Tom Auth

2011 Chesapeake Bay Chapter President

Well, I thought it would be a tough job to fill up a page of our Stuffing Box newsletter with my musings, but at the rate the Chapter has charged into the New Year, I am holding onto my hat and I’m out of breath already.  I’ll definitely need to get my second wind for the next quarter of the year.  Since I had to condense the newsletter version of our 1st quarter recap, here’s my unedited view for our CBC website’s visitors.

So what have we been up to? December was Christmas in St. Michaels.  Unfortunately I wasn’t unable to attend that event, but the word I got was it was a great time for fellowship, sharing a meal & some Holiday cheer, and sitting by the wood stove in one of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s buildings after the parade.  My thanks to Ebby duPont for coordinating that event.   I also want to thank the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum for opening their facilities to us. 
In January we found ourselves receiving a personal tour of the Annapolis Maritime Museum with a small breakfast treat concluding with an excellent lunch provided by The Big Cheese caterers of Annapolis.  Joe Sibilia deserves our thanks for setting up this event, which 43 members enjoyed. 

Before January was complete, we were able again to show off about 10 of our boats in the Charles Street lobby of the Baltimore Boat Show.  This was a great opportunity for us to introduce the general boating public to antique and classic boats.  We had plenty of interest and developed some new member prospects.  Steve Izant took the con on this.  We owe our kudos to Steve and his group of volunteers:  Dominic Fiaschetti, Chuck Warner & Chris Brown, along with numerous Chapter members who volunteered to staff the booth as well as all of the boat owners who brought their boats to the show.  

 
February was kicked off with a joint endeavor by our Chapter and the Potomac River unit of the U.S. Power Squadrons.  An 8-hour Boating Safety Course was given by Capt. John Wilmot, who’s both a member of our Chapter and a certified instructor with the Power Squadron.  We had 30 people attend the class, which was held on two consecutive Saturdays.  John made sure we were well-trained and had a 100% pass rate.  For $15.00 our members received two continental breakfasts as well as lunches over the two days that we held the course.  Now that’s a bargain. Nice job, John!

 
Then Anne & Dave Hannam organized a combination shop tour and new member social at Sarles Boat Yard in Annapolis on March 12.  Dave is a boatwright at Sarles, so he set up a series of carpenters’ stations to demonstrate wood boat construction and repairs.  Approximately 40 people attended and enjoyed first the tour and then the repast of corned beef, shepherd’s pie and other Irish dishes in an early celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.  Our thanks to Dave, Anne, and the Sarles crew. 

Meanwhile, Maryann Fiaschetti and her “crew” have had several planning meetings “behind the scenes”, preparing for our 24th Annual Boat Festival, which will be held again on the grounds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels.  You’ll find her update in the latest issue of the Stuffing Box as well as on our website.

In addition to all our member-focused Chapter activity, I had the chance to attend the ACBS International Quarterly Meeting in Homosassa, Florida in February.  This was the first time I’ve attended an ACBS meeting and I was very impressed with the professionalism shown by the Board of Directors.  And I learned a few things at this February meeting:

• The ACBS Master Directors and Officer’s insurance policy covers the Chapter’s Board of Directors. 

• Board member Rob Selin is working on a project that we may be able to incorporate into next year’s Boat Festival. It's a 10-10 boat: 10 ft. long with a 10 hp motor that can be built for approximately $350 (exclusive of motor) with material purchased from your local home improvement store. You’ll see in this article some photos I took of the 10-10 boat in Florida. They’re calling it a Cocktail Racer and I’d like to make this a project next year.  It would be fun to have a fleet in the Chapter and set up race nights.  I also plan to ask Rob to write an article about this for a future issue of our Stuffing Box.  

 
Then, while I was attending the Sarles marina event in March, I spoke with Charlie Iliff (whose daughter and son-in-law own the Prop Talk and Spin Sheet monthly boating publications).  Charlie said he’s purchasing a computer-operated router table, and if we provide him with the CAD drawings for the 10 -10 Racer, he could cut the parts out of plywood sheets for us.  It would be similar to having a kit boat with pre-cut parts. What a great resource for our Chapter in facilitating this project!

If you haven’t had a chance to attend any of our fun/educational programs yet, don’t worry, there’s plenty more ahead.  Check out our website’s Calendar for more information about our upcoming events.

 
‘Til next time, I wish you fair winds and following seas.   

Tom Auth

President

Chesapeake Bay Chapter - ACBS

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