From the Commodore 1997-1998

SCOA 1998 ANNUAL
Meeting Update

This year's annual meeting was another resounding success. The incredible cooperation and dedication of SCOA members and friends made my job as commodore easy and fun. Special thanks go out to the Duggan family, as always pulling more than their share, Charlie Claus for all her help, Dan and Lois VonReisen for supplying the commodore's locker, Andy Thibeault for finding the Wings and arranging their participation and to John Bourget of West Marine for offering his assistance and donating his time.

The first speaker was Clarke Ryder who shared some of his humorous stories from his vast ocean background. It's always a pleasure to hear from Clarke and we all hope that he understands the appreciation we have for the wonderful
bluewater cruisers Ryder Boats created - "Oceans apart from the rest".

Scott Smith and Peter Hunt described their early sailing years, the tragic end of SC31 Albatros in Hurricane Bob, and described their modifications to Scott's SC28, Capella. I'm sure most of us are not anxious to tackle an awlgrip spray job or add a steel plate to the hull of any boat but at least we now know these things are possible given careful planning and a lot of ingenuity. Scott reports the 'wing keel' has had a very positive effect on performance.

Chris Collings of Thurston/Quantum Sails did a real nice job on cruising sails and new technology. There were lots of questions from a very enthusiastic audience. We all now know what "serviceable" sails really are and have a much better appreciation of the latest in sail technology and how best to apply it to our own situations..

The first presentation after the business meeting was from Charlie and Judy Wing, SC28 Clover, SC31 Puffin, SC39 Puffin, and back to SC31 Puffin. The Wings spoke of their experiences and showed slides of many cruises up and down
the Intercoastal Waterway and out to the Bahamas. This information was appreciated by waterway novices and experts alike. We thank them for sharing with us the romance they have found with each other and for sailing. Later in
the program Charlie spoke of his new book "Get your Captain's License" from International Marine, describing some of the reasons to pursue a license and the benefits it has for anyone who ventures out on the ocean. If you sail on the East Coast and may be using the Intercoastal at some point or don't yet have your Captains License get a video copy of the meeting and listen to what
Charlie and Judy have to say. The video is available from Bill Duggan.

Janet Murphy and George Smith were a very nice unexpected addition to the weekend as they shared a few slides and stories of their 12 year cruising odyssey. We all hope that SC31 Apogee is safe in Israel. After so many years
of loyal service she deserves better than to be under a scud attack. We all look forward to hearing about more of Janet and George's high sea's adventures
as they continue their journey.

Bill Duggan was able to log on to the SCOA web page and run through a few of the features to be found there. The site is: Southern-Cross.net so check it out whenever you get a chance. The highlight of the meeting was to be the showing of a SCOA classic video - shrink wrapping a SC31 by Bill Duggan and myself but mercifully we ran out of time and had to recess for dinner.

Our terrific after dinner speaker was again Charlie Wing who shared with us the results of a cruising survey that he and Judy did and have published with International Marine called "The Liveaboard Report". Many of us were able to purchase autographed copies and all of Charlie's publications are available from the International catalog.

The Saturday night and Sunday morning Commodore's Locker get togethers were a
wonderful capoff to a terrific meeting. Many SCOA members were able to adjourn to West Marine and take advantage of their generous SCOA discount.

Special thanks also go out to West Marine, Raytheon, Thurston/Quantum Sails,
and the Newport Marriott for all they did to help make the SCOA 1998 Annual Meeting a huge success. If you were able to use the West Marine discount and appreciated their help please drop a note to complement John Bourget of store
#049 to Randy Repass of West Marine at P.O.Box 50050, Watsonville, Ca 95077-9956.

Again my thanks to everyone in SCOA for making my time as commodore a pleasurable and fun experience. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at this summer's rendezvous and next year's annual meeting.

John Rohland 1997 Commodore, SCOA