‘ S o u n d i n g s ’
Inside this issue:
Commodore’s Report
1Vice Commodore’s
Report
2Rear Commodore’s
Report
3 Book Club 3 Treasurer’s Report 4 Fleet Captain Report 4 Director Greg Barnett 5 Cruising With Grandkids 6 Make-A-Wish Pix 7 Make-A-Wish Pix 8 Blog: Haves and Have Nots 9 Event Calendars 11 Cruising Event 12 Volume , Issue September 2014Silver Gate should be proud. Make-A-Wish is back and was a tremendous suc-cess. Over $200,000 was raised for the kid’s wishes. It was an exciting day; we had so many SGYC volunteers participat-ing. For those members that dedicated so many hours all year long preparing for the event, I want to personally thank you for a job well done.
The pool and spa has been completed. The pool furniture has been ordered. It’s time to start enjoying the pool and have a good time. There will be a few basic and required rules posted. Our hope is that
we do not need to establish too many rules. Be mindful that we need to be good neighbors to the Bay Club, their marina and also to the members on our docks. If swimming early in the morning or later at night remember that noise from a pool and spa is louder than you think. Our voices are magnified. Members will be allowed to bring in food and drinks (NO GLASS), as this is a member area. You can also get a drink from the bar to bring into the pool area, but remember that per CR4 No wet bathing suits allowed in the club and GR 6 Shoes and shirts are re-quired in the club.
Make a new friend: we have many new members at Silver Gate who are here to get involved and have fun. When you see a face you do not know, reach out to them, introduce yourself and say hi. Invite someone new to sit with you in the bar or galley. At one time we all were new mem-bers.
Upcoming events September:
St. Margarita Labor Day Raft up
V-32 Race
Privateer Race See you all on the docks, Cheryl Nielsen
Commodore SGYC
Commodore Cheryl Nielsen
Commodore’s Report
Congratulations to Larry Pascoe who won the 1st place trophy in the SGYC and SDCatA race. His boat is Sabbatical. Good job, Larry!!
Vice Commodore Tom Iverson
Vice Commodore’s Report
Laura and her staff are committed to provide the best food and service for Club members and our guests.
In my continuing series on getting to know the Fiddlers staff, our bar-tender, Robert, brings many life experiences to the job. He is a very cre-ative individual and has experience in many differ-ent areas. He has ap-prenticed with a French baker and is talented in making doughs, cakes, custards, ice creams and croissants. His interests in art and graphic design allowed him to work for-matting graphics, custom painting on racing motor-cycles and frame design for custom bicycle build-er, Brian Baylis. Rob’s focus when he is not serving members and guests at the bar is devel-oping and building his own clothing business using denim. Some members who know of his skills, have purchased Hello Silvergators –
It has been another great month at the club. I actu-ally managed to get out sailing with friends and had great winds and near perfect temperatures. Since most of my crew were inexperienced, we did stay on the Bay, sailed to Coronado Bay, dropped the anchor and had a nice lunch. It is always nice to get out on the water even though you come back to the slip with a project list that is longer than when you left. Karen and I are looking forward to the upcoming Santa Margarita Raft-up to enjoy boating and an-chor time with members of both Silver Gate and our hosts from Santa Margarita YC.
Speaking of Club events, the Make-a-Wish Tuna Challenge was a great success. I want to thank all of the club members who volunteered their time, money and
exper-tise to make the event such a great success. It was mentioned to me several times though-out the event that it was very helpful that Club mem-bers were wearing their name tags. Most people said it really gave the event a personal touch. The finishing touches on the pool and spa are be-ing completed at this time. We expect our final inspection at the end of August and we can begin to use our newest ameni-ty. Please respect the pool rules and not bring glass into the pool area and keep the noise level down in the evening so not to disturb or annoy our neighbors at the Bay Club Hotel.
I want to encourage members that are using the bar and galley to fill out a comment card so that the bar and galley committee can make rec-ommendations for im-provements. Steve,
clothing items from him. Robert is very personable and likes to know members by name so next time you are in the bar, introduce yourself and say hello. September is a great month for club members using the club, please respect mem-bers private events and we will see you on the water! Tom Iverson
Vice Commodore
Enjoy Reading and Discussing What You’ve Read?
The next meeting of the 11 Minute Book Club is scheduled for Sunday,
Sep-tember 21st (SGYC Library), the book selection will be: The Orphan Train by
Christina Baker Kline. Joanne Simmons will lead our discussion.
Questions: contact Gloria Rumsey at [email protected]
Rear Commodore
Rear Commodore Richard Benscoter
Thank You, Volunteers Make it Happen
The metamorphosis is about over and by the time you read this you will be using the pool and spa. It's amazing how the club has been transformed from the fifties style archi-tecture into a very comfortable repose with unbelievable views. With our new home comes new faces so, if you see a new face, go introduce yourself, it might amaze you on what you have in common!!
I want to personally thank all the members who took the time and made a commitment to make our club a beacon of the community. Because of your involvement, our Sailors and Marines have a little more in their financial support network if needed. The physical-ly challenged members of our community had a day on the water that will fill their con-versations and remembrances for years to come. Our hosting of the Make-A -Wish Tuna challenge has set the bench mark and will provide memories for the young people of our community battling horrendous diseases. If you are new or a long time member we must remind ourselves the facilities we love are ours to enjoy largely because of the Club’s commitment to community involvement and support.
Keeping our docks and Club house looking wonderful requires man hours and effort. First I want to thank John King for his daily effort to wash the bird droppings from our marginal walkway. If you get off your boat and confronted with the white concrete depos-it take a minute and wash depos-it off. It is animal waste. I don't think you want depos-it tracked on your boat!!!!
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." ― John Donne, No Man Is An Island
Treasurer ’s Report
We just finished the Make A Wish (MAW) weekend with, unofficially, over a quarter million dollars raised! Most of us participated in supporting this worthy charity. On a side note, the exposure of the clubhouse to MAW skip-pers and crew drew some interest in new membership. Our Jr flags and Associate numbers have been holding almost steady. With the Spa/Pool opening, I hope we'll be able to increase these numbers.
Our financials are still boring, but again, fiscally beyond, well, great. I had hoped the Spa/Pool would have al-ready opened, but it was not to be. September should be the definite starting month for the Spa/Pool. I'm very interested in the cost of operation. Since the Spa/Pool
is our last piece of the project, once all receipts are in, I'm asking the Finance Committee4 to do a complete compilation on the over-all pro-ject cost. I hope to have complete re-sults by next month.
On a small but important note: I would ask all members to be aware of A/C running with windows and/or doors open. It does cost us money, and it is our money!
Treasurer Steve Napier
Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain ReportMy apologies for such a long absence from the Sound-ings. There has been a lot going on in the past few months with regard to the fleet and all of it has been good. In July, we had the V-32 race on the 4th of July
with 19 boats racing and many, many spectators. The day was a great success all around. At the end of the month we had the Commodore’s Overnight raft-up and races. The raft-up was well attended, as shown in the photos (thanks to Ryan Pennell) and included several racers. Thanks to all of you who attended this raft-up to help honor our Commodore, Cheryl Nielsen.
In August the racing fleet took part in the Three Mark Fiasco race held by Southwestern Yacht Club. Light winds meant that many boats did not finish the race but any day out on the water is a good day. As you read this, the Santa Margarita raft-up just completed on Labor Day weekend up in Oceanside and I am sure was, or will be, a tremendous hit. At the time of this writing,
50% of the boats attending the raft-up are planning on continuing on over to Cat-alina Island so I hope the weather and seas continue to be fair. We have the Privateer Race coming up at the end of September so watch for the Notice of Race coming out soon.
I would like to thank Dave and Terry Endert for the efforts with the V-32 fleet. It continues to be a very popular fleet and the 19 boats on July 4th and 12 boats at the V-32 Priva-teer race in August is testament to their efforts to make the fleet fun but competitive.
I would also like to thank Jim Holden for taking on PRO du-ties for the past few months. The time he spent and effort he made to take on the summer races, and give me a break during the Beer Can Series, is incredible and I am grateful for that.
I hope to get a cocktail cruise on the schedule soon, as well as continue growing the racing and V-32 fleets. By the way, the Silver Gate Yacht Club fisherman did an awesome job in the Make-A-Wish Tuna Challenge placing 4th in the club
standings. Ed Tschernoscha placed 1st in the large boat division with a 35.4 lb. yellowfin. Congratulations Ed! Be safe both on and off the water!
Fleet Captain Joe Plymesser
Director Greg Barnett
NEW SGYC
RECI-PROCITY POLICY
ONLINE
For many years, SGYC had a rather vague poli-cy regarding the privi-lege of reciprocity with other yacht clubs. The subject was raised so infrequently that members and staff alike had trouble remembering just how that policy was supposed to be implemented. With SGYC’s new facilities and our increasing popularity, the Bridge and the Board determined we needed to better define how visiting yacht club members may access our club and how we share our facilities with them.
SGYC has always enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as
a friendly - especially cruiser-friendly, yacht club. We composed a policy that the Bridge and the Board hope will warmly welcome bonafide yacht club members and encourage them to visit us. We also hope the policy will discourage posers and others who might overstay their welcome. Silvergators are a friendly bunch, but we also don’t want anyone to take advantage of us.
Of course, no policy can address every possible situation that might be encountered. However, if you are not famil-iar with the privilege of yacht club reciprocity or if you have questions regarding our own policy, please visit the SGYC home page and click on the “Visiting SGYC” but-ton. You can also enter the following into your brows-er: http://www.sgyc.org/main/VisitingSGYC.aspx.
By Greg Barnett, Director Director
Greg Barnett
Chloe is our oldest grandchild, and soon to reach age 10, so almost reaching double digits and being able to swim like a fish means she is old enough to go to Catalina with us — her grandparents — without parents.
But we know it's also nice to have someone close in age to share these new experiences, so Tyler, her brother (age 8) joined us on a weeklong boat adventure to Catalina
Having a sister and brother who are very close, traveling together proved a charm for warding off any homesick-ness. Chloe has always been independent and adven-turous, so no worries there. As for Tyler, we were con-cerned but he also was no problem. Both were way too busy loving their new adventure to become homesick. The idea of taking the grandchildren to Catalina on the boat sounds so simple, right? It's the perfect no-brainer vacation: Once you get everybody settled on the boat you're home free. No hassles.
True - But we also learned that there's no substitute for well thought-out preparation. For what we hope was our first of many "grandchildren to Catalina" tradition took months of long-distance planning, researching, and coordi-nating.
First we were concerned about motion sickness, so we planned our trip from San Diego to Oceanside, and then to Catalina with the condition if anyone got sick we would turn around. No one got sick and the break off the boat in Oceanside was great to burn off part of the never ending energy. So here's some of what we learned:
Get the kids involved: We started with the meal planning of what and where we were going to eat. Then off to the grocery store to provision up. Then back home to cook up marinade, and prepare what we were going to eat for the week. The amount of food they can consume is amazing!
Bring along a buddy: Invite a sibling — as we did — or a friend.
Establish the ground rules immediately: As grand-parents in charge, we were very cautious. Especially while underway. Life jackets on deck a must. A "one hand for yourself" rule when you move, use the hand-holds.
Be attentive: It was important that the grandkids experience a good cross section of Catalina's natural wonders. Of the excursions we planned, none were disappointing: from miniature golf to a golf car trip around the town to feeding the garibaldi in lovers cove
it all was an ad-venture.
Have a nota-rized letter and medical cards authorizing you as there guardi-an to make deci-sions for any emergency:
Hospitals require it.
Structured vs. Unstructured: Chloe and Tyler were inseparable, and we had to make them go ashore daily or they would have been in the water all day and into the night. We planned the daily ashore activities the night before with the grandkids so they knew what the day entailed. Be spontaneous if there is something that catches their interest go with it.
Chloe's and Tyler's Tips for Grandkids:
Pack warm clothes: - Even if the forecast for Catali-na is nice.
Bring along some quiet-time projects: Games, journal, kindle, and of course PS2 (or equivalent). There's so much going on all the time, it's nice to chill out every once in a while.
Order something different off the menu: When you go out to eat try crab legs. They rock!
Richard Benscoter
Cruising with the Grandkids
We motor-sailed into Marina Puesto Del Sol, Nicaragua aboard sailing vessel Gypsy Wind on the morning of 2/18/14... The Marina
The first thing we noticed is the solitude. We realized this is because there was hardly anyone there. It's a small marina with few slips and even fewer boats, most of which seemed to be stored rather than lived in. We wandered up to the pa-lapa bar/restaurant, a beautiful breezy open space facing the water and struck up a conversation with the only person there, Robert, an older and refined gentleman, who as it happens, is the marina and hotel owner. In chatting with Robert
we learned that his ho- tel, comprised of 2 two
-storey buildings with 12 rooms each, currently
has 4 guests. But, he assures us, on the
weekends his census grows to 15 or so as
the locals from the nearby city
Chi-nandega come over for a weekend respite.
Hal asked Robert how people find his resort
in such a seemingly remote place and
Robert modestly (or evasively--depending
upon your point of view) replied that he doesn't
know. We spoke with Robert for a few
minutes more and then moved on to explore
the marina and hotel grounds.
Our tour revealed a lodge-like building with
interior bathrooms/ showers, an office,
and a large elegant yet empty banquet room.
We found the exterior guest laundry room
around the side of the building adjacent to
the hotel's laundry room. Further down
the stone paved road are the 2 hotel
build-ings separated by a bricked pathway, a
cloudy pool, and the multi-purpose outbuilding which serves as a makeshift staff room, an immigration office, and gar-den shed. Days later we would decide that rather than quiet and serene as was our initial impression, everything felt ra-ther cold, unfriendly, and reserved; including the few staff that were present. Though everyone was polite, absolutely no one smiled here during our 3 day visit. No one, not once.
Later that evening, Robert came round the boat and invited us to be his guest to watch the sunset on their beachfront property; we were flattered and excited to have an opportunity to get off the boat and see some of the local area. Robert and his wife Maria, in their 2 cars, drove 11 of us--our crew of 5, a pleasant Canadian couple in the boat docked next to us (Siné Timoré), and the 4 guests from the hotel (a genteel couple from Virginia--whose life hobby is you know "hunting little birds and fish", and a jaunty couple from England who came here for the sole purpose of sport fishing and were dis-appointed because "the manner in which it was done resulted in quite poor results")--on a dirt road through dense man-groves to their private gated palapa and infinity pool on the beach where we were served wine and a gorgeous sunset. As the sun set and poolside conversation flowed, it soon seemed to us that the main purpose of this gathering was for Robert to smooze the 2 couples from the hotel into investing into his development plan for the beach acreage he owns between the marina and the local native population. His plans appear to include clearing out the mangroves (and pre-sumably the native village) to build condos, large scale hotels, and a golf course, of course.
The Village of Asseradores
At sunrise the next morning Hal and Alan, our fellow crewmember and friend, set off into the village and through the
Continued on page 10
An Observation of The Haves and Have Nots:
Continued from page 9
mangroves to the beach to watch the surfers do their thing. I left to join them an hour later after catching a few more zzzs and lingering over espres-so. I exited the hotel compound through the manned security gate and headed down the dirt road toward the mangrove shaded village and past the hand-painted sign on the road pointing to Joe's Place, where we all planned to meet up for breakfast. Along the way I was joined by children in cleaned and pressed uniforms on their way to school, wandering chickens, a cowboy on horseback herding a parade of cows, a stray dog or two, and several small motor-bikes carrying more people aboard than would be legal in the States. There were no cars on the road, in fact I only noticed 2 cars parked in the entire vil-lage. I saw small homes which were constructed of either cinder block or corrugated metal. Yards con-sisted of hard packed and cleanly swept dirt com-pletely devoid of grass and debris. Almost everyone had a cistern, hand pumped water, a free range pig and some chickens. There was a simple church, a tiny grocery, a school, and Joe's Place.
Joe's is a casual affair. Part youth hostel and part restau-rant it is frequented mostly by surfers and backpackers who enjoy wandering and living on the cheap. The food is tasty, the beers are cold, and it's all relatively inexpensive. Combine all the above with Joe the owner's wit and lively conversation and you'll find yourself having an enjoyable time. Joe, a Portuguese sailor who lived in the U.S. for a number of years, has circumnavigated the world 1 ¾ times in a sailboat, single-handed. He didn't make the final leg back to San Diego on his last voyage, exhausted and not well for his efforts, but he did take time to stop and smell the roses: he fell in love with Asseradores and a local woman, and never left. And now, for now, we have Joe's Place. Those who travel this way would be wise to stop in a have a cervesa with Joe. Learn a little about his story, a little about his adventures, his David and Goliath battles with the marina owner Robert. See for yourself Joe's little symbiotic oasis in a serene and remote village in the man-groves. Because if The Haves ever have their way, this could be just another hotel, just another condo, just anoth-er golf course, of course.
Nina 04/11/2014, Aserradores, Nicaragua
The band sure kept those of us who were working the various booths dancing to their collection of classic rock tunes. Good job guys!
September 2014
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
LABOR DAY2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Finance 9A V-32 12P14
15
MAW 6:30P16
BoD 6P17
18
19
20
CRA After Race Party21
Book Club 11A22
23
24
25
26
27
Privateer Race28
29
30
October 2014
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Finance Commit-tee12
14
Foundation Mtg 5P BoD Mtg 6P15
16
17
General Membership Mtg 8P18
Man O’War Race19
Book Club 11A20
MAW 6:30P21
22
23
24
25
V-32 Halloween Race 12P26
27
28
29
30
CRA Meet & Greet31
Raft UpVice Commodore: Tom Iverson Rear Commodore: Richard Benscoter Jr. Staff Commodore: Carey Storm Secretary: Terry Van Winkle Treasurer: Steve Napear
Director: Don Mumby
Director: Paul Brooks Director: Chuck Olson Director: Jo Ann Sedgwick Director: Deborah Pennel Director: Greg Barnett Port Captain: Reg Pyrke Fleet Captain: Joe Plymesser
Bar Hours
Wednesday 5:00-10:00pm Thursday 5:00-10:00pm Friday 5:00-11:00 pm Saturday 12:00-11:00 pm Sunday 12:00-9:00 pmGalley Hours
Wednesday Dinner 5:30-8:30 pm Friday Dinner 5:30-9:00 pm Saturday Breakfast 8:00-12:00 am Saturday Dinner 5:30-9:00 pm Sunday Breakfast 8:00am-12:00 noonHARBOR POLICE DAY OR NIGHT
(619) 686-6272 EMERGENCY ONLY CALL
(619) 223-1133 POLICE ASSISTANCE (619) 531-2000 (619) 222-1214 FAX (619) 222-4506 www.sgyc.org email: [email protected]
