This month we will have a General Meeting and Mardi Gras themed dinner on this Friday, March 7th.   Lina has planned the following menu: 
    Red Beans and Rice
    Cajun Shrimp
    Chicken Gumbo with Chicken Sausage
           **upon request:   Vegetarian Gumbo
    Black eyed Pea and grilled eggplant Salad
    Regular Green Salad with assorted Dressings
    Dessert:   Carmel pecan coconut cajun cake and ice cream
It sounds amazing and can be yours for $ 14.50 per person!

On March 15th we will celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day.   This Saturday starts with promise with Winter Race #5.  And the day only gets better from there.  That same evening we will be celebrating further with dinner and music.  Dinner will be Al Montoya’s famous corned beef with accompaniments.  Music will be provided by the Gallowglasses band.  There will be raffle surprises.  Cost is $ 22.00 per person.

Rounding out the month on March 28th, we have a special Drop In Dinner with a Middle Eastern Theme and after-dinner belly dancing.

Looking forward to April, our General Meeting is on April 11th.  Stay tuned.

The Winter Series comes to a conclusion Saturday, March 15 with race #5. This race doubles as the annual St. Patrick’s Day Race and is run as both an individual race as well as the final Winter Series race. The St. Patrick's Day Race is one of the highlights of the Sequoia racing season, and a bottle of Irish whiskey is up for grabs to the winner of the race in both the spinnaker and non-spinnaker divisions.

The Winter Series races start at 13:30 and the Skippers Meeting will be held at 11:30 on the day of the race.  Plan on racing rain or shine.

So come up to the club for the final results to be calculated and announced. You may even find yourself enjoying a wee drop of the craythur while toasting the winners and all those participating in the Winter Races.

The evening of the race the Club will be having our annual St. Patrick's Day party so you might want to sign-up and make a full day of it.

Hope to see you there.

Richard Butts, Winter Series Race Captain

Ahoy Sequoia

You are invited to the grand opening of the Maritime Exhibit at the San Mateo History Museum Redwood City on March 16th.

Sequoia YC is sponsoring this so it is a great PR opportunity for the club. As well as seeing the new exhibit you can also view the Sequoia YC display which does an outstanding job of promoting our fine club and honoring our 75 year history. If you have not seen this I can assure you that you will feel very proud when you do! Admission is free on this day. The San Mateo History Museum is on 2200 Broadway in Redwood City.

There are two sessions - for families with children from 12-3 where there will be activities including building model ships, designing a signal flag, knot tying and we shall also have an El Toro and a Laser on show. So lot's of fun for the family.

The next session is the official opening of the new exhibit with a ribbon cutting ceremony plus refreshments and that is from 3.30 - 5.30. The maritime exhibit features the Charles Parson's collection of ships of the world which are 24 model ships expertly crafted representing a whole history of sailing. Examples are a Greek warship of 500BC, the San Carlos Spanish warship that discovered the San Francisco Bay and a WWII destroyer - the USS The Sullivans. It is not to be missed!

It would be fantastic to see as many club members as possible on this day. This is a great way to support your club and the community at the same time. We look forward to seeing you there!

Peter Blackmore, Staff Commodore.

Many of you may have heard the initials, PICYA, and wondered what it is. The Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association is made up of over 100 yacht and boat clubs in Northern California. The PICYA is one of the largest such associations in the world and its history dates back to 1896. It was formed to foster communication and cooperation among boaters and their club members. It also promotes recreational boating, youth sailing and many other civic activities.

The PICYA is responsible for producing the Yachting Year Book and the Sequoia Yacht Club was first mentioned as a club in the 1939 Year Book. This book provides information on member clubs, their burgee, their club officers and even club members and their boats. It is a great resource of information for all boaters in Northern California.

PICYA sponsors opening day each year on the San Francisco Bay and once again they feature on-the-water viewing and lunch on one of the Hornblower boats. It is also responsible for tracking the C.O.T.Y. (Club Of The Year) points.   All clubs’ many activities are tracked each year, including attendance at delegate meetings, community support, seminars, participation in opening day, etc. all to determine the best club in Northern California.  So tracking the points and submitting information on our participation and club activities is important. Sequoia Yacht Club has won this prestigious  award in the past and we are on track to be in the running this year.

Delegates meetings happen once a month at various yacht clubs around the area, and next month on April 7th, we are proud to once again host  at our club the Delegates meeting with over 100 delegates from the many member clubs. Each club can have three delegates and may also have a delegate at large. Our club’s delegates to PICYA are Fred Wydler, Larry Mayne, Peter Nardini ( who is a Staff commodore as he was Commodore of PICYA in 1982), and myself. This year I also have the honor to be a Director on the board of the PICYA as well.

To find out more about the PICYA and how you can be involved, go to www.picya.org  and follow PICYA on Facebook by going to www.fb.com/picya.org  and liking the page.

Please give our supporters your first consideration.  Note that most listings will have the ability to click through for further information. Also note the advertisers will change the sequence of listing so we will have a new advertiser at the top of the list each week.

If you have feedback on this advertising section or would like to have your business listing included in future editions of “The Weekly Blast”, please contact Larry Mayne at lrmayne@aol.com