Chris Gildersleeve - 2019

At the CRSC Annual General Meeting held in our Club House on 10th July, 2019 a motion for Life Membership for Chris Gildersleeve was put before the members present in the following words. “In the new millennium there was an application received by the Club from a gentleman to join the Training Class and this membership was approved at the November, 2000 Management Meeting. The gentleman in question was Chris Gildersleeve and he completed the training and enjoyed it so much that he purchased a Heron #9472 “DRAGONFLY” and joined the Heron Class. He learned to handle the Heron and continued his membership to enjoy his sailing with us on our stretch of water.

So much so a few years later he decided to change this Heron for a later model #10246 “FLYING CIRCUS” which he still sails regularly. Over the following years he became involved in various aspects of the Club and at the Annual General Meeting in 2007 he was elected as our Commodore. He worked tirelessly in this position to ensure the Club sailing was run efficiently and held it for 7 years. At the AGM of 2014 Chris was elected Club President and ended up holding this position for the 3 years allowable term.

Right from the start of his time at the helm Chris became involved in many things and in fact at his first meeting as President in August, 2014 the minutes show that he was to contact Anthony Roberts about the Halvorsen site developments as nothing had been received by the Club about this matter. Over the years there have been many meetings and contacts with Government and Council officials about this development and Chris has continued to be involved with this matter but 5 years later has nothing been resolved.

Even at that first meeting there was mention that Chris had been in contact with local State Member, Anthony Roberts, about the restoration of the beach – this is another matter still not resolved that is still taking up Chris’s time along with other members’ efforts.

Also during Chris’s presidency, he and a number of other members led the investigation into an extension of the Club House to provide more boat storage for Club boats as well as those belonging to members. Again this was a lot of work and had required many meetings with authorities as well as correspondence which needed the input of these members taking until July, 2015 for the Development Application to be approved by Ryde Council. Eventually all the red tape was cleared the project went ahead during the winter of 2016 and the “Bryce Ellis Boatshed” was completed and under Chris’s guiding hands it was officially opened on 25th September 2016 after a Club Championship Race.

Another position that Chris took on was that of Web Site Manager and was elected to that position at the AGM in July, 2015 during his term of Presidency. Since then he has made many improvements to the site and continues to do so and I am sure that there will be more improvements along the way. He has given of his time to CRSC in many areas over the years and continues to do so.

Even though Chris’s position as President was completed at the July, 2016 AGM he has continued to work tirelessly in the matters of the Halvorsen development and Beach Restoration/Groyne areas as well as making many improvements to our web site. I am sure that his efforts for CRSC will continue into the future and I would like to move that he be made a Life Member of our Club.”

This motion was moved by Ron Burwood and seconded by Keith Leslie and was then approved unanimously by those present. President Craig Burwood then presented Chris with his Life Membership Badge.

Chris was our Vice President for 3 years from the 2019/20 season. Then for the 2020/21 Chris was re-elected as Club President and he continued in this role until the 2022/23 season. As from the 2022/23 season he handed over his position as Web Site Manager after instigating many changes over the years. Chris will still be found involved in many things as he has always done.