Tinsley Island Cruise

By Bill Stucky, Cruise Leader

Whoooaaa, Did we have fun or what? I think its safe to say that everyone had a great time this year on our cruise to the Delta Yacht Club and Tinsley Island. The weather cooled to the mid 70's by Thursday, down from the 90's that the retired sailors had been enjoying by the Delta YC's ice-cold pool. Sally Huse coordinated this year's exceptional cruise to the Delta Yacht Club. A larger group showed up than in previous years; in fact the 1200 ft dock was completely full by Thursday evening with Corinthians. Our resident lawyer Kim Crawford found out that she actually prefers bartending to providing legal advice, as she was in good form on Thursday night. I awoke at 8:00 on Friday to find that everyone had bolted to Tinsley; I think someone, perhaps Hans Roeben, had bet everyone on who would get to Tinsley first.

The San Francisco, Encinal, Tiburon and Corinthian Yacht Club flotillas landed on Tinsley with 134 boats and 400 sailors by Friday. A steady stream of seasoned sailors, some sporting new boats, like Clay & Teresa Prescot, Steve & Marie Parodi, Bill and Chris Canada and the re-commissioned Red Rover owned by Stuart Sall, docked and settled into a cold beer. The swimming pool was packed and quite refreshing after a long day of boating. An Odom race (remote control, one-design model sailboats) was scheduled back at the laser docks and some famous sailors showed up to show their stuff including: Steve Schneider, Harry "Lime Green" Blake, Trip "I just learned to sail" Ames, Bill "Night Train" Canada, and the "Fastest Color" Stucky. At least the wind was cooperating on Friday.

The Tiburon Yacht Club keeps raising the stakes in the "best club hosted cocktail hour" category. I think it was the Canada's who came up with this year's theme, "The Teeny Weenie Party," sporting lots of great appetizers and over 500 chilled martinis served. A mad dash to the BBQ Pits ensued with an amazing range of entrées prepared by master chefs the likes of: David Schwartz, Head Honcho Carrico, and Wally Raccoon Quinn. Our own famous Mix Master, Dr. Eric, provided the dance music after diner, keeping the dance floor hopping till 12.

As if Friday would have been more than enough for anyone, Saturday morning arrived all too soon and the Encinal Yacht Club hosted their famous Bloody Mary Bar. And how about Herb and Wilma Rodricks' fabulous smoked salmon breakfast boat! I didn't have a chance this year to visit this event, but Herb advised me that they ran out of fish for the first time this year. Herb, I think that you need to go after the really big fish next year; those 30 pounders won't feed the group of hangers-on you have acquired over the past several years. And Wilma, did I miss the catfish or have you given up fishing?

This year's games included horseshoes, bocce ball, dominoes, carp groping and of course the famous grudge match volleyball game between the Corinthian/TYC and San Francisco/Encinal Yacht Clubs. Just to make the games more interesting the Corinthian's "Island Fever Bar" opened at 2 to the Jamaican music of Bob Marley, lip-synched by Dr. Johnson. Nine famous bartenders manned the pina collida island bar. With 4 blenders roaring they served 300 sweet, sticky drinks within 1-1/2 hours. Thanks again to my assorted native friends: Eric Artman, Will Deady, Allyn Schafer, Gil, Joe, David Johnson and Alan Smith for a great job well done. And not to forget, to our two lovely island girls serving drinks: miss Kim and Sonja Conta. The best line heard behind the bar - "I thought bartenders were suppose to get all of the chicks?" Now now, Dr. Johnson, rumor has it you're engaged.

I thought it was a nice touch that Dan Carrico and Ken Brehnan tried intimidating opponents at the Bocce Ball court with last year's 1st prize ribbons strung around their necks. It was overheard back at the blenders that Carrico and Brehnan were sweating at the near-finish up against that famous barefoot team of Ed Fisher and Tari Nix. Doug Owen did a great job this year coordinating the games. Thanks, Doug! And yes, the Corinthians won this year's volleyball trophy with excellent coaching by Ester Lerner Carrico.

I have to hand it to Jill Ames; she was able to pull together a dock party on early Saturday evening for all of Trip's friends with one hour's notice from Trip. And either they have a lot of friends or it was the call of free booze because dozens of sailors congregated at the end of their dock. I hurried aboard Bill and Chris Canada's beautiful new Beneteau 40.7 as I saw the dock slowly sinking ever deeper into the water due to the added tonnage of Trip's friends.

John Bogue did a great job of announcing this year's game winners, including best table decorations awarded to Tom McGowan. Thanks to Sandra Solomon for helping with the judging; I think she got tired of her husband winning the table contest every year and felt this was a perfect way to keep him in line. A great dance band that our friends at the San Francisco YC secured followed the night's BBQ. Everyone seemed in great form for this grand finale, as there was lots of dancing under the pavilion and on top of the picnic tables, and the dance floor was mobbed. Definitely a night to remember for the wild island natives.

And not to forget the last contest: Wally Quinn and his navigator Sue won Sunday's powerboat race back to the Corinthian, with second prize given to Meditrina, the Italian goddess. Le Liberte was in the running but ran out of fuel 10 miles from the finish line. The Perpetual Trophy for Best Lame Excuse for Not Attending the Tinsley Island Cruise has been awarded to Charlie and Virginia White for taking off for two months to Hawaii. Charlie, you're retired and can go to Hawaii anytime. And many thanks to Doug "Scoop" Owens for taking the photographs and capturing the memories. This article also contains photos taken by Sandrine Benani.

See all 200 photos here! Photo Gallery To see the complete gallery of 200 photos from the event, simply follow these steps: 1) Click Here (this will open in a new browser window) 2) For the best picture-viewing experience, click "View as slideshow" on the right side of the page. If you like the pictures, you'll be able order prints from Shutterfly.

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