Commodores' Words of Wisdom

As I write this letter, I am preparing for the 2013 Antioch High School Commencement Ceremony. I am amazed how quickly this school year has passed by. This will be my 13th graduation for which I am responsible. Each year I am honored to present the graduating class of seniors to our community to receive their high school diplomas. This milestone event is always a very special moment for the parents, family, and friends of the graduates. Congratulations to the graduates of 2013!

As we enter the month of June, we are at the mid-point of the year. This first half of the year has been an honor and pleasure to serve as Commodore of the best yacht club on the river. I have enjoyed all of our Club events this year. The high participation of our members has resulted in outstanding social events with delicious meals, entertainment and dancing. The successful events have generated positive income that will support our historic ferry and our beautiful river front property. I want to thank all the members who have donated their time to plan and run the events. I feel very fortunate to have received so much support and help. We have a strong leadership team of officers, directors, captains, committee leaders and members.

Sportsmen YC is hosting a Father’s Day event on Sunday, June 16th. Pat Sebers and company will be putting on an outstanding BBQ in the patio area. Members are welcome to come out and celebrate Father’s Day with family and friends. Members who plan on attending should contribute a side dish to enhance the savory meat and delicious shell fish that will be served hot off of the grill. I look forward to celebrating this special day with my dad, father-in-law, and twin sons. I hope you are able to come out and honor our fathers.

The first thought that came into my mind for this article was to mention that we are almost halfway through our year. I reconsidered because I’m sure everyone is aware of this fact, so I won’t mention the obvious. I’m sure Commodore Rocha will point this out. If he does not, then Rear Commodore Barton will probably state this in his article. It just doesn’t make sense for all of us to point out something that everyone is aware of!

“Wow, can you believe it? We’re almost half way through the year!”

Ok, after that feeble attempt at humor let’s get down to business.

I was really pleased to see the turnout at the May meeting. We had plenty of voting members there to conduct our Club business and that is very important as we move forward. We are also having an increasing number of associate members and guests in attendance. Our Club is fortunate in that we are attracting new members while other clubs around us are struggling to keep their membership numbers up.

By the time this article is published, we will have had our 4S Try-Outs and Chuck Carroll will have all the winning teams aligned and in place to make sure we maintain possession of “Our” coveted 4S Trophy.

I want to take this opportunity to thank our Commodore and Tammy Rocha for the successful Cinco de Mayo event. I was not able to attend but I understand a good time was had by all.

As I near the midpoint of my year as Rear Commodore, I have been learning a lot about the workings of the Club. One of the things that shocked me is how much everything costs. We are very lucky to have so many skilled workers to keep our labor costs down, but the costs of materials and the hidden costs that seem to accompany every project we undertake are enormous. One of my priorities when joining the board was to see that the Club maintains a healthy bank account. It turns out that this is not as easy as I thought, although we have managed to do a good job so far.

Another thing that soon became apparent is that a small percentage of the members of the Club do the vast majority of the work. There are two people I would like to single out this month: Port Captain Chuck Carroll and Harbor Captain Lonnie Gibson both put in an incredible amount of time making sure things run smoothly at the Club. I can’t imagine what things would be like without their contributions. Make sure you thank them for their tireless work the next time you see them at the Club.

I have been thinking a lot about volleyball in the upcoming 4S. We will probably hold three or four practices. I have struggled in the past with people who show up at 4S and want to play volleyball. I don’t think it is fair to the people who came out to practice and then lose playing time to people who just show up. On the other hand, I know all too well how hard it is to make Club functions for people who work and are involved in other activities. I talked to Chuck and he left it up to me to decide. If you would like to play volleyball at 4S, please talk to me. I will start a list and try to work something out to include as many people as I can.