re-printed without permission:

> Hey Christian: I am enthused by the spirit of the club, but being a non yacht owner and likely to continue as such I wonder if you will allow me to "crew" for you.

Dear Dr. Russell,

The nascent Galiano Island Yacht Club is intended for owners of boats above the following threshold: an inflatable pool mattress shall be deemed a worthy vessel, but a PDF or survival suit shall be deemed too small to qualify.

I am aware that you own at least three vessels worthy of qualification for the club, and as such your annual dues would be at least $3, calculated using our highly researched formula of one dollar per vessel owned. If you own any more vessels, you would be honour bound to declare such ownership upon joining.

The club itself will likely have relatively few official functions, but we would likely have at least one annual event where the idea would be to get as many official boats out on the water as possible. A "race" around Parker Island, is a strong possibility. You may be pressured to ensure that one of your officially counted boats is present, if not occupied by yourself.

As for sailing crew opportunities, we view this as step two in our process, where step one is to open the lines of communication within the Galiano Boating community. All members will have some responsibility in getting this off the ground. Having sailed to the Saturna Regatta two years in a row now, I feel ready to represent the Galiano effort headed for that Regatta. We would like a strong showing of boats, and at that point, budding sailors will be viciously sought after and perhaps fought over.

Beyond that, on a more personal note, if I have anything to do with it, there will be many opportunities to learn to sail, both on my own vessel, GEM and other boats. Martine and I are on the hunt for a small sailing dinghy, one that might be appropriate to teach new sailors of any age.

kind regards

Christian Nally