The Mainsheet - April 2023

From The Commodore

We have celebrated our 56th Annual Opening Day!  A new season awaits us. We are charting a new course for Anacapa Yacht Club that will bring us into a more sustainable place and ensure our growth and prosperity.  Any such program will mean change. Change, by its nature, is difficult. But Change we  must, change we will, change we shall.

Thanks to the efforts of our Vice Commodore, Matthew Speicher, we have contracted with Sysco Systems to provide foodstuffs for Wet Wednesdays and other Club events. Matt has outlined a new menu of Classic Choices and New Options designed to feed hungry sailors and generate a fair income for our club. In a sense, this was an unforeseen benefit of the Covid epidemic. Sysco had declined to work with smaller contractors.  Owing to changes in the food service industry, they have revisited that policy and we are one of the beneficiaries.

Our Treasurer, Mary Crandall Plasencia, is producing a working budget that will account for how monies are disbursed and provide greater transparency in reporting of income and expenses.  It is no secret that we are in a precarious position financially. We will have to make some difficult decisions to ensure the future health of the club. As one member said, our goal is to keep the doors open. This means that no expense can be considered greater than the goal of prosperity.  We have gained new members, but we have lost more. New membership is the lifeblood of any social organization. We must all become zealous evangelists for AYC and make it our personal goal to bring in a new member this year.

Sailing is our lifeblood. This is why we exist. We provide opportunities to race, to cruise, and to share good fellowship around these activities. We must reach out to other organizations that share our common interests and extend invitations to join the AYC family. The best invitation comes from one member inviting another. We all know potential members. Now is your chance to do some good for your club.

What will not change? We are a sailing club. That won’t change. We are a member-driven club. That isn’t going to change.  We are the dive bar of yacht clubs. That won’t change.  We are ANACAPA YACHT CLUB, the coolest club in the harbor. That’s not going to change.  Let’s stand together and make this the best of our 56-year history. We can do it, if we do it together.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,

Pablo Crandall Plasencia, Commodore