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Cultivating a Rich and Proud Legacy of Boating

for Pleasure and Sport

“I cordially invite each and every one of you to join us at the Commodore’s Ball and Awards

Ceremony on November 8”

It’s Halloween, 34º, snowing, winds from the North at 25-31, and the rollers are coming in. Reports from the Lake Michigan Southern Buoy located west of Holland has recorded 59 mph winds and a 21.7’ wave. Since its placement in 1981, the highest recorded wind was 62 mph in November 1998 and highest wave at 23’ in September 2011. Happy Autumn!

The docks and lifts are on shore. With the water being up, it was quite the chore. 40º, rain, and waves met the membership for Dock-out Day. Thanks to Seal Team GTYC consisting of Glen Rauth, Rob Lovell, Tom Babel, and Dietrich Floeter,

the docks were taken out according to plan. Thank you dock czar, Jim Dye, for orchestrating the mission and all the volunteers for on-shore logistics. It went like clockwork with no casualties suffered.

Thank you to all the members who cleaned up the inside and outside of the Club; a job well done. We had a huge turnout on a really nasty day but got the job done. If you could not make it, please plan to join us in the spring; the Club will need your help.

In This IssueFrom the Helm p1-2Commodore’s Ball p2Chili Cook-off Results p3Speaker Series p4By-laws Changes p5Babel Cup p6Dock-out Volunteers p7Photos p8New Merchandise P9Misc. Ramblings p10-11Sailing Quotes p12

Website Tips & Hints p13Where Boats Die p14-15Coming Events p16Heard ‘Round the Club p16Ruth Railsitter ???

Waterlines EditorKim Marian

Articles & photos due by the 4th Tuesday of the month prior to publication - 500 words or less please.

waterlines@gtyc.org

ISSUE 55-11NOVEMBER 2014

From the Helm

Check the Club’s ONLINE CALENDAR for Up-to-date Event Info.Refer to NORs and SIs for official racing dates, not the online calendar

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Thank you Doug Higgins for ordering and installing all-new LED lighting in the parking lot.

Did you have a good time at the Wednesday night race awards? What a great event. All race boats but one were represented. The potluck atmosphere was relaxing and brought us all together as one team; the GTYC team. The quantity and quality of food was incredible; no one went hungry. It just reaffirms the fact that this Club and its race crews can win on the race course, in the kitchen, and at the bar; anywhere, especially on our home turf. Hearing the stories from our esteemed captains relating how, when, and where they started sailing was truly inspiring and showed the depth of our sailors and race program. The GTYC hats with boat names were a nice touch, too. Thank you Race Chair, Mike Dow, and Vice Commodore, Jordan Owen, for putting on such a fun, effective event. Thank you captains and crews for making this event a success!

Coming up, we have the Awards Ceremony and

Commodore’s Ball. I, as Commodore, cordially invite each and every one of you to a night of ceremony, entertainment, and fun.

With 2 months left in 2014, GTYC has only 3 big events coming up; Commodore’s Ball and Awards Ceremony, the Adult Christmas party, and the Children’s Christmas party when Santa Arrives. The Children’s Christmas party is truly special and a great opportunity to add to our future members’ wonderful holiday season. If you would like to help, please contact Jessica Gerber, Heather Van Stratt, or Jed Mooney. They would be more than happy to have you and your family host this event.

As always thank you Ian, Roy, Jackie, Laurel, Chris, and Devon for taking care of us.

The Members are the Club.

Commodore Gregg Diehl

(From the Helm, continued from page 1)

5pm Cocktails Levi Britton (live music)

6pm Heavy Appetizers Levi Britton

7pm Club Awards (including ugliest sweater!)

Heavy AppetizersArtisan Cheese Platter

Hummus Platter

Grilled Vegetable Medley

Chicken Marsala

Meatballs in Folgarelli’s House Sauce

Cheesecake & Coffee

& More!

Saturday, November 8, 5pm

ugly sweater theme • $15 per person

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Great Fun For All ... Especially Spartans

The big intra-state football rivalry between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University saw its 2014 face-off on Saturday, October 25 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, and, as has also become tradition, college football fans gathered at GTYC for a Tailgate Party featuring a Chili Cook-off, plentiful libations, wearing of the colors, friendly wagering, and cheering our favorite teams on live TV.

Stats:16 Chili entries (one disguised ever-so-cleverly as ‘Apple Crisp’ in appropriate Halloween fashion)

$235 paid at the door split among Cook-off prize winners and the Junior Sailing Fund (door charge waived for Chili Cook-off entrants)

1st Prize Spaghetti Jim Abfalter

2nd Prize Social Committee & Manager’s Special

3rd Prize Blake Vance #9

Longest Distance Entry: Jeff & Mary Ann Maier, GTYC Honorary Members from Richland, MI (193 miles, 3 hrs, 10 min) - and their chili was still frozen on arrival! (the new convection oven in GTYC kitchen works wonders)

MSU vs UM Football 107 total meetings, starting Oct. 12, 1898 (UM 36, MAC 0 {Michigan Agricultural College})

Paul Bunyan Trophy

UM leads series, 68-34–5 (Go Blue!)

Oct. 25, 2014: UM 11, MSU 35 (Go Spartans!)

Next meeting: October 17, 2014 in Ann Arbor

UM vs MSU GAMEDAY CHILI COOK-OFFSocial Committee

Ruth Railsitter ... are you out there?

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It’s Nearly Ice Boating Season!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - the Speaker Series will pair up with the Grand Traverse Ice Yacht Club to kick off their year. The Ice Yacht Club will be providing two speakers to present a slide show of Ice Boating Photography. The club has great contacts with two outstanding photographers who travel extensively to photograph, among other things, Ice Boating. They will share not only their work, but some of their secrets to photographic success. This event will also provide the opportunity for the Ice Yacht Club to educate our club members on the Ice Yacht Club and the hard water version of our sport. Doors open at 6pm and dinner will be available for $10 per person. Bring a friend as this is sure to be an exciting evening with spectacular photography!

GTYC Speaker Event

Tue, Nov 4, 6pmIce Boat Photography$10 Dinner

SPEAKER SERIES CONTINUES ON ICE!

Desperately Seeking Ruth Railsitter

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The By-laws Are Coming, The By-laws Are Coming!

Last fall, (as in before the ice age of 2014), as the nomination process began for our Club, it became apparent to the Board that the GTYC by-laws, last amended in 2004, had become somewhat skewed to itself, orthogonal perhaps, but no less confusing then this statement when it came to Senior Membership and other items. How can someone not be eligible to serve as a member of the Board if they have a vote? With the Chubb heading our way, the Commodore directed that issue be left tied to the dock until after we crossed the finish line for US Sailing; obviously the right call considering everything that went on this spring and summer at our Club.

The process of reviewing the existing discrepancies and the ever-changing laws governing our 501(c)7 status has led the Board to believe that the by-laws must be amended. The process of amending our by-laws also allows the Board to evaluate and hopefully improve the governance of our Club. From voting electronically to clarifying who has what rights, responsibilities, and liabilities when it comes to membership in our club, the changes our Board is working on should be ready soon for your review.

Waterlines is not the best venue to highlight specific changes that are being proposed and why those changes are needed. That will arrive at your mailing address with a separate by-laws packet of materials. This is not an easy procedure but one that is necessary and one we, your Board, hope you, the members, will find beneficial for our Grand Traverse Yacht Club. As some of you have noticed or heard, Board members have been reaching out to gain an understanding of what our fellow members find important and to help shape the document that defines how our club serves and is shared by us. We hope you will take the time to review the materials we send, reach out to the Board with your thoughts, and attend the membership meetings to amend our by-laws.

BY-LAWS CHANGES ARE COMING!Board of Directors

Ruth Railsitter ... keep the faith

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DOC ROB CAPTURES THE BABEL CUP!8 Lasers sailed on October 4 in the GTYC Fall Laser Regatta. The scores from this regatta are added to the Spring Regatta for The Babel Cup. PRO Jordan Owen called for a 4 race series of windward/leeward courses The air temperature was in the mid 40’s with a SW breeze, 10-20 mph.

There was plenty of close racing throughout the fleet At the front of the fleet, Than Dykstra, Dirk Phelps, and Tom Babel crossed tacks in the gusty/shifty conditions. Rob Lovell (Doc Rob), Bob Bemben, and Jack Shields sailed strong all day, hiking hard upwind and concentrating downwind to stay away from the disastrous capsize. Tom Hazelton and Andrew Girrell rounded out the fleet, which enjoyed the comforts of the GTYC after racing with a hot shower, warm brats, and a cold beer.

Rob “Doc Rob” Lovell won The Babel Cup with his combined score of 1st (Spring Regatta) and 4th (Fall Regatta) for a low point total of 5 points. Bemben was 2nd with 9 points and Hazelton 3rd with 10 points.

Many thanks to PRO Owen for another great year of RC work, David Phelps for his support, and the GTYC members who pitched in to make the event happen.

Fall Laser Regatta Results

Place Sailor Points1 Tom Babel 4 Top Babel2 Dirk Phelps 9 Top Junior3 Than Dykstra 124 Rob Lovell 19 Babel Cup Champion5 Bob Bemben 20 Top Master6 Jack Shields 237 Tom Hazelton 278 Andrew Girrell 30

RACE COMMITTEE

Ruth Railsitter, can you hear me now?

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DOCK-OUT DAY

The 2014 GTYC Fall Clean-up & Dock-out Day took place on Saturday, Oct 18, with our club’s volunteer attendance satisfyingly plentiful, and the work product was outstanding! No task assignment/sign-up sheets were utilized this season, but a few take-charge organizers were able to direct the volunteers’ energies to good use throughout the grounds and interior of the Club, and on the waterfront: raking, blowing, sweeping, digging, washing, wiping, picking-up, storing, sorting, moving, vacuuming, mopping, dis-assembling, wading, swimming, hauling, carrying, stacking, smiling, joking, helping ... and enjoying some hot dogs, brats, and beverages after all the work was done.

Without sign-up sheets to reference, the volunteer list below is only as accurate as the pooled observations and memories of several GTYC members who put their heads together after the event, so we’ll apologize in advance if we missed anyone, or for any other errors. Your efforts are well appreciated, if poorly documented, but we thought it important to thank and recognize as many volunteers as we could.

Mike Davis Michelle Davis Rusty Beckenhauer Rick Newman Ian Sterling Sally Lovejoy Rick Fink Chad Craker Steve Hutchens Tom Dillon Janey Schulz Wes Schulz Jeff Bodie Dick La Vanture Bob Bosch Tom Cowell Russell Whitney Rob Lovell Bob Cornwell Allyn Kay Cornwell Tom Babel Ken Bindschatel Carol Morris Mike Morris Jeff Kitson Gregg Diehl Cheri Buchbinder Bill Buchbinder Dick Hirtreiter Glen Rauth Sara Boys Doug Roberts Tom Gorsline Mike Winkler Gerri Sorbie Jim Sorbie Jed Mooney Jay Kraft Annie Floeter Dietrich Floeter Jordan Owen Jim Dye Eb Wickes Barb Corbett Rich Core Eric Lind Mary Anne Maier Jeff Maier Mike Burns Tom Booth (membership applicant)

Long distance volunteer travel recognition Full Member, Jeff Kitson Rochester Hills, MI – 230 miles - 3 hr, 50 min Honorary Members, Jeff & Mary Anne Maier Richland, MI – 193 miles - 3 hr, 10 min

FALL CLUB CLEAN-UP & DOCK-OUT DAY VOLUNTEER ROLL-CALL

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BABEL CUP & DOCK-OUT DAY FUN AT GTYC

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GTYC MERCHANDISE

NEW GTYC MERCHANDISE NOW AVAILABLE

Classic 100% cotton polo shirts in both men’s and women’s sizes are available in navy blue and nautical red for $25. The new shirts feature the club burgee on the chest and the new club word mark on the left arm.

New adjustable cotton ball caps are also available in navy blue and nautical red for $15. Again, the GTYC burgee is centered on the front on the cap, with the club name arched in back over the adjustment strap.

Also added to the inventory available at the club are new burgee stickers, 3.5”x5” for $3 apiece. The classic yin-yang stickers are also back in stock in both the 3” and 5” sizes. As always, GTYC burgees are available for $30.

If you’re looking for a special item beyond our standard inventory, please explore companycasuals.com/gtyc where a wide range of apparel and goods are available for order from Alfie Embroidery with the GTYC logo.

Additionally, for a wide range of sailing apparel and technical gear, Team One Newport of Rhode Island (www.team1newport.com) can add a GTYC logo without additional set-up fees.

Ruth Railsitter, where are you?

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Misc. RamblingsPC40

Rising Water Levels of the Great LakesWell here I am, back again with a bit of pontificating after a month off. My topic this month is the rising water levels of the Great Lakes. Should we be alarmed??? I don’t think so as the levels have just gone above the long-term average in June of this year. The rise, though, has been quite dramatic as we had just recently experienced a new all-time low in January of last year. Here are a few facts and figures for you to ponder, followed by a few questions that I have, and then my theory of the ever-changing Great Lakes Water Levels. (insert drum roll here ...)

Now, pay attention here, as I have measured the seawall recently and we have about 42” of seawall above the current level which leaves only 4” above the all-time high water mark!!! Those of you that were members in 1986 will remember how, after the Club had been remodeled with new carpeting, etc, a ‘seiche’ brought the water up above the seawall and flooded the Club. (man the squeegees!!!) I was not here at the time, but have heard the story from several reliable sources. (now allow me to confuse this with the concept that the water level, when I measured it, could have been higher or lower than the recent measurement reported.)

In the previous paragraph I used the term ‘seiche’ and it may need some explaining. A seiche is defined as a standing wave in an enclosed body of water that oscillates as a result of seismic or atmospheric conditions creating short term fluctuations in water levels. I recall one spring evening at the Club looking out at the dingy dock and mentioning how they had picked the correct level for the dock. An hour later it was under water, an hour after that it was again above water, and an hour after that it was again under water, and on and on throughout the evening. That’s what I call bathtub slosh in Grand Traverse Bay.

Here are a few questions I have regarding lake levels.

Q#1 Who is measuring and how and where are they measuring???

Q#2 How do they determine the level as we all know that the levels are changing constantly???

Q#3 Is anybody monitoring the intra-day fluctuations of the levels and comparing them with other readings around the lakes???

image from: www.miseagrant.umich.edu/lessons/

Long-term Average (LTA) 578.77’All-time Low Jan, 2013 576.02’ 31” below LTACurrent Level Oct, 2014: 579.20’ only 5” above LTAAll-time high, Oct, 1986: 582.35’ 43” above LTA 38” above current level

Wanted: Ruth Railsitter

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Misc. RamblingsPC40

The Lind Theory of the Great Lakes Water Levels:The Giant Taco Theory

I have been a student of the Great Lakes my entire life, having grown up summering on Sand Point near Caseville on Saginaw Bay facing north to the open waters of Lake Huron. We experienced rising and falling lake levels for the 18 or so years that I spent there and it was interesting to watch how various homeowners would react. The natural evolution of a sand dune is that in high-water years, the water erodes the dune and brings sand down back to the beach, but in the low-water years, the wind blows the sand back up the dune and deposits it at the top. I can remember several spring weekends shoveling huge piles of sand off our tiny lawn back down the dune. We did little else to intervene in the process, but many spent huge $$$ with Beadle Construction to have rows of pilings put in to contravene this natural evolution. Bottom line, nothing they did had much effect on anything but their wallets and Beadle’s net worth!!!

On to my theory. I believe that the Great Lakes are pretty much in equilibrium. If there is above-average precipitation in one lake, it will gradually even out by passing it on to the next lower lake and if it is below average the flow of water to the next lake will decrease. So, how do you explain that all five of the Great Lakes have fluctuated pretty much in unison over time? (keep in mind here that records go back only to about 1918 or so) My theory is based on the shape of the Great Lakes Water Basin. The Earth is constantly changing shape as it spins on its axis. We know that the tectonic plates are constantly moving and therefore have to assume that the shape of the basin is also changing. So, I am basing my theory on the water levels rising as the basin closes up and falling as the basin opens up. (maybe we should call it the ‘Giant Taco Theory’.)

To summarize, at some point in the future someone will take this seriously enough to place some accurate sensors around the basin and measure the movement over time. Or, someone will track the alignment of the moon, sun, planets, and stars to see if there is some correlation there. In the meantime that’s my theory and I’m stickin’ to it!!

RR, would you like to play a game?

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“The first glance at the pillow showed me a repulsive sentinel perched upon each end of it – cockroaches as large as peach leaves – fellows with long, quivering antennae and fiery, malignant eyes. They were grating their teeth like tobacco worms, and appeared to be dissatisfied about something. I had often heard that these reptiles were in the habit of eating off sleeping sailors’ toe nails down to the quick, and I would not get in the bunk any more. I lay down on the floor. But a rat came and bothered me, and shortly afterward a procession of cockroaches arrived and camped in my hair. In a few moments the rooster was crowing with uncommon spirit and a party of fleas were throwing double somersaults about my person in the wildest disorder, and taking a bite every time they stuck. I was beginning to feel really annoyed. I got up and put my clothes on and went on deck. The above is not overdrawn; it is a truthful sketch of inter-island schooner life.”

Mark Twain“Roughing It”

SAILING QUOTESWisdom, fear, funny and fastcompiled by Gregg Diehl

“If you’re not getting close to capsize, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.” James Spithill, Oracle Racing Team

“If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it.” Toni Morrison

“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” Aristotle Onassis

“Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.” Charles Cook

“A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say How to Build a Boat.” Stephen Wright

“When the draught of your vessel exceeds the depth of the water, you are most assuredly aground.” Ian Walsh

“The best bilge pump of all is a bucket in the hands of a frightened man.” Butch Dairymple-Smith

“The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.” Ovid

“There, in the shimmering distance, was a sail. I stared in momentary disbelief, but there it was, one of the most beautiful sights the Pacific can ever offer – a ship in full sail edging her way through the blue waters.” Tom Neale, An Island to Oneself:

The Story of Six Years on a Desert Island

“Now I remembered a captain’s honor and his only duty: to bring his crew back alive.” Carsten Jensen, We, the Drowned

“Remember it was a professional who built the Titanic. It was an amateur who built Noah’s Ark.” Banessa Linsley.

“To my crew: Please be reasonable and do it my way,” The Captain Rusty Mills

“I’m telling you that India is that way, now set my course.” Christopher Columbus

“The right of way goes to the vessel with the least competent crew.” Mike Baiocchi

“Pull that thing, Pull that other thing, Sail faster.” The Princess Bride

“With crews like this, no wonder they race round the world single handed.” Howard Wilks, Cowes Week Start Line

“On the Trans-Atlantic Single-handed Race Mr. Owen Smithers has been disqualified for using both hands.” Heikki Luoma

“Be patient with your boaters and let them rant. Most of them will get over it come December.” Mathew Goldman The Journals of Constant Waterman

“BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand.” Alex Blackwell

“There are three sorts of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea. Anacharsis, 6th Century BC

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GTYC Calendars

Can’t keep up with the myriad activities at GTYC? Try using our two calendar facilities on GTYC.ORG. The club keeps track of all of our activities (races, dinners, social events, and rentals on the GTYC Google Calendar). You don’t have to have any special ID to view this calendar and you can access it via the front page at GTYC.ORG by clicking on the CALENDAR tab. Have a question about club availability on a certain date…check the calendar!The other calendar facility has to do with the “event”

feature of our website. If an event sponsor wished, we can create a web facility to include event details, collect fees or RSVPs and generally promote a specific event or series. These events are listed on the front page of the web site. Interested in an event?

Let’s take the Ice Boating Photography event, for example. Click on the event on the front page and go to the details page. If you want to RSVP (and in some cases pay), just click on the ‘Register’ button and you can let the event organizers know that you are planning to attend. Want to add it to your personal calendar? There’s a button in the top left corner labeled “Add To Your Calendar”. Click on it and a file is downloaded to your device that will add this event to the calendar program of your choice (you’ll have to “open” the file on your computer).

This works on your smart phone as well, simply open the website on your smart phone, go to the event, touch the “Add To Your Calendar” field then add it to your calendar on your phone. There you go, you can set reminders, if you wish, like any other event. So now when the Social Committee asks you to RSVP you know how!

There is more that can be done. For those of us who might balance multiple groups, you can import multiple calendars from sources like Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, etc and view them overlaid in MS Outlook. This is pretty handy if you’re trying to schedule events, but this might be a subject for another time.

HINTS & TIPS FROM THE WEBMASTERJim Sorbie

Website questions? E-mail me at jimsorbie@centurytel.net

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This is the biggest ship graveyard in the world, where huge tankers and cruise-liners are scrapped on the shorefront by teams of laborers using little more than hand tools. The job is considered one of the most dangerous in the world with workers earning a pittance of just £2.25 a day. Amazingly, there is no shortage of willing recruits. They come from nearby squatter settlements and every morning swarm a 10 kilometer stretch

of sandy beach at Gadani near Karachi, Pakistan. The facility reduces roughly 100 ships a year into sheets and angles of metal, pipes, and working machines. In a year, Gadani produces about a million tons of steel; fulfilling most of Pakistan’s demand for metal.

Nouadhibou, Mauritania

Gadani Shipbreaking Yard

Apart from being utterly unpronounceable and a place most Americans have never heard of, this African sea town’s shores serve as the final resting place for more than 300 ships. Financial hardships led to authorities turning a blind eye to ship owners who offered bribes to dump used vessels in the harbor. After nearly three decades of this practice, Nouadhibou’s coastline is a unique landscape of over 300 rotting ships. The rusted hulks that litter its coastal waters are considered an eyesore by

many, but they’ve brought some unexpected benefits to the local community. The collection of ships created artificial reefs for fish and other wildlife, stimulating a local fishing industry that had previously been decimated from years of over-fishing in the area. The metal hulls have been breeding grounds for fish, replenishing the local supply. Birds have settled on the largely-unmolested offshore barges, and in some cases complete ecosystems have taken over the wrecks.

WHERE DO BOATS GO WHEN THEY DIE?

Gregg Diehl

When a boat reaches the end of its useful life, sometimes it ends up in a vast ship graveyard, sometimes a craggy, foggy place where ships have met their doom, sometimes it is broken up for materials, sometimes it becomes an artificial reef and sometimes it is left to rust. There’s a quiet beauty to many of these graveyards and their resting inhabitants.

Ruth Railsitter, your talents are requested

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Mothball Fleet

Skeleton Coast, Namibia

Truk Lagoon, Micronesia

A slim, no-man’s land between life and death, it is known to the Khoisan Bushmen of the interior as ‘the land God created in anger’. Tearing up from Antarctica, the trade winds of the Benguela system batter the shoreline night and day. The cool of the Atlantic and the heat of the desert create a constant fog. No one knows quite how many ships have been swept onto the barren rocks, but it’s believed that the number is more than 1000. The remnants of ocean liners, trawlers, galleons, clippers and gunboats are testament to the deadly current, fog, and unrelenting winds. It’s not hard to imagine the elation of a shipwrecked survivor clawing his way to shore, only to be confronted by a new terror: yet another ocean, stretching north, south and east – an endless desert. The wreckage disappears over time, but the ghosts are left. A place where death looms large.

In 1944, Americans launched Operation Hailstone, which has been called the Japanese Pearl Harbor. In two days, Truk was shaken and broken. The attack wiped out 60 ships and 275 airplanes, sinking them to the bottom of the lagoon. Depths of the ghost fleet vary from the surface in excess of 200’, an ocean shallow grave. This undersea wonder of the world is the best shipwreck diving destination on the globe. Many of the shipwrecks have cargo holds full of fighter aircraft, tanks, bulldozers, railroad cars, motorcycles, torpedoes, mines, bombs, boxes of munitions, radios, thousands of various weapons, human remains, and other artifacts. The munitions are still ‘live’. More than 3,000 people were thought to have been killed and some divers swear that the wrecks are haunted. Divers have recorded the sounds of running engines in the cargo holds full of trucks.

The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet in harbors off the east and west coasts, often called the “Mothball Fleet”. After World War II, there were thousands of surplus ships, and, in 1946, the Maritime Administration began keeping the best of them in reserve. One of the biggest of the reserve fleets was at Suisun Bay, San Francisco. At one time, more than 350 ships were in Suisun Bay, including cruisers, destroyers, supply ships, transports, and tankers. Many of them were broken out for service in the Korean and Vietnam wars, but the rest stayed in Suisun Bay and gradually became neglected and obsolete - a fleet of ghosts tied up in rows, waiting for a call to duty that never came. Only 52 ships remain. The Battleship Iowa is the biggest and most famous ship at Suisun Bay. The Iowa carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Cairo and Tehran conferences in 1943. The ship was recommissioned in 1984 but was laid up again in 1990 after an explosion in a turret killed 47 sailors. These once proud ships are now considered toxic waste dumps and will be cleaned of toxic paint and marine growth then towed to a facility in Brownsville, Texas, via the Panama Canal, to be scrapped by 2017. Of the original 17 fleets, 3 remain at James River, VA, Beaumont, TX, and Suisun Bay, CA.

(Where Do Boats Go When They Die?, continued from page 14)

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Check the Club’s ONLINE CALENDAR for Up-to-date Event Info.Refer to NORs and SIs for official racing dates, not the online calendar

NovemberNov 2, 2a Daylight Saving Time Ends (clocks fall back)Nov 4, 6p GTIYC Photo Presentation/Speaker SeriesNov 8, 5p Commodore’s Ball/Awards BanquetNov 13, 6p Cruising Fleet MeetingNov 18, 6p GTYC Board MeetingNov 25 Waterlines Submissions DueNov 27 Happy Thanksgiving!

DecemberDec 2 GTIYC MeetingDec 3, 6p Christmas Tree Decorating NightDec 5, 5p Adult Holiday PartyDec 6, 12p Children’s Holiday PartyDec 11, 6p Cruising Fleet MeetingDec 16, 6p GTYC Board MeetingDec 23 Waterlines Submissions DueDec 25 Merry Christmas!Dec 31 Happy New Year’s Eve!

COMING EVENTS

Because a date/holiday is listed should not implythe Club is open for that holiday.

SEEN AND HEARD AROUND THE CLUBphotos and quotes are wholly unrelated

“I heard Ruth Railsitter is coming back to Waterlines!”

“I’m in the weeds”

“We’ve beaten that dead horse so much, it’s glue!”

“We drove 3 hours to help with Dock-out Day.

We love it here!”

“Talking duck hunting & sailing with Buddy Melges”

“Look at the moon!”

New Race Committee Boat?