PORTLIGHT March 2017 PORTLAND MONTHLY Volume 67, Number 3

photo by Harry Braunstein The Portlight page 2 March 2017

Commodore’s Comments By Dave Simonson

ne of the benefits of being we’ve always postponed it. We are also always trying to Commodore is the front be sensitive to our moorage fees and membership dues. row seat I have for all PYC O Having said that, I think we all can see there is a justi- activities, and we have a very busy fiable need. We have evaluated our options (taking out calendar planned for 2017. a loan, continuing our present policy paying mileage, or January’s events were outstanding! placing it in a future budget raising dues and moorage The dinner for the Commodore’s Ball fees to pay for it). Instead, as your Commodore, I’m was terrific. Many of your comments asking members to join Donna and me in making a were “the best meal ever,” or “best donation to PYC to purchase the van. These gifts are dinner ever at any banquet event.” Paco and his staff hit to be voluntary. No phone calls or emails will be made it out of the park. Thank you, Daniel, Paco and our staff requesting contributions. for providing an excellent meal. The Chris Bahm band If you can help, we would like to raise this money by the played Steely Dan to over 250 members and guests Jan- end of March. We will not buy the van until all money uary 27. is received. If you would like to make a donation in Once again led by Mike and Mary Stainsby and with memory or honor of a member, friend or relative, this the support of 40 members, the February 4 Crab Feed could be handled anonymously or recognized publicly, was attended by nearly 300 people. as you wish. Mary Stainsby has agreed to provide the The Valentine’s Dinner February 11th was elegantly accountability for these gifts. Please send checks to decorated with a delicious meal. Through impromptu PYC, Attention: Mary Stainsby, and designate that it is questions, we learned some interesting facts about how for the purchase of the van. Mary will record your gift many of our members met. If you missed it you missed and send you a receipt. Thank you to all who will be a great time! I appreciate the excellence our committee participating. leaders and members take in planning and preparing for WINTER MEETING: March 13 is our Winter each event. If you would like to participate, please let us Meeting. I encourage all members to attend. We are know. There are many occasions where you can serve. going to begin the meeting with Gil MacGregor leading WE HAVE A SPECIAL NEED AT PYC. For many us in the pledge of allegiance to our flag followed by the years our employees have had to use their personal singing of God Bless America. This will not be a polit- vehicles to pick up supplies for the bar and galley or ical meeting, it’s about our country and the freedom we repair parts for the moorage, and to make deliveries to enjoy. We will be providing a summary and information the Outstation – among other things. We’ve always paid on our 2016 budget. mileage, but it creates an obligation that can be sensitive The Winter Meeting will include an update on the open at times and often the vehicles used are not suitable for and closed moorage projects, as well as a vote on two the task. We need to relieve club staff of this responsi- amendments. The first is a financial issue to keep us in bility. compliance with our bylaws, the second is a change to The solution is for PYC to purchase a vehicle. PYC club our membership classification. Finally, we will have a manager Daniel Wilkins and the Board have agreed a progress report on the gifts to purchase our van. This van would be the most suitable and versatile. The van will be a positive meeting: the Portland Yacht Club is should be 4 to 5 years old, in excellent condition with alive and well. fewer than 50,000 miles, costing less than $20,000 and Inspections: We have scheduled March 25 and preferably white with the PYC burgee printed on the April 1, 9 am to 4 pm, at the club for PYC members to side. The van would be for club use only (no personal have their vessel inspected. There will be a sign-up sheet use), and the club manager would be responsible for all posted in the office to schedule your specific time.These maintenance and keeping insurance current, as well as inspections will be performed by the Coast Guard Aux- authorizing qualified drivers. Except under exceptional iliary, which includes Auxiliary member Rick Williams circumstances authorized by the club manager, the van and his assistants. If one of these dates doesn’t work would be parked at PYC. for you, call Rick. Sometimes he is available during the The Board has been aware of this situation for several week. years and had planned to include it in the budgeting The quality of your work will have a great deal to do process, but, due to many other important projects, with the quality of your life. www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 3 March 2017

Club Manager Report By Daniel Wilkins pringtime is finally upon us Our membership Winter Meeting is scheduled for and it is time to start our Monday, March 13th. By the time this is published, Sspring cleaning and start you should have received the notification of the meeting ! The longer days will make and any proposed Bylaw changes. Please review the for some excellent opportunities to information and join us at the meeting as we do require head out to the Willow Bar Outsta- a quorum for some important changes to be approved. tion, and per as usual the clubhouse We anticipate having a great meal, free this year to help will be buzzing with activities. If you incentivize your attendance. Please look at the weekly have been away from club activities news for details and sign up. for a while, March presents an excellent opportunity to Now that the long winter is behind us you can expect get back involved with your Portland Yacht Club. water to be restored throughout the moorage at the In February, the club was highlighted by our annual beginning of March. We have worked hard to keep Crab feed in which we fed almost 300 members and things maintained to the best of our ability through the guests with the freshest Oregon Dungeness Crab you winter months and as always welcome any maintenance can get. It was a great time and we owe thanks to the requests that you have. As a reminder, maintenance many members who volunteered their time to make this requests can be made through the link on the “Mem- event happen, particularly Mike and Mary Stainsby bers” page of the website. who once again orchestrated a seamless Crab Feed. Thank you for your support and membership! Cheers to Valentine’s Dinner was an elegant evening featuring live a great spring season! music and a wonderful menu put together by our Enter- tainment Committee. And we capped the month with a Mardi Gras-themed Advertiser’s Cookout with a great turnout of members who joined in to thank the local PORTLIGHT businesses for their contributions in advertising in our publisһed montһly by tһe Roster and Portlight. � The 2017 New Member Drive was a great success with fifteen new member applications received since the beginning of the year. At the New Member Drive PORTLAND YACHT CLUB Open House, held in mid-February, we hosted nearly 30 potential members and took in a few of those fifteen 1241 NE Marine Drive, Portland, Oregon 97211 applications. Increasing our membership is not only 503-285-1922 (ph) • 503-283-4960 (fax) great news, but the quality of applicants that we are [email protected] • www.portlandyc.com seeing is outstanding. We welcome the 2017 class of Committee – Mike O’Bryant, editor; Sandy O’Bryant, graphic design; PYC members, and hope they will be an integral part of the success of our club for many years to come. Nancy MacGregor and Skip & Mary Ann Nitchie Officers and Trustees March is an exciting month at PYC with many great events including our first cruise of the year! We have Commodore Dave Simonson (power) two cookouts, our PYC Winter Meeting, the Sailor’s Vice Commodore Frank Bocarde (sail)

Dinner, two education docks, and the always fun St. Secretary/Treasurer Bob Morgan (power)

Paddy’s Day Cruise to our own Willow Bar Outstation Rear Commodore John Colby (sail) March 17th-19th. Trustee Fred Hazzard (sail)

As always, we will also be featuring many specials in Trustee Ken Hunkins (power) the café throughout the month with food and beverage Trustee Xavier LeHericy (sail) service Thursday through Sunday. Be on the lookout for these flyers and other events which can be found every Trustee Stan Tonneson (power) Tuesday in our weekly electronic news. Trustee Barbara Woodford (sail)

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 4 March 2017 PNW Offshore Weather Planning

March 11, 2017 9:30 AM to 11:00 • Portland Yacht Club Education

Captain David Burch discusses the current state-of-the art weather resources for offshore voyage and race planning, from the Columbia River to the Salish Sea and Barkley Sound. This presentation will be of particular interest to racing skippers and crew contemplating the Oregon Offshore and Vic-Maui races, and to power and sail cruisers anticipating offshore voyages departing from the Columbia River headed to Barkley Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. David Burch is the founding director of Starpath School of Navigation in Seattle, WA, which has had more than 26,000 classroom students since 1978. He is the author of numerous books on marine navigation and his magazine articles have appeared in Blue Water , Cruising World, Ocean Navigator, Sailing, and Sea Kayaker. David has more than 70,000 miles of ocean experience, including sailing across the Pacific to Hawaii ten times, three times as the winning navigator of the Victoria to Maui yacht race, and in 1984 setting the elapsed time record for that passage for vessels under 38 feet (the record lasted sixteen years). He navigated the only American entry (72-foot Cassiopeia) in the storm-ridden '93 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and has since navigated that vessel on the '96 Vic Maui and the Swiftsure Lightship Classic when she won first overall in the latter. In powerboats, he delivered a 65-foot vessel from New York to Seattle via Panama, and has made numerous coastal deliveries between WA and CA, AK, and Mexico. He holds a USCG masters license, 100 GT. David is a past Fulbright Scholar with a Ph.D. in physics. Attendance is FREE and open to all, and non-PYC guests are invited to stay for the no-host bar and lunch to follow.

Portland Yacht Club • 1241 NEwww.portlandyc.com Marine Drive • Portland, Oregon 97211 The Portlight page 5 March 2017 Membership Changes for Your Review By Dave Simonson, Commodore This class of member would no longer pay an outstation assessment and would continue to pay 50 percent of he PYC Board has been asked by many of our Boat Owning dues. Those currently Senior members members to consider a change to our Membership retired from boating would be transferred to this classifi- Classifications. As Commodore, along with our cation of Senior Associate. Tboard, we selected a three person committee chaired by John Colby, and including Ken Hunkins and Fred A new class is Associate member. This class is for Hazzard, to review and research this request and make new members without a boat or without a locally kept recommendations to the board. boat. They would pay 65 percent of Boat Owning dues, be subject to the food and beverage fee, would not pay With this committee’s help, we’ve done our due diligence the outstation assessment and would have no access to by reviewing each class of membership, evaluating the the Outstation, and they would not have voting rights. qualifications required for each category, the benefits The number of Associate members would be limited received and the amount of dues paid monthly or in to 25 percent of Boat Owning members (we currently some cases yearly. We visited with another major yacht have 236 Boat Owning members). Those currently club to compare their dues and regulations requirements Active members could transfer to this classification as and we have prepared a financial analysis of the overall we intend to do away with the classification of Active effects on both our club and our membership. members. After considering of all these factors the board has Associate members could become Boat Owning mem- voted to present an amendment to the Membership for bers in which case they’d move into the boat-owning approval at our March 13th Winter Meeting. category and pay the full cost of a Boat Owning member. We propose to change one membership level and to add Prior to the Winter Meeting, we want to give another. everyone an opportunity to fully understand this Social members – 60 years of age or older who have proposal and ask questions. We have scheduled a been members for at least 10 years and have retired time on Saturday, March 11th at 1:00 p.m. for you to from boating – will become Senior Associates. come and discuss the details. 2017 PYC Moorage Upgrade Plan FAQ’s and talking points Why the need to invest our resources in the moorage? the moorage for the next 50 to 75 years at a minimum. • The moorage has been in place since 1926 with many Why are we financing part of the cost? structural and environmental issues. • The Breakwater row is significantly more expen- • In 1997 A row broke loose in a flood and some of sive than any other row PYC has built and the cost those same risks exist today. exceeds our normal yearly cash flow that is trans- • Repairing and upgrading the moorage will con- ferred to the Upgrade Project. Because the costs of tinue to pay dividends for the next 50-100 years by new docks have been going up quickly over the past attracting new members to one of the finest moorages few years it was decided to finance this portion for a in the Northwest. short time with funding coming from a combination of members and Bellingham Marine at very favor- How long has this process been going on and how able interest rates. long will it continue? Why does the Moorage Upgrade Committee want to • 14 years ago the PYC membership approved a Moorage Upgrade plan to replace the entire moorage in concrete. replace J row in 2017? While modified over the years that plan continues. • With the Army Corps permit expiring it is important • The club has chosen to replace the moorage pri- to continue to show progress on the overall Closed marily with yearly cash flow as opposed to financing, Moorage Permit. consequently it will take approximately 10 more • Anything in the overall moorage that we can build years to complete. as soon as possible reduces the club’s exposure to inflationary increases and potential permitting issues Why is the new Breakwater (BW) row so Important? as requirements continue to become more difficult to • Our current and future concrete docks cannot be deal with. allowed to flex in the waves generated by wind, cur- • This is an opportunity to continue to replace as much rent and boat wakes. Consequently, a breakwater of the overall moorage as quickly as possible to bring must protect the entire moorage from those forces. The it up to the standards set in place in the original BW row floats are over twice the size of any of PYC’s Upgrade Plan in 2003. As mentioned previously, it current docks and because of their size and complexity it is also necessary that it be designed and installed is in the club’s best interest to improve the overall professionally. Consequently is quite expensive. safety and environmental quality of the moorage by However, it will complete the outside framework of replacing old and in some instances rotting wood docks and pilings with new modern materials. www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 6 March 2017 Did You Miss This Year’s Crab Feed? Easter Celebration Mary Stainsby, Co-Chair, Crab Feed Committee Saturday, April 15th 79 people attended this year’s Crab Feed, Feb- ruary 4. There was plenty of crab for everyone, Brunch – 10:30 2and enough for several people to buy to take home. Even our current Commodore and First Lady joined the Kids’ activities – 11:00 corps of 20 very busy volunteers, preparing garlic bread, serving crab, oyster shooters and sauce, and helping to Egg hunt – 11:30 clean up afterwards. This is the largest PYC event of the year, and I can’t even begin to say how much Mike and I appreciated all of the help we received in putting on this event! We had 19 people on the morning crew, as well, decorating the club, cleaning the crab sections, and setting the tables. • Shirley Landels did an excellent job as chair of the decorations committee and her crew worked hard to get everything done. • Jim Hansen and Mike Stainsby oversaw the experi- The Easter bunny will visit and enced morning kitchen crew as they prepared over be available for photos with kids. 1,000 oyster shooters and cleaned/re-iced 23 cases of crab. $18 for adults • Jay Ollerenshaw laid out the paper on all of the $ tables Friday afternoon so the decorating committee 8 for kids age 3-10. could start first thing Saturday morning, then came back Saturday afternoon and filled all those pitchers of beer served during dinner. Following a delicious lunch of Oysters Rockefeller and Open-Faced Crab Melts, several of the morning crew March Cookouts joined Harry Braunstein – assisted by Floyd Jones – as he took them on a boat ride around Hayden Island. The on Saturday list of outstanding volunteers could go on and on. Just know that Mike and I could not have done this without every one of them! March 11th & March 25th he cookouts for March are on If you missed this year’s event, I really hope you’ll make an effort to join us next year. It’s tremendous fun, with Saturdays! lots of your friends and the opportunity to meet new ones as well. TAs with all cookouts, bring your own protein for the April Portlight Deadline grill and Club chefs will March 10th serve up the salad bar, email articles & reports to: Mike O’Bryant baked ­potatoes and soup. [email protected] Hope to see you photos to: Skip Nitchie there! [email protected]

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 7 March 2017

CPR and AED Training March 4, 2017 Do you know CPR? Have you ever been shown how easy and effective the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is? Please join us at the Portland Yacht Club Saturday, March 4, at 0900hrs for this hands-on training that can save the life of a loved one. Come to this two hour class to learn how to give someone who is suffering from a cardiac emergency the chance for life. There will be some hands-on practice with the rescue mannequins as well as chance to operate an AED device so you will want to wear comfortable clothing. Even if you have been trained in CPR in the past, this class will be a good refresher as there have been some changes over the last year to the CPR protocols. (The American Red Cross no longer requires “mouth to mouth” resuscitation as part of CPR. This will be explained further during the class.) This class is limited to members of the Portland Yacht Club and to the first 30 members that sign up, and it is free so there will be no certification cards or certificates issued. Come learn how to save the life of your loved ones, your club mates or a stranger. With the new CPR protocols and the availability of the AED devices within the Club, you may someday have the opportunity to save someone life. Will you also have the skills? If you have any questions please contact Gil MacGregor.

the works. This would include such craft as CRYA Report and . We will see where it goes. Ken Kudrna, PYC Delegate to CRYA • The transient (derelict) boat situation continues with s we get into the New Year there are a couple of no definitive resolution in sight. This is the same Aitems that merit consideration. problem as the tent camps all over town. • The 3rd annual CRYA Golf Tournament has been • There are some discussions going on regarding a new scheduled for Saturday, September 16th, and will Coon Island west dock and for another at Gilbert again be held at Wildwood Golf Course. I would River. Very preliminary! Very long term possibili- appreciate any golfers’ comments regarding this ties…probably seven years plus or minus. event. Please feel free to contact me. As things get more definitive and/or probable, I will • A bill to establish fees for non-motorized is in keep you posted. www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 8 March 2017

Portland Yacht Club Spring Ladies’ Dinner

April 5, 2017 An Evening Hawaiian Style Hula Entertainment by former Miss Hawaii Social @ 6:00 Dinner @ 7:00 Cost: $29

Welcome CRYA First Ladies and Daughters of Neptune RSVP by March 30

MARCH BAR & GALLEY SCHEDULE LUNCHES — 11 am - 2 pm — Thursday, Friday & Saturday HAPPY HOURS — 2 - 5 pm on FRIDAYS & SATURDAY • 2 - 6 pm on SUNDAY DINNERS — FridayS & SATURDAYS 5 - 8 pm KELLY BAR, SUNDAYS — 1 pm - 7 pm

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 9 March 2017

Commodore’s Ball photos by Skip Nitchie & Norene Kudrna

Entertainment Committee Report Ruth Parr and Donna Simonson e’ve celebrated two events this past month: tured prawns or steak, and ended with a scrumptious the Commodore’s Ball on January 21 and red velvet heart-shaped cake. Each lady attending found WValentine’s Day on February 11. Members a rose resting on her napkin. The romantic atmosphere enjoyed a dinner of either halibut or steak at the Ball, was heightened by the music of Boy and the Bean, a and after the ceremony that installed our new Commo- three-piece combo who played and sang danceable tunes. dore, danced the evening away to the sound of Neil Dia- Our Commodore used the musicians’ break as an oppor- mond, as interpreted by local celebrity Tony Starlight. tunity to take the mic to several tables, persuading cou- ples to share their tales of how they met and fell in love. There was romance in the air at our Valentine’s Day party, which brought in over 60 members. Dinner fea- A wonderful evening! www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 10 March 2017

Crab Feed photos by Harry Braunstein & Sandy O’Bryant

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 11 March 2017

Valentine’s Dinner photos by Jean Howe

Chris Baum Band Evening photos by Liz Fischer

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 12 March 2017

2017 PYC Sailors’ Dinner

Friday, April 7 Social 5:30 Dinner 7:00

Prime Rib Buffet $28 per person*

Featured presentation Whidbey Island Race Week

Presentation of 2016 PYC Sailing Awards

RSVP [email protected] 503-735-0632

* $5 additional for reservations received 4/4 or 4/5 - Reservations close 4/5

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 13 March 2017 The Luck of the Irish By MaryKaye Brady id you know there are more Irish people living in the United States than there are in Ireland? And St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national holiday? Portland Yacht Club Dis opening the 2017 Cruising Year with the St. Paddy’s Day Cruise, March 17 – 19 at the Willow Bar Outstation. Here are some things you will need to know about the luck of the Irish. Leprechauns will be wearing their leather apron and making shoes, while hiding their Pots of Gold at the End of the Rainbows. Can you hear his hammer? Keep your eye on him, or he will disappear and you will not be able to find the gold. The Irish say there is an interesting note about the leprechaun hiding his gold at the end of the rainbow…he may be a myth, but he is no dummy. There is no end of a rainbow. Rainbows are actually circles. We can only see part of it at a time, and to our perception it is an arc or bow. The very lazy cousin to the Leprechauns, the Cluricauns, prefers to sit around and drink barrels of grog. Their clothes are slightly different, so don’t be fooled by them. And then we have Fairies. Fairies are small supernatural creatures of human form. They live in everyday surroundings. They are generally thought to be beneficial to humans. However, they are known to play pranks and it is best to treat them with respect. They are small, airy, nearly trans- parent in body, and can assume any form. In Ireland fairies are called Sidhi. There are good Fairies and wicked Fairies in Ireland, and we will only let good Fairies into our Outstation. The Blarney Stone is a stone set in the wall of the Blarney Castle tower in the Irish village of Blarney. Kissing the stone is supposed to bring the kisser the gift of persuasiveness or the gift of gab. The national flower of Ireland is the seamrog. Seamrog is the Gaelic word for Sham- rock which means “trefoil” or “little clover.” The shamrock has the ability to foretell the future. When it is about to rain, the leaves turn upwards. The lucky four leafed clover is difficult to find because it is actually a genetic abnormality that causes the fourth leaf. Three is Ireland’s magic number. Hence the Shamrock; Faith, Hope and Charity. Numbers played an important role in Celtic symbolism. Three was the most sacred and magical number. Everything good in Ireland comes in threes. The rhythm of story-telling in the Irish tradition is based on threefold repetition. This achieves both intensification and exaggeration. Even today quality pub talk can rarely resist a third adjective, especially if it means stretching a point. “Three accomplishments well regarded in Ireland: a clever verse, music on the harp, the art of shaving faces.” So don’t forget to bring your own Irish jokes and tall tales with you to the Outstation for our very own St. Pad- dy’s Cruise. We look forward to seeing all of you at the Outstation for the St. Paddy’s Cruise on March 17-19 to open our Cruising Year in the finest Irish style. For more information about the cruise, be sure to see our ad on page 14, and information about the burning of flags and socks.. Please remember: if you are unable to attend and you have an unserviceable flag or burgee to be retired, please bring them to the PYC before office before March 17 and we will make certain they are retired properly. Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter Lullabies, dreams, and love ever after. Poems and songs with pipes and drums A thousand welcomes when anyone comes. That’s the Irish for you!

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 14 March 2017

PYC St. Paddy’s Day Cruise

Hosts: MaryKaye and Joe Brady March 17-19,Co-hosts: 2017 Laura • Cost: and Dale $20/per Mack person

Friday 5:30 pm Happy Hour and Potluck Appetizers, followed by Irish Jokes and Tall Tales — bring your favorites! Saturday 8 am Gourmet Coffee Bar Opens 9 am Celtic Breakfast (Irish Oatmeal, fresh & dried fruits, Greek yogurt, other toppings, scones.) 5 pm Traditional Irish Dinner (Corned Beef w/roasted carrots done with whiskey marmalade, Colcannon Potatoes, Rolls & Irish-themed dessert), recipes by Chef Laura Celtic and/or Festive attire encouraged

(flag retirement and sock burning) Sunday Dusk Gather for the bonfire 8 am Gourmet Coffee Bar Opens 9 am Potluck Breakfast 10 am All hands on deck for clean-up

Registration/cancellation deadline of March 13.

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 15 March 2017

CELEBRATE THE

“PASSING OF WINTER”

PYC’s Annual ‘SOCK BURNING’!

March 18th at Dusk – PYC Outstation During the St. Patrick’s Cruise

A Rite of Springtime

Modern astronomy aside, people have recognized the vernal equinox for thousands of years. There is no shortage of rituals and traditions surrounding the coming of spring including the Burning of Socks to the Passing of Winter and the start of Boating Season!!

Bring all your Old Worn Out Socks to Toss into the Inferno!!

There’s an order to this ritual: first we’ll properly dispose of any Unusable United States Flags, then Club Burgees and finish up with the Sock Burning

www.portlandyc.com

The Portlight page 16 March 2017 Cruising with Kids: In the Doldrums and Coming Home By Michael Bradford YC members Mike and Amy Bradford left Sept. The forward head has been converted into a pantry. 10, 2014 to cruise aboard S/V Pelagic, a 42-foot We departed Panama in January and promptly found Hallberg Rassy, for two years, along with their P ourselves on a flat calm sea with no wind. The voyage three children; Anakena age 4, Porter age 9 and Zander from Panama to the Galapagos is 1,000 miles and all of age 12. You can follow their journey with three young it is in an area known as the Doldrums. I had to motor kids at www.sv-pelagic.blogspot.com. most of the way to San Cristobal Island, so we burned Exploring the Darien Jungle and San Blas islands a lot of fuel and upon checking into the country, the on the Caribbean side of Panama last November, was fees alone charged by Ecuador to enter the Galapagos one our kid’s favorite experiences. For five weeks, we totaled $1,500. anchored off idyllic white sand and palm covered islands Despite the expense and effort of getting to the Gala- and enjoyed around the boat and coral reefs. pagos, seeing the endemic flora and fauna is all well Friendly local Kuna Indians in their dug out canoes worth it. Where else in the world will small birds land paddled miles from the mainland to trade with us; ten on your fingers, sea lions sleep in your , sea tur- dollars and a cold soda for the fisherman would pur- tles swim up to you and baby sea lions nibble on your chase 6 lobsters. Numerous jungle rivers empty into the swim fins? We spent hours watching sea lions sleeping sea here and we explored many of them via the dinghy. on park benches and in door fronts, marine iguanas We enjoyed swimming in the fresh river water, doing walking in town and swimming offshore with hammer- laundry and counting toucans as they flew overhead. head sharks. After exhausting most of our food supplies, it was time to leave the Darien and head to a town. We departed the Galapagos a week ago, and we are now 500 miles into our 3000 mile passage to the Marquesas By early December, we were in Colon, Panama and it Islands. We are still plagued by light winds since the was time to arrange for a transit of the Panama Canal. doldrums extend way out to sea and south to 4 degrees The transit fee for a boat our size is $1,000. It took us latitude. We are rolling along at 3 knots in 6 knots of about a week to get the boat measured, pay the fee and wind. I can’t afford to use the engine since I only have set a date to transit. enough fuel onboard for another 700 miles. The trade We have transited the Canal before, but this time it was winds are about 250 miles south of us and we are trying to be at night. Bright flood lights illuminated the locks to get down into them where they will blow us to French as we squeezed in with large freighters. By Midnight, Polynesia. We hope to be in the Marquesas in about 20 we were through the first three locks and up on Gatun days. Lake. The Canal pilot onboard, however, wanted to go home for the night so he directed us to spend the night on a mooring. The mooring was for a supertanker and was larger than our sailboat; we were all able to get off the boat and walk around on the mooring. The next morning, we woke up early, took the pilot aboard and continued across the lake and down the next set of locks. By 2:00pm we were back in the Pacific Ocean. We are now on our way home to Oregon. The plan is to return to the Pacific Northwest by first sailing to the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, Hawaii and then on to Oregon. It is 9,000 miles via this route but avoids our backtracking up through Central America and beating up against the contrary winds and currents off the coasts of California and Oregon. After departing Panama, the next place to buy food and spare parts at reasonable prices will be Hawaii; the boat is now loaded with everything we think we may need.

www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 17 March 2017 Winter Is Almost Over and it’s Time to Get Ready for the 2017 Racing Season By Mary Stainsby, Co-Captain, Sailing Fleet Dinner, hosted by PYC. The event will be Friday, April 7th, with presentation of our perpetual trophies and a n preparation for this year’s season, there have been slide/video presentation by the event producer for this two very intensive seminars put on through US year’s Whidbey Island Race Week. More information Sailing in Portland: one for those wanting to become I may be found in the ad on page 12 of this issue of the US Sailing Judges and one for those wanting to become Portlight. Please be thinking about the annual Luffing a race PRO (Principal Race Officer). For those who Cup award for the sailor who did something during took the PRO class and passed the exam, if they now 2016 that they really wished no one knew about. So far, work as a PRO on at least one regular race (not a beer the only story I’ve heard involves why Velocity had to can event) during 2017, OCSA is planning to reimburse drop out of Pac Cup, and that’s more an unfortunate the cost of the course (at least for the first 8 who do occurrence than something worthy of this award, so we so!). As for the Judge’s seminar, though the class was in really need your help! If you have a story, but don’t like January, the test won’t be available until March, as US speaking in public, tell me or Mike Stainsby, and we will Sailing has just put out their rules revision for 2017 and present the story for you! had to re-write the test. Upcoming racing events: Speaking of new rules, hopefully many of you were able to attend the Dave Perry rules seminar in February, March 5th – Final Sailing On Sundays and Chili Cook-off hosted by OCSA. US Sailing updates their racing rules March 12th – SYSCO’s Daylight Savings Dash every four years, with 2017 being the start of the newest March 18th – RCYC Frostbite Regatta issue. If you weren’t able to attend the seminar, I hope April 7th – PYC Sailors’ Dinner you will at least pick up a copy of the new rules book and look it over. There have been a number of changes April 8th-9th – CYC/PYC Opening Day Regatta regarding mark roundings – of which there are A LOT April 17th – CYC Oregon Offshore Kick-off Party on the Columbia! – so it would be a good idea to know April 18th and 20th – SYSCO Spring Series races begin what those are. Sailing On Sundays this year has really been tough, If you haven’t already done so, be sure to mark your cal- with no wind for most of the 2016 races and too much endar and put in your reservation for the annual Sailors’ snow and ice for most of 2017 to date.

Below, however, are the results for our PYC boats as of mid-February: Place Boat Skipper Total Points Level Racing (no handicap, finish position is place) 1 Misty Pam Sesar 8 7 Bluefin Frank Bocarde 49 PHRF (handicap racing) 2 Rollerball Bob Martin 46 7 Troublemaker Kent Sisk 69 8 Panama Red Chris Schweiger 74 11 Skookum Too George Brown 66 14 Riva Scott Campbell 86 15 Anam Cara Tom Kelly 89 19 Fury Fred Hazzard 95 24 Edgewalker Mike O’Bryant 114 26 Stray Currents Stan Heil 121 27 Mirage Phillip Martindale 121 28 Velocity Tom Keffer 123 32 Iris John Colby 137 Be safe, have fun, and I look forward to seeing you all at the club and out on the water this year! www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 18 March 2017

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www.portlandyc.com The Portlight page 19 March 2017 MARCH APRIL 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 Thur. Lunch 1, 29 Sat. Lunch, Happy Hour & Dinner 5 Wed. Ladies’ Spring Dinner 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 Fri. Lunch, Happy Hour & Dinner 5, 12, 19, 26 Wed. Golf 4, 18 Sat. Lunch, Happy Hour & Dinner 6, 13, 20, 27 Thur. Lunch

11, 25 Sat. Lunch, Happy Hour & Cookout 7, 14, 21, 28 Fri. Lunch & Happy Hour 7 Fri. Sailor’s Dinner 4, 11 Sat. Education Dock 8, 9 Sat.-Sun. Opening Day Regatta 9, 23 Thur. Watercrafters 13, 27 Thur. Watercrafters 14, 21, 28 Fri. Dinner 11 Sat. Cookout 15 Sat. Easter Brunch 13 Mon. All Member Winter Meeting 15 Sat. Spring Regatta 15 Wed. Board Meeting 20 Thur. Bridge 20 Thur. Board Meeting 16 Thur. Bridge 22 Sat. Cookout 17-19 Fri.-Sun. St. Paddy’s Day Cruise 28-30 Fri.-Sun. Men’s Cruise

PYC Historian’s Corner There were all kinds of events for both the kids and Cruising in the 1930s parents; swimming, dinghy racing, softball throwing and By Walter Witschard others for the kids with softball and three legged races ummer is the cruising season with many of our for the parents. members going North and club cruises on the The secret to win the dinghy races was to be the first to SColumbia River. Ray Hansen, whose father was borrow Milt Henderson’s lap strake boat as you would a member in the 1930s, remembers the club’s cruises leave the others behind with this. It was always a contest (Ray joined in 1943). Below is his recollection of these between me and Jack Elliott to see who could get to Mr. cruises. Henderson first. “The cruise that all of us young kids of PYC members looked forward to was what was then call the Barbeque There were tables set up loaded with prizes such as Cruise – or maybe later after my time the Sand Bar play day. jack knives and yoyos arranged by John Sprouse Sr, (John’s dad and owner of Cavu II) to be given for all of The cruises that I remember were in the late 1930’s to the different events. The table looked to us to be at least Rooster Rock Beach. This was before the present park 100 feet long. We would spend hours before the races was developed. started going over the prizes to pick out which ones we Walt “Cap” Elliott (Glenn’s father), the Port Captain at would choose when, and if, we won. My favorite prize the time, would arrange for a large beef to be barbequed was a knife that I used for many years to clean salmon in a pit on the beach. He and his helper George Wash- when I was running my dad’s boat at Astoria. ington, (I really believed that was his name) would come up the night before to start the fire going for the feast the I can still remember the fun we had and how we looked next day. The kids would badger George the next morning forward to this cruise. Can this sort of thing ever happen to get a taste before it was served to everyone else. again for the kids of the present members?”

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