Safety / Education - Abigail Harlan
Thank you to everyone who completed the Safety & Ed survey. If you have not taken the survey and would like to, you may still do so by clicking the link below:
https://form.jotform.com/230415181659153
The first Safety & Ed class will be held on Saturday, March 25th at 10am.
Commodore Rick Graef will be facilitating a one hour seminar on "Preparing Your Boat for the Upcoming Season."
This discussion will include topics such as de-winterizing, spring cleaning, annual maintenance, safety checks, system checks, etc!
Please meet in the Race Shed. No registration is required; simply show up!
Racing - John Kohne
Racers and Non-Races
The frost is very slowly melting from the racing off-season as your long hibernation begins to end, but many of your colleagues have forgone the winter sleeping to put together an exciting racing program for you this summer. By the first race on Wednesday April 19th there will have been 4 Winter Race Meetings and two PRO Group meetings. We had great turnout of 30+ members at the Winter meetings and nearly full attendance at the PRO meetings.
As a result of these meetings, we have made some new decisions regarding the coming race season.
- There will be Race Committee support for all Sunday races in addition to the continuing Wednesday night and regatta support we have had in the past.
- The Blue and White Fleet start will be before the Red/Green start at all series races.
- The Sunday races will start at 1:30 PM instead of the previous 3:00 PM starts.
- There will be a Beginners and Inexperienced Racers training event and regatta this summer.
- Pursuit racing will be given a trial as an alternative racing format to see if it can make racing more inclusive and exciting for participants.
- Racing Program Volunteerism will be more easily accomplished and rewarded.
- A Racecourse Guidebook will be created to better standardize preferred races and their timing.
- We have doubled the number of Primary Racing Officers for this year to improve the racing experience for all and to attract new racers.
- We will be increasing the training for our Primary Racing Officers to create one of the best racing experience for sailors in our Midwest region.
As you can tell our plate is full this year, full of FUN. Don’t miss out on this year’s racing program whether you are an experienced racer or want to try it our for the first time. See you on the water !!
John Kohne
Nancy Goff
Perry Cameron
Dear Sailing Club Members, I am thrilled to welcome all of you to the 2023 season at our sailing club! As the membership chairman, I am excited to see so many familiar faces and to welcome new members who are joining us for the first time this year.
As of this writing, we have a total of 256 active memberships, which is a testament to the vibrant community we have built at our club. Our members come from all walks of life, but we share a common passion for sailing and a love for the water.
After a long winter, we are excited to get back to doing what we love and to reconnect with our sailing community. We have a great season planned with a full schedule of races, regattas, and social events. We are looking forward to seeing you all out on the water and enjoying the camaraderie of our sailing club.
For our new members, we will be hosting two new member orientations on Sat. June 17th and Sat. Aug 5th at 1:00 at the upper shelter. These orientations will help you get acquainted with our club and answer any questions you may have.
As we start this new season, I encourage all members to be welcoming to our new members and to help them feel at home in our sailing community. Our club is built on a foundation of inclusivity and support, and we are all here to learn, grow, and enjoy the sport of sailing.
Thank you for being part of our sailing club, and I wish you all a fantastic 2023 season!
Sincerely, Perry Cameron Membership Chairman
Rick Graef - Commodore
Hi fellow Eagle Creekers,
I am honored to be serving my second term as Commodore for the 2023 season. Our club has been built by the volunteer activities of our membership over the previous fifty-four years. I expect this season to be no different. Your committee chairs, officers, and board have planned an exciting season. I encourage you to reach out to our committee chairs and get involved. If you expressed an interest in volunteering in a specific area, you will be contacted soon. In order to incentivize even more volunteer commitment, we have raised our hourly volunteer work credit to $15/hour, so there is no excuse not to join in, get involved, and make new friends.
This season we have instituted a new system where all watercraft on our property pay a “storage fee” whether stored on land or in a slip (you already paid this in your 2023 dues) . This was adopted in an effort to eliminate the “free” boat storage that led to a derelict boat issue at our club. Along with this change, our Harbormaster will be implementing assigned dry parking storage. This requires the marking of all of the boat parking spots on our grounds. This process will take some time to implement, so if you are a dry parked boat owner, I would ask for your patience as we fine tune what is best for our space. The Harbor master will be needing volunteers to assist with this work so watch for the opportunities (come out and earn some work credits). If you are a wet slip boat owner, this means that your boat needs to be in the water and its trailer moved to the upper trailer field by the end of May.
Several of the future long-term projects on the horizon include dock repair/replacement, re-roofing the upper shelter, ramp repair, seawall repair, automatic gate for club access, and possible additional enclosed space (either partially enclosing upper shelter or building additional enclosed space).
Hope to see you all at our spring work party (get your work credits here) on April 15th at 8 AM.
Sail Fast
Richard Graef
ECSC Commodore 2023