Boat Owners Of Cochiti Inc.

What, exactly, is the "Boat Owners of Cochiti, Inc." ?

A separate entity from the unorganized, loosey-goosey group of sailors long known as the "Boat Owners of Cochiti", the Boat Owners of Cochiti, Inc. (BOC Inc.) is a formal and legal not-for-profit, recreational organization incorporated in the state of New Mexico by a handful of the loosey-goosey Cochiti sailors for the purpose of providing a collective voice for Cochiti boaters, promoting sailing activities, boating safety and environmental stewardship on Cochiti Lake.

BOC Inc., was orginally incorporated in 2003 with the idea that it might be able to negotiate with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Cochiti Community Development Corporation on behalf of the sailors, boat owners and Cochiti marina tenants, to either get some deferred maintenance and safety issues addressed concerning the marina or to make an offer or bid on management or ownership of the marina concession at Cochiti Lake as well as encouraging expansion of both the marina and dry storage areas to meet the large demand for these facilities. For reasons beyond the control of BOC Inc., this has not yet occurred and not much formal social activity or membership has developed due to this lack of infrastructure and facilities at the lake.

BOC Inc., has since operated with only a skeleton membership (ARRRRGGH!) and three officers whose chief duties became the meetings and negotiations with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Cochiti Pueblo government council, the Cochiti Community Development Corporation and representatives of Congressman Tom Udall's office.

One of the recent successes of the BOC Inc., (in 2006) was to help the Corps of Engineers develop the plans and solicit bids to install a sailboat mast raising pole in the rigging area above the main ramp at the lake.
 
Although little progress has been made toward realizing the goal of having a safe marina and plentiful dock and dry storage space for sailboats and sailing activities at Cochiti Lake, thanks to these negotiations and thanks to the parties involved, provisions were made in the Spring of 2007 by the US Army Corps of Engineers to grant a special use permit to the BOC Inc. to moor a floating facility (houseboat) on Cochiti Lake to serve as a club headquarters to accomodate gatherings of sailors and boaters allowing them to pursue the interests of the local sailing community... namely, "promoting sailing activities, boating safety and environmental stewardship on Cochiti Lake".

Upon receiving this offer of the special use permit, BOC Inc. recruited several of the loosey-goosey Cochiti boat owners to form a ten partner LLC for the purpose of pooling some private funding to purchase a houseboat that they would then lease to the BOC Inc. as a clubhouse and headquarters on Cochiti Lake.

The challenge before us now is to convince all the loosey goosies and any new sailors we can recruit to join the "official" Boat Owners of Cochiti Inc. organization, elect a new board of directors who will appoint officers and develop a new minimal set of bylaws... and decide how we are going to raise the money to pay for our insurance ($850 per year), maintenance, improvements and lease payments (a minimal return to the BOC LLC investors). As of the 2010 sailing season... annual dues have been set at $200.

We loosey goosies have always existed as a dis-organization with a proud motto of "No Rules, No Dues and No Steen King Badgers" so this will be a difficult undertaking for us but the reality is, that when facilities were involved, such as the marina and the dry storage space we've always been subjected to many, many steen king rules and charges. Having the floating headquarters facility will be no different except that we get to make our own rules and set our own charges for facility usage.

The BOC World Headquarters is not a marina and it does not provide a place for us to leave our sailboats in the water all season but it does provide us with other amenities we haven't had for a long time (if ever)...

1) a comfortable place to gather for planning and dispatching group sailing activities and holding post-race club barbecues and awards ceremonies
2) a safe harbor for our sailboats during bad weather when we're out on the lake
3) a VHF radio communications hub
4) a safe, uncongested starting and ending point for sailboat races
5) a helpful presence on the east side of the lake for fishermen, boaters, windsurfers and swimmers in distress
6) fresh, clean, potable running water
7) a battery and solar powered electricity system (12V system)
8) a portable toilet and shower facilities and
9) a full galley with stand-up cooking and dishwashing facilities

A Typical BOC Member - King Nims