|
|
September Membership Meeting
9/9/26
|
|
|
MEETING TOPICS
|
Location -
The Muse Whiskey and Coffee | Second Floor
- 6:00pm Social Hour
- 7:00pm Food and Meeting
Please Bring Your Potluck to Share |
|
Meeting Notes & Upcoming Information
A few things to keep on your radar coming out of this month's meeting.
The Membership Committee is open and looking for anyone interested in getting involved. Per the bylaws, the Membership Committee shall be responsible for all membership drives, for securing new members, and retaining current members. Reach out if it sounds like something you would like to be part of. Email commodore@milltownsailing.org if interested.
Planning Ahead: As the end of the year is approaching, that means the Awards Banquet is upon us. We are looking for caterer recommendations. Please go HERE to share your ideas and any food restriction recommendations.
A Halloween Heads-Up: October is going to be a good one. Haunted Harbor is returning to the Port of Everett on October 23rd, and we would love to see MSA represented out there. If you are a slip holder at the Port of Everett marina, you should have already received information directly. Everyone else can find full details on the Port of Everett Haunted Harbor page. Decorate your boat, hand out candy, and fly the MSA flag proudly.
And the October member meeting is going full Halloween. Come dressed in your best costume for the costume contest. Bring something spooky, fun, or creatively Halloween-themed to share on the food table. The more creative, the better.
Tis the season. Do not hold back.
Speaker Series Member Meetings Questionnaire: We're planning upcoming Speaker Series Meetings and want to make sure the topics reflect what our members are most interested in. This short questionnaire asks you to review a list of potential speaker topics, indicate your level of interest in each, and suggest any topics not already listed. It should take just a few minutes to complete, and your responses will directly shape our upcoming speaker lineup. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summer sailing is winding down fast... it feels like autumn weather hit early this year. Don't let the changes stop you from seeking new destinations. Off-season cruising is the best time to grab some reciprocal moorage at many of our local marinas throughout the Salish Sea.We recently stopped in Friday Harbor for a night and took advantage of the reciprocal offered by San Juan Island Yacht Club. $15 per night got us access to shore power, affordable showers and laundry, and a short walk into the bustling downtown. It's hard to argue with that bargain! Since joining MSA, we have utilized reciprocal moorage at least once per season, sometimes more. This recent visit alone saved us $55 for transient moorage. Some years the savings was nearly the equivalent of our MSA dues! Clubs often open their facility to visiting guests for events or mid-week "burger nights", so be sure to check the club's website for activities. We've visited the clubhouse at Kingston Cove Yacht Club and had a fun time getting local knowledge from their members.
The best advice I can give for securing your reciprocal slip is this:
-First, check yachtdestinations.org for clubs who share reciprocal with MSA.
-Fly your burgee! Many clubs will require you to do so.
-Arrive early, especially near check-out time, so you can grab a spot once a departing vessel has left.
-Be a good representative of Milltown and treat the facility with respect.
I can list so many reasons why being a member of a sailing or yacht club is such a great thing. Reciprocal is one of them! The next time you see me, be sure to tell me where you've used reciprocal moorage this year, or perhaps where your all time favorite location is!
Fair winds,
Stacey Lauer, SV Sérénité |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Brief Pause Before the Next Battle
Racing takes a short break this month, but there is still plenty on the horizon. Our next MSA race is the Fall Regatta on September 19th, and in the meantime, we are looking for volunteers to sign up for the Race Committee. It is a great way to stay involved, give back to the racing program, and see the race from a whole new perspective. Fall Series starts September 26th. |
|
|
|
|
For those of you deep in the Salish Circuit, Race 3 of 4 is upon you. The Northern Century, hosted by Anacortes Yacht Club, takes place September 5 and 6 and if you have never heard of it, let us paint a picture.
They call it "100 miles of awesome, and the toughest race you'll ever love." The Northern Century starts and finishes in Anacortes, with two marks near Point Roberts and Hein Bank, and the route between them is skipper's choice through the San Juan Islands. This race demands considerable navigational skill, night sailing, strong currents, transit of vessel traffic lanes, and potentially strong winds. The wind might disappear, the currents take on a life of their own, and the only thing you can rely on is the thrill of the chase.
There is also a 50-mile option, the Northern 50, affectionately known as the "Fifty Cent," for those who want faster fun or aren't quite ready to take on the full 100.
To those MSA sailors toeing the line on September 5th. We will be watching. Go get it. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oak Harbor Music Festival
This month's cruise takes us to Oak Harbor for one of the Pacific Northwest's most beloved end-of-summer traditions. The Oak Harbor Music Festival is September 4, 5, and 6, 2026.
A free, three-day event on the north end of Whidbey Island, the festival brings together folk, rock, R&B, country, blues, jazz, and more. Funds raised go toward scholarships for students pursuing a career in music. It is the kind of event that makes you proud to live in this corner of the world.
And we are doing it right. Linda and Grant, along with Leanna and Carl, will be hosting, and our theme for the cruise is Sea Shanties. So, dust off your best maritime ballads, warm up those vocal cords, and come ready to sing your heart out on the water and ashore.
Sail in, raft up, and let the music carry you through the last of summer. This one is going to be a good time.
For festival details, lineup, and stage schedules, visit oakharborfestival.com.
|
|
|
|
|
Question:
Boats A and B are reaching up the starting line on port tack with 30 seconds to go to the starting signal. There are no boats astern of B. As A approaches Boat S, on starboard tack, A hails, “Room to Tack!” B responds, “No way, you’re not close-hauled!” A bears away, sails astern of S and hails, “Protest!” B sails for two lengths and tacks to leeward of S.
You are on the protest committee; how would you decide this?
|
|
|
|
|
Answer From Last Month
Disallow PB’s protest. At position 1, before PA reached the zone, PA was clearly ahead of PB. Inside the zone, the boats were overlapped. PB claims to have created the overlap before PA reached the zone; PA claims that PB did not create the overlap before PA reached the zone. Rule 18.2(e), Giving Mark-Room, states: “If there is reasonable doubt that a boat obtained or broke an overlap in time, it shall be presumed that she did not.” There is “reasonable doubt” that PB obtained the overlap before PA reached the zone; therefore, the protest committee must assume she did not obtain the overlap in time. Therefore, PA was not required to give PB mark-room under rule 18.2(a), Giving Mark-Room. (See US Sailing Appeal 92.) |
|
|
|
|
POINT OF SAIL GROUP DISCUSSION
|
|
|
|
Mighty Mary: Rock the Boat
There is a story from the world of sailing that deserves to be told, and this September it is finally hitting the big screen.
Mighty Mary is a documentary about the very first all-women's sailing crew to contend for the famed America's Cup in 1995. It is a story that has been waiting thirty years for its moment.
It started in March 1994 when Bill Koch, fresh off his 1992 America's Cup victory, made a bold decision. He would field an all-women's crew for the 1995 defense. The announcement drew over 600 applicants. From those, 120 were tested on the water. Thirty made the final cut. At the helm was Dawn Riley, a veteran of Koch's winning 1992 campaign and fresh off skippering an all-women's entry in the grueling 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World Race. The team included Olympic sailors, Olympic rowers, world champions, and collegiate champions. There was a deaf sailor, a Native Hawaiian sailor, and the first African American to ever win an America's Cup race.
Widely dismissed at the time as a publicity stunt, Mighty Mary proved formidable on the water, advancing to the final of the 1995 Citizen Cup defender trials after a series of victories over Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes. They had nearly 40 boat lengths on Conner heading into the final leg. What happened next and the backroom deal that followed is what makes this story one of the most compelling in sailing history. You will have to watch the film to get the full picture.
Director Mary Mazzio, herself a Georgetown Law graduate and former Olympic rower who competed for the United States in the 1992 Olympics, said this project had been in her mind since the 1990s. "I remember the story well. I was on the 1992 Olympic rowing team, and a number of my teammates went and joined the Mighty Mary team as grinders. I remember the twists and turns of that time, and I remember thinking to myself how that was a story that needed to be told."
Narrated by Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Banks, Mighty Mary opens in select AMC Theatres nationwide on September 11, 2026. Check out the trailer and bring a fellow sailor or someone who has never sailed a day in their life. Either way, they will leave thinking.
For Discussion:
Tracy Edwards from SV Maiden was told she would never make it to the start line. The women of Mighty Mary were called a publicity stunt before they ever touched a halyard. Both crews went out and proved the doubters wrong and yet here we are, decades later, still having versions of the same conversation.
So where do we actually stand? Not in theory, but out here, on our water, in our club. Are we the kind of community where a woman can walk up to a boat and be seen as a sailor first? Where she gets handed the helm, not the galley? Where her voice in a tactical discussion carries the same weight as anyone else's?
Because sometimes it is not the big, obvious moments. Sometimes it is the small ones, the assumptions made before someone speaks, the comments that seem harmless, the roles that just seem to default a certain way without anyone noticing.
Have you seen it? Have you felt it? And what do we do about it, not someday, but now?
Come ready for an honest conversation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EDUCATION CORNER
|
Do you remember this from last year?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Online Sailing Education
Sailing Through the Seasons on Puget Sound
One of the things that makes sailing in the Pacific Northwest so rewarding is also what makes it humbling. The water does not take a break, and neither does the learning curve. As summer fades and fall arrives, our sailing environment shifts in ways that catch even experienced sailors off guard.
What Changes in Fall
The long, lazy days of summer sailing give way to something different in September and October. Days get shorter fast, which means passages that were comfortable in daylight suddenly require night sailing preparedness. Temperatures on the water drop noticeably before they drop on land, and a crew comfortable in a t-shirt in July can find themselves dangerously underdressed by September.
Wind patterns shift as well. The reliable summer thermals give way to more unpredictable conditions driven by frontal systems coming off the Pacific. Fall winds can build faster, shift direction with less warning, and carry more consequence than the summer breezes we get comfortable with.
Cold Water Changes Everything
This is the big one. A sobering fact worth repeating: cold water robs the body of heat 25 times faster than cold air, and many drowning victims die within minutes of going overboard due to cold water shock, before hypothermia even sets in. Water below 60 degrees Fahrenheit is immediately life-threatening, and many Washington waterways stay below 60 degrees year-round. The average July water temperature in Puget Sound is 53 degrees. In the fall, it only goes down from there.
This is not meant to scare you off the water. It is meant to make sure you are ready for it.
What to Keep on Your Boat
A basic cold water readiness kit should include PFDs for everyone on board worn and not stored, a throwable rescue device within reach of the cockpit, a waterproof handheld VHF radio, a Personal Locator Beacon or EPIRB, emergency signaling devices including a whistle and flares, wool or synthetic blankets, a dry change of clothes in a dry bag, a basic first aid kit with hypothermia treatment guidance, and a plan your whole crew knows before you leave the dock.
Gear Up Before You Need To
Fall is not the time to discover that your foul weather gear leaks, your boots have cracked, or your gloves are missing. Before the season turns, go through your kit. Check your safety gear, your navigation lights, and your engine.
The Reward
Here is the thing about fall sailing on Puget Sound. It is some of the most beautiful sailing of the year. The light is different, the anchorages are quieter, the wildlife is more active, and there is a stillness to the water on a calm October morning that summer crowds never get to experience. The sailors who adapt and prepare are the ones who get to enjoy it. Do not put the boat away too soon. Just sail smarter. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shout Outs & Recognition
Do you know someone who deserves a little recognition? Someone who went the extra tack to help out, stepped up when it mattered, or simply made someone's day on the water a little better? We want to hear about it.
Email us at information@milltownsailing.org to nominate someone for Featured Member of the Month, or just to give a shout out to someone who deserves credit where credit is due. No gesture is too small, if it meant something to you, it means something to us.
Let's make sure the people who show |
|
|
|
|
This message was sent to you by {Organization_Name} Milltown Sailing Association is a 501c(7) non-profit organization. |
|
|
|
.png)
