Here we are at another holiday season. Most of the boatyards have settled in for their long winter’s nap with boats in storage and all under shrink-wrap. The fall weather was especially kind to all of us this year. Many of our customers got an extra few weekends of great boating in, and the hauling process was not as cold and biting on our yard crews like it has been in the past. Let’s hope the remainders of the winter months are as gentle on us!

I would like to take just a moment to thank the Boat Show Committee and Vernon Promotions for all their tireless work in putting on this fall’s In-Water Show. Once again they did a magnificent job under the most trying of circumstances. Ed Lofgren and his Education Committee have been busy almost every night of the week with their teaching duties at Massasoit Community College, and their plans for those at Mass. Maritime Academy. Both of these programs will yield us a significant base from which to draw future employees and increase current employee’s skills.

Have you checked our website recently? Boatma.com should be on your favorites list; check in often for lots of helpful news about MMTA and the industry in general. Internet Chairman, Greg Glavin, and Dave Watson of By-the-Sea do frequent updates of interest to both our members and the general boating public. They love input so, if you have any ideas, please e-mail them with your thoughts. Our budget meetings took place in November and December this year and the Board is to be highly commended fo their thought and insight into the process which projects another good year for MMTA. My thanks to both Don Gustafson, our accountant, and Ray Gaffey, our Executive Director, for their many hours of work in the preparation of the numbers. Don also set up an excellent speaker for our Annual Meeting in early December. Several folks from Cabot Money Management came to visit with us and gave us considerable insight into what they feel we will be encountering in the economy during the next twelve months.

Mercury Marine has begun shipping equipment into the Cape Cod Regional Tech School in Harwich on the Cape in preparation for the beginning of classes in marine mechanics later this winter. The MMTA Board has approved a grant of $6,000 for sets of tools and toolboxes for the program, which will certify our mechanics in all the various Mercury courses. A side benefit of the program will be the fact that the students in the regular marine program at Cape Tech will be able to use the equipment and become certified themselves. This program is a winner for ALL!. My thanks to Wayne Kurker and John Crowell at Hyannis Marine and Curt Ainsworth of Cape Cod Tech for the hours and hours they have put in to make this program a reality! One cannot let a year-end go by without thanking our staff that work on behalf of the membership all year long. Ray Gaffey has been a tremendous help to both myself and the rest of the Board and the membership in his role of Executive Director. Our office support staff of Mary Horan can’t be beat. She gets all the mailings out, keeps track of the meeting attendance and minutes plus correspondence, and plans all the dinner menus for our meetings. John Spillane doesn’t let a bill get filed at the Statehouse that might affect us in any way, without our knowledge and his briefings. Don Gustafson makes sure that 1+1=2 and that we stay within budget. Bruce Berman is the man to call if you need assistance with anyone in the Massachusetts media or want to know what’s happening anywhere in Boston Harbor or it’s many islands. Our entire Association owes these folks a round of thanks for a job well done !

Now may I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you and your families a most joyous holiday season, Fair Winds, and Calm Seas for the New Year Ahead! Ren Nichols—President, MMTA