Frank E. Lange

Aloha Kakou!

It’s time: Time to get out of the bleachers - time to stand up, suit up, and step up for the club.

The Nominating Committee has been selected (see Article V, Section 1, Paragraph D of the bylaws.)

By our September General Meeting, we need a slate of qualified voting members to stand for election to club offices for 2009. The bylaws reflect the need to keep HYC a yacht club by emphasizing boat ownership as a key qualification of candidacy.

The Nominating Committee will be interviewing candidates for Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodores (Sail and Power) and two Governors. That’s six jobs, at least four must be boat owners, (but six would be better.)

Laureen McCoy is Chairman. Committee members are Ron Halvorson, Michael Ray, Skip Riley, Joseph Shacat, Bob Simpson, and Norm Thomson. Let the committee know you’re ready to serve. It’s their job to interview candidates on behalf of the membership and put forward those they think will be best able to serve.

Candidates for elected offices must have been full time residents of Hawaii for a continuous period of three years immediately preceding their nomination.

A candidate for commodore must have been a Voting Member for four years and have been an elected officer or board member for at least one year. Candidates for other offices must have been Voting Members for three years.

Watch the process. You’ll see plenty of people who want to serve as governors for three years, a few who’d like to be commodore, but almost nobody who really wants to be vice commodore or rear commodore. "Too much work," is the standard excuse for not taking on one of these jobs. But anybody who owns a boat and has lived in Hawaii for three or four years is accustomed to doing "too much work."

Staff Commodore Hank Mulligan is back on the Board of Governors for the remainder of the term from which Skip Riley then Ken Rappolt resigned. Hank has previously served as Rear Commodore for Sail, then as Governor and Treasurer. Welcome back, Hank. The board is now half Boomerang.

Two thousand nine is another TransPac year. Please plan now to be here for the fun, festivities and frolic of making a whole fleet of yachts welcome. There are so many volunteer opportunities on committees related to TransPac that nearly everybody will have a chance to contribute to the endeavor.

As always, sponsoring a visiting race yacht is fun, challenging, and emotionally rewarding. When a Hui of hosts is formed, the work and financial load is spread across the shoulders of many, and the hosts have as much fun as the guests (if not more.)

With B, C, and D docks expected to be restored to service before the racers arrive, our club will be a focal point for families waiting for their ships to come in. Shuttles will be running between clubs, and we’ll be a veritable beehive of hospitality.

Start gearing up now. Mahalo nui loa!

Ka’u kauwa ho’olohe,

Frank E. Lange