3. Rear Commodore's Report

Greetings:

June has arrived and Seattle’s Opening Day of boating season celebration was another success story.  SYC does a superb job of sponsoring this annual event each year.  Queen City Yacht Club did a fabulous job of entertaining our members and also hosting the Grand 14 Clubs.  It was an all-volunteer effort that served over 800 meals!  All of this was done under guidance of Opening Day Chairs, Dick and Elin Storey, and their incredible crew of 150 volunteers.  I also understand that the Tarettes served 185 hungry boaters a great breakfast on Mother’s Day Sunday. We appreciate all the work you did to make this year’s Queen City Opening Day event happen. Well done!

 

A special thanks to Queen City members for their creative work decorating the QCYC parade entry, a recreation of the historic ferry KALAKALA, which was a fun and creative entry to the parade that was well received by attendees and participants! Great job - we are so proud of your effort!

 

The Opening Day Parade of boats and celebration was as colorful and beautiful as ever. We were pleased that the weather cooperated. The turnout was good, despite the chill of the day, and there were many boats lined up on the log boom with an excellent representation from Queen City-- way-to-go Queen City Captains. Another special thank you to Queen City Captains, Barb and Eric Wood, for providing their beautiful boat Barberic to accommodate the Queen City Bridge and invited guests. We all had a wonderful time.

 

Special appreciation to Capt. Andy Gerde, Club Mgr., for the super effort he and his crew made in running and managing our club during this year’s Opening Day event. This included overseeing the bar operation on the second deck, live music entertainment and dancing on the third deck and securing the club each night. Way-to-go, Andy, thank you...

 

GROUNDS:  Capt. Jerry and Laurie Zuvich with their crew of 80 volunteers delivered another successful “Pride of Queen City “grounds cleanup. Thank you for your fine effort. I also heard the menu of pork chops with mushroom gravy in a bed of rice really hit the spot after hard day’s work.

 

MEMBERSHIP:  Our membership in May increased to 473, which includes 358 active members and 115 Senior Life members. Our 2011 goal is to add 45 new memberships; we are currently at 48 % of our goal.

 

SECURITY:  Heads up:  On Monday, May 2^nd, our Office Manager, Deborah arrived to find that someone had forced open the office “Dutch door” over the week-end and attempted to break into our club safe.  Fortunately the safe remained intact and NO contents were lost.  The Seattle Police Department has begun an investigation of the incident. A couple of our members have also reported that they recently received a “late notice,” even though they deposited their last quarterly moorage checks in our office door mail slot. While the investigation continues (and because we are concerned that someone may have taken checks from the office mail drop slot), we are asking all members as a precaution, to discontinue leaving  any checks or cash payments in the office door mail drop after hours, or when the office is not attended. Payments should be made directly to our office manager, or sent via U.S. Mail.  We also encourage members who may have recently paid via the office mail drop, to regularly monitor their bank accounts and monthly statements to be certain that their checking accounts have not had any unusual or unauthorized activity.   

 

In response to this incident, we are improving our office security by doing the following: a new and stronger safe has been purchased, the office door lock mechanism has been enhanced,  a new office mail drop will also be added to the office area to ensure items cannot be extracted back from the opening, and finally, installation of a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera monitor and intrusion detection monitors within the office area so that we can be sure we will have an adequate “welcoming system” to assist the Seattle Police Department in identifying any future uninvited guests.

 

Although unrelated to this specific incident, as a reminder the summer cruising season will soon be here, and the Bridge would like remind all members to be sure to lock their vehicles and keep valuables out of sight while using the parking lot or street parking.  We would also appreciate members continuing to be alert to the presence of any suspicious persons, activities or incidents at any of our Queen City Yacht Club facilities, and to report them to our Security Chairman - Rod Hilden by email, or by phone (206) 601-5989.

              

Lastly, you may have noticed my absence from several meetings in May and my limited availability on Saturday at the Opening Day event. Unfortunately, due to an unforeseen medical issue and circumstances beyond our control, Lois missed all of the Opening Day celebration.  This was a huge disappointment for both of us. However, a nice touch came when our daughter Sara Webster accepted her mom’s request to take her place on the boat Barberic on Saturday for the Queen City Bridge Officer salute. Lois and I are already looking forward to next year’s Opening Day celebration.

 

In closing, Lois and I sincerely thank you for all the support and encouragement that has been so generously given to her.   She is so looking forward to getting back out on the water soon.

 

Regards,

 

Bob Stettner

Rear Commodore