Photos below courtesy of Mia Bernt - Little Venice Yacht Club and Frank Kastl - Martinez Yacht Club, San Francisco Shrine Yacht Club, & USCG Auxiliary Flotilla 57. More photos can be viewed here

Opening Day 2016

The 99th Annual San Francisco Bay Opening Day was held on  April 24th. The theme for this year was  "Heroes on the Bay". This was a fun event for those who wanted to decorate their boats and participate. Over 250 people rode on  the committee boat ,the Hornblower Spirit . This boat was a great way to watch all of the activities of Opening Day and it also included lunch aboard. Thanks to Vice Commodore Linda Blue and her team for an outstanding 2016 Opening Day on the Bay.

PICYA Foundation Scholarships

I would HIGHLY encourage members who have children or grandchildren of college age to apply for a PICYA Foundation Scholarship. They will be giving out 8 (count them EIGHT)  $2,500 scholarships. These scholarships are for students whose parents, grandparents, or guardians are members of a yacht club belonging to PICYA. Applicants must be graduating high school seniors of the current year, or college students continuing to pursue their educational goals. Application must be signed and submitted (received) by June 30, 2016. For more information and applications, please go to  http://picya.org/scholarships

PICYA Navigator

PICYA has instituted a monthly newsletter and it is called the PICYA Navigator. It goes out every second Tuesday of the month at 8am. It has a distribution of nearly 1,000 recipients of yacht clubs throughout the Bay and Delta. If you would like to share information on upcoming events at your club or items of interest to boating, send the information to PICYAnews@gmail.com. If you would like to subscribe, just go to http://picya.org/Navigator and click “Subscribe”.

California Boaters are encouraged to contact their elected representatives on the Assembly Appropriations Committee and to urge a “no” vote on AB 2092 [Frazier] in Committee unless the bill is amended so that recreational boaters’ funds will not be used to rid the waterways of abandoned commercial vessels.

Please take action today. The bill could be heard next week, and must pass through committee prior to a May 27 deadline.

To take action: click here

Key issues:

AB 2092 [Frazier] would target recreational boater funds for the cleanup of abandoned commercial vessels.

Commercial vessels are much more expensive to clean-up and the cost of one vessel could exceed the entire amount of available funds.

The owners of commercial vessels do not contribute to our fund – only recreational vessel owners do.

The demand for clean-up of recreational vessels already exceeds the amount of available funds. These vessels should remain the top priority at this time.

There is no condition in the bill restricting the cleanup of abandoned commercial vessels to those that pose a danger to recreational boaters.
 

PICYA in partnership with Connectu Media, launched the PICYA app for smart phones on Opening Day!  We will be helping to install and demo the app to attendees at upcoming delegates meetings. PICYA has provided the app infrastructure as a member club benefit to serve as an information hub to house regional affairs information, club and boating events for member clubs, PICYA conference and inter-club information.  If any club is interested in having a personalized club app for just $89-99 per year, per club, sign-up now via the link below.  Clubs can drive the app from the content that already exists on their websites. Clubs could opt to use advanced functionality, such as push notifications to distribute important content or event information.

For Details:  https://connectumedia.com/picya/

Linda Blue - PICYA Vice Commodore and Communications Chair

The 2016 Northern California Yachting Yearbooks has been released. Our new feature is a Boat Index!

Place your order now. No PO BOX shipments. For orders under 20 Click Here.

If your Club wants 20 + yearbooks please contact Patti Mangan, patti@imaginethatsf.com for a case discount order form.

Farewll to Friends CLICK HERE for registration form.

Author:  Vivian Matuk (Environmental Boating Program Coordinator, California State Parks Division of Boating & Waterways and California Coastal Commission)

Does your yacht club want to be part of the state’s largest volunteer and family oriented event? Keep reading because this article will tell you how your yacht club can organize and participate in a fun and unique event:  The 2016 California Coastal Cleanup Day (CCD) Sat., Sept. 17, 2016, from 9 a.m.–Noon.
CCD is an international annual beach and shoreline cleanup event that has seen participation from more than 1.3 million volunteers who have collected more than 22 million pounds of debris since 1985! In CA, this event is led by the California Coastal Commission (CCC).

In 2011, The CCC and the California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW) in partnership with Sequoia Yacht Club, Port Royal Yacht Club, Heal the Bay and the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program helped launch a pilot program to further engage the boating community. Together these clubs and their 63 enthusiastic volunteers collected 1,267 pounds of trash and recyclables from the shoreline and on the water with non-motorized vessels. Since 2012, and based on the success of the pilot project, CCC and DBW started promoting this program among boating facilities.

Considering the fact that CCD supports PICYA’s mission of environmental stewardship and promoting safe, enjoyable, and environmentally sound boating, this program has been endorsed by your organization since 2012. Yacht clubs participating in this statewide event receive points towards the nomination of the Club of the Year under the community service category.

In 2015, 36 boating facilities and more than 620 volunteers cleaned 48 miles and collected 10,847 pounds of trash and recyclables on land and from the water using 87 vessels (kayaks, canoes, and dinghies). Statewide more than 68,000 volunteers participated in CCD removing over 1.1 million pounds of trash and recyclables from our waterways, beaches and lakes. We would like to thank the 9 Northern CA yacht clubs already participating and we hope to see the rest of your 98 clubs out there this year!  We know many more clubs want to make a difference and be part of this international event.

Your yacht club can easily be part of this event. To get involved follow these simple steps:

1. Watch this video of Sequoia Yacht Club's Coastal Cleanup Day.

2. Contact the Statewide Coastal Cleanup Day Boating Program Coordinator or Outreach Manager:

Vivian Matuk
Environmental Boating Program Coordinator
California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways
California Coastal Commission
(415) 904-6905
vmatuk@coastal.ca.gov

Eben Schwartz
Outreach Manager, Public Education Program
California Coastal Commission
(415) 904-5210
Eben.Schwartz@coastal.ca.gov

3. Become a Site Captain for your facility, work with us and your County Coordinator on planning your event.

4. Participate in the event and be part of the solution to marine pollution!

We hope your club can be part of this great event!

Yacht clubs are always looking for great and FUN educational opportunities for their members to support their stewardship.  To support this goal, the California State Parks Division of Boating & Waterways, the California Coastal Commission and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership would like to offer you a FREE an Exciting Clean Boating Presentation For Your Yacht Club. This unique free seminar will bring to your club and members great and FREE educational resources including boater kits (attached photo), maps and tons of valuable clean boating information to support your clean boating efforts.

During this FREE seminar will review some simple environmentally-sound boating practices you can implement related to oil, fuel, trash, sewage and marine debris.  Seminar participants will receive a free boater kit including an oil absorbent pillow, information about environmental boating laws, oil related disposal site information, ABCs of Boating laws and the San Francisco Bay and/or delta Clean Boating Map.

To schedule a free seminar at your club Call Vivian Matuk at (415) 904-6905 or email at vmatuk@coastal.ca.gov