We had a ripper! For those in the Moore family who grew up and moved away, the auction/party was a blast and couldn’t have happened without all of the willing hands helping out. Also, big thanks to everyone near and far for opening your wallets to help out. We had a ton of wonderful items donated, the first round of the auction is done and I think that the second drawing is in May sometime.
Santa Cruz YC pulled off three starts prior to the party and then everyone started piling into the club under darkening skies. Food and drink was rolled out and soon it was hard to hear even Scott Sorensen, so the voting owners went out onto the deck to get a few business items crossed off the list before the fray inside reached fever pitch.

We needed to vote on new officers for 2012 and I’m pleased to say that we have filled all the spots, though one (the SF Fleet Captain) still has to be asked to see if he is willing! The Shanghai of new officers is fun but not very effective in selecting people who have the energy and will to throw into the fleet. We have a long tradition of selecting people who are not in attendance so I will wait for confirmation on this position. The other changes are below… many thanks to the outgoing officers without whose work we would have crashed and burned.

2011
President: Simon Winer
Vice President: Kurt Lahr
Treasurer/Secretary: John Siegel
Measurer: David Hodges
Measurer: Steve McCarthy
Fleet Cap SF: John Kernot
Fleet Cap SC: Sean McBurney
Fleet Cap PNW:Doug Archbald
Tech/Web 2011: Aaron Lee

2012:
President: Simon Winer simonwiner@gmail.com
Vice President: Scott Sorensen sailfast92@gmail.com
Treasurer/Secretary: John Siegel jasiegel@earthlink.net
Measurer: David Hodges scsails@cruzio.com
Measurer: Steve McCarthy steve@hoginsails.com
Fleet Cap SF: better check first
Fleet Cap SC: Scott Nelson snelson@foxracingshox.com
Fleet Cap PNW: Julia Wenegrat juliarachel1@gmail.com
Tech/Web 2011: Aaron Lee sailaaron@gmail.com

Now, we did have some fighting about ducking out of office and I said to Rowan that the only way he could duck was if he had a baby on the way…. Well congrats to the lucky couple with another on the way. Way to go and, mark my words, you will be arguing for four on the ditch in a few years!

Okay, so the other thing that we had to deal with was the approval of the new rules for the fleet as published on the moore24.org website. I say “dea”l because we really do have to, ummm…, deal with this. It was pointed out by a certain ex-president of the fleet (before rant time expires at 10 am) that I had overstepped the vast power of this position and, in fact, do not have the power to allow the board to make decisions on new rules. Far from the guillotine, I was given a worse fate and was re-elected as president for this fine blunder. Sorry to everyone and especially to those who have already had a go at their boats with a Makita and a ¼” bit. Whoaaa tap the brakes, the dust hasn’t settled yet. This rules discussion will have a life of its own on the Yahoo forum and I will be addressing the great and humorous post from Scott W and others. Please feel free to get your point into our thick heads before we have to vote on these rules legitimately. We have some issues before us that really should be decided on by the biggest group of owners that we can amass. To this end, we decided not to vote with the gaggle that we had at the party but instead will be sending out a ballot that will ask if the rule amendment, as proposed, should be approved. I hope to get this resolved once the chatter on the yahoo site has tapered off and once we get the feeling that we have heard from everyone who has something to say.

In addition to the news that the new rules are not rules… it was pointed out that the decision to require three crew on the Ditch was made in the same Gaddafi manner and short of running me into the desert, we all voted on the proposal to require three crew on the Ditch. Well, that motion did not carry and the crew number is again limited only by the organizers of the event. (That’s two for two from your great leader if anyone is counting!?).

Another proposal that was brought up was a change to the 825lb weight limit. This proposal was unable to find a second, and died out there on the cold and dark YC deck.

Now, picture this… the rain starts to fall gently and we all slide inside, grab a beer and some great food and get ready to really gather some green for Jocelyn. The food was fab and couldn’t have happened without your fine $50 annual dues that paid for the grub, the organizational skills of Morgan, the cooking skills of Scott Sorensen and Christa Larson and a small army of willing helpers from SCYC.

Next stop, and this was the best part and also the funniest, take a seat and get ready to own all sorts of crazy things that you never knew you neeeeeded. Chuck Hawley was a superb MC and easily doubled the cash that came into the college fund. Now picture this… the Stanford/Cal game is going and Craig from Elkhorn Composites has the perfect spot under the TV to see his Jr. college stomping Cal (well it got close at the end) and he was also facing the MC in a good humored way, though he was hardly interested in any more crud to take home with him. Poor Craig got a long look from Lilly, Vicky and Rowan’s kid, and he stared back, made some funny faces and brought a grin to the face of a one year-old. Now, feeling successful, Craig ventured out with a kid’s wave -- a tiny clasped hand wave -- to try and get a full-on toothy giggle from Lilly. Well, this happened just as the words, “do I hear…. $150? Last call for $150…” came rolling outta Chuck’s mouth! Craig was now poorer and also the owner of something with an identity of which he had no clue at all. What he won was a 5 gal keg of home brew that will have to be called “Coochie Coo Broo”. Scott and co will be there to make a wicked brew right in Craig’s shop.

We had a great spread of new and old faces and I enjoyed hearing all sorts of stories from “back in the good old days”. Ron and Martha were in attendance in great form, Ron is on the Governing Board for life and I said to him that mere death won’t get him off the board… We both had a knowing chuckle and then sipped our drinks and let that soak in for a bit. You know that he must feel great having infected so many of us with that pinch of catnip that makes us all keep coming back to the best little boat ever. The evening mellowed, the rain grew louder on the roof, the cleanup was getting going and there were smiles radiating from the screen that had old Mercedes shots of Joel when he was just a punk. Thanks for everything, You Hoodlums, we have a good thing going. Now get out there and hug your boat and say thank you for all that she has been through under your neglectful ownership. Give her a toothy grin and some quiet whispery nothings in her ear but whatever you do, DON’T wave at her.