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Since this issue marks the end of 2013 I wanted to acknowledge the wonderful work contributions of our members and staff.  This long standing tradition at our Club continues to help make us the friendliest Club to be a member of and for visitors to enjoy.  Although, two years ago we moved to "Work or Pay" the intent has always been to encourage everyone to commit some volunteer time to make a difference in the process of maintaining and growing our Club.  To that end, I want to thank Michelle Wolfson for taking on the "Job Jar" and helping many of us less tech savvy or on-line members learn how to record our hours.  I also want to thank our Work Party organizers especially Sue Hamilton.  ABYC is a bit like Santa's workshop.  We have 18 Committees (i.e. Racing, Cruising, Dinghy, Dry Sail, Jr. Sailing, Membership, Communications, Safety, Environment etc.).  Each Committee has a Chair and often Team leaders too.  There are too many to mention names here but most people commit more than the minimum time to help the club operate.  These positions have up to a four year service time limit so we are constantly looking for individuals who want to take on a little additional responsibility.  All members are eligible to serve on committees and this work provides you with opportunities to learn and practice your leadership.  I know from my own experience that many skills are learned through practical volunteer experience and then transferred to the workplace.  I want to encourage all members to think about serving as Team Leader or Committee Chair at some point in your life as a member of ABYC.  Again, to those who make this commitment thank you very much!

 

Rick Humphrey and I hosted the Commodore's Council at ABYC on Monday December 6^th.  Our Staff had to keep adjusting the set-up because the number of Commodores and Sail Ontario guests kept growing.  Eventually the room was set for over 40 people representing 30 Clubs and Sail Ontario. The dinner and meeting ran until almost 10PM so our staff was put through their paces.  I want to thank Rennie, Paul, Albert, Cheryl, and Mike for helping us leave a lasting impression of what being a Friendly Club with a commitment to serve looks like.

 

As you know we have two wonderful people; Lidia and Roxanne who work behind the scene day in and day out to process communications, payments, orders, and to work with suppliers and genuinely strive to make the club operate smoothly.  Many members have commented to me that they are the reason why the Committees and the Board succeed.  I agree.  They are Right!

 

So to all, I say thank you for working to make our Club the place to be all year!

 

 - J A N U A R Y -

 - F E B R U A R Y -

Many of our members were busy throughout the month of February working on various maintenance projects such as rebuilding work rafts and replacing piles on the seawall.  The pile driver was brought back to life and Stephen Trevitt and his crew were quite a sight amid the smoke and noise as pile after pile was driven into the harbour bottom. 

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I am looking forward to working with the Board in 2014 (particularly AFTER we have completed our budgeting process) and getting to know more members as a result of my photo being in the front hall (so anonymity is more difficult now...).  We have a good solid agenda to work with and I hope that we can work with our staff to make our Club just a little bit better.

 

A note of business:  please ensure that you have included all of your work hours in the job jar.  By February 1, 2014, bills will go out to those who have not completed their 20 volunteer hours at the Club. The rate you will be charged is $45 per hour owed.  If you know you are not going to do any of the hours and wish to pay out your account, please forward your payment to Lidia as soon as possible and we won't bug you come January.

 

If you can't use or access the Job Jar, feel free to send your hours in to the office.  We prefer people to use the electronic system because when you do that you can monitor whether the right number of hours has been input.  It is harder to do that kind of monitoring when you submit in paper.

 

I have to say that I appreciate the Ship2Shore Editors.  They make this process so easy and the presentation of the newsletter is always lovely, so thank you.  And thanks to all the other volunteers out there quietly doing their work (and 'ESPECIALLY those crazy people doing the work crew on the seawall, and anyone else working on or near the water in the cold and the snow!)

 

Happy New Year to everyone and enjoy the snow!

 

 - M A R C H -

 - A P R I L -

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A good year, a great year!

 

Fellow members,

 

2013 was a good year on the water at ABYC, with many successful events for our cruisers and racers (including 3 regattas we hosted!).  Our young people did wonderful things in the Sailing School and as part of our Junior and Senior race teams, showing the ABYC burgee near and far.  And of course, we each enjoyed our own boats with our friends and families.  

 

2014 will bring us many of the same things, and one particularly big new one.  LYRA will be at ABYC this summer, and it is the biggest event we host, bringing in boats from across the Lake and all the neighbouring clubs.  Over a hundred boats are planned for, and we'll have a very busy harbour for the course race weekend and lots of excitement the rest of the week as long distance races start and finish, with weary sailors returning at all hours.

 

Our racers will have new competition to play with and many cruisers will spend a few days away from the club, visiting neighbouring clubs to make room for our guests.

 

2013 was a good year; I am optimistic that 2014 will be a great year for all of us.  I hope that you share my optimism and participate as much as you can in the events we organize for ourselves and our fellow sailors.  

 

Don't forget to volunteer in 2014 ...  our shorewalls need you, our Race Committee needs you and every other part of OUR club requires OUR help to be successful!

 

Sail with the wisdom of a senior, and the joy of a junior! 

 

 - M A Y -

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Let me start by wishing you all a very prosperous 2014!

 

In 2013, we saw many changes and endured many challenges, but as always, we pulled through together; becoming a stronger club.  Personally, this was a great year for family time, sailing and getting to know some of you much better; cementing great memories and friendships.  As a relatively new member, I have truly enjoyed the camaraderie that the Club fosters and the many learnings had through conversations with many of you.  I have developed an appreciation of the culture of the Club, which brings so much diversity and experience.  It nurtures a forum where ideas and thoughts can be shared and discussed within a safe environment.

 

From our financial management perspective, we continue to grow and have a strong Balance Sheet, and at the same time, we continue to work towards developing mechanisms and controls to better manage our funds and operations.

 

2014 will be as interesting, if not more.  Change will continue to play a big role in our daily affairs.  Our governance and management capabilities will continue to be tested and perhaps stretched in order to plan ahead to continue enhancing our Club and bringing feasible solutions to our many priorities and challenges.  As we have done in the past, we remain committed to making our home away from home a comfortable and safe haven.  We have great talent at the Club, and I believe that 2014 will be our most innovative year yet!

 

For now, it is the time to celebrate and to be merry!  Have a wonderful holiday season and an even better sailing season in 2014!

 

 - J U N E -

June was a busy, "on the water" month starting with Sailpast and continuing with various weekend Club races as well as LORC Regattas plus several cruises to other clubs.  Our Junior sailors were also busy getting back into the sailing world after a long winter layoff.



Probably the strangest start of a race ever by ABYC's Race Committee.  On June 23, ABYC had the pleasure of starting a race for the visiting Tall Ships.  The participants were:

- SS Sorlandet (Norway, 210' Full Rig, Steel, 499 GRT, 13304 sq ft of sail, 1927)

- Pride of Baltimore II (USA, 157' Topsail Schooner, Wood, 97GRT, 9018 sqft, 1988)

- Peacemaker (USA, 150' 3-masted Barquentine, Ipe (Ironwood), 297 GRT, 10000 sqft, 1989)

- Privateer Lynx (USA, 122' Square Topsail Schooner, Wood, 94 GRT, 4699 sqft, 2001)

- STV Unicorn (USA, 110' Topsail Schooner, built in Netherlands of steel from German U-boats, 74GRT, 9688 sqft, 1947.  All female!)

At 1920h with a start line of approximately 1 mile long and Sarah Ashbridge on station, the warning flag was raised and the first gun sounded.  The fleet was radioed because half of them weren't really in sight of the race committee and it was doubtful that they could hear the signal or see the two foot pennant from 4 miles away!

 

At 1930h, the start.  NO over-earlies.  Indeed, the fleet's last recall was approximately 7 years ago.  They play a very VERY conservative starting strategy.  A 360 could take 30 minutes in light air!

 

The first boat crossed the line 10 minutes after the start signal; the other 4 crossed every 5-10 minutes, with the last one at 2010h.  The ships were wished fair winds on their journey to Hamilton via Ajax and Grimsby ODAS buoys.

(Rear Commodore Paul Brennan) 

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 - J U L Y -

In the photos below, the top photo shows the 2013 ABYC Green Fleet and the bottom photo displays the 2013 ABYC Championship Fleet.

 - A U G U S T -

 

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It is with great anticipation that I look forward to 2014.  I will endeavour, with the help of members and staff, to make the Club look its best for members, guests and visiting sailors from around the Lake.  We will have a busy season, with our own events and the LYRA and other hosted regattas.

 

I wish everyone  a Happy New Year.

 

 - S E P T E M B E R -

September was a quiet month with a cruise to OYS, the Challenge Race and our annual Board of Directors elections.  Our Juniors traveled to Kingston for the Fall CORK races and the final race of the season was the Archie Walker Race on September 28th.


Kingston to compete in Fall CORK.  Joined by Coach Mike Goldfarb and Special Guest Coach Eric Goldfarb, the team was in for a fun but cold regatta.

 - O C T O B E R -

October brings us to the end of our season.  Masts must be taken down, the yards prepared for haulout and attention must be paid to the weather so that we can get "just one more sail in".  October, however, isn't all work - ABYC's annual Halloween Party is something to look forward to!

While we usually think of haulout preparation as getting the ways in place in the rail yard, there are others who prepare for winter by bringing in the racing marks - a significant job.

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State Of The Union From The Barstool

 

Well it's another year over and a new one to begin.  I will have to admit the past year was not the best for the Food and Beverage department financially.  I don't have all the final figures yet but it looks like the "loss" will be about 3% of the total operating budget.  Our food service caters to a membership of about 700 in a closed environment, i.e. members, spouses and guests.  We are not the typical restaurant on Queen Street, we are a service to the membership.  In my time with the club we have had different combinations of operational set ups, caterers that did or did not have the bar revenue.  The smart ones pulled out early to cut their losses, three went bankrupt and left us hanging with no service and many bills to pay.  A decision was made after the last caterer went under to take the operation in-house for stability and for more control of the operations.

 

What happened this past year?  A lot of race nights were blown off and we did not get the usual business on those nights and we did not have as many catered functions as in previous years.  In the coming year we will be more aggressive in advertising our catering services on the website and in the local community.  The bar has always done well, actually better than average for a club our size.  Food as we know has not done well.  Rennie, Axel and myself have been working on improving inventory controls.  Full inventories are now being done on food and better reporting being set up in our POS system so we can see on a daily basis what is going on versus waiting for two weeks after each month end to get financial results.

 

As far as what will be happening in the coming year, there are no major expenditures planned.  We have to replace a few pieces of kitchen equipment and do an upgrade to the sound system inside the clubhouse.  If the budget allows I would like to put a bit of money into the patio area; one large BBQ with a propane line to it to replace the old portable BBQ's and get rid of the ugly tall green propane tanks.  On the advice of our Internal Auditors we will start the move to a cashless society in the clubhouse.  Basically there will be a card issued to every member that will be scanned at the bar to open a tab.  This will insure that your purchases are going to your account and not on someone else's.  Tabs can be closed by credit card or sent to the office at the end of the day.

 

This summer we will be hosting LYRA on the August long weekend.  We will be doing all of the food service ourselves.  This will put a real strain on our resources, mostly on the staff.  We will be asking the membership to help us out.  This will most likely take the form of making lunches for the race committee and working at the BBQ's in the evening.  Some help will also be required in the kitchen for prep work.  This will be a great way to get in some contribution hours!

 

I hope you all had a great holiday season and I look forward to seeing you at the Levee!

 

 - N O V E M B E R -

While the month of November is a transition month for us - summer mode to winter mode, it doesn't have to be dull.  The first "excitement" was the November 2nd. all day work party.  Also, for a change of pace, we were treated to the first "Elizabeth Kimball Arts & Crafts Show" where our members were able to display their artistic talents.  The highlight of the month was our traditional Racing Awards Presentation Night, held to recognize all our talented sailors.

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On Saturday, November 23, ABYC's Club Racing Awards were presented with a very large crowd in attendance.  Many racing awards were presented; the highlight being the 3 major trophies:

As the year was coming to an end, many of our members keenly followed Diane Reid's adventures with One Girl's Ocean Challenge.  Diane carried the ABYC burgee as she went through many trials while qualifying for the 2013 Mini Transat Race.  She did qualify and started the race, but equipment failures and race rules became too much to overcome and Diane had to retire from the race.  We all shared Diane's disappointment in the outcome, however she made us all very proud and we are happy to have her return home safely.

 - D E C E M B E R -

The Children's party held on December 8th was the usual gloriously noisy affair with lots of kids, parents & grand-parents attending.

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It is with gratitude that I look back on 2013 and feel that much was accomplished during the tenures of both Boards of Directors with which I have had the pleasure to be involved.  As Commodore through the first nine months, I thank the many members of all categories who supported our Club by the extending of their time and talents, their resourcefulness, their understanding, and their creativity.  The Board during that time, worked tirelessly on your behalf and they are to be commended for their commitment to our Club.

 

Now, in the position of Past Commodore, I welcome the fresh ideas, new perspectives, and I feel that a spirit of collaboration has developed already within the new Board.  They are to be commended and valued for their willingness to step forward on your behalf.  They deserve your support, your counsel, and your creative solutions.

 

I hope that you, as members, take advantage of all that ABYC offers.  Seek out opportunities to be involved, strengthen your ties with your fellow members, make every effort to resolve issues with honour, make our new members feel welcomed, offer solutions, continue to spread the good word about our Club around the Lake.

 

To my ABYC friends and on behalf of Paula and me, I wish you a happy and fruitful New Year.