Commodore's Comments
by Ted Avellone, Commodore 2025!
Greetings Club Members New and Old!
What a great Smith Regatta we just had! Seeing old friends and acquaintances, meeting new people, racing in both near-dead-calms and stiff southernly breezes, enjoying good food and drink, and even just relaxing in the sun, it was a veritable Fiddler’s Green the whole weekend. We all owe a big thanks to the numerous people, many of them Club members, who volunteered and worked together to make it all happen and come off seamlessly. No one was eaten, punctured or rendered catatonic by any marine life, and apart from Ava’s falling-boom leg-crush incident (which she shook off after having strapped a bag of ice on it for a while), no one was too seriously injured either. And the event raised thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society. Again, thanks and congratulations to all who participated.
When I first arrived at the beach on Saturday I was stunned to see that someone had erected a custom Frank Lloyd Wright home right next to an exact duplicate of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon on the beach across from the beer truck, only to blink a few times and realize that I was looking at the newly refurbished Training Trailer and planter. Kudos once again to the ROADies and other craftsmen, engineers and artisans who did all that exceptional work getting everything completed and looking so spectacular!
Summer is here, and that means the Lesson & Practice day weekends are also here! The first took place last weekend. We skip one weekend, and the next will be the weekend of May 24 - 25. The Sunday Practice days run from 10:30 - 2:30 pm, but in a couple more weekends from now the Summer Race Series races will start, with the races running from 2:30 – 4:30 pm.
You may have noticed that our Club activity weekends alternate, taking place every other weekend. This is because of tides. As thorough-going seamen know, the daily tide cycles more or less repeat every two weeks. In other words if it’s high tide at noon on a particular day, it will be high tide at noon 14 days later, with the 7th day in between having a low tide at noon. Trying to sail when there’s a giant mud flat in front of the beach is no fun, so we schedule sailing activities on high tide weekends. If you’ve ever wondered why we do sailing activities every other weekend, now you know!
Here's to iron-tight downhauls, springy outhauls, and swingin’ uphauls!
See you all out there!
Ted Avellone
Commodore 2025
Shell Point Sailboard Club
May 2025
BEACH CLEANUP
What a turnout we had on Sunday afternoon, April 13th, to get the sand off the road and sidewalk. Lots of shovels and wheelbarrows were brought down and wasted no time in getting the sand moved. I didn’t realize how deep the sand was until it started being removed, with about six inches covering the sidewalk and 3 to 4 inches covering the street. The removal encompassed 50+ wheelbarrows of sand.
The removed sand was placed back on the beach and under the benches around the tree which required the removal of one of the slats. Those benches have a bunch of sand underneath now which hopefully will ease the erosion taking place around it.
In addition to moving sand, several bags of dirt were brought down to put in the planter around the tree after some netting was put down so it wouldn’t seep out. More dirt was needed and Mr. Gilley said he would get more down there.
While the sand crew was working others were busy rebuilding the outside board storage rack and sail drying rack. The board storage rack is built much stronger than before and should stay put through the next weather incursion.
The AARP would have been very proud of the workforce down there as there was not a single worker under the age of 50 except for 38 year old Wright Finney. The weather was perfect for this type of work, and a nice breeze blew to keep the bugs at bay. The wind picked up enough so that Vaughan and Joe got some sailing in when the work was done.
Stephen C. Smith Memorial Regatta Race Results by Bob G, a whiny little……..
The scores listed are accurate, however, the weight breakdowns I did at the event were inaccurate due to human error on my part. Somehow, I recorded Bob Andrew weight incorrectly, putting him in the heavyweight division instead of the lightweight one. We had 10 racers in the LT division, meaning the weight split should have left 5 lightweights and 5 heavyweights. However, competitors number 5 and 6 both claimed to weigh 180 pounds, so having Bob at the wrong weight helped me have an even split, though not intentional.
(Cue the violins here) As some may know, I was the reluctant auction chair this year. In addition to that, I also acquired and readied the trophies for distribution. In addition to that, I scored the races, and I raced, though I suppose I could give up racing since I never win or even place. I would really like it if someone in the club, who doesn’t compete, has a laptop, and knows a little bit about Excel, did the scoring. I currently use an old Excel macro-enabled spreadsheet that someone had developed, and it works great once you get used to it, which is not difficult, or you could do it your own way.
Lessons Soft Opening by Bob G
The lessons season started with a soft opening on April 30 for the FSU/TMH General Surgery Residency Program. Ava had said the medical residents needed a break and wanted to know if we could do a windsurfing lesson during their beach-day break, and, of course, we said yes!
Joe, Tina, Bill, Baab, and I were down there to kick things off, with a start time of 12 and ending no later than 4pm. Since they were all doctors, Ava came over and said some of them were running late, as if none of us had heard that before in a waiting room.
We finally got lessons started, and some of them took off and did well. There was a nice breeze between 6-10 knots, but the water was a wee bit rough. With only 4 instructors initially juggling 7 sailors, it was a little hectic, but everyone had fun and Ava jumped in to help with the lessons and used her gear. Some residents came down just to enjoy the beach and the camaraderie of their peers.
Ava and one other doctor are due to graduate from the residency program this year, but the others may have a few years left and hopefully one or two will join for practice days like Ava did so that they too will become addicted.
Gopher Turtle Redux by Bob “Braveheart” Graves
One or two of you might remember the trilogy of articles written a while back about the gopher tortoise/turtle menace written back in 2021 lead by none other than the lead tortoise himself, Mitch McConnell. I haven’t written since because I thought, with him stepping back and all, the tortoise scourge had subsided, but boy was I wrong. I was out just the other day, peacefully riding my bike on the Twilight bike trail (a loop south of Munson trail), when I had an encounter with one.
Here I am, looking down the trail mostly for snakes and other riders, when I saw this gopher tortoise charging toward me! He was in full sprint mode, and I was worried he might jump me, so I came to a screeching halt which also stopped him. We sat there for a minute eyeing each other. I moved a little bit closer, hoping to intimidate him due to the fact I was a lot bigger, but he didn’t budge. I carefully surveyed the land on either side of him to make sure he wasn’t there to hold me up so that his compatriots could ambush me from the side. When I saw things were clear, I went off the trail around him and he eyed me the whole time. As I sped away, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t giving chase (hey, I don’t ride very fast, OK?) Thankfully, I was in the clear.
Though I was in fear of my life, I took this picture so that if something terrible happened to me, the authorities would know the culprit. Many of you may scoff at my fear, but after seeing the documentary put out by Monty Python about the Holy Grail and the killer bunny sequence, one can never be too careful
For those who have never been on Twilight, the trails are very sandy, and as I was escaping my encounter, looking down at the trail, I could see he had traveled over 200 feet down that trail. His path was easy to see since turtles don’t pick up their feet when they walk. That guy had a mission, and I am just thankful it wasn’t to waste me.
SPSC Club Minutes, Tuesday, 4/8/2025
Place: District 850
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm with a clanging of the glass and 17 members present.
Commodore asked for a motion to approve the March meeting minutes which Kristin gave and they were approved at 7:03 with nary a dissenting voice.
Commodore: Has an obsession with the Tripods at Shell Point and murmurs arose about a need for counseling.
Vice: Absent. Out Weta racing
Scribe: the Commodore for his great article on “Honorable Shellback and Slimy Pollywogs” which may have been a catharsis for him since it was about the tripods.
Purser:
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We had WC expenses of a little over 3.5k with income over 4.3k. Sandy mentioned that the cost of the t-shirts has risen but what we charge for them has not, so maybe next year charge more? Consensus seems to be yes.
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The trailer expenses have risen but are still under the 5k budgeted for it. Higher expenses are due to the incredible benches built on the side of the trailer that everyone loves!
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Paid our incorporation fee.
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Memberships stand at 90.
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Talked about the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and how the Purser and Commodore need to submit personal information to the Deep State or else be sent to El Salvador.
Past Commodore: Wind Ceremony was great. Deb did an awesome job on the Smith booklet.
Vaughan: Is it ok to use the Aloi’s house driveway to park? Wright said it is not open to parking for us all the time and Wright will talk to Jim about when we can park there.
Discussion items
Armenian: Commodore wanted to distinguish what they were opposed to other sorts of beach goers. Thought to be non-Shell Point residents or SPSC members, which is close, but really is just a substitute for the word redneck.
Training Trailer: Wright spoke about much that was done. Made benches out of the 4x6 beams that were used to elevate the trailer to put the new wheels underneath. Spoke on where it will sit on the beach and was thankful for all the folks that worked on it.
Wind Ceremony: Its over and was awesome. BobG felt an agenda or sequence of events would be a good idea so folks would know what was happening and when.
Beach Workdays: Sunday at 1pm, 4/13, move sand. Also, bring a bag of dirt to put in the planter.
Smith Regatta: Andrea spoke about some volunteer needs and thanked those of us there for what we do for the regatta. Encouraged people to donate.
Tariffs: Bob Andrews wants us to be a tariff free zone. There were objections thinking the Armenians should be taxed. A 20 person committee was formed to study the issue, but the Commodore stood up and said his was the final word and that his word was the law!
Roundel: Vaughan, being of English heritage and very proper, wishes to create a roundel for the club with a Latin saying, because all proper roundels need Latin, of Sic Semper Erit, aka, It Has Always Been Thus.
Adjourned when all was said and done at 7:53:27.
Upcoming Events
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Smith Regatta, April 25-27, Chair: Andrea
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Rum ‘n’ Root Beer, August 3, Chair: Lay-Z-Boy
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Atlanta Fall Classic, October 4-5, Chair: Chris Voith
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Endless Summer Sailboard Classic, October 17-19, Chair: Ted Avellone
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Christmas Party, December 13, Chair: Rick Upson
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Festivus, December 21, Chair: TBA