May 2024

Waterford Yacht Club Newsletter – May 2024

Recent Events

Bloody Mary Sunday – We switched the event from the Pavilion to the Ice House to avoid bad weather so more than 20 members could customize their morning eye opener and snacks.  The beverages (bacon optional) and other finger foods made for a filling meal. Thank you Treasurer Vickie Voorhies and Teresa Moore for your hosting efforts and to everyone who brought fixins to the successful happy hour.

Redfish Island – This event also got switched around. Seven of our boats made the easy sail/cruise to the island and dropped anchor.  But rather than gather on the island as planned, oppressive heat and unrelenting bugs forced us into plan B2.  Tech Director Evan Bauman and Wendy Buskhof (get it two Bs?) opened their yacht, Amnesia, to the club so we could still enjoy our BBQ lunch in the comfort of their cool and bug free deck salon.  VHF 68 was crackling with member requests for pick-up from their yachts and delivery onto the Amnesia via Evan’s and Fleet Captain Daven’s uber dinghy service.  For dessert we celebrated daughter Jacqueline’s birthday with a slice of delicious cake.  It was an enjoyable WYC event that just needed extra help to succeed, so many, many thanks to Evan and Wendy for hosting WYC members on board with no notice and also to the members who brought a side dish.

Nautical Trivia Night – Rear Commodore Bill Adams created a challenging nautical trivia Q&A for WYC.  About 30 members assembled in the Sundance Grill and couldn’t stop laughing or groaning at his selection of questions. Bill put in lots of effort to assemble more than 30 questions, some were easy and others impossibly hard.  Almost nobody could fully interpret the Coast Guard abbreviations for navigation markers.

Can you get this easy one?  Question: Which anchor construction is considered stronger, forged or cast? (Answer at bottom of page).

The winning table with about 75% right received Elfie Boersma’s homemade brownies as a prize and bragging rights as knowledgeable boaters.  Thank you Bill for sponsoring such an informative and enjoyable event.

New Member – Mike and Sharla Williams onboard s/v Arcadia at pier 8 slip 9 have joined.  Stop by their big yacht and say “Ahoy” sometime soon.

On The Horizon

Moody Gardens Sat-Sun June 22-23 – Let’s travel along the HSC and ICW into Offatts Bayou and dock at Moody Gardens for the night.  Reservations are limited so call 409 6834000 to reserve your slip, get the WYC group rate, and provide proof of insurance.   We’ll have access to the hotel amenities and should plan to dine at the hotel restaurant around 6:00pm Saturday night.  Once we’ve docked a yachtie volunteer is needed to serve onboard beverages.  As always land yachts are welcomed and in the event of bad weather we’ll try to reschedule.

Boardwalk July 4th Fireworks 9:30 pm – Try to anchor in the bay near the Boardwalk and enjoy the awesome fireworks display that Thursday.  The park is also advertising fireworks every Friday night in both June and July.

Margarita Extravaganza Sat. July 27 6:00pm -9:00 – We’ll have a special theme for this party – Margaritas!  A volunteer is still needed to host the event as members bring their blenders and fixins so we can enjoy ice cold beverages, chips, dips etc.

Pub Crawl Sat. Aug. 10 6:00pm – 9:00 – So many choices, so little time.  Around the nearby street intersection of Clear Lake Shores and Aspen there are four, yes count ’em four watering holes.

  •  Aspens Grille
  • Galveston Bay Brewery
  • Okies Yardhouse
  • Schafer’s Coastal Bar & Grille

WYC will try to take ’em all in so save the evening for this great social event.

Clear Lake Dinghy Run Sat. Aug. 31 10:45 am – 2:00 – Let’s put our little boats into the water for a poker run.  We’ll power across the lake to our favorite venues (Boondoggles and Cabos) and back to Opus Ocean Grill.  Poker cards will be passed out for a winning hand gift card.  No boat – no problem; prior to starting let’s meet at 10:45am in Pavilion B for member dinghy assignments.  Poor weather will require an event postponement.

Volunteers: Our busy 2024 agenda requires member support, so like Teresa Moore just did, volunteer to help with a WYC event.  Thank you Teresa!

Answer: Forged, by as much as 37%

Daven Voorhies WYC Fleet Captain