1. Commodore's Comments

It is my hope that by the time you read this you are either underway or putting the finishing touches on planning and provisioning for a great summer cruise.  I know that the rapid rise in fuel prices may limit some of our cruising, but there are great places to go nearby and following Captain Chuck Gould’s sage advice, paying attention to fuel economy takes a lot of the pain out of even modest travel and adds little to the total cost of your boating vacation. 

The Club Summer Cruise is just such an event.  The fleet departs Kingston on August 8th and returns August 17th.  It is planned around limited travel distances and maximum fun.  Cammy and I hope to see you then.  When you consider other forms of vacationing and the cost of ground or air transportation, hotel, meals out, etc…all of which are rising in price due to fuel costs, the cost of boating doesn’t seem so bad.

This publication should be online and in hand in printed form by July 4th and I want to mention what a great Independence Day celebration Don and Judy Wilson have organized for this year.  There will be lots of great food, a lively atmosphere and fun times in store.  There is always room for one more---will that be you?

Looking ahead to Labor Day weekend, Dave and Pam Christianson are putting the finishing touches on a grand party to close the summer season.  I hope to see you all there—will there be another Doggie Olympics?—Will we smoke ribs or steam clams?  Look for the flyer in this edition and around the clubhouse. 

I want to thank PC Dean Lengtis for his excellent talk on the real privilege of belonging to Queen City Yacht Club at the June 11 membership meeting.  He spoke of some members who have suggested that all of us own the club: 

The privilege of belonging to Queen City Yacht Club is not the clubhouses or the moorage, but rather it is the privilege of being entitled to fly the Queen City burgee. We don’t own this club.  We are its stewards and have the responsibility to protect and improve it for the members yet to come.

Never were truer words spoken.  It is our duty and that of those just joined and yet to join, to do our best to honor that tradition.  It is our privilege to fly the burgee.  Thank you, Dean.

We have had a string of boat fires this year and I want to focus on that for a moment.  These recent events have got me thinking that perhaps not all of us look critically at our own vessels because we are used to seeing them and accepting them in less than perfect condition because the engine starts and the genset runs.  Cosmetically, any of our boats can look shipshape.  But what danger lurks behind the electrical panel or underneath the galley stove or refrigerator?  Are we storing gasoline and other flammables in the correct manner?  When is the last time we looked closely at our shore-cord or behind the shore connection point on the boat?  Are the bilge pump float switches all working?  In discussion with several members, an idea is evolving of putting together voluntary member-to-member surveys or safety checks of other members’ boats.  Rear Commodore Ed Jennerich is your contact point if you are interested in participating in this endeavor.  Walt Mauldin, Bill Field and Chuck Gould have also volunteered to help organize a Club safety day, with fire and police department personnel and perhaps local yards and merchants to focus on marina, vessel and personal safety.  We have significant investments in our boats and in our club facilities.  Our fellow member’s lives could be at risk.  Let’s pull together to get ahead of the curve. 

Finally, this marks my next-to-last column in The Bilge Pump and the last 3 months of my year as Commodore.  I thank my friends and mentors as well as those who gave time to the club and friendship to one another.  Without friendship, there is no reason for this club to exist.  I admire the hard work of our Commodore-elect Dale Roberts and Vice-Commodore elect Ed Jennerich.  I could not have done this job without your earnest support and wise counsel.  Together we accomplished a lot and gained a lifetime friendship between us.  We could not have done so without the support of our wives—Cammy, Susie and Elaine.  George and Nancy Austin now join that team, as Cammy and I leave it.  We ask that you support them.  They are not in this for themselves, but for you.  Most members seem to get that—maybe they can talk to the ones who don’t and get them on board with why this club exists and how it has survived.

Safe boating.

Bill McGillin
Commodore