2008 Annual General Meeting

2008 Annual General Meeting
saynomore, Sun Dec 02 2007, 09:24AM

Annual General Meeting
7:00pm on Jan.19. 2008
Ken & Carole Downes place.
Address: 8083 164A Street, Surrey. V4H-0H7.

During this festive season I hope that all members take the time and reflect on this.

“We need You all to join in, it’s all part of the fun”. We need you to come and tell us what you want of your Club, tell us what has worked well for the club over the years, come tell us what we need to do to keep you active in our Club.

All clubs run with volunteers, from Commodores to the clean up crews after a Rendez-vous dinner.

Sailing Clubs are formed by people who enjoy a common interest, like sailing, and take pleasure in being with others who share their enthusiasm and passion for being on the water. But getting a bunch of sailors together requires someone to organize things, and so begins the “we need someone to….” process.

The variety and scope of activities in a club increases with the number of “active” members. Their are those that just want to cruise, others just want to race, some are into fishing or diving, and some want to do it all. This is where it gets a bit more complicated, in each of those categories there are probably a couple of sub-groups that also need organizing, and it’s not always an easy job. Basically the Club is a small business made up of people who work for free.

One of the great joys of sailing is the freedom. We head out on the water, masters of our own vessels, going wherever the four winds blow. Granted those winds may only blow us to Bedwell Bay or Bowen Island, but for those few hours we’re like Jacques Cartier, or Captain Vancouver, even Captain Cookie “find me a secret cove”. So sometimes organizing a group of sailors can be like herding cats.

It is spoken that Sailors, more often than not, are generous folk, willing and eager to give a helping hand to their fellow camarades. Now that I have you “hook, line and sinker” this is the time of year when the MYCBC is already getting ready for the 2008 season; planning events and selecting dates. But nothing happens unless there’s someone to do it, form the MacRendez-vous to the Year end dinner party. For a few members, this is a terrific way to meet your new mates. Many hands make easy work, so don’t just watch and hope someone else does it. Join in, share your idea’s, your interest, your reason(s) for joining the club, your likes and dislikes, you’ll find that it’s actually all part of the fun and you’ll be highly paid with smiles, laughter, and new friends.

Happy New Year
Steve St-Amour
Vice Commodore
SV SAYNOMORE

Re: 2008 Annual General Meeting
Kermie, Sun Dec 02 2007, 04:01PM

There are those who enjoy the amenities of a marina. The Admiral & I have experienced both Marine Parks & Marinas and discovered the pros & cons of each. We enjoy the quiet and privacy of parks and especially the raft-ups of many Macs and activities that accompany these events. We have also discovered that marinas have much to offer that may go overlooked. Certainly marinas have a cost factor and even more so have a privacy issue, there is none. That said we need to realize that life is full of compromises and that marinas are not without their compromises. As for the benefits of marinas – let me enlighten folks. Our favorite marinas that we annually return to are located in Ganges Harbor in Canada and Friday Harbor (Customs Clearance) in the San Juans. These two locations are always bustling with activities – things to do, places to explore and facilities for cleaning up and then re-stocking ships stores. They are the hubs of the two sets of islands. Both have summer activities and events to partake in and both have shops and stores to browse through and restaurants to dine at and let’s not forget that they have showers, restrooms and laundry facilities too. These are only some of the benefits that justify the compromises, there are more.
I’d like to share some of our experiences with other marinas – let me tell you about Roche Harbor (AKA rip-off harbor) (Customs clearance). It is rich with history and all one has to do is seek it out, there is the mausoleum attraction that is a bit of a hike to find but comes with an interesting background story and of course the historic old hotel with its’ roots and at the end of each summer day the striking of the flags where they fire the cannon and lower the flags to the sound of the three national anthems. Just around the bay from Roche is historic Garrison Bay where the Bay of Pigs war tensions with the British took place many years back, again some interesting history presentations from the Washington State Parks staff.
How about Rosario? Yes I know the cost perception strikes fear & terror through some, but really you get what you pay for and Rosario delivers well. They have three pools (one adult oriented w/swim-up bar) to choose from plus a hot tub and showers (towels included) all inclusive with your slip fees. And get this – a free 2 hour presentation (includes all historical coverage) at the mansion theater that includes a slide show, organ demonstration and tour. Nice restaurant too, overlooking the water.
Blakely Harbor is a private gated marina with a store, restaurant and shower/washroom facilities with picnic grounds that are beyond immaculate, a very nice stop over.
Deer Harbor, a rustic sort of place with a first class restaurant a short walk up the road. It is well protected and has enough to explore, you can even take the daily bus to East Sound and go shopping.
These are just the San Juans, the Gulf Islands have their equal attractions too if you choose to seek them out. Maple Bay has some of the cleanest facilities in the islands and also a very cool restaurant for fine dinning. Telegraph Harbor has its’ own character & charm also as does Montegue and others.
Poets Cove also comes to mind, they have a pool, hot tub showers and fine dining and customs clearance.
Otter Bay was another favorite, very clean with a nice pool and showers and a very quaint restaurant a short taxi ride away, we really enjoyed a romantic dinner there.
There are many more of course and Gail & I look forward to searching them out each sailing season and hope to meet others from the club in our travels. Having spent considerable time at marinas we are now considering adding some marine parks to our adventures for the benefits they offer but our travel adventures will always include a few marina stops for the facility comforts they offer.

Re: 2008 Annual General Meeting
Mystic Rose, Mon Dec 03 2007, 08:44AM

What a weekend. Snow of 12 inches, now wind and temp of about 50 degrees F. The snow is almost gone and the wind and rain have taken their place.

Was reading on the two posts and figured to add my thoughts.

This last year we were not out quite as much. We were able to meet up with the MYBC and the Blue Water groups though, always a great time to catch up on whats been happening.

From the perspective of being a bit south of everyone else, I can let you know there are a lot of great places to sail east and south of the San Juans. First, almost every city on the water has a Port… which means a community run marina and launch ramp or sling. The ports are generally right in town, and the fees are less then the resorts. The ones that come to mind are Blaine, Bellingham, Anacortes, Laconner, Everett, Shilshole in north Seattle, Edmonds, and many further south. If you trailer to the port and launch there is plenty of parking and access to facilities in towns. If anyone needs more info i can answer specific questions or do a search for the individual ports.
The state parks in WA are varied and all over. They generally have ramps or/and dock space. Most have bouys and anchorage spots. There is a push I understand to provide more bouys, to cut down on grass destruction from anchors. We will see.
The last couple years we have enjoyed leaveing Bellingham or Blaine and meandering to Victoria and as far up the west coast as possible till we run out of time.
This next year I am thinking of taking the ferry over to Vancouver Island to Tofino? and launching there or close by. I might be asking for opinions when we get closer to the time.
We day sail out of Bellingham and even here we have several places to anchor out for the day or overnight. There is Nauti Bay, Chuckanut Bay or in Fair Haven, part of Bellingham. There are some other anchorages over near Lummi Island.

I would hope everyone planning a trip would write in the forums and perhaps meet up. I can’t remember a trip we have been on that we don’t run into a Mac, and make a friend even if for over night.

As I said, it there is anything I can help with down this way let me know.

Gerry M
Mystic Rose
99X

Re: 2008 Annual General Meeting
Kermie, Tue Dec 04 2007, 12:58PM

Gerry M.
I am going to assume you are a bit confused when you speak of going to Tofino, unless you have some specific water there you want to sail in. Having been there annually a few years back I can advise you that Tofino is not where you want to go but rather south of it, specifically Uclulet where you can launch and head out to the Broken Island Group in the Barkley Sound. It is too far and exposed to go from Tofino, Uclulet is within safe proximity. Alternatively you may also want to launch from Toquart Bay but that is a very remote forest service recreation site with little or no facilities and you may be hindered by tides. Also a long unpaved road in. I launched a canoe from there 25 years ago and remember it was quite desolate then. Another suggestion might be to launch somewhere in the Alberni inlet maybe even Port Alberni itself and motor all the way out to the islands. It is the inlet and Barkley Sound that are the popular destinations, not sure Tofino has anything to offer like Barkley Sound does.