November Newsletter
Commodore's Message
Thanks to all who joined us for a memorable evening at this year’s Ports of Call Commodore’s Bash at the Useless Bay Country Club. Between the fine food, fellowship, live band and lots of dancing it seemed like everyone had a great time. A special thanks to Barb Grimlund and the Kayak group for planning, decorating and hosting such a wonderful event.
The annual Commodores Bash is also the time we traditionally pass the torch (and flags) to the newly elected Flag Officers and Board Members. I am honored to serve as your Commodore along with our newly constituted Board for the next year. We have an excellent mix of returning and new Board members and Fleet Captains which I believe will make for an active and engaged team. I very much appreciate both those who have agreed to stay on for another year and those who are stepping in to serve for the first time. I will do my best to make it an interesting and fun experience!
A special note of appreciation goes out to our now Immediate Past Commodore Bruce Morris and the other Board members and Fleet Captains who are stepping down. Under your leadership and dedication, the Club has continued to grow and become more active and vibrant than ever. We will do our best to keep it going. I am thankful as well that both Bruce Morris and Pete Grimlund will continue to be involved with the Board as Commodores Emeritus.
I will close out my first “Commodore’s Message” by encouraging everyone to attend the upcoming Holiday Party on Tuesday Dec 10 at the Progressive Club. Katy Shaner and the Windward Women have a festive event in store for us. As is our practice we will also feature this year’s nonprofit partner Island Senior Resources. It should be a great way to help kick-off the Holiday Season.
Commodore Dan
Commodore's Ports of Call Bash
The Commodore’s Ports of Call Bash was a huge success thanks to the work of the sponsoring SWYC Kayakers Group with Bash Committee members Diane Lagerstedt, Katy Shaner, Dana Melick and Barb Grimlund. Almost eighty people attended. Merriment was had by all! Socializing, cuisine from Barcelona, Marseilles and Bangkok, Change of Watch Ceremony, introduction of 2025 board members and 2025 fleet captains, dancing to music from the band The Walrus and of course our annual awards.
Bruce Morris, now our Commodore Emeritus, acknowledged and thanked all those many members who contributed to a full and exciting year of activities with the SWYC. Bruce, thank you for your steady leadership this past year, ensuring all our members could enjoy and participate in the full calendar of SWYC water and social activities! Welcome new Commodore Dan Mooney, with flag officers Vice Commodore John Porter and Rear Commodore Phil Simon.
Congratulations to Jill Brown, who was honored with the 2024 Founders’ Award, recognizing her years of contribution and leadership from 2004 through our 2024. Both her behind-the-scenes support and her leadership has been appreciated by all.
Clyde Jenkins received the Don McArthur Award for his continued work and support of the Youth Sailing Association sailing education programs – plus keeping YSA’s fleet in tip top condition. Most recently, Clyde has been leading the direction for adult sailing lessons.
Bob Rodgers received a special honor award for his dedication and hard work for more than a decade of managing and directing the South Whidbey Yacht Club Youth Sailing Association sailing camps, producing more than 400 new sailors over the years. Bob recently retired from the YSA Director role. Thank you, Bob! We welcome Clay Canfield as our new YSA Director.
Kayaking by Fleet Captain Barb Grimlund
Welcome and thank you Nina Fitts and Diane Lagerstedt for stepping into the 2025 Kayaking Co-Fleet Captain roles! We’re all looking forward to your ideas and continuing the kayaking adventures next year! If anyone can offer a hand, skill or help in any other way, please be sure to reach out to Nina or Diane.
A few of our kayakers spent a Friday afternoon before Halloween on a Witchy Paddle out of Langley Marina down around Sandy Point and back. It wasn’t too creepy as the water was smooth as cold brew in a cauldron. The scenery, wildlife and paddling were spellbinding!
JUST SCHEDULED
– Caroling, Kazoos and Kayaking. Join us for holiday cheer on the water! Bring your colorful lighted kayak, paddle board, rowboat, sailboat to Deer Lake Park launch on Thursday, December 5 at 3:30 pm for a holiday lights paddle around Deer Lake. Dale and Ann Christensen, SWYC Members and Deer Lake residents are welcoming parade participants over afterwards for cookies and festive hot beverages.
– 2025 Kayak Planning Meeting – January 6, 6:00 – 8:00 pm. See the SWYC Calendar and Group Me for details.
NEXT YEAR – Our 2-night/3-day kayak camping event venue has moved to Fort Flagler State Park next June 22-24. Mark your calendars now. We’ve reserved the group site with plenty of room for all interested SWYC campers, whether you kayak or not. Hiking, boating, kayaking, biking and exploring the peninsula. More information to come in the spring.
Orcas Island West Beach trip is again planned for 2025. September 18 – 21. All SWYC members are welcome. There’s lots to do on Orcas Island in addition to kayaking. Make reservations now. They book fast. There are already 18 SWYC members signed up.
Sailing / Racing
Laser and Pelican racing are on winter hiatus. Planning continues behind the scenes as our racing leads start to think about 2025. If you have ideas or wish to participate in the planning, reach out to Zak Malbin or Carol Dean for Lasers or Bill Brown for Pelicans
Cruising
If anyone is interested in any off-season cruising, reach out to our Group Me Cruising Group to find fellow cruisers. Questions about Cruising? Contact Jim and Kathy Rogers.
Watch for 2025 Cruise Planning meetings in early 2025.
Safety Matters #17 - Fuel Safety by Clayton Canfield
I’ll bet you started reading this thinking I was going to tell you to avoid smoking around the fuel dock! While I agree with that premise, that isn’t what I have in mind. I’m more concerned about running out of fuel when you don’t have a fuel gauge, as is the case with many sailboats. Having come frighteningly close to running out of fuel in a helicopter, in a car, and on a motorcycle, I am rather sensitive to this issue! We sailors commonly spend a great deal of our time on the water motoring instead of our preferred method of propulsion, sailing, due to a lack of wind. Although it is rare for one of us to actually run out of fuel, it can happen, and the penalty clause can be pretty dire!
So if we don’t have a fuel gauge, how do we determine if we are running out of fuel? This is a relatively easy calculation if you are flying an airplane, riding a motorcycle, or driving a car, but not so easy with a boat. To begin with I suspect most of us motor at an rpm that is relatively low on fuel consumption. For the purpose of conversation, let’s say that is 2000 rpm. After topping off with fuel, I would cruise at a steady 2000 rpm and keep track of how much time the engine is at that rpm until the next fuel stop. Although not super accurate, at the next fuel stop I would divide the number of gallons by the number of hours I logged at 2000 rpm since the last fuel stop. I would ignore the amount of time the engine is not at 2000 rpm. That will give you a conservative estimate of how many gallons you are burning per hour. Because it is only an estimate, I might assume I am burning 10% more than that. Since you know(?) the size of your fuel tank, you can figure out how many hours you can go on a tank.
There are some caveats involved. For one thing, maybe you have to run at a higher rpm than 2000 for several hours. Since fuel consumption increases as the square of the speed, you can estimate how much more fuel you burned during that period. For example let’s say you were running at 2400 rpm instead of 2000. That’s a 20% increase, or 1.2 times the original speed. (1.2) x (1.2) is 1.44, indicating that you are burning 44% more fuel per hour than you would be at 2000 rpm. That should factor into your calculation for cruise.
I’m sure very few of you will do this. However I submit that it only takes one incident of running low on fuel to provide enough incentive to go through this procedure. And if you actually do run out sometime, I know you will do this calculation. Meanwhile, be safe out there and enjoy your time on the water!
Coming Events
Hear ye, Hear ye, Ring out the Bells!
Come one, come all to the Festive Windward Wonderland Holiday Party! Hosted by the Windward Women, there will be festive food aplenty, a playful game or two, holiday music for all to sing and even a song sung by our own SWYC Wayward Sirens!
Tuesday, December 10
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Greenbank Progressive Club
In person only – no Zoom
(Note – this is instead of our usual third-Wednesday-of-the-month meeting)
We will share a delicious potluck dinner. Since this is a full dinner with possibly more people than our usual meetings, you might want to bring something a bit more festive and substantial than our usual sips ‘n dips. And of course, bring your beverage of choice.
| If your last name begins with A-F: | Please bring a main dinner dish |
| If your last name begins with G-L: | Please bring a side dish |
| If your last name begins with M-R: | Please bring an appetizer |
| If your last name begins with S-Z: | Please bring a desert |
Please remember to bring your own plates, utensils and glassware.
Special this year, to benefit both the Youth Sailing Association and Island Senior Resources, there will be a Silent Auction of items either created or donated by Windward Women. There will be original art, guided tours of local South Whidbey attractions, a cooking class for 4 in a home overlooking the Sound, wine by Spoiled Dog Winery and more to bid on and purchase just in time for the gift-giving holiday season.
Here are sample items and activities in the Silent Auction.
Vinyl record from local songwriter Ashley Eriksson. Her band LAKE’s newly remastered LP version of Let’s Build a Roof features “Christmas Island,” known for being the song in the ending credits of the animated TV show Adventure Time.
Framed wildlife photo of Blue Heron taken at Crockett Lake by photographer Jann Ledbetter. Framed size is 16×22.
Set of hand painted cards donated by Kathy Rodgers.
Cooking Class for Four – Indulge in a lovely glass of wine and some delicious nibbles while learning to make a simple but elegant spring or summer dinner based upon our abundant local northwest harvest. Donated by Leslie Flohr.
Oil Painting of Dragonfly. 6 3/4 X 5 inches. Donated by Judy Canfield.
4 hand-painted oyster ring dishes: 2 with a boating theme and two with a Christmas theme. Donated by Ann Christensen
A how-to take mass transit to Seattle – via ferry, #117 bus to the bus transfer station in Lynnwood and the light Rail to Seattle with a stop at either the Burke Museum or Seattle Art Museum. 8 participants. Lunch at café or restaurant of choice to end the adventure. Donated by Katy Shaner.
2025 Calendar of Events
Check out our Calendar for the dates of all of our Annual Events. And be sure to get them on YOUR calendar!
New Members
Tom and Mary Fisher
The Fishers have resided on Whidbey since 1983. Before his retirement, Tom operated a cabinet making business. Mary is pretty well known for her Cultus Bay Gardens activities, including formerly operating a nursery, and offering landscape design services.
Here’s what Tom mentioned in his application:
“I recently purchased a 37 ft Lord Nelson Victory Tug for exploring the Salish Sea North and South. Interested in members knowledge of the areas. My second vessel, the first one being a 35 ft Alaska salmon troller in the 1970’s.”
Sponsor: Jim Rogers
Diane Maceri
“I recently moved to the island from Pullman, WA. for a job in Everett. I love the island and the water. I want to make friends and kayak around the island.”
Sponsors: Sharon and Keith Brocker
Stacy Taylor
“I’m a Northwest native returning to the area after 25 years in CA. Formerly a member of OCSC in Berkley. I do not have a sailboat, but I’m available to crew (I promise to bring wine!). Currently most interested in the kayaking group, and ready to get my Eddyline into the water this spring.”
Sponsor: Mark Conover
Looking for holiday gifts? Getting outfitted for the winter boating season? Looking for SWYC clothing, hats or gifts? Two different SWYC logos plus Windward Women logos to choose from. Make your customized selection and order on line.
Click here: Land’s End Store
Or, you can choose a local on-island option.
Savage Screen Printing & Embroidery in Clinton now has our burgee logo on file (Only the burgee. Not our other logos). SWYC members can stop in to Savage and have the logo applied to their own personal item, or select a hat from Savage’s selection. Stop by next time you’re in Clinton to better understand this alternative to Land’s End.
Land’s End still offers the greater variety of merchandise, more logo configurations and the ease of shopping from your home, but it’s nice to have a local alternative as well.
Visors from Savage Screen Printing and Embroidery
These are examples of some of the products that Savage Screen Printing and Embroidery, in Clinton, is able to create for you locally.
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