The New Year and the first snow are upon us.  Some shrink wrapped, some went south, and some are doing a bit of both.   The new officers and governors voted on at the Annual Membership Meeting have assumed their offices.  Your new officers, governors and chairs are:                                                

Commodore:  Bob Higginbotham
Vice Commodore:  Jamie Ritter
Rear Commodore:  Terry Bidnick
Fleet Captain:  Colin Soucy
Secretary:  Mary Ross
Treasurer:   Mary Bowie
Governors:  Patti Bartlett, Steve Cavin, Westbrook Murphy, Gary Budesheim, E Don Smith, Chuck Kahle
Social Director:  Rosie Cavin
Cruise Director:  Madi Yates
Mid-Week Chair:  Pat Bernhart
Membership Chair: Laurie Crosley
Webmaster:  Tom Bernhart
Spin Sheet/Prop Talk:  Otto Hetzel and John Oberright

A special note of “thanks” to Bill Kranzer (now Past Commodore), past Secretary Bonnie Hetzel, past Governor Mark Cline, past Cruise Director Juliana Nedd, and past Membership Chair JJ Sullivan.  Thank you all for your dedication, your time, ideas, guidance, and most of all your BCYC Spirit! 

Your Board of Governors and chairs have come up with a lot of great new ideas for 2015.  Of note are:

Kicking off the Year:  For the first time, we have a slate of activities planned for our BCYC contingent wintering over on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as BCYC South Events for those venturing to warmer climes in Florida.  Check out our simultaneous North and South Happy Hours kicking things off this Friday, January 9th, and register soon to let your hosts know you are coming!

Calendar Updates:  Take note, we have made a few change to our calendar at the start of the year.  Wondering where to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day with your spouse/significant other/boat partner?  Here’s your answer: Join hosts Cindy and Westbrook Murphy for a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” 8 PM, Saturday, February 14 at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis.  Optionally preceded by dinner at nearby Carpaccio Tuscan Kitchen.  Fiddler tickets will be $32 each (a 25% discount), and a 15% discount on food (but not drink) at Carpaccio’s.  Details of this event will be posted soon and there will be a deadline of February 5, to make sure we get tickets.

Mid-weeks:  Pat Bernhart has come up with some exciting new extended mid-week excursions to the Mariners Museum in Newport News (February) and Cove Point Light (March).  Keep an eye out for early registration notices for these.

Commodore’s Ball:  This year will mark our shift from the Commodore’s Ball traditionally held in January to a Change of Watch Ball on May 2nd.  Hopefully all of our snowbirds will be back in town and able to join in.  Our social committee has done an outstanding job planning what will be a memorable event.  They have selected Oyster Cove as our venue, bringing the possibility of access by sea to this event.  We will have Mike Lang and the Tiki Barbarians returning for us to dance the night away.

BCYC on the Water:  Colin Soucy and Madi Yates have been busy planning our cruising activities.  In addition to our Annual Club Cruise in May, Tom Bernhart and Richard Sanger are planning the third installment of the Vagabond Cruise for August, which will meet up with our Labor Day Cruise participants at Cambridge.   Be on the lookout for early slip sign up for Labor Day since we expect to see many BakYakkers there.

Gail and I will be kicking off the year by sampling a bit of both the North and South activities.  We are reusing last year’s shrink wrap – won’t do that again – but that’s a story for another time.

See you soon Up the Creek!
Bob Higginbotham
Commodore
Back Creek Yacht Club