Sequoia Yacht Club had a fantastic Jack London Square Cruise Out last weekend hosted by Rick and Petra Gilmore. There was great weather and a terrific turn out. On Saturday docktails were followed by dinner at the Fat Lady in a great private dining room, then followed by a terrific show at Yoshi's featuring Manhattan Transfer. Wow!

Sunday was another great day with a fun trivia contest hosted by Rick Gilmore. Later we had docktails again and Rick honked his conch for the sunset and for the potluck dinner to begin.

For those who stayed until Monday, it was a nice sail home with a wonderful beam reach down the bay.

First a thank you to Winston and others for creating this weekly web forum. It was much needed in the club to have a more effective way of communicating regular news and updates to members vs multiple emails.

We also plan a monthly newsletter which would allow longer articles and more photos than a weekly one.

The year has been going very well as all the regular attendees to sailing, cruising and social events can heartily confirm. This is due to tremendous support by my colleagues on the flag and our officers but equally important to all of you. Little examples like at the last two general meetings we were adding tables for dinner as so many came - we were well over 70 attendees.. And general meetings whilst really important and we are delighted you attend are not normally billed as the 'social event of the year'. It just illustrates the enthusiasm and energy the club is building!

The racing program is always popular and has got off to a great start with many fine races even if the winds are still a little light at times. That will soon change as you know and also the beer can season is now only a matter of weeks away!

We also just enjoyed a marvelous cruise out to Jack London Square which was very well attended with over 50 people there. It does not matter whether you sail up, power boat up or come by black top - it just matters that you come! Tremendous thanks for a great time goes to the cruise leaders for this event - Petra and Rick Gilmore

Our club is getting well deserved recognition and we are building the brand. You have hopefully seen that we have budgeted advertising this year and have had some great placements in Latitude 38 and other publications - Thank you Tim Petersen!

Our junior sailing award for the 'best program on the West Coast has received huge attention from PICYA (which I saw first hand when I attended their installation dinner in January), from PCYA who honored us with the award - but also from proclamations by the Port of Redwood City which we received in January and now from Redwood City itself - we are being awarded another special proclamation on February 25th at the Redwood City Council meeting.

So if you are a regular at the club - please spread the word. If you are not yet a regular - please come on down and participate in all the fun events and activities going on. It is your club and we really want to see you there. Peter - your Commodore

Friday, February 22, there will be a special wine tasting before the DID hosted by your Bar Managers, Nick and Ron.  Cost is $5.00 per person and Wine Warehouse will be pouring 3 whites and 3 reds for you to sample and give your feedback.  We should be starting about 1730.  This will be followed by dinner at 1830. Hope to see you there!

Menu:

• Grill your own steak, black bean patty, or chicken breast (will be pre cooked marinated Mediterranean style)
• Roasted sweet and white potato w/ olive oil and rosemary toss
• Carrots and peas
• Spinach salad with egg and bacon on the side tossed in a poppyseed dressing
• Crusty bread and butter
• Dessert: brownies with fresh ganache chocolate topping and ice cream 

All for $14.50 per person

After the Winter Series #5 the famous St Patrick's day race, join us for cocktails 5:30 pm, dinner 6:30 pm cost $15.00. Corned Beef, cabbage, potatoes, etc. Host needed, along with setup and clean up crews. No band for this one, but if anyone knows of a small band willing to play for a couple of hours for $300 plus dinner, we would welcome suggestions. Bass players are apparently hard to come by right now. Sign up at the club.

Reminder from Bar Manager, make sure that when beer kegs are changed out that seal is tight and beer pours correctly. A whole keg of beer was lost last week:( Also, make sure to rinse the beer drain with a couple pitchers of water each day, keeps the little gnats away!

Thanks much,
Theresa Howard

Single Handed Sailing starts this Saturday.  The skipper's meeting is at 10:30, start time is 12:30 at markers 3/4.  The other dates are 4/27, 6/15, and 9/28. Please complete a liability release if you have not yet done so.  Looking forward to a great day on the water.

Thanks,
John Ryan

This is the 96th Opening Day on the San Francisco Bay and PICYA's 117th continuous year. The theme this year is "The Great Race".

It is a premiere event of the year for members of PICYA and this one is proving to be a novel year, not only for PICYA, but lots of other. Celebrations will be going on and partnering with the event, including the Americas Cup 34 racing, the Port of San Francisco  celebrating 150 Years of service, the Blessing of the Fleet and many more.

To top it off, Richard Schwartz, Founder and Chairman of BoatU.S. will be the honored Grand Marshall of the Decorated Boat Parade. 

Mark your calendars for an exciting weekend. and we hope to have a number of boats from the Sequoia Yacht Club participating. For more information contact Lenora Clark , Vice Commodore, PICYA

Stay tuned for information on South Bay Opening Day which will be on May 18th.