Hi, I’m back as Commodore this year! It was a landslide election as no one dared run against me. Now you are all in my hands, bwahahaha 🙂 Just kidding, of course. I accepted the challenge to steer the club through another year of turbulent COVID waters. A little arm-twisting from Matt Fraser (so I am told) helped, as he pointed out that I could potentially hold the record as serving in the commodore position 2.75 times; the most in club history. It’s not really about the record, I’m happy to help out this wonderful yacht club in more ways than one.
I am wearing many hats this year as Commodore and Cruise Chair, but I know it will be OK as I have the support of a great board, committee members and volunteers. My goal is for everyone to have a fun and safe time cruising, racing, and meeting up (at events real or virtual) throughout 2022. My personal goal is to do my best to attend every cruise and dinner meeting, as well as help on the race committee boat a few times.
It is important in these times of social distancing, being at home, and virtual gatherings to stay connected. Late last year I gathered a group of board members to review our communications within the club. I felt we had way too many ways to communicate to and between members (we identified ten things like Facebook, Slack, Rudderpost, Web site, etc.) After this review the board decided to streamline some items to make it simpler and more efficient for all. We decided to cut back on Facebook and Twitter to just have a basic Facebook page only that links back to the SBYC web site. We are getting a Pro Zoom license for the board to use to run virtual meetings so that we don’t have to rely on members’ private or work accounts. We will continue to use evite to send invitations and reminders for dinner meetings and cruise events. Of course, we will still have the offline SBYC roster with club and member personal contact information. The Rudderpost will continue as always, and I am so glad to have Pauline as editor again this year.
Most of all, I encourage everyone to join the SBYC Slack workspace for messaging at shilsholebayyachtclub.slack.com. We will send out invitations before the first cruise to the email address you provided in the club roster. This is a great way to keep in contact with the board and membership on a daily basis and we have a lot of fun there too. It is free to use and has no ads. There are channels for all cruises and for other fun topics. It is not required to join Slack, as all club information will be provided on the web site, evites, and the Rudderpost, but it really is fun and makes things easier when you have questions.
Date: January 18, 2022.
The presenter will be David Basiji who will discuss lithium battery and power systems for boats. He is a local sailor with a boat at Shilshole who has presented to other groups before on the subject.