Boating Season is Launched
by Nancy Wood,
June 16, 2011, pages 12-13.....

Charlotte Sailing Center, Point Bay Marina, Royal Savage Yacht Club and LCI Fishing Derby

Flood waters are receding, and boaters are returning to Lake Champlain. It has been an unusual sight to have many empty moorings bobbing in the waves of most bays in early June. But by last weekend the word was out that the fish were biting, and the state access at Converse Bay was packed to overflowing with pickups and trailers Saturday as fishermen headed out to try their luck. Point Bay Marina was up and running with close to 200 boats in the water and the fuel dock open – the only one selling fuel on this side of the lake. The Royal Savage Yacht Club held its annual Launch Party Saturday night at its new quarters: a festive tent next to the A-frame at Point Bay that will now serve as their meeting place.

The Charlotte Sailing Center on McNeil Cove is recovering from the flood and storms that damaged docks and filled the basement with more than three feet of water. Owner Andy O’Brien said, “We’re gearing up and getting ready for the season.” Boats are being launched this week, and hopefully the docks will be repaired and in by next week. He said many of his customers have been patient with the delay, in no hurry to sail in the lake with the water still murky and filled with debris. He is pleased to announce that the center is now certified as a sailing school by the American Sailing Association and will be offering classes this summer. Information about the classes is available on its website at CharlotteSailingCenter.com.

Todd Smith, general manager at Point Bay Marina on Thompson’s Point, said, “We’re off to a good start!” Spring was very challenging with the ice lasting so long, and then the water so high. However, they were able to get their docks in and were just five days late launching boats, despite the fact that the travel lift was three to four feet under water and slower than normal. Smith said he is starting to see summer traffic coming up the lake through the locks that are now open – after a three-week delay. A note of caution: Smith said there is still a lot of debris in the water, and boaters should be careful.

The annual Lake Champlain International (LCI) Father’s Day Fishing Derby is this weekend, and Point Bay will again be a weigh station. The derby officially starts at midnight Friday, and the weigh station will open at 8 a.m. Saturday and will stay open 24 hours a day until Monday at 4 p.m. The marina will be a hubbub of activity with regular boating traffic and the extra excitement of fishermen (men, women and children!) bringing in their prize catches to weigh.

Point Bay sells diesel fuel and 91-octane, ethanol-free gasoline. It is one of the few places in the area where ethanol-free gasoline is available. Even non-boaters are carrying their gas cans out to the end of the dock at Point Bay to buy it because they are worried about the damage that ethanol can do to small engines on lawn mowers, rototillers, etc.

The ship’s store at Point Bay has been remodeled this year and now has an ATM as well as being state authorized to sell fishing licenses.

Point Bay is providing the Royal Savage Yacht Club (RSYC) a new home. David Gray, the commodore of the club, said the building it has occupied by the water is slated to be the base of a proposed restaurant, so a move had been anticipated even before it was inundated by this year’s flood. The second floor of the A-frame, which has bathrooms for boaters on the first floor, has been fitted with counters, sink, freezer and refrigerator. Gray said the space will be the RSYC executive board’s meeting room as well as kitchen for club use. Member events will take place in a tent set up next to the A-frame, where they held the Launch Party cookout last Saturday. The RSYC members enjoy regular coffee hours, and dessert and hors d’oeuvres nights, as well as putting on two big events each year – a chicken barbecue in August and a lobster fest after that.

The RSYC sponsors a “fast sail” every two weeks, with the first this Saturday, June 18. There are two courses, a long one that heads north around Picket Island by Cedar Beach, then south around Diamond Island and back to Point Bay, and a shorter one to Picket and back to Point Bay. Gray said not all members of the club are sailors; about half have power boats, and a few have no boat at all. Members come from all over Vermont, with some from out of state. The club welcomes new members, and Gray invites people to its website at rsyc.org to learn more about the club, which was started in 1980.