Dear Friends of Juliet,
We have some exciting news for all of you. After thirteen wonderful years owning and operating Juliet Sailing and Diving, I will be stepping away from the helm. Many of you have gotten to know Liza Hash over the past few years. At the end of 2015 she will be taking over as the owner of Juliet. Liza has been onboard for over three years and has always treated Juliet as if she were her own. She has the skill sets and work ethic to run Juliet successfully and loves being onboard. As many of you know, I have been gradually stepping away from the day to day operations and have been allowing others to step into that role. Juliet and you, the Juliet family, deserve an owner that will be onboard the majority of the time as I was in the past. There is no substitute in this business for an owner that is onboard the vessel, and I truly believe that Liza is the right person to carry on that torch. The business was never put up for sale. The decision to make this transition is based purely upon Liza earning this opportunity. I hope that you share my excitement for Liza and support her as I will.
I take great pride in having restored Juliet from a neglected state 13 years ago and giving her new life as a charter boat. I take greater pride in contributing to the creation of a community as positive and caring as the one we now share. I cannot express how grateful I am for your support and encouragement over the years. Juliet is more than a boat to me. She is an entity that has touched many lives in special ways. She represents principles such as family, community and home (even if for just one week a year). I look forward to remaining a part of the Juliet family albeit in a different role. I will still come out to run trips now and then and will be supporting Liza in any way possible behind the scenes.
One of the more fulfilling aspects of running Juliet has been the ability to share my love for the water and the marine environment. One of my goals is to be able to share that passion with people who cannot afford or could never dream of being on a sailboat out on the ocean. Along those lines, some associates and I have formed a California non-profit to take underprivileged and at risk youth sailing in the San Francisco Bay. We will be teaching them how to sail and hopefully inspiring them with the beauty and majesty of the ocean. We have an 85? sailboat in Miami called Timshel that we are rebuilding for this purpose. We hope to have Timshel ready to travel soon and will be sailing her out to California where we will complete her restoration. Our 501.c.3 status has been approved by the IRS to receive tax deductible contributions and we have launched a website www.sailtimshel.org.
Our first fundraising event will be a memorable one. We will be offering spaces onboard Timshel for the Panama Canal transit in early 2016! The exact timing and details are yet to be determined. We will post those details on our website and send another email out to everyone soon if you are interested in joining us on this adventure. Thank you again for your support, and we hope to see you soon out on the water!
Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Captain John Beltramo
