South Winds Sailing Club 3.13.25

SOUTH WINDS SAILING CLUB

Minutes from meeting:  March 13, 2025

Commodore Chris Behnke

Vice Commodore Steve Trofemuk

Fleet Captain Bruce Lane

Purser Brian Kuhnel

Yoeman: Becky Combs

Commodore Chris Behnke

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m.

A motion was made to waive the reading of the minutes. Amy Kuhnel made a motion to not read the minutes, it was seconded by Kirk.  The motion was  passed.

A reminder was made that club dues were due February 13, 2025.

We had some new guests at the meeting.  Kate is a recent graduate from college. She was on the sailing team at her college.  Interested in possibly finding a sailboat and sailing again.  Jeremy recently retired from the Navy.  He has crewed on several large size sailboats at various duty stations.  He is considering purchasing a sailboat and sailing in our area.  Pete and Ginny also came to the meeting.  They are former SWSC members, own a Catalina 25 and stopped by to see what the club is doing.

Chris thanked Bruce Lane for arranging for Jacob, Cherokee County Fire Rescue, to speak to the club on safety and the app, three words, at our last meeting.

We still have a few burgees left for $17.80 each.  See Chris for a burgee.

Vice Commodore Steve Trofemuk

Due to illness, Steve was unable to attend the meeting.  Chris spoke about upcoming events.  There is a St. Patrick’s Day lunch scheduled for March 15, 11:00 a.m. at Donovan’s Cobbler, Woodstock. Sunset sails will resume in March.  There is a “Moonshine Cruise” overnight planned on April 12th as there will be a full moon.  The Florida 120 is May 14 -18, 2025 in Pensacola, Florida.  Currently, four boats from SWSC have signed up for this cruise.

The Lake Hartwell Cruise is tentatively set for June 6, 7, 8.

There will be a one time, “Beach Raft Up” on June 21, 2025. Those participating will beach their boats on the north shore of the lake (north of Harbor Town Island).  The plan for this raft up is to start it around 3:00 p.m. to allow trailer sailors time to pull their boats from the water before dark.   The tentative date for this is June 21, 2025. The other raft-ups on the calendar will be like previous raft ups.

Fleet Captain Bruce Lane

The Frost Bite race #3 was held.  

Bitter End Race – 5 boats participated. There were heavy Winds at 13-16 knots with gusts up to 30 that made sailing difficult.  A couple of boats took a dnf.  Brian Kuhnel won this race.

Spring Race Series – 1st race is March 22nd, at 12:00 p.m.

Bruce encouraged people to come out and sail at the races, not necessarily to win, but gain experience and have fun.

Purser Brian Kuhnel

Brian gave a financial report that we currently have a balance of $3,756.00.

Commodore Chris for Steve Trofemuk

For our “knot talks” there was a group discussion about “sailing” apps.

Aqua maps. It plots the COE Lakes. Doesn’t work with Garmin GPS module. Does not show dept contours of the lakes.

Navionics

 Wasrsila – Covers only Coastal waters but no inland lakes or rivers, The app is free but you pay for the chart packs you want at about $5 each.

Kirk mentioned that when using Navionics, to actually check buoys or landmarks to ensure that it is working correctly.

New business. Chris opened the meeting up for any new ideas for club activities. Ginny and Pete mentioned an upcoming Dragon Race scheduled on May 3rd.  It is a race to raise funds for cancer. The race will be on Lake Acworth. There is a need for rowers.

Sea Scouts – Gary Holcomb.  Sea Scouts have several boats for sale.  Catalina 25, Cataline 27, Catalina 23 and a Cal 25.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m.