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