All welcome our new Rear Commodore Dave Demarco and returning officer Paul Murray to his new position as Vice Commodore. I am sure we will all be very impressed with their creativity and contributions for the coming 2012 summer season. I personally would like to thank all those who gave so much of their time and energy over the last two years to produce great events for our members to enjoy. BYC’s active membership made my job as Vice Commodore easy and fun! I am honored to serve the BYC as Commodore this year. Thank you all for this opportunity and extraordinary experience. 

Please also welcome our new Trustees Carolyn Braithwaite and Maria Miller. Look forward to a great season for the juniors thanks to their new Junior Advisors Kelly Cordasco and Carolyn Braithwaite. And again we welcome our new Membership Committee headed up by Ed and Alicia O’Connor. Most of all, take stock in the fact that the more you get involved in planning and producing the remarkable summers we all share at the BYC, the more your family will all get out of this incredible little dinghy club. Just an old gas station plopped down on a bay front lot? Well, we all know it is so much more than that! 

We know that the BYC is your kid steering an Opti for the very first time. It is the sailing instructor who towed you in when your main sheet broke. It’s that guy who planted all of the pretty flowers out front just because he wanted to, or the woman you see water them every week. It is the junior who served you dinner and the guy who repaired the soffit. The BYC is the member who hosted that great party and the member who recommended the best restaurant in AC, or the best place to find the right alternator for your boat. The BYC is the place many of us learned how to sail. It’s where you watched your child, grow in an extraordinary sport that offers a lifetime of limitless opportunity. The BYC is all of us; it is the members and our camaraderie, our mutual love of our families, the water and sailing.  

If you are new to the BYC I welcome you. There is so much this club has to offer your family. I look forward to sharing tales of BYC past with you, peeled from a lifetime of experiences, and hope that many of you will find yourselves in a position to pass on your own BYC experiences many years from now 

P.S.  Katie and I really enjoyed the Bass Off. So many members participated in this outstanding autumn event. It really was a beautiful day in spite of the wind and the low country boil was incredible. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Holiday Party and on the Ski Trip!