GMSC had a busy month in October, wrapping up another successful centerboard season, hosting the annual meeting, and holding the highly anticipated sail-offs to determine the 2023 Centerboard Champion!
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the annual meeting to get updates on our annual club business and enjoy a spaghetti dinner and silly games for prizes. The meeting covered a review of the accomplishments throughout 2023, important updates and decisions for the upcoming year and the election of officers for 2024.
For 2024, your flag officers will remain the same with me as Commodore, Sherri Jo McLemore as Vice Commodore, Greg Hamilton as Treasurer and Yates Phillips as Secretary. I am excited to serve another year and look forward to working with our amazing board to complete the projects we have identified!
Maintaining our infrastructure and planning for the future needs of the GMSC have been a big focus in 2023. We established a capital planning committee, led by Sherri Jo McLemore, tasked with developing multi-year roadmap to ensure that we have a thriving club for future generations. This plan identified needed infrastructure repairs and upgrades, as well as projects aimed at making our club safer, more functional, and enjoyable for all members.
Over the next 12 months, the board decided to focus on several projects including:
1. Replace the seawall at Kiko’s Corner (Crane area) – The seawall has significantly degraded creating significant structural issues for Kiko’s corner. Repairs are needed to ensure the crane and surrounding area is secure and that members have a safe place to work on their boats. After extensive research and expert opinions from our engineers, the board has approved the installation of a new seawall that wraps around the entire existing seawall around the crane. We will use a segmented rock retaining wall system with the look of natural stone. The work will be done while the lake is low, targeting the January time frame. The project will require 5-10 days.
2. Purchase a new safety boat for the race committee – A primary program objective is having a vibrant, year-round racing program. Having two well-functioning safety boats supports safe and efficient races. We are purchasing a second Weld-Craft boat to support racing. We will sell the Kenner, which is older and not suitable for high wind and chop. The new boat is currently under construction and should be delivered in the coming weeks!
3. Create a Sunfish beach and launch area – Our Sunfish docks are unsafe and beyond repair. While we eventually want to replace them after other critical projects are complete, a Sunfish beach is an affordable alternative that will support the program in the near-term.
4. Upgrade the Pavilion with Fundraising Efforts – The pavilion is the focal point of GMSC and an upgrade will improve the beauty of our grounds and accommodate social and educational gatherings for members. We have taken the first step to obtain a drawing and are working with contractors to price the project. We plan to launch a fundraising campaign to pay for the upgrades! Details to follow.
Stay tuned on these exciting projects, which should be kicking off in the coming months.
As we head into November, we were excited to kick off our Keelboat racing season! The Fall Regatta was held on November 4 and 5 and despite light wind, it was fantastic to see the keelboats out! The wind finally came in on Sunday afternoon and we got three short races in before the sun went down. Congratulations to our winners Werner Schwarz (A-Fleet) and Mark Barton (B-Fleet).
Our next race is Sunday, November 12 and I encourage all interested sailors to join. You can see the
full racing schedule on our website. If you don’t have a keelboat? No problem! People are always looking for crew and the
Race Committee is also always happy to have people join and help, which is a fantastic way to view the races. Please send me an email if you are interested in crewing or helping with RC and I am happy to help connect you with opportunities.
Finally, I hope you will all join us at the
2023 Fall Ball on November 18th. This is one of our most special events of the year, where we dress up and have a great evening celebrating and honoring those who have trophies and club awards. Please RSVP to Cait Tribett by
November 11th.
See you at the lake!
Mary