February 2025
Commodore's Comments
by Ted Avellone, Commodore 2025!
Now that it’s warming up again, the blizzard and pack ice deposited by Snowpocalypse 2025 just a few weeks ago already seems like a distant memory or a bad dream. Now it’s time to regroup, refocus, and prepare for the warm breezes and sunny afternoons of Spring that are just around the corner. The Wind Ceremony on March 22 is only a handful of weekends away!
Lessons are now being scheduled on the Club’s website (www.20knotsnob.com), so tell friends about the free windsurfing lessons we offer – you just sign up and show up -- the teachers, boards, sails, and gear are all provided free. Let’s get the word out! And while we’re on the subject, a big thanks to all of the teachers, and of course to all of the others in the club who help out and volunteer in so many ways, including the new (and old) Officers and Board Members. It’s all of you who make the club the unique, friendly, and fun group that it is. You are much appreciated! Keep it going, and pay it forward!
Last, while we’re starting to get our stuff out in anticipation of Spring, now is a good time to ask yourself if you have any older boards, sails, or other gear that you don’t really use anymore. Be thinking about passing it on to newer members who may be trying to complete their own setups.
See you at the meetings, the beach, and on the water!
Ted Avellone
Commodore 2025
Shell Point Sailboard Club
Dolphins ~ Ted Avellone
We seem to have a natural liking and even fascination about dolphins. I’m convinced that this is mostly because they happen to have a “resting happy face” by virtue of the upswept curvature of the rear of their mouths which makes them appear to be smiling all the time. So cute! We love dolphins! If they instead happened to have mean-looking or profoundly stupid expressions, maybe we’d be harpooning them left and right, eating and using them for bait, and regarding them as little more than overgrown mullet. But I digress.
BONAIRE TRIP 2025 ~ Chris Graves
Danielle and I, along with others, will be making our fourth sojourn to the wonderful desert island of Bonaire.
We will be departing May 31 and returning June 7. We selected these dates as the tides are fairly good every afternoon and there is less chance of tropical storms disrupting activities.
BONAIRE OVERVIEW
Bonaire, (Bone-air) is an island municipality of the Netherlands Bonaire lies off Venezuela’s coast in the southern Caribbean.
Its reef-lined coast is protected by the Bonaire National Marine Park. Beyond its rich marine life, the island shelters lizards, donkeys and birds within its immense Washington Slagbaai National Park, marked by beaches, lagoons, caverns and desert-like hills.
Capital: Kralendijk
Population: 25K
Official language: Dutch. In addition English, Papiamento (local language), Spanish, and German are also spoken by most everyone.
Currency: US Dollar
Time zone: Atlantic Standard time
Summer temps 82-85
GETTING THERE
Delta and American, have flights to Bonaire that depart from Tallahassee. Flights run once or twice a week flight time from Atlanta is about 4 hours. Air fares run between $700-$1000.
There is a $75 entrance fee which can be paid online https://tourismtax.bonairegov.com or at the airport for a stay up to one month.
A $40 STINAPA fee is charged to dive and windsurf and gives free park entrance to Washington-Slagbaai National Park.
HOUSING
My last three trips I stayed at the Sorobon which is a very nice beach resort located directly on Lac Bay next door to jibe city and all the other surf shops. The Sorobon has become too expensive for my taste.
This trip I plan to stay on the leeward side of the island. I will limit windsurfing to the afternoons when the waters and wind are higher. I also want to snorkel and do some sightseeing which is primarily on the leeward side.
On this trip plan on using Sunwise realty and rent a house or apartment. The prices come to around a $100 per room per day, so a 3 bed 3 bath would be around $300 per day inland about $450 on the water.
As of now we are most likely staying in the Sabal Palm/Belnem area.
Sunwise rentals have videos on YouTube of most of their rentals.
GETTING AROUND
The roads and parks have poor roads so it is advisable to rent a truck, must trucks have tank racks if you wish to dive. Only trucks are allowed in the national park. There are various rental agencies some catering to divers, rents are around $300 per week. Most vehicles have standard transmissions so be mindful of what you select.
There is an Avis rental at the airport, all others are off-site.
WINSURFING
Breezy and predicable conditions in very shallow to very deep water, a good place to advance one’s skills.
There are four windsurf rental shops all with a short walk of each other. In the past I have rented from jibe city which charge $365 for a 6-day rental. I may rent/sail at “Frans Paradise” this time.
FOILING
If you wish to foil rent from Frans Paradise as they are on a deeper part of the bay
Some nice drone footage of the bay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN4xcfSpNcI
DIVING
Talk to Bob Andrews. I plan to do some snorkeling on the beaches near the salt pans.
SPSC Club Minutes, Tuesday, 1/14/2025
Place: District 850
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm with 15 members present. Apparently attending meetings wasn’t on anyone’s New Years Resolutions.
Minutes from November meeting approved at 7:05 even in its error prone state.
News Flash! Ross entered the room and asked, “Is this the windsurfer meeting”. He had just started to teach himself how to windsurf 2 months ago and found us and attended a meeting! Then in walked Mark, another new member who found us. The meeting, apparently, is not hard to find.
Commodore: Thanked everyone for what you do to keep the club moving forward.
Scribe: Newsletter came out early. Asked if anyone feels inspired to write to please do so.
Purser:
-
Endless Summer had some expenses to still pay.
-
Holiday Party expenses were around $1300 total.
-
Donation from SPSC to the Shriners was $1,975 from 27 donors
-
Upcoming expense will be taxes of around $1,000.
-
Membership stands at 80.
Discussion items
Training Trailer: After a brief history of why we need to work on the training trailer, Wright said we finally have a plan. Sandy had located a replacement trailer that we can slide under the “box/house”. Need to remove the old trailer from underneath and install cross beams. A budget of $5k was requested to get the trailer going again and the amount was approved.
Wind Ceremony: Jack gave us a date of March 29th and was immediately corrected by other band members that the agreed upon date was March 22nd. Wright paid $250 to reserve the site
Beach: Need to move sand from road to beach. Lots of explanations to the new folks about our involvement at Shell Point.
Program Ideas: Tonight’s presentation was a slideshow on previous events. In February Bob Andrews will give a presentation on his South Pacific trip and in March Andrea will speak about the Smith regatta. Suggestions are welcome for future presentations.
New Ideas: Wants to sail out to Smith Island aka Rabbit Island, which now has signs saying it is a pelican sanctuary, so we should proceed with caution and care.
Bonaire: Danielle said she and Chris had reservations for May 31-June 7.
Adjourned when all was said and done at 7:45.
Upcoming Events
-
Wind Ceremony, March 22, Chair: TBA
-
Smith Regatta, April 25-27, Chair: Andrea
-
Rum ‘n’ Root Beer, August 3, Chair: TBA
-
Endless Summer Sailboard Classic, Date: TBA, Chair: Ted Avellone
-
Atlanta Fall Classic, October 18-19, Chair: Chris Voith
-
Christmas Party, December 13, Chair: Rick Upson
-
Festivus, December 21, Chair: TBA