Meet Ron Curio, Your 2019 Commodore.

It is fortuitous that Ron Curio, a man who has loved and studied wind and weather all his life, would become commodore of the Mendota Yacht Club.

Ron started sailing at Hoofers in 1965 when he came to UW as an undergraduate in meteorology. When he wasn’t at Science Hall learning about weather and atmosphere, he would immerse himself in the weather while sailing at Hoofers. He never felt guilty about the time he spent on Tech Dinghies and Interlakes because he felt like he was working on his major.

Once he got his BA in Meteorology, he moved to Washington DC to work with the National Meteorological Center. His main job there was to plot maps by hand. It didn’t take him long to discover sailing on the Potomac, where he sailed on a Dragon, a boat similar to a Lightning.

In 1970, he moved to Chicago to work for the weather bureau. Not wanting to be far from the water, he took up residence in Chicago’s Lincoln Park near Lake Michigan. Since it was early in his career, he couldn’t afford Chicago’s pricey yacht club market, so he joined the American Youth Hostel. As a member of AYH, he sailed a Rhodes 19 on Lake Michigan. It wasn’t long until he started teaching sailing to other hostel members, and this enabled him to sail for free.

It was during a dryland weather lecture for classes preparing to sail that he met his future wife, Kathryn, a Nursing student at the University of Illinois. They didn’t “connect” immediately, but later when Ron led a Youth Hostel trip to Door County, Ron and Kathryn hit it off. They were married in March, 1974, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and began sailing together on a Rhodes 19. On the day Nixon resigned in August of 1974 they bought their own Rhodes. They loved sailing together. Kathryn was awesome on the spinnaker, and in 1985, just before they moved to Madison, after their second child was born, Ron and Kathryn won the Rhodes 19 fleet championship.

Before moving to Madison, Ron began his search for a new boat. He contacted Mendota Yacht Club to learn which fleets sailed in the club and settled on the M-20. He purchased one before moving to Madison even though he knew nothing about scows. The boat suited him, but as the fleet slowly dwindled, Ron found himself on a boat without a fleet. He learned of an MC fleet in Pewaukee and started commuting to bi-weekly races. He was thrilled when he discovered that an MC fleet was taking root on Lake Mendota and came back to sail with the MYC.

Ron has several goals as Commodore of MYC. First and most important, he wants the club to have a fun and successful sailing year. He is hoping to improve club communications, something that is a challenge in a decentralized club without a central boat house. He feels this can be done by making the MYC website our “virtual” club house. He’s hoping the website can become the “go to” place for members when they want to learn what is happening in the club. Finally, Ron would also like to enhance coordination with Hoofers and the Madison Youth Sailing Foundation. He is hoping to organize at least one event with these clubs this year.

Ron loves racing competition, being on the lake, and losing himself in the moment when the wind and the water and the sailing and racing skills all come together. It would give him great pleasure for you also to experience that joy, and to that he dedicates his time as Commodore and Board member of Mendota Yacht Club.

Pete prefers helping Hoofers and MYC over talking about himself, so the editor put together a little info on him here. Pete has been a member of MYC for several years, but he is an institution over at the Hoofer Sailing Club, where he has been a member for over forty years, maybe even close to fifty. He always wears a smile and always can be found out to sea on Lake Mendota, where he is the definitive instructor on the big keelboats. If you see Soma or Decoy racing or with a whole slew of trainees in a lesson, most likely you’ll see Pete’s smiling face and easy-going style giving pointers to the enthusiastic crew.

Pete is always willing to lend a hand and I guess that’s why he was easy to press into service at the MYC Annual Membership Meeting last fall. As a nominee from the floor, Pete graciously agreed to serve on our board and he has been a helpful participant throughout his first year of service.

Do you want a good friend, a good helper, a good sailor? Say “hi” to Pete Mooney!

I'm told I was sailing before I could walk, sleeping on the bottom of a Sweet 16. As a kid, I learned to sail on the lake by our house on small boats: Minifish, Sunfish, Windsurfers, etc.

I tagged along with my folks as they travelled around the country to regatta and would race if there was an available small boat, sailboard, or crew position. I think I learned a lot about sailing, not only from the racing, but also from listening to the old salts chat over beers by the fire.

Our family purchased a few different keelboats over the years and we would trailer those to regattas around the country. We raced J24s, C22s, U20s and I would usually be in the foredeck position.

I didn't do much sailing in college or graduate school, being mostly landlocked, but when my wife and I were looking for places to move to, a place like Madison was high on the list partly because of the nice large lakes and an active sailing community.

When we moved to Madison I joined Hoofers and sailed an MC Scow for the first time ever in 2014. I wasn't used to a boat with two boards, but found the MC Scow a ton of fun. The waves in Lake Mendota on a breezy day are perfect for taking an MC Scow wave surfing!

I've been to many yacht clubs, and MYC stands out on its own as an amazing club with a great group of folks. When I was asked to be on the board I was happy to serve and I am looking forward to both building the MC fleet as well as learning about how I can help support the MYC.