Spinnaker Sheet

New Mexico Sailing Club Winter, 2008

Commodore’s Corner-The Rhythm of the Seasons-Odds and Ends-The Last Word

Commodore’s Corner

Greetings Fellow Lake Heron Sailors:

Another season of sailing at Lake Heron is approaching and we’re all hoping for a big snowmelt runoff to replenish the lake level. The current lake level is near 7144 ft, about 11 ft below the highest level of last summer; let’s hope it doesn’t go much lower.

The NMSC board met in January to discuss and formulate the 2008 budget. The membership has been down in recent years and dock maintenance and repair costs have increased, so for the first time in memory the board voted to raise the slip rental rate; the new rate will go into effect beginning March 16, 2008. The board also removed the former annual processing fee and instituted a dock building fund fee.

Previously, slip rental fees were $390/yr plus GRT (6.0625% in 2008) plus a $25 processing fee, for a total of $439.42/yr. This is still the rental rate for slips if paid by the due date on March 15, 2008.

Beginning with rentals paid on March 16, 2008 and thereafter, the new slip rental rate will be $415/yr plus GRT plus a dock building fund fee of $50/yr, for a total of $490.16/yr. This represents a total annual increase of 11.5% over previous annual slip fees. The annual membership dues were not changed for 2008, and remain $45/yr, which are also due by March 15^th.

Thus, if you haven’t yet paid your slip fees for 2008, be sure to get them in to Rich Strassia postmarked by the final due date on March 15^th, to avoid the rate increase this year. In accord with the increased annual slip rental rate, the monthly and prorated part season slip and buoy rental fees were increased proportionately to align all rates. See the summary of the new rates elsewhere in the February issue of the Spinnaker Sheet.

The board also voted to include specific language in the Marina Operating Rules, Policies, and Etiquette (MORPE) about reciprocity with other sailing clubs. Dockmasters need to be aware that if members from another sailing club present a valid club membership card, they can get 2 night free transient rental and up to 5 days at half price transient rental. See the full text of the new reciprocity rule elsewhere in the Spinnaker Sheet. A benefit of having a formal reciprocity policy is that we can get similar benefits when we visit other yacht and sailing clubs.

Thanks to the NMSC members who have volunteered to serve on the board and who have also volunteered to serve as chairman of the standing committees. If you have any ideas in support of any of the committees, please contact me or the following committee chairman.

Membership and Slip Committee   Rich Strassia

Safety Awareness and Seamanship   John Davey

Race Committee     Pat Byrnes

Program and Social Committee   Susan and Ernie Newman

Spinnaker Sheet editor    Giles Pennington

Facilities Maintenance Committee   Clif Meyer and Mack Jordan

Librarian      Ed Knop

Heron State Park Advisory Board Members  Pat Byrnes and John Polk

Wishing you fair sailing,

Rich Koch

Heron Lake frozen over February, 2008- view from the north side

The Rhythm of the Seasons

Today the lake is frozen in winter’s icy grip. We have, over the past three days, had almost two feet of snow with more to come this afternoon. The governor has declared Rio Arriba County a disaster area. Chama is pretty well closed down and we just got word that the roof of the supermarket caved in under the weight of several feet of snow. Here in Laguna Vista we are landlocked. Our only road to the outside world, Shroyer Drive, is closed under six foot drifts. The National Guard commandeered a caterpillar tractor to get needed medications to some members of our community. Now the sun is out and everything is so white and bright outside that sun glasses are needed to peer out the windows.

A marvelous silence has settled on Heron Lake. Even the forest animals are quiet now. The great bull elks trudge along our road shepherding their harems without making a sound, except for the steady rhythm of their breathing. The coyotes, foxes and bobcats hunt silently during the day now, searching out rabbit tracks in the deep snow. Our local deer population spends the day in quiet slumber under the relative protection of juniper and pinon trees. All the bellowing and calling of mating season is over now and it is time for a determined and quiet kind of survival instinct to take over.

The same kind of survival instinct has taken over the human population as well. Our winter community up here at Heron Lake looks after one another. We keep in touch by phone or foot to make sure each family is safe and secure. Friends with tractors and snow plows stop by neighbor’s homes to help with the digging out efforts. Some in the community are running out of propane for their furnaces and their kitchen stoves (the local propane company is, unaccountably, out of gas). We all insist that those less fortunate join us if their heat fails. It may sound cliché, but it really is “all for one and one for all” around here in winter time. This is the season of cold air and warm cooperation at Heron Lake.

Everyone in the NMSC knows this kind community spirit. During our sailing season we all work together to ensure that each sailor has a safe, fun and successful time on the water. Our dockmasters are famous for a hundred acts of kindness they bestow on needy sailors every season. And each of us can remember a time of trouble or difficulty when another club member came over to help out without being asked. That’s just the way it is during sailing season at Heron Lake. It’s the rhythm of the season.

Dockmaster Nick Nail hurries over to help some sailors tie up

Odds and ends

Odds are you’ll be volunteering for a work crew this spring. Commodore Rich will be announcing the times and jobs as we get into the spring run-off season. Keep checking our website and watching your email for details about the work to be done at the marina.

Here’s a list of important information about the new dock rental rates.

The 2008 sailing season rental fees that go into effect March 16, 2008:

Buoys ......$240 rent + tax + $50 dock building fund

Slips ....... $415 rent + tax + $50 dock building fund

Monthly Rates

Slips                 $190 rent + tax

Buoys               $160 rent + tax

Transient Slip Rate         $10 per night

New Member Partial Season Prorating for Slips

July                                          $280 rent + tax + $25 dock building fund

August                                      $195 rent + tax + $25 dock building fund

September-October                    $140 rent + tax + $25 dock building fund

New Member Partial Season Prorating for Buoys

July                                          $160 rent + tax + $25 dock building fund

August                                      $120 rent + tax + $25 dock building fund

September-October                    $ 80 rent + tax + $25 dock building fund

Think Racing

Pat Byrnes and the Racing Committee are making big plans for next summer. Here are the highlights:

n Long races for the Saturdays of Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July.

n Dinghy Daze on the Sunday of the Fourth of July with possibly a boat parade sometime during that weekend.

n The return of the Buccaneers and a big regatta for everyone on Labor Day weekend, plus couple of smaller races here and there.

n A new regatta the second weekend in August to coincide with the State Park’s very popular Osprey Fest (hopefully get youth involved in it).

n Probably something fun for cruisers and everybody some weekend, perhaps with a treasure hunt and beach picnic.A typical summer day at the marina

The Last Word: Pat Byrnes makes a fearless lake prediction

“Let's hope we keep getting some good storms so these happy predictions will
come true. I'm at least confident enough that the marina structure won't
touch bottom when the water contractors remove the remaining 40,000-some
acre feet they're owed. Right now the marina's in about 18 feet of water --
one of them of the very solid sort. My guess is that the lake should come up
to at least 2/3 full (around 267,000 af, about 9' higher than the best of
last summer), and perhaps 75% full (say 300,000 a.f., around 16 feet higher
than last year) is quite a reasonable possibility. In the ultimate best
possible case, the lake could get up to something like 80% full this summer;
even this could happen if we get some more wet storms and a long, steady
runoff season.  Stay tuned!”

that’s all, folks. Watch for another Spinnaker Sheet in early may.