December 2025

December 2025

2025 - like a fine vintage wine, it was a very good year!

Come December 21st at the Club’s Festivus event we will witness the usurpation of my Commodorehood in a glorious Feat-of-Strength spectacle in which Rick Upson will inevitably defeat me and so ascend to that esteemed office for the year 2026. As I now stand here teetering on the precipice of the end of my days as Commodore, visions of the past year’s events swirl about in a kaleidoscope of memories flashing before my mind’s eye …

“Snowpocalypse” of late January with its surreal snow-covered landscapes lasting for days … a great and very windy Wind Ceremony event in March formally kicking off the sailing season … Lug Nut awards passing to new honorees at least twice … Tom & Ava getting married & moving south … Sylvia finally giving in and marrying Mark … Andrea having a baby … a cherished member saying goodbye to her dear mother … the Club’s youngsters all getting noticeably taller and becoming better sailors … the Club getting a new projector … meetings at District 850 and at Board Members’ homes filled with good food, laughter, and doing Club business … ROADies doing ROADie things as usual … a Club roundel being discussed, conceived, designed, and brought to physical reality … another great Smith Regatta taking place … the training trailer undergoing a complex rehab/redesign/rebuild/relocation process … another successful Endless Summer being planned & brought off wonderfully with the help of many … races raced, the Tripods rounded, laughter mixing with the gentle rolling rush of surf in the warm breeze, boards and sails strewn about on the hot shelly sand of our beloved beach.

Good times and good memories. It was an honor to serve as your Commodore in 2025 and I look forward to solemnly passing the torch to our new Commodore-to-be Rick Upson for an even better 2026! Huzzah! Long live the Shell Point Sailboard Club!

Ted Avellone

Commodore 2025

Shell Point Sailboard Club

Club Meeting - Tuesday, January 13, 2026 @ 7pm

District 850, 2662 Fleischman Way, Tallahassee, FL

Commodore's Comments

Training and Practice Days Wrap Up 2025 by Bob Graves

Though this year presented us with the worst weather for any training summer we have had, we nonetheless had some great sessions and were encouraged by the folks coming out to learn.

The one thing that makes anyone a better sailor is Time on the Water (TOW)! This became evident in several cases, where new students and some who took advantage of practice days this year even though they took a lesson last year, became much better sailors. Even the summer series honed the skills of quite a few sailors, some new to the sport and some just tuning up for the fall races.

A big shout out to all the folks that help with training; Tina, Joe, Baab, Perry, Ryne, Bill, and our newest member Laura! Due to my incapacity, exemplified by being awarded the Gimpy trophy at the Endless Summer, all these folks went above and beyond. Perry has become an invaluable asset on practice days down there and a shout out to some of our newer sailors who always help in putting stuff away; Baily, Rachel, Nichole, Katie and the Sandoval family, Nancy, Meshac, and Shadrac as well as to older members who are chilling when asked to help jump right in and do so.

In summer 2026 just come on down to the beach on a Sunday afternoon and get to know our newer members, get on the water and practice, and race in the summer series if you wish. SPSC was instrumental in making the beach public, so let’s take advantage of it!

The training gear has been packed up and put away for the year to be re-assembled in April of 2026. Next year we are going to reach people how to remove their sails from the water!

Presnell 2025 by BobbyG

This year was a lot different than previous ones. To begin with, a red tide had made its way into the bay, but good fortune for those that got there before Sunday, the wind was offshore from where they camped. Many of us arrived on Sunday, the same day a cold front decided to come busting through. The wind came up big, rocking all the trailers (yes, in most cases it was the wind, though I can’t speak to everyone), and the temperatures dropping into the upper thirties. Fortunately, the club house was toasty warm, and we took advantage of it for our nightly martinis and for a couple suppers.

The wind let up on Tuesday which had a dual effect. The first and best was that the water movement and temper drop, got rid of the red tide and secondly, it also pushed a lot of water out of the bay so that there was land for about half a mile out where there is normally at least a foot of water. This low water also prevented many of the dead fish from coming onto our shore. However, when Chris and Joe went out sailing in light wind conditions on Thursday through Saturday when the water returned, they saw many a dead fish floating.

Even though many of us didn’t sail, games were afoot, from Cards Against Humanity, to Rummikub, Nursing home Bocci Ball, Pickleball, Corn hole toss, and other games people brought. We did have the Red Tide Pickleball Nationals at Gulf County Veterans Memorial Park where we found 4 courts all to ourselves for our championship round. The competition lasted over two days, though some of the competitors from day one were too exhausted to come out again. The winners of this great tournament, organized by Laura Least, were Donna and Ryne! Donna was presented with the Hot Mama pickle and Ryne with the Big Daddy pickle.

Even when we can’t sail, we have fun!