Commodore's Comments
by Ted Avellone, Commodore 2025!
Fall is in the Air ! - September 2025
School’s back in session, we’ve already had a couple of coolish mornings and football games, we just had another great Rum & Root Beer event and the groundwork is already being laid for next month’s Endless Summer Sailboard Classic. The afternoon weather and the water is still nice and warm and it’s a great time to get out to the beach and socialize and sail! The new Training Trailer upgrades are fantastic and we’ve now got over 100 members. Folks, these are “the good old days.” Come on out and carpe diem!
Ted Avellone
Commodore 2025
Shell Point Sailboard Club
Club Meeting - Tuesday, September 9, 2025 @ 7pm
District 850, 2662 Fleischman Way, Tallahassee, FL
September 2025
Training and Summer Race Series Update, August 2025
What a year this has been and what an incredible group of club members we have. Though I am the lessons coordinator, I have not been able to do much teaching this year due to travel and other matters. However, the group of trainers we have always step up. Without Tina, Joe, Perry, Baab, Bill, Ryne, Linda and our new instructor, Laura. With all these folks willing to teach, not everyone has to be at every lesson.
We taught our last class on August 23rd and the lesson gods were with us. Lessons started out with very little to no wind, but our trainers went out and got the students uphauling and taught them how to turn. We were joined early on my Deb and Amy who had a friend taking a lesson! As the day went on, the wind slowly picked up from the south until it was blowing a solid 8-10, giving the new sailors something to work with. This group was relentless and wore themselves out before we had to call all them off the water around 2:45 due to a storm rolling in. Soon after everything got put away, the storm hit. All the students did great!
Our September 6th class was cancelled since no one had signed up so it is now a Novice racing class for those who want to know more about competing.
With one Summer Series race to go, and this past one on August 24th having the best racing yet, competition is heating up! The overall leader is Joe Sisson, finishing 1st in 5 out of 8 races. Both Unlimited and LT fleets have some great competition between first and second place. The best part about the summer series, and why we do it, is in the Sport fleet, where two racers, Rudy and Katie, who had never raced Sport before, improved in every single race they ran, just getting better every time. Time on the water is always the best teacher!
The last summer series race will be sometime between 2:30 and 3pm on September 7th, so come on out and get a race in or just come down to hang out as there are always great people there.
Due to some physical limitations that I have experienced, I want to thank everyone who has lent a hand in putting stuff away and getting stuff out of the trailer. Whenever I ask someone, they jump right in and help, which is why this club is one of the best around.
Boardsailing in Lake Hall
Lake Hall is situated within Maclay Gardens State Park, a pretty little park lying between Thomasville Road and Meridian Road just north of Maclay Road in northeast Tallahassee. Lake Hall is roughly shaped like a mushroom, with the “stem” pointing south and the much wider “cap” at the north. The cap is about .85 mile wide, and the lake measures about a half mile long from the southernmost part of the stem to the northern top of the cap. It’s a couple of bucks to get into the park, and it has a little beach for bathers and a boat ramp (no gasoline powered boats are allowed to launch from the park) on the left, or west, side of the “stem.” Being so far inland, there’s rarely decent wind there during the warmer months, but on those rare days when the wind is blowing from the northeast (towards the launching area) at a decent rate, it’s a perfectly sailable lake, though it will usually give you a lot of good practice in dealing with gusts and sometimes dramatic shifts in wind direction due to its being inland and surrounded by tall trees on all sides.
The water is clear and though there are weeds in areas, they’re not bad, and for the most part the whole lake is wide open and deep. If you live in the north part of Tallahassee and you don’t have time to get all the way down to Shell Point Beach, it can make for a very pleasant and beautiful boardsailing experience. Protip: Before going, consult a good wind app to ensure the wind will be blowing at a decent rate the whole time you plan to be there, and that it’s blowing onshore to the launch area. Also, as Thomas and I once found out after loading everything up and being psyched to sail there in some great wind, the park is unfortunately closed during hurricanes.
- Ted Avellone
Haiku by Bailey Howard, Esq.
King of the Blue Crabs
surveys his grassy domain
while we wait for wind.
Before a walk of
shame, one must sometimes engage
in a swim of shame.
Palm trees, rustling, laugh:
“See them all, blowing around!
If they just had roots.”
SPSC Club Minutes, Tuesday, 8/12/2025Place:
District 850
The meeting was called to order at 7:01 pm with 19 present - Minutes approved at 7:02pm.
Commodore: Wants to get to the beach but something always comes up!
Vice Commodore: Absent
Scribe: Needs some poetry for the poetry corner and looking forward to article about RnR by Laura.
Purser: Insurance is $2966, up $150 from last year. Smith Foundation will split the cost with us. The Smith Foundation also gives us $100 for the use of our band trailer.Rum ‘n’ Root Beer will be no expense.Dues are due which keep the lights on but the Endless Summer is needed to allow us to maintain our area of the beach, the training trailer, and other endeavors.
Past Commodore: Happy Ted is doing ES.
Board Member Vaughan Williams: Gave us a Rondall update with the discussion focusing on the font.
Board Member Bob Andrews: Doing SOP with John Gilbert and indicated a need for other procedures that need writing such as; getting sponsors, newsletter, training, regattas, etc.
Discussion items
Endless Summer: Get gift cards or donations from businesses you patronize. Get sponsors.
Web site: Trying one of Rick’s recommendations.
Rum ‘n’ Root Beer: Free event.
Beach work: Planter needs rebuilding around flagpole. Wright asked everyone to bring a bag of dirt to put around the planter that has the trees. Bob G wants the stump by the outside board rack removed. No need for additional pilings under trailer so all excess concrete blocks have been removed.
Constitution: No changes for this year though Vaughan proposed changing the board quorum from 6 to 5 so there would be no ties in voting.
Presentations: Bob Andrews, who has been the proud possessor of the Lug Nut Award for a loooonnngg time award this prestigious honor to Laura Least! Laura’s recounting of the story that earned her this award was nothing short of hilarious! However, her one take away was to NEVER tell Baab about your blunders while at the beach!
Election Nominations:
Commodore:Rick Upson
Vice Commodore:Vaughan Williams
Scribe:Bob Graves
Purser:Wright Finney
At Large Board: Ryne Least, Pia Lehtonen, Bailey Howard, Rachel Smart, Bob Andrews
Program: Videos were shown of Rum ‘n’ Root Beer events from 2011 (Camullet), 2012 (Viva Shell Point), and 2021. We all looked young back then, except for the cameo by Keith Richards.
Adjourned when all was said and done at 8:09
Upcoming Events
-Atlanta Fall Classic, October 3, Chair: Chris Voith*
-Endless Summer Sailboard Classic, October 17, Chair: Ted Avellone
-Presnell’s Bayside Marina, November 9-16, Chair: None
-Christmas Party, December 13, Chair: Rick Upson
-Festivus, December 21 Chair: Vaughan Williams