Commodore's Message

When I joined The Villages Sailing Club in 2006, the year after it had been founded, the club published a newsletter that was distributed via email. An important part of that newsletter was the Commodore’s Message from the club founder and first Commodore, Rich Mosher. It lasted until the couple who wrote and distributed the document left the club. Now, about 15 years later, I’m happy to see us again publish a club missive in the form of an on-line magazine—an “E-zine”.

The club’s new magazine will feature articles, photos, and other items of sailing interest from the club members and officers. We will periodically update and change the articles if it seems to be successful and we get good support from the members.

When Rich started the club in 2005, he had 12 people show up to its first meeting. By the end of that meeting, all 12 members had an assignment to help organize and run the club. They met at the Churchill Downs rec center until they moved to the Lake Miona rec center with its sailing motif in 2006. Rich’s boat at that time, the only boat in the club then, was a 19-foot O’Day Mariner, which he replaced with a Com-Pac 16 that has become the club’s “go-to” boat for club members looking for a boat for themselves. One other charter member of the club is still a member—Ron Gryn—who sails a gaff-rigged cat boat when he’s in The Villages. My boat, Palesea, is a Com-Pac 16 that had been owned by another charter member, Art Iannace.

Over the years, the club’s membership generally ran between 70 and 100 as new residents joined and other members left the club. Today, with the recent expansion of The Villages south of FL 44, our current membership roster shows more than 140 members ranging from certified captains to folks who’ve never sailed before. And we have 10 local sail boats owned by club members, several of which are wooden and were either built from scratch or rebuilt by their owners.

With the wide range of experience in our membership, we should be able to get some very interesting articles to periodically publish here in our new on-line magazine. I want to thank Ken Van Camp for suggesting and creating this first issue.

Steve