Table of Contents:

1. Keith Conrad, Commodore
2. Bill Rumbold, Vice Commodore
3. Bob Bachman, Rear Commodore
4. From the editor
5. Fleet Captain Notice
6. You Are Invited
7. BYC On the Net
8. Previous Towline

Once Labor Day comes and goes, time seems to move into high gear. Already, it's time to start talking about December events, such as Special People's Cruise, Lighted Boat Parade and Christmas Dinner.  

Special People's Cruise is the first of the events on the 2nd of December. Capt. Mike Leedy has accepted the challenge to be the Chairman. Mike tells me that there will be about 200 Special People in addition to the bus drivers, high school assistants and some local dignitaries. BYC needs your help! Please come and take a couple of Special People out for the cruise. This year we will offer event points a $25 fuel reimbursement (off your January bill). Please contact Mike Leedy and help out. Feel free to invite your friends from other Yacht Clubs to help out.

Lighted Boat is next on the 7 & 8 December. I have had a lot of positive comments from past years, so lets make this year even better. Start planing soon.

Christmas Dinner will be on 16th of December. The elected officers and flag officers will once again be pleased to host the dinner. I will be scheduling the first meeting sometime in November to start the planning phase.  

An update on our outstation situation finds that Pierce County has not responded to our written request to partition the hearing examiner for a modification to our permit. It appears that Tacoma Yacht Club's decision is being challenged by the State Dept. of Ecology. Pierce County has placed our request on hold, pending Tacoma's outcome. We also received a letter from Pierce County stating that it was observed that BYC exceeded the 13 boat limit during the Labor Day cruise. They would take no actions this time, BUT should the 13 boat limit be exceeded again during the waiting period, our request to partition the hearing examiner would be denied. 
The Executive Committee is requesting that all BYC members observe the 13 boat limit until this is settled. Don't worry, we are not going to give up, but we need to be patient until we know what the next step will be. The Fleet Capt. Will post a sign-up sheet for Christmas/New Year's use of the outstation.  Be creative during this period and boat share. More to come!

"Do your share plus a little" and always be positive.

Keith and Shelly
Commodore
Awesome Ospreys

On Thursday, 4 Oct., I had the pleasure of escorting representatives from the University of Washington's School of Marine Affairs, the Office of Emergency Management and local officials in a brief tour of our marina facilities. As you may have read in The Sun a couple of weeks ago, U of W, in conjunction with the Washington Seagrant Program, is studying earthquake and tsunami hazards in the Puget Sound region (pdf) or here (NOAA [html]). They are collecting data by visiting numerous marina facilities, including ours, in the development of the study. Their objective is to examine potential damage that may occur as a result of an earthquake and a related tsunami generated on the Seattle fault line and to suggest methodology for reducing risks to life and property.  This is a fascinating study and I have volunteered to participate in their future workshops. Maybe we can learn something that will be valuable to the preservation of our facilities!

October started out with an Octoberfest hosted by PC "Herr and Frau" Wheeler with great German cooking and beer and a scrumptious Black Forest Cake for dessert. Authentic Bavarian music played on a "chest organ" (accordion) and drums set the theme. If you could not make it, you missed a great party!

Dave & Janet Cleator and team will be serving breakfast on Sunday AM Oct 21st. He guarantees no calories or cholesterol. Yeah, right! 

Friday, 9 November, is New Members Night. All members that have joined the club since October 2000 are "New Members" and are invited (requested) to attend free of charge. Sponsors be sure and bring all your new members. You are still responsible to get them well indoctrinated. For all you "old" members that keep asking, " who is that guy?" come and find out. It is a great time to meet and greet our new people and find out who they really are.

November 18th, Sunday, will be another opportunity to taste a wonderful breakfast prepared by Doug and Pam Smith and crew.  He indicated that they have a menu planned that the Pilgrims would have sailed to the New World for. 

With these uncertain times that we are living through right now, Lynne and I pray that you will all have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends and remember those less fortunate than ourselves.

Bill Rumbold 
Vice Commodore 

Since I have been gone from the Club for almost a month and am not current on events, this months' column will be a little different.

After almost one moth on the road and so far about 6000 miles, Gerri and I are on our way home from our long planned New England adventure. We have toured every state in the northeast and spent almost a week in the District of Columbia. We have seen many beautiful and remarkable sights and the fall colors were brilliant. Of all the colors we saw, the ones that stand out the most in our memory were RED, WHITE and BLUE. As we traveled east across the states we were aware of the many flags on car and truck antennas and some homes also but when we reached the "other Washington" and throughout Pennsylvania, New York, and the New England states,  the "colors" were seen everywhere. Flags were hung or flown from homes, huge ones draped the sides of commercial buildings, emblems of all kinds were in vehicle windows, and red, white and blue was seen on people as their clothing, and pins of all sorts were worn. It was remarkable. It also seemed like every other business readerboard said "God bless America" or "United We Stand". Incredible! We felt proud to be Americans.

We went around New York City since the tunnels are still closed and we knew we wouldn't be able to get near the site of the World Trade Center. We did spend almost a week in D.C. and took photos of the Pentagon. In person it looked more devastating than the worst pictures we had seen prior. Even after seeing it I am still having a hard time accepting that human beings planned it.

In talking to many people in New England about the events of September 11 two things were quite apparent-- they were worried, maybe even a little scared and they were also mad. It brought to mind a poem a friend sent to us by Herman Melville.

There is a sobbing of the strong
And a pall upon the land
But the People in their weeping
Bare the open hand
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the open hand

Bob Bachman
Rear Commodore

Would you like your very own monthly column in the Towline? It is part of being the towline Editor, as well as points!

V/C Bill Rumbold is seeking applicants for the position of next year's Towline Editor.

Captain Mike Thomas
Towline Editor

Due to Scheduling conflicts the November cruise has been canceled.  Have a wonderful holiday season and remember there is a  13 boat limit at the outstation.
This limit will be in effect until we get this issue resolved with Pierce County.  A sign up sheet for holiday cruising to the outstation is posted at the clubhouse.

P/C Mark Miller
Fleet Captain.

The feedback on the web page has be incredibly positive. Its nice to hear the compliments and words of thanks.
Now I'd like the next step. More information, more suggestions for improvements.  This is your web page. What information do you have to contribute?

The Executive Committee has been very helpful, sending their towline articles to the webteam as for the online towline articles.  I'd like to encourage other groups to also send their contributions, either for the online towline, or information that should be on the web.  It doesn't really matter what format, that can be cleaned up to get it on the web (though electronic is nice when possible).  Send submissions to webteam@bremertonyachtclub.org.

I've been thinking about a section for comments/reviews of local boating related businesses. If I can get enough feedback, I can try to put something together. Let the rest of the club know when you've had excellent luck with parts or service to encourage a good business, as well as send a warning to other club members of places that may not be the best choice.  This section more than any other really depends on feedback from as many members as possible.

Captain Dave Uebele
Technology Chairman

BYC members are Cordially invited to join the Skipperettes Wednesday, November 7, at 1:15 PM in the club house meeting room. Guest speaker will be Russell Warren, local historian, who will speak on the early Bremerton history and the Mosquito Fleet. Last January Russel spoke at Skipperettes about early BYC and Charleston history to rave reviews. Coffee and cookies will be served. Guests are welcome.

Bunny Danial
BYC Skipperette Program Chairman

For the October Towline on the web, click here.
Last update: 12 December 2002