Special surpise for John H on one photo- I went out of my way to label
it *just* so.

http://www.pbase.com/gould/seafair_holiday_cruise_2006

Most of these photos were taken by other people using my camera, so if
they look a
lot better than my normal work, that's why. :-)

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...
Special surpise for John H on one photo- I went out of my way to label
it *just* so.

http://www.pbase.com/gould/seafair_holiday_cruise_2006

Most of these photos were taken by other people using my camera, so if
they look a
lot better than my normal work, that's why. :-)


Good work, Chuck. Wife and I work the Special Kids fishing days in the East
Bay Area. Very rewarding.

(Chuck)wrote
Special surpise for John H on one photo- I went out of my way to label
it *just* so.
http://www.pbase.com/gould/seafair_holiday_cruise_2006
Most of these photos were taken by other people using my camera, so if
they look a
lot better than my normal work, that's why. :-)

Thats a mighty fine looking crew you have.
Wish I could say the same for their....
Thanks Chuck :-) UD

Impressive flotilla, Chuck. Looks like you all had a great time, and
did a great service as well.


Chuck Gould wrote:
Special surpise for John H on one photo- I went out of my way to label
it *just* so.

http://www.pbase.com/gould/seafair_holiday_cruise_2006

Most of these photos were taken by other people using my camera, so if
they look a
lot better than my normal work, that's why. :-)

Tim wrote:
Impressive flotilla, Chuck. Looks like you all had a great time, and
did a great service as well.



Boats boarded special guests at a number of locations. The yacht club
where my wife and I belong had over 30 boats participating (we took
five school bus loads), and three other yachts clubs (one bigger and
two smaller) staged boardings as well. Boats not affiliated with a loal
club were boarding at the old Naval Reserve pier at South Lake Union,
and there was a separate parade from Meydenbaur Bay (Bellevue) that
proceeded along the east shore of Lk Washington and intersected the
route along the north side of the I-520 floating bridge that the
Seattle boats followed.

Simultaneous events were held in some of the larger suburban locations.

All told, there are usually a few hundred boats involved in this event
each year.

Some fun moments:

The woman seen holding the cell phone was initially afraid to step
aboard the boat. (She isn't very mobile or agile, and even when she
agreed to go it took three of us to help her step up onto the bull
rail, down onto the cap rail of the boat, and then down to the deck).
My wife saved the day when she said "We'll be playing the Beach Boys
Christmas tape on the stereo." The woman said, "Oh! Oh! I want to go! I
really like the Beach Boys!". This is the second time that the Beach
Boys tape has lured a semi-reluctant passenger aboard for this event-
my wife can be manipulative when she needs to be. (unlike most women)
:-)

We had a crew of people back at the club who were instrumental in
making this cruise work.
Bus coordinator's, snack packers, etc. Five of the members worked as
"phone Santas", and they called the cell phones aboard each boat to
talk to the guests. This is where it got
somewhat interesting. Of the five special guests we had aboard, one
seemed as bright and lucid as the chaperone that accompanied them and
she just smiled and shook her head "no" when offered a chance to talk
to Santa on the cell phone. Two more sort of went through the motions,
but you could tell they were a bit dubious. We had two guests who
*really* believed, one was the woman in the photo and the other was a
guy seated next to her. When the guy got the phone, he began reciting a
long list of everything he had done to be "good" the previous year, and
wanted a very specific toy (I couldn't quite make out what it was or
maybe Santa's helper could have worked something out between now and
the 25th) in exchange. The guy was in his early to mid 30's, I'm pretty
sure. After the Santa phone calls were finished, he suddenly wanted to
talk to Mrs. Santa as well. My friend Larry
didn't miss a beat. He picked up the cell phone, dialed his wife
ashore, and said, "Hello, is this Mrs. Santa? We've got somebody here
who would like to talk to you!" It went off really well.

One silly and petty moment, that didn't effect anything because nobody
knew about it until the event was almost over. Our club shares a small
cove with another yacht club. The other club is filled with wonderful
people, many of whom I know personally and think of very highly.
Unfortunately, the other club also has a tiny minority who joined that
particular club because it is often considered the "most prestigious"
in the area, (if you join in your 50's, the initiation fee is something
like $15,000 and any month you don't spend "enough" in the bar and
restaurant you get billed for the difference), and it would be shocking
news to some of that tiny minority if somebody informed them that their
holding tanks smelled just like everybody else's. As our boats were
leaving the club area to join the parade, we encountered a large number
of boats from the other club just drifring around in the mouth of the
cove. Apparently they were waiting for all of their members' boats to
load so they could go through the parade, (already streaming by enroute
to Lake Washington), as a unit. Fine, no problem. We all picked our way
very carefully through the group, alternating between speeds of about 1
knot and not moving at all. I thought it all went pretty orderly, and
nobody's boat was even remotely endangered. Their boats were drifting
around fairly disorganized, but there was plenty of clearance. (Sort of
like a batch of small fishing boats working the same school of salmon
or whatnot) When we reached the edge of their batch, we merged into the
parade and carried on.

Unbeknownst to us, one of that snobbish tiny minority from the other
club called our clubhouse to raise the Commodore and complain that we
threaded our way through their waiting boats to join the parade. The
basis for the complaint? "We think it should simply be understood that
our club will be going through the parade ahead of yours. You're
welcome to follow after, of course, but we think we should lead the
way." We heard about this after our guests had been bused home again,
while we were sharing hot buttered rums and watching another miraculous
Josh Brown and the Seahawks performance on TV. For most of us, it was
just another good laugh at the end of a happy day, and I can guarantee
that at least 95% of the other club's membership would not have agreed
with the sentiments expressed by the person who called our club on the
phone.

On 3 Dec 2006 22:19:09 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

Special surpise for John H on one photo- I went out of my way to label
it *just* so.

http://www.pbase.com/gould/seafair_holiday_cruise_2006

Most of these photos were taken by other people using my camera, so if
they look a
lot better than my normal work, that's why. :-)

The boat is beautiful with those 'Christmas Lights'! I told you it would
be. Looks like you all had a lot of fun, and it was for a good cause.

I'm quite sure the excitement and happiness on the guest's faces made
the whole thing *very* fulfilling.
JR

Chuck Gould wrote:
Special surpise for John H on one photo- I went out of my way to label
it *just* so.

http://www.pbase.com/gould/seafair_holiday_cruise_2006

Most of these photos were taken by other people using my camera, so if
they look a
lot better than my normal work, that's why. :-)



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Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth