Soling sailors past, present and future:

 

I was curious about the state of Solings here, so I made the table below to take an inventory of all the Solings that have made a home port in Plattsburgh. I think it’s a complete list, but if you see mistakes/omissions let me know. As you see, there have been a total of 19 boats here in Plattsburgh. Eight boats have been sold and left the area leaving 11 boats still here (some actively sailing, some parked).

 

As we all know, sailing a Soling is not cheap, ($800 lift fee, $300 club dues, $200+ insurance, $175 class dues, plus gear and sails). We have historically been a fleet where the boat owner pays all the bills and the crew just sails. In order to maintain and expand our fleet maybe we should try to follow a model that other fleets have used whereby the expenses are spilt by all three sailors. I know that it is difficult to ask your crew to make a commitment to sailing in both time and money. With less boats sailing, I assume there are experienced and new crew members that would like to sail but don’t have a boat to ride on. If we are creative we could possibly come up with arrangements to lend or lease boats or share expenses. We are considering holding several races or even a series of crew become the skipper races. If interested, let me know. Of course the economy is not good right now but I feel it would be a shame if our fleet does not come through this period of decline.

 

Thanks to Bruce and Laurie Gugliotta, our fleet started to tailgate with the BBQ grill after Tuesday races. We will hopefully continue and expand that tradition. It is a great way of socializing and saves the expense of the bar and restaurant.

 

I know that many of you have had life changes, and may not be able to campaign your boat this year. If you are a Soling owner could you please reply with your plans for your boat in 2010. I am hoping to get more of those 11 boats sailing regularly. Please remember to pay your club dues by April 1^st in order to save $30.

 

For your information the Spring Soling Bowl is in Annapolis is April 10 and 11. The Soling North American Championship will be in Bath Ontario July 2-4. Start making travel plans now.

 

Brian White

Soling Fleet Captain

 

Boat	Originally owned by	Where is it now
USA 184	Ed Trombley	Sold to Bob Smith, then sold out of town
USA 837	John Trombley	Sold to John Reynolds, moved out of town
USA 575	Chris Lanigan	Sold on Ebay
USA 85	Roland Sherman	Sold to Brian White, then traded with Boston Sailing Center
USA 761	Tom Morley	Sold to party in California
CAN 197	Peter Hall	Sold to party in Argentina
USA 714	Roland Sherman	Sold to Dr. Gorman, then sold out of town
USA 833	Ed Trombley	Sold to Nova Scotia
USA 780	Brian White	Currently sailed in Plattsburgh
USA 850	Chris Duley	Currently sailed in Plattsburgh
USA 835	Sherman/Stata	Currently sailed in Plattsburgh
CAN 225	Peter Hall	Currently sailed in Plattsburgh
USA 719	Chris Duley	Sold to Guy Hausrath currently in Plattsburgh
USA 830	David Gorman	Sold to Chris Duley, parked in Plattsburgh
USA 812	McDowell/Sajor/Surber	Currently parked in Plattsburgh
USA 851	Patrick Larkin	Currently parked in Plattsburgh
USA 755	Dan Inhelder	Currently parked in Plattsburgh
USA 811	Ty Kretser	Currently parked in Plattsburgh
USA 849	John Trombley	Currently parked in Plattsburgh