Commodore's Message

First of all, congratulations to Dennis and Sylvia Holstrom, Northwest Boating Family of the Year!

February was a good month with social and boating programs on course and moving full speed ahead. The social and boating events included the First Mates' Fridays at Five potluck on February 13 and the dinner theater on February 25, "The Drunkard."

The sailing and junior sailing fleets elected officers and had a tune-up race. February 20, 21, and 22 was the cruise to Anacortes. Brian and Gretchen Erga, cruise chairs did a great job providing a dinner and fishing derby with the Swinomish Yacht Club, plus shopping and a museum tour. Some Club members were involved in all of the events while others only had time for part of the program. Call Brian or Gretchen at 676-8088 for more details about this cruise or any of the monthly cruises.

In the January Jib Sheet, I said the Curren$ea and other Club member boats plan to anchor in Brentwood Bay and become involved in the Pacific Rim Challenge from July 11-18. We had the opportunity to visit the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and Oak Bay area and found Oak Bay provides good anchorage, so we now plan to spend the week in Oak Bay. We also noted the Royal Victoria Yacht Club is a classic organization that has all the positives of a yacht club.

We are continuing to make improvements at our Club. We now have e-mail in the office, thanks to Past Commodore Steve Ross (bycstaff@cssnw.net). I would like to thank the Breakwater for adding Microsoft Office to the Club's computer. We plan to use this equipment to do a survey of members to determine what is the current membership; i.e., males/females, singles/couples, age range, family status, sailboats/powerboats, years in Bellingham, potential membership, competition for market share, and promotional strategies. The objective is to grow membership following the Mission Statement.

The mission of the Bellingham Yacht Club is to foster recreational boating activities in Bellingham and vicinity by providing a support organization, a clubhouse, and other facilities and equipment, and to serve the social needs of its membership to the extent possible while managing the Club's assets in a fiscally responsible manner.