Well, summer is heating up and so are social activities.

I understand last Saturday’s Past Commodores Dinner was a great success.  Thank you to all who worked hard to make it happen.  If you have not heard yet, Dr. Harry Love, Past Commodore, won the coveted trophy with a story befitting the gentrified image of a yacht club -- that of a food fight during a Hawaiian Luau!  Okay, let’s hear it for the olden days!  Congratulations Dr. Love. (See more Past Commodores' dinner photos at Sheila's SmugMug site -ed)

This Friday, June 13th, if you choose to leave the house, we will have a Drop in Dinner and General Meeting.  Lina’s menu is as follows:

Tri-tip
Baked Salmon
Baked Beans
Roasted Zucchini
Spinach Salad
Cookies and Ice Cream for dessert.
Price: $ 15.00 per person.

Food so good you will want to eat it not throw it!  Oh yes, we will be having as many as 8 membership readings.  So, that’s another reason to behave yourself – at least until they are members.   Please come down and join the fun!

We will be having Beer Can Races and dinners on Wednesday evenings all month.  However, we will be having our last Wednesday lunch prior to Summer break on Wednesday 6/18.  These lunches with Carole Bumpus’ cooking have been a great success.

On June 27 we will have another Drop in Dinner.   Please standby for further information on a possible speaker for this evening.

Finally, looming large is the Fourth of July weekend.  On the 4th Sequoia Yacht Club will have a float in the Redwood City Parade.  Come on down and cheer our entry!  Later that same day we will have a casual lunch at the club.  I understand the Port is having a fireworks display this year sponsored in part by Sims Metals (who have been practicing their pyrotechnics). 

Come down and spend the afternoon and evening.

On July 5th, Sequoia will be hosting the Westpoint Regatta, YRAs newest race.   We will need many volunteers for decoration, clean-up and bartending opportunities, so consider this your chance to plug into a very new and dynamic social event.

See you around the club.

If you are interested in a Director of the Board or an Officer position for the 2015 year, contact a current Board member or John Graves, this year’s Nominating Committee Chair, or use the signup sheet at the Club as described in Article X - Section 1of our current Bylaws (see below).

NOTE  - WE ARE GOING TO KEEP THE SIGNUP PERIOD OPEN UNTIL JULY 31, 2014

Sequoia Yacht Club Bylaws - Article X: Elections

Section 1: Nominating Committee The Club Secretary shall provide the Nominating Committee the names of those directors whose terms are expiring. From April 1 to May 31 a sign-up sheet shall be posted on the Club bulletin board inviting any member who is interested in serving as an Officer or Director of the Club to indicate the member’s interest by name and number. A member may also indicate the member’s interest by notifying a member of the Board or the Nominating Committee Chair. This Section 1 shall be printed in the Club communications for the months of April and May. The Nominating Committee shall select a slate of candidates to be nominated for election as officers and directors. The names of these candidates shall be posted on the Club bulletin board and the membership Notified at least twenty-five (25) days prior to the September general meeting. The September general meeting shall be the “nominating meeting”. At this time, the Nominating Committee shall nominate their candidates and further nominations may be made from the floor. Additional nominations will not be accepted after this meeting, except that, in the event a nominee shall be unable to serve after this meeting, and there is only one nominee for this office, the election meeting shall be open to nominate new candidates for this office prior to the election.

Winston Bumpus - Commodore

Last Saturday night, Sequoia Yacht Club honored the Past Commodores at the Annual Past-Commodores’ Dinner.  There were many past commodores, their wives and members in attendance. Once again, Chef Steve Higgs and his good friend Jeff Tachibana prepared a marvelous sit-down dinner while Kathy Harris, our social chair, came up with a fun set of decorations in addition to making all the flower arrangements for the tables.

Guests enjoyed appetizers in the bar while photos were displayed on the T.V. of Past Commodores’ dinners (thank you Sheila) and they were also entertained at the sit-down dinner with pictures from past years of the club rotating on the screen in the Oates room while listening to musical classics from the 40’s.  After dinner the stories were, as always, great and the award for the best story went to Past Commodore (1980) Dr. Harry Love for his tale of the Great Pig Roast/ Luau . This story lives on in infamy by many members who were there . . .  (Talk to Don Inouye.)

I wanted to thank the many volunteers for all of their time and help.  Thank you  to Steve Higgs and Jeff Tachibana for the outstanding food.  Everyone really raved about it.  Thank you Kathy Harris – The decorations looked great and made for a festive evening. Deb Garvy and Fred Wydler – thanks for your help decorating.  Tod Klingler and Shannon Amerman – thank you for bartending; it was a great help. Sheila and Jerry Jones– Thanks for putting together the pictures and taking photos (see them here)  of this event. Lilley Yee – thanks for stepping up and helping to sign everyone in. Robin Weber, Nick Weber, Kris Butler, Allison  Cooper and Olivia Sadlowski – Thanks for doing such a great job as the servers and thanks for all of the help with the cleanup.

It was a fun night and a great success, due to all of your help!

Winston Bumpus - Commodore

(First place winner, Daredevil, Tim Anto, Melges 24 holds his lane at the favored pin end for the start of SYC Summer Series #3.)

With a moderate 11 to 16 knot breeze, a sunny 79 degrees and flat water it was another of those "it doesn't get any better than this" days for South Bay racing. Even the water temperature in the Redwood City turning basin was logged by NOAA at 70 degrees!

The sport boats dominated the leader board in the spinnaker division as Daredevil and Frequent Flyer continued their series duel and exchange for first and second place. Congratulations to First: Daredevil, Tim Anto, Melges 24; Second: Frequent Flyer, Stan Phillips, Farr 30, and Third: Melilani, Rich Butts, J105. The remaining spinnaker boats finished on corrected time within seconds of each other!

In the non-spinnaker division, and with a finish that would have looked good in the spinnaker division, First went to Ohana, Dan Lockwood, Catalina 36; Second: Iowa, Rick Dalton, Hunter 380 and Third: Linda Carol, Ray Collier, Catalina 320.

Peter Blackmore singlehanded Mistral but we believe he used both hands.

Quiche, shrimp, Caesar salad and sour cream cupcakes after racing - what's not to like. Is it time for a swim in the South Bay?

Ahoy!

The Sequoia Yacht Club is an exciting and dynamic club with opportunities for member participation in large and small boat racing, youth sailing, social, and cruise outs. Over the last 3 years our club has seen significant growth in membership because of these programs.

In order to better serve the membership, the flag is interested in your input to continue refining the Sequoia Yacht Club experience. The last time the board surveyed the membership was in 2011. It’s time for a survey update.

Please take time to fill out the survey and give us your opinion so that we may better serve you as we shape the 5 year plan to meet our future needs.

The input is done electronically and is completely confidential. We simply want honest and direct feedback. We would like you to complete this survey by June 17, 2014 so we can compile the response and share the results at the July General Meeting.

This survey is sent to the primary email address on file for SYC billing, one per membership.

Please send your request to our link at Survey Monkey (Click Here) if your partner would like their own survey link.

Ahoy aspiring sail racers!

The third annual crew training class began last Monday and will meet again on June 16 at 7 pm.  Invite your friends, send your crew.  All club members are welcome to audit the classroom portion. Classes will also be held on June 23rd and June 30th.

The fee is $60 which includes U.S. Sailing Basic Keelboat (blue book) as well as other classroom materials.  Students will be placed on a racing boat during a beer can race for practical experience.

This year I'd like to cordially invite other sailors to come for a night and teach one of the sections and talk about what makes good crew.  First up is Brett Herr and John Zolck on Monday 6/9.

Please have any interested parties e-mail me immediately by clicking here.

- Dave Elliott

Byron was nice enough to ask me to help out with "The Blast".  I agreed knowing that a new expiernce would be a challenge.  As you may know I, along with Nick Weber are the bar managers.  We appreciate the support the member show us.   We try and provide the best bar for a little volunteer club in the south bay. Remember to send your articles in by Tuesday for Thursday morning publication. All articles should be sent to blast@sequoiayc.org.

- associate ed.

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