The City Island Yacht Club (CIYC) Cruising committee hosted a joint CIYC/Harlem Yacht Club (HYC) social cruise to Rye Playland the weekend of July 23-24, 2022, officially setting off mid-morning on July 23rd with a couple of boats sailing ahead doing “reconnaissance” in the morning and several others leaving in the light southerly winds of the afternoon.
“The winds were light on Saturday, but it was a pleasure being on the water with a destination to sail to and friends to enjoy the sail with,” said Roger Landau, a member of CIYC who also organized the cruise.
Most boats did a combination of sailing and motoring to the mooring fields at Rye where they picked up free moorings and utilized the launch service, courtesy of Charley’s Pier Restaurant & Tiki Bar available to restaurant patrons. There were nine boats in all, six from CIYC, two from HYC, and one from Morris Yacht Club. Some members spent the day at Rye Playland amusement park enjoying the rides with their families while others chose to spend the time beating the heat in the waters off of Playland Beach.
Cruisers spent time at Rye Playland amusement park, shown above, after the X hour cruise from City Island. Photo courtesy of Lee Beckerman
One of the highlights of the weekend cruise was at cocktail hour where cruisers were able to mingle and get to know each other better aboard “Ilene,” a gorgeous Saga 43, owned by HYC member Roger Karlebach. All 23 attendees enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails before sitting for dinner at Charley’s Pier Restaurant & Tiki Bar. Needless to say, after so much fun the entire crew struggled a bit to apply their higher math skills for figuring out how to evenly split the bill.
Participants of the Rye Playland cruise gathered for dinner together at Charley’s Pier Restaurant & Tiki bar and enjoyed the live music through the evening. Photo courtesy of Roger Landau
Cruise participants gathered aboard “Ilene,” a Saga 43 owned by HYC member Roger Karlebach, for a memorable cocktail hour. Photo courtesy of Roger Landau
Several cruising participants took the opportunity of a calm evening on Long Island Sound to practice their night sailing and navigation skills back to City Island that evening and for those who stayed overnight, live music kept the party going until around midnight. Everyone made it back to City Island safely the next morning, tacking through 8-15 kts on the nose, but a very pleasant sail nonetheless.
