Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) Awarded Seal Beach Yacht Club the 2020 Club the Year and Pandemic Powerhouse Award.

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SCYA, a regional recreational boating organization with over 90 clubs from Santa Barbara down to Mexico and Inland to Nevada and Arizona, has awarded Seal Beach Yacht Club the Club of the Year and Pandemic Powerhouse Award for 2020.

2020 was the 60th year of the Seal Beach Yacht Club, our Diamond Jubilee!  Under the direction of Commodore Laura Ellsworth we adopted a theme of “Every Member Matters” and set out to give our members a variety of activities and many opportunities to engage with each other.  We focused on expanding programs for our membership and set wining the COY program as a goal.

Like everyone the Pandemic changed what we could do. But, the COY continued to be our focus as many of the activities were Covid-safe since they were outside, on the water, and easier to safe distance. Another major part of the of the COY is charitable and community service which is a hallmark of SlBYC.

We are so honored to have received this award that recognizes achievement in activities that are important to us.

 

Pandemic Powerhouse.

This award was created by SCYA in June to recognizes that 2020 was going to be a year of extreme challenges and they wanted to award extraordinary performance! At the time they thought we’d probably be out of the pandemic by September. HA!!  We pivoted, adjusting our sails and powered through as best we could to follow all Covid guidelines and kept our membership engaged.

When we couldn’t meet at the club we met on Zoom or YouTube. When there were shortages in grocery stores we worked with our vendors to secure provisions for the members. Fun trivia and scavenger hunts were created on Zoom. Cruises were popular and we added more Duffy and dinghy cruises in our bay, as well as what became known as YoYo (Your On Your Own) cruises to Catalina and even down to the San Diego area.  We added new events like fishing and predicted log racing. When we weren’t allowed to dine in the club we had a take out program. When we were allowed back in we had dinners on our patio and expanded with additional dining opportunities on our new “courtyard” area.

 Our sailing race program was strong and we were able to safely complete 23 of our planned 34 races. We did collections every month for local charities. The need was great and we are proud to have made contributions to charities like: CSU Long Beach Pantry Program, St. Luke’s Shower Power Program,  WomenShelter Long Beach and the American Red Cross blood drive program. 

We just kept going.   Laura did not lead with what we could not do because of the virus; instead she lead with what we could do.  And we did it!!

 

If you are interested in joining the Seal Beach Yacht Club contact membership chairperson Rowanda Tucker (562) 221-2627. If you are an experienced mariner or new to boating or just want a social connection we look forward to talking with you.