Thanks Mary, Matt, and John for all the kudos! While I was the catalyst, the continued success of our fleet is due to what we call the "core group." This core group consists of those of us willing to travel great distances to race. Add to Matt's list of guys, a few more...like Gregg Kittinger and myself and there you have the "core group".

Through career and life changes, the amount of time that we have been able to put into the fleet has been constantly changing. The fact that the fleet is "run" by a group of individuals, as opposed to one person, guarantees its longevity. John took the commodore reigns when I ran short of time. All of the beforementioned guys have picked up the ball when necessary, making certain that at least some of us are at every fleet function.

Last year, at the Strictly Sail Show, we had over 100 sailors interested in a Chicago area fleet. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in finding a leader to take those names and go with it. This year, we have a leader going in, and we have chosen a weekend when the entire core group, and hopefully quite a few others, will go to Chicago for a fun sail event. That may be the jump start they need.

Fleet sailing is the future. You will always have racers...but there are too many people intimidated by racing. Once we help them with their skills and confidence, we may turn a few recreational sailors into racers. But if we don't, that's O.K. You don't just measure the fun of sailing by a finishing time, you measure it by the size of the smiles on the sailor's faces.

Jeff