Wow, what a busy weekend we enjoyed last weekend!  We had a Drop In Dinner on Friday with 9(!) new readings and a wonderful steak and salmon dinner. 

Saturday was a single/double handed race in very high winds and an ebb chop.  That evening we downshifted into an amazing paella dinner complete with 3 paella choices as well as a very fortified sangria.  All was tasty beyond description.  The meal was accompanied by Mambo Soul a great salsa band! Thank you to all who worked these events and to our club membership for showing up in numbers each evening. (To see more photos of the paella dinner and dancing go to Sheila Jones' SmugMug Site - click here)

Here is an extra bit of good news:   Tim and Carol Petersen have donated a barbeque to the club.  This is a roll-able, propane model that is perfect for smaller events when our main grill is beyond reach and too big a deal to light up.  It will be a perfect replacement for our current relic that I have in mind to use as a mark anchor out there somewhere…
Thank you Petersens for thinking of us.

Okay, so May marches on.  We have Beer Can Races on Wednesdays with great fellowship and dinners.  If you have not joined us so far this year, please come on down.

We continue to have Wednesday lunches on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.
The next one is on May 21st.

On May 23rd we will have a Drop In Dinner and a special presentation by our Rear Commodore Rick Gilmore on the ins and outs of cruising the Delta.  We have a great trip planned this year to the Delta Yacht Club in late July and you will not want to miss his insights into our treasured inland waterway.  I hope first time and veteran boaters as well as black-toppers will come on by that evening.

Looking ahead to June, keep an eye out for the Past Commodore’s Dinner on June 7th and the next General Meeting and DID on June 13th.

With Memorial Day approaching, the door to Summer 2014 is opening!  Please pledge with me to take advantage of every opportunity to be out on the water and in the clubhouse!

What a night we had at the general meeting Friday night!  I think we set new record for the number of readings at one meeting.  Nine first readings and three second readings.  Come to the next general meeting on June 13 when we could have up to ten second readings and some more first reading.
First Readings were held for:

Second Readings were held for:

- Jerry Jones, Membership Chair

Soda Can Racing is back on! - with promising winds in the high twenties the forecast for last friday's Soda Can Race was looking quite challenging and gave hope for a lot of excitement. And it came as you would have expected - Capsizes, Capsizes and did I already say - Capsizes.

With 7 boats again on the start line in a highly competitive fleet it was a blast to watch the racers sprinting around the race course.

Unfortunately, due to the strong winds just 5 sailors made it to the start line. But those who made it were fighting for each single puff and were hiking hard to get into the lead. At the end the total scoring was as follows:

Race 1:
1st - Hannah Miller (PYSF); 2nd - Phillip Meredith (SEQYC); 3rd - Mike Lazarro (SEQYC); 4th - Anja Bog (SEQYC)
Race 2:
1st - Hannah Miller (PYSF); 2nd - Mike Lazarro (SEQYC); 3rd - Phillip Meredith (SEQYC);
Race 3:
1st - Mike Lazarro (SEQYC); 2nd - Hannah Miller (PYSF);  3rd - Phillip Meredith (SEQYC);

Even though the pressure was high and the sailors were wet everybody had stories to tell at the fireplace afterwards. And isn't that what sailing is about?

Next Soda Can Race will be on again this Friday, May 16th. Come on down to join the fun at 5PM at the boat ramp.

For more fun pictures of the races - with some of the boats upright - click here.

- Peter Weigt, Soda Can Captain

The wind kicked in nicely for the single and double handed series, race number two, last Saturday. Wind speeds started in the high teens and grew into the higher twenties towards the end of the race. With gusts in the mid thirties, all sailors - no matter if single or double handed - had their hands full controlling their boats and flying over the waves -  in an ebb tide to top it off. Only two of the twelve boats at the starts did not make it to the finish due to material damage and an "almost" man-over-board.

For the remaining boats, the winners for the single handed sailors were: 
George Sutton with Knot to Worry in first place, Peter Blackmore with Mistral in second, and Douglas Murray with Murmur in third.

In the double handed division:
Tim Anto came in first on Daredevil, Kerry Sheehan was second with Windswept Lady, and Dan Doud scored third place with Polecat.

Finally, we would like to thank Phillip Meredith for chairing the race comittee and using his Rhib as safety boat, assisted by Jenny Thompson. In these wind conditions, we've heard back from several sailors that it made a big difference in confidence to have them around: being able to focus on racing while never forgetting safety was invaluable.

A few photos from the race, courtesy of Jenny Thompson:

- Anja Bog & Peter Weigt, Single/Double-handed Fleet Captains

SYC Racers: Summer #2 is this Saturday.

What does summer have that winter didn't? Wind! Ok, I know that was too easy.

For race #1 we were 14 boats strong!

The temperature returns to a normal 70 degrees with a moderate westerly breeze. Skippers' meeting at 11:30 with a start out on the Bay at 13:30PM. If you have not yet registered please do so on jibeset. Go to the racing page and click the green button with the word register in in it. It's almost that easy!

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