Bilge Pump: June 2007

Opening Day 2007 is in the books and as usual it was a tremendous success due to the many hours put in by willing members. I'm sure he wouldn't want to be singled out, but I'm going to do it any way, as one example our Bar Captain Cary Gould quietly put in 47 hours behind the bar from Wednesday to Sunday. I'm sure he wasn't the only one to have given this much of their valuable time. Speaking of which, our Opening Day Chairmen, Larry and Wendy Meyers, did a fantastic job organizing the whole event. Our relationship goes back to when I was doing Night Patrol at the Seafair Hydroplane Races and they were my bosses as head of all waterside activities. Right after becoming Commodore they came up and asked what they could do to help and when I mentioned I had a small job in mind they immediately answered "no problem, done";. I forgot to tell them the old club adage "don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon";. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Many members and guests mentioned how festive the club looked and for this we can thank Capt. Joanne Martensen. I also heard a lot of comments on the how much they enjoyed the new mural in the dining room. Thanks to Capt. Tom Johnson who researched this and worked with the suppliers to make sure it arrived in time for Opening Day. We will be working with the AAC to come up with a frame to make this a permanent part of the club décor.

I would also like to thank the weather gods for giving me my third year standing at the rail saluting the judges without having any of that famous Seattle liquid sunshine to dampen the parade. This year the Officers Boat was the "Our Island"; which looked very regal decked out in her signal flags. Thanks to my good friends Capt. Bill and Admiral Michelle Bressler and Sparky for herding a crowd of around thirty through the parade and over to Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club to see the Husky band and cheerleaders. I received a special note from Commodore Ron Honeyman at MBYC in appreciation for the dredging of the bay outside their moorage. Chef Willie and Peg provided the delicious snacks for the cruise, although I did have to keep a fight from breaking out over the last of the coconut shrimp.

Really shortly on the business side of things the club contracted to have the stucco outside the elevator shaft and the front of the building repainted and unfortunately this couldn't be accommodated before Opening Day but has now been completed.

It's hard to believe it's almost time for our summer break but I guess it proves the old saying "time really flies when your having fun";. With this in mind here is a list of upcoming events before we all head out onto the water to burn some of that $4 per gallon fuel.

• June 2nd - Tarette Dock Party
• June 9th - Saturday Night Social sponsored by webmaster Kyle Bixby and the Banditos. How can you go wrong with tacos and tequila.
• June 10th - New member orientation. Get answers to the many questions you have, like what's the proper salute when you pass the Commodore. Some of you are having trouble with this, unless you're telling me I'm number 1.
• June 13th - Old Timers Night. Come and meet and say thanks to some of the people whose foresight and hard work have made QCYC one of the finest yacht clubs on the west coast.
• June 22nd – 24th - Big Brothers Cruise to Winslow. The Fleet Captains have guaranteed a fun weekend with our friends from Bremerton Yacht Club.

Bob Yates
Commodore

Summer is here! Join the fleet cruising the San Juans—join your Club at the outstations for Memorial Day, Big Brothers, July 4th and Labor Day. Come on and celebrate!

Volunteers Needed Still looking for that chance to volunteer? Opportunities come in all sizes, but each is destined to give you a sense of accomplishment. Please let me know.

Opening Day

Special Thanks Manager Bob Pound and Edmonds Vice Commodore Ted (“the boat guy”) Newton of Olympic Boat Center Lake Union furnished Queen City with two shuttle boats enabling us to move hundreds of guests between QCYC and SYC. Thanks Olympic, Bob and Ted from all of us at QCYC!

Thanks to All Members We had so many volunteers—what a great effort. Give yourselves a big round of applause. In the limited space of this column, I can’t mention everyone by name, but here are a few special mentions: Pride of QCYC spearheaded by Jerry Zuvich—over 100 volunteers. Many of our mooring members donated moorage slips for our visiting guests; without your generosity we could not carry on. Capt. George Austin turned out a set of stainless steel doors for the BBQ. Jim Damery—what more can I say—the man’s a giant! (If you don’t believe me ask his able assistant Igor (Dick Geving). Special thanks to the fabulous crews who cooked and cleaned—and I am told partied a bit themselves—To the bartenders all—Thanks as well to Pat Baker, Tom Youngs and those great shuttle drivers and to Todd Wallick who detailed the shuttle boats before they were returned—to the Tarettes for your excellent cheerful service—and to everyone who participated on whatever level—you made it a great success. Thank you!

Our Visiting Clubs The visiting yacht clubs of the Grand XIV helped turn the event into a real party. We had more than 60 visiting boats in our moorage! Thank you for coming and we look forward to seeing all of you next year!

Docks This is the time of year when more of the stuff on top of the docks gets addressed, as the undersides are now underwater. Dave Svendsen needs your help and there are opportunities for you to pitch in no matter what your skills or interests. Kelly Stocklin has offered to spearhead an effort to rebuild the transverse dock at Winslow. These are fun projects and a great chance to be involved and get to know other members. A lot of people are gone this time of year. Keep an eye on the docks—and contrary to what mom said~please talk to strangers~

House Craig Ranta has volunteered to lead the effort to evaluate our technology needs and has assembled a crew of experts, including John Rogers, Dick Geving, Steve Farber, Tom Kuhn and Kyle Bixby. If you have skills in this area, contact Craig and see if he could use a few more hands.

Moorage Remember, if you are going out of town and you are on a moorage wait list, you should designate someone to respond to moorage offers in your absence. This designation should be sent in writing to the Moorage Committee. Remember too, only the Moorage Committee can sublet slips. Members can loan a slip to another member for up to 10 days.

Outstations At Deer Harbor and Ganges, please be considerate of others. Remember you are allowed four-nights moorage after which please leave the dock prior to 1600 hours. If you extend your stay due to lack of demand, please give up the dock to the new arrivals and raft out. See rule 12 for maximum rafting (the rule applies to both Deer Harbor and Ganges).

Happy Boating!

Bill McGillin
Vice Commodore

Three recent events at Queen City Yacht Club reinforce my prior belief that we are truly a club whose members eagerly volunteer to help, whether it is to serve on a committee, help on the docks or grounds, put on a social event or plan a cruise. The first event was the Outstation work party, held on April 21st. Headed up by Eric and Barb Wood and carried out by dozens of members, including Past Commodores, they quickly worked through the list of tasks, and most everything got done. It is tough to admit, but this was my first Outstation work party and as usual, it was more fun than I anticipated and it felt rewarding to be a participant.

Next on the calendar was the Pride of Queen City. The success of this event is yet another example of our membership's spirit of volunteerism. On April 28th, one hundred and thirteen members pitched in to work on our grounds, clubhouse, docks, or in the galley cooking what turned out to be an absolutely wonderful dinner. Thank you, Jerry Zuvich, for overseeing this project. Since one of my responsibilities as Rear Commodore is to oversee the club's grounds, I really appreciated Past Commodore Rich McCroskey for organizing this sub- section of the Pride of Queen City. All year long he has stood in as the Grounds Committee Chair and I owe him big time!

The third event was Opening Day. It was a resounding success and Larry and Wendy Meyers, the Opening Day Chairpersons, should be commended for what they and their committee accomplished. It was a perfect way to showcase our facilities. I would also like to thank Bill and Michelle Bressler for providing Our Island as the officer's boat in the parade. They were great hosts and everyone had a wonderful time. During Opening Day, I am responsible for the mooring of visiting boats from the Grand 14 yacht clubs. This job was made easy because I had two of the best dock-masters around, Dick Geving and Jim Damery, who were assisted by Past Commodore Jeff Ewell and Ed Jennerich. They seem to take care of everything. Thank you for spending the entire week preparing the docks and getting the boats tied up.

With regards to these events, I want to thank everyone who contributed their time and energy. It was truly remarkable. In closing, Susie and I hope to see you at this month's cruising event, the Big Brother Cruise.

Dale Roberts
Rear Commodore