It is my pleasure to serve as your Commodore for 2019. This is our 50^th anniversary and we are making plans for a great 50^th anniversary celebration.  More on that to come in later months.

Final 2018 Activities

It is now December and the ECSC sailing season officially ended with the “Black Friday Sail” on November 23^rd.  There are still a couple of boats in the water.  Hopefully everyone can get their boats out before they get iced in for the winter. With the closing of Sailboats Inc, we have more boats wanting to winter at the club.  Please be patient and work with Harbormaster (Dennis Robertson) to find a place to store your boat.  If you are taking your boat off site for the winter and haven’t done so yet, please let Dennis know so he knows how many other boats he can dry dock. The Final Bash was held on November 3rd at Rick’s Boatyard Café and was a great success.  We gave out lots of awards and danced through the night.  Thanks to Larry Conrad for fulfilling his final duty as Past Commodore.  Larry now gets a much deserved 3-year break from club management.

Board/Officer Changes

I want to thank Mark Walker for his service as Vice Commodore and Commodore.  Mark is looking forward to taking it easy as the Past Commodore.  We owe Larry and Mark a huge thanks for their work over the past 2 years to improve the club’s facilities.  They paved the way for our “grand projects” this year by taking care of a lot of basic repairs and maintenance.  Please thank them for their service when you see them at the club. As is customary, we elected a new group of Board Members at the Final Bash.  We had 15 nominations for 8 board seats.  I am thrilled that we had so many members wanting to take an active role in the club’s management.  I am especially pleased that we have several new members who have shown an interest in serving on the board.  We need new faces and new ideas.

Our 2019 Club Officers are:

Commodore	Geoff Endris
Vice Commodore	Nan Schulze
Treasurer	Tom Moore
Secretary	Rich Fox
Past Commodore	Mark Walker

 

Our 2019 Board Members are:

Term Expires 11/2019	Term Expires 11/2020	Term Expires 11/2021
Rich Fox	Rick Graef	Kenny Chapman
Chuck Goff	Bill Harrington	Jen Curtis
Bill Grant	Ki Hickok	Geoff Endris
Vickie Greenough	Bob Hickok	Nancy Goff
Les Miller	Sheela Krout	Bob McCoun
Chauncey Olin	Dennis Robertson	Tom Moore
Nan Schulze	Jane Schmidt	Dan Nicholas
Mark Walker	Wayne Myers	Marcus Rogers

 

The Committee Chair appointments for 2019 are:

Committee	Head	Assistant
Grounds	Nan Schulze	Tom Moore, Dennis Robertson
Harbormaster	Dennis Robertson	Ki Hickok
Social	Vickie Greenough	TBD
Membership	Jane Schmidt	Christy Merriman
Safety & Education / Juniors	Wayne Myers	Dan Nicholas
Publicity	Rick Graef
Racing	Bob Hickok	John George

  Keep in mind that the officers and committee chairs all have full time jobs and they volunteer their time to run the club for the benefit of the members.  If you notice something that needs to be addressed, by all means, bring it to someone’s attention.  If you have the time and skills, please also volunteer to address the issue.  If not, don’t be surprised if the request languishes while we try to get a volunteer or contractor to address it.  Our club was built by volunteers and I’d like to rekindle that volunteer spirit.  If we all pitch in, we can keep the club looking great without overtaxing our officers and committee chairs.

Next Board Meeting

Our last board meeting of the year was on December 11^th.  The main topic for the meeting was the 2019 budget.  Not only do we need to fund our ongoing operations, but we also need to continue updating the club’s facilities.  While we have made a lot of basic repairs over the last 2 years and we have a lot more to do.  With this being our 50^th anniversary, I’d like to get the club really spruced up for the “big event.”  There will be lots of work parties and lots of ways for people to get involved in the celebration.

Looking for a Club Handyman/Maintenance Person

In the October board meeting, the board authorized the Grounds Committee to hire an outside contractor (non-member) to work as the club’s handyman/maintenance person.  This will be a part-time position working approximately 20 hours per week on daily maintenance tasks to keep the club in good working order.  This is an ideal part-time job for a retired construction or building maintenance person.  If you know of someone who is interested, have him/her contact us at: Grounds@ecsail.org.

Winter Storage Advice

Those of you who are storing your boat at the club over the winter, be sure to stop by every 2-3 weeks to check on your boat – especially after a heavy snowfall.  Tarps need adjusting over the winter as wind and snow cause things to shift.  If you are out at the club and notice a boat that needs attention, please take note of the member number on the hull or trailer and contact that member. Keep warm.  If you are heading south for the winter, be sure to post pictures on our Facebook page to make the rest of us jealous!   Geoff Endris Commodore

My year as ECSC’s Commodore has come to an end!  At times it seemed it would last forever but, now that it is done, it seemed like time just flew by.  I was very fortunate to have the support of a great Board of Directors, dedicated committees, and wonderful officers this year.  Many thanks to all of you! I believe we accomplished many great projects for our club. The Grounds Committee had another productive year maintaining the grounds and implementing improvement projects.  Those could not have been completed without the great volunteer efforts we receive from our valued members. The Race Committee did a super job putting on a first-class race program at ECSC and representing us at several away regattas.  Once again, Safety and Education did a tremendous job with our juniors’ program.  Thanks to their efforts and the fantastic junior sailors we have, we continue to boast one of the best juniors’ programs in the “ILYA.”  Social Committee put on one superb event after the other! Those events don’t happen without huge volunteer efforts for hosting, planning, and executing each event, not to mention the time cleaning up afterwards!  Membership did a marvelous job as always with organizing our dues process and informing new members all about our beloved ECSC club.  This year the Ship’s Store sailed into the digital era by moving the store “offshore” and online. Our Harbormaster has done a fantastic job with our docks and in cleaning up and organizing the boat parking areas!  The docks require non-stop upkeep (another huge ongoing volunteer effort), and I thank everyone who has participated in helping out! Our beautiful club needs our support by each and every one of us doing our very best to keep our boats clean and the areas around them free of debris and clutter.  Publicity has had their hands full this year, too! Aside from maintaining our website and putting out the monthly newsletter, they have had their hands full battling the hacking attempts that tried to scam our membership! Great job on that! They also did a fantastic job getting notifications out to our members for key messages and updates.  I would like to thank everyone on my amazing team for their hard work and support this year! I am grateful for each and every one of you for all your selfless efforts and valuable time and talent!  It was a pleasure to work with all of you as Commodore this past season, and I hope to see you all at the Final Bash!   P.S.   For those of you that still have your boats in the water, I highly recommend everyone keep an eye on how much water they have at their respective dock so they don’t get left high and dry. The water levels can be monitored at this link: Eagle Creek Water Level  . Thanks Mark Walker Soon-to-be Past Commodore  

    The ECSC 2018 sailing season is winding down and, while we still have great weather, the lake water level is getting low! I highly recommend everyone keep an eye on how much water they have at their respective dock so they don’t get left high and dry. The water levels can be monitored at this link: Eagle Creek Water Level  . A great time was had by all at the Governor’s Cup Regatta and ECSC Lobsterfest. We had a terrific turnout of traveling racers and a full house for the Lobsterfest.  Our last regatta (the Hornback) is coming up this month, and the parking lot will be filling up with trailers and boats afterward. Please remember to park your trailers and boats such that we can get as many on the grounds as possible! We have been pressed for space to get them all in during the last several years. Happy sailing to all this fall, and enjoy the gorgeous weather!   Mark Walker Commodore  

     

July was another busy month at the club!  Even with all of the social and racing events happening, our wonderful Grounds Committee still managed to have the ECSC drive patched and seal coated. The Grounds crew also cut back the encroaching foliage along our drive in and at the entrance at 46^th Street.  Hopefully these improvements will make it much easier to see traffic on 46^th Street when exiting the club and give more room for cars passing each other on the club driveway. There is also an ongoing project at the lower shelter to build steps up to the shelter floor and create flower beds at the front. We hope to have another productive month working on the club grounds, and we sincerely appreciate all of our volunteers who are helping us in our endeavor to maintain and improve the club for the benefit of all our valued members!   Mark Walker ECSC Commodore 2018