Fall Meeting November 2, 2013

Fall Meeting & Winners Dinner
Oakland Yacht Club
November 2, 2013

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below, or click on the I-36 Logo to return to the Main Menu!)

It was a perfect soft evening. Zephyrs crossed the Estuary as a few boats sailed slowly past Oakland Yacht Club up the Estuary to slips farther on. As with every season, the winding-down is as relaxing as the spring time winding-up is exciting. We've walked the walk, raced our races and joined the cruises. Now it's time to mellow out and be thankful for what we had.

It was 51 folks representing 24 boats that showed up for the Fall Meeting & Winners' Dinner at Oakland YC. New and old, the first salesman (Don Wilson) and first buyer (Lou Zevanov) were there -- that's pretty remarkable after almost 40 years.

We'll get on to the details of the meeting, but below are the folks that showed up.

Attendees

Boat	Owner & Crew & Guests
Califia	Tim Bussiek, Lorraine Weiss, Jim & Pamela Chie
Cassiopeia	Kit Wiegman, Naomi & Yvonne
Diana	Lou Zevanov
Falcon	Bruce & Donna Hallberg
Freedom Won	John & Nanci Melton
Heidi Ann (?)	Carlos ?
Kindred Spirits	Don & Barbara Henderson
Lean Times	Victor Beltran, Dale & Vicki Anderson, Val McGowan, Lawrence, Denny, Chris, Lawrence, Lovey, Barbara
Luna Sea	Eydee Mazenko (crew)
Natural High	Dennis & Judy Bush
Ophira	Gary & Pt Salvo
Pacific High	Harry Farrell & Suzy McDonald
Paradesia	Rick Vulliet
Rachel Rose	Don Wilson
Serenity	Eric Mueller & Camille
Snowflower	Skipper & Nancy Wall
Some Day	Roy & Melinda Samuelson
The Irish Rogue	Gary Connors
Vanishing Animal	Rick & Sandy Van Mell
White Horses	Rob & Ruby Blenderman
Woden	Bob Knickerbocker
Woodbine	Ron & Karen Damsen
Zenith	Art & Betsy Fowler
Zingara	Steve Swanson

We joke about it, but it's quite impressive how good we all look "with clothes on." Coats, ties, and beautiful dresses were in abundance. Best of all, there was a warm and friendly spirit all evening. Racers got a chance to catch up with other crews and swap stories about skippers and cruisers.

Our favorite Elaine Mendes, Oakland YC's superb new General Manager, with help from John Melton, skillfully moved the whole crowd to the tables to get dinner under way. A light salad started things off, followed by the chosen entres of Prime Rib, Halibut or Risotto. The excellent entrees didn't need any help, but the seasonal fruit sorbet for dessert toped it all off. And, bottles of white wine and red wine helped wash it all down.

America's Cup Presentation

The highlight of the evening was the America's Cup Presentation by 5 of the 7 Islander members who were part of the 34th America's Cup as Course Marshalls. Gary & Pat Salvo, Dennis & Judy bush, and Harry Farrell rotated assignments on the Golden Gate RIB to be Course Marshall # 11, and their rotation was rounded out by Michele Williams & Matt George. Judy & Pat put together a wonderful slide show and with help from Harry Farrell, told stories and answered questions about the America's Cup.

First, they all had to take specific classes to get qualified to be among the 700 volunteers who ran the "Course Marshall" patrol boats. Our I-36 team used the Golden Gate RIB, and, as Pat acknowledged, it was probably the slowed one out there! The morning routine was to assemble at Pier 19 for the morning briefing with PRO (Principle Race Officer) John Craig (many years St. Francis'Though they Race Chair.) The Course Marshalls were given a nice set of America's Cup clothes, but the reality on the GGYC RIB was wild and wet, so they saved the good stuff for when they were on shore. Also, as Harry Farrell commented, the most critical thing was to be sure go to the head as the last thing before you stepped board for a 5 hour session on the water!

Their usual station was on the northeast corner of the course, just beyond the leeward gate, which was the designated Bail Out zone. This are was to be kept clear of anchored boats or loitering boats, so that if an AC boat goet in trouble it could run off toward Treasure Island to get sea room to solve any problems. That kept our team busy chasing boats. Though they were significantly slowers than many course boats, they could quickly call the Coast Guard which had VERY fast boats and 50 mm machine guns on the bow to chase folks who wandered onto the course.

The awesome power of the AC 72s was demonstrated one day when Dennis & Judy were on the RIB. Dennis heard a rushinng sound, and turned around to see the windward hull of Luna Rossa flying past just a few feet over his head, with a crew up on deck looking down at him. He almost needed to change his underware! Ashore, Gary was presented a red AC jacket signed by the crews, and all our Islander team was invited to a number of events for the 700 volunteers. Harry noted that the parking area inside Pier 19 (the operations center for Race Management) was packed with mostly Lexus, Audi & Mersedes! (Lexus was a major sponsor.) Gary even got to sail on the Luna Rossa AC 45 - his job was to hang on for dear life!

In addition to the Course Marshalls, the Islander Association had two additional Officers participating in the America's Cup Super Yacht Regatta. Kit Wiegman was a paid hand on the Oracle VIP boats and sailed on the schooner America. Ray duran sailed aboard USA 76, at 86' the "smallest" superyacht.

Results

One of the main events for the Fall Meeting is to celebrate the award winners for the year. Ruby started it off by presenting the Winton Cruising Award for the 2013 season to John & Nanci Melton, Freedom Won, who made every cruise. Tim Bussiek presented the InterNationals awards, with Lean Times taking the Racing Division, Dayna Marie (F36)taking cruising, and because they were the only one that signed up, Luna Sea got the Spinnaker trophy by default! Commodore Melton presented Lou Zevanov (Diana) with the Schneider Trophy for outstanding service to the Association.

2014 Officer Elections

Approved by acclamation were:

Board: - Commodore: Rick Van Mell; Vice Commodore: Ray Duran; Treasurer: Pat Salvo; Secretary: Tim Bussiek; Measurer: Lou Zevanov

Appointees: - Race Chair: Kit Wiegman; Cruise Chairs: Ruby Blenderman & Judy Bush; Membership Chair: Bob Knickerbocker; Newsletter Chair: Bill Ray; Webmaster: Rick Van Mell

Door Prizes

This year we intentionally pulled way back on Door Prizes. In past years were were getting close to 50 items, but many, while certainly appreciated, were less valuable items. The intent this year was for fewer, more special ones. We also learned that West Marine is transitioning to a corporate-controlled online system the November, and individual stores were not authorized to give out gifts.

That said, Sandy Van Mell organized the Door Prizes and we had six year old Yvonne Wiegman do the ticket drawings. The first prize was for one gallon of bottom paint with a haulout at Svendsen's. Much to everyone's surprise, followed by roars of laughter, Yvonne reached up over her head into the bowl, swished the tickets around for a good ten seconds, pulled out one ticket, and screamed, "Daddy!" As mom Naomi said later, "I wish I'd had a picture of the priceless look on her face. Alas, since Kit had arranged for just that gift from Svendsen's, he couldn't accept it.

Donation	Donor Boat/Company	Winner
Certificate for 1 gallon of Bottom Paint w/Haulout	Svendsen's, Alameda	Lawrence (Crew - Lean times)
Zenith Wine Basket	Zenith (Art & Betsy Fowler)	Eydee Mazenko (Crew - Luna Sea & White Horses)
Haul Out/Wine Bottle	KKMI, Richmond	Melinda Samuelson (Some Day)
Hand made Cutting Board	Someday (Roy & Melinda Samuelson)	KitWiegman (Cassiopeia)
Hood Sails Mylar Valise, wallet,key chain	Zenith (Art & Betsy Fowler)	Jim Chie (Crew - Califia)
Hood Sails Mylar Portfolio	Vanishing Animal (Rick & Sandy Van Mell)	John Melton (Freedom Won)
Towels with All Islander T's added	White Horses (Ruby & Rob Blenderman)	Lovey (Crew - Lean Times)

So enjoy the pictures and mark your calendars for the Spring Meeting, March 15, 2014 at golden Gate Yacht Club. If you haven't seen it - it's first class after its America's Cup makeover from top to bottom. Also mark down the Sail Trim Clinic on April 12th, also at GGYC!

See you next year, Rick Van Mell.

Pictures by Betsy Fowler, Lorraine Weiss & Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

A beautiful afternoon ...	from Oakland YC docks ...	looking across the ...	Estuary and down toward ...	Government Island and ...
Encinal YC.	Oakland YC flags ...	Welcome mat celebrating ...	100 years ...	Front view ...
back view ...	Milestone years ...	Jack London at OYC ...	100 Burgee ...	Current OYC Officers
Getting set up ...	Winton Cruising trophy	Hammond Non-Spinnaker	Nationals Regatta Trophy	Perpetual Crew Trophy
Commodore's plaque	Show & Tell time	The dining room ...	is nicely set ...	ready for all ...
perfet setting.	Flowers to welcome all ...	from Betsy, with ...	Sandy ...	Welcome team.
Door Prizes.	Ruby & Eydee arrive	Harry, Suzy Barbara, Rick & Don	Donna, Nancy, Skipper & Don	Gary, Ron & Dennis
Pat & Lorraine	Bruce & Art	Lucky Lou with ...	Karen & Judy!	Lorraine & Pamela
Lean Times Crew	Roy, Melinda & Kit	It's dinner time.	Ruby's ready ...	John & Nanci too.
Don, Nancy, Skipper, Ron & Karen	Carlos, Betsy, Art & Steve ...	add Suzy & Harry.	Bruce, Judy & Dennis	Gary, Pat & Donna
Lou, Yvonne, Kit & Lovey	Lovey, ?, & ? ...	plus Naomi & Lou.	Lean times table	Camille, Eric & Pamela
Elaine & Jim	Rick, Melinda, Roy & Don	Roy, Melinda & Gary	Tim's relaxed.	America's Cup time.
AC Presentation team ...	Judy & Dennis ...	on water fun ...	Harry adds comments	Actual AC Finish flag!
John runs the meeting ...	Tim presents InterNationals ...	Kit does Racing trophies ...	Lorraine get Crew trophy	Lou gets Schneider Trophy ...
and gives thanks.	Sandy does Door Prizes.	2014 Officers ...	enjoy a laugh ...	ready for 2014.
Rick says, "See you next year!"

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