Commodore’s Report
April 2010……………
I am very pleased to be able to represent Fourth of July Yacht
Club as your Commodore this year. It will be a great year filled with many
memories that I am sure I will wonder how I got through it all. In actuality,
the Commodore’s job is the easiest of all the Officer’s jobs. They say all you
have to do is smile, look good and agree with everyone……… Not an easy task. We
all have issues we see that need to be addressed. Please let me know if you
have anything you want done. As Commodore I then get to delegate that job to
someone. As we know this club is a volunteer club and we rely on each other to
get the projects completed. “Ask not what your club can do for you, but what
you can do for your club” is a motto we really live by. We love the Cove and
what it has to offer. We encourage all of you to use the facility and come over
as often as you can. The parties,
Clean-Up Weekend, Mid-Winter Cruise, and all the great weather we have during
the summer are ways for us to meet our members and create long lasting
friendships. The families that are lucky to have grown up with FJYC and are now
full members remember the good times and want that tradition to continue with
their children and their children’s children. What a place to grow up! Makes me
want to be 10 again, but as you know that was many years ago. All I can say is
I want to continue what has been done in the past and make sure we all enjoy
the cove with our families and friends. We started out the year with a great party.
The Installation Dinner was a hit
again this year. Marty and Kathi Rindahl did a
masterful job of putting on this event. It is not easy to do this and still try
and keep the costs down. We continue to receive comments on what we can do to
lower the costs and still do a great party. Unfortunately the costs of food and
labor continue to rise. If anyone has an alternative plan that they think will
help lower these costs please present it to one of the Board of Directors. We
will take all ideas under advisement. Meanwhile back at the Installation
Dinner, all was going well with the new members being introduced, old Board of
Directors and Appointees being acknowledged for their hard work, new Board of
Directors and Appointees being introduced and sworn in, when we came to the
part of the evening where a great travesty occurred. Would you not think that
someone who lost their prop completely, I mean it fell off in the water, should
have won the Bent Prop Award…… I heard that individual
was swimming in his Speedo when it got caught up in the prop of his boat and
caused the prop to fall off. To me that is justification for the award to be
given. I was all ready to tell this story when lo and behold they switched it
and gave me the award for breaking off the top of my mast going under the PCH
bridge in Newport during the holidays. It was not fair and I would like to
complain to someone but nobody will listen. So next year, all of you be
prepared you never know who may end up with the award and the Speedo that was
given to me.
We were awarded great weather for
the Mid-Winter Cruise this year. Tom Barile and his assistant Andrew Davidson did a great job surveying what
needs to be done. Because of all the rain and wind we will have a lot of brush
clearing and weed whacking to do to make the place look good again. Tom has
this well in hand and will look to all of you to help him out. A major thank
you goes to David Fender and his crew who came over on Friday to trim all the trees and
major bushes. Dave has donated his time and his crew’s time to do this the past
few years. Thanks again.
That Saturday evening we had a
wonderful party at the Harbor Reef for Mid-Winter Cruise hosted by Russell and Avalon Hill, along with
their assistants, Charles and Nancy Merrill. Thank you for all your hard work, and the wine was great…..
There were rumors in the Cove that someone had a surprise party on their boat
after the dinner. Those members who made that party were still going strong in
the wee hours of the morning. At last sighting, the boat’s swim step was under
water. I would also like to thank Rod Jones for his donation of the lumber to rebuild our ramp that was
destroyed in the storm. Rod continues to help the club with lumber whenever we need
it. I would like to also thank all the members who brought over supplies,
arranged by Michael Murphy, our
Facilities Chairman. Don’t forget, Clean-Up Weekend and Opening Day. These are
the times we all get back in the swing of the
See you at the Cove.
Steve Powers
Commodore 2010