Cruising

By Fred Conta

Vallejo/Martinez Cruise

Forty Corinthian cruisers enjoyed the Memorial Day Weekend at the North end of San Pablo Bay under the leadership of Bill & Nancy Giachino in Vallejo and Vali & Gary Bedey in Martinez. As we arrived in Vallejo on Saturday afternoon’s flood tide, VHF channel 68 was busy with Bill Giachino guiding all boats into VYC’s depth-challenged harbor. All Bill’s guidance could do nothing to prevent Trip Ames from practicing docking maneuvers in his new yacht, while using Bill Stuckey’s boat as a shoe-horn. With eight large Corinthian power cruisers parked right in front of the Club, Nancy Giachino served up a lavish hors d’oeuvres spread right on the dock by the stern of Always Home. It was great!

The Vallejo Yacht Club was a wonderful host, providing a chicken and ribs dinner that went well beyond expectations. Dinner was followed by dancing to a talented country music dance band named the Mountain Misery Band. We were joined for this evening by the Berkeley and Ballena Bay Yacht Clubs, but shortly into the evening you would not have known they were there; Corinthian cruisers dominated the scene spectacularly. Will Deady, Bjorn Ervell, Gordon Noble, and Bruce Powell of the Corinthian Men’s Chorus surprised us all with an impromptu performance of two of their hit songs.

Sunday morning saw a falling tide, which meant many boats would remain stationary until sometime in the afternoon. No problem – the Vallejo Yacht Club staged a bountiful brunch featuring low-fat specialties like biscuits with country gravy, sausage patties, waffles, egg/cheese casserole, etc. After waiting around for the water level to rise, a few boats headed for home, but most moved on to the recently dredged half of the Martinez Marina. After enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the Martinez Yacht Club, Vali and Gary led us on foot the half mile into downtown Martinez to have martinis at Amato’s. As you may have read, this bar & restaurant claims to be the birthplace of the Martini cocktail. Herb Rodericks says it’s not true – the real place was a couple blocks away in a building that once housed a bar. Finally, the group found its way to Louie Bertola’s family style Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed lots of excellent food, wine and fine service in a private, second floor dining room. The only problem was the lighting. Bill Stuckey kept turning down the lights in an effort to achieve a more romantic atmosphere. Wally Quinn questioned the need for all to suffer just to accommodate Stuckey. Vali and the waitresses solved the problem with a bunch of candles.

Cruise To Ballena Bay Yacht Club

On June 23rd we will return to Ballena Bay for the first time since 1997. The pertinent details are:

Cocktails and BYO hors d’oeuvres 5:30 – 7:00 at Ballena Bay Y.C.

Full dinner service by Ballena Bay Y. C. Staff Commodore Patt Bekker (marinated Tri-Tip) @ $16 per person

After dinner music for dancing by renowned DJ, Danny Fisher

Sunday brunch on your own at the new Harbor House Restaurant

Cruise Captains: Fred & Sonja Conta, 435-9513.

Cruise to South Beach, September 8-9

Cruise directors, Bjorn and Agneta Ervell, report that this cruise is very popular and at the same time the number of spaces at the SB marina are limited. We have 10 berths, which have already been allocated to CYC cruisers, who have already shown definite interest. However, in the first week of July we expect further berths will be released to us. A signup list will be posted this week and we urge everybody interested to sign up as soon as possible. Additional berths released to us by the South Beach Marina will be allocated to CYC cruisers in the order of signup.

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