Hello everyone,
I spoke to this during our April luncheon event but wanted to reach out to the entire membership. We have been very fortunate and have had great members serve as board members for a while now. Typically, a board term is a year or two, but we have had extenuating circumstances whereas we remained on the board simply to ensure our club survived. We merged two long-established yacht clubs, rented a club house for two years, decided to not renew our lease in April 2020 (based on the pandemic event starting in March 2020), experienced smoke-filled summers, evacuations, etc. However, we are doing really well now! We found an ideal location for our social events at the Moose Lodge, a busy race schedule including a Moore24 Roadmasters event in June, a very nice race committee boat available for use and a membership that is growing and thriving.
I became Secretary in 2019 solely to support the incoming Commodore at the time, thinking we would do this for a year maybe two… I seemed to have misjudged the timeline! I have remained as Secretary, initially to assist Richard during the transition and remained because he is doing a fabulous job, which makes my job easier. However, as with any organization or entity, it is not good for the long-term growth of the club to have the same core members in the same positions indefinitely. We as a club need different perspectives, skill sets and experience. People talk about getting the “younger” members involved, but that is only half of the equation. Although younger people generally have more enthusiasm and the energy to back it up, there are those of us who have experience and know what works and what doesn’t. A balance of this is what makes a good and effective board. We do have a good board right now. We suffer more from confusion versus contention (although we have that too, and from me on more than one occasion!) but that is inherent in any organizational board structure.
Anyway, this is my last term as Secretary. I want to spend more time chatting with everyone and consuming cocktails instead of taking minutes at our General Membership meetings. (Unfortunately, I did consume numerous tequila-themed cocktails at our Holiday Party and General Membership meeting last December. Forever grateful to Terri Cole for stepping in as Acting Secretary). If anyone is interested in the Secretary position, or any board position, please let Richard know. Any member can attend any meeting, so you can always sit in on a meeting and just observe. I would also be happy to meet with you and share any information I have, especially over cocktails or Starbucks or both! Call or text me at 530.307.2350.
Sincerely,
Shari Young, Secretary
South Lake Tahoe Windjammers Yacht Club
