January 2011 Official Publication of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club christmas Volume 84 • Number 1 party 2010 Tracy Conn, Stacy Massey and Jeff Merrill photos BYC Christmas Party or How the Remodelers Stole Christmas A Every sailor down in ABYCville liked Christmas a lot… But the remodelers, who lived inland, did not! They ripped up the bathrooms, they ripped up the floors! They brought in porta-potties with hard working doors! But they didn’t stop Christmas from coming, it came! Somehow or other it came just the same! It came without plumbing, it came without sinks! It came without showers to work out the kinks! Yes, the second deck was decorated by Bonnie, Lori Ann, and Sue. Santa ( Jon Robinson) handed out gifts and posed for Tracy Conn’s photots too! Ann Seapy, party chair signed in 150 at least, Lori, Jennifer, Steve and some juniors served up the big feast, And then he…he himself… The Grinch (Bill McDannel) carved the roast beast! After that ABYCers, the tall and the small, Heard the strains of the music it filled up the hall! Chris, John and Jorge had started to play, And everyone sang “Have a Merry Christmas Day!” Jeff Merrill photo Sue McDannel ...continued page 11 inside sav e the date Commodore’s Compass................................. 2-3 Rose Bowl Regatta .............................January 8-9 Manager’s Corner ............................................. 3 Membership Meeting............................ January 21 Vice Verses ....................................................... 4 Club ABYC ........................................... January 28 Rear View .......................................................... 4 Super Bowl Party ................................. February 6 Fleet Captain’s Log ........................................... 5 Membership Meeting.......................... February 18 Pages of History ............................................. 5-6 Midwinter Regatta ......................... February 19-20 Membership Report........................................... 8 Club ABYC ......................................... February 25 Boxing Day Wrap Up ...................................... 10 Manning Regatta ................................... March 5-6 Fleet News ................................................. 11-15 Etchells World Qualifier.................... March 12-13 sou’wester • january 2011 • page 1 commodore’scompass appy New Year! I am going to suggest we call 2011 the “Year of the Elevator” as we are making great strides H on this long anticipated project. We are well into our construction with both the club house and quarterdeck restrooms stripped out - showing only support beams and framing and the concrete floors have been jack hammered out, now the new build is officially underway. Our target is still completion for all construction projects by the end of March, keep your fingers crossed. As a reminder, please check in with Kelly Whitlow before going on a tour so that he can carefully guide you through the construction safely. We made it through December with the construction barely noticeable (as long as you didn’t mind using our five star outhouse suite). My thanks to our wonderful contractor, Richard Borden, for keeping this project so clean and tidy. Tree trimming on Friday December 3rd found a hearty group decorating the club so we were all set for Santa and his helpers at our annual Christmas Party on the 12th. Our Social Advisory Committee, chaired by Sue McDannel did a great job having ABYC festive attired for the holidays. I’d like to thank Pam Merrill, Stacy Massey, Ann Seapy, Lori Van Skyhock, Bill McDannel, Steve and Jennifer Kuritz, the Junior Board, photographer Tracy Conn, Santa Claus, our trio/troubadour musicians – John Massey, Chris Ericksen and Jorge Suarez plus the wonderful ABYC staff for a great party. The wrapped gift book idea was a nice touch. Advance reservations are increasingly important for our meal planning events and I’d like to thank everyone who called the office or used Regatta Network’s convenient online system to let us know you were coming. 2011 finds some traditions being put into play. We have sent out reciprocal privilege invites to other yacht clubs with whom we wish to share reciprocity. I’d like to thank S/C Dave Crockett and Sue Crockett for outlining what ABYC offers in the way of reciprocity, we now have an organized policy to address this important member benefit. We have also joined “The Register of American Yacht Clubs”, a national authority that provides a list of member clubs with whom we can exchange visits. Contact the office before you travel and we can tell you about sailing clubs in your destination that will welcome you. Honorary Membership letters have also been mailed out to many key community leaders and special friends of ABYC. If you see a celebrity walking around please introduce yourself and make them feel welcome. I’d like to thank those members who helped us recruit some familiar faces back into fold. Our “We Want You Back” membership drive was a great excuse to dial up some familiar names and invite them to rejoin. If you missed out, have no fear because membership Director Jim Grubbs and membership chairperson Terri Bishop have two new promotions now underway. With our construction possibly providing a discouraging appearance to potential membership applicants we have decided to offer a “Construction Promotion” discounted regular membership program. Instead of paying $1,000 to join the promotional rate is only $500. The “Construction Promotion” is good for all applications completed and submitted to the membership committee by March, 31, 2011. And to make things even sweeter a brand new contest amongst fleets to see who can bring in the most new faces has also been unveiled by our tireless membership recruiters. The first annual FLEET Membership Challenge – a competition amongst ABYC’s fleets to see who can bring in the most new members is underway with all qualifying fleets getting to attend an appreciation party and the fleet with the most new members winning our new FLEET MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGE TROPHY. See the separate article in this issue outlining the challenge and count on a phone call from your fleet captain to see if you can help come up with some new members to join ABYC. Our goal in 2011 is to go over 400 members – we have to work hard every month if we are going to achieve this! There are ABYC membership application packets at the office, the same forms are available on our website and if you have any questions or want some help getting a new member signed up please contact membership Director Jim Grubbs. We will be issuing our membership cards in February. Vice Commodore Jon Robinson is developing a sticker that will go onto your POS card that identifies you as a 2011 member and also includes your membership seniority number. Our online membership roster is now “live”. Special thanks to Rob Rice, Sue Rice, Ken Reiff, Sandy Toscan, Ed Spotskey and others for helping to outline the important internet features and de-bug the program to make it easy to use. This is a member only, password protected data base that is marvelously simple – please go to the home page, far right Membership tab and follow the prompts, I am certain you will find this a friendly and convenient and so much more useful than the old hardcopy version we offered for years. The roster updates changes instantaneously and sends a note to the office staff so every day there is always new information. If you would like a printed version and don’t have computer access please call the office and they can print one out for you on 8 ½ x 11” paper. My recommendation if you want a printed version, would be to hold off until March to give the web savvy members some time to update their records. Director Ed Spotskey is now working on capturing all of our yearbook information - trophy photos, historical archives, boat lists, bylaws and other sections of the old style yearbook to our website. Go to our website www.abyc.org to see all of the events scheduled for 2011 and check our online calendar for the latest updates on events and activities. If you would like to host a meeting or party at the club please contact Kelly Whitlow – our calendar lists a number of dates available for special events. You are a member of a very special yacht club, make it a point to come down to ABYC to check on your boat, look at our construction and have a bite to eat and something nice to drink in ...continued next page sou’wester • january 2011 • page 2 morecommodore ...from page 2 the company of your fellow members. Our race to October, 2011 finds us rounding the weather mark in first place with a beautiful spinnaker set and we are blasting along on a fast paced reach to the wing mark, stay tuned as we make the jibe next month. I am available by cell phone 949.355.4950 and email [email protected] and always welcome your ideas and suggestions. Thank you! “ABYC is the place to BE.” Jeff Merrill manager’scorner irst, a heartfelt thank you from me and the ABYC staff for the incredibly generous Christmas bonus donations. Never expected, but always appreciated, it means a lot to us knowing our efforts are Fnoticed by our wonderful membership. The staff and I had our Christmas Dinner and gift exchange this past week, and one of the topics of conversation was how blessed each and every one of us are for the opportunity to work at ABYC. It really is the place to be…and work. If you haven’t been to the club recently, well hold on to your “hardhats”...we are knee deep in construction. Our new bathroom remodel is well underway, and elevator construction will be starting soon. Other than a little dust, and the East Yard filled with construction equipment, it’s business as usual at ABYC. If you are planning on coming down to the club during construction, (and we hope you do) please remember to be aware of your surroundings and watch for area’s under construction.