Association membership renewals

[Ron]

I posted the following as an announcement, but it doesn't seem to be highlighted as a new message. I'll repeat it here -

............................................................................................................................................

Sorry about this, but we seem to need another reminder about renewing memberships in the association. 13 out of the 80 owners have "joined" so far, and that includes two perspective buyers and one person with an old Telstar 26. At $10 per boat (we get $9.41, Paypal gets the other $0.59), we need at least 30 members to pay the yearly expenses for this forum and our website. We have very few expenses other than the costs of the software and hosting fees for these two services. We also have to buy about $200 worth of converson software now to migrate the old forum's messages over to the new one but we have enough to do that. Unless 30 or more of you renew, the association and this forum will cease to exist in about 12 to 18 months.

We will reluctantly start to remove owners who have not renewed their membership from the authorized member tables on the two sites on or about July 1. If your boat was built before April 2008 and you haven't paid, your access will be limited. This is a no-brainer really - the association is supporting your ownership of the boat and it costs almost nothing to join. It would be free but someone has to pay for the above. Join Boat/US (every boater should be a member of that anyway) and save $12.50 there - more than the $10 for the renewal here.

One other note. Assuming that we continue to exist, does anyone have any suggestions concerning the officers of the association. All four of us have served in our jobs since February 2008. Would anyone like to volunteer to either assist or replace us? Not sure about the others, but I'd be willing to continue as commodore for another year or so. Not sure if I'd want to stretch it out anymore than that.

[dcsailing1]

Common folks, let’s support this valuable resource! Talk about a bargain. Please contact any T28 owners you know and urge them to support also.

[Ron]

I knocked about 10 to 15 people off of the "member list" last week. They had not paid their $10 annual dues , and as promised, I turned them into non-members. Go to our web site (http://www.telstarowners.com/) if you want to renew. The first year was free, courtesy of Performance Cruising.

[occasion]

How do I find out when it is time to renew? I don't remember when I joined. Can an email be sent out or a renew list posted?

Sandy
Occasion #368

[Ron]

Sandy -

This association is being run on an almost informal basis. The $10 dues is enough to keep the web site and forum running and pay for a few incidental expenses, as long as we have at least 40 members. Your first years dues was paid by Performance Cruising, who gave us $10 each for the first 100 boats. Based on your hull number, you're OK till at least next year. I don't want to make this a full time job, so I'll probably post a notice for everyone to see, probably in May or June. Any newer boat or member less than 8 months old gets a waiver on this.

[occasion]

Ron,
I did pay $10 some time ago to join the Association. Just don't recall when. Does the Association have a treasurer who keeps track of this kind of thing? I we collected email addresses from all members it would be easier to communicate more directly. Relying on someone to stumble into a notice about dues will not be very reliable.

Please let me know if I can help.

Sandy
Occasion #368
wburton4@rochester.rr.com

[Ron]

Sandy -

I appear to be the treasurer now. You did pay $10 back in April or May. When did you get the boat? If it was in 2009, then you're covered until 2011.