Bilge Pump: December 2007
1. Commodore's Comments
Unpredictable Log Racing
Sunday, October 29th, the intrepid Queen City racing team took on the Seattle Yacht Club team in the annual Challenge Cup and saved my bacon! Each club put 5 racers aboard Kent and Carol Soffel's Windy I. SYC Commodore Jack Sullivan and I had a friendly wager on the final outcome. I was not able to attend the race, but after the morning session SYC Commodore Jack Sullivan called me to announce that SYC was ahead by more than 190 seconds. (Cammy asked me what that meant—I said something like "oh, nothing dear"). At 5 PM, P/C Dean Lengtis informed me that at the end of the day QCYC racers had beaten SYC by a net difference of 285 seconds. I am grateful to our racers for bringing home the hardware and even slightly more grateful that I was spared a domestic uprising. Gracious as he is timely, Commodore Sullivan presented the check to me at the Meydenbauer Commodore's Ball. I don't plan to cash it, mind you—I think it might make a darned good trophy to be handed back and forth in years to come.
Thank you
Thank you to all of the members who contribute time and energy to making Queen City a great place to be. This month I especially want to thank all of the event chairs for their hard work in organizing and executing the fun times. I cannot thank Kathy Fish enough for all of her hard work on the Annual. As a consequence of her tireless efforts, you should receive the new annual directory by early December.
Budget and Projects
We have a very good balanced budget thanks to the Planning & Finance Committee and Chairman Ron Dawson, as well as the Board of Trustees. In addition to covering operating expenses, the budget funds capital projects at both the mainstation and Winslow. This funding will address deferred maintenance and repair as well as improve and preserve our valuable assets. I hope that many of you will volunteer to help.
Democracy
In this club, as in our nation, our founders selected a form of government called "representative democracy". This form of government relies on the periodic election of an independent governing body charged with the responsibility of acting in the people's collective best interest, but not necessarily according to each individual's wishes. It is different from "direct democracy" where members vote on each decision.
In order to work properly, the elected representatives must actively pursue education and knowledge about issues before making decisions. This takes a lot of time and the exercise of good judgment. This form of governance must take an organized approach and cannot be haphazard or whimsical. Obviously the elected representatives haven't the time or the technical expertise to learn enough about each and every issue and must rely on advice of knowledgeable people before making decisions.
Why am I writing about this? A number of people seemed surprised that I oppose eliminating the AAC (As of this writing, I do not know the outcome of that vote). We need the AAC and other key advisory resources in order to make informed decisions. The situation with the AAC may seem a small issue on which to lay such a heavy analysis, but I believe it serves as a good example as to why the conservative approach to governance through representative democracy works best.
On another front, as you know, only members who attend a meeting, get to vote. Out of more than 500 members, only 10% -15% show up for meetings. Many of our members cannot attend meetings either because of distance or other issues. I would like to advance a general question. Should we allow absentee ballots so that everyone has a chance to vote on important issues? What do you think?
FUN AND GAMES
While we all appreciate a good democracy, we all love a good time. October brought us a great Scotch Steak and Cigar Night with Mark Vanderwall as Chair. I want to especially mention the stalwart broilermen Larry Richards and Bob Lundquist who cooked the steaks, as well as everyone else who helped make that a memorable event. The scotch voted best now sits on the bar shelves festooned with a gold medal. November's Tarettes' Country Store and Friday Night Social were great. Our racers were out there bringing home the hardware. Thanks to all who helped and all who participated—you are the ones who make the party fun.
Upcoming Events
- Tuesday evening Nov 27—clubhouse Christmas decorating party——pizza and beverages for all who come and help out—contact Carol Soffel for details
- Saturday Dec 1—UW vs Hawaii game calls for a special celebration—a luau and karaoke night—Fleet Captain Paul Grimm
- Sunday Dec 2—Special People's Cruise—Captain Bill Field
- Thursday Dec 6—Captains Dinner—Tarettes
- Friday & Saturday Dec 7&8—Chet Gibson lighted boat parade—Butch Scherrer
- Saturday Dec 8—Children's Christmas party—Sandy Werner
- New Year's Eve—Rich and Chris McCroskey
A final note about the Chet Gibson Memorial Lighted Boat parade. Just after the outbreak of WWII, the Club wanted to put some cheer into the Christmas season. QCYC members boarded their boats and cruised the lake stopping to sing Christmas carols to those on shore. Established by QCYC in December 1941—66 years ago--this is the ORIGINAL Christmas ships event LONG BEFORE ARGOSY EVEN EXISTED! This parade is open to all. Call your boating friends and dockmates and get them involved. Look for details in this issue and in the usual places around the clubhouse. Let's show our pride in this event. Light up and show up. See you there.
Bill McGillin
Commodore
2. Vice Commodore's Report
With Christmas and New Year's approaching, I know it is hard to think of anything but the time spent with family, friends, great food and perhaps a little traveling. Along with Susie and our son Tyler, who will be visiting from Colorado, I plan do some skiing and I hope you have exciting plans too. After Christmas, however, I hope you can help with a very important project at our club; inspecting the dock structures. In particular, the inspection will focus on the pilings, pile caps, stringers and other structural members, similar what was done a few years ago. Art Mauldin and Richard Frisch are heading up the project and plan to start on December 29 and continue until early February. If you can help with this effort, please find the announcement in this Bilge Pump which lists contact information. Art and Richard are looking for eight members to act as inspectors and to ensure consistency in the process, they would need to be at most of the scheduled inspection dates. Even if you can only make a few dates, your help would be appreciated, as there are lots of other tasks to perform. By having the members do this inspection, we will be saving the club thousands of dollars and in my opinion, we will do a more thorough job than if we hired an inspection service. It also conforms to the club’s tradition of member involvement in maintaining our facilities.
The downspout project has been completed, and a huge thank you needs to be extended to Tom Youngs for seeing it through from start to finish. Also, Docks Co-Chairs, Randy Garvie and Dave Svendsen played a big role, and as is typical with these types of projects, it couldn’t have been done without lots of member participation.
In November, the Board of Trustees passed a few moorage rule changes; members may moor at the "U" for seven days (formerly 10) in any 30 day period. The rule allowing an additional seven days when attending a club event at the main-station did not change. "Blue tarps" or other types of poly tarps are no longer allowed except for maintenance, up to fourteen days. Tailored, fitted canvas covers will be allowed. With regards to the moorage rules at our outstations, between September 15 and May 15th, moorage on the outside of the "U" at Winslow will be limited to 15 days in any 30 day period. The rules for Ganges are now similar to the rules for Deer Harbor along with a new definition for length of stay, which is now defined by "nights" rather than "days". These changes will be published in the new annual and everyone is encouraged to review them for exact wordage.
A few final tidbits; a new bike rack has been ordered for the Winslow Outstation and will be installed this winter. Also, please remember to contribute to the "coffee fund" at the Main-station. I’m not sure if all members know that the cost of providing coffee is self sustaining, and it is important that contributions continue. I apologize for such a lengthy report, but there was a lot to report this month. Happy Holidays.
Dale Roberts
Vice Commodore
3. Rear Commodore's Report
With our 2007-2008 budget approved by the Board, we'll be moving ahead with a variety of projects on the grounds and security. I'll briefly mention a few projects and will keep you updated as the projects unfold. Some of the projects impact more than one Bridge Officer's responsibilities but rest assured that your Bridge Officers are working together to enhance our Club.
Grounds
Grounds Chair Linda Roehl and her erstwhile band are continuing to make improvements to the grounds. Thanks Linda for all your work. If any members have an interest in assisting the Grounds Committee, don't hesitate to contact Linda. We have a lot of property and we want to maintain it in a manner that brings credit to our Club.
In the near future, we'll be constructing enclosures for the dumpsters & the HVAC on the east hill. We are currently developing drawings and working with Waste Management. Attractive and functional enclosures will improve the Club's overall appearance. Once the plans are developed, we'll need volunteers to help with the construction.
We're also going to develop a long-term solution to the problems with the west hill in order to make it more maintenance-free and attractive.
Security
We'll be replacing the security computer and installing some enhancements in order to make the system more functional.
We'll also be evaluating and upgrading security on the docks with a connection to the police & fire departments. Currently, the alarms only sound on our docks but don't bring help in the event of a fire or other security problem. There's an enormous amount of property on the docks and we want to do our best to protect it and enhance our member's security. We'll also be installing keypads on the clubhouse door and dock 3 for reciprocal user access.
Many thanks to Dick Geving for his unceasing efforts to enhance our Club's safety and security & also to Scott Grimm for assisting Dick.
Membership
In November we inducted 5 new members:
Ronald Voegli
Bill Conley
Tony Stempak
Lana McGinnis
Arne Svendsen
Welcome aboard! I know you'll enjoy the camaraderie of QCYC and I encourage you to become involved in the various Club activities.
Membership Chair Mark LaFountaine deserves a big thank you for all his efforts to bring in new members. Thanks Mark! Membership is on a roll! We've inducted 17 new members since the start of the fiscal year. Let's keep the momentum going and try to attain our full active membership of 400. Remember, the number 1 reason people don't join organizations is no one asks them to join! Keep on asking.
Elaine and I would like to wish all of you a Wonderful and Joyous Holiday Season and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Fair winds,
Ed Jennerich
Rear Commodore
Bar Report
Steak Scotch and Cigar Night was a great success thanks to Mark Vanderwall. Going into the event, Mark asked me if we could advertise the fact that we would vote on the five scotches for the favorite scotch of the night. The agreement was that the winning scotch would be placed in a revered position on the bar display for the remainder of 2007. The winner was Macallan. You will note a bottle on the middle shelf behind the bar with a ribbon and medal draped over it. This is your winner. A 1 ½ Oz. shot goes for $5.00. If you like scotch, it will impress you. If you don’t like scotch, I wouldn’t recommend trying it. I like it enough that I’m not only going to keep it until the year’s end, I’m going to keep it until the next Steak Scotch & Cigar Night event a year from now and replace it with that event’s winner. If you haven’t tried the Steak Scotch and Cigar Night, even if you do not partake in the cigars & scotch, if you like a great steak, potato & salad, this is the best $15.00 you will ever invest. Jess Hill Club Manager
Christmas Cruise
THE CHET GIBSON MEMORIAL
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| Friday, December 7th, 2007: | ||||
| Lake Union Gasworks Park (start) | 6:00PM | |||
| Webster Point | 7:00PM | |||
| Leschi Park | 7:25PM | |||
| Meydenbauer Bay | 8:20PM | |||
| Webster Point (end) | 9:00PM | |||
| Saturday, December 8th, 2007: | ||||
| Lake Union Gasworks Park (start) | 6:00PM | |||
| Webster Point | 7:00PM | |||
| Cozy Cove | 7:40PM | |||
| Kirkland | 8:10PM | |||
| Juanita Bay | 8:25PM | |||
| Mathews Beach | 8:40PM | |||
| Sand Point | 9:00PM | |||
| Webster Point (end) | 9:30PM | |||
Communications: Monitor VHF Channel 9. Communications boat, SCHOCKING, will provide parade information concerning safety and navigation.
Entry Requirements: There are none. ALL BOATERS ARE WELCOME. Just decorate your boat, put on a happy face and join in the parade. Each and every boat lends its own unique flavor to the spirit of Christmas.
Comment: This event was begun in 1941 by Captain Chet Gibson and is being carried on under the sponsorship of Queen City Yacht Club. It is an opportunity for the area boaters to share their pastime with the Community and is an event the shoreline viewers eagerly anticipate.
Note: The Montlake Bridge opens on request after 6:30PM, so the sailboats should line up together for a common opening.
Parade Start: On both days, boats will form up at the north end of Lake Union behind the lead boat, CROWS NEST, near buoy C”13” by Gasworks Park. At 6:00PM the flashing light will appear on the lead boat and the parade will begin. We will proceed counter clockwise around Lake Union, through Portage Bay, the Montlake Cut and out into Lake Washington.
Decorations: Both sides of the boat should be decorated; lights should dominate the display. The audience is the people in the surrounding communities who enjoy the spectacular sight of floating Christmas lights from the shore.
Queen City Yacht Club (206) 709-2000
Cookies Corner
Sometimes during the holidays you want a special appetizer and this is the best recipe for salmon mousse I've ever found. You can put it into a fancy fish mold and it looks great unmolded on a pretty serving platter. Or, you can use this mousse to fill puffs or just spread on crackers. You can make it ahead of time and this silky seafood treat is just delicious.
Salmon Mousse
- 2 tablespoons cold water plus 1/3 cup boiling water 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin (Knox) ½ pound thinly sliced smoked salmon (lox – not dry smoked)
- 8 oz cooked fresh salmon fillet, flaked (I poach it in the microwave)
- 1 ½ cups sour cream
- ½ teaspoon Tabasco
- 1 tablespoon horseradish
- 2 teaspoons dried dill
- ¼ cup finely chopped scallions
- 1 cup heavy cream
In a small bowl, combine the cold water and the lemon juice, sprinkle the gelatin over the mixture, and let it soften for 2 minutes. Add the boiling water and stir the mixture until the gelatin is dissolved. In a food processor blend together the smoked salmon, the fresh salmon, the sour cream, the Tabasco, horseradish, and dill until the mixture is smooth, add the gelatin mixture, the scallions, and salt and pepper to taste, and blend the mixture until it is combined well. In a large bowl beat the heavy cream until it holds soft peaks, add it to the salmon mixture, and pulse the motor until the mousse is just combined. Pour the mousse into a prepared mold and chill it, covered, for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Bon appetit,
Shirley Renfrow
Dock Inspection
Hawaiian Luau
House Report
The coat room on the 2nd floor is starting to accumulate coats, hats and gloves. Would all Captains and mates check and see if any of the items in the coat room belongs to you. On December 24, 2007 if any of the items are still left in the coat room they will be donated to goodwill. In the galley next to the walk-in cooler there is a clip board to write down a or condition you are reporting .This list will be monitor weekly to obtain additional supplies, repair or replace items as require. The first aid kits in the galley has been updated, they are located across from the freezer and next to the phone in the back galley hallway. New item, an eye wash, has been added to the first aid kit. The galley area is starting to collect cups, glassware, dishes and bowls. Next time you are in the galley check and see if any of these items belong to you. If not claimed the items will be given to charity or thrown away. Jim Damery Club Manager
In Memoriam
Kruse, Doug
1918 – 2007
Captain Doug Kruse crossed the bar on July 10th of this year at the age of 89, two months shy of his 90th birthday. Captain Kruse held QCYC membership number 009. Doug was born September 20, 1918, in Seattle where he grew up and lived all his life. While he was growing up, his folks owned a hobby and fishing tackle shop and Doug’s hobby was building model airplanes. He was very good at this and joined “Birdmen of America” and won several model airplane contests and even entered at the national level. Doug attended Lincoln HS and UW.
While at the UW, Doug worked full time at Boeing, during WW II, and at one time was assigned as a field rep which interrupted his schooling temporarily. After coming back from assignment, Doug received a BS in Engineering from UW. Doug spent most of his 32 year career with GE where he worked in the HVAC group and then went into the GE Aircraft Division where he became an environmental chemist after GE sponsored his attending special classes and training at Harvard. Doug retired early from GE at the age of 57 and enjoyed a long and fruitful retirement. On the side, while working for GE, Doug formed a private airplane cleaning business at Boeing field. Later, he developed his property management business; owning the 30-unit Varsity Arms apartment building, rental houses, apple orchards near Titan in the Yakima area, and other properties in Grayland, LaConner and on Holmes Harbor on Whidbey Island.
Captain Kruse joined Queen City in 1959 and was very active in the 60s and 70s. He and Eleanor participated regularly in the QCYC social events and cruises. Eleanor remembers socializing with good friends the Bob Burfitts and enjoying the camaraderie of membership. When Doug joined Queen City he owned the “Kruser II”, a 26’ Higgins and later moved up to a 30’ Chris Craft, the “Kruser III”. After many years of cruising, Doug became a licensed private airplane, both land and float planes, pilot and spent most of his recreational time flying although he traded the Chris Craft in on a 20’ Bell Boy fishing boat the “Kruser IV”. He would often fly with Eleanor to their property on Whidbey which had a nice sandy spit for docking his float plane.
Doug and Eleanor have spent the last few years as snowbirds in Yuma AZ but have kept the family home in View Ridge.
