Michael Carlson from VTS giving a talk at last Friday's DID

Photo by Winston Bumpus

There was a great Drop In Dinner last Friday followed by an informative presentation organized by Vice Commodore Dan Lockwood. The presenter was Michael Carlson from the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS).  He gave a very interesting talk about the history of VTS, of the organization, its mission and ways to avoid being run down by large ships on the Bay.

The Presentation was followed by a hands-on demonstration by Cruising Captain Shannon Amerman on how to successfully moor at Ayala Cove, complete with practice mooring ball and various hooking tools. 

Winston Bumpus
Commodore

The first  Redwood Cup race will be held on Saturday.  This is a five race series with one throw-out.  The skippers' meeting will begin at noon and the course flag will go up at 12:30.  This is a pursuit race with the first start at 1:30.  The forecast is for sunny skies, temperature in the mid 60s and zero percent chance of rain.  Please join us for a fun and sunny day on the Bay.

Kathy Conte

Hello cruisers,

And you know who you are! WOW, we have 10 boats signed up with 2 boats threatening.   Can you say "FUN FUN FUN!"?

We wanted to update you on Saturday.  Dinner will be a pasta theme pot luck in the Cove with wine tasting.  Bring your favorite wine to share.  Tom, can we bring any wine to the Island for tasting?  Tom, will there be prizes?  There will be prizes and you can........bring any wine under $16.79 but please over $3.69. 

We will also determine the scavenger hunt winners and yes losers during the wine tasting.  Tom, will there be prizes?  Yes.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know,

Tom Keegan
tomkeegan50@gmail.com

San Juan Islands

You may have heard by now that we will be doing a min-mega cruise next year on August 16 - 23 in the San Jaun Islands in the Pacific Northwest. This is not the first time the club has done a cruise there. There was a club cruise to the San Juans nearly 12 years ago in 2002.

Last night about 15 people gathered to hold our first meeting to discuss the options and share experiences. Past Commodore David Bliven along with Port Captain James Brown gave everyone good information about the area and the endless possibilities these islands provide.

We have made arrangements with Anacortes Yacht Charters. They still have a good selection of boats and are anxious to work with us. They will offer us a 5% discount to work with us as a club and another 5% back at the end of the cruise if we have at least 10 boats. In addition if you have chartered with them in the past they will give you an additional 5% discount.

We do not have a fixed itinerary, but we will be suggesting a couple of points to meet up during the week. So, members are free to choose other areas, lengths of stay and the chartering company you use.

If you are interested in joining us on this great adventure then I would suggest you book your boat soon.

To contact Anacortes Yacht Charters you can call Christine Chinchen of Anacortes Yacht Charters at 360-293-4555 ext 200 or email her at christine@ayc.com. (Be sure to let her know you are with Sequoia Yacht Club.) You can also visit their web site www.ayc.com to look at the various boats available as well as some sample itineraries.

If you have any questions please let me know.

I look forward to having you join us next summer in the San Juans.

Winston Bumpus
Commodore

After a long hiatus the Wednesday Lunch is back. Your new Commodore Winston Bumpus and his first mate Carole will be opening the kitchen again for Wednesday Lunch starting on December 4th.

It will be a great time for everyone to come down to the Club and have a nice lunch with your friends. It is also a great opportunity to maybe take the morning or afternoon to work from your boat, if you can, as we do have wifi.

There will be times when Carole and I will not be available, so if you are interested in occasionally stepping in to do a meal, let us know.

So, come on down starting Wednesday, December 4th and enjoy a home cooked meal.

Winston & Carole Bumpus

After assembling the Blast and getting it out each week, it is time for me to hand this off to someone else. It has been a great way to get current information to our members and from the feedback I've received I think it has been a much appreciated media.

For the most part it is copying text from various emails and pasting them into the template. It is pretty easy.  The tool I use is called Campaign Monitor - You can check out a demo at www.campaignmonitor.com. I will be glad to train and be available for technical or editorial assistance.

Please contact me if you are interested and are willing to take the helm of the Blast for awhile.

Winston Bumpus
commodore@sequoiayc.org

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