• Happy New Year, Sailors! We hope that everyone has a magical Christmas Season.Our New Year's Day Pursuit Race, Pot Luck Dinner and White Elephant Gift Exchange was a fun and very well attended event. We maxed out the Sailing Center Space. The food was fantastic and the gift exchange, as always, was a lively event. Lots of steals, oohs and ahhs and fun!.A BIG thanks goes out to our Rear Commodores Connie Reichert and Doug Jones for preparing the hams, coordinating the Pot Luck and with help from Suzanne and Tony Hooper, making the Sailing Center looking like a hit party spot. Also a big thanks to Rich Treinen for working the crowd selling 50/50 raffle tickets (he's really good at it) and for our winner who donated their 50% back to the club. The 50/50 raffle has been introduced this year to help offset some operating expenses of the club. So far the raffle has been a success. Thank you!

Upcoming events:

• The next Board of Directors (BOD) meeting is this Tuesday January 9th at 6:00PM at the Sailing Center. Meetings are open to all members. If you are interested in serving on the BOD in the future or simply want  to help out with a task or event, attending a Board meeting will give you some insight on how you can serve SPSA. If you plan to attend the meeting on Tuesday please let me know – shoot an email to Commodore@spsa.us. 

• Seminar: Race Committee Basics – Monday January 15, 6:00 PM at the Sailing Center. Presented by Past Commodore Rich Treinen and SPSA Member Cheryl Buhr. The presentation will cover: determining the course, starting and finishing a race (all those flags) and recording times. Many of you have asked for some RC training, this seminar will fit the bill. Don't miss it. Take the mystery serving as Committee. RSVP to secretary@spsa.us.

• Series Races 9 & 10 and Chili Cookoff (or the first races of the Spring Season), Saturday, January 20th, Start time 1100. Athena will serve as Race Committee. Following the race we will gather at the Sailing Center to determine the best of the Chilli cooks this year. Don't miss this fun, tasty event. RSVP to djsara@comcast.net – let them know if you are entering your chili in the contest and how many people you have in your party. 

• Off the Wall Regatta – Sunday January 28th, start time 1100. Skippers meeting on Saturday afternoon 4:00PM at the Sailing Center. This will be the third year for this event. Conceived to inspire boats to "leave the dock" and come out to race, it has been a successful event to introduce captains and crew to racing. Our goal this year is to get every boat owned by SPSA members out on the Bay! Please help by encouraging boat owners to enter the event and have a fun day of sailing on the Bay.

See you all out on the Bay.

Hello Sailors,

I hope all of you are enjoying this Christmas season. It's a joyous time of year. Time spent with family and friends, embracing long standing traditions and creating new ones. The weather has been a little sporty out on the bay, but if you have made it out I trust you had an enjoyable day of sailing.

Our next SPSA event is our New Year's Day Fun Pursuit Race followed by our traditional Potluck Dinner and White Elephant Gift Exchange. Here are the details:

• Monday January 1, 2024 – Race/First Boat start time 1400 (2:00PM). The course and start times will be distributed on Sunday 12/31.
• Our PotLuck dinner will start around 4:00PM at the Sailing Center. The Club will provide the main course and we asked members to bring a side dish and/or dessert. To RSVP and coordinate side dishes please contact our Rear Commodores Connie & Doug at djsara@comcast.net. Even if you are not sailing in the race, plan to attend the post race event. If you are new to the club this is also a great way to make connections with other members.
• The White Elephant Gift Exchange will begin after dinner. Bring a gift to exchange. It is always a fun time. (The secret is in the "art of the steal" 😊).