January is a great time to make plans for the new year, and racing your Alberg should definitely be on the list of plans you put together. Here are some ideas on how get that reliable crew together that can make the difference between an average racing season and an exceptional one.
Towney (Skybird), a perennial racer now retired, would send out the new year's racing calendar to his crew and ask them to sign up for the races they would attend in the upcoming season. This gave them the opportunity to put the races on their calendars early--before many other commitments were on the horizon--and allowed Towney to know where he had gaps in crew well before the season started.
Personally, I use a Yahoo! Group to communicate with my crew and Google Documents to publish a spreadsheet of the year's races. I send an e-mail to the group letting them know the schedule has been published and give everyone access to it so they can read the spreadsheet and change it. I ask them to fill in the races they plan on doing and to update it if their situation changes. I even put in our finishes so everyone can see how we're doing as the year progresses.
Either way, I encourage everyone to reach out to their crew over the next couple of weeks. Thank them for this year and encourage them to come out next year.
We have a new Racing Commodore coming into office next month, and so I must sign off. It's been my pleasure serving you and truth be told, I've had loads of help. One of the great things about serving in our association is that we have numerous people on hand that have done your job before. Even better than that, they are very happy to help! Additionally, I've had race coordinators that have promoted and facilitated getting boats out on the water. Thank you all!
I look forward to see everyone out on the water in 2009!
Tim Williams
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