailing season is right around the corner.

Sally

Thursday, April 19 – 6:00 PM dinner; 7:00 PM presentation. The speaker will be Chris Clapp from the Nature Conservancy who will do a presentation on shellfish and seagrass restoration around Long Island. The Nature Conservancy did a wonderful presentation in January on wetland restoration and they wanted to do another presentation about their important work with shellfish. Location is at Da Rosina Restaurant. Address: 342 West 46th St. Tele: 212-977-7373. It is conveniently located between 8th and 9th avenues and is near the E and C subway lines. Street parking on the side streets may be available after 6 PM and after 7 PM on the Avenues. Be patient! From the website www.nature.org:

“In the 1970s more than half of the hard clams eaten in the entire United States came from the Great South Bay. When clams were abundant, they also filtered 40% of the water in the Great South Bay — every single day.  But overharvesting caused a great decline in shellfish populations, and today there are only enough hard clams to filter about 1% of this vast body of water daily. Without shellfish, water quality declines – and creatures that depend on clams, scallops, and oysters as a food source (including humans!) also suffer. In 2004, The Nature Conservancy acquired 13,400 acres of underwater land in Great South Bay. This land, known as bottomlands, has provided us with an opportunity to restore the clam populations so important to the ecosystem of Great South Bay.”

Saturday, May 5 – Going Into Commission Dinner. 6:30 Cocktails and Appetizers; 7:30 Dinner. Location: Harlem Yacht Club, 417 Hunter Avenue, City Island, NY 10464. Tele: 718-885-3078. Cost for the buffet dinner will remain at last year’s price: $50. A flyer with further details will be forthcoming.

Wednesday, May 23 – OpSail 2012 Parade of ships – Lower Manhattan and Hudson River. Details to follow.

May 26-28 – Memorial Day Rendezvous at Huntington Yacht Club. Sail to Huntington on Saturday; on Sunday there will be a Corinthian pickup at 11:00 AM for a daysail and a dinner at Huntington YC afterward. Monday sail home. Skippers, contact Sally Small if you need a mooring: pegasusnysc@yahoo.com. Corinthians, contact Scott Stevenson if you are looking for a berth: dulcenea9@hotmail.com

June 9 & 10 – Corinthian daysails at the Skipper’s harbors.

Thursday, June 21 – Social event at 79th St. Boat Basin. 6 PM dinner.

April 21 – Thursday: Nicole Maher, The Nature Conservancy
Our Advisor, Sally Small, has used her “From the Advisor” column (p. 2) to give us an overview of this organization’s most noteworthy and timely mission. Check it out. We are so pleased that we can help them spread the word.
Dinner at 6:00 p.m., social at 7:30 p.m.. The Parlour Restaurant, 250 West 86th Street just off of Broadway.

May 15th – Sunday: Going into Commission Dinner
Stuyvesant Yacht Club: cocktails, 6 p.m. dinner, 7 p.m.
More information to follow.

Oyster Bay Oyster Festival – October 16th and 17th – Sagamore Yacht Club
For those intersested, we are considering an “off the schedule” overnight to the Oyster Festival in Oyster Bay.  Laurette and I have done this before and had a
great time.  Anyone who has attended this event before may recall that going by boat is the only feasible way since the town is literally gridlocked during
this particular weekend. Again, anyone interested should contact me ASAP.

Anyone planning to attend any of these events should contact Bill Shrage   at 201-216-2219 (cell).