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When I accepted the Pelican's offer to write this column, I resigned from the board of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron on City Island (now Ken Thompson Park). I've been a member since the early 1980s. For the past six years, squadron members voted me to be their board.
I admit a huge bias in favor of what I consider the finest volunteer sailing club in the world. I've seen more than a few. In Leningrad, the volunteer sailors met around a beach fire. In Canberra, they have a magnificent clubhouse on a tiny lake. In Portsmouth, England, they cluster 'round a coal stove after a winter race in a second-floor walk-up. In Sarasota, they created a magnificent institution.
But that's not news. Our club manager for a third of a century is retiring, and that's the news. While hundreds - thousands - of people individually volunteered to create the squadron, one solitary man coordinated the volunteer miracle: Pat Murphy - the go-to guy for more than 35 years. Last month the board of directors approved his replacement. A historic moment.
A long stone's throw away from the squadron clubhouse is the former Pelican Man Bird Sanctuary. The haven for disabled birds was founded by Dale Shields. Now vacant, because nobody could replace Dale. Mortality not only claimed him, but his institution as well. While Pat Murphy didn't create the Sarasota Sailing Squadron (it goes back to the 1930s, but that is another story), he's been the steady, constant conservator of sailing volunteerism in our community.
Sailing can be as macho as football. While the number of female skippers is growing, it remains a boy-dominated activity. After a national search, the squadron board - all males - affirmed not only a local to take over the helm, but a woman. Greta Dabringhaus. Unanimously. She's the new go-to-gal, starting later this month.
Pat won't retire until summer, allowing an easy handoff to Greta. You can look forward to an enormous party for Pat in mid-Summer.
Article by Stan Zimmerman
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