Salty Dog Sailing Club

of Denver, Colorado

February 2021 Newsletter

By

Volume 40 Issue 2 – February 2021

Commodore’s Log

Diana Bliss

There’s a tradition of the club coming up on February 11th at 6:30 PM on Zoom.  It’s called the Landlubber’s Celebration where the old board recognizes some of our members for funny, heroic, or unusual stories that have happened in the last year’s sailing season. Since we had COVID-19 going on, it was a shorter season this year. We usually have a banquet but this year we will still honor club members in this celebration. So put your thinking caps on and send your stories to Marilyn or Bobby. I will be sending out the Zoom invite for our meeting on February 11th later.

Also, Shane has updated the sailing schedule adding more Saturday sails! Look for it in this newsletter. So, he will be calling for coordinators to make this sailing schedule a GO!!

We are also in need of someone who has a garage or basement that they can store our club’s paper products and supplies for weekend and day sails. Peppi has been doing it for at least two years and Tom P. for many years before that. If you can help the club out, please call or email me.

Thanks, and see you at the meeting!

-Diana

Next Upcoming Event – Landlubber’s Celebration Thursday Feb 11th, 6:30pm

Membership Report

Cliff Randall

We are currently at 22 new and renewed members with several inquiries from Meet-Up.

New and renewed members will get a Salty Dog bandana at the next club sail.

We are having more business cards made and I encourage everyone to take a few to hand out to anyone interested in joining the club. The cards should be available at the next in-person meeting.

-Cliff

Other Club News

Bobby Olsen -2020 Vice-Commodore:

Salty Dog 2020 sailing stories needed

I need your 20-20 hindsight on great (or good) stories on the 2020 sailing season for the Landlubber’s event. Make your notes and send them to me at SaltyDog37@gmail.com.  If have a story, but are having difficulty putting it into words, then call me @ 303.521.8589 and we can work on it together.

YouTube videos – on sailing or other NON-cat videos

We need some interesting videos for the Landlubber’s meeting. If it is on sailing, that’s great. Travel or adventure is also good. If someone is interested in putting together a collage of Salty Dog pictures, that would be nice to have. Send any ideas to me at SaltyDog37@gmail.com.

Brooke Mooreland – Treasurer:

Discounted State Park Passes

Salty Dog Sailing Club Members, Friends, and Friends of Friends:

Colorado Sail & Yacht is now taking orders for 2021 discounted State Park Pass Vouchers and is inviting you to participate. The cost per pass is $63, for an $80 annual park pass. The process is the same as last year.

The vouchers will be valid from March 2021 to March 2022 and can be turned in at Park Offices or most Park Entrances for an Annual State Park Pass. The vouchers.  Your park pass will be valid for one year from the time you turn in your voucher for your annual pass. The club will take orders through the end of February, and the vouchers will be mailed in mid-March.

Order now for the cost of $63 by visiting  https://csyc.org/colorado-state-park-pass-vouchers/ or mail a check payable to CSYC to:

Brooke Moreland
24 Mountain Pine Dr
Littleton CO 80127

Tiffany Jordan – Newsletter:

Salty Dog Club sailing pics needed

Send us your pics! You’re proud of them and want to show off all the fun and amazing things we do on the water. If you have any pictures of sailing that you are willing to give us permission to use freely in our newsletters, marketing, etc., please send them to newsletter@saltydog.org.

Classifieds:  

Boat for sale

A Boston Whaler model Harpoon 4.6 sailboat was donated to a church and is for sale. The 1981 15’ boat and trailer appear to be in good condition. The asking price is $1600. If you are interested, contact Zeke at 303-883-2321.

Articles for next issue are due on the 25th. Please send to newsletter@saltydog.org

January 2021 Newsletter

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Volume 40 Issue 1 – January 2021

 

 

Commodore’s Log

Diana Bliss

Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year 2021

I’m certainly looking forward to a new year with the vaccines coming out and the hope that things start to get back to near normal. I hope everyone had a safe and healthy holiday. I’m really looking forward to a new sailing season, and hopefully having in person meetings with dining, maybe by May. I’m excited to welcome the new board and look forward to working together for a successful and fun-filled year.

Looking ahead we will be looking for a new meeting place for in person meetings when that becomes safely possible.  I was thinking possibly in the Littleton or Englewood area. If anyone has any suggestions for a place, please let me know.

Another item is that we are in need of a new Quartermaster. Beppe will be stepping down. We need someone with some storage space, a big garage, or basement for plastic boxes which hold our paper products, supplies, and canopy for the club trips. Let someone on the board know if you can help.

Our first meeting of the year will be Thurs Jan 14th at 6:30PM on Zoom. Look for your invite by email coming up. The main event will be going over the new sailing schedule and filling in any holes. Shane has a tentative outline of the sailing schedule in this newsletter. There are a few multi-day weekend trips like Big Mac, and Dillon, but if you have another lake you would like to visit, we still have room in the schedule. Then we will fill in with other local day sails. However, all of this is dependent on having members volunteer to coordinate these sails to make them happen. So please step up and get involved with your club!!

Mark, the Vice Commodore, has reported that he has some exciting speakers lined up for upcoming meetings for the new year. For the January meeting we may have a surprise game to play over Zoom, so tune in to our Zoom meeting on Thurs Jan 14th at 6:30PM.

See you all then!

Diana

 

 

Membership Report

Cliff Randall

We are currently at 10 renewed members.

-Cliff

 

 

 

Dry Land Report

Andrea Lewis

The Christmas Party was a little less raucous than previous years … but for a zoom party – was very fun!!

We had the traditional Christmas quiz with some untraditional questions i.e. – what is the most common Christmas dinner in Japan? Answer – KFC chicken (of all things). And then we heard different people’s favorite Christmas memories/stories. It was lovely to hear the stories, but most important how respectful everyone was of keeping each story less than three minutes and others not interrupting. What a well-behaved herd of Salty Dogs we have! Finished the party with a rendition of Jingle Bells led by Mark, with Tiffany jingling her wine glass!! Lots of fun and memories made. And I promise there will be a “pass the parcel game” at next year’s party!!

I have nothing planned for January at this time. However, if anyone wants to try and play games on the internet, I would be open to it. We use an app called “Houseparty” to keep our family connected. Please let me know if anyone is interested in trying to connect through that.

When the weather is a little better and more predictable, I was thinking we could play putt-putt golf at Cornerstone Park in Littleton on a Sunday afternoon sometime. And we can revisit the bowling idea when we feel inside events are a little safer.

If anyone has any ideas as to how to keep our group connected in the off-season, please let me know.

-Andrea

Next Upcoming Event – Zoom Meeting Thursday Jan 14th, 6:30pm

In Memoriam of Bob Johnson

– Remembered by John Venema

Bob Johnson, a charter member of the Salty Dog Sailing Club, passed away December 17, 2020 at the age of 90. Our sympathy to his wife Lynda Coy.

Bob contributed many years of service to our club, including serving as editor of the newsletter.  He published a basic sailing instruction manual which he titled “Chapman Lite”.  Bob shared his boat, which he built himself, at many of the club sailing events.

Always a patient and “Unflappable Captain”, we will miss his generous and pleasant nature.

 

– Remembered by Shane Brouillette

I had a sailing buddy for several years named Bob Johnson. He passed away recently at age 90. He and Linda were longtime Salty Dog members, and he had a 14-foot wooden boat that he had built from plans.

We sailed many times each year in it and he used it at club day sails as well. He didn’t have a bad bone in his body and was liked by a wide circle of friends, many of them still in the Salty Dogs club. I never saw him looking unhappy. I miss him already. Here is a picture of him at a club sail showing how to right a capsized boat.

Your New Salty Dog Sailing Club Officers
Commodore Diana Bliss commodore@saltydog.org
Vice Commodore Mark Graas vice.commodore@saltydog.org
Membership Cliff Randall membership@saltydog.org
Secretary Ellie Watson secretary@saltydog.org
Dry Land Coordinator Andrea Lewis dryland@saltydog.org
On the Water Coordinator Shane Brouillette onthewater@saltydog.org
Newsletter Tiffany Jordan newsletter@saltydog.org
Treasurer Brook Moreland treasurer@saltydog.org
Web Master Larry Moreland sdscwebmaster@saltydog.org

Articles for next issue are due on the 25th. Please send to newsletter@saltydog.org

December 2020 Newsletter

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Commodore’s Log                                                      Marilyn Allen

Greetings Salty Doggers –

I hope you’re all staying well during this crazy time.  It’s certainly making for a different holiday season.  Andrea Lewis has cooked up a fun Zoom Holiday Party for us, and it should bring some fun to our December.  Be sure to attend the December meeting (via Zoom) on December 10 at 6:30pm.

I apologize for missing the November Annual Meeting and thank Bobby Olsen for stepping up as Vice Commodore.  My Time Share in Cabo was calling, and I’ve got to say, it was pretty wonderful to get away from COVID and politics.  Cabo felt very safe health-wise with precautions even more stringent than here.

I got the incredible gift of actually diving with 20-30 Humpback Whales.  Awesome!

A big welcome to all our new board members and Thank You for stepping up.  There WILL be a smooth transition of power and I’m confident some new plans and approaches will make our club even better.   There were reports from all board members EXCEPT Dave Westfall as Webmaster and yours’ truly.  Dave has done a tremendous amount of good for the club with his work on our website and Meet-Up.  We have new crew members and boat owners because of his efforts, and, of course, the great follow up of our Membership Coordinator.  Please see his report in this newsletter.

A BRIEF COMMODORE’S REPORT – This was a challenging year because of our friend COVID, but despite it we had great sailing events with good attendance and lots of fun.   At our Board meeting last January, the board became very concerned about our future when we saw the state of our treasury and upcoming expenses.   Additionally, our membership numbers were down, primarily because of the closing of Chatfield.  We voted to raise dues a small amount and focus on increasing membership.  I’m happy to announce that because of successfully doing both, the treasury is now solvent and in good shape. We reviewed our Financial and Policies documents to clear up some confusion over compensation.  We more clearly defined responsibilities of both crew and captains.  THAT was really complicated but will provide more concise documents for the new board.

The Salty Dogs future is  bright.

Our membership is up and we have new boat owners who are injecting lots of enthusiasm into the club.  The two long trips, Lake Mac and Dillon, were both successful.  Thank you to all the Board members who contributed their time and talents to the club.  Each and every one played a big part in our success.

Looking forward to seeing lots of you at the December Zoom meeting and party.

The business meeting will be VERY short, to allow lots of time for fun.

See you soon –

Marilyn Allen, Commodore

Membership Report                                                              Ronni Willcox

During the month of November the Salty Dog Sailing Club has welcomed three new members. We all give a hearty Salty Dog salute to Marty and Nick C from Strasburg and Tiffany J from Denver !

This brings the current club membership to 59.

If you would like to renew your membership before December 31, 2020 you can SAVE $5 per member on your single or double membership fee for year 2021.  A SAVINGS of $10 per couple!

Do that soon at our On-Line Payment link: https://www.saltydog.org/membership/

You can also download the club membership application:

https://www.saltydog.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SDSC-Membership-form-2020.pdf

The club requires every member to complete both sides of an application each year.  Please send your application to the incoming membership director, Cliff Randall, to his home address on my roster.

If you prefer, you can send a check along with your membership application directly to Cliff.

Have any questions about membership? Send them to membership@saltydog.org.

Webmaster Report                                                                 Dave Westfall

SaltyDog.org has gone from the Bottom to the Top of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for “Denver Sailing Club”. We’re #1!

Our Google Analytics report shows monthly website visitors have increased from 20 to 200+ per month !

That’s 2,054 website visitors in the last year, up 47% Year Over Year, despite the Global Pandemic …

That has resulted in new Salty Dog Members (see Membership Report, above) !

Posting the SDSC Newsletter as a Blog Post on the Website for Prospects is helping our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and New Member Recruiting !

From the Editor                                                                        Ira Greenberg

It has been my pleasure to oversee this newsletter for three years now.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know our members, helping to organize events, keeping the information flowing.
I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Tiffany Jordan, our incoming editor.
Wishing Tiffany and the entire incoming Board our Best for continued success in 2021 and Beyond !

Welcome to the New Board for Calendar 2021:

Commodore               Diana Bliss
Vice Commodore      Mark Graas
Membership              Cliff Randall
Secretary                    Ellie Watson
Dry Land                    Andrea Lewis
On The Water           Shane Brouillette
Newsletter                Tiffany Jordan
Treasurer                  Brook Moreland
Webmaster              Larry Moreland

Christmas at Sea Poem                                              Robert Louis Stevenson

This poem, by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1888 captures perfectly the pathos of the sailor leaving home in this poem; he can even see the house where he was born – where his aging parents are lamenting a Christmas spent without a son, a foolish son he surmises… who is away from home, at sea.

Click on this link to read the poem: https://poets.org/poem/christmas-sea

Dry Land Activities                                                            Andrea Lewis

                                          Ideas, suggestions, please let Andrea Lewis know   

                         Andrea – Dry Land Coordinator   dryland@saltydog.org      

 

On The Water                                                                     Shane Brouillette

******    Like to Propose or Coordinate a 2021 Sail ?    Contact Shane Brouillette – onthewater@saltydog.org     ******

December  2020 Meeting

Thursday December 10 – Meeting / Holiday ( ZOOM ) Party … 6:30 PM, via ZOOM – Link to be provided

Will start with Monthly Meeting, then on to Christmas Quiz – Have Paper / Pen handy by your screen

Please wear your best Xmas Hat, Ugly Sweater, Glittery Earrings, and your preferred Beverage.

( Due to Unpopular Demand, we will NOT be doing Secret Santa )

 

 

Charter in Belize –

Day Sails or Over Night Charters
Neftali & Tammy Lemus
Belize Sailing & Adventures

011-501-610-0226

+1-501-610-0226

http://www.xsitebelizesailing.com/

November 2020 Newsletter

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November 2020 Newsletter Header

 

Commodore’s Log                                                                               Marilyn Allen

With only 2 more sailing days on the calendar, I guess we can say the season is over… at least in Colorado.  There are lots of warm weather places that are welcoming us, with some restrictions, so keep your eyes open for charter opportunities, and bring your mask and ever present hand sanitizer.

Twelve of us intrepid Salty Dogs joined Andrea Lewis for her latest Dry Land adventure — GO-KARTING!   It was a ball and we maneuvered and occasionally slammed around each other, trying for the best time.

Earlier in October, Shane organized an end of season sail at Chatfield… a beautiful day and a fitting end for a good season, IN SPITE OF our friend Covid.  We usually have 10-15 participants at the sails and everything from howling gales to glass flat lakes.  Hopefully, next year we’ll be a little less restricted, but considering the Covid challenges, I think we had a very good season.

Much thanks to all the coordinators and boat owners who shared their time and boats with us and thanks to Gary Kieft for putting the sailing schedule together.

IMPORTANT –

By the time you get this, I will have sent out ballots for our 2021 Board.  Our November meeting will be back to the Zoom format and the new board will be announced at the meeting.

PLEASE EMAIL YOUR VOTES BACK TO ME NO LATER THAN NOV. 3

(should be an easy day to remember)

There will be no voting at the meeting.  We need to have a quorum and we need to have votes, so please don’t overlook this.

And ‘Thank You’ to the fine Salty Dog members who have offered to serve next year.

IMPORTANT #2 –

We have two members competing for the On the Water Position.  They are Shane Brouillette and Gary Kieft.  Please vote for 1 of them on the ballot.

HOLIDAY PARTY –

We had hoped to be able to have an in person gathering, but with the spike in Covid cases, it’s just too risky.  Let’s plan for a Zoom get together on our December meeting night.  Bring your food, beverage, and some funny holiday attire from the waist up and we’ll visit and catch up.

Wishing you all a good Thanksgiving.

We ALL have things to be grateful for, even though perhaps this year won’t be the ideal.

Be sure to attend our November meeting.

We’ll announce the new Board, talk a bit about plans for 2021 and have a great guest speaker.

Vice Commodore’s Log                                                                       Bobby Olsen

November Meeting Agenda

6:30 – Meeting called to order / Greeting and review of the Agenda

6:35 – Business meeting

  • Election of Officers
  • Officer Reports
  • Ideas for meetings and events in 2021

7:05 – Speaker – Jim Schoendaller, Author and sailor

7:25 – Announcements

7:30 – Adjourn meeting

About Our Speaker – Jim Schoendaller

Jim SchoendallerJim is your typical active Colorado native. He is a former national skating champion, an expert skier, a certified scuba diver, a world traveler (5 continents so far), an accomplished ballroom dancer, and a gourmet cook.

Like all of us in landlocked Colorado, he is also into sailing.

He is an ASA Certified Instructor and has been teaching with Victoria Sailing School on the J22’s for 12 years.

Unlike all of us, he is a published author. His first book, 180 Degrees Magnetic, was published in December 2019. It is an action, adventure, sailing, sci-fi thriller set in the Bermuda triangle.

Book number two in the trilogy, Repel All Boarders, is at the publisher and will be available shortly.

Jim is going to share with us his experiences in sailing, writing, and mixing the two. It will be an informative and enjoyable presentation.

Membership Report                                                              Ronni Willcox

The Salty Dog Sailing Club happily welcomes four new members! We say a warm hello to Justin M and Colleen I, along with Andi O and Gino M.   Our club membership tops out currently at 56 sailors.

Our presence on Meetup, the Salty Dog Meetup Group, is also adding sailing enthusiasts who are interested in joining us for an outing.

If you have never received a Salty Dog complimentary tee shirt, please let me know and I’ll get one to you promptly. Every member is deserving of a tee shirt!

If you haven’t already joined or renewed, please do so soon at our On-Line Payment link: https://www.saltydog.org/membership/

Or, if you prefer, you can send a check to Ronni Willcox, Membership, 2955 Blue Sky Cir #6-206, Erie CO 80516.

Have any questions about membership? Send them to membership@saltydog.org.

Dry Land Event Recap                                                                          Andrea Lewis

What do frustrated sailors do when it is too cold to sail ? They do the next best thing and get into their go-karts and drive as fast as possible against their fellow Salty Dogs!!

Friday 23rd Oct was one of those freezing cold days, and so we were not sure how many Salty Dogs would brave the cold and come and join us at K1 Go Karting in the evening – but lo and behold … everyone who said they would, turned up and played!!

One race involved driving the course 12 laps and the object of the exercise was to do the fastest timed lap – it was not necessary to get past the flag first .. there were a couple of near collisions, as a few riders were more antsy than others ( no names mentioned 🙂

Great fun was had by all and the winner of the pack was Dan closely followed by Mathew.

After all that hard work we reconvened at “Living the Dream Brewery” for a well deserved beer!!

 

 

 

Sailing Schedule 2020                                                                        Gary Kieft

Great Job Everyone !!

                              It’s been a GREAT 2020 Sailing Season …

         Sincere Thanks to our Generous Boat Owners, Our Skilled Captains

                   Kudos to our On The Water Coordinator – Gary Kieft

                   Great Job under VERY Challenging Circumstances !!

 

MOB — A Cherry Creek Reservoir Instructive Sail Tale                    Michael Mason

I went sailing with my friend Marilyn, Commodore of the Salty Dogs Sailing Club.  Sailing was great. We had good wind, good company, and a beautiful afternoon.  We had a bit of adventure late in the day.

Placing fenders on the port side of the boat in preparation for returning to the dock, I somehow managed to violate the first rule of sailing,  “Don’t Fall Overboard”.  We were about a quarter of a mile from the dock.

I tumbled in and lost my new prescription glasses and my car keys.  My inflatable PFD inflated immediately.  I was now at the surface and  in no immediate danger.

Although this sounds amusing, MOB ( Man Over Board ) is actually a very life threatening situation.

The MOB is often injured, scared, disoriented, in saturated clothes that weigh much more than normal, and is unable to climb the slick sides of the boat or stern to get back in.

Marilyn is a very experienced sailor, as am I.  About a month ago we had discussed and practiced a few MOB techniques on an earlier sail on Cherry Creek Reservoir.  One technique we had discussed but not practiced involved removing the main sail from the mast while leaving it still attached to the boom.  The main sail halyard is eased (loosened) enough to allow the top of the now loose sail to be lowered in to the water next to the boat.

One of the first things Marilyn did was to return the boat near me and turn off the engine to reduce the chance of my being chewed up by the propeller.  She threw a large 20 foot dock line (rope) to me, and after a couple of attempts was successful.  Since I was being blown away from the boat, I tied the dock line around my waist with a bowline hitch to prevent my drifting away.  So now I was very safe…. temporarily.

No other boats at Cherry Creek were nearby in spite of it being a busy Saturday afternoon.  I blew my very loud rescue whistle with the international distress signal of 3 blasts many many times. . . . no one heard or responded.

I attempted to climb back into the boat using the engine mount as a ladder but even with Marilyn’s assistance, I was unable to get back on board. I have read that that is very common.

Marilyn was able to lower the main sail into water rescue position with minimal coaching from me but undoubtedly with a few curses from me.  With the loose main sail lowered into the water, I was able to swim into the hammock-like pouch of the mainsail without much trouble.  I did need to undo the dock line that was securing me to the boat, and that was somewhat concerning.

So there I was in the wet pouch of the mainsail.  It felt very comforting to be in the hammock-like folds of the sail where I would not sink or drift away. The sail also offered wind protection!  Marilyn proceeded to hoist the mainsail halyard up using the winch, and the mainsail sort of rolled me up the port side of the boat, as we had seen in the you tube videos but had never practiced. Then the halyard  jams! By doing a sort of pull up on the side of the boat, I was able to unweight the sail enough for Marilyn to lift it about a foot more.  That gave me enough height to crawl onto the deck of the boat, wet, cold, shaking, and near hypothermic. The rescue was not elegant but it worked!

Here is a video of a commercial product that illustrates how the sail rescue lift works. Note that we left the mainsail attached to the boom:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z4MU-uUAYY

I finished rigging the fenders on the port side of the boat and Marilyn drove us back to the dock.  As we proceeded, I found that I had packed a fleece coat in my sailing bag and changed into that.  I enjoyed the warmth!

We properly secured the boat at the dock and walked up to our cars.  Oh poop! My car will not open as my keys and fob are at the bottom of Cherry Creek Reservoir !

Marilyn drove me back home and neighbor Gail had keys to unlock my house. I now had access to a spare car fob and house key.  Marilyn drove me back to get the Toyota and all is now well (after pizza and wine).

Both Marilyn and I are safe due to experience, cool heads, a bit of luck, and training.
Wear that PFD, Salty Dogs!
More adventure than I had expected on Cherry Creek Reservoir!

Fair winds and following seas,
Michael Mason

Announcements

Like to Coordinate a 2021 Sail ?    Contact Gary Kieft – onthewater@saltydog.org

 

November  2020

              ****         VOTE                 2021 Board Members                   VOTE         ****

Tuesday November 12 – Annual Meeting … 6:30 PM, via ZOOM – Link to be provided

Saturday November 21 – Indoor Bowling – Punch Bowl Social
65 Broadway, Denver CO 80203      303-765-2695        $12 per go
We will pay at the door, but please let me know if you intend on coming so I can provisionally reserve enough lanes.
Please call or text Andrea Lewis email dryland@saltydog.org                                           

December  2020

Tuesday December 10 – Holiday Party, Time TBD, via ZOOM – Link to be provided

Interested in Buying A Yacht in San Diego?

The Membership Director has recently received this message from a yacht salesperson based in San Diego:

“I just moved out to San Diego from Denver and have embarked on a new career in the yacht brokerage business.  A lot of Coloradans like to buy boats in San Diego to use as a warmer weather winter getaway in the marinas that are walkable from the airport.  With that I can help!

My office is right next door to West Coast Multihulls and Seaforth boat rentals in Sunroad Marina, which have charter and educational opportunities your members might enjoy whilst I help them find the perfect yacht!

If members are interested, I can send a business card to any member that might want to look into owning?”

Cheers,

Nathaniel Barré, Yacht Consultant

619-313-3664

nathaniel@aglyachtsales.com

www.aglyachtsales.com

May 2020 Newsletter

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2020-May-Newsletter-Header

 

Commodore’s Log                                                                                 Marilyn Allen

I hope this message finds you healthy and weathering the Stay-at-Home orders with some degree of sanity.  My heart goes out to our members who have friends and family in other places that have been so hard hit such as New York and Italy.  It must be so hard to have loved ones in far-away places and know there is little one can do to help.  There are so many ways we CAN help here now, though – donations to food banks, making or delivering masks, helping our neighbors and renewing old connections.  For me, the best advice I got is to keep a routine.  Up about the same time every day, make the bed, get dressed, eat healthy meals, exercise, get outside, and do the next best thing.  As for Salty Dog events, right now,

Everything is in flux, and ALL EVENTS ARE ON HOLD!

But I’m hoping we can enjoy our sailing activities and friendships a bit later in the summer.   Right now, Colorado State Park campsites are closed until further notice, stay at home orders have been extended to May 8 for Denver, Arapahoe, Adams and Jefferson counties with only Douglas doing Safer at Home guidelines.  Distancing guidelines will remain in effect for the foreseeable future so plan on limited boat capacity, wearing a protective mask and being extra careful about our surroundings.  Our meeting date of May 14 is after the proposed end of Stay at Home, and I’m hoping we can safely have a gathering of some sort and perhaps even do some sailing.  Watch for a web blast.

Our Zoom club meeting in April was fun.  We had 17-18 attendees and John Venema’s information on how to charter was great.  He’s done so many (as have lots of our folks) and having sailed with John and Patsy a few times, I can testify that things are organized, duties are clear and the atmosphere is one of fun and cooperation.

Our On the Water coordinator, Gary Kieft, has done a great job of planning, but at this point, we can’t even reserve campsites at Pueblo much less make firm plans for summer events.  Keep an eye out for web blasts, because as soon as we can safely plan events, while also following guidelines to stay virus free, we’ll be doing it.

Meanwhile, stay safe and well everyone.  Visualize and Affirm health for ourselves and our planet.

Stay safe and healthy,

Marilyn Allen, Commodore

Membership Report                                                                             Ronni Willcox

The Salty Dog Sailing Club now has 42 current club members including one new member.

One new person has joined our Salty Dog Meetup Group since last month. The current social distancing situation is likely having a negative impact on potential new members. We look forward to attracting new members when the current situation is resolved and we can resume a more normal sailing schedule.

If you haven’t already joined or renewed, please do so soon at our On-Line Payment link: https://www.saltydog.org/membership/ 

Of course, you can also send us a check.

Have any questions about membership? Send them to membership@saltydog.org

Social Distancing

 

Ocean Passage Opportunity for Able-Bodied Salty Dogs

Here is an early June opportunity for a voyage from the Bahamas to Charleston, SC.

Gain sailing know how while sailing from Eleuthera’s Harbour Island north to and through the Sea of Abaco aboard a 38 foot Seawind catamaran.  Then with the experience gained, we will leave the Abaco Sea and sail north and west around Grand Bahama Island and rest at the Grand Bahama yacht club while awaiting a weather window.  Then it’s into the Atlantic Ocean for a sail to South Carolina’s great city of Charleston.  Two spacious cabins are available. The only cost for this opportunity will be a proportional share of fuel, food provisions, a few days at marinas and a $200 cleaning fee.  Should,however, you decide to stay and enjoy the delights of Charleston, your cabin space will be available for up to 7 additional days with only an equally shared dockage fee.

The distance is roughly 600 NM and traveling at 6 knots the voyage will take about 100 hours of sailing over 6 or 7 days, weather permitting.

The Charles Edward is equipped with an AIS receiver and two satellite communication devices.

Captain Peter Baumgartner is looking for 2 to 4 able bodied crew.

For those interested, please call Peter at 303 817 4409 or email Peter@sailor66.com

Charles Edward Sailboat

 

Dry Land Activities                                                                            Andrea Lewis 

Questions, Comments, Ideas, Suggestions, please contact our Dry Land Event Coordinator, Andrea Lewis

Due to Coronavirus there will be no Dry Land Activities planned 

Please observe Stay at Home / Safer at Home guidelines, hug your loved ones, and keep well and safe !!

Looking forward to seeing you all on the water soon.

May 2020

May 14 – Monthly Meeting  –   ‘In Person’ ? / ‘On Line’ ? –  Details to follow in email

July 2020

July 4 Party !

Gari Westkott is graciously hosting a Salty Dogs party at her house.

Please call or email Andrea … we’ll put together a list of people, food items to bring.

Andrea – Dry Land coordinator

dryland@saltydog.org

 

Sailing Schedule 2020                                                                                              Gary Kieft

****   To volunteer as a Coordinator, please contact Gary at onthewater@saltydog.org   ****

              Sailing schedule is a work in progress  —-  Please submit comments, questions to Gary

Given current Health Dept restrictions, and in keeping with Salty Dogs concern

     ******   ABOVE ALL   ******

             for the safety of our members, guests, friends, and family,

  ALL activities scheduled are tentative, and subject to change or cancellation.

              As best we can, we will try to keep membership informed thru

via   Meetings and EMail

We hope to soon be circulating information on the Lake Pueblo and Lake McConaughy Sails

Information will be on our Web Site, via Email, and in upcoming Newsletters

If you’ve got questions, would like to Volunteer, please contact Gary Kieft at onthewater@saltydog.org

Call for Sail Coordinators

                  We need Volunteers for each Sail planned for 2020 –

              Step up, Offer the Club Your Ideas, Your Time, Your Goodwill

                Well planned Sails make for a Successful Sailing Season

      Thanks !

                      Please reach out to our OnTheWater Coordinator

 

Thank You / Well Done / Shout – Outs                                                           Gary Kieft

Gari W., for arranging and inviting us to an Independence Day party – potluck

Tom Prebynski, for your long participation and your recent fiscal donation!   Much appreciated.

Bobby Olsen, for stepping up, and for your creative newsletter writings keeping members apprised and entertained

Marilyn, for sharing your story from the Garden Isle of Dominica.  Hope your knee is healing or healed —“Ouch”!

Dave, for minding the awesome task of Webmaster.

Attendees and board members for making meetings, Zoom Meetings, and Landlubbers happen!

I am impressed at how nautically active many of you are –

Yayyyyy to all who embarked with Captain Anne Hammond

Thank you Venemas for relating the trip and lessons to us.

A GOODBYE PARTY FOR COVID-19  FOURTH OF JULY PARTY, 2020

Ahoy there, Saltydoggers –

Let’s celebrate the end of this pandemic and the beginning of our great country.

Yes, we will try for the July 4th date to have a party at my house: Saturday, July 4, 5:00 pm.

Save the date and plan to come if all is secure with the virus (otherwise, I will try for a date further in time). It will be a potluck, so no prepay  is needed. I do not have a BBQ any more so you will need to bring your own portable one if you want to have a grill. (Sorry, I thought I was going to move, so gave it away) Also may need you to bring a lawn chair or two  and I may need a few other things, but I will call you. We will see the fireworks, either from my roof or up the street from me, AND play games, actually in reverse order.

SO, for now Save the Date.  Viruses don’t like warm weather or sun and we will be outdoors so we should be safer than most places.  We may even be able to shake hands or hug then.

Games? Yes, a few –   Yes, there will be PRIZES

Oh, and the cost of this event, other than your potluck dish–

‘BYOB’ – each of you will need to bring a boat (not for keeps) [Could be as big as Shane’s rubber raft or it could be the floaty that accompanies you in the bathtub]

More later

Miss you all. Be safe

Gari W.

Season’s On ! 

****  Please  ****

    Observe Health Restrictions & Guidelines

             In Place For EVERYONE’s Safety !!