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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0991.030 2016-2018 To: Hawaii County council members Fr: Gary Morgan Re: NHH sailing club MOU and use of Hilo Bayfront COUNTY CLERK COUNTY OF HAWAII County council members and P&R board members, 1818 AUG -7 PM 2: 22 Hello, my name is Gary Morgan and I am also a member of NHH sailing club and a board member of the sailing club. We sold our sailboat before moving here from Seattle because I knew about the very limited moorage available here. But being a life time sailor, I still couldn't go without sailing, so I looked into sailing clubs here on the Hilo side. I found the Hilo Yacht Club first. It has nice facilities, right on the water, but alas, no boats. I couldn't figure out what kind of Yacht Club didn't have boats? But then I found the Na Hoa Holomoku sailing club. It is right on the beach and has a good selection of boats to use. It has sailing classes for the beginners but also racing for more advanced sailors like myself. And best of all, it cost me less for membership and use of the boats than 1 Month of sailing club dues at my club back in Seattle. Since then I have been involved in the club, teaching classes, running races, and helping with mowing the lawn and general maintenance. This is an all volunteer, non profit organization. We have people from all over the world coming here on vacation to enjoy Hawaii. Many want to go sailing. We have some members that are non residents but it is possible for them to join the club and use the boats for less than it would to rent a boat for the few times a year that they visit the island, if they could even find a rental boat. We also have many members that are new to sailing. We can give them free sailing classes on the first Sunday of everymonth so that they can learn to sail safely. They learn how to navigate, Rules of the Road on the water, Safety on the water, and a little history of sailing and what sailing means to the people of Hawaii. With out sailing, Hawaii would not have existed centuries ago. We also have members that race sailboats. Not just here, but worldwide. Sailboat racing is an Olympic Sport, and at least one member has sailed in the Olympic Trials for the. US. We have North American champions down to our local regatta champions. So as you can see, we have a wide range of members of our club. None of them would be able to enjoy the serenity and peacefulness of going out on the water if it were not for this community sailing club. UH at Hilo also kept their boats down here at the same place as NHH. But because of the issues with the use of the beach front, elected to remove their boats till an agreement is reached. l Comm. No. ifia -'O. Ref. To: P fili7K Ref. Date Ub 20w One thing that most of the members of the council are probably unaware of is that sailing is a Letter Sport in most High Schools and Colleges around the country. Without a club like ours, many students would not get exposed to sailing and sailboat racing. For those going to many colleges, including UH Manoa, being on the Sailing team could be a real help in getting in to the college. Many colleges actively recruit racers to their schools. I am sure that you are aware of how difficult and expensive it is to send a student to college these days. Anything to get a leg up on the competition and help with funding their education is a big help. This club is the only sailing club on this side of the Island for locals to get exposed and have the opportunity of learning to race competitively and successfully. Sorry for being so long winded with my letter, but as you can see there is a lot of area to cover. All of which is in your hands now, to make it possible for NHH to continue to occupy the space that we have been in for the last decade plus. We are good neighbors with the paddling and other sports and recreation uses there on the Bay Front. We have a good working relationship with the canoe clubs. We have many bystanders every Sunday just looking out over our beautiful bay at all the sailboats out on the bay. In closing, please allow us to continue to occupy our space on the Bay Front. It would be great if we could also be able to make a few improvements for security and more permanent and professional looking storage lockers for our equipment. Sincerely, Gary Morgan Rear Commodore in charge of Racing, NHH Sent from my iPad You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Na Hoa Holomoku of Hawaii Yacht Club members" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to na-hoa- holomoku-members+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/na-hoa-holomoku-members: For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.