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New Home for our Membership Meetings!

By Rob Gibbs on June 18, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Meetings

At the last meeting, the current management at Rolling Hills Golf Course asked us (and the LPSC) to remove our trophies and trophy cases and to remove our gear from their storage area. If you were there you noticed that there was a Golf League event scheduled at the same time as our meeting. They are making changes that will help them succeed as a Golf Venue and of course we want them to succeed!

But what is best for Rolling Hills isn’t necessarily the best for the AYC. The board has come to the decision that it is time to part ways with Rolling Hills. We wish them the best, but we feel there are other options that will better fit our needs.

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve been working with R.T. O’Sullivans at the corner of Hayden and Thomas to have our meetings there.

Why did we choose this location?

Not far from our current location.
Easy access to the highway.
A great, affordable Regular Menu.
Amazing specials (Tuesday’s are 2 for 1 Burgers!)
Flexible space that allows us to have our regular meetings or scale up to large meetings when we need it.
An in house AV System that allows us to mitigate noise issues and easily have speakers and presentations.
Plenty of parking.
The management and staff are really friendly and glad to have us there.

We are holding our next “Dog Watch” Happy Hour there on Thursday the 27th of June starting around 5:30 pm as they always do going until whenever! (The kitchen closes at Midnight and they kick everyone out at 2 am!) We hope you come out and check it out!

Our next General Membership Meeting is on Tuesday the 9th of July and will be held at this new location.

We will be soliciting feedback via email survey from all members about their experience in order to work with RT O’Sullivan’s management to make this a great change for us.

Your feedback will determine if we stay or if we go, so please come out and support Your Arizona Yacht Club as we make this very important change.

THANKS

Rob Gibbs
Commodore
Arizona Yacht Club

What the Board Does with YOUR Money

By Rob Gibbs on June 13, 2019 in Commodore's Corner

Club Treasurer – Tony Chapman

Our club’s finances are not super complicated, but I wanted to take a moment to explain the “model” we are using. Every club operates a little differently, depending on what resources it has to offer and what their leadership feels is necessary to operate the club. As a member, you have a right to know how your money is spent and what we are doing to ensure that the club is financially sound.

Our club is a “Pay for what you use” club. That allows us to keep our annual dues very low, but it also means that every program or event attempts to pay for itself. There are a few exceptions to this but overall that is the goal. Here are some of the programs and their expenses:

The Race Series Program – This encompasses the racing at Tempe Town Lake, Lake Pleasant, as well as the Governor’s Cup, Ruth Bealls Cup, and the Tall Cactus. These programs have to pay for the lake user fees, fuel expenses, maintenance and upkeep on club equipment, and any expenses like food at social events that might be provided in conjunction with a race.

Birthday Regatta – This is such a big event, that we track it separately. In addition to Lake User Fees and fuel expenses, there are all kinds of other expenses, like catering, speaker fees, facility rental (think Big Tent), and other things that might change from year to year depending on the program. This event is the one that has the biggest potential to impact the club budget if something goes sideways, so we get updates from the Regatta Chairman in the months leading up to the event.

Commodore’s Party – This is one of the exceptions to the “pay for itself” rule. We don’t have a facility to host our own celebration, which adds to the cost of this event (as well as others). The AYC Boards over the years have set a precedent that, in order to keep the price of the ticket reasonable, we would subsidize the cost of the Commodore’s Party. This year there were three options and the venue and budget were voted on and approved by the board.

So where do your annual dues go? These revenues are spent on speakers and general membership meeting expenses, hosting the “Dog Watch” Happy Hours, printing the roster and membership cards, club insurance and membership dues in the Yachting Club of America and the Southern California Yachting Association, burgees that we give to our members, as well as making up any shortfalls in any of the programs when the don’t come up in the black. Any surplus goes into savings for major capital investments. The two largest in recent memory being “The Barge” pontoon boat and the “Wicked Awesome” Whaler.

And that is how it works. No smoke and mirrors, just making every attempt to use club funds to create the best sailing opportunities in the region and provide the most value to our members. Our long-time Treasurer Tony Chapman will be giving a short overview with actual numbers at the September Monthly Meeting so come out and discuss it with us!

Your Commodore’s Party!

By Rob Gibbs on May 19, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Events, Social Events

The Commodore’s Party is so named because the Commodore puts it on, but it is about you…the membership of the club. More than most, our club is our members. It is the friendships we build and the memories we make. The Commodore’s Party is a celebration of what makes our club as great as it is…YOU!

Here are some pictures:

Isabella Hutchinson, last year’s High School Champion relinquishes the perpetual trophy to her brother Reese, this year’s Champion.

After everyone toweled off and changed after enjoying the pool, the program started with awards given by the Arizona Sailing Foundation. Mike Parker, the Sailing Foundation President, awarded the following:

Heavy Lifting Award – Larry Green
High School Championship Trophy – Reese Hutchinson
Wayne Jason Tucker Outstanding Junior Award – William Steenken
Jerry Linderman Most Improved Junior Award – Ethan Wei

Colin Gibbs earned the top spot for the Junior Racing Fleet and got is name on the new Perpetual Trophy for the AYC Junior Champion.

Then the AYC Racing Awards followed. For the first time, there was a full fledged Junior Racing Fleet at Tempe Town Lake. The club has been gifted (by Rob and Kim -ed.) a perpetual trophy to award to the AYC Junior Champion. This year that Champion was Colin Gibbs.

And the most coveted racing trophy in the club, the AYC Club Champion Trophy, was won by Joel Hurley. Joel won the Laser Fleet championship at TTL and the Santana 20 Fleet championship at Lake Pleasant before taking the Championship Race on a Laser.

Joel Hurley wins the Club Championship Trophy. Next year Joel will volunteer to head up the Opti classes at Tempe Town Lake.

Every year we get to honor one individual for excellence in supporting and promoting the sport of sailing in our club. That honor is the AYC US Sailing Sportsmanship Award. This year’s winner, Emory Heisler, is a long time Club Member, past Commodore, US Sailing and ASA Instructor and all around great sailor.

Emory Heisler accepting the AYC US Sailing Sportsmanship Award

Dave Haggart gets the Blunder Bucket!

And finally, after three heated rounds of debate over who earned the coveted Blunder Bucket, this Spring’s honor goes to Dave Haggart who tried to launch his truck while retrieving his 14.2 at Tempe Town Lake, only to save it from the depths with the help of his son and a group of bystanders.

The last order of business was to thank this year’s Board of Directors and install the newcomers to the group. It’s been a great year and for those who are leaving their posts, the club thanks you very much for your service.

The members of the 2019-2020 Board of Directors:

Commodore: Rob Gibbs
Vice Commodore: Marc Danner
Rear Commodore: Deb Heisler
Racing Fleet Captain: Scott Richards
Cruising Fleet Captain: Heather McClain
Sr. Membership Director: Skip Kempff
Jr. Membership Director: Dave Henning
Sr. Staff Commodore: Mike Ferring
Jr. Staff Commodore: Bill Hutchinson
Secretary: Paul Wojcztak
Treasurer: Tony Chapman

Thank you for making your club one of the best in the country. We’ll see you on the water!

Tall Cactus Brings Out the Best in AYC

By Rob Gibbs on April 29, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Events

I wanted to thank everyone who came out to our last big fun day at Lake Pleasant last weekend. I really enjoyed seeing everyone on the water having a good time. But more than that, it really highlighted what the AYC is. Friends and families that love sailing and love our club. As I finished each boat, EVERYONE had a smile on their face. We had families sailing together. We had husbands and wives sailing together. We had good ‘ole boys sailing together. The event was was run by 3 families. There were Sea Scouts and Scout Leaders. There was an 11 year old on a Laser racing his Dad on a Laser!

This club really has something for everyone. Fun family events, great social opportunities, some pretty serious racing in some very competitive fleets, and at the heart of it all, there is YOU. This club is nothing without its members. Members who bring their family and friends out to spend time together on the water. Thank you for letting me be a part of something so special.

Sincerely,

Rob Gibbs
Commodore

Here’s a video from Court Roberts

Photo Credit to Kristin Lisson (The Gal on the Photo Boat!)

Your 2019-2020 AYC Board Nominees – Breaking with Tradition

By Rob Gibbs on March 23, 2019 in Board of Directors, Commodore's Corner

Commodore Rob Gibbs

Official announcement: Notice of Election, May 14, 2019, at the Grill at Rolling Hills Golf Course at 6pm. Instructions for electronic voting will be emailed to all members of record as of April 1, 2019.

It is already time for AYC Board Elections. I am always amazed at how fast a Board Year goes by. I want to pull back the covers a little bit on the formation of the board and the traditions that have been involved over the past 60+ years.

In the past we’ve seen people make a 5 year commitment to the board by moving through the Commodore ranks from Rear, to Vice, to Commodore, then to Jr. Staff and Sr. Staff Commodore. This was a tradition that served the purpose of creating continuity and stability on the board from year to year. We broke with that tradition in the mid 2000’s, but since then have also had trouble finding a slate of willing board members. I would like to consider a revision to that tradition with the hope of providing that same continuity and stability.

Each Board Position cannot be done single handed. Each should have a committee of supporters. The AYC Fleet Captain already has the “Rules Committee” made up of all the Racing Fleet Captains and generally a new AYC Fleet Captain comes from that group. It was never the intent that each board member do all the work of their position themselves. Your support of these people is imperative to get the work of the club done. When each board member has a support group, continuity is created by “promoting from below.” A person that is “promoted” from the support group has knowledge of what has been going on. The other thing that does is allows a person to make a smaller commitment to the board. Instead of a 5 year commitment, they can choose a period that works for them. Maybe it is one term, maybe 3, but it gives them the choice.

This year, we break with tradition again. Many of the board members, myself included, really feel like we are just starting to get some traction and build momentum with the things we are doing and that if we move on now, some of these efforts will fall flat. Things like the Junior Racing Fleet, the 4th Tuesday “Dog Watch” Social, and even some of the changes being considered to the racing schedule. We feel like we need to follow through on these things and vacating positions or even moving on to another position will jeopardize our efforts.

It is with this in mind that, with your support, I have chosen to run for a second consecutive term as Commodore. Along with me running for a second term in their current position is Marc Danner at Vice Commodore and Heather McClain at Cruising Fleet Captain.

So “who will run the Birthday Regatta” you ask? Well, again, the tradition is that the Jr. Staff Commodore runs the Birthday Regatta. This year Bob Naylor, who was one of the instrumental players in helping pull together what has been called the best Birthday Regatta in recent memory, has agreed to be the Regatta Chairman. He will still work with the Jr. Staff Commodore for guidance and other formal approvals. Former Commodore Bill Hutchinson has agreed to be the Jr. Staff Commodore to provide that guidance.

The full slate of Board Nominees looks like this:

Commodore: Rob Gibbs
Vice Commodore: Marc Danner
Rear Commodore: Deb Heisler
Fleet Captain: Scott Richards
Cruising Fleet Captain: Heather McClain
Jr Membership Director: David Henning
Jr Staff Commodore: Bill Hutchison

Additionally, 2 more members filling 2 year roles are:

Sr Membership Director: Skip Kempff
Sr Staff Commodore: Mike Ferring

Finally, the 2 positions that are elected by the new board are:

Secretary: Paul Wojtczak
Treasurer: Tony Chapman

Thanks to our current board and to our new volunteers for their support. Now I ask that you help us too. There are so many activities that we do that require volunteer support. This year, make it a point to pick something, just one thing, to help with. Whether it is running one of our single day events like the Ruth Beal’s Cup or the Tall Cactus, or helping the Rear Commodore contact and book a speaker for our regular Membership Meetings, or agreeing to host a Dog Watch Happy Hour. Step up and help us make YOUR Club the best it can be this year!

Friday – Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day!

By Rob Gibbs on March 15, 2019 in Commodore's Corner, Sailing News

YES! REALLY! This Friday the 17th of May as a kickoff to National Safe Boating Week! Sponsored by the National Safe Boating Council as part of the 2019 National Safe Boating Campaign, they are sponsoring a Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day to raise awareness and draw attention to boating safety and PFD use.

Wear your PFD to work on Friday, take a pic and send it to Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org and we’ll include you in an article on Monday!

New Membership Director – David Henning

By Rob Gibbs on March 4, 2019 in Board of Directors, Commodore's Corner

Membership Director Dave Henning.

As you all know, Andy Oliver had a great opportunity to further his career but that required him to move to California and leave us. David Henning has agreed to step up and be the Membership Director in Andy’s absence. Dave sails regularly with Skip Kempff (conveniently our other Membership Director) at Lake Pleasant and he also sails with his wife Amy on their own O’Day 20. They are also active members in the C14.2 Fleet at Tempe Town Lake.

Dave also is active in youth sport and is a Lacrosse coach among other things. We appreciate their commitment to helping us provide the best sailing opportunities in the region and providing the most value per member.

January Meeting – Club Goals Discussion

By Rob Gibbs on November 1, 2018 in Commodore's Corner

Rob and Kim Gibbs

Happy New Year everyone!

At the General Meeting on 8 January, I would like to invite everyone to come and discuss what YOU want out of YOUR club.

The framework for the discussion is really simple. At the beginning of my tenure as Commodore, we came up with the phrase: “Create the best sailing events in the region and bring the most value to each member as possible.” That has been this Board’s guiding principle. From that we had 4 focus areas:

Long-Term Planning
Reducing the Barriers to Entry to Sailing
Adding to our Social and Cruising Calendars
Creating Ways for our Junior Members to Participate

These haven’t changed and they will be the basis for our discussion on Tuesday.

Please come and engage with us! Help us chart the course for YOUR Arizona Yacht Club and help us create the club you want!

Honorary Life Members – Mike and Maryellen Ferring

By Rob Gibbs on October 10, 2018 in Board of Directors, Commodore's Corner

Mike & Maryellen Ferring

On Tuesday October 2, AYC’s Board, at the recommendation of all of the current Honorary Life Members, voted to make Mike and Maryellen Ferring Honorary Life Members as well.

According to the AYC Bylaws, “Honorary Life Membership may be granted to any Club Member whose services to the Club and the sport of sailing shall have been deemed outstanding over a period of years.” For several decades now Mike and Maryellen have served the AYC and ASF, as Board members, as Sailing Instructors and in general as “Ambassadors” for sailing in Arizona.
Here are some highlights of their outstanding service:

In 2010 Maryellen was recognized by the ASF with the “Heavy Lifting Award.”
Mike has long been the Webmaster of our website, one of the best in sailing.
Mike served as AYC Commodore on an unmatched record of three separate occasions (2006-07, 2012-13, 2017-18), always, as we all know, with a lot of help from Maryellen.
They were instrumental in bringing many of our featured speakers to meetings including the likes of Gary Jobson, North U founder Bill Gladstone, J-Boats president Jeff Johnstone, Oracle USA Tactician and Olympian Andrew Campbell, and many more.
In the Spring of 2014 Mike was recognized with Ye Blunder Bucket for “inventing a new way of decapitating a C14 mast: driving under rowing shells parked inside the fence and overhanging the drive.”
They are ever present in the racing results, at both Tempe Town Lake and Lake Pleasant.
They represent the AYC and “sailing in the desert” wherever they go, literally around the country and all over the world.

Their constant presence and service, whether in the foreground or in the background, has been truly outstanding, greatly furthered the sport of sailing in Arizona and made our club a better one.

This list is by no means complete, but please join me in congratulating and thanking them for their service!

AYC Honorary Life Members: David and Hermine Shapiro (deceased), Joyce Seale, Tom and Carol Ohlin, Frank (deceased) and Marylou Bigelow, Al and Sandy Lehman, Mike Yarnell and Tia Renshaw, George Tingom, Mike and Maryellen Ferring

Commodore Ferring and Maryellen Awarding Trophies at the Commodore’s Celebration

Mike and Maryellen’s J70 – Melissa Kay

Maryellen and Mike Ferring at Some Exotic Location

What Interesting Sailors do YOU Know?

By Rob Gibbs on October 4, 2018 in Commodore's Corner

Rear Commodore Josh McClain with his wife and Cruising Captain Heather at Long Beach Race Week 2018

Your AYC has had some pretty amazing speakers on a pretty regular basis. That doesn’t happen on accident! It takes coordination and negotiation, but it all starts with “hey, it’d be great if…” or “I ran into So and So at this event and I think they’d be great…”

We want YOU to keep your ears and eyes open and help us continue to bring great speakers to Your Club. If you have an idea for a speaker or know someone who you think would be fun to have speak to us, send a note to Your Rear Commodore, Joshua McClain, at Rear.Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org, in fact, I bet you can think of someone RIGHT NOW!

Do You Like to Tweet, Snap, MeetUp, or Facebook?

By Rob Gibbs on September 25, 2018 in Commodore's Corner

I’ve mentioned a few times now that this year Your Board’s focus areas are

Long-Term Planning
Reducing the Barriers to Entry to Sailing
Adding to our Social and Cruising Calendars
Creating Ways for our Junior Members to Participate

To further several of these goals , we are organizing an effort to do more with social media. If you like to take pictures, if you are savvy with social media, even just one of the many different platforms…we need your help! Let this be the one thing you do for your club!

Marc Danner, Your Vice Commodore, will be organizing this effort. To find out more, please contact him at ViceCommodore@ArizonaYachtClub.Org.

Commodore Rob Gibbs and Vice Commodore Marc Danner. Photo by J.Q. Selfie

A Place of Our Own?

By Rob Gibbs on September 12, 2018 in Commodore's Corner

Commodore Rob and his wife Kim

At the beginning of my tenure as Commodore, the Board outlined 4 focus areas that we want to work on. They are:

Long-Term Planning
Reducing the Barriers to Entry to Sailing
Adding to our Social and Cruising Calendars
Creating Ways for our Junior Members to Participate

When it comes to “Long-Term Planning,” your board members have discussed a lot of things, but the one that keeps coming back time and again is “what about a place to call our home?”

There are 2 problems associated with this question:

Funding
Location

The board would like to discuss the possibility of establishing a building fund. In conjunction with that, we would also like to define a range of things that this physical location might look like. We aren’t designing a building yet, but just defining a range of possibilities and the current estimated costs of those possibilities. Initially this will require some research on financial products, followed by creating a “planning document” that would be used to help define current cost estimates for building a structure.

I’d like to set the timeline for establishing the fund as the end of this Board Year, with another 6-9 months for the first copy of the “planning document” to be drafted and presented to membership.

We need a group of people that are interested in making this happen. I would like to ask anyone that is interested in helping to make this a reality to email me at Commodore@ArizonaYachtClub.org.

A Big Ask…

By Rob Gibbs on September 11, 2018 in Commodore's Corner, Member Interest

YOUR Arizona Yacht Club is a great club with a host of vibrant social and sailing activities. From Racing to Cruising to just hanging out, it is a group that I’ve really enjoyed being a part of for over 13 years now. It didn’t get that way by the work of just one or two people, and it won’t continue to grow through the work of just one or two people (or even 10-15 people).

The BIG ASK of YOUR Club is that you find one thing we do that you are interested in, one thing that you would be willing to help out with and say YES! Give back to your friends and YOUR Club. YOUR Board of Directors has some focus areas we are working on that are important to the longevity of the club. We can’t do all of the work it is going to take to accomplish these goals alone. YOUR Club has events that need organizing and support. Just find one way this year to participate a little more.

YOUR Club is more than a membership card. YOUR Club is built on the relationships between its members. Relationships are what keep us coming back year after year. Relationships are also give and take. In order to continue to succeed and grow as a club, YOUR Arizona Yacht Club needs you to give a little back. The more you give, the more you will receive in return because you have helped sustain us into the future!

Thanks in advance for supporting YOUR Arizona Yacht Club!

Blind Buccaneers Need Your Support!

By Rob Gibbs on August 20, 2018 in Commodore's Corner, Featured

The Foundation for Blind Children sponsors many different programs to help blind and visually impaired individuals from birth onward right here in Phoenix, Arizona. One of their key programs is their “Challenge” Program where a group of blind or low vision youth take on a monumental challenge. One year it was swimming from Alcatraz. Another it was hiking the Grand Canyon.

This year’s challenge is to sail around the Spanish Virgin Islands! Nicknamed the “Blind Buccaneers,” 12 youth, 12 guides, and a licensed captain will charter 3 sailboats and circumnavigate the Spanish Virgin Islands – starting and ending in Fajardo, Puerto Rico – over a 6 day period starting November 10th.

This is a Phoenix based charity doing outreach through the sport of sailing and we wanted to give our members some specific ways to help out:

Donate Directly! David Nigro, who spoke at the August Meeting about this event, has set up a donation site on PayPal. These donations are eligible for AZ State Tax Credits as well as are deductible as a charitable donation (see your tax professional for full details.)
Crew Party / Sail Jam 50/50 Raffle! At the Crew Party (AKA Sail Jam 2018) we’ll be holding a 50/50 Raffle you can participate in!
Help Train the Buccaneers! Marc Ashton, the CEO of the Foundation for Blind Children, is looking for help getting the kids some experience. Contact him directly if you would like to help out at 623-680-9988. Boats are already pre-arranged through Tiller and Kites. Proposed dates are: 9/15, 9/22, 10/6, 10/20, 10/27 and 11/3.

This is a great chance to really help change the lives of some fellow Arizonans through the sport that we love. We hope that you will be able to help them achieve their goals!

Leadership Changes on Your Board

By Rob Gibbs on August 5, 2018 in Board of Directors, Commodore's Corner

Dr. Sharon Bell

In a recent email it was mentioned that your Rear Commodore, Sharon Bell, was retiring her post. While we all know her as “Sharon,” Dr. Bell is a clinical psychologist and she decided to dedicate more time to her patients and her philanthropic efforts. I want to take a moment to thank her for all her contributions for the year and a quarter she held the post. Under her tenure as Rear Commodore, the AYC featured speakers like Gary Jobson, North U founder Bill Gladstone, J-Boats president Jeff Johnstone, Oracle USA Tactician Andrew Campbell, Tom White of The Moorings, and John Jourdane the author of “Modern Weather for Sailors.” Of course no one does all this alone. Maryellen Ferring was on Sharon’s team and was also instrumental in all of the planning as well. Sharon will be missed!

Rear Commodore Josh McClain

Our new Rear Commodore is Joshua McClain. He has been around sailing for a long time with his father but started down his personal sailing journey when he and his wife, Heather (your Cruising Fleet Captain,) took the Adult Beginning Sailing Class right here from the ASF. With their daughter Emma, they sail as a family often and just got back from a 10 day BVI trip this summer.

I know Josh will put everything he has into the job and I look forward to working with him for the rest of this Board Year!

Our Club is YOU!

By Rob Gibbs on July 24, 2018 in Commodore's Corner

What makes a Club?

A club is its membership. It is YOU! It is made strong by the relationships among its members. We want to build on our foundation and create more and new relationships between the members of our club. So here are a few things to look for in the coming months:

August Meeting – New Member Mixer – Come meet the new members! New members, meet each other! The Club will be providing appetizers from 6:30 to 7:30 at Rolling Hills Golf Course and we want as many people to come as possible! Particularly New Members in the past 2 years!

AYC Campout – Get out of the heat with your friends! August 10-12 is our annual AYC Campout. Get more information on our Facebook Page or on the AYC Website.

Crew Party / Sail Jam 2018 – We are working with Scorpion Bay to have a Lake Pleasant Crew Party out on the end of the new docks! Were looking at 8 September for this – Bring you boat! You’ll be allowed to use the empty slips for the evening! We’ll also be having one at Tempe Town Lake as well…with Dates and Times to be announced.

Member Highlight Reel – We’re going to be working on a slide show to run at the beginning of meetings that highlights YOU! Look for an email with a form to fill out for us!

Your 2018 board is really excited about serving YOU. We really hope you are able to participate and that you find these events fun and meaningful.

Post-regatta party on the deck at Scorpion Grill. Photo: Mike Ferring

A New Way to Find Crew!

By Rob Gibbs on July 20, 2018 in Commodore's Corner

Are you a skipper looking for crew or crew looking for a ride? We’re going to try to create more sailing opportunities by moving the AYC Crew List right onto your phone with the Go Sailing App.

The Go Sailing App is a free one sponsored by ASA (American Sailing Association). Skippers can create a trip that they want crew for and crew can apply for the ride. It’s really easy to do either from your desktop or your Android or iPhone. It’s really easy to use. Create your account profile. Be sure to select the Arizona Yacht Club as your club. Then creating a trip is easy.

Check out this tutorial video: