3. Rear Commodore's Report

Greetings.

One thing nice about February is that Opening Day is only three months away and the official start of boating season.

GROUNDS: Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our winter grounds cleanup on Feb 12. Captain Becky Garvie will be looking for volunteers to assist her in the grounds cleanup from 9:00 AM to noon. Please remember to dress warmly, and wear rubber boots, gloves and a hat. Bring a bucket for weeds. All other necessary tools will be provided.
• Volunteers can contact Becky at (425) 778-4823 or
• R/C Bob Stettner at (206) 372 -5819
The winter spruce-up will make our beautiful clubhouse and grounds look inviting as we get ready for our “Prospective Members” Open House which will be hosted by Captain Chris Benson at 10:00 AM on Saturday, February 19.

MEMBERSHIP: Our membership at the end of Jan. was 472 which includes 354 active members and 118 Sr. Life members. Our 2011 goal is to add 45 new memberships;:we are currently at 27 % of our goal.

As you may know, QCYC will have our usual booth at the upcoming Seattle Boat Show which will run from Friday, January 21, through Sunday, January 30. This year the Queen City Tarettes will be assisting at the Queen City booth. We welcome Tarette President Sharon Benyon and her team. It was nice to note that this will be our fourth consecutive year as a booth participant at the Seattle Boat Show. We also looking forward to some hot leads that we hope will bring new Queen City memberships. The Boat Show always presents us with a nice opportunity to meet Puget Sound boaters to exchange ideas, swap stories, and in general just enjoy messing around with boat stuff.

REMINDER: Chairman Chris Benson and I will be hosting an afternoon event for potential new members on Sat. Feb 19 from noon to 3:00 PM. The Queen City Tarettes also will be joining in to present the many benefits of their organization. If you have time, please feel free to join us to meet and show potential new members around the clubhouse.

SECURITY: At this writing there are no security issues to report either at the Winslow Outstation or the Seattle In-station club. However, we did have a security incident that took place on dock #2 and #3 on and around Dec. 18. The incident was covered by V/C Wilson in last month’s Bilge Pump and reported at the Dec. 22, 2010, Gen meeting.
As a follow-up under club security, Chairman Rod Hilden has provided the following basic tips on how to make our Vessel and Yacht Club more secure:

SECURITY TIPS:
Visit your boat on a regular basis, or if gone for the winter, make arrangements with another club member to check your boat regularly.
Keep valuables out of sight, and place covers over valuable mounted equipment (in both boats and vehicles in the parking lot).
Keep alcoholic beverages and liquor out of sight or covered.
Do not loan your access control card to others outside of your control, including vendors or contractors working on your boat.
Don’t block or latch clubhouse doors open, unless you will be responsible to close them.
Dock entry gates: don’t block or latch open for the convenience of your guests coming to your boat.
Don’t allow strangers (anyone you don’t recognize as a club member) into our clubhouse facilities or out onto the docks. Ask them to wait for the member they are meeting.
Call 911 and report suspicious activities or persons at our facilities to the local police department in Seattle or at Winslow (Bainbridge Island Police).
Ask strangers if you can help them, and then try to determine if they are legitimate members, guests or reciprocal yacht club members who are current with our club.
Don’t tear open envelopes left for our reciprocal dock guests and circulate the numeric entry codes to your guests and friends.
Report criminal activity to our security chairman, or to the office as soon as possible after you discover any criminal activity, damage or theft on your boat.
Be sure to file a police report, as this is not only necessary for your insurance claim, but it will also make us eligible for more frequent water and land police patrols.

Captain Craig Ranta and I will continue to look at the feasibility of CCTV cameras for our clubhouse facilities and other strategic locations at both Winslow and Boyer. We appreciate Rod’s proactive approach in watching over our club security and especially for the tips offered to owners on protecting their vessels.

There is no need to lecture ourselves further on how important it is for each of us to be mindful of these important security tips. However, please remember not to allow our gate security system to be compromised by blocking the dock access door open.

I apologize for the length of this month’s article, but it seemed justified on the heels of the two unauthorized entry incidents that happened in December.

In closing, all the best to Queen City members. Lois and I look forward to seeing you at the club soon.

Bob Stettner
Rear Commodore