Page 4 - Kwasind June 2020 issue

JUNE 2020
MEMBER NEWS • 4
Commodore’s Message
Jamie Keating commodore@rcyc.ca
And we’re off! What a pleasure to be back in action. And how comforting that the Club re-opening, measured as it is, has been greeted with such strong appetite for Club activity and Island visits. Perhaps by the time you are reading this, our St. George facility will also have been permitted to open.
I would like to recognize our entire Staff for the good
work in making our Club ‘turn-key ready’ for the various stages of re-opening, as and when signaled. This has been complicated - anything but ‘business as usual’- given the litany of special directives, uncertain timing, changes in government programs and evolving best practices. So, for adapting and innovating, for re-designing programs, systems and communications, we owe thanks to our Managers, Staff and many Member-volunteers. And equally to our Members, for their understanding and patience during this challenging chapter of our Club’s history.
It was gratifying to have so many Members participate in
our virtual AGM last month. By the numbers, it was a success given participation was well above the historical norm. As
to content, we kept it succinct, in part to test our virtual format. All suggestions for improvement are welcome. We appreciate your support with the acclamation of nominated Board Members. This allows us to get back to business immediately.
Our new Sailing Department team conducted an informative Member outreach sailing survey and hosted the Club’s third fleet forum. Thanks to all who participated and contributed. Director of Sailing, Tommy Wharton, and Sailing Manager, Jenny Farrand, have brought great passion and innovative thinking, combined with extensive research & consultation to do more than ‘save our sailing season’ but to make it one to remember. Stay tuned and read Tommy’s excellent article in this issue.
By this time, you may have also received a follow-up Member outreach aimed at gauging and generating interest in activating our Island sports and social activities, as we open more broadly in line with Provincial and Civic directives. As with sailing, we will look at bespoke solutions for Member sports & social offerings in this environment. It will be fun
to get our Lawn Bowlers, tennis players, Island bike, kayak and paddleboarders in action soonest. And to get physical distanced casual dining, too, fingers crossed. On social, see the photo-essay of our newly-named Roaring 20’s and 30’s (so, is that the Roaring Under ‘40’s?) in this Kwasind newsletter. And now that we are comfortable conducting our Member meetings virtually, we will follow-up with a town hall information session (provisionally scheduled for the last week of June), wherein we will be sharing our early-stage proposals for streamlining Membership categories and our Board size, all for Member consultation. Our thinking on both is that
we would be well served to modernize, aligned with best practices and peer norms to facilitate a more efficient and fairer outcome for our Club and Members.
While this pandemic has created a disruptive period, we
are taking advantage to drive a constructive outcome.
We view this crisis as ‘found time’, for acting on jobs not
easily attended to when business is ‘full-on’. Your Board has mandated your Management Team to use any employee ‘down-time’ available to review and upgrade our process and accounting systems, and to get near-term tasks checked off. For example, with limited Club racing and organized cruising, coupled with our good fortune with no flooding, makes this a very good summer to clean up our Island. And our lockers. Management can lead the Island and Cherry
St. clean-up, but let’s all chip in. My analogy is cleaning the basement when it rains (who willingly cleans the basement on a sunny day?).
The property clean-up project is job 1. On this, we ask for Member cooperation. We will be tagging and removing Member property not clearly labelled and stored in authorized locations (masts, booms, dinghies, canoes, kayaks, barbeques, furniture, bikes, etc). Some of this will require innovative and unorthodox approaches. Our vision is to reinstate a higher state of orderliness and pride in our property. By getting this task checked off, we can reclaim portions of our property for master plan opportunities, such as building an integrated youth and sports facility on and around the South Island tennis courts, and other Island property projects. Some of these projects could involve Member-Staff partnerships. Building out integrated BBQ
& wash stations, with modern and strategically located garbage receptacles is on the list. We can make our Island beautiful again.
I’ve been proud to learn of our many front-line worker- Members, and on behalf of the entire Membership, we thank you. We also have Staff who are making their daily way to our premises to keep our Club operating. For them, and for our vulnerable Members or households, let’s all remain vigilant
on physical distancing and on wearing masks indoors, on the launch and in proximity to others outdoors. Please observe our signage and let’s all contribute to getting this difficult period behind us.
Let’s all make this a Summer to Remember.