Communications thread | TCA Fleet Merger Working Group 2025

Communications Thread

A compilation of emails on the "merger" topic to assist Corinthians in the Mystic and New England Fleets as they consider the idea…

The email (11 December 2025) that proposed consideration of this idea is the first in the chain (at bottom) with ensuing emails in order of sending.

Note use scroll bar on right to move through the chain.

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 1622; Mary West to Joe Rocchio et al.

Hi Joe,

You know how to have fun 🤩

I applaud the effort to open a dialogue and see what folks think. Although I affiliate with neither the NE nor the M fleet, let me throw out a thought. You can catch it or let it fly. Perhaps some of the M folks would more naturally move to LIS and others to NE, depending on where they keep their boats.

Apropos of that idea, Gary Di Vito and I talked about merging Philadelphia and Annapolis, back when we were both fleet captains. The idea didn’t gain traction until it was brought up years later, when folks realized that many Philly folks kept their boats on the Chesapeake Bay.

FWIW,
Mary

eMail; 1 January 2026 @ 1300; Joe Rocchio to Mystic, New England, and Corinthian Leadership + other important members

1 January 2026

Fellow Corinthians

Happy New Year! And a Great sailing season to come!

I am writing in an effort to bring some clarity and foster collegial discourse on the topic of considering if the current Mystic and New England Fleets might be stronger if they are one and thus The Corinthians Association overall.

First, I am the lightning rod as I started fleshing out this idea that was brought to me in discussions with several Corinthian friends over the last 8 months. So if this idea upsets you – spare others.

Second I ask your understanding: I’m a retired research scientist and exploring ideas to see if they make sense to pursue – then grow the good ones and trash the bad is a well-ingrained habit. That is what I have attempted to do here.

On 11 December 2025, I wrote an Open Letter to the leadership (2025 and new in 2026) of the Mystic and New England Fleets laying out the genesis of the idea and encouraging a dialog begin.

The fundamental principal was clearly stated:
… the goal has been to seek open discussion where the merger idea will stand on its merits -- or be rightfully put to sleep.

There is no intention to rush. If you want to engage to consider, improve, or reject the idea, the 11 December Open Letter, and all significant information including the thread of comments since I wrote the 11 December Open Letter are available at: https://thecorinthians.info/TCA-FMWG/

Cheers and take heart, Spring is getting closer!
…Joe

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 1622; John Butler to Henry Atterbury to leadership and senior members of Mystic and NE Fleets

Hi Henry,

I do not think the merger (or not) of fleets is an association level topic, at least initially. It is really up to the respective fleet leadership and their members. The Philadelphia and Annapolis fleet merged after many years of discussion. Once the respective fleet leadership agreed to merge, they came to the BD with a proposal to disband the Philadelphia fleet (required BD action) and rename the Annapolis Fleet to the Chesapeake Bay Fleet (no BD action required). Funds from the Philadelphia Fleet were transferred to the CB Fleet (I'm not sure what approval was required for this). All members of the Philadelphia Fleet became members of the Chesapeake Bay Fleet (previously named the Annapolis Fleet).

Fleet names imply geographic location, but there are no geographic fleet boundaries defined (Mystic is very specific and New England is very broad). Members can declare themselves to be a member of any fleet they choose (e.g., Cheryl Young is in the CB Fleet and Richard Young is in the LIS Fleet and they live in SC; Bill Kimbell who lives in FL, but still has an residence in East Greenwich, RI, is in the Mystic Fleet and Dave Siwicki, Jamestown, RI is in the NE Fleet-- Dave is closer to Mystic than Bill)

Since Fleet names are not in the bylaws, I think any fleet can rename themselves by consensus of the fleet membership (Mary West had this opinion when I asked her what it would take for the Mystic Fleet to rename themselves to a broader implied geographic area about a year ago).

Looking again at the CB Fleet, the Philadelphia Fleet was declining in membership, and all the active boating members of the Philadelphia Fleet participated in joint events on the Chesapeake Bay. This is not quite the same situation as the NE fleet, but there are southern members of the NE fleet who could easily be absorbed by the Mystic Fleet. Doing so would weaken the NE fleet further. This might be a reason to merge the two fleets (just a thought, not a suggestion).

Some old timers in the Annapolis Fleet resisted renaming to the Chesapeake Bay Fleet, but over time, that resistance dropped to the point of it being possible.

A Fleet merger is definitely not something that should be pushed by Association Leadership. That would never work. As I have said before, the fleets are the lifeblood of the organization. That is the level at which members can be engaged more frequently. I once had a conversation with Jay where he told me he thought the creation of fleets were a bad idea and that maybe only the Chesapeake Bay Fleet made sense. I have a lot of respect for Jay, but I disagreed with him on the subject of fleets. I think what you have done with the Mystic Fleet proves my point.

I hope you are enjoying your vacation!

Happy New Year!

John

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 1524; Henry Atterbury to leadership and senior members of Mystic and NE Fleets

Hello John,

This seems rushed.... until the idea is run by fleet officers to get their input it seems like a last minute rush for a decision by a handful of people to push an agenda that the fleet officers are barely even aware of. I personally think it's the wrong approach in merging the Mystic and NE Fleet....and that a more measured approach stands a better chance to succeed in the long run.

Knowing how the mechanics of this works with the fleet officers, how it benefits the association, will it disrupt attempts to grow the fleet, are the current volunteers willing to take on this change are questions best answered by fleet officers.

Mystic Fleet is seeing new interest in the fleet and before a hasty decision is made that might interfere with that growth we should open this discussion up and get a sense of how it impacts that fleet, what the expectations are for the current volunteers who are doing the work, are they willing to move in that direction...etc...

Then we can have a proper open discussion with fleet leadership and the incoming board. I'm on vacation in Quebec until Jan 4th..so not available until some point after that.

Henry

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 1244; Joe Rocchio to John Geissinger et al.

John,

I am available until ~1200 on Sunday when we will depart VT to begin our move to FL.

I am now in ~day 6 of a bought of the NJ Flu - a Christmas gift, but should have my faculties together.

I have a personal Zoom pro account that I can use to set up the meeting - just let me know a good time and I will set it up.

…Joe

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 0857; Dave Frasier to John Geissinger et al.

John,
Let me know what works for everybody and I'll work around my schedule. I think it's important that we have the conversation and get people's opinion.
Dave

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 0719; Lee Reichart to John Geissinger et al.

I’m available most times during the day.

Lee Reichart
(614) 209-7579

eMail; 31 December 2025 @ 0610; John Geissinger to leadership and senior members of Mystic and NE Fleets

Happy New Year!
Joe has shared with us a DRAFT proposal to merge the NE and Mystic fleets. I am sending this to past fleet captains and new fleet captains as well as Joe.
I am proposing we have a quick Zoom call to:
1. Decide amongst ourselves whether this proposal makes sense
2. Why or why not
3. If yes, are there any comments on the draft proposal
4. Next steps if a yes
Can we find a time next week (Mon-Th) for a call?
Fair winds,
John
Sent from my iPad

eMail; 27 December 2025 @ 0752; Mary West to John Geissinger and NE Fleet members

Good morning, John,

I am delighted to inform you that you have been elected Fleet Captain of the New England Fleet. Welcome to the Corinthians Afterguard. I look forward to serving with you and hope you will call upon me if I can answer any questions or provide other help.

Mary West
secretary

eMail; 15 December 2025 @ 0610; JHank Recla to Joe Rocchio re 11 Dec email

Hi Joe.

Your hard work in this matter is very commendable. I certainly hope you receive favorable and respectable responses than I did when we decided to eliminate the name “Annapolis”.

I move to name the new fleet the Nor’easter Fleet.

Hank

eMail; 11 December 2025 @ 1350; Joe Rocchio to leadership and senior members of Mystic and NE Fleets

Open Letter to Mystic and New England Fleet

Fellow Corinthians,

When I joined the Board of The Corinthians Association (TCA) in January 2024, it caused me to focus on policy and operations of the organization to a much greater extent than I had done since becoming a Member. The trends I saw in the demographics was troubling: increasing median age, shrinking membership.   This did not bode well for our future.   Further, when Dave Fraizer asked me to get more involved in Membership aspects of the New England Fleet, I found it to be a real challenge. While my role in the 2025 Annual Cruise siphoned off time and energy, I continued to assess the problem and have discussions with many Corinthians.

Somewhere the idea was brought to me for merging the Mystic and New England Fleets which are both much smaller than the Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound Fleets. This would create a new Fleet with much more “sailor power” to bring to Activities and Member recruiting.   I subsequently talked with many Corinthians in the northeast about this idea.
With Onward put to rest for the winter, I made the commitment to Dave Frasier that I would take the somewhat nebulous idea of the merger and flesh it out. Throughout my career, I had found that reducing a fuzzy concept to a written plan helped a group to evaluate, enhance or sometimes trash the idea – but doing so everyone was looking at the same sheet of music. In most cases, a immensely better product came out of the effort that what first got written down.

With this as background, I wrote a Proposal for merging the two Fleets and solicited comments from others in the NE Fleet to identify problems that needed to be addressed. The plan was to bring the Proposal to Mystic Fleet Afterguard once a respectable v1 had been developed,

All along, this effort embodied the principle that Master, John Butler, cited when I first talked with him: this needs to come from the membership of the two fleets and their leadership in a proposal to the TCA Afterguard & Board – not top down.

The Proposal has evolved from v1.0 to v1.3.2.   To facilitate evaluation and discussion, a collaboration website has been built where the Proposal can be viewed and reviewers can make comments for others to see.

The URL for viewing and commenting on the Proposal is: https://thecorinthians.info/TCA-FMWG/
This is a private website.

Again, the goal has been to seek open discussion where the merger idea will stand on its merits -- or be rightfully put to sleep. It is envisioned that the Afterguards of the two fleets will select Members to be part of a Fleet Merger Working group to carry the process forward.

Sail on!
…Joe Rocchio