Valcour Sailing Club

Executive Committee Meeting

22 March 2004

 

Members Present:

John Pytlak, William Brockway, Phil Gorman, Angie French, Bob Bunnell, Eddie Trombley, Brian Dowling, Tom Morley, Brian White, Chris Duley, Bob Smith.

 

 

Bob Smith (BS) called the meeting to order at 6:40.

BS: “I will have to resign as Commodore as the Valcour Sailing Club. In my business at Ground Round, the structure at the corporate level is tanking, and the individual restaurant owners are being forced to take over all those functions. I am the treasurer of the Owners Association and I oversee the procurement and distribution of Food products for the remaining 72 restaurants in 19 states. My plate is suddenly way too full to give the VSC the attention it deserves from its Commodore.”

 

The Board expressed understanding, and will appoint a new Commodore at the next meeting. BS will inform the membership, and request volunteers.

 

 

Treasurer’s Report

Brian White (BW) noted that he had just received our insurance bill for the year, $952. It does include some liquor liability coverage.

 

BW introduced a template for a Promissory Note to give to investors in the Committee Boat Fund. There was some discussion about how to compound the interest, whether daily, monthly, or annually. BW will run the numbers and make recommendation at the next meeting.

 

 

Race Committee

Phil Gorman (PG) reported that the schedule of races, regattas, and OD duties is finished. Printing has been arranged, and PG will have Race Committee meeting during the next week.

 

 

Rating Committee

Brian Dowling (BD) handed out a comprehensive report on the LCPHRF meeting he attended last month. They decided that there would be a Lakewide Series this summer.

 

 

Protest Committee

No Report

 

 

Sponsorship Committee

BS noted that Sarah Tucker has sponsors set up for the Race Book.

 

John Pytlak (JP) is working on sponsors for the Solings North American Champs, specifically Red Bull.

 

 

Bylaw Update Report

BD reported that the next meeting to discuss Bylaw Changes would be April 12, 2004, in Room 228, at Clinton Community College.

 

BS noted that they are making significant progress on re-vamping the Bylaws.

 

 

Committee Boat Search

Chris Duley (CD) has sold the old Committee Boat for $850. CD presented several prospective new boats he and his team have turned up, both in the area and in distant states. CD has personally looked at several of them, and presented photos of these, as well as printouts of listings he had found online.

 

After extensive discussion, we decided to focus on two local boats: an aluminum Crestliner at Fox Marine in Vermont, and a Carver at Snug Harbor. BS requested that each Board Member visit the two boats and give feedback to CD before Sunday.

 

Do we still have a free slip at PBB this summer? Bob Bunnell will talk to Jimmy Carter about this.

 

Eddie Trombley motioned to adjourn, Bill Brockway seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor at 8:46.

 

The next meeting of the Executive Committee is April 5, 2004, at 6:30, at The Inn at Smithfield. All members are encouraged to attend.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Brockway

Club Secretary

 

 

 

Addendum 1: On March 23, Bill Brockway polled the Board Members regarding a date for the Spring Banquet, as this had not been discussed at the meeting. All agreed that May 8, 2004 would work well. Details to follow via Dan Inhelder.

 

 

 

 

Addendum 2: On March 24, Brian White went to Snug Harbor to take a look at the Carver, and he spotted a Grady White twin-outboard that met almost all our criteria. Chris Duley, Don Duley, and Eddie Trombley looked at it on March 25, and Chris recommended to the Board that we should move swiftly to buy this boat, noting that the purchase price is $14,000.

 

On March 29, the Board met at Brian and Beth White’s house to discuss the purchase of a new Committee Boat. Attending were:

 

Brian White, Phil Gorman, Sarah Tucker, Bill Brockway, Dan Inhelder, and Brian Dowling.

 

Brian White (BW) reported that the Committee Boat Fund had $7,500 in it, but adding in $850 from the sale of the old boat, plus $4,750 in additional investments promised within the last 48 hours (but not yet received), the Fund now theoretically stood at $13,100.

 

Chris Duley could not be present, but he had reported that the seller was willing to come down to $12,000.

 

BW reported that keeping the interest rate at 8 percent (as all agreed was the right thing to do) changed our annual debt service from $2,400 to $3,100 for the larger amount.

 

Dan Inhelder (DI) noted that we could cut the trophy item in the budget this year, because we had just bought a bunch of new trophies last year.

 

Brian Dowling (BD) noted that the Grady White had two outboard engines, and could use a lot of gas, but we could use just one. Even pull one off of the boat.

 

BW felt it would be better to keep both engines on.

 

Phil Gorman mentioned that there was greater opportunity to sell sponsorship space on the sides of the boat with the Grady White. The Crestliner at Fox Marine had less opportunity for this, but also less need as the price was much less.

 

The feeling was that the Grady White could potentially generate $1,000 per year ($500 x 4 ads) in sponsorships.

 

Polling the room, Which boat do you think we should buy?

 

Brian White             The Grady White

Phil Gorman             Grady White, it will last longer, and is safer.

Dan Inhelder            Grady White, good boat, good platform for running races, will help the Club.

Sarah Tucker           Grady White

Bill Brockway            Grady White, haven’t seen the Crestliner, but the Grady White looks very good for running races, and has safe deck access to the bow.

Brian Dowling          Grady White, if we buy it now for 12K, we could probably sell it later for that or more.

 

Bill Brockway (BB) motioned to amend the Committee Boat Fund document to change the limit on borrowing from $10,000 to $15,000. Dan Inhelder seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. No other changes to the document were made.

 

BD suggested that we buy the boat with a deposit and contract stating what they will do to the boat before delivery, and pending a sea trial.

 

As Chris Duley, the driving force behind this effort, is out of town, BW motioned to give Phil Gorman and Brian White the power to represent the Club in the purchase of this boat. Brian Dowling seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Phil Gorman will contact Josephine at Snug Harbor regarding the purchase.

 

Brian Dowling will approach Don Duley to ask if he would consider the position of Commodore for the upcoming season.

 

Phil Gorman motioned to adjourn, Sarah Tucker seconded, and the motion passed with all in favor.

 

 

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