CRUISING ASSOCIATION
|
TOP OF THE BAY
CRUISING ASSOCIATION |
North East, Maryland
DOCKLINE - January 2000
FROM THE COMMODORE:
Happy New Year to all members and their families from the officers and directors of TOBCA .
Our last meeting was a winner. Attendance was great. Thank you all for taking the time from your busy schedules, and thanks to Elliot Mintzer from Nauticard.
We have all been working on getting the bus trip to New York City on track. It's a go for Jan. 15. Don't miss the bus. It is an 8:00 AM pick up at the Crystal Inn in Maryland and 9:00 AM in Mt. Laurel, NJ. Some of you last minute folks may or may not get a seat. There are still a very few seats left and it's possible we may fill all 49 seats. If you want to go, make your reservation and get your money in now.
At the last meeting we discussed different ways to finance our club going into the new millennium. PC Cousins had the easy solution of increasing the dues. There were some who opposed that idea. We decided the answer was to all pitch in and sell advertising. Everyone advertises. Open a magazine or newspaper and it's 90% advertising.
Included in this month's Dockline there is a flyer explaining our new advertising program. Glancing through last year's membership directory I counted at least 15 current members who have businesses. Our members should come to know who they are and support them. In turn I'm asking our business owners to support TOBCA in the form of placing an ad in our new and improved yearbook. We are also asking all of our members to please solicit your marina, favorite bay restaurant, or other favorite business for an ad. IF every one of our members could acquire a few ads, we would be able to offer a lot of new and fun things and still be able to keep our low, low membership dues. We will not limit our ad pages to business. Should any of our members wish to purchase space you are most welcome. As is traditional, our yearbook will be in the hands of the members in April. Brian Toner will be coordinating our ad campaign and putting together the yearbook. Please give him your support by contacting him before he calls you. We have a lot of new and exciting things planned for the upcoming season and as with anything, it takes money. We would rather have our members solicit some ads than have to raise the dues.
You will find another flyer in this Dockline explaining our fantasy/silent auction to be held the afternoon of our ball. I think it's pretty self explanatory. Should you have questions or comments, please contact us. Other organizations do these things all the time. They bring a few dollars into the club, get rid of some unwanted items from your closet and are a lot of fun as well. Those of you who will be unable to bring your contributions to the ball are welcome to bring them to either of the next 2 meetings. Jerry Cook along with his first mate, Judy, has volunteered to run the fund raising auction and will take them off your hands, at the same time listing it on the card as a contribution from you.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 23, at 3:00 PM at the North East VFW. Officers will meet at 2:00 PM to go over the by-laws. This month's meeting is dedicated to PC Dale Moffett who will be moving to Florida at the end of the month. Dale is one of our founding fathers. He served us as our third commodore and has represented our club all over the Chesapeake. Please come out and pay your respect.
Let's see your face in the place!
GREETINGS FROM THE REAR:
I recently read that people who actively participate in a club or organization, improve their physical and mental well-being, therefore, improve their quality of life. So, now that you have probably given up on most of the New Year's resolutions that you made (like diet and exercise), make one that will be FUN to keep - to be more active in Top of the Bay Cruising Association, doing something good for yourself and your organization.
One of the interesting opportunities to participate and have fun now, is the "fantasy" auction. These are favors or small deeds that can be offered for auction to help raise funds for TOBCA. When I was talking to Wendy Mangano and explaining what the fantasy auction was, I gave her the example of "Wendy, you could offer a home cooked dinner for two." Her laughing answer was that David would have to cook it. I suggested to Jane Weirtel, that she could auction "a breakfast made on her boat." Jane has the reputation of being a late riser and never cooking. I'd definitely bid on a breakfast made by her, so I could tell people Jane made me breakfast! By the way neither Wendy or Jane have put my suggestions on the auction block yet.
Now is the time for you to assess your skills and talents and decide what you are willing to put up for auction. As you decide, let me know, so we can let all the members know, so that we can plan on our bidding strategy. Have fun with this! Do something good for your health and your organization.
Happy New Year from the Rear -
HIGH TIDINGS FROM YOUR FLEET CAPTAIN
Hi everyone and happy new year. Not much new except response to the Memorial Day Cruise to the Chestertown Tea Party is very good so far. If you have not made your reservations yet, you must make your own as they do not accept mass reservations, don't hesitate any longer. It may already be too late. Call the Chestertown Marina at (410) 778-3616 and get a slip. They have a two day minimum of Friday and Saturday, so plan accordingly.
The other news is I have put together a tentative cruise schedule. Some dates need to be confirmed, but everything else is in pretty good shape. Please let me know which cruises you are interested in as soon as possible.
Thank you,
FROM THE WEBMASTER
As you know, our website address is www.tobca.org. This site used to simply direct you to the actual TOBCA website files, which were on the Angelfire service at the address we had originally.
Well, now all of our website files have physically moved to the www.tobca.org location. We did this because Angelfire, which provides free web hosting, has started requiring that all websites on its service display advertising. We didn't want to force visitors to look at ads (except for our Ship's Store), so we moved the files. They're now on the same web server as the files for my business website.
You can still use the old Angelfire address if you really want to, although we don't understand why anyone would want to. www.tobca.org is a lot easier to remember. Plus, if you go to the old address, it will just redirect you to the new one anyway.
If you haven't visited the site in the last few months, please do. We have photos of all the new officers on line. We also have a special page displaying the TOBCA merchandise available from the Ship's Store.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the website, please let me know.
Regards,
TENTATIVE CRUISE SCHEDULE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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