Vol. 63 No. 10 · If I don't get some shelter . Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away -Gimme Shelter, The...

L a b o r D a y C r u i s e — W i l l o w B a r Photo by Skip Nitchie

October 2013 Vol. 63 No. 10

2 • October 2013 www.portlandyc.com

L aura and I have finally found time to enjoy some time on the river. The PYC cruisers put on

a great weekend over Labor Day. Hot-ter than usual, but who’s complaining. The Down-Upriver Cruise was awe-some, got to crew for Bo Knab in the Astoria Regatta Parade, celebrated with the PYC championship land float at the Wet Dog Saloon. Times hardly get better than this.

Moorage Upgrade We are completing E-row electrical, and preparing for the K-row headwalk installation in October. Bob Martin has secured an agreement with our up-stream neighbor to allow us enough water above A-row to move the head-walk above the piles, which will allow us to install five rows of moorage in the future. This has been a methodical, timely process that is a great success for Portland Yacht Club’s future and that of our great neighbors!

Dining Chairs The chair sub-committee has been working hard to find our future chairs. We have had nine samples from vari-

ous companies around the country. This is not an easy process, and like most of the things we do, we are trying our hardest to find furniture that will serve us for many years, and be aes-thetically pleasing to most people. I hope we have ordered chairs by the time you read this; my apologies to the First Lady if they don’t arrive in time for the Ladies’ Dinner in December.

Tech Summer was quite a distraction, and now we are moving ahead to finish the security improvements to our entry doors (card key access with camera monitoring). Also included will be a replacement of our failing phone sys-tem which will be more responsive to member’s needs, and possibly decrease our ongoing operations cost. WiFi coverage in the moorage is also being explored.

Club Services More and more of us are becoming aware of the great food and beverage service we have since Dennis, Chef Brien, and Service Captain Brian have boarded. The Soup and Salad Wednes-

the PORTLIGHT published monthly by the

P O R T L A N D Y A C H T C L U B 1241 NE Marine Drive

Portland, Oregon 97211

503.285.1922 | 503.283.4960 (fax)

[email protected]

www.portlandyc.com

EDITOR—Dale Mack

OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES Commodore Larry Cirotski (power)

Vice Commodore Chris Dorn (sail)

Secretary/Treasurer Larry Justice (power)

Rear Commodore Nancy MacGregor (sail)

Trustee Dale Richards (power)

Trustee Gerald Gregg (power)

Trustee Mary Stainsby (sail)

Trustee Terri Entler (sail)

Trustee Dale Mack (sail)

Commodore’s Comments

By Larry Cirotski, M/V Morningstar

Commodore

day nights are a great light dinner, and complement our Cookouts and Satur-day lunches well. Even better are the Sunday afternoons: we offload the weekend cruising gear, then head up to the clubhouse for a pint and a small plate dinner. There are so many op-tions to enjoy our club environment. Our goal is to provide our members with excellent value with their member-ship.

Closing Day Dolphin Yacht Club in Camas-Washougal is again hosting closing day. PYC has a cruise (no-host) scheduled to this venue too. There is a Friday evening potluck dinner at the Dolphin Yacht Club clubhouse, Saturday morn-ing Bloody Marys & Mimosas. Then the Daughters of Neptune will be serv-ing hot dogs and chips for lunch. Sat-urday dinner will be the traditional Burger Bash ($9). Moorage is courtesy CRYA, just bring your registry enve-lope to the Dolphin clubhouse. PYC will be defending the Cannon firing championship; there will be horse-shoes, line toss, dinghy parade, and hors d’oeuvres. So all you have to bring is a dish for the potluck, and your competitive spirit!

CRYA Closing Day Cruise October 5-6

Cruise to Camas/Washougal

www.portlandyc.com October 2013 • 3

Dinghy Dock Clean Up

O ctober is the month that we will be removing all dinghies, tenders, kayaks, and any other small boats that do not have the member’s name identified on

them. Thank you for your attention on this matter.

The Holidays at PYC Now is the time to book your holiday parties at PYC. With the hanging of the greens and the warm, friendly holiday dé-cor, please consider your Portland Yacht Club as the perfect spot to enjoy a holiday gathering. Bring your company, invite the friends and family, or you can sponsor your friends and neighbors here at PYC. We will custom cater all events, pro-vide a full service bar, and offer not only a great view, but an excellent value. Of course, we also welcome the opportunity to begin plan-ning for 2014. Whether the event is large or small; weddings; reunions; auctions; meetings; anniversaries; or birthdays, we would love to provide you and your guests with all the best.

Kelly Bar Fall Schedule

Thursday 11 am – 5 pm Bar Menu Friday 3 pm – 10 pm Happy Hour Menu Saturday 11 am – 5 pm Saturday Lunch Sunday 11 am – 5 pm Bar Menu

Bar Menu

Bar menu available on Thursday and Sunday

BLT • Tuna Sandwich

Turkey Sandwich • Polish Dog Chicken Caesar Salad • PYC Chili

Support your Kelly Bar! Come enjoy our hot and tasty PYC Chili all weekend days while watching your favorite college or NFL football games on the Kelly Bar Big Screen.

With a beautiful view and your favorite food and beverage, PYC is the place to be!

Manager’s Report

By Dennis Yamnitsky

Club Manager

Portlight Deadline — November 10

Email materials to: Dale Mack

[email protected]

October 5 & 6 Register online at: www.sailpdx.org

Portland Yacht Club

Robert A. Smith

Regatta

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Fri. 5:30 pm Potluck Appetizers Sat. Breakfast On Your Own Lunch On Your Own 3:00 pm Pumpkin Carving 5:00 pm Costume Contest 6:30 pm Hosted Dinner (TBD) Dancing After Dinner Sun. 9:00 am Hosted Breakfast Pumpkin Pancakes Bacon and Sausage Fruit, Coffee Ruby Red and OJ BYO Champagne/

Vodka


COOKOUTS October 4 & 18 November 1 & 15

New Member Profiles By Mary Ann Nitchie, M/V Gilligan

Joseph (KENT) & Jo-Anne Grote Oregon natives Kent and Jo-Anne Grote have transitioned from piloting their Cessna 182 to piloting their 36' Chris Craft. Kent has retired from 40 years with Boise Cascade, while Jo-Anne is using her extensive experience as an

educator in Missouri, Oregon and Washington training prospective teachers at the University of Portland. Kent played football for the Ducks and flew helicopters in the Viet Nam war. They live in Vancouver with two standard poodles, Leo and Jake.

Michelle & Steve Bennett Michelle has been a very active volunteer with SYSCO, CYC and OCSA with her Cal 20 sail-boat, River Rose, owned since 1998. She raced the Pacific Cup with her PYC sponsor, Nancy

Rander, in 1994. Michelle's husband Steve is an attorney with Farleigh Wada Witt, skis, speaks German and has participated in three Triath-lons. Their son, Lucas, is an enthusiastic sailor and attends a Spanish immersion program in Lake Oswego.

John Kirby & Cindy Canfield Although he doesn't own a boat at the moment, John looks forward to a power boat in the fu-ture. He grew up in the Adirondacks of Upper NY State. He retired in 2006 from a career as an engineer with Tektronix and Intel. He has been

a TV and radio announcer for the Winterhawks hockey team for 32 years. Cindy, with a masters degree in computer science from Purdue Uni-versity also worked for Tektronix. She went on to earn a law degree from Lewis and Clark and now works as a Law Clerk with District Judge Garr King.

Paul & Michaele Samuelson Paul and Michaele's 35' Chris Craft Corinthian, P.M.S., is on the hard. Paul is the owner of Klassic Koachworks, while Michaele's position

is in managed care at OHSU. She was born in Denver and moved to Seattle in the 60's. Paul was born and raised in Portland and builds en-gines for drag racing boats.. They met at a boat race in Seattle, where Michaele was officiating.

Hugh B. McIntyre & Cecelia Riddle Hugh McIntyre, MD, PhD is a retired professor of Neurology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Hugh and Cecilia also sail out of California Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey and Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda, Ca. Daughter, Capt.

Anne McIntyre, lives in Portland where she is a Columbia River pilot. Cecilia Riddell, PhD; re-tired professor of music (specialty in children's music and early education); piano, recorder and choral singing and conducting. She presently sings with Choro Nova in Berkeley, Ca. Hugh's boat, Lady Anne, is a 48' Navigator.

You provide the meat, PYC provides the Grill, Salad Bar, Baked Potato, Garlic Bread, Beans, and Dessert

$7.50 per person Bar Opens at 3:00

Dinner at 6:30

Sign up before noon on the Wednesday before the cookout to be entered into the “Free Cookout” drawing

RSVP 503.735.0632 or [email protected]


Down and Up Cruise August 8-18 By Steve Gordon, M/V Conundrum

Cruising Committee

Oh, a storm is threat'ning My very life today

If I don't get some shelter Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

-Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones

T he race to Ilwaco, second only to the trans-Pac sail-boat race in excitement, began with a quick stop at the Longview Yacht Club, aka the place with $1 beers

available 24/7. This, plus the fact that the folks at LYC put on a tremendous feast for all that arrived in one piece, made this a must see stop on any downriver cruise and a great be-ginning. I’m still getting over the fact that LYC was able to get the Rolling Stones to provide entertainment the first night too. Given we had nine more days of cruising, it was going to be hard to beat that. I’m still wondering how the band was able to get all their equipment on the back deck but they did.

Once all the boats made it to Ilwaco in one piece the next day, we met on the docks to get acquainted, exchange pas-sage stories and to plan the usual trek up the hill to the Hunkins/Slepian Castle, soon to be a national historic land-mark, or at least a must see on the Long Beach peninsula. Too bad it was closed this year due to the fog being so bad you couldn’t see anything, even Ken’s Corvette in the drive-way.

Some of the local fishermen, also PYC members, Don Dell and Ken Emmons, happened to be on the docks so they re-galed us with stories of how the big one got away. Or at least that’s what they claimed as the fish police came by to see if they got more than their limit. The Dubay’s and the Lewis’ talked about how long it took them to get there but I think it was because they went towards Bonneville Dam, thinking it was truly an upriver cruise. Judy Ogden and Steve Cridland actually arrived before sunset as it started to look like they were becoming night cruisers. Steve showed his prowess on open-ing a champagne bottle with a sword without decapitating himself, although the bottle decided to break in pieces all over his hand. For all, a very entertaining first night on the docks. Fortunately, the next three days turned out to be completely opposite what the forecast said it would be and as such, the bikes came off the boat, the sun came out and Rod Wells of Rod’s Marine Supply and Liquor Store, led an adventurous team around town as well as a short jaunt up to Seattle and back, or at least it seemed that far. I guess that’s what you get for following the Discovery Trail, one of the hidden gems you have to ride the next time you’re up there.

Photos by Sandra Gordon &Dale Mack


For those of you that don’t know of Rod’s Marine, all it takes is a trip where Hey Jude is nearby and assuming it’s not 3am, Rod’s Marine is open. Tons of stuff there to fix just about anything that might go wrong on your boat or in our case, our dinghy.

After a brief stop in Astoria, which certainly was brief for us as we didn’t even make it there, the cruise contin-ued on to Cath-lamet. As the weather was start-ing to change for

the worse, the ever-so-clever team of Jim Smith, Bill Stevens, Jerry Miller and once again, Rod Wells of Rod’s Marine, fash-ioned a tarp between their boats that was as good as any you would see downtown in front of city hall. The shelter the tarp provided was ample enough for everyone to enjoy both in sunshine and heavy rain, which unfortunately came to vis-it. Fortunately nobody went hungry as Sharon’s pizza, just up the road, provided enough pizza and sal-ad to feed everyone plus the city of Cath-lamet. Thanks go out to them and the cruise committee chair, Cap-tain Sandy, for getting that put together. When the final morning in Cathlamet came, it was rather London-like and since nobody had any rain gear other than the aforementioned tarp, a group decision was made to head to the PYC Outstation rather than Martin’s Going to be Re-ally Slough-like and very wet. Also, the group felt that the Hinckley’s needed to be able to plug into shore power as their batteries were dying and Jim had to keep his beer cold which is something we all agreed was critical. At this time in the cruise, any potential issue with drinks or food takes prec-edence.

Once we arrived at the Outstation, and the dockmaster was able to show Lady Anne, ably captained by Hugh “yacht clubs are my middle name” McIntyre and his first mate Ce-celia, into the harbor, the party once again rekindled itself.

For those that don’t know, Lady Anne has a full electronic keyboard on board that in case Paul McCartney shows up for the next cruise (he was here for the Hey Jude downriver cruise for those that missed it), he could lead us all in a rous-ing version of Yellow Submarine. Unfortunately, he is still on tour and couldn’t make it so Cecelia had to work with Laura Cirotski, Gail Smith and I on a show tune medley that is still being talked about.


Labor Day Cruise

August 31—Sept 2 By Steve Gordon, M/V Conundrum

Cruising Committee

Food, glorious food! Eat right through the menu.

Just loosen your belt Two inches and then you Work up a new appetite.

In this interlude -- The food,

Once again, food Fabulous food, Glorious food

Oliver the Musical

A llow me to introduce today’s guest columnist, Mr. Alton “Gordon” Brown, guest host of this year’s Labor Day Willow Bar Iron Chef competition. As

the cooking competition was the highlight of this annual PYC cruise, we’ll turn our attention solely to a summary of the event. Allez cuisine Mr. Brown: Good day all. Thanks for joining me on Labor Day for a wonderful cruise and a great Iron Chef competition. Nor-mally, we have two talented professional chefs compete head-to-head on the show but for this year’s boat competition at Willow Bar, we opened the field up to nine contestants. This, of course, after Laura Mack stayed in Ilwaco, much to the delight of the cooking cognoscente. With Laura out, the

competition really heated up from the moment the secret ingredient was announced. From what I understand, only two people knew what the secret ingredient would be, keeping it a secret despite pleas and bribes from most all potential contestants and the club manager during the week. As one that hosts this show on the Food Network every week or so, I can tell you I’ve been offered just about everything over the years. Of course that doesn’t include Bill Stevens whom if he offered Nimbus in trade for the information, I would have gladly spilled the beans. Next time Bill. In the case of Iron Chef Willow Bar, the secret ingredient once unveiled turned out to be corn. Contestants were shown a myriad of corn options by Vanna “Cap’n Sandy” White, my able assistant - fresh yellow and white corn,

canned corn, frozen corn, baby corn and for those that were potentially adventurous in their cooking, candy corn (you know that stuff from childhood that the mean old lady down the street always made you take during Halloween). The rules were simple - take any of the secret ingredient and fash-ion a plate on your boat using only your galley and the sup-

Photos by Skip Nitchie


plies you have in one hour. No going next door or walking across the street for help. Only cook on your boat and you have to feature the ingredient. What we saw come out of those nine boat galleys was amazing - Mario Batali better be looking over his shoulder.

Each contestant presented their dishes to the cruise commit-tee judging team and were evaluated based on taste, originali-ty and presentation. The overall winner would have the highest cumulative score and then the judges awarded indi-viduals with top scores in each individual category. From what I understand, the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse was needed as well as a supercomputer that Sandra Gordon brought with her from IBM to tabulate the results.

The nine contestants and their dishes were:

Mary Kay Brady creamed corn Laura Cirotski corn pesto Julie Hinkley corn chicken pesto pasta Sandi Free pasta roni with corn Karen (plus Ken Kraig) pulled pork with corn Gloria (and Kayla) Reich corn boats Bill Stevens corn gazpacho Jen Tonneson corn chowder with cheese

crostini Ted “Butch” Wilcox grilled zucchini with candy

corn on top The winning chef, who will be wearing her “Iron Chef Willow Bar Winner 2013” t-shirt all fall and winter was Gloria Reich and her sous chef Kayla Reich. Creativity abounded with the dish and ever the smart contestant, Gloria and Kayla fashioned a corn based tequila drink to entice the judg-es with their skills. Smart idea ladies! Plus they created a boat with the corn husk, a fresh corn salsa, a slice of blanched fresh corn that had a toothpick with two tiny sweet tomatoes (from Gloria’s garden). In each of the rating categories, the three other winners were:

Taste Bill Stevens Originality Jen Tonneson Presentation Julie Hinkley

Overall, the judges had a very hard time discerning the win-ners because everyone did such a wonderful job. Hard to believe but even the dish with candy corn on it had great originality and didn’t taste anywhere near as bad as it would seem. Allez cuisine and back to you Steve! Thanks Alton. Sounds like a fun event and great bunch of chefs. Hopefully we can do this again and see how many more great chefs we have hiding out. Maybe next year we can do squid as the secret ingredient but then that wouldn’t be a secret would it?


Down and Up

Cruise Photos by Judy Ogden, Sandra

Gordon, and Dale Mack


T hank You for your participation in PYC’s Annual Classic Car and Boat Cruise-In whether you

brought a car, boat or came as a spectator. As usual the 25 cent beer was a huge success thanks to our Beermeister Tom Kerns; as well our parking lot attendants, who did a super job, Gil MacGregor aka Gomer and Jeffrey Spaziani. Thank you Barbara (poodle skirt) Tillman for helping with the decorations and clean up, all deserve a clap clap clap. Last but not least the biggest round of applause goes to all of you as your attendance makes it happen. It was perfect weather and everyone had a good time.

Joe and Penny Spaziani M/V Arrested Developer

Classic Car & Boat Cruise In Photos by Ailona Dundore & Penny Spaziani


2 013 marks an important milestone in Portland Yacht Club’s history as member Ray Hansen Jr. marks seven-ty years of membership. A second-generation member,

he joined the club in 1943. Ray started boating as a youngster onboard the family boat, a 34’ Elco named “Jo Ellen”. His parents, Ray Sr. and Helen had joined PYC in 1935 and in 1939 the family moved into a home upriver from the club on Marine Drive. The family built a dock and a boathouse named the “Boat Factory”. It was at this location that Ray, his father, brother Jim, Uncle William and many other boating enthusiasts built an estimat-ed 34 boats. Ray recalls that one of the boats was a small

paddle wheeler and was constructed upside-down. It was on December 7, 1941 when they were in the process of completing the boat and getting it ready to launch that his aunt came run-

ning from next door with the news that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. During his high school years and summers home from col-lege at Oregon State University, Ray worked as a Dock Boy for PYC Port Captain Cap Elliott. He skippered the family boat “Bounty” during these years and would motor the boat to Ilwaco to take his father’s customers fishing. He also worked for Russ Sells and recalls helping to paint gunmetal gray the boats that served in the USCG Auxiliary Flotilla 75 during WWII.

Ray began racing in the 1940’s in the Bee class with his #9 “8 Ball”. His sisters Jo Ellen and Nancy crewed with him on the Bee and on his future boats, including a Columbia River Dinghy and Flatties. Ray raced against PYC skippers Jack Elliott, Tommy Luke, Bill McPherson as well as many others. Ray had just returned home from college in late May 1948 when the Vanport Flood occurred. He helped fill sand bags and when the dike started to leak the crew worked all night. The Salvation Army fed the workers breakfast and then he boarded a 26’ boat with Russ Sells at the helm and they pi-loted the boat “right through the breach in the dike, over the waterfall and into Vanport”. Police asked them to help with the search efforts. They went house to house breaking win-dows and looking for people. Although they didn’t rescue any humans they did save a canary bird found floating in its cage. After college Ray entered the service and was a 1st Lieuten-ant with the Army Corps of Engineers and served in Korea in 1951. Former PYC member Stu Mockford was his room-mate during his tour in Korea. Returning to PYC his first boat was a Santana 27’ named “White Bird”. (Which would be the name of all Ray’s future boats) Next came an Islander 30’ which he raced in the Nor-Pac series and sailed to Cortez Island and Quartz Bay resi-dence of Jack Berglund. Ray estimates that he visited Quartz

70 Years as a Member By Nancy MacGregor, S/V Child of the Mist & Walter Witschard, S/V Keydet

Bounty Bee


PYC Champagne

Sunday Brunch Buffet

Sunday, October 20

Includes “Sparkling Mimosas” $9.50 per person

Invite your friends and family to enjoy PYC

hospitality and fun!

10 am to 1 pm Seating by reservations every half hour


Cancellation Policy in Effect

Bay every summer for 20 years or more. These were great memories with the “Old Farts” and he fondly recalls the “Hot Ruddered Bums” sailing stories. In the late 1970’s Ray and Art Hauge took weather courses together. Art was also preparing to race his Cal 33’ “Rowdy Lady” in the Vic-Maui race and was in need of a navigator. So, Ray bought a sextant and manuals and soon af-ter became a self-taught navigator . "Navigation is what yachting is all about. Electronics take away the fun and skill of navigating" Ray stated. “Those were the days of good yachtsmen that knew how to navigate from charts and follow protocol.” In the 1980’s Ray purchased his next boat a Cheoy Lee 44’. One day the boat, including crewmembers Howard and Donna Shaw, departed Quartz Bay in calm conditions and headed south towards Mexico. They experienced a big storm and made it as far south as Newport, OR. After that he learned to listen to the outside of the 200-mile weather forecast. The Cheoy Lee cruised extensively to many Mexico locations including Baja Peninsula, La Paz, and Puerto Vallarta. Buzz and Betty Allison joined the crew for a portion of the jour-ney. Jack Berglund came onboard and then the “White Bird” sailed to Hawaii then back to Alaska. The Cheoy Lee also competed in the RVYC Swiftsure Regatta in Victoria, B.C. Ray and his family participated in PYC activities and events for many years and served on several committees, but Ray’s

favorites were being a Boatman and helping with the annual Crab Feed. His sons, Jim and Bob and their families, have both been members of PYC for 35 or more years. Keeping up

the family tradition, grandson Peter joined the club in 2007. Granddaughter Helen served as PYC’s Daughter of Neptune in 2012. Ray never lets the grass grow under him as he continues to volunteer at OMSI and Crown Point Vista House. At Vista House he is writing a guide for the other volunteers about the Columbia River. In addition he volunteers with his two sons at the Portland Dragon Boat race events.

Ray Hansen Jr. and Art Hauge

Jim Hansen, Ray Hansen Jr. and Jack Mitchem

Featuring our own Chef Brien Donaldson showcasing his love of Italian cuisine

Saturday, October 12

4 Course Menu $19.50 per person

Kelly Bar opens at 5 pm with appetizers

Dinner starts at 7 pm

Invite your friends and family to enjoy PYC hospitality and fun!


Cancellation Policy in Effect


T hose that have had an opportunity to walk the renovated D-Row and D+ Row

have been more than kind in their thanks to the volunteers on a job well done. The gratitude has been graciously accepted and much appreciated by all of the volunteers that participated. At the same time, the rewards for each of us extend well past the kind comments from our fellow members. The new friendships made and the increase in pride in our club and it's moorage have made me appreciate even more what PYC offers to us all. This project also taught me some very important lessons about the club and its operations. Many long-time members may read my lessons learned and conclude that I

must be a slow study to have taken so long to grasp these obvious realities. At the same time, newer members may find these lessons beneficial as they learn about the club.

Lesson 1 It’s all about the volunteers

I share this hoping not to offend any of the dedicated, hard working and much appreciated club employees. As I worked on this project, it became more clear to me that Portland Yacht Club is an organization driven, built, and maintained almost exclusively by its volunteers. The club’s all-volunteer board of directors set the course – but the PYC ship ultimately moves only in the direction and at the speed that the volunteer workers agree to row.

There were times in the past were I would ask myself: "Why doesn't the club do: _______?" (fill in this blank). I now know the answer to that question is always: "Because no one has volunteered to do so...yet" It is the sweat of volunteers that fuels every project and every inch of progress at the club. I have a new and deeper appreciation for these good people. I also now have a better understanding of what it takes in time and effort to complete club projects and events.

Lesson 2 There are a lot of willing PYC

volunteers I was candidly surprised by the sheer number of people willing to volunteer a helping hand on the D-Row project. Twenty-two (22) different volunteers gave somewhere between 1,150 and 1,250 hours of work to the club for this project. In addition to my surprise at the total number of people that helped, I was even more inspired by the small core group that showed up every day and worked through sore muscles, cuts and bruises to make certain the project was completed. There is an exceptionally large group of wonderful people that are willing to volunteer their time for worthy projects and events. And, those of us that benefit from their good work are grateful to have these good team members.

Lesson 3 We are one club with just one

moorage This project reinforced to me that - in spite of the occasional “ribbing’’ we give each other - we ultimately are one yacht club with one very large combined moorage. Volunteers that worked day-to-day and the even larger group of supporters of the renovation project came from the closed moorage and from every row in

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Lessons Learned from D-Row By Bob Dubay, S/V Spirit


Jon’s sense of humor and constant easy laugh made the work easier for every one that teamed up with him for the day. Mike Lewis (S/V Wind Raven). Mike was away on business and missed the very start of the project. However, he more than made up for it when he returned. Mike worked long hours and even worked alone on our “days off.” Mike is an incredibly dedicated team-member, and recruited his grandson Alex to help as well. This project would have never been accomplished without the entire team of people that gave their time to make the club a better place. Please take moment to say “thank you” and get to know them better when you see them at a club event. You will not find better friends than the volunteers listed below:

Alden Andre Frank Bocarde Larry Brandt

Daniela Brandt Noel Broderick

John Cook Chris Dorn John Drake

Samantha Dubay Fred Hazzard

Dan Kelly Elisa Koski

Fred Koudele Xavier Le Hericy

Mike Lewis Jan Molenaar Steve Pearson John Peterson

Craig Shambaugh Berkeley Smith

Walter Witschard Alex Barnes

***Note: I tried my very best to make sure that I recorded the names of every volunteer. That being said: I am only a volunteer myself and I may have missed someone. Please let me know if I have missed anyone – so I can get your named mentioned and your hard work acknowledged!

open moorage. This was clearly more than a “D-Row Project.” The quality of our club is defined by the quality of its people, not by the type or size of its boats. There is strength in this diversity - and it is one of the features that make our club unique.

Lesson 4 I “get” more than I “give” when I

volunteer Volunteering is absolutely the best way to meet new people in the club. And, it is an even better way to get to know the people whom one has met previously. I could honestly write a paragraph for every single volunteer. And I would do so if I had unlimited time and the Portlight had unlimited pages. Every one of these fine members showed up and worked hard. All without expectation of any reward or accolade. At the same time, I would be remiss if I failed to share with my fellow members the names of just a few that gave up so much of the summer to make PYC a better place for all.

Noel Broderick (S/V Dublin Rover). Noel’s mechanical skill set is legendary. He can fix or repair nearly anything. This is a skill set he honed by working for years on old British Sports Cars! And, it may have been all of those years of rebuilding things that fuels Noel’s dark desire to now tear things apart. Nobody can tear apart old docks with the speed of Noel Broderick. And, no one offers better Irish humor and philosophy better than Noel. Elisa Koski (S/V Passage). Elisa arrives early and stays late nearly every single day. Elisa is a skilled and talented woodworker. She brings her own set of tools, she brings the right set of tools, and she brings extra tools for those of us that have failed to do so. Perhaps more importantly, Elisa also has a talent of a disarming smile when she questions why one of us would want to elect to do a ‘less than perfect job.’ Elisa kept us on track. She led by example and advice. Those that admire the quality of the construction have Elisa to thank. Jon Drake (S/V Antares). Jon works with an almost religious dedication to a task. Watching him work in spite of his sore back and knees honestly pushed me to work through my own pain.


W e boaters accept the possi-bility that we might acci-dentally find ourselves in

the water. We may even have given the matter some thought. The actual expe-rience can be very different from our imaginings, however. Last June I was exiting our starboard salon door and reached down to pick up a bag when this brought my head forcibly into contact with the end of our boat’s railing gate. The Bunch has very substantial railings, and this impact stunned me enough that I completely missed our three step boarding ladder and fell onto the dock. Out of control, I rolled across the dock and into the water. Fortunately, it was Summer, there was only a minimal current, and MaryKaye was on board. She heard the ruckus and immediately came to my aid. I then attempted to pull myself up onto the dock, and I was astonished when this proved to be impossible. The docks are 18” above the water surface, and I could not climb clear of the wa-ter. My 10 to 65 year-old self might have done so, but the present me could not. I needed a ladder. The Jantzen Bay Marina has no in-stalled boarding ladders anywhere in the marina that I am aware of, so I worked myself around the dock finger and aft to our swim step. The Bunch is moored stern in to shelter our teak

from the sun, and I kept our boarding ladder secured since it self-deployed once during a passage. I could not reach the securing hook from the wa-ter, but MaryKaye was able to do so. We then discovered that the arc of the ladder intercepted the dock, and the ladder could not be deployed. This was really annoying. MaryKaye went forward and slackened the bow, spring, and stern mooring lines, and I was then able to deploy the ladder. I then discovered that the com-bination of the relatively short ladder (2 steps in the water) and the distance up and forward to the transom handrail prevented me from reaching a standing position. I could lean back against the dock and was no longer immersed, but I couldn’t pull myself upright. Had I thought to do so I might have turned to face the dock and then been able to pull myself clear of the water, but I did not. MaryKaye now moved the boat aft using the spring lines, and I was then able to press back against the dock, reach the handrail, and climb aboard. Other than many scrapes and bruises, the only casualties were to my complacency and my iPhone, which has since recovered. I must now admit to two major errors: I am not as strong and agile as I re-membered myself to be, and I had nev-er tried to actually use our boarding ladder. I now moor The Bunch far

enough forward to allow the ladder to swing clear of the dock and into the water, and I do not latch the ladder in place, even underway. I have also in-stalled two knotted lines that run from each side of the ladder to the transom handrail (see photo) to permit a person in the water to pull themselves up and onto the swim step without aid.

Had I been alone (and no one except MaryKaye observed me in the water), I might have found a way to pull myself out. Possibly not, if the water had been colder, or if the current was running. As a pilot I learned early on that there were only two classes of aviator – those who had landed wheels-up, and those that were going to. Perhaps there are two classes of boater – those that have gone overboard, and those that are go-ing to. May I suggest that we all make an actual trial of our boarding facilities a priority (with someone else present, just in case things don’t work out as we have imagined)?

Risk Management By Joe Brady, M/V The Bunch


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Vol. 63 No. 10 · If I don't get some shelter . Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away -Gimme Shelter, The...

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