Tomahawk Bay Yacht Club

This page contains the current copy of the newsletter as well as links to archived copies.  If there are any corrections or additions to the newsletter, they will appear here.
 
 

UPCOMING  CLUB  EVENTS

September 2-3 & 4th               Cascade Locks-Gov't. Cove
(please RSVP, Fleet Captain/Gordon 283-4276, if attending)

September 7th                        Officers meeting, 7pm at the Spaldings, 602 N. Tomahawk Isld. Dr.
PDX (503) 283-4276   ALL MEMBERS WELCOME

September 23rd                        TBYC Fall "Metro Area Swap Meet"
 
 

NEW MEMBERS

We have many new or returning members that we would like to welcome:

Gregg & Beeki Heriford                  Interlude
Kelly & Darnise Smith                     K & D
Stan & Colleen West                      Liberator
Matt & Mollie Dunckel                    M & M
Jeff Marcellus                                 PJ'S
Rick, Darci, Zachary, Dianna,
Jessica, & Kirstin Critser                Tea Leaves
Aaron Detrick & Jenniffer Hoot       Windbelle
 
 

WANTED  WANTED WANTED WANTED WANTED!!!!

1.  Some Halloween decoration ideas for the, Sand Island-Halloween Cruise, October 28th & 29th.  We usually have a decorated booth on Sand Island, so come up with those ideas.  Call anyone of the officers or e-mail us.

2.  The TBYC nominating committee is being formed!!  Yes, it's that time of year again.  Please consider accepting an officer's position this next year.  TBYC does not run itself and your leadership skills may be just the ticket to bring TBYC to the next level as a premium club with the Columbia River Yachting Association.  We have had comments from our members (who belong to other yacht clubs) that we have a great club that has "TOO MUCH FUN".
 

JULY CRUISE

We love the Sand, Sea and Surf, so the opportunity to go to Ilwaco(for
the August cruise) was taken up with enthustiam by TBYC's Fleet
Captain.  Lots of details, as we NEVER leave the dock without our ducks
(a-----sea gulls in order!!!)

We were off, stopping the first day in one of our favorite places,
Cathlamet.  Oh, the new docks and the completion of new shower
facilities with a nice shiny new barbecue area are very nice.  Along
with a bright new green marker into the slough where the harbor is.
We enjoyed renewing our friendship with Colleen/Stan West on Liberator,
who also were on their way to Ilwaco.

The Admiral had promised the Captain that she would assist in the
navigation, steering and potty breaks so we left at a reasonable hour in
the AM from Cathlamet.  We left after Liberator, and passed them sailing
in the channel.  They weren't sure just when they would get to Ilwaco as
they were at the mercy of the fickled winds, as was Commodore Rick who
was behind us. We enjoyed the scenery to Astoria, and were surprised to
find that the basin West of Astoria flat calm.  Not good for the
sailboaters but the powerboats sure did like it.  The bar was flat, and
had we not decided to meet the rest of the club in Ilwaco, it would have
been an opportune time to cross the bar and head North or South.  Oh,
well the thought of throwing out the crab traps and catching fresh
dinner was too much to resist!!! Fools-------!!!

Having arrived in Ilwaco, (you remember those details,details???)The
Fleet Captain was able to secure the head walk for TBYC members.
MurSea/Jim & Cathy and Glaoch Ne Mara/Commodore Rick joined us that
day.  Jim and Cathy were on their way North for about a month and just
stayed overnight and a wee bit into the next morning due to a
2.(something)minus tide.  We found G.N.M listing to the port side when
we got up and moving the next morning, and MurSea showing 0feet under
her.  Opps!!!  With the tide coming in MurSea was on there way north.
Liberator/Stan & Colleen West, Illusion/Gene & Bernice Koch and
SeaTeaz/Carl and Cheryl and Summer Rose/Art & Rose soon joined us. Land
lubbers Mark/Del Gesu, Aaron & Jenniffer/Windbelle, and Ms. Irish
/Theresa joined us for a number of days.

Just after arriving the Commodore and Fleet Captain launched the dingy
from Aquila Two and set about baiting and setting out the crab traps.
Oh, our mouths were watering just thinking about having fresh crab for
dinner. Well, lady luck had not been with us each time the traps were
checked, nor had the weather.  Each time the traps were checked it
seemed to be raining, all everyone got was cold and damp.  We kept
trying!!

When Summer Rose/Art & Rose arrived, Art was beside himself with gales
of laughter.  He could hardly relate his story for the laughter.  On his
way in the harbor he had spied a crab trap with buoy attached high and
dry in the mud.  What were these people thinking, how could they
possibly catch anything?????  It was pure speculation that it was TBYC's
crab trap, and we were just trying to catch the hardy big crabs by
making them climb up out of the water and into the trap.  We never did
catch anything.  The crab trap was given to Illusion/Gene & Bernice to
be used up North.  We hope they have better luck than we do.

We enjoyed many get togethers for dinner and breakfast.  Rick gets the
prize for the most people on a boat at dinnertime.  I believe he said he
had seventeen (17) on his boat for dinner one night.  We did have a crab
dinner, purchased from the local fish market, cooked on the clubs
stove.  We thought of you all while eating.  We were very fortunate to
have a local boat pull in behind Glaoch Ne Mara, who had caught 91
Halibut that they were going to sell.  Oh, boy, really fresh fish.

Before we knew it Illusion & Summer Rose were on their way North.  We
spoke with them several times on the radio; they had a good trip and are
off enjoying a new adventure.  They have been e-mailing us and we will
share their adventures with everyone in newsletters to come.

We walked to town (Illwaco) many times, and took the local bus to Long
Beach, to visit the beach, enjoy the shopping and eat ice cream along
with all the other tourists.  Oh, we did leave Rick, Gordon and Carl at
a local eatery (beer also), while Cheryl T., Laurie, Peter and I walked
about town looking and shopping.  We rode the bus on its route up the
spit of land, seeing all the local towns and having a wonderful
commentary by the bus driver, all for .35cents.

Glaoch Ne Mara and Liberator left, and we, Aquila Two and Seateaz were
to meet them at Martin's Slough on the way back to Portland.  They were
sailing home!!!!!!

We enjoyed our time in Ilwaco, and found that everyone was friendly and
helpful.  We left and had a long day back to Martin's Slough.  We passed
Liberator; they were merrily sailing home.  We met up with Commodore
Rick in Martin's Slough. He was anchored in the middle and wanted Aquila
Two to stern tie to a dolphin and drop anchor, we would then PULL Glaoch
Ne Mara over to us.  Easier said then done.  It was quite a dog and pony
act pulling, wrenching, and pushing with a dinghy to get all these boats
together so that we could enjoy each other.  After an hour of hard
labor, and the Commodore letting out all of his anchor rode, all boats
were anchored together.  The Commodore had dinner ready, and we enjoyed
another potluck.  Liberator finally tied up beside Aquila Two around
10pm.  We were a group again!!  SeaTeaz, Glaoch Ne Mara and Liberator
left for home moorages, Aquila Two stayed another day.  Captain Gordon
helped Peter get used to deepwater, and the Admiral finally got to
reading her book that had traveled to the coast but was never opened.
 
 

FROM OUR WEBMASTER
John Hoefer

Is anyone interested in getting together to learn more about computers
and the Internet?  One or more "seminars" could be scheduled at John H's
home.  The structure would be quite informal (BYOB) so people can
learn/discover what they want.  He has several computers so getting
hands-on experience should be no problem.  The cost is free of course!!
He just wants to help people enter the Internet age!  If you're
interested please either e-mail John at jrhoefer@home.com, or call him
at (503) 617-02033.
 

PIG ROAST

The Pig Roast 2000 event for Tomahawk Bay Yacht Club was a resounding
success.  By Friday evening there was almost no room left on the dock
and boats were rafting.  By Saturday, only rafting space was available.

Beach bonfires on Friday and Saturday nights brought lots of
people----young and old alike-together around that most basic of all
camping attributes, the camp fire.  We shared stories, beverages and
smores!

With over 60 tickets sold for the pig roast meal and the fine fare
provided by all of the boats in attendance, dinner was exceptional.  And
trust me, no one should have left there hungry.  If they did, it was
their own fault.  Boats in attendance were Utopia, Four Teaz, Dock
Holiday, MurSea, Lazy B II, Illusion, Aurora Dawn, Dawg Pound, Luna Sea,
Ten Speed Bar, Grill and Tug, Interlude, Stress Therapy, K & D,
Areturus, Windbelle, M & M, Glaoch Ne mara, Del Gesu, Mystique (Roger &
Sarah), Mystique (Del & Alex), Benesse, Full Sail, Emerald Oddesy,
Beck-N-Me, Stress Therapy, Bliss, Rubie-tender, Legend, PacWest Cutter.

We would like to thank all of those involved in making this outing
happen!!!  It takes a lot of coordination and time by those committed to
making TBYC a premium club for its members.  Thank you Virginia Buntjer
for getting TBYC the donation of the DVD player, which was won by new
member Gordon Herzig!

We say goodbye to Jim/Karen Sulak, on Bliss, they have headed North to
be with their family and enjoy boating in the San Juan's.  Additionally,
goodbye to Gene/Bernice Koch, on Illusion, they are boating in the San
Juan Islands this year, with the Inland Passage and Alaska next year.
We will be publishing the ships log as it comes in from Illusion,
starting with this newsletter.
 

BEFORE YOU RECYCLE...........

While plastic pop bottles may be worth a nickel you may find they are
worth more as funnels.  At a nickel they are also disposable.  This is
also true of plastic bottles containing juices, detergents and water.
Some of the bottles have convenient handles.  Depending on where you cut
the bottle you can have deep or shallow funnels.

Many of you already use plastic bottles for bailing but how about oil
changes?  The gallon size water and milk bottles can be very useful when
changing oil or other fluids.  Cut into pieces you can have a funnel
with a handle that is very flexible and can be pushed into tight places
to redirect fluids when draining equipment.  The bottom portion can also
be used to catch drips.

You can create an assortment of funnels tailored to your specific
requirements.  There are many neck sizes, the neck of the cranberry
juice bottles fits snugly in the standard radiator opening, enough to
stay put while adding more coolant.  You may also find that this funnel
will also fit the fill hole of the expansion chamber of your diesel
furnace.  The neck of a pop bottle will fit over PVC water pipe and with
a little tape to prevent leakage, you can have a funnel for hard to
reach places.

Funnel any additional ideas you may have for the versatile plastic
bottle my way and I will pass them on in another newsletter.

Allen Buntjer
 
 

COON ISLAND

It was a beautiful weekend to spend on the river at Coon Island.  We
picked the "best side" of the island according to the boats in
attendance.  The weather was nice enough for everyone to enjoy jet
skiing, sunbathing, and water toys being pulled by dingys.  Tall tales
and lies were swapped, on the dock in the evening after the potluck and
a good time was had by all.  Cathy Murphy, Lorraine Creek and Gordon
Spalding cooked breakfast, with pancakes, eggs, bacon and elk sausage
(supplied by Rick).  Boats in attendance were Glaoch Ne Mara, Ten
Speeds, Bar, Grill and Tug, K & D, Thistle Dew, Four Teaz, Utopia, Luna
Sea and Dawg Pound.  The Commodore worked on wind scoops, he must be
getting serious about sailing away!!!!!!!!!
 
 

THE FIRST EVER TRIP ON OUR "NEW" BOAT
by Steve & Debbie Wanless/ Luna Sea

The situation: Debbie (1st mate) and I had purchased a boat located in
La Conner, Washington.  It was our first, EVER boat.  When I was a
pimply teenager, my father had had several boats and I had spent some
time driving and messin' about in them on a river about the size of the
lower Willamette, back in the UK.  Pumped up by this experience (of at
least 25 years ago) I had fooled the 1st mate into believing that I had
significant boating experience, and we purchased a 30 foot Reinell that
hadn't been used for about 2 or 3 years.  Have you heard the term
"fixerupper"?

Lot's of work needed to be done, just to get the engines running, but
run they did, although roughly.

I decided that part of the rough idle was old, bad gasoline.  So - I
prodded the first mate - "let's take her over to the fuel dock", I
said.  I was greeted by a "yergottabekiddin" look. Undeterred, I slipped
all 3 lines, went up to the fly bridge and put both engines into
reverse.  Found out the hard way that I had missed one line.  We moved
back in, I jumped off and untied the last line.  So far, events had not
instilled an air of confidence in the 1st mate, who observed the
"problem" with the lines with an "OH MY GOD" look in her eye.  "I
thought you knew what you were doing", se said.  I ignored this
inflammatory remark and hopped back up to the fly bridge.  We tried it
again, and we slowly glided backwards, with the first mate getting very
nervous as dry land slipped away.  As the nose cleared the slip, I put
the left engine into reverse and brought it round by 90 degrees.  The
problem was, it was the wrong 90 degrees.  We were now pointed towards
the closed end of the piers, rather than the open end.  I tried to look
as if that was what I had intended to do, and just kept the controls in
the same place.  As we neared the end of our 270-degree turn, I pushed
both transmission levers into forward and we began our chug towards the
open end of the piers, expensive pieces of fiberglass on both sides of
us.  I ignored some whimpering sounds coming from the bottom of the fly
bridge ladder.

At this point I discovered that the 200 rpm difference between the
engines at idle was enough to keep pushing the pointy end over to the
right all the time, and the steering wheel thingy didn't seem to do very
much.  So, I gave the right throttle a yank.  I guess I should have
worked out that the throttle cables might be a little corroded after not
being used by so long.  The right engine hit 2500 rpm while the left was
still at about 600.  I noted this as a cornering technique, but the
sheer fear of the proximity of all that expensive fiberglass froze my
hands on the controls.  We did another 270-degree turn before I could
think of what to do, and by the time I did it, we were pointing back in
the right direction.
 I noticed a group of people, pointing, up on the top of the walkway
down to the pier.  I ignored them.  The first mate picked herself up and
tried to join me on the fly bridge, and whacked her knee on the ladder
rungs, which did little to improve her state of mind.  She shot a look
of zero confidence at me.  We managed to get to the end of the piers
without hitting anything, which at the time was a great achievement, but
looking back now, it was only about 200 yards.  We steamed confidently
out into La Conner channel, in search of the fuel dock.  The channel in
the winter is deep and narrow, with a current visibly running at about 3
to 4 knots. Lucky for us, the fuel dock was in the same direction that
the current was flowing.  Not that I understood this happy coincidence
at the time.

The gods were now smiling on us, as I had to turn the boat around to
position the gas filler caps in towards the dock.  So we passed the
dock, turned round and began the process of coming alongside the dock
against the flow of the tide, unaware of the fact it was the right thing
to do.  It hadn't dawned on the first mate that she might be expected to
do something. She was sulking on the back deck, smoking a cigarette to
calm her nerves.  Luckily, the attendant of the dock has observed our
"all sheets to the wind" approach and was out on the jetty, ready to be
thrown a line. "Throw it", I yelled to the first mate.  "Don't shout at
me" she replied, and believing that my comments addressed the fact that
she was smoking, and we were heading into the gas dock, she resentfully
threw her half finished cigarette in the water.  She looked proudly up
at me.  The gas dock attendant was stronger than he looked, and after a
lot of grunting, we managed to tie up and put 60 gallons of gas in each
tank.  Next test was starting the engines again.  They did, but not from
the fly bridge.  The switched there has corroded away.  Off we go again.

"Wotch out fer the current and wind" grunted the attendant, rubbing his
bruised thrum. "Sure", I confidently replied.  Slowly, (this time)
easing on the throttles, we managed to stop the wind and current
whipping the sharp end around, and we got up to about 3000 rpm, until
the left throttle refused to move any further.  We turned and headed
back to the slip.  We carefully turned the corner into "J" docks.  "What
slip number was it?" I asked the 1st mate, 27 she said.  Slowly, we
neared 27.  "Dagnabbit, someone's in our space", I said.  The 1st Mate
scanned the horizon.  We are in "K", not "J" she said.

           Panic

Boat headed the wrong way up a pair of very narrow piers, nearing the
end.  At this point, Got reminded me that we hadn't got any insurance
sorted out yet.  After a lot of cursing and foul oaths (mostly about 1st
Mates that were not keeping a weather eye out) and messin' with the
throttles, we got the thing turned round and heading back down the
piers, without touching anything expensive.  Round and into "K".  Slowly
up to 27.  Yep. It's empty.  Port into reverse, and the nose slowly
comes round to point into the slip.  The current now chooses this time
to push us sideways across the piers, rapidly towards the big Bayliner
in the slip next to us.  The 1st Mate is down on the rear deck, not
taking any notice, not realizing that once again, something was expected
of her, waving at those people on the dock enjoying a joke (I think, at
our expense).  "Jump off and pull us over", I shouted at the 1st Mate.
"Don't shout at me", she replied.  "JUMP", I shouted. The 1st Mate
viewed the ever increasing distance between us and the dock (oblivious
of the Bayliner) and decided that the captain had lost his marbles.
"Don't shout at me, and I can't", she said.  "JUMP" barks the captain.

The 1st Mate now chooses this moment to mutiny, and locks herself in the
cabin.  "I am not coming out until you stop shouting at me", she said.
The Captain waggles one of the (many) levers up on the fly bridge and
gets a lucky break.  The back of the boat moves towards the slip.  He
flies down from the fly bridge (now knowing why it is so called), and
jumps from the boat onto dock, and looks at the first mate, who now
realizes that she's the only one left on the boat.  This time sheer
terror propels her to obey, and she throws a line, but it's the rear
line, not the front.  After a lot of pulling and grunting (and a nasty
whack on the elbow) the captain hauls the boat back in to the slip, with
no damage (visible) to any boat.

Here endeth the first experience.
 
 
 

ILLUSION'S   SHIP   LOG
Bernice Koch

We have just made our jump from Portland up to the Puget Sound.  It was
a 100-mile trip down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.  We spent
two nights there with other boats from TBYC.  The folks out here
(Oregon) have been great and we had a hard time leaving them.  We left
the morning of July 4th, along with Summer Rose/Art & Rose, a sailboat.
Winds were light, seas 8-9 feet, kinda rough, but ILLUSION did just
fine.  The Admiral did throw a few works like barf, puke and worse into
her vocabulary but now I am again fine.  The Capt.'n would have eaten
cans of chili as we crossed, but I would not allow that smell at that
time.  As we traveled North into Washington State we could see the
Olympic Mountain Range.  After dark (it was still twilight at 10:45pm,
daybreak came at 3:15am....it made for a welcome short night.)  We were
treated to firework displays from the coastal fishing villages we
passed.  Though we were over 20 miles offshore we could still see
clearly and decided it was a great way to spend the holiday.  Today, we
are resting and putting the boat back together.  We had tied down or
stowed most everything that could bounce around.  It was worth the
effort because nothing was flying across the cabin and back again, as we
were offshore.  We are in the Indian nation of Neah Bay in Washington
State.  The Macah Indian tribe runs the marina, bait stand, and a small
grocery.  The town itself is tucked into the base of the mountain.  The
temp was low 60's this morning but the sun is out and it is warmer
now.still need a sweatshirt on.  We plan to take a walk later and
explore a bit.  Tomorrow we are heading across the Straits of Juan de
Fuca to the western side of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  We are
going to Barkley Sound, a group of islands with good fishing, crabbing
waterfalls and exploring.  We have Texas coming the first part of August
so will be back in Washington area then.  We feel like cruisers again.
B and G aboard Illusion.
 
 

Newsletter Archives:
TBYC  Newsletter 06-07/00
TBYC Newsletter 04-05/00
TBYC Newsletter 03/00
TBYC Newsletter 02/00
TBYC Newsletter 01/00
TBYC  Newsletter 11/99