Newsletter
October 2000

From the Commodore’s Desk

With time running out on the sailing season, I wanted to make sure everyone was "in the know" about the last two major club events.

Commodore's Cup Regatta - November 4 - This will be the last race of 2000. As is the protocol, the Commodore selects the format for the regatta. This year I have elected to try something a little different. The three race regatta will be a member/guest.

Some of you have probably played in a member guest tournament at a golf or tennis club. The plan for our regatta is for each boat to include one "guest" among the crew. This does not mean that regular racing members can not take their regular crew, it just means that they need to also take at least one guest. By guest, we mean any person who is not a racer. This could be a sailing club member, or a non-member. The goal is to expose as many people as possible to the fun of sailboat racing. For you boat owners that are also non-racers, you would qualify just by showing up. If you need an experienced racer to help out, we can supply one. This is intended to be a FUN race, albeit competitive. Please contact me (625-2154) with any questions. We plan on placing a notice in NEWSTIME letting residents know about the race, and inviting them to come watch (or participate), so it would be nice to have a lot of boats. Face it, if you haven't put your boat away yet, you might as well sail in this regatta.

Awards Banquet - November 11 - This is the last event of the year, and a must for all members. Besides the obvious awarding the year's trophies, we'll vote on our new officers, tell a few jokes and stories, and basically have a great time. The details of the evening are not yet set, so look for something in the mail soon. In the meantime, block out the evening of November 11 to join us at the CA for a wonderful party.

Some other housekeeping - I was informed by the CA this evening that they will be advising (not sure how) all sailors with masts over 30' above the water line to avoid entering some areas of the lake. The issue is power lines, and I have been personally involved in trying to determine just how high the lines are around the lake since the beginning of the summer. Cuivre River has provided some measurements that we feel are less than accurate, so we continue to study the issue. For those of us with bigger boats, please just be careful when passing under any of the power lines that cross the lake, especially in coves like Lakewood. Any questions, please call me.

First, I admit my bias on this issue. That being said, I'd like to make a pitch for support of the City's bond issue on the November 7 ballot. The City has been making presentations to many clubs and groups over the last month, and I promised to spread the word to the sailors. I'm recommending that you support the bond not for the street repairs it will allow, but rather for the water quality impact the bond will have. Around $600,000 of the $2.5 million bond is targeted for storm water projects. In a nutshell, this money will fund projects all over the city that will better control storm water before it enters the lakes. Better control means less erosion, and less silt entering the lakes. A couple of important points. First, the City of Lake Saint Louis has never really had a storm water control budget, so this represents the first real effort to bring this problem under control. Second, there are many matching grants available to help with these projects. This should allow us to stretch the $600,000 to cover many more than the 27 projects already identified. As a club whose primary activity is based on the lakes, I would hope we can all support the City's attempt to improve the water quality in both lakes. Again, if you have questions, please give me a call.

Hope to see you all over the new few weekends.

Smooth sailing!