“Home for the holidays” brings to mind images of our family and friends gathering together, sharing feasts, giving thanks, and celebrating with our own unique traditions.  As a child, I remember special days at grandma and grandpa’s house with cousins, aunts and uncles.  As a young adult, home for the holidays meant my parents’ house, the hustle and bustle of meal preparations, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and football games on the TV. Now, in my senior years, it means our kids arriving home, bringing their own kids, to honor old traditions and make new ones.

This year, “Home for the holidays,” has a new meaning– staying home and staying safe.  We can find creative ways to stay connected to our loved ones and put a fresh spin on our beloved traditions- that could be sharing a slice of pie over Zoom, making sure the Menorah shines in the window for others to see or putting a stocking stuffed with toys in the mail. As we look to ring in the new year and the prospect of a vaccine glimmers on the horizon, we can choose to focus on staying healthy and keeping everyone safe. While not something we can wrap in paper or put under a tree, these are real and true gifts. Continue reading →

Any seasoned sailor will tell you, that no matter the course plotted or what the expected weather report may be, there comes a time where you may need to adjust the sails to accommodate a shift in the winds.

After attending Fleet Captain Elizabeth’s Zoom Cruise Planning session on October 10th, I’m excited and ready to sign up for ALL of the cruises planned.  Pivoting our Cruise Planning to the fall allows more opportunities for locations and successfully getting reservations for the dates we wish.

Your health safety was an important factor while planning these cruises (besides having fun, of course).  We will abide by whatever the CDC guidelines and recommendations are at the time of each cruise.  Since the future of large gatherings is still unknown for 2021, we will not plan any large potlucks that PTYC typically funded on our past cruises.  Instead, we will call the 2021 cruising year, “Organized Buddy Boating with our PTYC Friends.”  Your Buddy Boating Organizer will make the reservations and plan the activities.  Continue reading →

Here we are, entering our eighth month of a pandemic and social distancing.  We’ve had plenty of advice over these months about staying connected by way of calling friends and family, starting virtual book clubs or recipe clubs, even getting outdoors and walking with friends, masked, at a safe distance, or chatting over the fence with our neighbors at a safe distance.

Mental health experts agree that being socially connected is considered to be a very important fundamental human need.  Social distancing seems to be a bit of an oxymoron though, and how do we do this, as a social club, in a small clubhouse?  I believe our answer, for the time being, is via Zoom.

We have two Zoom events in October.  The first is our 2021 Cruise Planning, Saturday, October 10th, 9 to 11 am, led by Fleet Captain Elizabeth Eisenhardt.  Watch your email for your invitation link to connect.

Also, please join us Tuesday, October 13th, 6:30 pm, for the General Meeting. Your Zoom invitation will be emailed to you that Tuesday morning.

For those of you who have not yet “zoomed,” at 6:30 pm you’ll simply click on the link in that email to be magically transported to the meeting.  You will be greeted and placed in one of four “Cocktail Rooms” for socializing, hosted by our Board members.  Pour yourself a drink and enjoy visiting with your PTYC friends.   At 7 pm, I’ll return everyone to our main Zoom Room, and we’ll follow our normal agenda.  We are excited to present new members, Jeff & Celine Smith, as our speakers to talk about their sailing adventures around the world.

I was pleased with our very first General Membership Meeting via Zoom on September 8th. We had 27 connected via Zoom, mostly couples, so nearly 50 in attendance.  I’d love to see this grow so we can all stay connected during these difficult times of isolation.  Please join us on Zoom and help your fellow PTYC members stay connected!

Commodore Debbie