2023 Commodore Ball: Mary Alderman 2024 Commodore

Jibe talking meets with some members of the club during our 2023 Commodore ball. Mary Alderman sits down and talks about becoming the Commodore for the 2024 season!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, here we are, another Jibe talking.

(00:04):
And tonight, like I said before,
this is our change of watch.
And you're gonna hear a lot of our past
and present officers being interviewed.
And right now we're gonna interview the incoming Commodore
that'll be here for the, or actually Commodore for 2024.
Why don't you introduce yourself?
Hi, I'm Mary Alderman
and I will be the Commodore next year.

(00:25):
I've served as the vice Commodore
for approximately six months.
And I'm looking forward to this change of watch tonight
because then I will be the Commodore of the club
and hopefully be able to give it some
of my own personal touch
as far as the directions that we had.
Well, you know, since you brought that up
right out of the shoot, let me just ask you,

(00:47):
are there some things that you would like to see happen
that maybe haven't happened in the past?
Now, by the way, when she answers that,
that doesn't mean that her ideas are better
or somebody didn't do something right,
but everybody, as she made a mention of,
made a mention of, that's pretty good grammar,
there are, people have different visions.
So what are you envision,
what are some things you would like to see happen

(01:08):
at the club that have not happened previously?
Well, have not happened previously
is probably the most important one
is I wanna see more of a focus on the women in sailing
because I am a woman who sails.
I have a woman who sails as my crew member.
You're ruining the whole show now.
You are a woman and you do sail.
I know, but I would like to see more of the women

(01:28):
in the club get involved with sailing.
I agree with you.
I wanna see them on the boats actually sailing them
rather than deferring to the men in the club
to do it for them because it is actually very empowering
to actually sail.
There's a lot of mathematical calculations
that go on in your mind,
even though you might not be doing the numbers,
you still have to calculate the angles and stuff.
And I find it to be very stimulating.

(01:51):
And as I've been the vice-commodore
and met a lot of the women in the area
that aren't even necessarily members of our club,
they were all very intrigued with the option
to be able to go out sailing with another woman.
So I think that we have a couple of very active women
in the club who like to sail.
So I'm hoping that we can grow on that and get some more.

(02:12):
But that's probably the first thing that I would like to see.
The second thing is I really want to see
the Jolly Roger dock system to be handicap accessible.
I would like to see us with a Hoyer lift
that can lift people actually down into the sailboats
that pull up to the main dock
so that we can start offering some outreach
to the community and helping people who'd like to sail

(02:35):
but aren't able to physically get in and out of the boats.
It would help tremendously with that.
And I also just like to see the club itself
doing more outreach in the community.
We've been contacted by a Boy Scout troop
who would like to start working with us
to train their sailors for the future.
They have a big event coming up next year

(02:56):
and also an outreach for sailing beyond cancer.
They would like to be able to offer sailing cruises
with the help of family members
for people who are suffering cancer treatments
and that type of thing.
I really, I'm really encouraged by your thoughts
on the women in sailing.
Those of you who have listened to my podcast in the past

(03:19):
or maybe you have not, we did one on women in sailing.
And I think I agree with exactly what you're saying
that I think there are not enough women
because I know when my wife goes along,
she can actually, she has some skills
that I don't have on the boat.
And I think being a woman sometimes gives you a different,

(03:40):
I don't know, some different abilities, innate abilities
maybe, but I think there do need to be more women sailing
because with the mechanical advantages that are available,
it's not just about strength.
I mean, people say, oh, you're not strong enough
and it's not just about that
because you can, if you're the captain of the boat
as a lady, you can get somebody else

(04:00):
to be pulling on the sheets and the lines
and you can just give direction.
And I love the handicap idea.
We have a member and I forget their name
but who we took sailing this summer
and who actually has had one leg amputated
and had a lot of difficulty getting on and off my boat.

(04:22):
And they just enjoyed themselves immensely.
And I know there are a lot of other people out there
with physical limitations that would love to sail.
But like you said, it's just too hard
to get it on and off the boat.
So I think that's a great idea.
That's a great idea.
Well, this club has a lot of very experienced
and very knowledgeable sailors involved

(04:42):
who may not have the time presently
to take the reins in starting some of these initiatives.
And that's where I think that I can help them
in that regard because I do like organizing events
and things like that and fundraisers.
And plus I just like the fact that we can get out and sail

(05:03):
and enjoy ourselves with good people.
And I think Jolly Roger is a good place
for anyone who wants to learn to sail to come.
I think it's a good place for anybody
who just wants to socialize also.
That as well.
One of the things that anybody that comes
to this club would tell you is it's in our DNA
to just be hospitable.

(05:26):
If you came and visited our club for the first time,
multiple people would introduce themselves to you
just because the people here just enjoy hanging out,
playing cards and just hanging out
and being friends.
So if you're looking for a place to do that, you're right.
This is a good place to do that.
Well, tell us a little bit about the membership here.

(05:48):
Do you have any initiatives or any thoughts
on maybe continuing to try to attract younger people?
That's actually a focus that we're having right now
because as in any organization,
the current membership are starting to age out.
And so we're trying to make things more attainable
for the young people through the social media

(06:10):
and those types of initiatives.
Obviously this podcast is gonna reach a younger crowd
and you don't have to know how to sail
or even want to sail to be a part of this club.
We do offer adult sailing program twice during the summer.
And we also have a junior sailing program
and it's through those programs and the outreach

(06:31):
in that particular endeavor that does drive
a lot of our membership.
The people that tend to come through those courses
are younger folks.
And I say younger, as in younger than me,
but you don't have to be much younger for that.
But I would like to mention
that just in the last 12 months alone,
we've had 33 new member families join Jolly Roger,

(06:53):
which is an incredible uptick.
And I'm so proud of our membership chair, Chad Roeber
and his efforts in bringing in more members.
Plus the adult sailing coordinator, Neil Whitehead
and our current Commodore, Phil Frye.
They've been instrumental in a lot of pulling
in the new members.

(07:13):
And it does help when you have someone come to the club
and they say, I've never sailed before.
And we have members that'll say,
well, come out sailing with me.
You don't need to have any experience because,
you know, everybody starts somewhere.
And the biggest thing is, is you just have to remember
that the sailboat will tip.
So the first time it tips, it can be quite dramatic,

(07:35):
but they will right themselves.
And then usually you'll see the smile come across the face
of the person, like they just like, oh, that was so cool.
So, but yeah, Jolly is a great place to be.
And the thing is too,
a lot of the first time sailors will go out
a little bit bigger boat.
Some of the other boats, you might actually,
they call them wet boats.

(07:55):
You might actually get wet, you know, falling to the water.
But the Catalina 22 is typically,
unless you say with Neil, typically water does not come
into the boat while you're going.
And that's a whole other story.
And I'll get with Neil on that later, but,
so are you looking forward to being,
are you looking forward to being common or in 24?

(08:16):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
It's gonna be a lot of work,
but I'm actually looking forward to that.
And I've never shied away from a responsibility.
And I wouldn't have agreed to take on this responsibility
if I wasn't going to take it seriously.
And Jolly Roger really welcomed me into the fold.
And I would like to continue that goodwill

(08:38):
for future people seeking to join our club
or just even socialize with us.
It is a wonderful club.
And as Commodore, I do hope that we will continue
to have such a warm rapport with our own members,
as well as new people who come to the club,
whether they're members or not.
I like the Boy Scout thing, what happened with that?

(09:00):
You mentioned that before,
and so they've called us and they'd like to learn to sail.
They have a trip they're going on or what's going on?
They do, next December, so in December 24.
Okay.
They are taking, I believe it's a week long trip
down to Florida.
Down there, they will be sailing a craft.
It's, there's some things that they need to have

(09:21):
a little bit of training on before they come to that point.
And Jolly Roger is going to hopefully be able
to work on an arrangement with them
where they can offer us some work hours
in exchange for us teaching them how to sail
and learn the anatomy of sailboats
and just be able to enjoy the time on the water.

(09:42):
We've had two presentations, actually, yeah.
And they've explained what they need.
And so we are waiting for the final proposal
to be put together so that we can work out
the details for them.
I think that's a great idea.
Well, good luck on your 2024.

(10:03):
I think you'll do a great job
and thanks for spending time with us.
Thank you for interviewing me.
That was good.
We've got a lot of good information there.
I was gonna say, this is Mary's second time on the show.