Mary Greblunas wins Hobie Polarized Sailor of the Month from US Sailing for her enthusiasic organizing of Summer Sailstice events.
Here's the story as written up on the US Sailing website:
We are two days away from Summer Sailstice 2013! This worldwide celebration of sailing on the weekend closest to the solstice takes place this Saturday, June 22. Founded in 2001 by John Arndt, the annual Summer Sailstice encourages everyone to go sailing, promote the values of the sport, and have fun on the water. Volunteers at yacht clubs, sailing centers, and local community sailing organizations around the world have done an amazing job at using this sailing holiday as a way to generate excitement for the sailing season and build camaraderie and friendships among sailors in their respective communities. Mary Greblunas has learned first-hand how Summer Sailstice can connect sailors to each other through their passion.
In 2004, Mary noticed a Summer Sailstice promotion that inspired her to research the holiday. She moved forward and ordered Summer Sailstice t-shirts and a burgee for her Columbia 8.7, Island Time. On the Sailstice, Mary and husband Joe went for a sail and were disappointed that other sailors were not flying their burgee. So, Mary decided to talk up the idea of the Stingray Harbor Court Yacht Club (Deltaville, Va.) participating in Summer Sailstice the following year.
“We really didn’t know many people at SHYC until we organized the first Summer Sailstice,” said Mary. “It ended up being a great way of meeting other sailors and a great reason for everyone to get out on the bay.”
The club and its members rallied around Summer Sailstice immediately with volunteers stepping up and contributing to promotion of this holiday. Most recently, Mary initiated Summer Sailstice with the Hampton Yacht Club (Hampton, Va.). She noticed the club had a weekend cruise scheduled for June 21-23 as a target date. Mary introduced the idea of Summer Sailstice to the group and volunteered to be cruise captains for the Summer Sailstice.
“It’s hard for me this year, since this is the first year HYC is involved with the Sailstice,” said Mary. “In fact, there were so many different things already happening that weekend, I decided to have a Summer Sailstice potluck Friday Night, so everyone could gather and talk about how each of us are celebrating the Sailstice. I’m also planning on having a computer there for the people who did not have time to sign up to win the prizes.”
Learn more about Summer Sailstice at Hampton Yacht Club at http://www.summersailstice.com/event/hampton-yacht-club.
