|
The Bitter Ends kicked off the 2012-2013 sailing season
with a pot luck brunch and organizational meeting at
Judy Karr's home. Judy's home is totally amazing
and she is a great hostess - it's hard to believe that
she just got back from vacation yesterday and was ready
to have 30 people in her home today. Thanks Judy!
Also, thanks Bitter Ends for the best food ever....not
kidding here....awesome brunch!
After a pleasant half
hour of milling about and chatting, new Captain Mardi
Skoegard opened the meeting at 11:00 AM. The first
order of business was about our volunteer (paid) jobs as
water marshals and helpers at the Rev 3 triathlon on
Sunday, October 28th, 2012. Miriam Stavely, Vice
Captain, is in charge of this venture and has done a
great job of recruiting 20 volunteers for the water
marshal positions (in kayaks) and also 5 people to work
as land volunteers. She would welcome anyone else
who wants to take part in this enterprise....the $ will
go to updating the fleet. If you have a
friend/relative who would like to help please let Miriam
know - they could count for the club and we would get
more $! Miriam's phone number is 488-9201.
There will be practices on the Gulf and she has a
sign-up sheet which says which day is convenient for
various club members. Club members should practice
to get the feel of kayaking in the Gulf and also
practice up-righting their kayaks.
This is an
important responsibility. Venice may be host to "Iron
Man" types of triathlons in the future, so we may
become the "experts" in water marshaling! By the
way...water marshals are not medics....we will be the
"eyes and ears" for the professional life savers.
More details on this later.
Captain Mardi invited all
to come to the FWSA (Florida Women's Sailing
Association) meeting on September 18th, a Tuesday.
The meeting will be held at the Tampa Yacht Club and
there will be a program on fashionable sailing wear and
there will also be excellent food. The cost for
the luncheon is $22. Please get a check payable to
VWSS to Judy Karr, 224 Gulf Drive, Venice, Florida 34285
by Sept. 6th. We are hoping for a good turn-out
for this.
Sylvia Turner thanked everyone for their
donations made to Meals on Wheels to celebrate her
birthday. She spoke of what a good organization it
is and mentioned that they need volunteers.
Ann
Carroll said that we have already been invited to an
interclub sail on Tues. February 12th.
Brenda Bell,
new Learn to Sail coordinator, thanked Judy Carr for
leaving the program so very organized. Brenda
appears to have this massive project under control.
She had many club members volunteer today and will let
us know later in an email who is signed up and when they
should be at the club. Anyone who is out of town,
but will be back in Venice by Monday October 8th, may
want to volunteer also. Brenda's number is
441-7771. Volunteers, please remember to wear your
name tags when around the Learn to Sail members.
Brenda said that there will be 6 members in the class
and that they will be instructed on the IODs.
Thanks Brenda for tackling this enormous project!!
And many thanks to all who are volunteering!!
Judy Karr started a discussion about the condition of
the boats and asked if we should sail in 2 shifts to
accommodate the expected load on the IOD rental boats.
There was much discussion on this with many thinking
this will get in the way of the camaraderie of the club
and also be hard to manage. There is also a group
who believe the prams are so old and decrepit that it
may be time to put club money towards new (or used)
IODs. Some members said they would work on the
rental prams and even volunteered to bring in their
power tools to get the job done. Captain Mardi
said it looks like a matter of how many are sailing and
how many boats are available (right now there are 5 IOD
rentals available). We will be thinking about
this, but nothing was decided today.
We talked
about Bettine DeLea having exploratory arthroscopy on
her knee today and we are hoping for the best possible
outcome for her.
Captain Mardi reminded club
members that next Wednesday, Sept. 5th is the pram shed
clean-up day. We will also be checking on the
condition of the boats. Don't forget to bring your
cleaning supplies (brooms, vacs, gloves, etc.)
Captain Mardi adjourned the meeting at 12:25 PM as
members were ravenous!
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Holmes, MSD, Secretary
|
