June 2019 Newsletter

June 5, 2019 By Ira Greenberg

Greetings Salty Doggers –

This has been a spring of challenges, not only for Salty Dogs, but for local sailors
everywhere. Brrrrr!

Challenge #1 – WEATHER !
Cancelled or minimized because of snow and driving cold icy rain?????
Yup! Two events.

Challenge #2 – Boats!
The club is having to rely more on the Why Buy members, as we have only 2-3 boat
owners who are willing to trailer to events. We have 1 boat owner on Cherry Creek –
the other boat owners are waiting to get into Chatfield or are out of the metro area, so
we have very few personally owned boats available. Currently there are 5 Why Buy
boats at Cherry Creek giving us good availability for events there, but once Chatfield
opens, at least 2 of those will move to Chatfield. Problem is, Chatfield may have very
limited facilities so then we have boats, but nothing else.

Challenge #3 – THIS IS THE BIG ONE –
Exactly when can we use Chatfield and what facilities will be available. There have
been multiple calls and emails to the powers at Chatfield, and best we can get is that it
“probably” will be open for launching June 1, but there will be limited parking and
almost no facilities, like water, fuel, restaurant, parking and grills. So, we’ll remain at
Cherry Creek for the time being, even though bigger waters call. For you folks who
haven’t been to Cherry Creek, try it out. There are live concerts on Weds nights, a cute
pub that’s open most evenings and racing on Weds and Thursday. Kayaking is great
and there are good picnic facilities and fishing. Plus, it has the same crazy winds we
have everywhere else and sailing at sunset is awesome. Most of us Why Buy
members are very willing to take out crew, so long as you’re willing to participate in the
sailing.

Please be patient. If anyone has suggestions, get in touch with me and I’ll direct your
comments to the right folks. Meanwhile, come have fun at the June events planned,
and understand that everyone is doing the best possible to nail down locations under
VERY difficult situations. Watch for web blasts about locations and let’s hope we have
a great sailing season that’s getting a bit of a late start.

OTHER NEWS – Your membership is worth more. Victoria Sailing is offering Salty Dog
members a 5% discount on their products. They offer classes to obtain ASA
certifications – helpful if you ever hope to charter. www.victoriasailingschool.com

Community Sailing of Colorado is giving Salty Dog members $25 off on their 4 night-sail classes. They’re also offering
a 1-evening Basic Keel Boating Class and a Wind Women and Water evening. Discount won’t apply to these since
they’re so inexpensive. www.communitysailing.org

Both organizations have boats and other water toys available to rent – Dinghy to keelboat, paddle board and kayak.
I hope to see everyone at the New Member Sail – this is a great opportunity to show what a great, friendly club we are
and welcome new and potential members.

Happy Sails,

Marilyn Allen Commodore.

Please read the rest of the June Newsletter by clicking on this link:

https://www.saltydog.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/June2019.pdf

Pueblo Sail Hail — Saturday Afternoon Hail at Pueblo Sail..

May 2019 Newsletter

May 2, 2019 By Ira Greenberg

Commodore’s Log Marilyn Allen

Sailing season for the Salty Dog Sailing Club will officially open at our May meeting on 5/9 (weather permitting). This early season has been challenging because of the work being done on Chatfield and the closures it entails. Most of our early season events now will be held at Cherry Creek. Our May meeting will be in our summer format with a brief presentation, updates on Salty Dog events, and then we head to the water for a wonderful evening, sunset sail.

There’s now a Members Only section on our web site. It currently contains our By Laws and Policies and Financial documents. There was discussion about adding the club roster but our web master tells me hackers can get to our members’ personal information a little too easily, even being password protected. Members will be emailed an updated roster soon in a web blast. Please save it to your CPU and/or print out a couple of copies. The new format has a column to indicate members’ availability to sail and ability levels. We’re hoping both boat owners and crew will use this to schedule other fun sailing events throughout the season.

I’ll be meeting with Community Sailing of Colorado to formulate a plan to build membership for both organizations. They have lots of programs to encourage sailing in our area. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: They do adaptive sailing programs to help folks with physical/cognitive challenges enjoy our sport. Check their web site: https://www.communitysailing.org/sailing-programs/#_adaptive-sailing. I see this as an opportunity to enjoy sailing, while helping others and encouraging membership in Salty Dogs.

Your board continues to formulate plans to make the club bigger and better in 2019. There’s a book called “Going from Good to Great” and that’s where we hope to move the Salty Dogs. Our club goes back a long time to when it was an offshoot of Beyond Divorce, a Denver singles club. It then became Red Sails, a sailing club, but the singles kept meeting and marrying each other, so a more inclusive club was founded called the Salty Dog Sailing Club.

Current improvements include:
1. an improved web site that allows on line payments for events. We’re #1 or #2 when folks look for Denver sailing.
2. a robust sailing season with multi day events and some events with other metro sailing clubs.
3. Colorado Water Sports/Victoria Sailing School now is offering discounts to our members on most if not all their products. They offer sailing classes, ASA certifications, Dinghy racing events and other water sports as well as the Why Buy Club.

Be sure to check the 2019 sailing schedule. There are some wonderful events planned.
( continued here )

April 2019 Newsletter

April 1, 2019 By Ira Greenberg

Commodore’s Log Marilyn Allen

Believing that we can’t get where we’re going if we don’t know where it is, our Vice Commodore Blair (with a little help from yours truly), created the Salty Dog Mission Statement and Goals and Objectives. These were shared at the March meeting and as Commodore, I’m pleased we have in writing a solid definition of our club and our goals for the future.

Salty Dog Sailing Club Goals and Objectives

During the 2019 sailing year: Increase total membership by 10%, increase members with boats to share by 5%, Increase overall participation in events by 10%.
Partner with at least 2 other sailing organizations, such as Colorado Sail and Yacht Club and BVPS, for fun events with the goal of stimulating interest in sailing and
increasing membership in all organizations.
Help and encourage members and guests to increase and improve their sailing skills
Provide a Social Network both on and off the water to encourage social activities.

BOAT OWNERS!

The annual Boat Wash will be held on Sat. May 4 at Chatfield. All our owners, and especially those who were so active last year, are invited to bring their boats for a complimentary scrub. This event is coordinated by Rear Commodore Becky with hard labor provided by SD members. It’s just one way we say thank you to our wonderful boat owners. See details in ’Announcements’ in this newsletter.

PARTY TIME

As a result of meetings with Board members of Colo Sail and Yacht Club, Salty Dog members have been invited to CSYC’s Wine and Cheese get together on April 6. This will be a great chance for us to co-mingle with their club, which primarily is a racing club, while we introduce them to the more mellow aspects of sailing. See full invitation in Announcements section of this newsletter.

JOINT EVENTS

We’ll also be doing 1-2 joint sails with CSYC’s cruising arm. Check the calendar for updates. I’ve also been in touch with the Commodore of Boulder Valley Power Squadron and we’re discussing joint events with them as well. All 3 of our
organizations offer different sailing opportunities, so I see a great potential benefit for each club.

DISCOUNTS AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES!!!

Tibor Van den Wildenbergh, the co-owner of Victoria Sailing School and Colorado Watersports, spoke to us at the March meeting about the timing of Chatfield Reservoir opening, opportunities for fun events with their Dinghy program and best of all, he’s giving Salty Dog members a 5% discount on classes and rentals. This would be a great opportunity for our newer or less experienced members to up their sailing skills and the more experienced members to get great discounts on the ASA advanced programs. Go to their website: https://www.coloradowatersports.com/ and check out all the great opportunities they have available.

Continue Reading the April 2019 Newsletter here.

Sailling — Click on Image to hear the Sailing YouTube Video by Christopher Cross

March 2019 Newsletter

March 4, 2019 By Ira Greenberg

Commodore’s Log Marilyn Allen

Blame the Commodore for the late newsletter.
I’ve been sailing in the Eastern Caribbean for the past 2 weeks and our editor
agreed to hold the presses awaiting my tardy contribution.|

As I was enjoying turquoise 4 — 6 ft seas with occasional 10 – 12 ft surprise
waves and 20+ knot winds on a 9 hour sail between Antigua and St Barths, I fear
the newsletter was not at the top of my mind !

For those of you who missed our annual Landlubbers, you missed a fun time,
where we honored the 2018 Board and especially our 2 year Commodore, Becky
Mock. There were awards for unique behavior with fun certificates and we
honored our members who had made over the top contributions to the club during
2018. Shane Brouilette received both Coordinator of the Year for the number of
events he coordinated and the challenge he took on and conquered when he
agreed to take over the Sterling sail. He also got Broken Mast for, well, a broken mast!

Dave Westfall was well deserving of Salty Dog of the Year for his readiness to share
his boat, coordinating the Lake Mac Sail (along with Diana Bliss) and lots of
contributions to the website. Thanks to all. There are a couple more fun awards waiting to be given out, so come to the March meeting.

Your board has been busy and we’ll be presenting some new marketing ideas to
build membership as well as highlight updates to our web site. I’ll talk briefly about
our club liability insurance because there appear to have been some
misunderstandings about our coverage.

IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE A COPY OF OUR POLICY TO REVIEW, EMAIL commodore@saltydog.org AND I WILL FORWARD IT TO YOU FOR YOUR REVIEW. THIS IS AVAILABLE TO ALL MEMBERS.

Vice Commodore Blair Ohler has lined up great guest speakers, and will be
presenting the new club Vision, Mission and Goals. Like any good organization, the
club needs direction and we’re hoping the membership will be as excited about
these as your board is.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Piccolo’s on March 14.

Marilyn Allen, Commodore

Please click to Read Pages 2-7 from the March 2019 Newsletter: March2019

January 2019 Newsletter

January 2, 2019 By Ira Greenberg

Happy 2019 everyone.

I wish you success, health, wealth and LOTS of wind in your sails! You have a great 2019 board with a solid combination of both new members and us more “seasoned” ones. We’re already initiating some changes, which will make things easier for our
volunteer board members and hopefully, give our club great exposure.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING ! IT’S IMPORTANT !

As a standard practice, our newsletter is distributed to members and also published on our public web site. Soon, it will be available in additional areas of the web as well. While your board and trip coordinators want to be fully available to our members, we don’t want our personal contact info publicized to the web world. Historically there were 2 versions of the newsletter; now there will be one and it will not contain personal contact info for either your board members or trip coordinators.

Trips will have the coordinator’s name and a web address such as pueblo@saltydog.org or the like. To get personal contact info for your board members, you will need to refer to the club roster, which will be coming to you shortly via email. Please keep it handy.

There will be a little different procedure to get your monthly newsletter. To increase traffic numbers to our web site, members now will be emailed a link to the newsletter, which will allow the newsletter to be viewed in the web site. To get your newsletter, click on the link. Increased numbers of visitors improve our ratings and saltydog.org will come up higher when someone searches for sailing in Denver. If this makes no sense to you, I understand, but we’ve got some wonderful folks on the board that know this stuff. Inquiries from the web have resulted in many new members. Watch to see an expanded presence.

For the January meeting, I’ve suggested to our Vice Commodore and our On the Water Coordinator that we go back to the procedures of a few years back and make this a planning meeting for our upcoming sailing season. We can discuss potential locations, get volunteer coordinators and explore options. Our On The Water Coordinator, Diana Bliss, has already gotten coordinators for some of the big sails. Bring your ideas, your spirit of volunteering, and let’s lay plans to make 2019 the best sailing season ever. We’d especially appreciate your ideas for expanding our membership, especially boat owners.

My new office view is to Cherry Creek Reservoir (THINK SAIL !) and visions of sailboats are dancing in my head. Happy 2019 everyone.

Your new Commodore, Marilyn Allen

Click on this link to read the rest of the January 2019 Newsletter.