As I start this month’s Commodore's Column I am grabbing a few minutes to start writing while I wait for my casserole to cook before I head off to the Santana 20 fleet meeting and awards ceremony. I mention this because I am reminded how important the fleets are to the club. Whether it's the Santana 20, WaveLength, Thistle, Lido, or Trailer fleet, being a member of a fleet brings people into the club and makes them feel welcome.
If the length of my February board meeting agenda is any indication of the year to come, EYC is going to have a great year. In addition to the run-of-the-mill board topics, most of the standing and a few ad hoc committees are in full swing planning big things for the 2017 boating season.
I had the opportunity this year to attend (along with about 20 other members) Mark and Sheena Schroeder’s first Membership meeting of the year. Mark and Sheena did a fantastic job organizing a room full of members, all with great ideas on everything from marketing to social activities for the year. Stay tuned—Mark and Sheena walked away from the meeting with quite a list of ideas. We owe the other members who attended that meeting a big shout out. They are going the extra mile for our club, giving time above and beyond their required work party hours.
Speaking of work parties, don’t forget we have a work party coming up on Saturday, February 25th (the same day as the potluck and general meeting). This is an important time to get things done at the club. The sailing season is just around the corner and docks need attention, facilities need repair, and all that small stuff that Marji Clune comes up with to make the club into a place we all can have pride of membership in and want to bring our friends out to enjoy.
John Mahoney, our current Port Commission co-chair, is adding to his list of projects that need to get done, which includes everything from painting the club house to re–reroofing the ABC lockers. I call it re-reroofing because when the Board mentioned to John (just about his first day on the job) that it was leaking and needed a new roof he mumbled something about last time he was Port Commissioner he put a roof on it. Paul Stephens will be leading a dock work party also on February 25th. He plans to have the necessary materials on hand to rebuild the D dock whalers (those big wooden timbers that hold the docks sections together).
If you have been out to the club recently you probably noticed that the water level is up and some of the docks are floating. February is the month the Army Corps of Engineers closes the dam. It’s exciting to think the sailing season will be here before we know it—the first Thursday night race is just weeks away on April 6th.
You may have noticed the transition we going through with the newsletter, website, and social media. Our new Media Manager, Karen Nousen, is adding content to the new website weekly so stop by eugeneyachtclub.org and take a look around. One of the big things coming to our website is online registration for Sail School and credit card processing.
If you missed the January general membership meeting, you missed a lot of great chili. The Board of Trustees went all out and cooked up a large assortment of chili. If you remember from my last month’s column we were also having the first annual chili cook-off contest. Not hard to guess who won. . . Janet Mitchell.