ANOTHER VIEW
What’s your personal vision of NFCC? I suppose all of us have our own and the majority of us seem to agree, for the most part, on what the club means to us. The club’s stated purpose is to promote good fellowship and interest in cruising and racing family type sailboats in Northeast Florida. In doing so, we have collectively, a vast amount of knowledge in the pursuit of our avocation. Long term members have enjoyed cruising with the club to meet with old friends and make new ones over our common interest, the love of "canvas and hemp" and the slap of water against the hull. The newer members join the club in order to further their knowledge of that same common interest, and to make new friends at the same time.
Ever think of yourself as an "old salt"? I suppose it’s relative, but at the same time, it’s also subjective. To one that’s not been sailing, the day sailor is an old salt. To the day sailor, the over-night cruiser may be an old salt. To the over-nighter that’s never been out of the St. Johns, those that have made the trip to St. Augustine or Fernandina by ICW might be. To the ICW cruiser, those that do the same trip offshore could be. To those coastal cruisers, folks that have been to the Bahamas should be. To Bahamian veterans, those intrepid people that have set off for more distant foreign shores across an ocean would be. To a trans-oceanic cruiser, a circumnavigator is an old salt.
North Florida Cruising Club has members at all of those levels. It is a personal belief of mine that information of this nature should never be considered proprietary. It doesn’t matter where one fits in the above examples, everyone of us has something to share with the others, something to teach and learn. I’ve been involved in discussions about the ELPHICK STORM OF ‘94. In that particular situation, there were members of all levels caught in the brief fury of that storm, and in all cases, everyone had something to share about the experience. Something to teach, something to learn.
Look around, folks, you’re a member of the largest sailing organization in Northeast Florida, perhaps the southeastern US. Look at your comrades in the club. Everyone of us is intertwined by our common interest. Each of have something to share about our sport. Share that wealth of information and make the club even better than it already is.
To kick off the information interchange, I’ll offer to start. Here’s one bit of information I’ll share about offshore experiences. When you’re sailing close hauled, in Force Five winds, don’t try making a quiche. Between heeling, and the ‘motion of the ocean’, it’ll never stay in the pan, let alone be easily scooped back into the pan after running back and forth across the cabin sole. Like that one? Stay tuned there’s MUCH more where that came from.
(NOTE to Editor: The last paragraph is an attempt at humor and isn’t necessary to the piece over all. If you need the room, or don’t think it’s funny, cut it......)