Original Burgee

Being a part of this club has given me interesting and various opportunities that involve the sailing community in ways I never would have imagined. For instance, this last weekend a contingent of our club made our way over to a quiet Des Moines nursing home to meet Doris Linkletter. The woman is 100 yeas old and 55 years ago designed and sewed together our club's first burgee. We mustered up as much ceremony as our club has seen in a long time to accept the Burgee that Doris and her family have now donated to the club.

In exchange we wanted to give Doris something for her donation and to appreciate her work all those years ago.

We also took this opportunity to talk with Doris, Jean, Terry, and Bill about the early club. It was interesting to hear about what boats they used to sail, where their club was based out of, and the overall flavor of what sailing used to be like for them. Troy brought our historical scrap book to instigate story time with Doris.

I also brought my laptop and sat it down on her lap so she could scroll through pictures of the current club. She really seemed to enjoy scrolling through them, at time she was scrolling faster than my internet connection could keep up! It was hilarious to see her face when she got to the picture of my leg tattoo while I rolled up my pantleg to show her it was me in that picture. She just stared at me with an amused smile and a nod that one might give to a crazy person to make them go away.

Once the clock struck noon, it was lunch time and Jean had made reservations at Tuscany just down the street. We packed up our stuff and made our way to the cars.

I learned when you're 100 years old, you don't go anywhere fast. Its funny how when you are forced to slow down a bit, you start noticing things you wouldn't otherwise see... like these amazing shrubs!

We made our way to the restaurant and had a nice big table in the back. Our conversations continued while Doris, hard of hearing, took a nice noontime nap.

Overall, this was a really neat experience for me. Learning about the early club gives me the perspective of having roots now. Knowing that they used to teach anyone who wanted to learn to sail, and realizing that is still an underlying tenet that we still live by. Hearing stories about all the kids they used to teach gives me inspiration for teaching my own kids. My favorite story was that Bill met Jean (Doris's daughter) when she took him out to learn to sail, and now they are married! It really is an interesting community to belong to.

Thank you!

El Toro donation

While we were giving free sailboat rides to the public during Brownsville Appreciation Days, Steve approached our booth and mentioned he had a nice little wooden El Toro sailboat that he wasn't using anymore. He mentioned that his father had done some repair work and built some of the parts with his own hands. More than anything he wanted to see it get some good use. He never said it, but I could tell that he wanted somebody to love this boat.

Well the timing couldn't have been better. I've been very interested in teaching my own kids to sail, but the C-Larks have always been a bit intimidating for my 9 year old son and 7 year old daughter. However, with this offer of a smaller, simpler boat one idea led to another, and my club and I realized that we could really jump start a lot of kids using this boat. Without even seeing the El Toro I agreed to come and get it, something told me this would be a special boat.

Once I got to Steve's house and he opened his garage, I got very excited. It has a beautiful mahogany finish with fiberglass reinforcements down the center and on the chines. After we loaded it all into the back of the van I presented Steve with a PSC club hat and a certificate of appreciation. They are small tokens in comparison to the inspiration and motivation that he has given us.

The mast fit, but just barely.

This is my happy face.

At home I enlisted my kids to help me rig it up and see how it all goes together. They got really excited when we first unloaded it out of the van because they realized this was a boat that was just their size. They were even more excited when they realized how simple this would be to sail. They're already talking about racing, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for more Toros in the future. As we rigged it, I asked the kids "What do you think?" To which they both replied "I love it!" My daughter mentioned that she loved it so much that she would even take a nap in it... Whatever that means.

Now we've got it taken apart and is being stowed to keep it dry this winter. We will be making some space on our dock to keep this boat available to all members.

Elbow Grease

Our dear Commodore has more projects than you can shake a ten foot stick at. Each new boat and trailer that gets donated to the club is obviously a blessing, but it sure takes a lot of hard work to get each boat rigged consistently. More hard work than I realized for sure.

A year or two ago, Commodore Troy took on the task of reviving "Old Red Boat" which has been laid up in our bone yard above the Brownsville Marina. Many of our esteemed members fondly remembers the good ol' days of the red boat proudly flashing that breathtaking red underside. It's days of sailing and glory were cut short by a hole poked in the side due to a cleat when she was being pulled up onto the dock. This accident was several years ago, I know, because I have yet to see her sail since I joined the club. Here she is now in her final stages of repair.

Saturday, she got some TLC from Troy and Chris. She had a few holes in her transom sealed up and got the majority of her hardware attached to the hull including a new traveler. She got a good scrub and her centerboard top cap got a nice coat of epoxy after some skillful router work. I took a moment to admire the beauty of the finished piece of wood. Although it had filled in holes and cracks and a variety of materials holding it together, it was something that human hands had touched, sailed, broken, neglected, then learned to love again.

In the midst of our Old Red Boat's revival, we were donated a couple more, one being our New Red Boat. This one came to us in pretty decent shape, but we've got a list of items in store for her. 

We've got a beautiful new centerboard top cap that is almost ready to mount. The hardware was fairly in tact, but we'll update a few items for fleet consistency. I think I remember that she is missing a halyard, traveler, and hiking straps and will also need her rudder refinished. Well, at least the trailer looks like it's in good shape!

Another donation that came recently is this new Yellow Boat. Well the top is yellow... I've really got to get more creative with our boat names. She's also in pretty good shape. Probably some hardware upgrades to match the fleet, but otherwise I only see a traveler on the to do list.

Primarily we just want to get these boats ready for the water and out of Troy's garage!

You can see in the background that boats are not the only project going on in this garage. In the foreground is the new centerboard top cap for the New Red Boat. Chris is just getting ready to use the router on the Old Red Boat's top cap.

BAD Brownsville Appreciation Day 2014

Brownsville Appreciation Day (BAD) is an event put on by the Port of Brownsville as a fundraiser for their local school and also a way for the Port to give back to the community that supports them. It also acts as a great event that raises awareness about all the activities that go on at this great little port. As is often the case, BAD brings a day of beautiful weather intersecting the rainy days of late September.

Check out the booth babe we got this year! Yeah, that's my wife, so I'm a little biased. She did an excellent job pretending to know about sailing and boating. She learned just to smile, nod, and get excited about stuff at key moments. Like me, she knows enough about our club and our boats to dispense some knowledge, so it wasn't all made up. It paid off well because she handed out some club membership forms and got a boat and an outboard donated to the club. What a lady!

Our booth and sailboat was ready to go by 11:00 am, a whole hour early! Commodore Troy used that extra time to warm up and take my kids out for a quick lesson. Each got some tiller time, and I'm sure Troy got some interesting conversation.

Once people saw a sailboat in the bay they were already starting to make their way down to the dock by 11:30 for their free rides. Chris showed up about the same time and we were able to rig another C-Lark for action. Two boats is always better than one!

By 2 o'clock we had a steady stream of guests going for rides all the way until we shut down just after 4pm. We had families, kids, parents and grandparents from all over kitsap getting rides. Some were veteran sailors that had never been in such a small boat, experiencing the thrill of weight induced heel. Others had never been on a sailboat at all and just loved the calming peace and quiet while zipping past the marina. I think I enjoy the kids the most, especially because I make them part of my crew. Whenever somebody gets in with me, I automatically give them the jib sheets so they can help me sail. The kids are usually fascinated by the fact that they are allowed to control the boat with me.

Overall it was a great event, and I can't think of a better activity for me to give back to the Port and the community than with sailing. I might enjoy taking strangers for rides more than they enjoy the ride. I can't wait for next year!ds