CRUISING ASSOCIATION
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TOP OF THE BAY
CRUISING ASSOCIATION |
North East, Maryland
DOCKLINE - June 1999
FROM THE COMMODORE:
Well, the Season is in full swing - a lot of boaters are out this weekend and our marina had a full house. I know that most of you are putting the finishing touches on the boat, if you haven't done so already. This past weekend at the Baltimore Yacht Club Opening was like old times for Top of the Bay. We tied for first place for having the most boats in attendance! A great time was had by all!
As we carry on with our busy lives, let's not forget to take a minute to remember Ron Wiertel in our prayers as he undergoes this set of Chemo treatments in his continuing battle with cancer. Ron proved what a fighter he is this weekend by attending the BYC opening by boat and participating in all of the activities!
Baltimore Inner Harbor recently celebrated Waterfest, with boat races all the way around the harbor, crafts, food, and plenty to do for both kids and adults. It ended with fireworks on Sunday. Maybe next year we should consider this outing for our shake-down cruise.
Carolyn and I had a great time attending the 3rd Annual Walk a thon for Parkinsons disease sponsored by the Maryland Cruising Club. Hopefully more members will choose to attend next year. It's a good time for a good cause.
See you on the Bay,
FROM THE VICE COMMODORE:
This past month has kept your VC quite busy. We attended three yacht club openings and held our first ever fire fighting class.
While attending the openings I've managed to make numerous new contacts from other yacht clubs. I urge all of our members, officers or not, to come out and meet the many wonderful people that make up the yacht club community.
A special thanks to all that attended the fire safety clinic. It makes all the effort worthwhile to see so many of you taking an interest in our safety and needless to say, in supporting our organization.
Thank you to Bill Cousins for bringing a variety of fire extinguishers to our clinic. Some of them were defective. They all came off of boats like yours and mine. We learned to beware. If it's been hanging around for years, it may not work!
Have you seen the web site lately? Jerry has added our version of "Bay Watch," or bay cam. Check it out!
I'm very proud to announce that we have attracted our first new member thru the web. If you haven't taken notice, we've had over 600 visitors as of June 1st. We have certainly sparked an interest in just 4 months.
Last month you all received one of our new TOBCA membership applications. That's not a place mat or material for making a paper airplane. Give it to someone you would want to be a member of your club and bring them with you to an event.
In lieu of a general meeting in June, there will be a special meeting on June 27, at 3:30 PM for those members going on our Washington, DC cruise. Candy and Jack were gracious enough to allow us to meet at their bay house.
HIGH TIDINGS FROM YOUR FLEET CAPTAIN:
Our 1999 cruising schedule has started with a flourish. We one a plaque for "most boats attending" at the Sassafras Yacht Club Opening and then a really big feather in our cap, "most boats from one club" at Baltimore Yacht Club. They had over 150 visiting boats representing over 45 clubs and TOBCA tied for first place with Salem Yacht Club, each bringing in 14 boats!
We had wonderful weather for both weekends.
At Baltimore Yacht Club, our Past Commodore, Ron Wiertel, received a standing ovation at the opening ceremony. I was glad to see it and to be affiliated with someone so well liked. He is a credit to our club.
Our present Commodore, Bill Cousins and Lady Carolyn hosted cocktail parties on their boat, the Diamond Lady, before dinner each night. A good time was had by all. We only had one little mar on the weekend when Dutch suddenly went for an unplanned swim and lost his glasses. Luckily he wasn't hurt and his dunking didn't seem to dampen his spirits.
Our next planned activity is the Bush River Yacht Club opening the weekend of June 11, 12, and 13. Those boats that are planning on going on Friday will find us at the Bush River bridge, waiting for the bridge opening at 5:00 PM. The experience of watching the bridge opening is something to behold. The Amtrak crew comes out on the bridge, waiting for the train to go by, so that the crew can immediately use acetylene torches to sever the rails and the crane can lift a section of the bridge for the boats to go through the opening.
Just as fast, they lower and weld it so that another train can cross. It is one amazing experience.
After you get through the opening, it is only a short boat trip to the Bush River Yacht Club and one of the best yacht club openings to attend. BRYC is home port for PC Ron Wiertel so he will make sure we get prime slips and BRYC knows how to throw one heck of a party! It's theme this year is "Hawaii". I am really looking forward to it.
The bridge openings are 5:00 PM Friday and 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM both Saturday and Sunday. The normal bridge clearance is 12 feet so if you can get under that you won't be limited to the bridge openings. For the rest of us that need the bridge to open, make sure you are there on time or better yet, a little early. I am really hoping for a good showing from TOBCA and maybe another plaque! Let me know if you are planning on attending and whether you will arrive Friday evening or Saturday morning.
We have had a couple of cancellations on the Washington, DC vacation cruise, so if you haven't already signed up, there is still time and room for you to join us. The captain's meeting is June 27 at Jack and Candy's bay house. This is an important meeting where we will figure out who is meeting whom, where. Since we are all starting from different locations on the bay and not all starting the same day, we have to coordinate to make this smooth. I'll hand out the cruising itinerary with as much information as I can, including slip assignments when available and channel #'s for the various marinas.
PLEASE NOTE: the change in dates for the raft-ups at Still Pond and Great Oaks. I have flipped those dates so that our Great Oaks raft up will be the weekend of June 18, 19, and 20.
Planning ahead a bit, please look at the summer cruise schedule and let me know what trips you want to take so I can make reservations. I would also like to know if you are planning on coming to the North East Water Festival either by car or rafting out in McDaniels Cove. We will be having a cookout on Saturday night, July 17 at McDaniels slip 67. Dave and I will be supplying the meat and beer and I would appreciate those attending to bring a side dish or whatever.
TOBCA had a good summer last year and I hope, as Fleet Captain, to make it even a better summer this year!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
| Reminder: Monthly member meetings are held on the 4th Sunday of each month at the North East, Maryland VFW. Changes will be published in the Dockline and on our web site. |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
FROM THE TREASURER
It has been brought to my attention that there are a few errors in the Membership Directory. If your information is not correct please notify Candy Thompson and we will publish the changes in next month's Dockline.
A few corrections have already been reported. Please correct the following in your membership directory
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