The Chowder Chatter Newsletter of the Caloosahatchee Marching & Chowder Society A Premiere Sailing Club of Southwest Florida Next Full moon March 11 March 2009 COMMODORE Bill Meisenheimer commodore@cmcs-sail.org COMMODORE S MESSAGE A friend told me this: " You think you want to own a sailboat well here's what you do - Go to the bank and get as many thousands as they will let you have, then put on your foul weather gear make two sandwiches and put one in each pocket get in the shower and turn on the cold water, eat one of the sandwiches standing in the shower - then tear up the thousands of dollars into little pieces throw them into the toilet and flush it - get back in the shower and eat the remaining sandwich. Get out of the shower take off your foul weather gear and ask yourself this question - Did I have fun? If the answer is yes buy yourself a sailboat." Our Member Appreciation night was will attended and thanks to our Vice Commodore Joan Perkett and Don Lawson for an enjoyable evening. This was one of many events we have planned this year. 91 members have signed up to attend EPOL - Dee and Jim Vaigl are in charge. Welcome to the new members we get to know you when you volunteer and take part in the activities of the club. If you participate you will get more than your money's worth plus you will have a whole group of new friends. Thanks and Kudos to Jo our purser for putting together a budget that was approved by the Board at the last meeting. The budget will help us stay on track with our finances and provide direction for our activities. I leave you with this thought; "...Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you never get any-where at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not..." THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS -Kenneth Grahame Fair Winds - Bill
is REAR COMMODORES CRUISING Tom & Linda Koenig cruising@cmcs-sail.org 541-1106 Well, undoubtedly EPOL was a big success. Many thanks to Dee and Jim Vaigl and Susan and John Reekie. What a great job they did, huh???? A complete report and photos of this weekend of fun also in this newsletter. Wow, what a busy schedule we cruisers have throughout 2009. Next is the Landlubber s Cruise on Sunday, March 1 st. Elise Missall is the Cruise Leader for this event. All are welcome to join the group for a fun day of sailing. We will meet at marker #4 about noon and sail off Fort Myers Beach. There will be a raft-up at 3:30 p.m. between the Sanibel pier and the Sanibel bridge in deep water just off of Sanibel Island. Bring your favorite light appetizer to share (lunch on your own). We will monitor channel #72.If you d like to join in the fun, it s not too late. Just give Elise a call at 489-0422. On March 7 and 8, a fleet of CMCSers are headed for Pelican Bay. It is a standard destination that promises laid back fun. Kim and Judy are heading up Friday the 6 th. Their goal for the weekend is to pass on the entertainment flag so they want to be sure to witness the various anchoring dances. Anyone else who is there Friday night should plan on joining Kim and Judy for cocktails on TrustMe!!!. On Saturday we have a couple of suggested activities. A trip through the Tunnel of Love is planned late Saturday Morning and One if by Land and Two if by Sea Treasure hunt on Saturday afternoon. Bring extra batteries for your handheld GPS. Saturday evening (5P)cocktails will be hosted by Tom and Linda Koenig on Windswept. Tides look OK- there are some low lows (-.4) in the wee hours of both mornings (so sleep in Sunday if you are draft challenged) but then things get better as the day goes on. Anyone who needs help getting in there (or doesn t know where there is) please e-mail Kim. For that matter, if you are hoping to show, e-mail me ahead of time JIC there is a change of plans. Last year this cruise got lost and ended up in Glover s Bight due to the weather. As always we ll monitor 16 and 72. Kim - kimcbrown@comcast.net Cell 822-6934. April 2-6 Cape Haze Cruise Cruise Leaders: Bob and Linda Easterly - We are now preparing for the first long-distance cruise of the year, the cruise to Cape Haze. We have six CMCS Cruisers signed on board to date for the marina or the anchorage. The dates for the trip can vary according to your schedule. Some cruisers will be on the water on Wednesday and return home at their leisure. The trip from Marker 101, up through Pine Island Sound, to the Palm Island Marina is approximately six hours. Some Cruisers, due to their schedule, will sail directly to Cape Haze. We would expect to meet most of the Fleet in Pelican Bay at Cayo Costa State Park sometime Thursday. There will be a welcoming party Thursday at 1700 on EASTER LEE. Friday morning at 1000, we will continue up the intra-coastal to Cape Haze. We have slip reservations for Friday and Saturday and plenty of anchorage space. Friday we will dinghy to the beach. Friday night, beginning at 1800, we will have a BBQ at the pool. Saturday we expect to be back at the beach or hanging around the pool. Be sure to tune up on obscure and little known nautical facts so you ll be ready for an exciting game of Sailing Trivia by the pool Saturday afternoon. Saturday night, around 1745 we will take the Pirate s Taxi ($3.00) to the exciting Rum Bay Restaurant on Knight Island which we all enjoyed of last year. Rum Bay has great food and drinks. Sunday we will begin the journey home. 2
EPOL 2009 91 mateys with guests in tow converged on Legacy Harbour Marina to again celebrate another Grand CMCS EPOL weekend!! As each boat entered and finished tying up, Jim and Dee Vaigl, Cruise Captains, met them with the CMCS Welcome Wagon contains gift bags with name tags, color-coded bracelets, and more. Friday nite, 18 of the 20 boats and their crew (about 50 mateys or so met in the marina boaters lounge to meet, eat, and greet each other catching up on tales of old and promises of great cruises in the future. Saturday found the boys (12+ shuckers) prying between the shells of the largest, most juiciest oysters around!! Appalachicola grows em big up there! The girls who always wanna have fun manned the fryers trying feverishly to keep up with the demand for Madeleine Tilley s secret recipe dish. (Its found in the CMCS cookbook for all you who partook.) The grillers turned out B-B-Q, steamed, and oysters casino in great numbers. Oysters on the half shell (aka sliders) were slurped almost as fast as the boys could get em done! The Ship Shop had I Got Shucked at the 2009 EPOL tee-shirts to be autographed by those in attendance. Saturday evening, converging under the chickee hut, the traditional CMCS potluck began with a plethora of tasty looking dishes for everyone to share. With many off to the parade, several mateys stayed behind to try their luck at Left-Right-Center. Mel, who won the pot at T ween Waters, also took home the EPOL pot. (Hm-m-m, wonder if he s playing with weighted dice?) Bright and early Sunday morning the breakfast crew began cookin and flippin their eggs, sausage, ham, and pancakes. With the goods locked up in the refrigerator, the mateys hauled Jim cross-legged in the dock cart full of eggs, sausage, OJ, and ham. Twas a cold ride since most was in his lap. After a filling breakfast, everyone headed for their boat to stagger home on very calm seas. Twas a beautiful sight seeing all those sailors playing follow the leader down the river! There are so-o-o many mateys we d like to thank for their tireless help, but the Chowder Chatter would have pages and pages of names. From the new members who jumped right in with new additions to their bucket list to those who are always lending their hand, Jim and I are grateful for your help each and everyone of you! But a very special thanks to John and Sue Reekie (our Co-Cruise Leaders), who have since renamed their van to the CMCS EPOL Van, there s not enough words and hugs to express our gratitude. EPOL 2009 could not have happened with out their help. And finally to Ron and Shirley who took this task on for 5 years and taught Tim and DeeDee Cheek the ropes last year, we tip our hat. Dee-2 had an EPOL file a mile long. There wasn t anything she didn t document. Without he rguidance, we would have been lost Dee-2, WE LUV U MAN! 3
February s LBC event was a wine tasting at Time to Make Wine (www.timetomakewine.com). A good time was had by all who attended. Sandy and Lisa took good care of us. The wines and food were great. If you re looking for a fun experience with friends or just a new place for lunch, LADIES BRIDGE CLUB Theresa Roake ladiesbridge@cmcs-sail.org please check them out. We tasted 10 different wines. I think the Coco Vino (dark chocolate wine) was the most interesting and a universal hit. Sandy gave us tips on tasting wine and also gave us an overview of the wine-making process. We had such a good time; LBC has decided to make limited edition CMCS wine. Dee Vaigl has designed the labels for us and the wine will make its grand debut at the April general membership meeting. Please remember to bring your empty wine bottles to the March membership meeting so we can recycle them and help keep the cost of the wine down. The Ladies Bridge Club has two events planned for March. The first event is a Full Moon Hike on Monday, March 9. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A DATE CHANGE FROM THE CMCS CALENDAR. All CMCS members (guys included) are welcome to participate in this event. The guided hike will take place at CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed). CREW is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of water resources and natural communities in and around the watershed. We will meet at 7:15 p.m. at the CREW Marsh Trails parking lot. The entrance to the trails is located on Corkscrew Road 18 miles east of I-75. Hikers are encouraged to bring water, wear shoes appropriate for hiking and wear long pants, long sleeves. Flashlights with red beams are welcome but the full moon will be enough to light the way. CREW volunteers are planning this event exclusively for CMCS and are only requesting a $5 donation per participant in return. There is a limit of 30 participants so please r.s.v.p. to troake@comcast.net or call me as soon as possible. The second event for March is the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure Event on March 14 at Coconut Point. We encourage all members to participate through running, walking or simply making a donation. Our team is TaTas to Starboard. More details on registration and general information are available in a PDF in both the Home page and the Ladies Bridge Club section of the CMCS website. Please check it out. I still have a limited number of TaTa s to Starboard t-shirts available if you d like to purchase one for the event. The cost is $15 for the t-shirt and bracelet of which $5 goes directly to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The walk/run and awards presentation will be over by 11 a.m. so there s plenty of time to get back for the Shrimp Festival social activities. Hope to see you all out there! 4
March Membership Meeting March 17, 1830 hours Snack Social Program 1930 hours The speaker will be Paul Marcuzzo, president of Fourwinds Enterprises in Punta Gorda. Fourwinds makes/sells wind generators, LED lights and a lot of neat electrical stuff. Paul will be presenting on the topic of "An Energy Needs Inventory" for boats. The Club collected and donated 21 pounds of food to the Cape Coral Caring Center at February's meeting. As always they were very grateful for our help. The shelves empty as fast as food is donated. There are so many people asking for help who have never had to do so in the past. With the holidays behind us let's dig as deep as we can for the month of March. Make it March Meat Month...bring tuna, canned or packaged chicken, small canned hams and anything else you can spare but lets try and really fill those shelves!!!!!!! Also toiletries are given out and most appreciated.!!!!!!!!! CHILI COOKOFF RESULTS! The January CHILI COOKOFF was a huge success, attended by about 90 hungry sailors, with 12 gracious cooks managing to serve the masses! Thanks to the Jimmie Chew Crew, Joan Perkett (who doesn t even like chili), Cindy Carlino, Candice Thiele, Theresa Roake, Diane Fowler, Don Prohaska, Jo Beauvois, Carolyn Preston, Sigrid Diedricksen, Mary Lou Mullins, and Sue Stier all the chilis were wonderful & we truly appreciate all your efforts to create such a great evening! In the popular vote category, Jimmie Chew s Crew came in first for Most Traditional Chili, Diane Fowler for Best Presentation, and Sigrid Diedricksen for Most Original Chili. New this year was a panel of three judges selected for their unique qualifications as well as good taste buds.we added Dr. Scott Milligan, aka Dr. Pepper, because his specialty is peppers.eric Dow, aka Simon Cowell, (because we needed a proper Brit on the panel and since chili is not a common dish in England, someone with an unbiased palate), and Debra George, ASID and Feng Shui Designer, judging presentation. Their votes went to Don Prohaska for Best Traditional, Jo Beauvois for Best Original, and Jimmie Chew s Crew for Presentation. Congratulations to all the winners, and many thanks to all the presenters and judges, bartender, greeters, set up and clean up people who made it happen CHILI it s a very good thing, so we ll see you next year! Candice Thiele, Committee Chair
UPCOMING RACES: Shrimp Festival Race March 14 REAR COMMODORE RACING Mark Beauvois racing@cmcs-sail.org Racing in February with light winds and warm temperatures, is this paradise or what? The Edison Gulf Regatta was hosted by CMCS and FMSC and was our first BOTY event in 2009. There were 23 entries and two races with the following results: Multihull- 1 st Passion III. Spinnaker- 1 st Neptune, 2 nd Sunrunner, 3 rd theredboat. Non Spinnaker- 1 st Meritorious, 2 nd Essence, 3 rd Bentley. True Cruising- 1 st Winward, 2 nd Jollymon, 3 rd Wicked Wicked Ways. On race 2 the fog rolled in from the gulf, racers went to full IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) and all successfully finished. Some boats even crossed the finish line from the beach side then again West to East, but since it was so foggy, we can only say it was a black hull with sail #46. American Dream skipper stated on the radio I can t see the committee boat or the finish line, but I can hear voices, I must be close. Bobby Lee requested the skipper not listen to the voices and just sail to the GPS coordinates. The raft up and awards at Glovers Bight was well attended and it was great to see the turnout at The Joint for dinner. The cruisers came by land and sea and made it a party! Thanks again to Roger and Peggy Stafford for doing an outstanding job on the marks boat, Bobby Lee and Jo Beauvois on the committee boat and Tim & Deedee Cheek for being a shuttle boat. See you on the 14th for the Shrimp Festival Race. CMCS LOU TILLEY CLASSIC FLEET NOW FORMING PURPOSE: To give performance and racing instruction on the water. Races will be off wind courses, held on Sunday afternoons in the Gulf. CMCS members will become confident to sail in tight confines. All interested sailors should reply to Bobby Lee at bobleesailor@earthlink.net. WHAT: Lou Tilley Classic Fleet, Inaugural Event WHEN: Sunday, March 22, 1:00 pm (you don t even need to leave the dock before sunup) WHERE: Around Marker #2, off of Ft Myers Beach WHO: Any CMCS member that would like to improve their boat handling skills, participate in a friendly race with reaching legs, and just come out to enjoy sailing. Bobby Lee (Obi Won) will be moving around in his trawler to offer tips. WHY: FUN! 6
SHRIMP FESTIVAL RACE Saturday, March 14, 2009 SKIPPERS MEETING The skipper/crew meeting will take place on Friday, March 13, 2009 at the Moorings Restaurant, 7:00pm (19:00), 1326 SE 16th PL, Cape Coral. Call Mark 239.770.4192 for directions. POST RACE Shrimp Boil Social at the Clubhouse 18:30 (6:30 pm) Results will be announced, trophies awarded at the Shrimp Boil Social. This is a BOTY (Boat Of The Year) event and the Committee Boat will be Jeff Butzer on YACHTA YACHTA (Albin 32 trawler). Shrimp Festival Commemorative T-Shirts will be available. If you remember the 80 s you may have had one of these. If you don t, it ll be a surprise. See page 8 to order 7
ALL YOU CAN EAT SHRIMP BOIL (& CHICKEN GRILL) Shrimp boats are a comin, they re comin tonight so why don t YOU hurry hurry down and join us for an ALL YOU CAN EAT SHRIMP BOIL, Saturday, March 14 th, 6:30pm!!! This is another CMCS tradition, from the days when we put newspaper on the picnic tables and dumped the freshly boiled shrimp, then licked our fingers! Are we more refined now??? Not much, but still after a good time with good food and good friends! This could be the best deal in town, $15 per person, same as last year and the year before that, WOW!!! But RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED! You just cannot expect to show up and have me know how much food to have on hand so, fill out the form and reserve your place for a giant portion of shrimp. And if you don t like/ cannot eat these delicate little Gulf crustaceans, then we can do a juicy and tender chicken breast, YOUR CHOICE, just sign up early so we can get the nets out and catch those shrimp! Dinner includes all-you-can-eat shrimp or chicken, hush puppies, cole slaw, corn & dessert. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name(s) Atttending # of Shrimp Dinners # of Chicken Dinners Total Enclosed $15.00 ea. for Shrimp Dinner $ Total Enclosed $10.00 ea. for Chicken Dinner $ Shrimp Festival T-Shirts @ $12.00 each M Qty. $ L Qty. $ XL Qty. $ Total Enclosed $ Send in form & check made out to CMCS to: Candice Thiele, 5028 SW 8 th Ct., Cape Coral, FL 33914 DEADLINE: Tuesday, 3/10/09 NO tickets sold at the door! 8
FLEET RECRUITER Bev Duff membership@cmcs-sail.org Ahoy Mates: CMCS is always changing!!! Many, Many thanks to my predecessors who have put a system in place to track our membership! WOW ~ all I have to do it fill in the blanks and keep it current. To that note, the public information will always be general and the member only portion of our WEB site is updated monthly. We encourage everyone to update their rosters as well. The Annual Calendars were available at the Annual Awards Dinner and again at the Chili Cook-off Social. Please bare with me while I m learning the Ropes here! Welcome back to Honorary member Ginny Price who strolled into the Annual Dinner to greet all of us like the long lost friends we are. Her Email reflects her new life and the newest chapter. How our area draws people back as with Stephen and Kathrine (Kitty) Carpenter hailing from Winterport, Maine with their 2 kitties. Lifelong sailors they are on the prowl for their newest sailboat. Steve is a retired firefighter (what is it with these fire fighters finding us? Must have heard about our bond fires on cruises) who now enjoys working for himself as an artist. Kitty continues to work, currently at Gulf Coast Village in Cape Coral. We can thank the harbormaster at Cape Coral Yacht Club for this referral. New members, Heuri and Christa Rochard have joined our ranks and we need to look for them out on the water in their Beneteau 423, Kasoumai. 9
C.M.C.S. CHANDLERY Buy, sell, trade Members, to advertise your boating-related items free in the CMCS Chandlery, e-mail Peggy Stafford, Chowder Chatter Editor at chowderchatter@cmcs-sail.org or use your roster for telephone information. Your ad will be listed for 3 months unless you notify me to take your listing out sooner. Non-members are welcome to advertise their items at a price of $30.00 for 3 months. Business cards or business related listings sent in digital format only : Members: 3 months, $25.00 Non-members: 3 months, $50.00 FOR SALE: Two Dahon Folding Bikes Mariner model 6 speed with carry bags. $150 Each. Del Sawyer 357-8029 Goin to the Islands, "Mon", NEED CHARTS: Map Tech, Charkit Book for Central Bahamas - 9.2 Andros to Exumas & Eleuthera Island. Call Rick Thiele @945-3162 NEW CLUB HISTORIAN Great news! Don Lawson has volunteered to fill our CMCS Historian position for 2009. Many thanks to Don for stepping up to accept this committee assignment. Documenting our activities with pictures has always been a very important part of CMCS history. 10
UPDATE ON FL REGULATIONS RE: MOORING RIGHTS /REGULATIONS Salty SE Cruisers Net (http://www.cruisersnet.net) reports in an article by Capt. Claiborne Young, 2/12/09, that mooring in FL may soon have legislative attention and a uniform regulation that applies to all FL locations. It is close to becoming law. Background: A number of years ago, FL passed a law that which basically forbade counties and municipalities from regulating anchorages. Marco Island went ahead anyway and instituted restrictive local anchoring ordinances. After many local legal struggles, a local judge ruled that Marco statutes were inconsistent with FL law. That Marco law only applied to Collier County, and an appeal was made recently by Marco and denied by the Appellate Court, which means that the new ruling applies statewide, and thus, all FL counties and municipalities may NOT regulate anchorage. There is talk about putting buffer zones around a mooring field where anchoring will then be allowed or restricted in some way. Sometime this year the legislature will have to decide what to do about this issue and it s size. This is indeed a hot topic for all of us cruisers. Be sure to read the detail of Capt. Young s article on the web and thanks to him for allowing us to reprint and summarize in part, this issue that needs your attention. You may care to contact your Legislative Member: Senator Garrett Richter, Dist.#37 239/417-6205 PICTURES FROM THE CHILI COOK OFF
CMCS Chowder Chatter c/o Peggy Stafford, Editor 2230 Everest Pkwy Cape Coral, FL 33904 chowderchatter@cmcs-sail.org CMCS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS MARCH 2009 March 1 March 7-8 March 7-8 March 9 1900 hours March 10 1900 hours March 13 1900 hours March 14 March 14 1830 hours March 17 1830 hours March 27-29 March 28-29 Landlubber Cruise Pelican Bay Cruise Conquistador Cup Ladies Bridge Club Board Meeting Skipper/Crew Meeting Shrimp Festival Race Shrimp Boil Snack Social/ Speaker Meeting Sanibel Bight/Macomber Cruise GCSC Charity Regatta