SBCA Happenings

by Carolyn O’Keeffe, President, SBCA Board of Directors

Welcome to February 2026!

Our Activities Committee’s subcommittee on ‘Informational and Educational Presentations’ has put together quite a stellar list of presentations scheduled for the rest of the year. Continuing with us through May will be David Brownell’s presentations on the First Nations. His presentations are free to all and open to the greater Port Ludlow community. Added to our schedule will be presentations by Jefferson Healthcare, as well as a couple of presentations on the Central Intelligence Agency by a recently retired CIA employee who lives in our South Bay community. We are also excited to have Chimacum School District Superintendent Scott Mauk join us to share exciting news and initiatives in his school district.

Our Pancake Breakfast on February 6 will support Center Valley Animal Rescue and their mission to find loving homes for all adoptable animals in their care, to offer permanent sanctuary to the domestic animals that cannot be adopted, and to the rehabilitation and release of wild animals.

Our Health and Fitness Committee has been hard at work, too. Based on their recommendations, our Club updated several new pieces of equipment for our weight room and a new cardio machine for our cardio room. The new cardio machine is a Stepmill, a very popular cardio machine that simulates climbing endless stairs. It will provide users with an intense, low-impact workout that builds lower body strength (glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves), boosts cardiovascular fitness, and engages the core for balance. It has replaced the Stair Stepper that was at the end of its useful life.  Besides this cardio machine, our weight room got an extreme makeover. The update included the swap out of the Nautilus/Universal gym system (20+ years old) with commercial grade Matrix brand machines: leg press, functional trainer, leg extension/curl, pec/delt, pulldown/row, and multi-press. The objectives for these changes were to enhance the quality of equipment without losing current capabilities of the machines we replaced, to provide a better user experience, and to create a safer space in which to work out.

In other Facilities news, we have been doing a few preventative maintenance measures. We completed our preventative maintenance measures for major electrical equipment earlier in the fall and are now focused on determining the state of our plumbing infrastructure for both domestic water and sanitary water systems. Remaining landscaping work, including additional root removal, soil enhancement, and any new plantings will occur as we move into better weather (March/April).  Prior to that work, repair of the concrete curbs and sidewalks will occur when weather permits.

In January, the SBCA Board of Directors launched its new committee, The Long-Range Planning Committee. Currently, the Committee meets on the Tuesday after the SBCA Board meeting at 1 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Bay Club.

Lastly, on Monday, February 16, our nation will celebrate Presidents' Day, a federal holiday since 1879, when it was first implemented to honor our first US President, George Washington.