Letter from the Commodore 2020

Welcome Aboard Ladies and Gentlemen! 

This is your Captain speaking! It is an honor and a privilege to accept this position and take the helm from Keith Carew. As we cruise to the 10th Anniversary of the Cocktail Class Wooden Boat Racing Organization, my family and I are looking forward to another exciting year of racing.  The planning committee is hard at work on our big celebration for Nationals, August 22nd to 23rd, so please mark your calendars and join us!

For those that know me, you know that while I do love a good victory, I really enjoy just getting out there and messing about in boats. 

CCWBRA has become more about great friends and it truly is like family to me.  Thank you for lending me gas, engines, letting me flip your boat  (Tom), turning me back over, all the homemade cookies, and for all who show up even in the rain!  I very much look forward to more! 

For those of you that don’t know me, I am an avid adventurer (sailing and rock climbing) and a pretty good builder of things (usually boat related).  I can be found in my workshop crafting extravagant and exciting (at least to me) projects.  My family and I live in Bensalem, PA, which is a suburb of Philadelphia, and we have family in Rock HalI, MD, so we spend a lot of time there.

We have built five CCWBRA boats as a family and race them as often as possible. We have been involved in CCWBRA for the last nine years going all the way back to when helmets were not a requirement under the rules.  Our organization has grown a lot since then, we have implemented a lot of rules for safety, added new races, developed new regions and added a lot of new members and boats. 

When I was recently in Texas to see family, I met with several of our Dallas/Fort Worth area members who have recently completed (or almost finished) boats.  Its exciting to see new regions developing.  For those members that are outside the MidAtlantic Region, I encourage you to reach out to us if you have any questions regarding your build, holding races, or becoming evolved. CCWBRA draws in great people and becomes like an extended family.   Races are more than a competition, they become reunions. 

The election results are official and lucky for me we have several Executive Committee and Board Members staying on for another 2 years or volunteering in a new capacity.  Jeff Weeber (PA) will be continuing to serve as Treasurer.  Dr. Lisa Merilson (FL) will continue as Member at Large.  Kimberly Shubert (PA) will continue as Secretary and two experienced Board members are stepping up to new roles.  Tom Kerr will be our new Vice Commodore and Fred Allerton (PA) will serve as the National Fleet Captain, taking over for Frank Stauss. Many thanks to Frank, who gave us years of service both as a Race Director and Fleet Captain. As Fred and Tom were both serving on the board, those two vacancies will be filled by two of our past Commodores, Curt Bluefeld and Keith Carew for a three year term. Curt and Tom, join David Cantera, Art Gompf and Kaylie Jasinski on our board.    I know each of them love CCWBRA as much as I do and want to thank each of them for their dedication to CCWBRA,   I look forward to serving with each and every one of our volunteers over the next two years.

A resounding BRAVO ZULU (Google it ….its a thing) to Keith Carew, our out-going Commodore, for his dedication and leadership to CCWBRA. For almost a decade, Keith has brought us not only his world class yacht design expertise and Champion yacht racing lineage, but his charming personality and witty sense of humor!  

He is also just a really nice guy! ( Seriously this guy is really cool and he has a resume more ridiculous than me trying to tell a “short story”). It has been a lot of fun working with you Keith and witnessing his energy and enthusiasm for our organization has been inspirational. It is a privilege to take the helm.

And to all of our members, like you, who make our organization special,  whether you are new to the organization or have taken hundreds of laps around the courses, volunteered to be regional fleet captains, committee chairs, race directors, advisors or race volunteers, we couldn’t do this without you! Thank you for being some of the friendliest, feistiest and good hearted people I have ever met!  Also a special thank you to your families and friends that continue to support us through the insanity of long hours building and driving many miles to zip around in tiny boats.  It makes it feel like a real sport if we have spectators! All of our 2020 events have been posted on the Calendar so please save those dates as well. Kimberly and I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming 10th Anniversary races this year!

Full speed ahead, 

Capt. Peter M. Urbani

USCG Credentialed Master Captain 

Ms. Stoli #35 & Shrimp Cocktail #350