Twenty Hundred Club Members,

Here we are, the first day of spring with snow in the forecast. What a difference from last year. Even with snow, the planning and prep for the spring party and 2013 sailing season is well underway. If you haven’t been to the website you are in for big and hopefully welcomed surprise. Without going into the details of how we got here. I personally can’t thank Bill Kneller enough for his efforts on the site. Between Bill and EC Helme, they kind of spearheaded this effort and in typical Navy fashion it was “damn the torpedoes full speed ahead”, Thanks guys!

Now, we’re half way thru March and of course I’m late getting the word out. But the details for the shore party are being worked out and we are pleased to announce we’ll be hosted again by the Bristol Yacht club. The date is April 6 with cocktails starting a 6:00 pm and dinner around 7:00. It’s getting pretty difficult to keep this event under the $35 per head price range and keeping it on the ‘up scale’ side of things but based on the turn out last year and all the new things happening I’m sure the event will be a great start to the season. I’ve been assured that if you buy a ticket you will get a seat and a dinner. The spring party is both the completion of the 2012 season and the start of the 2013. The prizes and trophies are in the works and hopefully will be completed on time. Please check your finish standings; we award some nice prizes for 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd place finishes. And we’d like to hand them all out the winners at the party.

Those of you that come to the spring meeting know this is where we elect our executive board for the coming season. This year we have a terrific slate of candidates and absent nominations from the floor these volunteers will be elected. For Commodore, Greg Morash, Vice Commodore/Race Chairman, EC Helme, Rear Commodore/Social director, Wayne Morris, Secretary, Gary Venable and Peter Michaelson (shared duties) and Nick Bowen as treasurer. Please join me in wishing them a great season and by all means any one of them would welcome any volunteers to help with their efforts.

Now, back to the fun stuff. One of the biggest features of the new website is the ability to fill out documents and submit payments online. Now the drudgery of printing forms, filling them out, finding your check book an envelope and stamp have been replaced with a few mouse clicks. This is the 21^st century. As this is the first year there may be a few glitches but the system has been pretty well tested so hopefully they will be minimal.

Last year we saw great race participation and addition/change of the Cuttyhunk race to a “Round the Island race was a huge success. Let’s keep it up. I hope to get even more boats on the start lines next year.

As this will be my last “Commodores letter” I’ll take this time to say it’s been a real pleasure serving the club and Thank you all very much to the many people who volunteer their time for the club. This is truly the effort we need to keep this thing moving. See you in Bristol.

Fair winds and following seas,

John Whaley

Commodore

Join your Twenty Hundred Club friends for drinks, dinner, and fun at Bristol Yacht Club on Saturday 6 April to kick off the 2013 season.

Drinks start at 6:00pm with dinner served at 7:00pm.

Tickets are $35 per person and may be purchased online via the new website.

Click the burgee to be directed to the shop and make your purchase.

Wow!  The Twenty Hundred Club website sure looks different! ……

It is and should help us serve the Twenty Hundred Club members better.  Significant enhancements have been made including;

• We now accept credit card and PayPal in addition to check payments
• Paper registration forms are a thing of the past.  We now accept new membership, membership renewal, race registration, social event sign-up and burgee sales, all via the website
• Liability Waiver requirements for race registration are the same as the past, but are now read and “signed” online with your race registration
• PHRF form submission is no longer required. You enter the PHRF values on your “profile” with membership renewal.  We validate the values online with PHRF-NB
• A calendar application that has links that allow you to download Twenty Hundred Club events to your personal calendar

We installed new software to make the online experience better for our club members, and make maintenance easier for the club officers. These enhancements will make it easier for us to disseminate information to you.

The 2012 racing season is over. Boats are being put away and hopefully all survived the wrath of Sandy. But the club business continues. Thursday November 8th is our fall meeting and it is one of the more important events we’ll have as a club.

Among many things we discuss are the nominations of officers for the executive board. This is important because the board is already short staffed. Of the 9 positions defined in our bylaws only five are normally staffed and this year four people shared the majority of the load. Four out
of the five members serving have announced they will not continue to serve actively on the board including myself as commodore.

So, It’s time to seriously think about what level you want to commit to this club. I’ve talked to a few members and they have considered stepping up (you know which ones). Nominations will only be official if we have members come to the meeting and put their names in the ring. We need more volunteers, period. If you like the events we put on, like the competition, the after race parties then more people have to step up.

The membership meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 8, at the RIYC at 8:00. This will immediately follow the NBYA annual meeting. This is an open meeting to all 2000 club members. The following will be the agenda.
Twenty Hundred Club Meeting Agenda Thursday, Nov. 8 2012, 8:00 pm, at the RIYC:

Commodore’s Report

• Changes made in 2012
• Proposal’s for 2013
• Race participation

Secretary’s Report

• Active membership 2012
• Treasurer’s Report
• Financial status of the club

Vice Commodore’s Report

• Race participation
• Nominations for Executive positions
• New Business
• Adjournment

Absent of an executive board there will not be Twenty Hundred club racing next year. That would be a shame. Please come and pitch in for the good of the club.

Thank you,
John Whaley
Commodore

The Twenty Hundred Club has been racing on Narragansett Bay and its adjacent waters since 1946.

The club roster currently includes almost 200 members & over 125 yachts.

All races feature cruising and spinnaker classes to provide exciting competition for both the weekend family sailor and the serious club racer.

The Prince Henry the Navigator Race has been featured in Sailing World as one of the most unique racing experiences in the country!