ANDERSON ISLAND IRREGULARS, INC.
PO Box 674
Mystic, CT 06355
Mystic, CT 06355
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It all started many years ago as small talk. Volunteers speculating on what it would take to sponsor a Dyer and become eligible to enter the Dyer Dhow Derby. As one of the volunteers, I spoke with Dave Rayner, head of the MSM Sailing Program, about what would be expected of a group of people that got together to sponsor a boat.
With a head full of ideas and a vague sense of direction from Dave, I started chatting it up with the other volunteers. So, on the last day of lessons in the Fall of 1991, 21 people gathered in the YTB with the intention of forming our own yacht club. A new sail, that would be used as a spare until a boat could be appropriated, would cost $400 from Custom Marine Canvas in Noank. Based on the need of $400 with 21 people on hand we decided that dues would be $20 per person per year.
Our first meeting would be in the early spring. We would elect a slate of officers, a name, come up with by-laws and vote to purchase our first sail.First we needed a name. Since only 2 people of the 21 present owned a boat, we decided we could not really be a yacht club. We threw about many names but with Masons Island, Fisher's Island and Ram Island Yacht Clubs right in our own neighborhood, we figured the island thing was pretty cool, plus we had our own private island about 50 feet from where we sat. This was thought to be very appropriate since all of us, at one time or other, had run aground on it. So it was settled, we would name ourselves after Anderson Island.
Since we were not a yacht club, we couldn't be Anderson Island Yacht Club so we started thinking again. Somehow, we got through boat club, dingy club, sailing club and regulars. We decided that rather than regulars, we were a bunch of "Irregulars" so we decided on "The Anderson Island Irregulars."
Now that we had a name, we needed a burgee. One of the original members recalled that a former instructor taught the beginner class how a student could locate Anderson Island and thereby avoid it. First, look for sea gulls in the area of Green Can #47. This, in and of itself, is not necessarily a locator for Anderson Island. Look closely at the seagull(s). If you can see the seagull's knees,there is a real good chance that it is standing on Anderson Island. From this,our burgee was decided to be a seagull, standing on a rock and if you look close enough, you can see the seagull's knees. Also, at that first informal meeting, it was decided that I would act as president of the organization until a slate was voted. Peter Tacy and Sheila Zittle agreed to draft a set of by-laws. The following spring, we got together on the third floor of The Captain Daniel Packer Inn and became an official organization. The first order of business was to determine if, per the drafted by-laws, we had a quorum. We did. So we voted first to accept the by-laws. Once the by-laws were in place we voted on the slate.
The sail colors were determined with two major considerations: First, the panels that held tell tales (2,3,4) needed toe light colored so we could see through the sail to the tell tale on the other side. Second, we wanted to carry on the tradition that the Stonington Dingy Club started by not using the colors red or blue. We also felt the need to out-do the pastel colors of SDC. That is how we came up with, top to bottom, purple, pink,green, pink, purple (which is also bottom to top). The first year saw many meetings of the officers and many informal gatherings of " The Irregulars." Our ranks expanded as we recruited new members.
More meetings with Dave Rayner, both formal and informal, brought to realization that there were many small things that Dave needed for the YTB but was having a hard time getting funds appropriated from the museum. He also needed help in the winter with getting the Dyers ready for the spring. So during the second annual meeting, where the slate was re-elected for and 1993-1994 we altered our initial goal while still staying within the by-laws. We became a sort of "Make a Wish" program for both the YTB and The Boathouse.
The program has provided numerous small items for both the Boathouse and YTB as well as the Museum, such as a "Weather Wizard" weather system which transmits the weather signal to other areas of the Seaport and also to the internet via the YTB web page; Infant PFD's for the boathouse, a YTB VCR, sails for the JY-14s; Sail Covers for the Beetle Cats; and a fully outfitted Dyer Dow. And in those years where the Seaport need sit, we’ve also set up winter maintenance schedules complete with post maintenance parties.
To be continued, to bring us to where we are today: FY 2004 and the creation of theAIMS Sailing Program.
-D. Doherty, Member