Join us at the Installation Dinner where we will be celebrating this year’s accomplishments and acknowledging our member managers and directors who work tirelessly for the membership in all areas of racing, finance, social, publicity and building maintenance.  We will also enjoy readings from some prospective members and hear some plans for next year.  I anticipate it will be a very positive and joyous occasion and it will all take place amid the tap-tap-tapping of soles on our brand new Oates Room floor!   I hope you have signed up for the dinner.  If not, please do so either at the Club or at the website under the Social tab.  I hope to see you there. Signups will close end of day today.

You can sign up either at the Club or click here to get more information or sign up online.

Okay, we have 14, count’em, 14 bikes on order.  But we have farther to go.  The sign-up sheet remains on the bulletin board  for the Build-a-Bike event and I hope you will consider signing up for this very fun and family-friendly activity.  I have a cost of $55.00 per bike and $10.00 per helmet.   Those amounts represent average costs for various models of  bikes and helmets  --  and I will try to maximize the quantity of bikes and helmets for a given number of sign-ups.  We will then all get together after the race on December 13th to put these sleek machines together.   Beer, soda and pizza will be served to stave off starvation.   We will collect sign-ups until around Thanksgiving – ordering bikes every few days.   Please call or email me if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

Thanksgiving is also just around the corner.   Enjoy your time with family and friends!  And, if the opportunity arises, come on out to Angel Island  for the Friday, Saturday or Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, take a walk around the island and work off a bit of the Holiday.  Not that you need to, of course, but it’s an idea… Okay, you can also do a Segway tour…

Looking farther ahead to December we have the Encinal Yacht Club Lighted Boat Parade on the weekend of 12/6, the General Meeting DID on 12/12, Bike Assembly on 12/13, the Children’s Holiday Party on 12/14 and the Member Holiday Party on 12/19.  Wow, that is a lot of Holiday Cheer.  I suggest you enjoy responsibly!  See you around the Club!

The Redwood Cup kicks off this Saturday and continues once a month through March.  For those not in the know, the format is similar to Wednesday Night Beer Can Racing, with a pursuit race normally starting in the Turning Basin.  Registration is live, so sign up today.  We'll see you at the skippers' meeting at noon at the Club.

That skippers' meeting will be extra important this week, as we will probably move the race start to marks 3 & 4.   There is a big high school regatta in the Turning Basin, and there are dredges in the channel.  Come to the skippers meeting to find out the course and the adjusted start times.

Andrew Rist - Redwood Cup Captain

There are a lot of changes recently at the Club. If you haven't seen them we have put the counters back together and now have a terrific granite counter top in the galley. The new floor is in the process of being completed before the Installation Dinner and it is looking spectacular. It is a rich teak color and is not only a better product due to enhancements in materials over the past 10 years, but we are also installing a much quieter pad so the floor should not click so loud when walked on.

Last week I reported that we are testing a new Point-of-Sale system to replace the piles of chits that are entered weekly in the Club. We have now mounted an iPad terminal to the cash drawer and have replaced the register with a single button to open the cash drawer. It is really looking and working more streamedlined. We are still looking for a few more members who are interested in testing the new POS system.  Contact me if you are interested. The plan is that we will go 'live' for all members on Januray 1st.

Lastly, you may have noticed the great looking padded chair in the bar area. This is a prototype of the new chairs we are looking at for the bar area. They will add a fresh updated look to the Club. Olivia Sadlowski has negotiated a great deal per chair if we order 30 of them. The Board has approved the project to allow members to sign up to buy a chair or a number of chairs. Once we have 30 chairs which have been committed to by the members,  we will order them and have plaques affixed with your name on them. Please look for a signup sheet with more details at the Club soon. 

This year we did a member survey and it was clear that the majority of the members were happy with the Club, but thought it could use a little freshening up. I think the new changes at the Club are terrific and I hope you will too.

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