Category: Commodores Corner

Commodore’s Corner – March 2020

Greetings Fellow Tuggers!

Your Board held a meeting on March 10th to discuss the upcoming Rendezvous as well as the Corona Virus outbreak and its potential impacts. We held very long and thoughtful discussions and had hoped to continue planning for the rendezvous. However, over the past week, due to the rapid and dramatic changes in the growth of the outbreak, it became obvious that we needed to cancel to protect your health, well-being, and safety. Most of you have probably already seen my statement on the web site addressing this. The plan for the 2021 rendezvous is to continue at the Sydney location, if available, using the plans already completed.

We also discussed the upcoming officer lineup for the 2020-2021 slate of officers. The following have all agreed to continue in our respective positions: Myself (Commodore), Doug Ford (Vice Commodore/Secretary), Chris Sodeman (Membership Director), and Mike Young (Communications Director). These are pending approval by the membership at our General Meeting (time and place TBD).

Jeff Brein has agreed to continue in a position of Rendezvous Co-Director, with the understanding that we will recruit an additional Rendezvous Co-Director to assist with the 2021 rendezvous planning, then transition to full Rendezvous Director the following year. This approach provides the opportunity for a new candidate to work closely with Jeff, who has ample experience with rendezvous planning.

The following board member changes are upcoming:
• Carter Barnes (Rear Commodore/Treasurer) has asked to be replaced and will resign at the end of his term.
• Robbin Young (Web Director) has asked to be replaced and will resign at the end of her term.

I strongly believe that having board members identified and in place prior to the General Meeting is important for the effectiveness of the position and for the benefit of the membership. I am asking you to consider filling one of these positions:
• Rear Commodore/Treasurer
• Rendezvous Co-Director
• Web Director (discussions are underway with a possible candidate)

If you have an interest in one of these positions, and/or especially if you have some skill associated with them, please contact me or one of the other Board members. You can read the respective job descriptions by going to the PaNNTOA web site; click on Officers/Job Descriptions.
Spring is upon us and so begins another cruising season. This winter’s weather made it challenging for most of us to get out but I’m sure we’re all looking forward to getting some fresh air and salt water in our faces! And a respite from our chaotic world right now will certainly be welcome.

Spring is a good time to check and update your safety equipment including:
• Expiration dates on flares
• EPIRB batteries and registration renewal
• Smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector batteries
• Auto-inflate mechanisms on inflatable life jackets

Safe Cruising!

Gary White
PaNNTOA Commodore

Happy New Year!

With the holidays behind us, it’s time to look forward to boat shows. Both the Vancouver and Seattle boat shows are coming up quickly. It’s time to find all those cool accessories to enhance your boating experience. And maybe for some of you out there a new Tug is in order! I’ll be attending Seattle’s show on several days to see what’s new and catch up with friends throughout the boating industry.

Our Rendezvous Director, Jeff Brein, is hard at work setting up the venues and vendors for our 2020 Rendezvous in Sydney. We will have more information available as we get closer to the date. I think you’ll enjoy what we have planned for the opening night reception!

Our Web Director, Robbin Young continues to work on website enhancements and content development. I hope you get an opportunity to look through the website periodically and give her your feedback as to the stories she’s added and the enhancements that she’s done. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please feel free to share those with her.

Our Communications Director, Mike Young has organized a second Nordic Tug factory tour which will occur on January 15th. The first tour was a huge success and people enjoyed seeing how their boats are assembled. A big thanks to the Nordic Tug folks for allowing us to see their craftsmanship!

The rest of the Board is working on budget preparation and a host of other administrative issues.

And now I have a request for you!

PaNNTOA is an all volunteer organization. As such it depends on folks to step in and volunteer to make the organization lively, viable and successful. If you have an interest and/or skills that could help our organization, please contact one of us on the board to discuss how you might help. It can be as simple as volunteering to help at the rendezvous, sending us a story or an idea for the website or taking on a board position as they become available. Identifying those who are interested in volunteering now is helpful as it allows us to plan and prepare for future events. This also provides the new volunteer an opportunity to shadow the position prior to assuming responsibility.

And finally, even though it’s winter, look for those weather windows that allow you to get out on your boats and enjoy the beautiful NW waters without the crowds. Carole and I have some pretty fond memories of being the only boat on the dock, and having Sucia Island all to ourselves!

Gary White, PaNNTOA Commodore

Commodore’s Corner

Greetings Fellow Tuggers!

Another successful rendezvous is now behind us and your Board is already beginning preparations for 2020 Rendezvous to be held in Sidney, BC. We hope that those of you that could attend this year found it enjoyable, entertaining and educational. We hope to continue that theme next year as well.

We have reviewed the surveys that you provided us (we had a 38% return rate and we appreciate those who took the time to fill out the survey) and are beginning to address those issues that will enable us to build on what our predecessors have been so successful.

A big thank you to all of those who participated in the auction, both live and silent. We raised a total of $4715 for the Skagit Valley College Marine Technology Center. I delivered a check to Mike Beemer, the department chair, on Monday.  Our Communications Director, Mike Young, is working on sending articles about the Rendezvousand auction out to several magazines. There also was a short article in the Anacortes American.

Most of the board is or will be out cruising this summer.  You can expect to see more communication from us as we near fall. Until then safe and healthy cruising and spread the word about the great boats that we all have!

Gary White
Commodore PaNNTOA