Catalina Fleet 21 - Chicago Region
FleetSheet Newsletter

January 2010

STRICTLY SAIL
After the potluck it’s just one week to our next activity : the Strictly Sail show and Winter Rendezvous at the Hampton Inn. Strictly Sail will be held January 28 through 31 this year. As always we will be manning a Catalina Owner’s booth at the show. Volunteers are needed to be at the booth during all hours of the show. This is a great deal! Your admission to the show is paid for when you spend some time working at the booth for Fleet 21. There are a few time slots remaining. Contact Dave DeAre at to volunteer. Following the show on Saturday 1/30 is the Winter Rendezvous at the Hampton Inn. This is always a fun time to renew your sailing friendships, have a little fun and have the opportunity to take home something from the raffle that Catalina Yachts customarily provides.

If you have not yet reserved your room at the Hampton Inn for that weekend, please contact me (312/923-8378 or Madalyn Duerr ) right away. After the show closes on Saturday, January 30, the Fleet 21 Winter Rendezvous will be held in the Hospitality Room on the second floor of the Hampton.

Pizza, salad and soft drinks will be served. The cost is $10 per person and will be collected at the door. Looking forward to seeing you at the show and the rendezvous.

Madalyn Duerr


WARM UP A WINTER NIGHT

A fire crackling in the fireplace, pictures of warm summer fun on the big screen, friends sharing a drink, the smell of good food wafting through the room…doesn’t that sound like a pleasant evening? It’s our annual potluck! Really! That’s what it’s like. It’s a great way to warm up a January night. This year the pot luck is Saturday, January 23 at the Corinthian Yacht Club located at Montrose Harbor. Join us and get the new year off to a sailing start.



Even though we continue to call this event a “potluck,” it’s really a catered dinner (the yacht club makes us use their catering service). We’ll start off with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. They have a bar and very reasonable drink prices. The catered dinner is $12.50 per person and will begin about 7:30 p.m. After dinner we’ll have a very brief business meeting, and get down to the fun of a brown bag auction. Bring some item you’re happy to part with in a stapled shut brown bag. Indicate an estimated value on the outside of the bag and a clue to its contents. Then the bidding begins! Our fast talking auctioneer will get you to part with a surprising amount of cash so be sure to bring some so you can go home with someone else’s brown bag treasure. Besides the brown bag auction item, bring a log for the fire and your membership renewal form (included in this newsletter).
RSVP to Bill and Mickie Thompson at 630-257-8052 by Jan. 20.

 

A MESSAGE FROM THE COMMODORE

Happy New Year to all our Fleet 21 members and their families. At the start of the new year I try to reflect on the past year and look forward to the upcoming year and begin the planning of the club for 2010. In looking back we had a busy year of activities; programs, outings, social activities and of course the banquet. I think we did a pretty good job based on the weather last year. The only thing I think we as a board were not very successful at was in recruiting help for the various committees. But that was last year and we begin again.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask the membership to step up and volunteer to help. I know we are all very busy and have multiple facets to our lives and sailing is only one part of that picture. But the club needs help if we are going to continue to provide the wide variety of activities that we currently do. The board is very flexible in terms of what we need and how much participation is necessary for any one individual. We can split any of the positions on the committees up among any number of people so one person does not have to come to all of the meetings. In many cases much of the participation could be done via email. At this point we have a great need for a Secretary, and once again this could be split between people if say one person is away during the winter months. The other positions that we need help with are:

• Secretary – Takes minutes at each meeting and corresponds meeting notices to the board.
• Programs – Puts together programs for the general meetings.
• Fund Raising – Sets up and implements various fund raising programs for the fleet.

We also have a couple of positions that the current committee chair has asked for a replacement but none has yet to be found. One in particular is the Mainsheet editor. Hazel Luther has done this job for over 10 years and is looking to retire. The Mainsheet is published quarterly and a report of Fleet 21’s activities needs to be published in each issue. I know we must have at least one aspiring writer in the club that can take on this job. Again if we have more than one volunteer we could split the responsibility between them.

If you can help and volunteer even some of your time please contact me at 630-257-8052 or via email me, Bill Thompson  and we can discuss options. Many hands make for much lighter work!

On a lighter note we have some upcoming activities that I need to mention. Our first is the annual “Pot Luck”, which is also the first opportunity to renew your membership in Fleet 21. The details are still being worked out as I write this so please refer to the front page for more information.

The next activity is the Strictly Sail show and Winter Rendezvous at the Hampton Inn. Details are also in this newsletter.

Bill Thompson
Commodore



Winter Rendezvous Chairman
Please Note: If you choose to bring in another beverage of choice, we just ask that you please be extremely discreet about it.



BUY/TRADE/SELL
Fleet members may list items they want to sell, trade or buy in this column without any charge.
Email listings to Carolyn DeAre  or mail to Fleet Sheet Editor, 306 Linden St., Glen Ellyn, IL 60137.
Listings run for 2 issues unless you notify me otherwise.



MEMBERSHIP
Your 2010 membership renewal form is included in this newsletter. Please fill it out completely even if your information has not changed. Bring your completed form to the January potluck or mail it to Pat and Ron Shereyk.



BANQUET
75 Fleet members dined, danced and sparkled at the Awards Banquet on Nov. 21.
Awards were presented as follows:
Boat of the Year went to Branson and Danita Stone for all their work for the fleet
Commodore’s Award went to Nancy Bartlett for her enthusiasm and help
Racer of the Year went to Ray Kalinsky in recognition of his racing activities including participation in the Mac Race with other Fleet members as crew.