Month: June 2020

PANNTOA Annual Board Virtual Meeting Minutes – June 15, 2020

Covid Version

Drumroll please! The polls are closed and the votes are tabulated. We have no hanging chads and no evidence of foreign mischief with the results!

Due to the Covid-caused cancellation of our annual Rendezvous and Annual Meeting, an online election was held for active members to satisfy state and federal requirements to maintain our non-profit status. An email was distributed via our official PANNTOA account on June 8 with voting information. Forty-six active members responded with unanimous approval of the following items:

  1. Minutes of the 2019 Annual Meeting were approved.
  2. Financial report for 2019 (with April 2020 update) was approved.
  3. Mike Russell was elected to the Executive Board as Rear Commodore / Treasurer.

Within the 46 voting emails were many expressions of appreciation to the board for their work and concurrent disappointment for missing the Vous this year. One astute member corrected my misstatement in the June 8 email. To clarify, we elect members to the Executive Board (Commodore, Vice Commodore and Rear Commodore) but the other directors (i.e. Vous, Communications, Web, and Membership) are all appointed to the Board by the Exec Board.

Thanks for your participation and response! Our business is done and meeting adjourned. The bar is open.

Doug Ford, Vice Commodore

Commodore’s Corner – June 16, 2020

Welcome to Summer Tuggers!

Carole and I are sitting here on Last Splash (in the rain!) reflecting on the past few days that would’ve been our 2020 Rendezvous in Sydney B.C. Although we certainly missed seeing all of our fellow Tuggers, the weather in Sydney last weekend would have made for a very wet experience! We look forward to making a great rendezvous for next year and are counting on the weather gods to cooperate.

I would like to give a big shout out and thanks to our two outgoing board members, Carter Barnes and Robbin Young. Carter has done a good job keeping track of all your money and managing the financial requirements of the organization. Robbin has been influential in implementing change and development in the website, identifying problems and documenting processes that were difficult to track down. Her efforts show in the increased activity and functionality in the website. Thanks to both of you for volunteering your time and efforts to make PANNTOA a better organization.

I would like to thank all who participated in the Proxy Vote for 2020. This virtual voting is now closed and you can find a recap of the results in Doug Ford’s 2020 General Meeting Minutes.

Please give a hearty welcome aboard to our two new incoming board members. Mike Russell has been voted in as our new Rear Commodore/Treasurer. Although with his boat named MT Pockets, we may have to keep a close eye on the bank account (JUST KIDDING Mike). Sandra Piotrowski is assuming the Web Director position and has already been hard at work identifying additional processes and possibilities for continued improvement of the website. I look forward to working with them as well as our continuing board members; Doug Ford, Mike Young, Chris Sodeman and Jeff Brein. Mike’s and Sandra’s Bios can be found on the website under the About Us/Current PaNNTOA Officers menu.

As I sit here composing this, we are seeing boating opportunities opening again for us to get out and enjoy our boats. The one question still to be answered is whether the US/Canada border will open in time for summer cruising, although at this point in time, it looks unlikely. Carole and I are usually gone all of July/August cruising and fishing in the Broughtons. This year we had planned to cover some new territory, going as far north as Rivers Inlet, Shearwater and Ocean Falls. We have begun talking about how we can enjoy summer cruising closer to home. We are going to take a positive approach and use it as an opportunity to seek out those smaller places, out-of-the-way spots or anchorages we’ve never visited in the San Juans. There is also a lot of great cruising in the Sound Sound area as well that present many opportunities that we haven’t explored for years. I hope we will see you out on the water as well!
And finally, some great news from the Nordic Tug factory. I had a conversation with Dave Allen last Friday. They expect to reopen at full workforce this week and they have a bunch of new boat orders! He told me they have six IMC boats in the queue and one new 40 foot Nordic Tug as well. This is in addition to the four Nordic Tugs they were working on prior to COVID-19 shutdown. It seems that people may be trading their luxury vacation or international destinations for local boating opportunities. That, of course, is excellent news for the factory and for us as well as we continue to support the NT brand.

Safe Cruising!

Gary White
PaNNTOA Commodore