Home	Fall Meeting at RYC 11/1/14

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

We had sixty-five folks representing 28 Islanders on hand for the Fall Meeting and Winner's Dinner at Richmond Yacht Club. It turned out to be a beautiful evening at RYC with a most unusual view of several big thunder heads visible to the south beyond San Francisco and down to the south Bay. Good conversations, great food, and a special gathering of our Islander friends. Much needed rain had soaked the Bay Area on Friday, and scattered showers and some healthy thunderstorms lingered into Saturday morning. Showing the wisdom of true Islanders, most choose to skip Friday and arrive by Land Yacht on Saturday, and those that did come by boat, Mischief, Evanescence, Snowflower, and Califia had relatively short distances to come and some nice sailing weather. There was some time before the festivities kicked off to gather aboard and exchange the usual stories of boat projects and dreams to fulfill. But then it was time to get cleaned up and head into the clubhouse. Here are the boats and folks that made it so much fun:

Richmond Yacht Club provided a terrific evening, starting off with a warm welcome from Commodore Susan Hubbard. Richmond YC has a very strong Junior Sailing Program, and Susan was one of it's earliest students and the daughter of a past RYC Commodore. In keeping with our own tradition of supporting host yacht clubs,the Association is making a $250 donation to their junior program.

RYC laid out a flowing platter of cheese and fruit for hors de oeuvres as the crowd checked out the trophies and met old friends and newer members. Many had not been to Richmond YC before, and were suitably impressed with their facilities. There is a large section of one wall with sections for each of their eight decades of history with pictures and brief descriptions of highlights. Chef Mike Catalli prepared a delicious dinner with mouth-watering Prime Rib, with Garlic & Chive Mashed Potatoes, Vegetables, and Onion Popovers, or Grilled King Salmon Fillet with Basmati Rice, Vegetables, Orange/Tarragon Butter Sauce, finished off with a Warm Chocolate Lava Cake. A perfect way to move into our presentations and awards.

We were fortunate to have two great presentations that highlighted two remarkable examples of extreme Islander sailing.

The first was by our Islander member Orion sailed by the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors, simply known as BAADS. They have raced Orion in many Islander races in all SF Bay conditions, and cruised with us out the Gate and down to Half Moon Bay. What makes this remarkable is that most of their members have some form of disability. For example, Commodore Cristina Rubke is in a wheelchair, and maneuvers it with her chin - and she sails on Orion. BAADS, based out of South Beach Marina, adjacent to the SF Giants AT and T Park, seeks to make sailing available to all people with disabilities. You can follow their presentation in the pictures below. It's all volunteer, and operates 28 boats with 230 members on a budget of $60,000 per year.

Then we had Steve Hodges present a great slide show on victory in the Single Handed TransPac race to Hawaii aboard his I-36 Frolic. This was his second single handed race and he talked about all of the strengthening he did to be sure bulkheads, rigging, self-steering, and storm sails were up to the trip. He won by about 50 minutes on corrected time in a race that lasted two weeks! He also showed us a video of the return trip to California, dodging three hurricanes along the way, that included some incredible under water shots taken with a GoPro camera lashed to a boathook. Watching a pod of dolphins swim along under water was really special. Here is a link to an interview with Steve after the race: http://sfbaysss.org/shtp/pd-interview-steve-hodges-of-frolic/. And here's a link to Steve's storm sail set-up: http://islander36.org/boatpics/frolic/frolic-storm.html

Then we moved on to the business meeting, with Gary & Pat Salvo of Ophira receiving the Cruising Award. For racing it was Tim Bussiek's Califia getting the Hammond Trophy, and Kit Wiegman's Cassiopeia winning the Nationals Regatta Trophy. There were two nominees for the Crew Award, Danie Lupovici of Califia, and Mara Gutman of Cassiopeia, with the award going to Mara. finally, the Schneider Trophy for a dedicated contribution to the Islander 36 Association went to Kit Wiegman for his work as Race Chair, frequent Race Clinic Instructor, and leadership by example in his single handed winning race to Hawaii.

We are encouraging all members to consider stepping up and helping run the Association by filling one of the various offices. It's a great way to meet other members and to learn about racing or cruising opportunities on the Bay. You can "understudy" with a current officer, as Roy Samuelson will be doing with Pat Salvo so he can take over the Treasury slot in 2016. After three years of putting out our classy and informative Newsletters, Editor Bill Ray has stepped down and we are looking for a volunteer to fill the slot. Bill would be happy to discuss software and other production ideas with curious volunteers. The 2015 Officers elected are: Board: - Commodore: Rick Van Mell; Vice Commodore: Nina Riehs; Treasurer: Pat Salvo; Secretary: Tim Bussiek; Measurer: Kit Wiegman. Appointees: - Race Chair: Kit Wiegman; Cruise Chair: Ruby Blenderman; Membership Chair: Bob Knickerbocker; Newsletter Chair: (Open); Webmaster: Rick Van Mell.

We wrapped up the evening with a short Door Prize drawing with Tim Bussiek's son Carl doing the drawing honors. Results at the bottom of the pictures.

Have a great fall and Holiday Season, get in some sailing or racing if you've got soft water where you are, and get ready for a Safe, Fun and As Fair As Possible 2015 season.

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

Richmond burgee ...	dockside activity ...	San Francisco skyline ...	Bay Briodge in background ...	Angel Island ...
looking back east ...	Want a house and dock?	Islanders ...	Mischief ...	Evanescence
RYC history ...	Time to ...	start setting up ...	audio / video controls ...	Steve sets up ...
slide show running ...	on the screen ...	Chef Mike has ...	prime rib cooking.	tables look good ...
ready for ...	Betsy to say "Go!"	Miriam and Ken ...	more arrivals.	Bill, Pattie & Charles
Decisions, decisions ...	too funny!	Glen and Dan	Bill and Greg	Bruce, Donna and Don
Maria & Bob	Bill, Pattie and Sandy	Great hors de oeuvres	Comfortable conversations.	Ken, Bill and Miriam
Pattie and Kit	Michael & Karen	Cristina, Nina, Tom, Alex	Melinda and Pattie	Adam and Roy
Hodges family	What you got?!	Roger and Dennis	Nanci and Laurie	RYC Commodore Hubbard
Full house.	Cassiopeia / Frolic / Music	enjoying salad.	Califia / Bella Luna / Ophira	Laughiing Matter / Serenity
Natural High / 4 R Sanity / Snowflower	White HOrses / Woden / Falcon / Freedom Won	other side 1 ...	other side 2.	Zingara /
Orion	Some Day / Hurulu / Fantasy	TweenBoat / Kindrew Spirits / Woodbine / Evanescence	BAADS presentation ...	Who we are ...
What we do ...	By the numbers ...	Racing ...	You can help ...	Tax deductible ...
Thank You!	Steve presents Trans Pac ...	Single handed history.	Cruising Award to ...	Ophira
Hammond Trophy to ...	Califia	Nationals Trophy to ...	Cassiopeia	Crew Award to ...
Mara Gutman, Cassiopeia	Schneider Trophy to ...	Kit Wiegman	Carl draws Door Prizes ...	Zenith Wine Basket
Vivace Sonoma wine	Serenity Soft Schackles	KKMI Haul Out	Sunday morning home.

Door Prizes

Donation	Donor Boat/Company	Winner
Certificate for 1 gallon of Bottom Paint w/Haulout	Svendsen's, Alameda	Karen Sweezy, Laughing Matter
Soft Shackles	Serenity	Linda McClellan, 4 R Sanity
Soft Shackles	Serenity	Greg Anderson
Soft Shackles	Serenity	Bruce Hallberg, Falcon
Soft Shackles	Serenity	Daved Barclay, Music
Soft Shackles	Serenity	Bob Knickerbocker,Woden
Zenith Wine Basket	Zenith	Gene Novak, Fantasy
4 pack of Sonoma wines	Vivace	Skipper Wall, "TweenBoat"
Haul Out/Wine Bottle	KKMI, Richmond	Dani Lupovici, Califia

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