New Board Meets - Continues $100 Incentive for Bringing New Members into the Club

Jonathan Ahlbrand makes a point at the Board meeting

In the next year, members will continue to be able to receive a $100 refund if they bring a new fleet boat member into the Lansing Sailing Club. Fleet boats are considered to be Sunfish, Lasers, Optimists and Lightnings for this purpose. A $35 refund will be given to members who bring in a new Associate Member.

This was among the actions taken by the newly elected Board of Directors as they met last Sunday at Pat Dolan's home to conduct regular businss and begin planning for 2007.

There was extensive disucssion of the need to attract new members. Jonathan Ahlbrand has agreed to oversee this project. He will be coming back to the board in January with specifics on a Kayaking/Canoeing Membership and other ideas. LSC will have a booth at the Quiet Water Symposium to be held March 3 at MSU. Dennis Dudley discussed involvement of LSC with the Sea Scouts.

Susanna Tellschow will be heading up a project to plan the integration of communication and data systems. Since all by one of the LSC members now have email and internet access, we can do a lot more with web based tools. We also believe that there are savings to be made by moving to a different web hosting service.

The Board also spent considerable time discussing the potential for rennovating the Clubhouse, or building a new factility.

The next meeting will be held Sunday, January 7, from 1 pm to 3 pm at Pat Dolan's home.

Minutes of the meeting can be found by clicking "Minutes" on the Members Only page of the LSC web site.

Deck Duties Sign Up

Michigan Lightning District Sets June 23-24, 2007 Date for Championship

John LeFevre attended the Michigan Lightning district meeting recently at Lake Fenton to represent the Lake Lansing Lightning Fleet.

The district Championship will be hosted by Higgins Lake this year, reports John. Because of this, they will not host their traditional first week of August regatta. The districts will be June 24-25. Given their launch area, they have some challenges to work out for weighing boats etc.

John was able to secure our preferred date for the Lake Lansing Lightning Regatta. It will be held Saturday, May 19, 2007.

He also reports that there is some general interest in getting a Lightning fleet at the NOOD regatta on June 1-3 (Friday-Sunday) to be sailed on Lake St. Clair. The boats would launch from Crescent yacht club. E-mails will be sent to all Michigan Lightning skippers to see if enough interest can be developed. They need at least 11 boats committed to make a go of it. This is the same regatta that a group from Lansing Sailing Club participated in a few years back using a Tartan 10.

A full proposed regatta schedule will be sent out to all the Fleet captains and it will need to be finalized before January 1 for ILCA publishing.

There is interest in starting a lightning fleet in Boyne City, sailing on Lake Charlevoix. A lot more work has to be done to make this a reality, but it was voted to continue to give encouragement for this new fleet. Since a early-mid August time is fairly open in the regatta schedule, some attempt for a new regatta may be made for that time period. More details to follow.

All fleets are encouraged to do more promotion for their events and encourage boats to travel as a way of increasing regatta participation. No one should expect a great turnout for their regatta if their fleet does not routinely travel and support the other regattas. Giving special recognition to boats that travel is encouraged for all fleets.

The Michigan district is in need of a new secretary, and a chief measurer.

Clubhouse Ideas Sought

If you have an idea for improving the Clubhouse, now is a good time to make it known.

Over the next few months, the Board of Directors will be looking closely at how we improve our Clubhouse situation. Some items on the wish list already expressed are:
  Provide a wind shield
  Shower facilities
  A place for a computer and printer
  Place for TV monitor for presentations
  Improve Wiring
  Improve plumbing
  Varmint proof structure
  Possibly change floor plan
  Add additional deck space, not under roof
  Put in a permanent foundation
  Add a fireplace

Of course, any change is going to take a lot of discussion and commitment from the membership.

Send your ideas to the Commodore at (commodore@lansingsailing.org).

It's the Holiday Season - Give Associate Membership as Gift

Someone looking for a great Holiday, birhtday or Valentine gift need look no further. An Associate Membership in the Lansing Sailing Club for $150 is a great gift.

Not only does it include the use of Club Sailboats, but it includes lessons in how to sail. With two Club Lightnings, two Club Lasers and three Club Sunfish, there are plenty of options.

And here is a bonus for members you won't want to forget. Members bringing a new Associate Member into the Club get a $35 refund on their dues and fees.

For more information, contact Membership Chairperson Jonathan Ahlbrand by email at membership@lansingsailing.org.