Fall Meeting & Winners Dinner Oakland Yacht Club November 3, 2007

(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!)

What a wonderful, warm, special way to wrap up the season. A little more wind on Friday might have been appreciated, but the seven Islanders that made their way to Oakland Yacht Club over a glassy Bay enjoyed the bright sun and almost eighty degree temperatures. Ophira, Woodbine, Evanescence, Vanishing Animal and Zenith tied up at Oakland YC, while Luna Sea and Freedom Won tucked in around the corner at the Marina Village guest dock - almost equally distant from Oakland Yacht Club's front door. Brigid was represented when Corky & Anna arrived by car to complete Friday's vanguard for a great weekend.

With Woodbine and Evanescence tied tightly stern to stern, they were the natural gathering place for cocktails and a fine potluck dinner. Dinner buffet was set up on Evanescence's side deck. Karen piled up piping hot spaghetti, delicious sauce and hot French bread for openers, then Laurie added tasty shrimp, Pat dished up peas and ham, and Rick brought a big green salad. Corky & Anna helped wash it all down with bottles of wine. All hands piled up their plates and settled below to enjoy a fine dinner. Betsy's soft brownies and Karen's oatmeal cinnamon cookies finished it all off in style. All hands relaxed, then turned to their bunks early for a quiet and peaceful night's sleep.

Saturday dawned clear and bright - not a hint of fog, or even chill. Some walked up the road for breakfast, others stayed aboard and ate. Some slept in. It was that kind of morning. With the promise of another 80 degree day, anything seemed possible. A good day to do those little chores, or relax and read. By boat and by car Islanders began arriving for the main event. Corky & Anna brought Brigid to the Freedom Won / Luna Sea raft, and Blockbuster arrived at the Oakland docks.

Oakland Yacht Club Manager Craig Wong and Food & Beverage Manager Elaine Mendes whipped the dining room into great shape following a noon meeting. Then Laurie, Karen & Betsy quickly followed with table decorations. With help from Anna, Nancy & Nanci, the job went quickly and the results looked great. They moved on to setting up the Door Prize table, and Carol & Harry showed up in time to help lay out the racing prizes. Everything was ready for the fun to begin promptly at 1730.

In total, 78 folks representing 30 boats showed up to exchange greetings, nibble on goodies, and check out the extensive Door Prize table and the trophies. It was particularly nice to see tables full of boat crews - Captain Hooke, Cassiopeia, Freedom Won & Pacific High in particular were well represented. Karen Damsen, Laurie Stover and Pat Salvo (all looking delightful) greeted arrivals with their names tags and wrote names on their Door Prize raffle tickets. This proved a welcome change for speeding up the identification and delivery of Door Prizes throughout the evening. Here's our wonderful crowd. (A few crew members didn't make it at the last minute, but they were certainly there is spirit, so they are included in the list.)

The Fall Meeting at the Oakland Yacht Club had it all. Everyone looked great "with clothes on" dressed for the evening, leaving most salty gear stowed in the lockers. Candles lit the tables and the lights were dimmed. A super round of cheers to Ron & Karen Damsen, Art & Betsy Fowler, Laurie Stover and all those who helped decorate, coordinate and get the evening at OYC underway. Laurie & Betsy get extra thanks for the individual goodie bags, special pencials and note pads at each setting - just that little extra attention to detail that makes the evening so special.

Commodore Fowler kept us on schedule as Oakland YC served up a wonderful dinner. The prime rib was perfectly cooked, as were the salmon and chicken picatta. Starting with a crisp salad and finishing with a chocolate mousse rounded out the meal.

Dan Knox delivered the Membership Report for Bob Knickerbocker, sharing the great news that we have 234 members from 34 states/provinces/countries. Then he went on to add that our Treasury is in good shape too.

Rick Van Mell noted in his Webmaster's report that we now have over 10,700 pictures on our site, spread among 283 pages of information. Given that each picture also has a small thumbnail, and, starting this year, a small html file to go directly from picture to picture, there are over 25,000 image files! We've still got plenty of space left, so, as Rick says, "Keep those pictures and stories coming. It's your Association, and your input that keeps it strong."

2008 Officers were elected by acclamation:

Commodore	Ron Damsen
Vice Commodore	Corky Stewart
Secretary	Judy Bush
Treasurer	Dan Knox
Measurer	Kris Youngberg
Fleet Captain	Michele Williams
Cruise Captain	Anna Stewart
Newsletter	Kathryn Munn
Memberhip Chair	Bob Knickerbocker
Webmaster	Rick Van Mell

Then it was on to a fun and festive awarding of prizes to our season's winners and a most bountiful supply of Door Prizes. Betsy Fowler took on the Herculean task of soliciting, getting and organizing the Door Prize process and made it seem so easy again this year. The door prize festivities were held throughout the evening and Betsy says thank you one and all to those who donated items. They were fantastic, ingenious, wonderful and hopefully have made many people happy. Writing people's names on their tickets before they even arrived really helped. When a ticket was pulled no one had to look for numbers - the winning name was right there. Then Betsy had helpers deliver the prize directly to the winner at their table -- saving lots more time -- while going on to pick the next prize delivered by a second helper.

Door Prizes & Winners

Donor	Boat/Company	Prize	Winner(s)
	(sorted by source)
Tom Newton	Captain Hooke	Personal Book on engines!	Veronica Bedolla
Kit Weigman	Cassiopeia	Garmin Accessory Kit	Mary Gleim
John Hansen	Davis Instruments	24 key floats	24 recipients
Cheryl Lawson	Dream Catcher	Nautical gift cards	Tom Newton
Bruce & Carol Hunter	Escape	Tumblers & bowels	Neil Lefmann
Smokey & Laurie Stover	Evanessence	Basket of goodies / mugs, etc.	Tom Jones
Nanci & John Melton	Freedom Won	Gift Card & case	Jim Higdon
Frank Burkhart	Island Girl	Leather wheel cover kit	Albion Baucom
	KKMI	Tote bag/wine/fleece blanket	Cindy Lefmann
Tim & Rhonda Shea	Lean Times	Napa Gift Basket	Joe Valletta
Dan Knox	Luna Sea	16 Bottles of All Islander logo wine	Linda McClellan, Charles Hodgkin, Naomi Warits, Bruce Hallberg, Geoff Lyon, Andreas Dedring, Doug Garrison, Kris Youngberg, Ernita O'Brien, Mike Fitch, Jan Schippers, Nancy Wall, John Melton, Don Schumacher, Dan Primus, & Barbara Henderson
Kathryn Munn	Mischief	Custom fitted "V" berth sheets	Robert Aston
Fred & Barbara Cucksey	Mistral	Gill Bag	Steve Newton
Pat & Gary Salvo	Ophira	First Aid in a bottle	Bernadette Primus
Harry Farrell & Carol Williams	Pacific High	Nautica Towel / photo frame	Dan Knox
Robeert Aston	Pegasus	Framed photo from his catalog	Matthew Bush
Skipper & Nancy Wall	Snowflower	Cork trivets	Tim Shea & Kathryn Munn
Sabrina Svendsen	Svendsen's	Harken Racing Bag	Roger McClellan
	Svendsen'	Heavy Weather gloves	Gerald Schippers
	Svendsen's	Heavy Weather gloves	Dale Head
	Svendsen's	Leatherman tool	David Newton
	Svendsen's	Leatherman tool	Judy Bush
	Svendsen's	Solar Accessory	Bill Higdon
Jeff & Paula Crosby	Taboo	Lake Erie Islands Caps	Harry Farrell & Ann Wier
Sandy Van Mell	Vanishing Animal	Handcrafted necklace	Karen Damsen
Dan Niessen, Manager	West Marine Alameda	1000 Off shore life jacket	Ron Damsen
Ron & Karen Damsen	Woodbine Bakery	Big bag of Treats	Don Henderson
	Woodbine Bakery	Big bag of Treats	Donna Hallberg
I-36 Association		2 All Islander logo T Shirts	Captain Zen
Anonymous		Gill Bag	Michele Williams
Anonymous		Photo frames	Christian Cuningham

It's no secret that Rich Shoenhair won the Season's Championship on Windwalker, and Kit Wiegman's Cassiopeia won the Nationals Regatta, but they earned it the hard way - one race at a time.

Debbie Fehr won the Perpetual Crew Trophy for her efforts on the good ship Pacific High . (Harry sure knows how to pick em!) And speaking of Harry, Carol and the rest of the great Pacific High crew, they once again had the courage to get up and give us an updated version of "We All Look Good On The Starting Line!". Why if you've got enough patience for a 5 megabyte QuickTime movie file to load, you can click and watch Harry, Carol & Deb sing a chorus! (If you REALLY like them, you can listen to 14 megabytes worth here. Finally, here's a link to the words - We All Look Good On The Starting Line.

The Chuck Winton Cruising Award went to Gary & Pat Salvo aboard Ophira, and the newly named Bill Higdon Racer/Cruiser award was given to both John Melton on Freedom Won, and Dan Knox aboard Luna Sea for their showing in both racing and cruising.

Finally, the Schneider Trophy for dedicated service to the Association was presented to Dan Knox for his enthusiasm and 100% commitment to the Islander fleet.

So enjoy the pictures, relive a wonderful evening if you were there, and think about how you can arrange to attend a Spring or Fall Meeting, or any of our race or cruise events next year. It was a very special, warm and friendly night, a hallmark of Islander 36 gatherings. See you next year!

Pictures by Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

Friday Night

Flat day on the Bay ...	and Bay Bridge ...	Old Hunters Point pumphouse ...	Putt-putt ride ...
iron wind	passing jellyfish	1st tanker	Oakland shimmers
2nd tanker	A hint of air	Container ship ...	enters estuary ...
starts to turn around ...	really tight ...	coming around ...	looking good ...
getting lined up ...	coming our way ...	looking BIG!	and LONG.
Crane row & ...	small ship ...	smaller ship ...	Coast Guard cutter ...
has big props ...	and mean bow!	Hi Pat!	Cozy berths for ...
Islander fleet	Cockpit conversation	Temporary raft	Ophira's tucked in
Nervous masts wait ...	for Zenith's ...	calmer mast.	Reflected mast
Evanescence goes for ...	tight fit.	4 in a row	Karen says, "Toast" ...
Gary agrees ...	"2nd that," say Nancy & Skipper	Smokey and ...	Betsy vote, "Yes!"
Warm & peaceful	Saturday afternoon ...	Blockbuster arrives.	Islanders line up ...
& flags fly (not)	Marina Village raft of ...	Brigid, Freedom Won & Luna Sea	The Dog Watch?
"Not me," says Josie	"Me neither," adds Teak	Laurie starts tables ...	great start ...
many hands ...	add goodies ...	chicken, salmon & beef ...	makes serving easy ...
almost complete.	Prize table time ...	cruising awards ...	look sharp.
Great layout ...	with many donated ...	by members and ...	Svendsen's, KKMI ...
& West marine.	But most were ...	from members ...	many hand crafted ...
many hand crafted ...	and all great.	1st, 2nd & 3rd prizes	Racer/Cruiser awards
Evening approaches ...	Don & Lou get ready ...	Laurie, Anna & Karen welcome everyone	All smiles
Jim & Bill	Don H. & Corky	Betsy, Linda & Barb	Commodore Fowler & Gerry & Jan Shippers
Don S. & Skipper	Harry's Harem!!!!!	Lean Tykes	Cassiopeia has ...
great crew + Corky	John & Nanci hold court	Bush gang	Rick Vulliet & Donna & Bruce Hallberg
Happy Salvos	Andiamo & ...	Captn Hooke table	Ernita & Bill O'Brien, Chie & Captn Zen French
Pegasus & 4 R Sanity	Father & son Higdon	Beverly & Don Wilson & Neil & Cindy Lefmann	Barb & Don Henderson
Brad, Art & Betsy Fowler, Lou Zevanov	Sandy Van Mell, Skipper & Nancy Wall	Naomi, Kit & Yvonne	Christine & Kris
Karen & Michele know how to party	"Agreed," say Veronica and Debbie	Brian Knox & Kathryn & Charles Hodgkins	Captn Hooke gives John ...
a battle flag!	Betsy & Laurie give out ...	Door Prizes!!!	Dan says Treasury is OK
Kris says Get Measured!	John gives out cruising awards	Winton winners Gary & Pat Salvo	Anna talks Cruising 2008
Racer/Cruiser Award named for Bill Higdon ...	awarded to John Melton & Dan Knox	OYC's Elaine Mendes put on a great dinner	Racer Rewards
Michele gives out goodies	Casual Classic winner Kit Wiegman is ...	Nationals winner too	Debbie Fehr wins the Perpetual Crew Award
3rd Place winner Lucky Harry Farrell	2nd Place - Tom Newton	1st Place - Windwalker	2008 Racing thoughts
Brad Fowler presents Dan Knox with the Schneider Trophy	A big thanks to Commodore Art Fowler!	Welcome 2008 Commodore Ron Damsen	2008 Officers & Chairs

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