Commodores' Words of Wisdom

I would like to start out with a big thank you to Chuck Carroll for organizing a few extra Work Parties in order to complete the repair of the siding on the west side of the ferry. I am sure he will give "kudos” to all who came out on short notice and got the job done. It looks great! Thanks to Big Steve for spray painting the west side to make all that hard work look even better.

By the time you receive this Newsletter, the new concrete pad for the Caretaker’s trailer should be completed. Since this was done the week of September 22nd, I don’t think Chuck was able to get this project noted in his article. Thanks to all the guys who helped with this project and Chuck will likely detail it in his November article.

The Club Picnic was a big success. Thank you to Gary Abeyta and Doug Horton for BBQing the hamburgers and hot dogs. Pat Sebers is now officially famous for his BBQ Ribs and Russ Morgan, Roger Mammon, and Bruce Connelley came to the Club at 3 a.m. to roast a pig. It was fabulous! Thanks guys.

Freda Lucido and I went to Costco shopping for the event and we had two flat carts full of food. The members did a good job devouring most of it.

The games were lots of fun and I think all the kids who wanted to get wet were granted that wish by Alice Gibson! It was a hot day and perfect for several water balloon fights! The kids also enjoyed Alice’s talent painting their favorite cartoon character on faces, arms, and legs!

The Labor Day cruise-out to Decker ended up being a story that Vice Commodore Pat Sebers will have to tell! I'm sure he will do just that—so you don’t want to miss his article.

Discovery Bay will be cruising-in on October 17-19. Gary Abeyta, our Galley Captain, is planning to cook up some ribs with all the fixins' for the Saturday night dinner. I was told they might have as many as 16 boats. If you want to join in on the fun, please make your reservations with Cindy Mammon as soon as possible so we can purchase all the goodies ahead of time. The meal price is $12.00 per person. Discovery Bay YC is a fun club, so let's show them a good time.

I would also like to thank George Brayton for moving the 5th wheel from the “south-forty” onto the rock pad. Actually he moved it twice. Thank you, George, for your help. Garry Ridolfi brought in some rock for the pad to make all of this possible. Thanks, Garry.

Garry Ridolfi and one of his employees found a small propane leak under the 5th wheel and Mike Hoskins repaired it. Please, no more fires! Thanks, Mike, for taking care of this so quickly!

We will have nominations for our 2009 Board of Directors at our October General Membership meeting. If you are interested in being on the Board, please contact Pat Sebers or Sherry Lively.

October already – the weather is changing and the water is flat. My favorite time of year.

I want to mention the Decker Island cruise-out. I brought my 21 foot ex-patrol boat and tied up with Jim & Terry Arnold (Jim is a powerboat guy now) and his son Tom, his friend and his sailboat. Beautiful afternoon and evening – Terry can make some super smoked salmon and cream cheese rolls. We turned in about 10:30 p.m. A wind picked up and blew in at up to 45 mph from the north (instead of the usual NE where the island protects you). From about 12:30 a.m. until first light at 6 something a.m., we were tossed about like nothing I have ever experienced. Jim’s anchor line fouled around the sailboat’s keel, keeping us broadside to the 35-45 mph winds and resulting waves. It was so rough, I could not get to my own life jacket just a few feet away on my boat. I had to settle for the first life jacket Jim ever owned. In the middle of all this, Terry tells me a story of another Sportsmen cruise-out to our very spot, when Tom was 9 months old (20 years ago), and the weather was even worse…

At first light, I was able to jump on my boat (during a 10 second lull), and untie my boat from Jim’s. Jim left the sailboat side-tied and managed to drive his boat out of the fouled anchor line, while taking up his anchor – did I mention that Jim had run out of gas (sailboat guy), and had a bad battery that we had cut out of his system? I don’t know how we put the gas in Jim’s boat without getting smashed/killed/drowned!

So now, with no sleep, we are free and pointed into the wind and on our way home. What a relief! While headed toward the Three Mile Bridge, I witnessed a good sized trawler about a quarter mile ahead of me, almost to Three Mile Slough. I saw water going OVER his fly bridge, and I am talking more than spray!

By the time I got to where the trawler was, the wind-driven waves were 4-5 feet high, about 12-15 feet apart. As my boat is trying to climb up a wave, it is breaking over my bow rail, filling me up with 20-30 gallons of water every 3rd or 4th wave. I am truly thinking I should try to put my wallet back in my pocket so the Coast Guard can identify me later. Once under the Three Mile Bridge, I was safe – and waited about 15 minutes for all the water to get pumped out. After Three Mile Slough, it is just ‘pretty rough,’ like you don’t want to be on a boat, but tolerable.

Once safely home, I thought of all the things we should have done and didn’t do: Like check the water in the batteries, put gas in the tank, check the weather before leaving, check the weather throughout the day, check the anchor line during the tide/current change, have your favorite life jacket with you, install oversize bilge pumps and bring the largest boat you have…I have a new found respect for the Delta, I learned a lot more on this trip than the University I went to – UHK – University of Hard Knox.

We should have gone to Miner Slough with Carl Rasmussen. Carl said where they were it was “a little breezy.”

October 18 and 19th is the Discovery Bay cruise-in. We can use some good story tellers to help entertain our favorite yacht club guests – these guys are fun. If you want to see our harbor filled up with more boats that it can handle, come watch (and help) Lonnie Gibson stack ‘em up.