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Highlights and Forecasts from the FWSA General Meeting
- Marge Whiteman
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
By Pam Miller
Photos by Nancy Marik
The FWSA kicked off the second half of the 2025-26 season with the January General Meeting hosted by the Bow Chasers at the Clearwater Yacht Club. Sixty-six members attended in person with 3 participating via Zoom. The setting for the meeting couldn’t have been more perfect with the sun glistening off the Charlotte Harbor waters outside the dining room windows. An FWSA banner greeted attendees as they entered, and tables were set with festive nautical napkins set off by the Clearwater Yacht Club burgee napkin ring. Attendees picked a number after registering to find out where they would sit. Many participants commented that the small table arrangements (4-6/table) were very conducive to meeting new sailors and sharing what other clubs are doing.
The Board Officers, Committee Chairs, and Club Delegates gave updates on significant happenings within FWSA and the individual clubs. President Pam Miller (Bitter Ends) reported that each club had provided breakdowns on their membership, as of January, and it was interesting to learn that of the 647 FWSA members, 58% are sailors, 8% work solely as Race Committee or Safety Boat personnel, and the remaining 34% are ‘seasoned’ non-sailors, as Margo Currey (Windlass) described them in her report. It is so rewarding to see that although no longer sailing or working on support boats, that a third of the membership remains involved with FWSA.
Vice-President Susie Colunio (Dinghy Dame) gave a summary of the interclubs held in the first half of the year. Since 2 of the 3 interclubs were abandoned due to poor weather conditions, the FWSA Board wants to have an open discussion to determine if anything can be done to reduce the number of interclubs abandoned by changing start times, revamping how luncheons are handled, providing more flexibility to timing, etc. All suggestions are welcome and should be directed to Susie Colunio (scolunio@aol.com).
Margo Currey gave an update on the progress to date on the logistics for the Rainbow Regatta scheduled for Monday, April 27th. Cost will be $65/sailor, with non-sailors lunches provided at $30. Drop off for boats at the Clearwater Community Sailing Center will be from 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, April 26th, and food will be available for purchase. Regatta Network will be used for registration so all attendees can see who will be competing. The goal is to have 100+ sailors on the water! An email has already been sent to members regarding a special FWSA rate at the Pelican Pointe Hotel & Condo in Clearwater for those who want to spend the night close to the venue vs. driving in the morning of the event.
The highlight of the meeting was guest speaker Ally Blake, Meteorologist from Tampa Bay Channel 28, an ABC Affiliate. Ally was a breath of fresh air with her high energy and charismatic presentation style. Her presentation focused on the impacts of weather in our daily lives and when we are on the water, but it was her Q&A session that had all the attendees involved. After 40 minutes, the Q&A session was halted so attendees could go through the buffet line. Ally was gracious and answered questions while everyone was in line. She barely had time to eat her lunch as she continued to be peppered with questions.
A delicious lunch was followed by the 50/50 raffle for the Young Woman Sailor of the Year fund which was won by Chansi Harrow (Dinghy Dame). The Young Women Sailor of the Year netted $235 and Chansi won $235. The raffle was followed by a game called “Fore and Aft”. All attendees who had bought raffle tickets were asked to stand and choose to place their hands either on their head (fore) or on their tusch (aft). A coin flip simulator then ran on an iPhone displaying Heads and/or Tails. Depending on which coin was showing when the simulator stopped, attendees sat down if their choice was wrong or remained standing. It took 5 rounds before the group was down to the last ten standing. These individuals were asked to come to the front of the room so everyone could see their choice as the coin flipped. On the last round, 3 remained standing and each was asked to turn their back to each other so they couldn’t see what the other individual was choosing. On the last spin, Lisa Meacock (Bitter Ends) and PJ Summerville (Dinghy Dame) remained standing. Lisa and PJ both won a coin purse handmade by Jill Joos (Bitter Ends) and inside was a $20 gift card donated by First Watch.
Many thanks to the small but mighty group of the Bow Chasers who pulled off a perfectly executed General Meeting under the leadership of Bow Chasers Captain Cathy McNally.
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