Port Washington Yacht Club (PWYC) Charity Cup Regatta took place last September, and while its major task was to raise funds for Avon39: The Walk to End Breast Cancer, there was also a regatta that took place on Sunday following a very active weekend of activities.
Sunday’s weather was not for the faint of heart. Threatening rain and high winds, with rollers screaming out of the east down Long Island Sound, made for some very exciting racing. With 19 boats battling the wind and currents, the overall aim was just to get back to land before the heavens opened up. Well, just two boats (the biggest in the fleet) managed to get home before the deluge hit. Many of the boats were just crossing the finish line inside the bay when Mother Nature, with her twisted sense of humor, sent the proverbial “cats and dogs” down on the intrepid sailors. A tent for the award ceremony and dinner awaited the soggy crews as they gathered to share their stories of racing on the high seas. 
After division winners received their trophies, the overall winner was announced. Joel Ziev, a longtime member of North Shore YC, raced his Pearson 30, Sundance, to victory. Joel’s son, Jeffrey, and his lady friend, Missy Kayko, plus Greg Rosengarten, a young, local sailor living in Bayview Colony, rounded out the team. For their efforts, Joel won an oil painting by Lawrence Chrapliwy, artist-in-residence, Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society.
A little bit about Joel: For more than 25 years, Dr. Joel Ziev (“Joel” to us who know him) has served as an effective advocate for equal access for people with disabilities. He has provided disability access and consulting services for towns, villages, organizations and facilities in the New York, New Jersey metropolitan area, as well as other parts of the country. He directs Partners for Access, LLC and serves as the lead consultant. Their team is uniquely qualified to assist in the development of a self-evaluation survey of facilities and services and recommend effective, cost beneficial modifications to programs and facilities that will enable people with disabilities to participate in all the activities and services offered.
Dr. Ziev has developed many innovative techniques for meeting the access needs of people who are physically disabled. He developed, with HUD support, several fully accessible residential and social service program facilities in New York City. His accessibility design work has been featured in the press, professional journals and on television.
During Joel’s leisure time, in addition to racing his boat for 35 years with the Thirsty Thursday group, he is a member of the Nautical Advisory Council (NAC) of the Port Washington Public Library and is a member of the Port Washington Community Chest. His involvement with NAC centers mainly on environmental issues and he brings his decades-long knowledge of the bay and LI Sound to the NAC boat trips each summer. He is currently working on specific areas around the bay to highlight for the 2016 NAC boat tours. Joel recently was co-presenter at the first in a series of multimedia presentations about Long Island Sound, named appropriately, The Long Island Sound. This first presentation was on environmental issues and he, along with Amy Mandelbau, Long Island Sound Outreach coordinator at NY Sea Grant, discussed the latest conservation efforts to protect and preserve the health of LIS ecosystem.
Joel is the mastermind of the Community Chest Annual Kayak Run, which draws many Port Washington residents and people from outside our area to the Town Dock for a great day of kayaking. Instead of a competition which awards the first kayak over the finish line, the racecourse consists of “check-in” points, which each kayaker passes through. An individual kayaker can decide how many “check- in” stations he or she would like to do. The more “check-ins” passed through, the higher the possibility of winning the big prize. At the end of the day, kayakers put their collection of “check-in” tickets into a jar and the winner is picked from that. Past years have proven how much fun this event is, as moms and dads, kids, teens—the whole spectrum of our community’s population—return year after year. This year the Kayak Run is scheduled for Saturday, July 23, with a 10 a.m. start. Rain date is on Sunday, July 24. For more information, call or email the Community Chest at 516-767-2121 or www.portchest.org.
Larry Chrapliwy’s painting is a beautiful 12″ by 16″ framed oil on canvas of Sundance on the starting line at the Charity Cup regatta.
For information about Chrapliwy, go to larry@cowneckpainters.com, or his blog: www.sirlawrencestudio.blogspot.com, 516-423-3159. Congratulations to Joel and his crew.
