July 2024 Newsletter

7/1/2024

Commodore Lenke

Dear SYC Friends,

I’m sure you’ve all heard the cliché; I’m having a great time just waiting for all of you to catch up. Brenda and I were excited and looking forward to the Lopez Island Golf and Steak Fry. We had our daughter, son-in-law, and three grandsons planning to attend along with my nephew, his wife, and three girls. The little boys and girls are all in the same age category, so we were actually looking for them to babysit each other!

Unfortunately, I came down with pneumonia on June 15. I told my doctor that I wanted to go to the event, and it was strongly discouraged. Brenda won out! From all that we have been told, the event was an over-the-top success. We had a total of 41 boats and an estimated 100 to 110 people in attendance. This was the largest event that SYC has had since we’ve been members.

A big thank you to all those that made it such a success. Frank and Teresa Campbell, Bill and Gail Kortum, and Jeff and Jeannie Sather for organizing both breakfasts, the appetizer meet and greet on Friday fight, and then coordinating with the resort on setting up for the dinner. Kudos to all of you! And a special thanks to Brad Reading and Jerry Carr for organizing the Russell Lindsay Memorial golf tournament. I’m confident that our foursome would have won had I been there to participate. LOL.

Thank You also to Lisa Graham and Linda Beam for their handling of the beverage cart. Thanks ladies! In addition to the Golf and Steak Fry, several members prepared items for auction. Frank Campbell has been crowned, auctioneer emeritus. Great job Frank!

One of the items was a handmade quilt donated by Sharon Exley. That alone raised $2500. Thanks also to Gary Baugh, who donated two music concerts in your home and raised an additional $1000. All total, the auction generated over $7000. Less expenses, the club was able to donate over $6000 to our members in need. Thanks everyone! Give yourself a hand!

Our next event is the Family Cruise to Roche Harbor on July 12th through July 14th. The theme of the event is “Sea Creatures”. If you’d like to decorate your boat for the crew, feel free to do so. At present, we have a total of 12 boats signed up. I initially reserved 16 slips. We still have room for more boats. I would ask that all those that are attending please send me an email with the names and ages of your kiddos. If you’re going to have additional adults on board, please send me their names as well, so that we can accurately plan for food etc.

July 19 through July 21 is our traditional Wine and Dine at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes. That is the same weekend as the “Shipwreck Days”. Jame Witzel, Wendy Britt, Jan Zak, Vickie Birney, and friends are putting together this event. Thank you all for stepping up. I was able to entice Skagit Valley Cellars to host the wine tasting this year. I did a little additional arm-twisting and they have agreed to donate 20% of all the sales that are generated at the event to SYC. There is no tasting fee which is great.

Dale Miller will be turning in the guest list to Amanda at Cap Sante shortly. At present we have a total of 25 boats registered for this event. I had reserved a total of 32 slips, so we obviously have room for you! The port will be assigning the actual slip numbers. It is unclear whether we will have them in advance for you or your slip will be assigned at the time of your arrival. Please send an email to Dale at [email protected] or text him at 206-930-4585 if you want to attend. He will put everyone on the list which we will then provide to Cap Sante's Harbormaster.

Brent Malone, Dale Miller, and I got to meet with the new La Conner Marina Harbormaster, Charlie Knapp. He is a genuinely nice guy and we had an excellent meeting. Thanks Dale for setting it up!

Some of the things we discussed were memorializing a couple of verbal agreements already in place between the Port and SYC. We felt it important to pin down the annual increase (CPI) for the reciprocal dock. Also, the agreement regarding the $150 one-time discount off a month’s moorage for new SYC members and their sponsor if they keep their boat at the La Conner Marina. He was agreeable and we feel it is important to memorialize these items for both entities.

We also discussed the oyster farm located on the commercial dock. It sounds as though the port has mixed feelings about the presence of the commercial harvesting operation. We will wait to see how that plays out.

We then had a discussion about rebuilding the fire pit at the clubhouse. He was receptive but had to take it back to the Port Commissioners for further discussion. We invited him to participate in the reconstruction of the fire pit and then be able to utilize the pit for other potential social events. Again, more to come.

The last thing I wanted to bring up was that Randy Miller has offered to donate logs to SYC for additional firewood. Randy is currently up North, but we need to organize a splitting committee and try and get this wood cut, split, and moved to keep us warm during events. We can try and do it on a weekday since most of us have summer weekend commitments. Randy didn’t give me a deadline but I would like to get this accomplished sooner rather than later. Drop me an email if you are willing to help.

I appreciate input from our membership, so, if you have something to share, please reach out to me and share your thoughts or ideas.

Sincerely Yours,

SYC Commodore Greg Lenke - Serenity

Vice Commodore Clawson

Thank you to all of you who came out to Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island June 21-23 for our Annual SYC Steak Fry and Golf Tournament. We had over 35 boats in attendance and a wonderful time was had by all. The Russ Lindsey memorial Golf Tournament was “driving” success, with the leadership of Brad Reading and Jerry Carr and help from drink cart hostesses Lisa Graham and Vickie Birney.

Capping it all off was our Saturday night Steak Fry dinner and club fundraising auction, which brought in over $6,600! Special thanks to our Hosts who hit “hole in one” with the entire event: Frank and Teresa Campbell and Bill and Gail Kortum, with ‘caddies' Jeff and Jeanne Saether and Justin and Molly Phillips. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way to make this event a “prime'' cut above!

We look forward to seeing you all at this event next year!

Best,

Vice Commodore Tyler Clawson - NJoy More

Rear Commodore Jensen

What a great time had by all that attended the Lopez Steak Fry and Russ Lindsay Memorial Golf Tournament! The auction was a huge success and our hosts out did themselves by pulling off an amazing event that raised some much appreciated support for Jane and Tony!

On another note and for those that would like a PSA on the legal amount of liquor that you can bring into Canada, it is 1.14 liters (40 fluid oz) per person over the age of 19. Beer is 24 cans or up to 8.5 liters per person and wine 1.5 liters per person. After being boarded recently, I've become keenly aware...lol!

One more thing you may find interesting is a new free app and website called YachtWave. This app is great for keeping maintenance records and important details about your boats all organized for easy access.

We hope everyone has a Safe and wonderful 4th of July. We look forward to seeing all those attending the Wine and Dine. If you haven't signed up for the Family Cruise or the Telegraph Rendezvous, there is still time!

Sincerely,

Rear Commodore Aaron Jensen

Notices From Officers & Directors

Cruise Boat Information

Under some event flyers is the current list of members attending with their boats. Please review and send me an email or text if my information is incorrect. If you are not on this list and want to be, time is running out so please let me know ASAP!

My annotations for tie-in preferences are denoted by the first letter for Bow or Stern and the second letter for port or starboard, or N for no preference. I tried to make them all referenced to Bow-in tie making it straightforward for the marinas, but I received many corrections to tell me that Bow-in Port is not the same as Stern in Starboard so . . .

Also, in the comment field if it says "host" or "prefer close in"- I will endeavor to encourage the marina to place these boats close to the party barges.

Fair Winds and Calm Seas,

Your Port Captain Dale

Important Notice

As the new communications director, please reach out if you are missing our emails or want to be added to our Facebook and Instagram pages. This is my first newsletter so please give grace as I get used to it. That said, if you'd like to contribute something next month, please let me know.

- Jame Witzel

Upcoming Events

We plan on having an appetizer meet and greet on Friday night starting around 5:30 PM.

Brenda and I would appreciate help with the two breakfasts, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Our plan was to have a bigger breakfast for the adults and kids on Saturday morning and then a continental breakfast on Sunday. If you would host one of the two breakfasts, it would certainly be appreciated. Email me whichever day you can help. We should plan breakfasts at 8:00 AM each morning.

We plan on games, swimming, and crafts for the kids on Saturday also, planning a barbecue Saturday night and a special movie for the kids. Be sure and bring their bathing suit, beach towel, and flip flops. If you want to watch the games, crafts or swimming, it would be recommended that you bring a camp chair.

We are also looking for volunteers to help make sack lunches for the kids on Saturday. Lunch will be served at 12 noon on the barge.

If you have any other questions about the event, please drop me an email. Pray for nice weather!!

- Greg

Day of events:
Friday, July 19 - 5:00 pm - Happy hour begins with everyone bringing a yummy snack and their own beverage. Shipwreck Gift exchange categories and info handed out.

Saturday, July 20 - 8:30 am - Hot breakfast and beverages served by hosts.
     3:00 pm - Wine tasting by Skagit Cellars-WE GET 20% OF PROCEEDS!
4:30 pm - Shipwreck Gift exchange begins with prizes.
6:00 pm - Dinner of chicken kabobs,rice, and a festive Hawaiian beverage served by hosts. Please bring a side or dessert to go along with dinner.

Sunday, July 21 - 8:30 am - Breakfast served by hosts.
          10:00 am - All hands on deck to clean up the party barges.
          11:00 am - Depart back to home slips.

July 26th-28th is at Telegraph Harbour. So far, we have a total of 20 boats signed up for this international rendezvous. The tentative plans are that we will have an appetizer and greet on Friday 26th @ 5:00PM. Saturday will be breakfast and lunch on your own. Saturday night we plan on having a buffet dinner. I will send an email out to those who have signed up with more details about what to bring etc. It might be fun to have a white elephant gift exchange on Saturday night. Bring a gift for another SYC member and we will do an exchange. It can either be a serious gift or gag gift depending on your personality. Let’s keep it nautical!

Reserve

Meet Your Awesome Hosts!

Yacht Club Swag

Check out how easy it is to order from our website. You can click the link, choose your item and select with the SYC logo and your boat name or just the SYC logo, then you pay and they will either ship it to you or send it to Janine and Mike for delivery. It doesn’t get easier than that.

The Channel Marker