Groton Long Point Yacht Club

Groton Long Point, CT 06340  860-536-0242

Commodore’s Corner

The snow keeps falling at GLP and it’s hard to imagine the end of winter and the coming of summer. However, your hardy Yacht Club Board of Directors has continued to meet regularly since August to ensure that the summer season of 2010 is one of the best ever. Most of us live "off Point" in the winter and we come to GLP for our meetings from as far away as New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts among other states. Between meetings, we are in constant contact by phone, fax and email.

The new board members elected last summer (Laura Grondin, Leslie Breck and Jon Godbout) hit the ground running and are doing a terrific job along with veteran members Doug Steere, Molly Orchardo, Chuck Coldwell, Hannah Bell-Lombardo, Elaine Shumway, Mindy Deliso, Jerry Carreria and past commodore Lori Perrone. We are very pleased to report that our Director of Operations Jay Washburn will be returning for another season along with our Office Manager Lesley DeLabry. Most of our excellent staff is also returning this year which will make our move into the summer of 2010 as seamless as possible.

The Club itself will continue to operate out of its existing office this year but the YC store will change locations. Instead of being located next to the YC office at the back of the casino it will move to space in the front of the casino between the Point Spa and the Post Office. We believe this will make the store more visible to the public and more accessible for everyone. Please stop in and check out the new GLPYC gear, including totes, pillows and accessories made of recycled yacht sails.

Our work in planning and preparing for the summer season is coming along nicely. In addition to the perennial favorite events such as Hello and Goodbye Summer Parties, we are also planning some new twists for Family Night and Fireworks. Family night was held at the South Beach parking lot last summer and it worked out very well so we are planning for the same location this year. The well-attended Dinner-on-the-Porch nights will return in both July and August, along with the popular Family Bingo.

The Patrons Social and Art Show, always big hits with the members, will be back as well. With the help of our Adult Activities Committee, we are also planning some new events such as the GLP "Roll Back the Years" dance event in July and poker tournaments for juniors in July and seniors in August. August will also feature a "tasting event," the nature of which will be revealed closer to summer.  We will wrap up the events each month with the ever popular GLP Idol after the Awards Ceremony.  As always, our work over the next several months will include fine tuning our calendar and making sure we offer events our members want.

Based on member input, we are scheduling an open meeting in July to seek out your feedback and suggestions while the season is still in progress.  The date will be posted on our calendar.  This is part of our continuing effort to gather your input on all aspects of club planning so if you have any ideas or questions, please don't hesitate to contact any one of us.  Our Communications Committee is part of this effort as they are looking at website improvements and how we can save paper by "going green" and using our website and email system to better communicate with our members and solicit your input. 

It has been a long process, but we have finished the board review of the bylaws.  The next step is to convene our By-Laws Committee for a full review and revision recommendation. 

Many of you asked for increased financial transparency last year.  To that end, we are posting an Annual Summary of our financial results and membership statistics.  Check our website, www.glpyc.org to see this information. 

Safety remains a major concern of both the Association and Yacht Club, so we will be working to support their Safety Day in early July.  Keep your eyes out for details. 

We are all very honored to have been elected to serve the Club and community and are doing our best to carry on the mission of the club and provide our membership with top quality and fun programs and events for everyone.

                                                Doug Steere,