Tides & Times February 1,2014 View from the Pilothouse In this issue: 2014 is going to be a great year here at the marina and out on the water. Too much good stuff It is time to get excited about boating again! To highlight some of the changes Galley Slave 2 you will see here at the marina, we will Marina Manager Minutes 2 begin with the temporary or semi permanent repair to the Esplanade at gates FHM Photo of the 3 7 & 8. Anything will be better than Month looking at barricades, netting and "do not Scottie’s Scuttlebutt 3 come close or this may collapse" signs, Pets on the Poop Deck 4 right? Now, the city's ability to balance their check book or have a long term plan Who was Peter Puget 4 will depend on how long we see it sit in this phase; let's assume 3 years. Gates 2-7 FHM’S Gary Stugard 5 will see the Esplanade replacement start in Saved the Day September, the city promises this time, Flagship Maritime 6 really, no they really mean it, this time for Footnotes sure. Can we say about 4 false starts on this already, hmmm? Just have faith folks, eventually they will Tidal Tidbits do something, we too are at their mercy, I Make sure you have a do emphasize mercy. parking pass displayed in your window. If you have a We have added to our SUP (stand up paddleboards) fleet so large groups may guest, make sure they have a now rent these and traverse our waterway and look for ways to torture us un-suspecting guest pass. As we move into skippers just trying to get to the fuel dock. I do believe a few of them have gotten up the busy season and with the close and personal with the bow of a 38' Bayliner, oops did I say that? Have patience recent loss of some parking they are a part of a new breed of boater under the heading of "personal watercraft", spaces due to construction, there is room enough for all of us. It is the sunny days and blue sky's that we all call this has become doubly "boating weather" that draw us out in droves from our dens! How lucky we really are to important. If you are having have this as our back yard. I have put in a personal request to keep fuel prices down issues finding a parking place, this season as well as supply everyone with jobs who needs one. If you look closely you please come into the office will see me up in my office doing some sort of Swedish ritual to ensure a fun and prosperous season for all. As long as the ritual does not include herring as a food and see if we can help! This staple, I shall remain vigilant! summer there will be cars towed if we cannot identify Lori Natucci them. Please help us help General Manager, FHM you. 1 Marina Manager Minutes As we head into 2014 - a brand new year with new goals, resolutions and chal- lenges - I can't help but shake my head in amazement at how quickly the last 12 months have flown by. Aside from the simple fact that time inevitably speeds up as we grow older, the astounding technological advances we've seen in the last decade or so have only served to make the world pass by at an even faster rate. Now, I'll be the first one to admit that I'm always on my smartphone, checking Facebook or shopping online for any number of my wallet-draining hobbies, but maybe we as a society are starting to lose just a little bit of the creativity, passion and social interaction that has defined us since our beginning. One thing that's seemingly gotten lost amongst the constant din of online banking, Tweeting and keeping up with the Kardashians is something that you may or may not re- member: your boat. You may recall lazy summer evenings, anchored up and sitting on the aft deck during a gorgeous Pacific Northwest sunset with a cold margarita and great company - starting to ring any bells? As someone who's been managing marinas on various bodies of water throughout the country for over nine years, the drastic shift of the boater's mindset away from the art of boating has been both surprising and disheartening. Ask yourself this: when's the last time that you loaded the boat up with steaks, cold beer, the kids and the family dog, pointed the bow northwest and just explored the Puget Sound? If you're like me and the vast majority of your fellow boat owners, it's been far too long. Chances are, adventures like this are exactly why you fell in love with boating in the first place (or at least the idea of undergoing such adventures...). So, amongst all of the new hopes and resolutions you've set for yourself this year, consider setting aside a couple of days to hit the pause button, hide the I-Phone and reintroduce yourself to an old friend. Trade your Facebook, Twitter and cable for fenders, tacking and companion- ways, if only for a weekend. Trust me, the Kardashians will be there waiting for you when you get back. Cheers, Ian W. Marina Manager GALLEY SLAVE Philly Cheese Stuffed Peppers Ingredients mushrooms, onions and garlic for 4-5 minutes until tender. 4 peppers - any color, 2. While the vegetables are cleaned cooking, cut the tops off of the 1/4 pound rare roast peppers and clean out the beef deli meat insides. 2 Tablespoons butter 3. In a large bowl, stir roast beef, 1 onion, diced sautéed vegetables, 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced Worcestershire sauce and 1 teaspoon diced garlic shredded cheese. 2 Tablespoons 4. Fill peppers with the roast beef Worcestershire sauce mixture and place in a baking 1/2 cup shredded dish you've sprayed with cooking cheese spray. 5. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes. 5 Nuttin’ will make ya feel like Instructions minutes before removing from yous in Philly like dees here! oven, sprinkle more cheese on 1. Preheat oven to 400. Heat butter top to brown. Enjoy! in a skillet. Once melted, sauté 2 Recalling last month's discussion on the need to routinely inspect our shore power cords and their connections let's this month touch on another of the things we often forget about for long periods of time, the batteries. Out of sight out of mind is probably the main contributing factor in failing to take a look at these rascals. That and that it often involves removing either a hatch or cover of some kind that is under a step or worse, a storage cabinet or locker full of this and that's. Most of us are using the most common of batteries, the flooded cell. It's easy to see the batteries on our boat's much the same as we do those in our vehicles but aside from one that is used only for engine starting, the deep cycle variety that keep most lights, refrigeration units, nav electronics etc. working on a boat need to be inspected and maintained more often. When was the last time you checked the fluid levels on your house battery(s)? The repeated discharge and recharge cycles will tend to boil off the fluid much quicker then what you would see on a starter battery. Is there any of that pesky corrosion build-up at the terminals? These two simple tasks at the very least can help you to get both the full life from the battery and keeps the whole system functioning at its best. Use distilled water when topping off the cells. Clean up those terminals and if the condition continues it’s a sign that something is going on that requires additional investigation. As inconvenient as these task can sometimes be, the truth is they seldom take little more than a few minutes and can save time and money in the long run as well as peace of mind. 'til next month, safe and happy boating. Scottie M. Operations Manager Did you know there is an Elliot Bay Yacht Sales branch right next door to the marina office? Well now you know. Debbie Yeend with Elliott Bay Yacht Sales has been around boats her whole life. She grew up in Eastern Washington spending every open weekend at the river with her family and their ski boat. After college she was introduced to sailing in the Seattle area, fell in love with it and soon became an avid racer splitting her time on the sound and Lake Washington! She met her husband, Jon Thompson, after a race at the CYC clubhouse in the mid 80's and they have been racing and cruising together ever since. They have 2 daughters who grew up sailing and love spending time on their Cal 33 and Cal 20. Debbie loves to network with boating friends to find the right boat for her customers. Debbie lives in Tacoma and her focus is listing and selling boat in the South Sound. Call Debbie at 253-732-9988 or visit at Elliott Bay Yacht Sales' South Sound office located inside the Flagship Maritime Center at Foss Harbor Marina. Pier Peer in Tacoma Bring your family and join Foss Waterway Seaport and Metro Parks Ta- coma for a "Pier Peer" aquatic nighttime adventure. Explore the hundreds of mysterious marine life forms — including some pretty "alien" looking creatures drawn to underwater lights placed off our docks.