To all members:It won’t be long until the club begins its 2014 Season activities, and for some of you, you have stayed busy working on your boats, doing some winter sailing. and maybe like me, looking at boats online and dreaming of warmer sailing destinations.
Here is a brief summary of some club matters that are in process, or have already taken place during the off-season:
1. Our Second-Vice Commodore (in charge of education), Melissa Palmer, and her family are moving to Clayton, NC, very soon. Melissa has been with the club for many years and has been club secretary, sailing teacher, sailor, and friend. She purchased Nancy Valego’s “Blue Chips” Hobie 1 last year after Nancy passed away, and she was elected Second Vice-Commodore at our November banquet. Melissa will stay involved with the club, as she is able, but it was felt by her and the board that due to the importance of the position (HPU teaching and overall member education) we should appoint someone local. We are very pleased that Andy Squint indicated an interest in the position, and this past week Andy was officially appointed by the board (in a unanimous vote) to fill the position of Second Vice-Commodore for 2014. Thank you for stepping forward, Andy!
2. We have also heard from Carl Simmons about his interest in helping with the HPU classes – thanks, Carl! For any other members who want to be involved in the HPU instruction, please let Andy or me know. This is an important activity for the club and requires more than just one or two members to make it successful. We will begin planning for it sometime in the spring.
3. We met with the of High Point Assistant City Manager, the Parks and Recreation Department Director, the Special Facilities Director (over lakes), and the new Marina Supervisor, Lamar Lee, a few weeks ago, to update the club’s working relationship with the City. The meeting went very well, and the City of High Point is VERY supportive of our club, which was very nice to hear considering some past friction and issues we have had in the past at the marina. We have submitted a written “Memorandum of Understanding” to the City with proposed language that outlines our co-sponsorship agreement with the City, and we are awaiting their response.
4. One big change (we think for the better) involves our boat storage at the North Marina. The City has told us we can continue to store our boats there for free, as long as each member storing his boat pays a $75 annual (unlimited) launch pass and signs a waiver of liability. Furthermore, if you have an annual launch pass you will be permitted to call the marina before you sail, and give them your pass number over the phone. This will register you for the day, without having to sail across the lake to pay. This will be a BIG improvement for us. If all this is officially improved I will send out more details, as we did last year about the Boat Storage Guidelines. We expect to continue to have free launches on race days, but if you don’t have an annual pass you will have to pay and register in person at the marina on non-regatta days.
5. The club’s board and officers will be meeting a month earlier than normal (February instead of March) in order to get ourselves organized for the year and to discuss our goals for the season. At this point, unless the board makes a change, we will begin our regattas in April, and we expect to hold them on the third Saturday of the month, as in the past. The board has also set up the Sundays following regattas as “Training Days” for new members, and/or for ourselves. These will be scheduled from May through August.
6. We would like to see 2014 be another year of excellent growth for the club. To make that happen we have to “spread the word” about sailing, and about our club. I hope each of you will be a spokesperson for OHSC. One of my goals continues to be that we will see “20 or more of our member boats” sailing in a single regular season regatta – we are getting close!
Looking forward to seeing you all very soon!
Sincerely,
Paul Walter
2014 Commodore
Oak Hollow Sailing Club