The Old Greenwich Yacht Club held its annual meeting Sunday and voted in its new board of directors and announced that for the first time in recent memory it does not have a waiting list.
In fact it has nine vacancies. Even the most resilient local institutions have been battered by the Great Recession and OGYC has not been exempted. The club is unusual in that it is a public facility with most of the accoutrement of a full service yacht club except it does not have any dining and events facilities. The club is open to all Greenwich residents with a cap at 300 members.
With an initiation fee of $1,200 and annual dues of only $600, OGYC is one of the best deals in the Northeast for avid sailors. For instance, I pay the Town of Greenwich a lot more – $900 a year – just to store my boat at Greenwich Point and for usage fees such as a marine use permit and mooring permit.
Also, you don’t have to have own a boat to be a member. OGYC owns a fleet of Mercury and Ideal 18 sailboats. The Ideal 18s have become a popular “one class” race boat among all the yacht clubs in Greenwich.
The best part though is the access to Greenwich Cove, which is, in my opinion, the best among the mooring fields in Greenwich. It has easy access to the deeper water in western Long Island Sound and is at the same time sheltered from the prevailing southwest winds by the Greenwich Point peninsula.
The only downside to OGYC is the rancor among the members. A vocal minority has taken to criticizing the volunteer board for everything from maintenance of the boats to board nominations. As a result, board turnover is high and the need for new members is constant.
I joined the club in 2002 after being on the waiting list for one season. If you can manage to avoid the sturm and drang of the club politics, OGYC is an exceptional value. And the opportunity to join doesn’t come along very often. Marc Lotti is the membership director.
Click here for the club’s website
Other incoming board members are:
Commodore Will Morrison
Vice Commodore Barbara Krumeich
Rear Commodore Aileen Hutchins
Treasurer Al Shehadi
Secretary Syd Uhry
Fleet Captain Jonathan Asch
Membership Marc Lotti
Education Lou Casolo
Racing Tom Hagan
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SEWER MANHOLE COVER AT THE BEACH UPDATE
Town officials said they will place a planter on top of the sewer cover at the beach after my recent post:
There must be an explanation. But it’s certainly odd to see a manhole cover right in the middle of the beach at Tod’s Point? Apart from the aesthetic dissonance, there is a safety issue. Hope no one running across the beach mangles a foot or ankle.
Lincoln, I was at the meeting, too, and must have missed the complaints about board nominations and boat maintenance. I did speak at this meeting – first one in two years – and you may or may not recall that I focused most of my comments on the inadvisability of increasing the expenses of running the club next year, in light of your observation about membership and the implications for our revenue stream. I guess that’s an implicit criticism of the volunteer board, but with a significant amount of money at their disposal, I would think it would make anybody – even a volunteer – think twice about expenses. If that’s rancor, just call me the ol’ curmudgeon that my kids have always known; but having served on OGYC boards under 4 or 5 commodores, I think I’m entitled to a comment every other year. Potentially critical review of board (and board members) performance comes with the territory and such service is not mandatory. As to high turnover, it’s true there’s been an exceptional number of resignations in the last two years, including mine. I didn’t check out early because of the noise, but rather the silence. Love the blog, Lincoln.
Comment by Jay Louden — November 17th, 2009 @ 5:38 pm
Thanks Jay.
Speaking of rancor, isn’t it a conflict of interest for the town’s harbormaster to hold an officer’s position in a local yacht club, in particular, as fleet captain? What if one of OGYC’s boats he overseas collides with another boat in the middle of the channel? Would the harbormaster be called upon to render a judgement on navigability? What if there is a dispute with one of the other clubs? I’m sure there are other examples I can think of if you gave me five more minutes.
Comment by Lincoln Millstein — November 18th, 2009 @ 8:56 am
Lincoln:
Thank you for the great introduction of OGYC to the boating community of Greenwich. Our Club is a very special place filled with adults and children who share a love of the water in one of the most beautiful harbors in New England.
As for the occasional rancor, every club (boating or volunteer) I have been a part of has a very small but vocal group for whom criticism is more important than cooperation and a sense of common purpose. From what I have heard from Commodores at other area Yacht Clubs, OGYC is not unique in that respect by any means.
Gene Fignar
Past Commodore, OGYC
Comment by Gene Fignar — November 18th, 2009 @ 10:33 am
I really haven’t been paying attention if the subject of our new Fleet Captain – the Greenwich Harbor Master – is being aired. Whether it’s a conflict of interest is, I suppose, a matter of one’s perspective and his/her job performance, but I certainly would agree that it’s probably inadvisable. The position, for now, is limited to an ordinance that was drafted in 1978, per news release by the First Selectman, following a disastrous public meeting on the draft of “new” regulations the harbormaster would be charged with enforcing. Enforcement neutrality could, perhaps, be more achievable with someone either not a resident or completely disinterested in local boating activities. In the end, the success of the position will turn on the ability of the current office holder to remain objective, fair and clearly aware of the pitfalls an official position in one of the yacht clubs presents.
Comment by Jay Louden — November 18th, 2009 @ 2:24 pm