Julie Sommer of Omaha was one of 300 women selected to participate in an all women around the world voyage to study plastic pollution. The program supports women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as well as sailing. Julie was chosen for Leg 13: Vanuatu, Oceania to Cairns, Australia . She will be sailing on a 70 ft ketch named TravelEdge from June 5th -19th, 2020. Julie has to fund her voyage and the LMSA board voted to contribute $1,000 to support her efforts. Julie is not a sailor and wants to be as prepared as possible for the voyage, so LMSA members have volunteered to work with her in the spring to help with the sailing basics.

You can find out more about the round the world eXXpedition here.

To find out more about Julie or to help support her journey, check out her gofundme page.

I am always amazed at how quickly things go on Docks-in day. Seems that before you know it, the docks are in, the leaves are raked and dozens of other tasks to get the club ready are completed and everyone’s heading to the grill for a brat. Before the rush of activity this year, we took a moment to honor George Rood with a plaque by the pavilion. George served as LMSA president from 2004 to 2018. For those of you who know George (and seriously, everyone knows George) you know he filled far more shoes than just those of president. We know this because it is taking many feet to fill his shoes. He was a one stop shop for all things at the club and we thank him very much for his service and dedication to LMSA. As I write ‘service and dedication’ I realize those words cannot fully encompass what George brought (and still brings) to the club. More appropriate words are heart and passion. A passion for sailing and a heart to lead and grow the club so it will be here for future sailors.
We hope you enjoy your retirement from the presidency. Hopefully it will give you more time to sail!