Friends, your Bowleys Point Yacht Club rocks! Everyone that came to the last membership meeting held on Friday September 9th was ready with ideas, ready with excitement, ready to roll up their sleeves and work together for the club.

 

Fleet Captain ~~ We are still very much in need of a Fleet Captain for 2017 if you wish to volunteer. Several members are eager to jump in and plan a single trip, no fluff... just a cruise to a destination. Skip Wilkins offered to chair a committee and Denise Mineo and Rich Brzezowski agreed to meet to discuss further. Team work is great!

 

Rear Commodore ~~ a volunteer is still needed but until we have one we will be looking to have volunteers on a monthly basis to write the newsletter. Please contact Vice Commodore Sharron Gilbert as to which month (April, May, June, July, August, September or October) of 2017 you would like to write. She will provide you with the appropriate outline and our very talented Corresponding Secretary Alice Buchman produces the finished product. Thank you very much Alice.

 

Vice Commodore ~~ it was agreed at our meeting that a seasoned retired officer or outgoing Fleet Captain may volunteer for this very important position. Until we have a volunteer, the incoming Commodore will be contacting several members and asking them to each take an individual event to plan and execute. This was a tremendously wonderful concept and everyone was excited about the possibilities.

 

A special thank you to Fleet Capt'n Ron, aka Jim Norman for a great job planning and scheduling our 2016 cruises this year. Everyone had a wonderful time. The Labor Day cruise to Castle Harbor was great, even with the forecasted Hurricane.

 

The Crab Feast was very well attended and we want to thank the Bowleys Marina for providing the extra capacity with the white tent and new tables.

 

I want to give a shout out to all members to join in the fun, volunteer... this is all for you, your yacht club. 

Bowleys Point Yacht Club is very fortunate to have such great members, such great volunteers. Your Membership Chair, Belinda Kopp has taken hours of her time to research, email, write letters and make calls to try and obtain replacement burgees for the yacht club for displaying in the Chandlery. She also posted on several Chesapeake Bay Facebook links that we were looking to replace lost burgees and created a yacht club database from around the bay from Chesapeake City to Northern Virginia to track the burgees. Just go take a look and see the number of replacement burgees that she was able to obtain. Also a special thank you to all that have been diligently inquiring all season long at every point of destination whether they have donated a burgee to our cause. Thank you Belinda! Thank you everyone!

 

A little story of many, we received a wonderful letter from the Raccoon Creek Boat Club located in Gibbstown, New Jersey donating a burgee and a monetary donation to our club; wishing the BPYC well and a wonderful summer boating season. How heartwarming and thoughtful!

Many of you know Phil Hock. He is the handsome Past Commodore that attends all of our opening weekend ceremonies. Phil continues to be involved in yacht clubs all over the Chesapeake Bay. This year he was awarded the Citizenship Award for 2016. This is an honor given to those who demonstrate outstanding support and dedication to their home club and sister clubs around the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Phil has been involved in yacht clubs for almost 30 years. He was Commodore of Bowleys Point Yacht Club in the year 2000, Commodore of Baltimore Yacht Club in 2006 and he is an honorary member of the Eastern Yacht Club. Anywhere you go on the bay, Phil is well known.

 

Family is also a focus for Phil. He is a father of 4, has 12 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. We are all very proud to have had such an involved and well-loved Past Commodore. All of us at Bowleys wish Phil and his family all the best. Congratulations to Phil!!

Barbie Wright (B-00C)

Recording Secretary