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Date: 5/2/2020
Subject: Email To The PPYC Membership -- Addendum
From: Communications Director



PPYC Newsletter
[Please see the Communications Corner article for an important addendum]
 
Commodore's Corner
We are all anxious to resume our sailing activities, and our Board will be “Zoom” meeting this Monday to discuss some hopeful changes. Obviously, any adjustments we make must follow the guidelines laid out for us by Mayor Cooper, as well as Metro’s guidelines for the marina office (Russell Lackey, HCM Marina Manager, advised us this week that the Safer-At-Home directive was extended to May 8.) For instance, we are hoping to have an all-day class (but limited) in latter June for knot tying and basic sailing. As we interpret the guidelines so far (and when the marina office is re-opened), we are allowed 2 instructors but only 8 attendees into the club house (and all will need to follow the social distancing, masks, etc.). I have also heard that there may be a Metro requirement for temperatures being taken before entering the club house (TBD). Do I like wearing a mask during these times? Nope, but we must strictly follow these guidelines. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if by that time the guidelines will relax a little to allow more students!! We are hopeful in early August to offer a new class, “First Aid for the Mariner,” which will incorporate first aid, CPR, etc. At this stage, we do not anticipate LATH will resume until mid-summer as the guidelines stand currently — trust me, if we can start sooner, we absolutely will!  Wednesday night racing is also on the discussion agenda for this Monday. So please keep tuning in to our communications, as we try to move forward to resuming club activities. We are missing all of you!

At this time, I would like to build one of the committees under the new Bylaws, namely the ASSET COMMITTEE. The Asset Committee is responsible for acquiring and managing maintenance of all Club assets (namely our 5 boats).  The new Chair is responsible for all these tasks. This Chair does not have to be a director but must be a FULL member. This Chair should be one who preferably lives near the marina, is mechanically oriented and willing to take on this responsibility. Our Social Director, Richard Lewis, has graciously been keeping close track of and performed maintenance on our 3 boats racing boats, namely the Committee boat and the 2 safety motorboats (chase boats). Currently, the Club Boat Committee handles all maintenance of our 2 club sailboats. Richard Lewis will be a great asset to this committee should you wish to ask him for guidance. There will be a director to whom this person will report and am currently working on this aspect. There also needs to be a committee established to assist this committee Chairperson. I am seriously looking for volunteers for this very important committee.

There are other committees I am working on formulating (Membership, for instance — I have 3 volunteers but need a Chair).

This club can only function with volunteers willing to give of their time to keep us rolling. I know we are set way back with this COVID-19 pandemic, but that does not mean as we move forward, that you cannot volunteer your time! I would love for you members to let me know where you would like to serve once we get “back into business”. If you do not know what new committees are needing volunteers, please contact me, and I’ll fill you in before you volunteer!  This club cannot function without volunteers, and it is crucial to our future to fill these committees. My Email is commodore@ppyc.org – I know we’re on hold (so to speak) on club activities, but our future is contingent on volunteers!  Please let me know how you can help!
 
Kathy Ware, Commodore
Upcoming Events And Other Items Of Interest
 
Since all of our activities are cancelled through May 31, the only thing we'd like to communicate here is the importance of keeping in touch with us regularly on the overall Coronavirus situation -- as it relates to us, specifically.
 
All of our scheduled activities for 2020 remain on the Events Calendar, with “CANCELLED” in the titles of those up to and including May 31 and “TENTATIVE — To Be Re-Evaluated May 4“ for all items in June and July.
 
Please see the note Charles added in the Communications Corner section below about a special page we've added to keep you regularly and frequently updated on the overall status of the Coronavirus situation, including its impact on our Events schedule.
 
Communications Corner
A May 2nd Addendum To My May 1st Article. ... Well, one shouldn’t allow his love of sailing to keep him from maintaining an awareness of all applicable rules governing a potential outing. As it turned out, I was unaware of a permit issue that wrecked my plans for capitalizing on one of the most ideal weekends for sailing I’ve seen this year. Technically, PPYC’s permit to conduct its operations at HCSM is suspended as a part of state and local Coronavirus-related restrictions. And technically, the Club Boat Program is part of PPYC’s operations, so my May 2nd and 3rd reservations were not valid. We’ve since put administrative holds on both boats through May 8 indicating “Unavailable through at least May 8 [Metro restrictions.]” So just think of my May 1 article in the context of this line from John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem Maud Muller: “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been’.” [Original May 1 article follows below.]
 
A good friend forwarded an email to me yesterday that made my day. It was from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The banner line was “What better way is there to practice ‘social distancing’ than to get outside and enjoy Tennessee’s natural resources?”  It appropriately followed with “When enjoying recreational boating, it is important to observe the following practices to protect yourself and others and slow the spread of COVID-19,” followed by the now-well-known guidelines.

A few weeks ago, as it began to appear that May would be a time when we’d be able to at least begin crawling out of our homes and have a little more fun than going to the grocery store, I reserved one of our Club Boats [Catalina 22] for the afternoons of Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3. If weather projections don't change dramatically, my wife and daughter will be on the lake tomorrow afternoon enjoying an 80° sunny afternoon with 6-9 knot winds gusting to 18-22 — and if we decide we haven’t had enough for our 2020 maiden voyage, out again Sunday afternoon under very similar conditions [CBP members — I’ll be following the Coronavirus procedure Nick established several weeks ago, so you’ll be able to find my time of departure from the boat Saturday — and Sunday if we go out again — through the web site; also, if we decide not to go out Sunday, I’ll remove the reservation Saturday night or by late-morning Sunday.]

I hope this is a good start to a great Summer/Fall 2020 of frequent sailing for me, personally. As a club, let’s all continue to do our part — by continuing to follow published guidelines in all that we do — in making the Mayor’s four-phase reopening plan a success. Don’t forget to check the Coronavirus Updates page regularly for the latest information on how that plan relates specifically to PPYC [Link below.]
 
Please Note. We’ve added a special Coronavirus Updates page to the Member Resources section.  We will post the most current PPYC-specific information we have about the Coronavirus situation there. You can access it through the Member Resources Menu, by clicking the link in the top banner on this page, or by clicking here: Coronavirus Updates

Charles Jones, Communications Director
communications@ppyc.org
Thanks for reading this communication. We'll see you around.

Percy Priest Yacht Club  .  PO Box 290485  .  Nashville, TN 37229