Well it is that time of the year when everyone is full of optimism and excitement. And a couple are a little panicked at how little time is left to get ready for the season. The USACE Fill Curve requires the Corps to start filling Fern Ridge on February 1 and have it full on April 15 every year. And they begin the drawdown on October 1 (if it is full) with the goal of having it empty in early November. This is all done in a linear manner as measured by elevation, not volume. Which is a little problematic. You can follow the Corp's progress HERE and there is also a link from our website under "Sailing" then "Connections".
The weather station is back up. Thank you Chris Thomas! The link to that is HERE While I am mentioning this, I should add that Chris has maintained our routers and ISP connections on the EYC grounds. He is recommending that we consider upgrading as that is all pretty old at this point and he even has a suggestion of someone who could do it since Chris has been out of that business for a long time.
This is the time to fill out Moorage Requests. Gordon processes those in February and early March. Those can be found in the Members' Area of the website. And we bill April 1st.
The Show Your Colors movement continues! We remind everyone to take their burgee with them when they travel and get a photo in an interesting place. And especially take it when you travel to other clubs and see if you can do an exchange with clubs that we have not already done so.
We are working on Membership Cards and Handbooks and hope to have those out soon. In the meantime, you can always email me or call me at 541-321-0332.
.We have two Race Clinics coming up this year. One is an Intro to Sailboat Racing class that will run from 10-12 on April 9 and be taught by Bill Schafer. It will be low-cost and targeted at those who have not raced recently or at all.
The second is that we will host a North U Tactics class on April 24, all day. It will be much more in-depth and will be taught by Andrew Kerr. We (Andrew) did the Speed class three years ago and he is amazing.
We are doing these as a part of an ongoing effort to bring back racing. Participation last year was about half of what it was before the pandemic and way below where it was twenty years ago. It is a cool sport. It is green, outdoors, fun and makes people into better people. I would love to hear some other ideas on ways to make it grow. The website for more JRC info is HERE and Ted Walkup is taking registrations for the series races now.
Remember that the February and March General Membership Meetings are via Zoom. Fingers crossed for April.
Oh, and one other thing. I am retiring soon and being replaced by Paul Morrow, aka "The Nicest Guy in the World". And he will be a big improvement over the current guy. Please treat him as well as you have treated me. This is the best club I have come across anywhere. Never take that for granted.