Bilge Pump: January 2010

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe the holidays are behind us. But what fun holidays they were. We had a very successful Special People’s Cruise Holiday (thank you Bill Field & Co.); a fun-filled Captains’ Dinner with the irrepressible Stan Boreson (thanks Tarettes); a weather-friendly Lighted Boat Parade (thank you Randy Jamerson & P/C Larrie Chmela); a magical Children’s Christmas Party, replete with Santa (thanks Sandy & Chas Werner); and a family-friendly Commodore’s Christmas Reception (thank you Willie & Peg for providing all the goodies). On behalf of QCYC I’d like to thank the Tarettes for their wonderful gift to the club of 2 watercolors of the floating caretaker’s cabin circa 1940’s.

We rolled in the New Year with a terrific “Black & Silver” New Years Eve party, chaired by P/C Bill McGillin, Cammy Mowery and Larry & Lynette Richards. A great time was had by all.

The first Friday Night Social of 2010 will be hosted by the sail boaters on January 15th and will feature an America’s Cup theme. The social is the Friday evening before the 1st of Season log race hosted by QCYC. The always popular “Martini Madness” chaired by Scott & Tracy McPhee will be held on Saturday, January 30th. With these two events, the New Year is off to a great start!

January 29-February 6 features the Seattle Boat Show. We will again have a booth as part of our membership drive. The goal, of course, is to get people interested in joining QCYC and to get contact information so we can invite them to the Prospective Members Open House on Sunday February 21st. It’s important that the Boat Show effort be successful—so get in touch with your inner sales person and come join us at the QCYC booth.

January also sees Winslow hosting the P/C Cruise-In and the Grand 14 Officers’ Cruise-In. The new sign-in desk is complete (thank you P/C Dick Timmerman) and the new stainless steel counter tops (thank you Mike Cochran) will greatly enhance the utilization of the outstation. Also, the new Dock B docks are in process and should be installed by early February.

We’ve had several unexpected challenges over the past month. As part of the Fire Code Compliance Project we have been installing new standpipes. Over Thanksgiving oil was detected in the trench leading to Dock 3. This necessitated a quick response and remediation. While the problem has been temporarily remedied, we must explore a more permanent solution.

The cold snap in December also resulted in burst water pipes affecting the entire water supply on Dock 3. A temporary fix is in place while we investigate a longer term solution. The cold has again brought to the fore our problems and concerns with an old electrical system servicing the docks.

I’d like to commend Docks Chair, Art Mauldin, for his extraordinary commitment and effort on both of the above unanticipated events. However, these two events, in addition to all of the other docks projects and Fire Code Compliance projects, have severely taxed Art and his committee. Simply put, Art and the Docks Committee need the help and support of the membership. The alternative is to incur the costs of hiring professionals or watch our assets deteriorate. These two events were obviously not budgeted expenses and the Bridge, Planning & Finance and the Board are working on ways to cover the costs.

It’s apparent from the various activities mentioned above that we have a vibrant club that benefits and prospers from the contributions and commitment of its members. It’s what makes QCYC such a great club.

Fair Winds,

Ed Jennerich
Commodore 

It’s a new year: let’s get the boat out and have some fun.

As I write this the temperature is in the teens, which brings us back to frozen pipes and high power usage/lower voltages. I sent out an email about turning off Christmas lights, refrigerators, ice machines and excess heaters to keep electrical usage low enough to not burn out this system. If we burn out the wires we will be out of power for quite a while. If can we get enough power to the docks, we can put heat tapes on the water pipes and keep them from freezing/breaking while allowing us to keep heat in our boats and Christmas lights. Come to a board meeting and let Planning and Finance know your interest in getting this done.

Bill Field called me and convinced me that I should be taking some special people out for a Cruise on Dec. 6 and so with Commodore Ed and Elaine we loaded the boat with smiling faces and took a boat ride. I had a co-pilot named Bobby who made boat noises, giggled and ho-ho’d for an hour and a half: he was great and made this a fun thing to do. I’ll be doing this again and would like you to be involved also. See Bill Field’s article and mark your calendar for December 2010. I know I was worried about these people making a mess or getting hurt, but they stayed where they were put, had their snacks and were really pleasant. P/C Scott Grim loaded his boat with twice as many as anybody else being the last boat out. There were a lot of club members involved in this and I saw a lot of smiling faces at the chili feed. P/C’s Chmela and Yates led this afterwards. See Bill’s article. Thank you.

DOCKS
The Standpipe Project is in full swing and scheduled to be completed by year end, it may drift a few days over but not many.

We had a little oil contaminated soil exposed by the backhoe while putting in the trench for the standpipes and Art Mauldin made a spectacular recovery on Thanksgiving Day to get it contained, thanks, Art.

Watch The Bilge Pump and go on-line for dock work party dates. We’re always in need of helpers. It’s a couple of hours on one Saturday a month. If you are extended stay on the dock you really should be involved in the maintenance of your home site.

One of our fellow boaters (a certain P/C) left a bag of potato chips on the back deck of his boat after a local football event and came back to find the chips replaced by little black poopy snacks, icky. We’ve added a few more rat traps, so keep an eye out for these visitors. Don’t feed them and I hope they don’t die on your boat!

HOUSE
Jim Damery’s wife Donna has had some surgery and P/C Jeff Ewell has the lead for house projects. If you see something that needs to be looked at put it on his “To Do” List clipboard in the galley. Jim, we wish Donna a speedy recovery.

WINSLOW OUTSTATION
The new dock section for Dock “B” will be arriving before the end of February, 2010. We’ve paid a little more money on these and are moving smoothly towards completion. Take a look at the club calendar and make a plan to be at the Winslow Cleanup. It’s a great way to get yourself outside after a long winter. We will have less dock repair needed, so rebuilding the deck on the clubhouse will be the biggest project. Bob Lindal and John Alving have been making drawings and picking out wood for this, so this will be all ready to tackle. Let Eric or Barb Wood know you’ll be coming.

I reiterate, we had a volunteer signup sheet included in the October billing and only 60 were returned. Of those 60 about ½ were already on at least one or more committees. We need a lot more involvement. We’re not going to give up on you. Let us know what you want to be involved with.

Looking forward to 2010,

George Austin
Vice Commodore

Since I returned from a month in Maui on December 2nd we have had Breakfast with the Bridge, the QCYC meeting, Special People’s Holiday Cruise, Lighted Boat Parade, QCYC Work Party, and the Children's Christmas Party.

The Richland Yacht Club joined us for the Friday night Chet Gibson Memorial Lighted Boat Parade. Mike Cochran hosted them on his boat, That’s Amazing, and we showed them a good time.

WOW! The Club year is just zipping by! We have a number of items that need to be addressed in the coming weeks.

GROUNDS
1) We need to cut back the ivy and brush to the top of the embankments behind the locker banks to the south end. There is ivy growing down to the drain bed and back up over the back walls of the lockers too. All of it needs to go. We need to clean up the surface of the drain fields so we can sample what's in them and maybe start treating them so that the runoff can be redirected to the lake. There is at least a small amount of oil contamination in them, maybe some toxic agricultural products as well. The contents at one sample point really stink.

2) We need to clear out the back side of Cummings Hall again, and perhaps start to regrade or dig a trench in which we can lay a new drain line for those drainage fields from behind the locker banks. The important thing is to divert the water from the hillsides from going beneath the parking lot and especially to keep it from washing the oil all over the area and down to the seawall where it threatens the bay. We need to do a 100% cleanup of the contaminated soils. This correction is the only thing that stands between us and big fines some time in the future when the retention of the lot and the seawall finally fail us.

3) We've destroyed a part of the chain fence and the hedge up at the Boyer sidewalk. We'll do the same to the north side of the driveway. The AAC Chairman has been informed and he agreed that the fix is to reinstall the removed post and one more back behind the FDC (3' clearance in all directions) and build a square recess for the FDC that can then be backed up by new hedge plants to block off the view. We could start
that job and set the fence posts as a minimum, if the contractor doesn't do that the week of December 14. I think they might. We could continue the job, though. We need to remove one more hedge plant and trim the ends up, too.

4) We need to replant the shrubs removed from the embankment and clean up the plants that got covered with soil. We will have a chance to see if other erosion control measures need to be taken, too. The trench should be covered over by December 16th. Becky Garvie, the Grounds Chairman, could use some assistance replanting the shrubs and cleaning up the area. I have contacted Osvaldo Garcia, our grounds person. He is going to start removing the ivy and brush on December 15th. We could always use bodies to help with grounds work. Contact Becky or myself if you can spend some time helping. Vice Commodore George Austin has agreed to haul away of all the old pipes behind Cummings Hall if we can get them pulled out and stacked up so they are ready to be picked up.

SECURITY
1.) We have had some challenges with the main vehicle entrance gate not operating correctly. The repair company was called and they worked on it December 14th. They were having some difficulty finding the problem. Hopefully they got it repaired.

2.) I would also ask members to be sure and help close up the club when they leave the facility. We still are having problems with doors, especially the main dining room (2nd deck) door, being left held open with a chair.

3.) We are now locking the Captains’ Lounge and members should make arrangements with the office if they want the door left open for an evening meeting.

4.) The Cummings Hall electronic lock wires were accidently cut during the trench cutting in the parking lot. This door will be inoperable until the wire break can be located and repaired.

5.) Members please notify the Security Chairman (Rod Hilden, 206-601-5989 or rodhilden@comcast.net) of any security issues, break-ins, thefts and suspicious people in or around the club facilities. This will allow the club to have a central place for us to track incidents and make certain that we have the right security tools in place to keep QCYC and its members safe.

MEMBERSHIP
Needed: new members! The Boat Show is coming up. If you can volunteer some time, call Chris Benson, Membership Chairman (206-818-7059). After the Boat Show we will host an open house on Saturday, February 20th, from 10AM to 2PM to introduce prospective members to our facility and attending club members. Plan to attend and be a part of welcoming prospective new members. If you know anybody that has a boat, ask them to become part of the Queen City Yacht Club family. Remember, the biggest reason people don't join a yacht club is because they weren’t asked! If you have any ideas or comments regarding membership please let Chris or myself know. Let's all do our part and help our club grow.

We still have some opportunities for chairing committees and working with them to accomplish a number of projects that have to be done throughout the year. If you have skills to manage a project or to work on a project, please contact any of the bridge or project chairman. We need new and old members, even those who feel that they have done their part in the past! What have you done for the club recently? Being involved is the best way to meet members, make new friends and truly be a part of the Queen City Yacht Club family. Please do your part to help us maintain QCYC as the finest yacht club on the West Coast.