Home	Spring Meeting at GGYC 3/18/17

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

It was a great way to officially start the 2017 Islander 36 season. 42 people, representing 22 boats gathered at Golden Gate Yacht Club for the event. The full list of attendees is just before the pictures.

The weekend got off to a good start with 4 boats arriving at Golden Gate Yacht Club by Friday evening. Zenith, Ophira, Natural High and Freedom Won socialized on the docks, then enjoyed a great golden Gate dinner overlooking the bay.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy, and early risers could watch 70 boats start the Double-Handed Farallones race. Our Measurer, Kit Wiegman's Cassiopeia spotted a wind line on the north side of the Bay and worked out about a mile lead headed west under the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, much of the fleet was trapped by light winds and a flood tide that kept some in the starting area for over an hour. Kit finished late in the day winning his section.

Commodore Susan Nork led a Board meeting at 1030 downstairs as the rest of our members arrived, signed in, and mingled upstairs before lunch.

GGYC General Manager Bob Mulhern and his talented and responsive crew laid out a delicious buffet of Salmon and a carving board Tri-Tip with salad, green beans and au gratin potatoes. By 1215 the lunch line was moving quickly. By now there was a gaggle of Lasers starting a regatta to entertain us as we enjoyed lunch. Shortly before 1300, Rick Van Mell called the group to attention to announce that a Friday Facebook alert had stated "Pat Salvo and Ruby Wallis have birthdays today." Never ones to miss an opportunity to celebrate, Rick & Sandy made some calls, dashed to Costco, and now brought forth a big sheet cake emblazoned "Happy birthday Pat & Ruby!" A chorus of "Happy birthday" erupted with lots of applause. Then however, in quintessential Ruby fashion, she announced that she had been goofing around on Facebook and in fact - FAKE NEWS, Alt-Facts - her birthday is April 17th, not March 17th. Even before the laughter died, Bob Da Prato, Sandy & Rick delivered cake to all hands as fast as the GGYC crew could cut it.

Susan then called on Gary Salvo to introduce GGYC Commodore Norbert Bajurin to give a presentation on the 34th America's Cup. GGYC, as you may recall, is the official holder of the AC, and Norbert had a lively film of the highlights of the super-comeback win for Oracle in the 2013 series right outside the clubhouse windows. Moving on, he had pictures of the new 50' foling cats that will be compete in the America's Cup finals in Bermuda in June. It turns out that being 20' shorter than the 72 footers of 2013, these scalded cats can still approach 50 knots! The technology is such that over 450 data points are recorded every second, and the technology competition is all about the foils and control systems, since the hulls are strictly one-design for all six teams. There is an agreement among 5 of the 6 teams to continue to use the same boats for a next challenge in 2019 and 2021, and hold America's Cup World series events in venues around the world between the Cup matches. This keeps teams together and sponsors happy, and hopefully generates even more interest with the general public. If New Zealand wins this summer however, all bets are off, as they haven't agreed to this pattern. It was a delightful and informative presentation -- many thanks Norbert!

Then Commodore Nork called the business meeting together, starting off with Treasurer Roy Samuelson. Roy reported finances were in good shape with income just over $4,200 for the year - our usual cash influx from annual dues. Membership Chair Jocelyn Swanson reported membership at about 120 with some 34 2016 members not yet paying their 2017 dues. She is also working to encourage membership around the Bay and across the country by asking our member to walk the docks and share the joys of Association membership with other Islander owners. Cruise Chair Bob DaPrato waxed eloquent about this year's 2017 Cruise Schedule, including a new addition for Summer Sailstice at Encinal Yacht Club on June 24th to celebrate the longest sailing Saturday of the year. Race Chair Eric Mueller passed out pocket-sized copies of the 2017 Race Schedule, and encouraged boats to come out and join the fun. Eric also announced that bill Colombo of Doyle Sails will be the featured speaker at the Sailing Clinic on April 1st at Encinal YC. Skipper Wall made a motion to adjourn about 1445 and all hands cheered the start of another glorious Islander 36 season.

Boat	Owner & Crew
Bella Luna	Bob DaPrato & Maria Santiago
Blaze	Chris Rossiter & Ian Kelly-Morgan
Evanescence	Smokey & Laurie Stover
Everyday	Gail & Merv Giacomini
Falcon	Bruce & Donna Hallberg
Finally	David Chiodo
Freedom Won	John & Nanci Melton
Geja	Andrew Vic
Kindred Spirits	Don Henderson
Mischief	Charles Hodgkins & Kathryn Munn
Natural High	Dennis & Judy Bush
No Boat	Art & Betsy Fowler
Ophira	Gary & Pat Salvo
Secret Weapon	Lindsey & Steve Allen
Serenity	Eric Mueller
Some Day	Roy & Melinda Samuelson and Richard & Joann Eigenbrod
Tween Boat	Skipper & Nancy Wall
Vanishing Animal	Rick & Sandy Van Mell
White Horses	Rob & Ruby Blenderman, Rebecca Morales
Windwalker	Rich Shoenhair
Zenith	Bill & Susan Nork
Zingara	Jocelyn & Steve Swanson

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

Saturday morning ...	Freedom Won ...	Ophira ...	Natural High ...	Zenith ...
up close ...	looks good.	clear astern ...	Golden Gate YC ...	Race Deck ...
hard at work ...	Farallones Race ...	late starters ...	light air.	St. Francis YC, and ...
SF marina.	Tables are ready ...	lets get started ...	Looking good ...	Sandy too.
Board Meeting ...	Pocket Calendars ...	don't miss any!	John & Nanci	Skipper, Gary, Smokey, Charles
Skipper, Susan	Steve, Bruce, Dennis, Donna, Don	Pat, Judy, Laurie	Kathryn, Nanci	"He's UGLY!" ...
"I like him!"	Roy, Eric	Dick, Joan, Melinda	Betsy & Susan	GGYC Team Bob, Norbert, Chloe
Lunch line ...	great service.	Let's eat ...	Nice crowd ...	Perfect view ...
Merv, Gail, Steve, Jocelyn	Steve, Lindsey, Laurie, Smokey	Melinda, Roy, Dick, Joann	Merv & Gail	Maria, David
Ian, Chris, Susan	Gary, Pat, Donna, Bruce	Charles, Kathryn, Rich, Don	Nancy, Skipper, Art, Betsy	Dennis, Judy, John.
1st Farallones finisher.	Surprise!	For Pat & Ruby	That's Pat!	All smiles.
("I'll get you!")	No I won't!	Gary introduces ...	Commodore Bajurin ...	AC celebration ...
World Series 2013	Auld Mug ...	Schooner America	Bermuda attire!	Fast cats
Speeding Swedes	On the Course	Treasurer's report	Membership report	Cruising report
Racing report.	Flags fly.

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