Spring is in the air, hallelujah!

We’ve been busy assuring slip reservations and coordinating with our gracious sponsors. As this goes to post, April’s cruise event Yellow Fest is underway this weekend at Blake Island. Jason and Katie Breitling (FLORA) are sponsoring. Blake Island’s picnic shelter is reserved Saturday April 8 for food and fire, where folks (reserved or otherwise) will celebrate spring with the best front-row seat view of sparkling Seattle.

Photos from Friday Night – staying lovely and warm!

Predicted winds for this weekend’s Yellow Fest range between Force 2 and Force 6. As always, safety supersedes schedule, and the weather should not exceed Type II Fun for the well-prepared. Wind, rain, fun-sized waves, and a steady ship – Norwegians say, “There’s no bad weather, only bad clothes.”

More photos from Friday night.

Of other April cruising interest, Saturday April 22nd’s afternoon low water will be -1.73 at 13:10. Go beach-combing or enjoy a big lift and/or drop at the Locks. Transiting the Locks can be stressful, but it gets easier with experience – and its great practice for the mariner’s most valuable skill of Vigilance (see COLREGs Rule 5). There’s basically one Rule at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks: Always do what the Lock Officer directs, and Never do anything they do not tell you to. (And have a pair of 50’ lines. I have a story…).

The Goth Egg Hunters – Julia, Tom and Judy.  The prize winners showing off their winnings.

Below – the Motley Crew.

Photos from Saturday’s rather wet Easter Egg Bottle Hunt.

And make reservations now for May’s Burger Burn at Port Ludlow Marina. Larry and Sharon Clark (ANTARES) are sponsoring and planning, and we have the shore-side BBQ grill area from 14:00-22:00 on Saturday May 13. It’s sheltered in case of any pesky precipitation. Stow a stick or two of dry firewood for the provided fire-pit, to help extend the party’s length.  NOTE: Each skipper should book through Dockwa.com (and specify “SBYC” so they put us together). BoatUS members, be sure to add your membership# to the Dockwa account to receive members’ benefit when booking.

Next up: June 10 Dinner Dance at Kingston, watch for details.

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!’”
― Robin Williams

Yellow Fest Weekend photos by Julie Newby, Roger Newby, Katie Breitling and Matt Fraser.

Over time your board has noticed a decline in participation for some Club activities: most recently,  our monthly dinner meetings. This is an issue for several reasons. The speakers at the meetings are doing so on a volunteer basis, and as such we would like to support them with a good turnout.  The venues, currently Ivar’s, have a minimum amount we need to spend to get the room at no added charge and we have had trouble meeting that requirement.  For the last few meetings we have been able to negotiate with them to drop or adjust that amount, but we can’t depend on their willingness to do so indefinitely. We have explored other venues, but have had trouble finding good options. Some offer minimal room charges, but with much higher meal prices. Others have limited facilities, limited staff, or require very long lead times for booking and participant counts.

Those who do attend truly enjoy the experience. Roger Newby has set up very interesting presenters and Ivars has upped their game when it comes to the food and menu choices. Perhaps most importantly the membership seems to greatly enjoy getting together, keeping up to date on the goings-on in our lives, and just enjoying a casual social evening. Also, members can invite guests to the dinner events, but need to make sure this is noted in the Evite response along with their meal choices.

We understand there can be many reasons to hold off on participation. Covid changed how many of us view gatherings, people have other engagements, and the current economy has many worried about spending. For our part we are looking at scheduling to try keep club events from occurring too close together, and we continue to try and keep costs down.

In the end we would greatly encourage participation in your club’s dinner meetings and cruises. Roger and Tom would really appreciate hearing from any/all members who are not attending the dinner meetings very often, or at all, and the same for our cruising events. We will absolutely protect your identity when sharing your thoughts to improve our Club, so please give Roger or Tom a call or email. Roger’s info is in the Roster, Tom’s email is commodore@shilsholebayyachtclub.org.

SHILSHOLE BAY YACHT CLUB – SNOWBIRD 2022-2023

Fifth Race – March 18, 2023

Our last race of the series, on March 18, started with about 3.5 knots of wind, but increased enough so that during the downwind run, the racers were able to fly their spinnakers. The weather was warm and sunny; a pleasure for our twenty-three racers.

Snowbird Series Results

We had over 40 boats registered and between 20 and 30 boats coming for each race! One of our racers mentioned that the series did not seem like winter sailing! Every race we were blessed with sunny days, seasonal temperatures with no wind storms, no torrential rain, no drizzle.

Class 1
1st Bijou
2nd Scirocco
3rd Rally Cap

Class 2
1st Perfectly Strange
2nd Lady Too
3rd Zap

Class 3
1st Creative
2nd Cyrano
3rd Puff

Class 4
1st Francy
2nd Gusto
3rd Ratfish

Class 5
1st Pippa
2nd Flash
3rd North Star

Class 6
1st Presto

SBYC has Reciprocal Moorage Agreements with other yacht clubs, shown listed by region, in the
2023 ROSTER on pp. 11 & 12. These agreements allow free or discounted moorage at each
other’s club docks. This list changes over the year as we add or delete reciprocal clubs. Visit
ShilsholeBayYachtClub.org, and click on Reciprocal in the upper right to view our agreements.

Visit the Yacht Destinations web site to see the most up-to-date list of the yacht clubs with
which we have reciprocal agreements. This web site also has information about other clubs
reciprocal agreements.  Create a login to their site and you can get marina maps and
instructions on how to apply at their dock.

Two new clubs to add to your list in the Roster this year are LAHAINA YC on Maui, and
SQUAMISH YC IN British Columbia, Canada. Both were added this year at the request of
members. Contact me if you want a club added to our Moorage Reciprocal Agreement.
We no longer have mutual reciprocal moorage agreements with several clubs listed in the
Roster on pp. 11 & 12. Examples are Semiahmoo YC in Blaine and Columbia YC in Portland.

It’s a good idea to review each club’s current website/Reciprocals before taking your boat to
their moorage. Is their reimbursement form to file with their club easily available, and where is
it? Is the club moorage limited to one boat per club per night? Is it first come first served with
no reservations? What are their other restrictions?

For example, Nanaimo Y. C. in British Columbia reissued their description of limits and
restrictions in March. Please review their website before visiting them.
Let me know if you do visit a club and use the reciprocal agreement for reimbursement of
moorage fees. If members do not visit a club on the list, we can remove that club from the
Yacht Destination list.

As a medium small club with moorage shared with other Port of Seattle tenants, we reimburse
one night per year per vessel up to $70 (and do not reimburse for power). In 2023 we expect to
host more out of area club boats than during the last three years. We hope to hear from you
when you use these privileges this year.

To confirm our agreement with a club before you head out, leave me a msg at my number in
the Roster and/or email Reciprocals@ShilsholeBayYachtClub.org.
Rubie Johnson, SBYC 2023 Secretary & Reciprocals Manager.
Reciprocals@ShilsholeBayYachtClub.org

OOPS!
I inadvertently missed a credit in last month’s Rudderpost. The photos in the story about the Winter Cruise were the work of Richard Spore—except for the night photo of Bell Harbor which was snapped by Pat Hillis. For those who might not know, Richard is an award-winning photographer and we are privileged to have his work in our publications. Thanks Richard!

Dinner Meeting: Tuesday, April 18

Place: Ivar’s Salmon House, 401 NE Northlake Way, Seattle

Pre-Dinner drinks from 5:30pm

Dinner served at 6:45pm

Speaker: Bob Ewing, Founder/Director of Footloose Disabled Sailing (www.footloosedisabledsailing.org).

From their website, here is their summary story:

Launched in 1991, Footloose Sailing Association is the Northwest’s premiere non-profit sailing program for people of all disabilities, their friends, family and caregivers.

The mission of Footloose Sailing Association is to provide safe, accessible and rewarding sailing experiences to disabled members, their friends, families and caregivers. We teach sailing and seamanship, promote camaraderie, personal growth and increased independence to our participants. Footloose was started in 1991 as a 501 C-3 non-profit educational and charitable Washington State Corporation and is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA.

We are a 100% volunteer run organization and exist through generous donations from people like you and the community.

SBYC has been a charitable sponsor of this organization for many years. We helped fund their acquisition of another sailboat just a few years ago. It’s time we get an update from Bob about all that they are doing to help disabled people enjoy real sailing on Lake Washington.

So, please look for the Evite coming soon to an email inbox near you and remember to identify which meal choice(s) you would like for dinner when you respond to the Evite. We have to get that information to IVAR’s the Friday before the event (April 14). If you have to cancel a reservation, that can best be done by sending me an email directly (rogernewb@gmail.com) or calling me at 206-261-3790, but do so prior to Friday, April 14. Cancellations after the 14th are generally not refundable. Same with no-shows on the evening of the 18th. Our agreement with IVAR’s calls for a no-show dinner to still be paid for, so the Club asks each member to understand that and take responsibility for payment. It doesn’t happen very often and we can sometimes get it handled outside that rule, but there are no guarantees on that.

Meet and talk with Club members over dinner and drinks. Get updated on upcoming cruise events. And learn more about Footloose Disabled Sailing. See you on the 18th!

Roger