Commodore's Corner
Winter 2011

Ahoy Friends,

I spent today reflecting upon the past year, reviewing the lessons learned, friends lost, grateful for the blessings and hopeful for the future. 2010 was another great NSHSA year of events. From the Spring Meeting to the Commodores Ball, it was a truly wonderful sailing season.

A big thanks to (now) Past Commodore Joe and Sue. They managed the helm of NSHSA for two years with dignity, diplomacy and a sense of humor. Thanks also go to our previous Past Commodore Earl. We hope his guidance will continue.... at least until he quits the job, sells the house and cuts the dock lines. Special thanks go to the afterguard and their spouses: Eddie Sabol (VC) Sybil Shipley (FC) , Marie Frankel (Treasurer) , and Bill Ubelacker (Web design). This is the crew that really holds the Club together. Thanks to the Raft Captains. Our Club's focal point is the raftup and we had some great ones this year: The Splash Down, The "Horse Races", Memorial Day, The Delmarva, The Youth in All of Us and the Fishing Derby. If you haven't seen the write-ups, I encourage you to visit website and click on 2010 Year in Review. If you're thinking of hosting a raftup, by all means please do it! Lastly, thanks to all of you. Your participation, good nature, sense of fun and love of sailing has made this club a success. I feel truly blessed to be a part and lucky to call you friends.

So what did I learn? I learned that despite the poor economy, club members value their time on the water and place a priority on serious sailing and working hard to relax. I learned that while night sailing with a full moon in calm seas is great fun, night sailing with no moon in sloppy seas is quite the opposite. I finally learned Tom Schmidt was right after all. After years of keeping the boat in or above the Sassafras, it really is better to drive 1/2 hour longer to Middle River than to motorsail for 4 hours.

Regrettably, a few NSHSA friends crossed the bar this year. Judy Hildebrand passed away in August. Dottie and I first met Judy and Steve H in 2004. They were welcoming and a lot of fun. As Joe Anne Palmer wrote - They were the life of the party and are certainly making heaven a happening place. Both Tom (November) and Agnes (August) Powers passed away this year. Tom was one of the early members of the club and supported NSHSA as the standing representative with CBYCA for as long as I can remember. I didn't know Tom or Agnes as well as I would have liked. From the few times we spoke, I remember them both as calm and kind with a strong dedication to the club.

What's an annual reflection without a look forward?

The days are getting longer now and the Spring Planning Meeting will be here in about two months. Look for a date-time notice to be sent shortly. We already have raftups on the schedule! The Noel's and the Johnson's will host Christmas in July - Christmas should be every six months! The Sabol's are planning to host the Hospice Cup raftup. Already a great race for a great cause, and now an NSHSA raftup; I can't wait. Greg Guthman is running a Croatia trip in July with HSA1. I've heard Croatia is the way Europe used to be. This is a great opportunity to sail new waters with a great group of people. Check the website for details.

We hope to welcome new members from Havre De Grace and Baltimore Sailtime. Todd Hess (Base owner) has indicated he would like to sign-up approximately 10 boats. Each boat has 8 families that will have an oppurtunity to join us for any NSHSA event. This represents a new era for club membership - to the best of my knowledge, no other sailing club (certainly no other Hunter Sailing Club) offers memberships to part-time owners. I am hopeful this will be a symbiotic relationship. The Sailtime members get to see a new aspect of sailing or rather anchoring aka raftup, and we get the chance to make new friends.

So as we bid farewell to 2010 and say ahoy to 2011, I wish you and your loved ones, fair weather, good winds and a healthy happy new year.

Paul Borchardt
Commodore NSHSA
S/V Padozary
padozary@comcast.net