Hello and Happy New Year to all CYC Members! The Club is pretty quiet as we move into winter with the boats under cover, the floats piled up next to the shed and the clubhouse shuttered. Everything is put away safe for the season, thanks to John and Barb and the efforts of the volunteers that help lift and store the floats. We have had a pretty mild winter so far, without much snow to remove. Although it seems pretty quiet around the clubhouse, there is a lot going on behind the scenes, with your officers meeting monthly and busily planning for the coming year. In November we performed our usual in-depth budgeting exercise, reviewing and improving the five-year window developed last year. This resulted in a budget for 2017 that was presented to and approved by the Board of Directors in early December, and a plan that should keep us financially secure for years to come. Thanks to Treasurer Jim Grimes for his great knowledge and leadership in this effort.

The big news is that French and Brawn, our caterers for a number of years, have decided to wind up their catering operation. So, we will be working hard to select a new outfit to provide lunch and evening goodies. I hope we can make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible, but Mike and his crew will be a hard act to follow.

Rich Anderson, our Vice Commodore, has been supervising work on the physical plant, including the planned drainage improvements under the parking lot and repairing the wall at the rear. Meredith Scheck, our Rear Commodore has been busiest of all, planning our great schedule of events for 2017, including some terrific Sunset Seminars, improving the website and getting out this newsletter. Arthur Adelberg, Fleet Captain, has assembled a terrific race and cruising program, including, for the second year, a cooperative effort with Lyman-Morse.

Of course, the lights are on in Elaine's office, with year-end accounting, sending out dues invoices, managing the wedding event schedule and selecting and ordering CYC related items. It seems she is just as busy now as in the summer!

In closing, I want to thank, once again, all of our staff, officers, directors, committee chairpersons and other volunteers for their continued hard work and effort.

I'm looking forward to 2017 at CYC, and I hope to see everyone there early and often!

 

The facilities were decommissioned in a routine fashion without incidence and without uncovering previously unknown maintenance items. Thanks to John and Barb for leading us through the process.

The Directors approved a $48,600 Capital Budget for Buildings, Grounds, Launch and Dock. We budgeted $42,900 in 2015.

The projects planned for 2017 include:

Repair Retaining Wall along the parking lot behind the club house. We will excavate behind the existing wall, install a 4-inch perforated drain at the base of the wall and backfill the excavated area with stone to the top of the wall. The perforated drain will be connected via a new pipe under the driveway to the existing catch basin. A 20-foot section of the wall will be dismantled and relayed where it is currently bulging.

Planning for Parking Lot Repaving. Bud Woodworth, John Tohanczyn, Bill Lane from Gartley & Dorsky and I met with Town officials to review a plan prepared by G&D. The plan includes new drainage pipes and basins below the lot, removal of existing large-rock fill and placing 8 inches of new gravel-fill in the north parking area, and removal and repaving of the entire parking lot surface. We believe the total project cost will be about $150,000. How this cost will be apportioned between the Town and the Club will be discussed and agreed upon in 2017. The Town will likely include the project in their 2018 budget with work to be done Fall 2018.

Repaint Club House Ceiling. The club house ceiling was last painted in 1997. It is time to scrape the flaking paint off and repaint. The flaking is due to time, not roof leakage. This project will be undertaken after our last event in October, 2017.

Upgrade Projection and Sound system. It is time to upgrade the projector and audio receiver to match new technology. We will have better quality and a permanently mounted hook-up and switch will make it less tense as we begin Sunset Seminars. We will mount the projector overhead, projecting onto a screen hung on the South wall above the door onto the porch.

Replace Chauncy B Engine. The Chauncey B engine warning-signal began sounding in September. The engine is a two-cycle model, no-longer manufactured and parts are difficult to find. Replacing the engine was the prudent decision.

New Dinghy Rack. This Spring we converted a portion of the inflatable dinghy rack to hold rigid dinghies. We did it with wood attached to the remaining iron pipe portion. We are going to replace the entire rack with an aluminum rack to match the other racks on the dock.

New Sandwich Prep Unit. We need a unit to hold refrigerated condiments, breads and provide a surface for preparing sandwiches.

Replace Norway Maple at top left of drive.The tree, damaged in the Winter of 2014 did not survive the dry period of Summer 2016 and will be removed and replaced by a new tree this Spring.

New Chairs, Tables and Flatware. Maryann and Cliff Kline and Meredith and Jay Scheck completed a complete inventory of our chairs and tables and discovered we need to replace 60 chairs and 5 tables. And we no longer have enough flatware to provide every member a complete set of flatware at our larger events.    

Upgrade grassy area in the center of the parking area. John will add loam and reseed the area.

We continue to explore ways to reduce the congestion in the parking lot at lunch time when CAYSP classes are underway. Adjusting the luncheon schedule to noon - 2:30, prohibiting parking alongside the driveway coming down the hill from Bay View Street, finding off-property parking for luncheon staff and reminding all members to bring only one vehicle to lunch and assure their non-member guests park on the street.  

Please let us know if you see other facility and fleet improvements we should consider.

On behalf of all CYC members, a round of applause is due to Faith Hague for her year of outstanding service to the club during her 2016 year as Rear Commodore. The team that Faith organized - Sue Pfau and Denise Pukas as Social Committee co-chairs and Johanna Stinson as our award winning Sunset Seminar organizer - is THE BEST. Their organizational skills and committment to make the CYC activities fun, made for a great 2016 season. Sue and Denise brought the social events to a high level of attendance and each event had every detail expertly executed. Johanna not only planned for excellent speakers for the seminars, but integrated the CAYSP instructors and sailors into each seminar program. The goal was to raise awareness within the community of CAYSP programs - and this effort resulted in helping to raise funds to support its programs. With all of the great volunteer effort that goes into making CYC activities so successful, we shouldn't forget that our staff of Elaine, Barb and John are the glue that keeps it all functioning smoothly: THANK YOU!
As 2017 starts, a small but hardy group of winter folks enjoyed an evening of friendship and dinner at the Fireside on January 29. The final calendar of 2017 planned activities, both at the club and on the water, will be published in the Spring newsletter. It will, of course, also be available on the website www.camdenyachtclub.org. A new members luncheon will be vitalized this coming season. It gives new members an informal way to meet one another as well as to familiarize them with CYC's "protocols" and personnel.
In closing, your ideas, comments and suggestions are welcome. Please contact me (jtscheck@aol.com) at any time. I want to help make the 2017 season a great one at the Club. 

 

 

 

 

1. Sponsor gets the application from the CYC Club Office and Applicant fills it out.
2. Sponsor and two Seconders (each of whom must have known the applicant for at least one year) write letters supporting the application.
  5. Membership Committee members will be assigned to interview the Applicants with the Sponsor present and, if accepted by the full Membership Committee, the Applicants(s) will be added to the Membership wait list.
If you need help with this process, please contact me. Keeping our membership roster strong is the cornerstone of CYC's vitality -- please continue to bring forward good candidates.

MEMBER PASSINGS
Since the Spring 2016 Newsletter we note with sadness the passing of the following members:
John R. Whitney, who joined the Club in 1955 and who served as Commodore 1973-1975; Edith Pfotenhauer(1984); and Susan Crowe (1998). All of these much beloved members are sorely missed. On behalf of the entire CYC community, we extend out sympathy to their families.