AMERICAN YACHT CLUB February – March 2016
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AMERICAN YACHT CLUB February – March 2016 40° 56.448N – 73° 41.938W From the Commodore After a very difficult trip back from Key West Race ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Week via Boston to Rye on Sunday afternoon, the ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ stark reality of going from warm air and palm trees to two feet of snow painfully set in. However upon my return we went down to the FLAG OFFICERS Club to survey how it survived the storm, (which it did very well) and not only saw the smiling faces of COMMODORE frost-biters hanging in the JAYC house (their Jan- Peter Duncan uary headquarters) after a perfect day of sailing, VICE COMMODORE but a stunning winter sunset over Milton harbor. If Andy Giglia you have never experienced this, you really should. Though closed since New Year’s Day, the Club has REAR COMMODORE remained a very busy place with a number of proj- Scott Florio ects going on. SECRETARY Our dredge and rack removal project is now essentially done, the benefits of David Schwartz-Leeper which we will enjoy for years to come. Thanks again to Vice Commodore Gi- TREASURER glia for all his hard work. Jono Peters The planned website improvements, which include significant upgrades to our overall accounting platform, is well underway, and it is our hope and goal to be FLEET CAPTAIN in a position to roll it out in the early spring. Robert Alexander This upgrade will improve our communications with the membership signifi- cantly and in addition, we have brought on a full time Communications Direc- tor, Donovan McSorley. TRUSTEES Planning is being completed on both the tennis house replacement and bath James X. Callahan house upgrades, as we look to commence those projects in the not too distant future as well. Samuel W. Croll In addition to all of these projects, we have all the normal maintenance to the Matthew B. Fahey interior of the Club going on, including some significant clean up of our kitch- en, as well as the moving of all of our archives off site, so they can be reviewed Drew D. Fung properly in a safe location. Alexandra M. Hahn 2015 was a very good year for the Club, due to the efforts of my fellow flags, board members and all of our committees, and they are already working very John C. R. Hele hard on 2016. This by no means is a new phenomenon at American, and is why we are one of the top yacht clubs in the world. Duncan P. Hennes Since New Year’s Day, American has been awarded both the International James D’Alton Murphy Women’s Keel Boat Championship for 2016 and the J-70 North Americans for 2017. We continue to be on the forefront of our sport and the tremendous good Siobhan Reilly will that was generated from our holding the Olympic sailing event this past Paula Schaefer Fall is still being spoken about by the team members, as they train in Miami. Rear Commodore Florio, Wendi and team did a great job. Thomas W. Tobin As reported to you a short while ago, our search for a replacement chef is un- derway, and to date we are very pleased with the candidates who have applied. We hope to bring the process to a head shortly. Continues on page 19 2 From the General Manager CLUB STAFF Happy New Year and we look forward to wel- coming everyone back to the Club over the GENERAL MANAGER John Meagher, CCM, PC III next few weeks. As most of you know, we bid farewell to Chef Mo this past January, and we ASSISTANT MANAGER are conducting a search for his replacement. Gary Lau We have been busy interviewing very qualified CONTROLLER candidates and hope to make an announce- Steve Rucci ment about the transition in the near future. In DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL the meantime, we wish Chef Mo all the best in EVENTS his future endeavors. Danielle Colavito Traditionally, the month of January is devoted BAR SUPERVISOR to critical maintenance projects. We turned our attention to the main Ramiro “Chicken” Hernandez Clubhouse, gave the kitchen a facelift and upgraded some of our equip- GROUNDS ment—all terrific lures for a top notch executive chef. Our new china Francisco Hernandez has arrived and we hope that members will be pleased with the new HARBOR MASTER look while dining. Behind the scenes, we have spent time archiving our Bud Puterbaugh collections of historic memorabilia and artwork in our effort to protect SAILING DIRECTOR and preserve the Club’s history. You may read about this work and the Kevin Broome highlights of the collection in this newsletter. DINING ROOM SUPERVISOR While the Clubhouse may have been closed, the entertainment commit- Juan Cisneros tee has not been idle! Our Robert Burns dinner on February 5th looks to be a sellout and we look forward to our Oyster evening on March TENNIS PROFESSIONAL Tiago Espirito Santo 3rd when Rowan Jacobson, a James Beard award winner, will host an interactive local oyster tasting and lecture. JR. JAYC DIRECTOR Ken Donnelly While it’s hard to anticipate summer evenings on the point, we are busy prepping for the return to the outdoors. We will be upgrading lawn and pool furniture—just another way to entice our members down to the Club for drinks and dinner. As we await warmer and longer days with great anticipation, I extend a hearty welcome to all to come down, play paddle tennis, grab lunch or dinner and relax in the east bar. We are open for business. See you soon, John 3 Highlights of the 132nd Annual Meeting The Club’s officers hosted the 132nd Annual Meeting on unanimously elected by the membership. th Friday, December 9 , in front of a packed room of mem- Commodore Duncan and Vice Commodore Giglia then bers. At 1900 hours, Commodore Peter Duncan opened discussed the ongoing capital improvements underway - the meeting with a brief welcome to all attendees before mainly the harbor dredging and rock removal. Unknown handing the microphone over to Secretary Schwartz- to many members, an enormous amount of work has been Leeper. The Secretary noted a quorum was present, and performed during the past three years to get us to the point provided a brief update on the membership status. Overall where we can start dredging. The actual dredging opera- membership numbers were slightly higher from the previ- tion was only expected to take about a month, and the rock ous year, though Active and Seasonal members decreased removal just a few weeks. The real work of the past three by seven members. years has been navigating the bureaucratic maze of regula- Treasurer Peters made more than a few people chuckle by tions, fees, permits, laws, and processes needed to obtain recalling the advice he received when he took the mantle official permission to remove silted-in areas. Much of the of the Club’s treasury. When presenting the financials at effort was due to the fact that the Club did not have ad- the annual meeting, he was told, be sure to mumble a lot. equate records of previous dredging activities, as it was not Thankfully, he ignored that advice and gave a clear pic- required when dredging was last performed. Vice Commo- ture of the financial health of the club. 2015 had a very dore Giglia assured the members that we are now in much strong performance, helped by consistently great weather better shape for any future dredging needs going forward. and special events. Restaurant and bar sales were up from Club Secretary David Schwartz-Leeper then put forth a previous years, thanks primarily to strong management. large number of proposed changes to the Constitution The increase in operating profits from the previous year and bylaws; the majority of the proposed changes have are particularly impressive when considering the slightly very little impact on the day-to-day operations. They were smaller membership numbers of Active and Seasonal mem- proposed based on advice from outside counsel to bring the bers. With no debt, ATC is in a very sound position. Constitution and Bylaws up to the standards of New York Peters also touched on ongoing efforts to improve the State’s Not for Profit laws and regulations. books and records. More accurate records paves the way Once these changes were approved by the membership, the for greater efficiencies, which help increase operating prof- Commodore then presented the Captain David Poutney its. A new “Point of Sale” accounting system will be in- Award for Employee of the Year to Lourdes Hernandez, troduced in the upcoming year, which will result in better noting her constant smile and cheery disposition is always records and greatly reduce the billing efforts of the Finance ready to greet members as they enter the Club. The meet- Department. Higher profits frees up capital that is required ing was adjourned and the members then retired for a won- for keeping the Club running throughout the year. derful dinner. The Treasurer also spoke of the new six year capital plan Between courses and after the meal, the Commodore recently developed by the Finance Committee – a long- thanked outgoing Trustees Carolyn H. L. Russell, Thomas range plan to improve both the club’s infrastructure and its F. Delany, and Sandison E. Weil for all their work on the financial health. This plan includes the much needed and Board for the past three years, noting that most members recently completed dredging project and rock removal in don’t realize how much time and effort the trustees put into the dry-sail launch area.