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November 10, 2009
By Nojan Moshiri
Our Corinthian Yacht Club community gathered for the 2009 edition of the annual meeting and successfully achieved the three goals for the evening. First, to vote for the officers and directors who will serve in the coming year, second, to celebrate and appreciate the fantastic year of sailing, cruising and racing that has past and finally, to hear a special presentation on dinghy sailing at the highest competitive levels. Aided with plenty of conversation, food and drink, the program took place at the clubhouse on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009.
The theme for this year's meeting was "Making Progress" but it is without question that the club continues to be all about people at its core. The number of events sponsored by the club continues to be at record high levels according to Bruce Sherman, and the volunteerism is trending high as well.
Following CYC bylaws, all mail-in and hand-delivered votes were counted by the volunteer committee. The nominating committee, led by J/24 sailor and long-time CYC member Harry Brown, delivered the results to outgoing Commodore Bruce Sherman. The votes were nearly unanimous and there were no write-in votes, surely an indication that the nominating committee succeeded in its task.
John Rahn
For 2010, the new club officers will be Commodore John Rahn, a member of CYC since 1995 and current Vice Commodore; Vice Commodore Wayne Balsiger, a member of CYC since 1981 and previous Commodore of the club in 1992; Rear Commodore Ken Johnson, a member of CYC since 1978 and San Juan 24 sailor; Secretary Lydia Volberding, a CYC member since 2007 and currently a sailor in the J/24 fleet; Treasurer Remmert Wolters, the current treasurer, a member of CYC since 2003 and also a sailor in the J/24 fleet; Fleet Captain Race Jerry Diercks, a member of CYC since 2005 and a sailor in the J105 fleet; and Fleet Captain Cruise Bill Mains, a CYC member since 2001 and cruising his F24 currently.
For the Director positions, three two year positions were voted on, and the Directors for these posts will be James Frazier, a CYC member since 2007 and current President of the Thunderbird Fleet two; Darrin Towe, a CYC member since 2002 and sailor of both Thistles and Melges 32s; and Kathryn Meyer, a member of CYC since 2004 and sailor of Moore 24s, Tasars and J/24s. A one year vacancy for Director was filled by Michael Cenname, a current director, CYC member since 2004 and a laser sailor.
Commodore Bruce Sherman summarized the accomplishments of the year succinctly by categorizing the areas of importance: membership, facilities, office, race program, juniors, publications, educational and social programs, cruise program and financial. With such a depth of information to cover, Bruce guided the proceedings through with lots of great pictures to celebrate the year and drove the points home briskly.
Membership was one of the most difficult areas for the club this year with 70 members lost overall. To address this trend the membership committee is stepping up efforts to determine the reasons behind the departures and presenting proposals to enhance value to membership. Any member interested in helping with these efforts should contact the club.
Facilities upgrades were completed as needed after the survey of the clubhouse last year. Noel Morgan, a J/24 sailor and one of the measurers of that fleet, has stepped up to oversee repairs and maintenance of the clubhouse. Upgrades to the clubhouse include repairs to exterior stairs, the roof, the floats and other minor areas. No major expenditures were incurred this year for maintenance.
Office issues were certainly an issues in 2009 but Brian Miller, Joe James and Charles Fawcett were able to straighten out the issues and Joel Thornton will be taking over the role of office director in 2010. Suzette Connolly, the club's outgoing Secretary has been handling accounts payable on a volunteer basis much to the appreciation of the office team. Finally, Bruce made it a point to thank Karen and Mike who have operated the bar for many years and who we all appreciate immensely.
The race program has been a star of the yacht club for many decades and continues to shine. This year not only were there many upgrades to whalers and boats, lead by Jerry Diercks, but a new boat was christened as well. The James D is the club's newest mark set whaler.
Some of the highlights of the race program this year include the successful NOOD regatta, only slight decrease in participation on the lake and sound but continued demand for one-design starts all over. Among the achievements for the year, none could be possible without PROs Kevin Cunningham and Charley Rathkopf and the many volunteers who make racing possible.
Juniors also made progress this year, with Michael Cenname who established a committee to provide regattas and racing for the juniors in the Optimist class. The Optis had starts on Thursday nights as a way to build experience and Junior membership.
Publications at CYC have both maintained the tradition of communication and moved forward into the age of online. While this year saw the release of a new Helmsman, thanks to Kurt Hoehne and volunteers Eric Sanderson and Joy Okazaki, the Leadline made a transition from print to on-line only. A cost cutting measure that saved the club $11,000 per year, the communication has also been made more rapid and real-time.
The delivery of the e-mail newsletter has allowed members to stay up-to-date on updates to the website. Derek Storm continues to maintain a modern and compelling web site that's constantly updated with the latest information and links.
CYC continued in its educational and social efforts this year, starting in the winter with a presentation by Dick Rose of the new racing rules of sailing. This well attended event at Magnuson park prepared the entire community for the new rules. Other events throughout the year including the Monday speaker series, Fridays in February trivia, a remote medical presentation and many other events throughout the year on tactics, weather and rules.
Cruising, led by Cruise Captain Bill Mains, saw the continuation of the many events that have become tradition over the years. Between pizza trips to Kirkland, the Commodore Gibson cruise and dinner in Port Ludlow, there were many opportunities for members to get together during the summer months.
Treasurer Remmert Wolters delivered good news for the club. CYC averted the emergencies that so drastically impacted the budget in the previous two years and was able to meet its goals. For 2009 income was $350,000 and expenses were $308,000. Compared to 2008, where income was $380,000 but expenses were $417,000, this was a significant improvement and sigh of relief for the entire club. The financial committee has done its job and righted the ship. The budget for 2010 is projected income of $363,000 and projected expenses of $343,000. With the stewardship of such great volunteers the members all expressed their confidence that this will be achieved.
Finally, one of the gaps in CYC's history was addressed as photographs of missing CYC commodores were obtained and will be hung on the stairway wall.
Photo by Wayne Balsiger
CYC Members and elite racers Fritz Lanzinger, left, and Dalton Bergan gave a presentation on the recent 505 World Championships, in which they finished fifth.
After the club business was complete, the board invited dinghy sailors Dalton Bergan and Fritz Lanzinger to give a presentation about their experiences in 2009. Dalton and Fritz presented their experiences on racing 505's in San Francisco and Moths at the Columbia River gorge. Both presentations were riveting and elicited many questions and comments from the attendees. The applause and enthusiasm from the members made it clear that such presentations should definitely be a staple of future annual meetings.