February is always a quiet month for boaters; boats are out of the water and the social events of the holiday season are behind us. We fill our moments expanding our boating knowledge in the classroom and planning for the boating season to come. However, we do have some important events during this winter season.

Last month's USPS Annual Meeting was held in Orlando, Florida. District 3 officers and many of our squadrons were represented. Details of this meeting will be in our March issue.

The District 3 Memorial Service will take place on Sunday 4 March. This is a beautiful ceremony in which we pay tribute to the members of D/3 who have taken their final voyages in the past year. Manhasset Bay lost five members, P/D/C Myron Wolf SN, P/C Martin Wenig, SN P/C John J. Sutter AP, P/C Jerome Zettler JN, and John Zeppieri, P. We will be at the Memorial Service to remember them; will you?

This year the District 3 Spring Conference and Change of Watch will be held Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 March. Included in this weekend celebration at the Smithtown Sheraton are the Member Luncheon, Spouses' Luncheon and Annual Dinner-Dance. (See information in this issue.) D/Lt/C Joseph McCarthy, SN will be installed as District Commander.

Closer to home, we have Manhasset Bay's Change of Watch. The ceremony to swear in the bridge for 2001-2002 will be held on Wednesday, 11 April. A celebration luncheon will follow on Sunday, 22 April. Please mark these dates on your calendar now. (See information in this issue.)

A few days ago I was reading P/C Mike Pappas. article in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of Cardinal Points and it. s remarkable how similar our situation is to a year ago. We need people to devote a little bit of their time to help the squadron. Many people take advantage of a free boating education, but don. t return the favor by serving on a committee or becoming officers. Let us know your preferences, and we. ll match them with openings we have. Look for more details next month.

I have been honored to serve as your Commander for this past year, and I thank everyone who has helped me. Now, we need fresh troops, at least to get familiar with the organization of the squadron and to then move up into leadership roles. The work is not that heavy, and it is shared. Sharing is the key word here. So please help us build a new team that will continue our long tradition of education, civic service and FUN.

The Boat Show at Jacob Javits Convention Center has just finished. It is hoped that many of you had the opportunity to view the newest in boating.

You still have a chance to see more, to have a fun day away from the snow shovel and maybe even meet some of your fellow squadron members at the NASSAU COLISEUM BOAT SHOW which runs for 2 consecutive weekends - Feb 9-12 and Feb 16-19^th (President's Day). Be sure to visit our Squadron's Booth and perhaps plan beforehand to offer to help. Contact Frank Mattondo, Jr. at (516) 333-5874 if you can assist any day during this show.

Press releases have been mailed to newspapers and boating magazines requesting the advertisement of our BOAT SMART and of our NEW YORK STATE CLASSES for 10-17 year olds. It is hoped that many boaters will sign up for both of these courses. What better way to educate the public regarding what's expected of a pilot; how to handle a boat and, of course, the "rules of the road" to mention only a few& of the topics covered.

MBPS is offering during Boating Season/2001, for the exclusive use of our members, it's mooring in Manhasset Bay. As was done in 2000 we will be requesting donations toward payment of the cost of its care, storage, placement etc. No doubt we will hear more of this at the next meeting.

Evey Welby, S and I are planning our 1^st footwork expedition into finding a place for our squadron's first Boating Activity of the year. We hope to give you more details soon. Will you be as happy as we'll be when we're out on the water again?

 D/Lt Frank J.Mattondo, SN our Radio Technical Chairman has informed us that National hosts the USPS Amateur Radio Net every Saturday at 1700 hours on 14.287 MHZ.

MANHASSET BAY POWER SQUADRON

Sail and Power

30 January 2001

TO: The Membership and The Executive Committee

The Nominating Committee is pleased to submit the following slate of candidates for the positions indicated, for the year 2001-2002.

Commander  Joan Pappas, AP

Administrative  Officer Rose Closter, S

Secretary  Evelyn Welby, S

Treasurer  Yves Mahe, AP

David Buchsbaum, SN

Michael T. Pappas, AP

Frank Mattondo, SN

David Silver, SN

Joy Wurl, P

Nominating Committee:

Respectfully submitted,

MBPS Nominations Committee

P/C Stanley J. Bellis, SN

Chairman

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Section 11.01 of the Squadron bylaws states that: "Candidates for office & may be nominated & by petition signed, in writing, by at least ten Active Members in good standing, filed with the Secretary at least fifteen days before the date of the election.