Whoa, September just went speeding by and, as I turn, I see the grill of October coming at us at highway speed…

October is overflowing with fun social activities! 

However, before we get to this month’s festivities, a pause is in order to thank Helen Horn and her crew of Rick and Linda Dalton and Tod Klingler and others for their work on Oktoberfest!  I understand we had a good crowd noshing on brats and beer and dancing to the Point of Order band.  Thank you to our hosts, helpers and guests!

First up for October is Port Fest this Saturday, October 4th.   As the website elegantly states, Port Fest is a community celebration of the working and recreational waterfront!    There will be a road race, exhibitor booths, boat rides, music and various other activities for the public.  We are partnering with the Port to provide beverages.  And did I mention our award winning float will be making an encore appearance with no less a luminary than Miss Redwood City aboard, posing for photos ?  Yep. 

Please go to the Port Fest website at www.rwcportfest.com to review the list of activities and plan your day…   And while you are strolling the event, nibbling on street vendor snacks and enjoying beverages dispensed by your fellow volunteer club members, consider ending your day on our deck.  The weather promises to be spectacular. There is a volunteer sign-up sheet in the club.

Okay, swerving aside one moment, I have run across an idea I like very much; that of buying and building bicycles for local disadvantaged kids for the holidays.  I will be providing more details later this month and a sign-up sheet, but I would like to plant the seed now.  My plan is to have folks sponsor the purchase of inexpensive bikes, have them shipped to the club and spend an evening together assembling them.  They would then be picked up by the Redwood City Fire Department and distributed as part of their toy drive.

I know many of us are past the little-kids-around stage of life, and this is a great chance to remember those days of midnight toy assembly while doing a whole lot of good for some lucky child.  And it doesn’t hurt to build together as a community while sharing tools, drinking beer and eating pizza.  Interested?  More details will follow.

Okay, back on track.  Next week on Friday, October 10th we will be having a General Meeting and Drop In Dinner. This General Meeting is the Annual Election of Officers and Directors so be sure to come out to congratulate your incoming Flag and Board of Directors.

On October 18th we will have Racer’s Ribs.  All are invited to come and hear the tall tales of sailing triumphs real and imagined! 

Looking ahead to the latter half of the month, we will have another Drop In Dinner on Friday, October 24th and, of course, a Halloween Party on Friday, October 31st.

Mucho stuff this month. 

See you around the club!

The last regatta of the 2014 Sequoia Racing Calendar is the South Bay Championship on Saturday, October 18th. This event is open to all Sequoia racers as well as racers from neighboring yacht clubs. The event is run as a series of two races with both spinnaker and non-spinnaker divisions. See the racing NOR and SI's for these races on the club website (Click Herre).

Also check out Rear Commodore Rick's article below for more information regarding the Racers' Ribs Dinner and Awards presentations following the South Bay Championship. Although everyone is invited to attend, all those who have participated in a Sequoia Race in 2014, whether it be in the Beer Can Series, any of our Saturday/Sunday race series, or any of the special one-day or night regattas should plan on attending to properly close out our 2014 season.

Lets turn out the racing fleet for these final two events of the racing year!

Ahoy Sequoia Racers!

Mark your calendars and save the date.

Sequoia Yacht Club's Annual Racers' Ribs Dinner and Racing Awards Presentation will be on Saturday, October 18th with cocktails beginning at 1730 and dinner at 1830. Price is $16 for Adults and $8 for Children.

Come out and celebrate this year's fantastic racing season; a season that has shown that Sequoia continues to be the premier yacht racing Club of the South Bay!

Sign up at the Club and then plan to be there on Racers' Ribs night. Enjoy a wonderful rib dinner with your fellow racers and then cheer the series and race winners.

Join us for the Fleet Week cruise out to Berkeley YC, October 10-12. The fleet week activities are Thursday to Monday, but most flying activities take place Saturday and Sunday around noon to 4 pm. If you can arrive early-ish on Friday, join BYC for the club's Friday evening activities, drinks and dinner at the club (see Note below about arriving). Then Saturday evening dinner at possibly Hana Japan or Skates, all easy walking distance from our guest spot.

NOTE: The BYC Guest Dock is somewhat tide restricted at extreme low water for vessels whose draft exceeds six (6) feet. These boats WILL be in the mud and will not be able to clear out until higher water. Notice that there are negative low tides during our visit. Check your charts! More info on depths and tides will be made available as we find out.

Berkeley YC info can be found on their website by clicking HERE.

Click on Fleet Week for more information about it.

Sign-ups and additional information for the cruise-out can be found on the club website by clicking HERE.

- Helen Horn
  "Caliente"
  Cruise Leader
 

Last Saturday, was the conclusion of the Sequoia Yacht Club Summer Series with race #5. Racers enjoyed another beautiful South Bay day: 72 degrees, moderate WNW breeze mostly between 9 and 13 but as low as 7 and as high as 20.

We celebrated the end of summer in a little over 2 hours as we zigzagged our way up to B and visited every SYC racing mark except for X.

In the spinnaker division, first for the day went to Rich Butts, Melilani, second to Stan Phillips, Frequent Flyer, and third to Noel Bird in Pizote.

Cherie Sogsti, in her F18 catamaran, This Side Up, took almost half an hour off the quickest monohull time.

Season winners congratulations go to:

Spinnaker - First toTim Anto, Daredevil; second to Stan Phillips, Frequent Flyer, and third, to Noel Bird, Pizote.

Non-spinnaker - First to Dan Lockwood, Ohana; and second to Rick Dalton, Iowa.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Lucy Mocean "Frequent Flyer enroute to second place."

Last Saturday I had the privilege of representing Sequoia Yacht Club by volunteering to support the 18th Annual Wheelchair Regatta sponsored by the Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association (PICYA) and held at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. It was my first time to participate and it was well worth it.

This year over 100 veterans, most of  whom were in wheel chairs, were given the opportunity to take a ride on a boat in the San Francisco Bay. For some of them, this was their first time to be out on the Bay in a private boat.   There were over 40 boats from clubs around the Bay and Delta whose members donated their time and their vessel for this worthwhile event. There were also dozens of volunteers from various groups including the Navy, Coast Guard, and Sea Scouts.

My job this year was to capture the moment by photographing each veteran as he made his way to the boats.  I was given a Polaroid camera to use, so I could instantly give them a picture of their memorable day.  At one point, a young Sea Scout wheeled a veteran up for his picture.  I took the picture and the print came zinging out of the camera to the surprise of the Sea Scout.  He wanted to know what kind of amazing new-fangled camera I had that actually had a built in photo printer. I just had to laugh and explain it was a Polaroid; a camera we used before he was born and before we had cameras in our phones.

The whole event was quite the operation with live music  and food for all of the participants. It was a great way to give a special gift to all of the veterans who have given so much for each of us. This year, in addition to my volunteering, our SYC Board approved a $250 donation to this event which was very much appreciated.  I would suggest next year, when this event rolls around again (literally), think about volunteering your time and/or your boat to this very worthwhile cause.

Excerpt from RBOC special bulletin -

"Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law RBOC-supported SB 941 [Monning and DeSaulnier] to phase-in a boat operator certification requirement in California. SB 941 requires that boat operators pass a boating education examination and obtain a vessel operator card issued by the state Division of Boating and Waterways [DBW] in order to operate a boat in California that is propelled by an engine. This legislation will enhance safety on the state’s waterways.

"SB 941 is modeled on legislation RBOC sponsored previously. This new measure requires DBW to issue
a vessel operator card to individuals who have passed an approved course. The requirement to obtain a
vessel operator card would apply initially to operators 20 years of age or younger with a phased-in  implementation date depending on the age of the individual.

"The seven-year phase-in would begin in 2018 and would eventually apply to everyone as of 2025. Importantly,
online education including the free BoatUS Foundation course will be an option. The BoatUS Foundation
course is available at: http://www.boatus.org/courses/

"Boaters are subject to the certification requirement according to the following schedule of age and younger:
20 YRS-1/1/18,  25 YRS-1/1/19, 35 YRS-1/1/20, 40 YRS-1/1/21, 45 YRS-1/1/22, 50 YRS-1/1/23, 60 YRS-1/1/24,   ALL by 1/1/25

"In addition, the fees to be established by DBW for certificates will be at levels sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of the development, establishment, and operation of the program. SB 941 will prohibit the fees from exceeding those costs."

An article from the recent (October/November) BoatU.S. magazine describes a program designed to put your old sails - the ones gathering dust in the garage - to good use for starving fishermen in Haiti.

In a quote from two of the program's volunteers, "We only saw a couple of outboard motors after we left Port-au-Prince. When these fishermen weren't using ragtag cloth for sails, they'd have to paddle their wooden boats miles out to the fishing areas to feed their families. A simple old mainsail from a J22 can be cut by these men and immediately change the lives of two families."

For more information on this program, check out www.sailsforsustenance.org.

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