Our first organized cruise of the year

And what a kickoff it was. Our club (Clover Island Yacht Club) has several organized cruises every year and one of the first is our twice-annual cruise to Fishhook Park on the Snake River. We went this weekend and a good time was had by all. The first Fishhook Park cruise is planned for the weekend prior to the park opening to the public and then later in the fall we do another, usually the weekend after the park closes to the public.

This way we have the park all to ourselves and don’t have to fight for space on the dock or at the gazebo where we do all of our cooking and most of our laughter.

Six boats went up Friday morning, passing through Ice Harbor Lock around 10:00 a.m. That’s another nice thing about going up early in the year, the locks will pass you through when you get there. They have not set up their lockage schedule yet.

The group of us who went up together wanted to go through the lock a bit ahead of the rest of them because winds were forecasted to kick up to around 25mph with gusts to 39mph later in the morning. As it turned out, the winds never materialized, but nobody was disappointed.

Here’s a shot of my favorite deck hand as we were in the lock.....


And a shot of some of the other boats as we got to the top and were about to exit the lock….
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Our club has gone to Fishhook Park for so many years we have the setup and teardown procedures down to a science. Within just an hour or so of our arrival we have strung tarps around the covered shelter at the top of the docks in case the winds kick up. This shelter is our “headquarters” as you will see…
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After awhile the clouds went away, the sun came out and the partying began…..


Here’s a shot of our cooking crew preparing dinner. We had beef and chicken tacos and my “world famous” homemade spaghetti sauce. I had made the sauce for one of our club’s Friday potluck dinners and everyone insisted I bring some to Fishhook for this cruise…




There’s always so much food that if anyone goes home at the end of the weekend hungry, it’s their own fault…




We always have a bonfire but because we must make sure we don’t burn any of the grass, we put the fire in a steel fire pit bowl, which we put on top of a clean garbage can which sits on a 2’x2’ concrete slab which then sits on a pallet. Things are starting to get warmed up at the bonfire as you can see by the chairs…






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We ended up with 9 boats joining the cruise. Six of us went up Friday morning, two joined later in the afternoon and one joined later that evening. All things considered it was a great weekend. The winds never did kick up, much of the weekend was spent under sunny skies and temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s. But all good things must come to an end.


Here’s a shot of GW relaxing in the lock before we started our trip down…




I wanted to post a photo of this Nordic Tug. The owners got it a couple of years ago but this is the first time they’ve joined up in the Fishhook Cruise.






After we got out of the lock on the way back down the Snake River we passed by this tug with three barges…






What a great group of people to have as friends and what a nice time we had hanging out with them.

Looks like a fun time was had by all!

Thanks for posting. You have a great group.

GFC said:

The first Fishhook Park cruise is planned for the weekend prior to the park opening to the public and then later in the fall we do another, usually the weekend after the park closes to the public.

This way we have the park all to ourselves and don’t have to fight for space on the dock or at the gazebo where we do all of our cooking and most of our laughter.

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Great pictures and it looks like a lot of fun. How does your club manage to swing it to be able to use the park before it is open to the public?

It's good to have 360-degree, walk around decks!

Very nice. We also have a social yacht club that organizes outings. A nice way to mix in your own plans and still play with others!

Clover Island YC has got to be the friendliest yacht club I have ever had the pleasure to spend time at.. the folks are amazing. The summer we spent up the rivers was a total blast.. the the club was a big part of the success of that summer. The Friday burger nights are such a kick.. my kids really enjoyed the place.
If you see Greg Hammer give him a hello from Us,
Have a great Summer,

LD from P.T. aka
HOLLYWOOD

LD, I will pass that on to Greg. I'll see him tomorrow at our monthly meeting. I'm inclined to agree with you. We belonged to another local club but all they did was fight and beatch at each other. Nobody used their boats, nobody cruised, all the did was gripe. This group is a BLAST!


Dave, we have done it for so many years they just expect us to come. We get our permits for each of the cruises and they know we don't mess with things. We clean up, don't burn the grass, dump our trash, sweep the goose crap off the docks, etc.


I doubt they would open it up to any other group before the park is staffed, but, like I said, we've done it for years and they have had good results from us.


"It's good to have 360-degree, walk around decks!" I agree!

GFC said:

LD, I will pass that on to Greg. I'll see him tomorrow at our monthly meeting. I'm inclined to agree with you. We belonged to another local club but all they did was fight and beatch at each other. Nobody used their boats, nobody cruised, all the did was gripe. This group is a BLAST!

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YES...This is the sort of thing we never managed to get launched at our marina here, and I really miss that clubby thing. We had it with our trailer yacht squadron back in my NZ days in Napier, but it is a sadly missed development where we are now. Boating is so much more fun when you have a club, and can meet like minded (and boated) folk, and do things as a group, and make friends, rather than going out cruising mostly in (not so) splendid isolation. It is my main regret as I sell the boat, that we never had that...

GFC said:

Dave, we have done it for so many years they just expect us to come. We get our permits for each of the cruises and they know we don't mess with things. We clean up, don't burn the grass, dump our trash, sweep the goose crap off the docks, etc.


I doubt they would open it up to any other group before the park is staffed, but, like I said, we've done it for years and they have had good results from us.

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Very cool. That is a great arrangement.

hollywood8118 said:

Clover Island YC has got to be the friendliest yacht club I have ever had the pleasure to spend time at.. the folks are amazing. The summer we spent up the rivers was a total blast.. the the club was a big part of the success of that summer. The Friday burger nights are such a kick.. my kids really enjoyed the place.
If you see Greg Hammer give him a hello from Us,
Have a great Summer,

LD from P.T. aka
HOLLYWOOD

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Greg's comment tonight: "Oh hell yeah, I remember them. What a great time we all had. They were a fun group."

We're still doing the Friday dinners and I attend most nights. This is just a great bunch of friendly people to go boating with.

Looks like lots of fun. Nice pictures too.

Wifey B: I see the title "first organized cruise" and immediately I imagine a lot of disorganized cruises with member boats headed in all sorts of directions and no one knowing where they're headed and everyone ends up somewhere different and confused. Like something RTF would show in a gif.

BandB said:

Wifey B: I see the title "first organized cruise" and immediately I imagine a lot of disorganized cruises with member boats headed in all sorts of directions and no one knowing where they're headed and everyone ends up somewhere different and confused. Like something RTF would show in a gif.

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Yes, wifeyB, exactly. That's what happens to many of us, except for the 'and confused' bit. Change those words to 'on their lonesome', and there you have it. It is still enjoyable. Marin would have said he preferred it like that...in fact has said so often, but for most of us, some company such as GFC's club facilitates would be even better.

Here is more what I pictured....as disorganized....



Or maybe more like



or perchance like

It looks like a good time was had by all.


There was a pretty close knit group at our marina when we first got our boat and we took a few group cruises but we always ended up at a marina with a bar and spent most of the time drinking.


As the years passed many of the group moved away (job transfers), others lost interest, sold their boats, etc. and now there are only a couple left.


We actually find that we prefer to cruise alone because we are free to go as far and as fast as we feel like with no set schedule or destination. We fell into the habit of taking a long cruise north or south in the spring (a month or two) and a shorter cruise in the fall (a week or two).


We have invited the remaining friends to go along at least part of the way but they haven't been able to (or don't want to). We all have our lives outside of boating so it's hard to coordinate anything. We do hang around the marina on weekends though.

WesK said:

There was a pretty close knit group at our marina when we first got our boat and we took a few group cruises but we always ended up at a marina with a bar and spent most of the time drinking.
.

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I don't understand that. It's not my idea of boating. Don't need a boat to get drunk. That's one of many reasons we don't belong to a group as with so many it just seems it's way too much centered around drinking. Just not for me. We drink but not really while cruising. Mostly celebratory with just each other, jacuzzi, champagne, chocolate dipped strawberries, more berries, fruit and maybe some small bites of protein on toothpicks. Three or four times a year maybe. But cruising to bars has zero appeal to me.

BandB said:

I don't understand that. It's not my idea of boating. Don't need a boat to get drunk. That's one of many reasons we don't belong to a group as with so many it just seems it's way too much centered around drinking. Just not for me. We drink but not really while cruising. Mostly celebratory with just each other, jacuzzi, champagne, chocolate dipped strawberries, more berries, fruit and maybe some small bites of protein on toothpicks. Three or four times a year maybe. But cruising to bars has zero appeal to me.

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I understand it, but like you, it's not my idea of boating. When you go in a group you are pretty much obligated to do what the group does. Go alone and you do what you want, when you want.

WesK said:

I understand it, but like you, it's not my idea of boating. When you go in a group you are pretty much obligated to do what the group does. Go alone and you do what you want, when you want.

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Wifey B: No....no no no....that's the mentality we have to teach the kids not to have. You're never obligated to do what the group does. They can go get drunk, you can drink water or go for a walk. If they deem that to be anti-social then to h... with them. Please say no to the crowd mentality.

But if that's their interest, then it's best to go alone. We take our friends with us.

BandB said:

Wifey B: No....no no no....that's the mentality we have to teach the kids not to have. You're never obligated to do what the group does. They can go get drunk, you can drink water or go for a walk. If they deem that to be anti-social then to h... with them. Please say no to the crowd mentality.

But if that's their interest, then it's best to go alone. We take our friends with us.

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Sometimes I have trouble getting my point across. I don't know why, English is my only language and I've been speaking it for over seventy years.

If you go someplace as part of a group and then don't participate in the group activities, but wander off on your own, that's pretty rude.

It's better to not go in the first place which is pretty much what we've done. I think I mentioned somewhere that the group has pretty much fallen apart anyway.

WesK said:

Sometimes I have trouble getting my point across. I don't know why, English is my only language and I've been speaking it for over seventy years.

If you go someplace as part of a group and then don't participate in the group activities, but wander off on your own, that's pretty rude.

It's better to not go in the first place which is pretty much what we've done. I think I mentioned somewhere that the group has pretty much fallen apart anyway.

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Wifey B: I understand what you're saying, but you'd think the important activity would be the cruise. Supposedly a cruising club, not a boozing club. So if there's a peripheral activity such as drinking that you choose to go for a nice walk instead, well....so be it. I don't see that as rude, but then I do agree the better thing is just not to go to start with.

I'm not big on peer pressure even for good things. I'm sure it's not surprise to anyone that I don't give in to it. I admit to being a nonconformist.

WesK said:

Sometimes I have trouble getting my point across. I don't know why, English is my only language and I've been speaking it for over seventy years.
.

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Wifey B: I only have half as many years of it as you, but I still screw it up and that's even in spite of a long list of degrees that says I shouldn't.

I almost forgot the highlight incident of the weekend (for me anyway!). We had just started up the genny, and I was standing in the cockpit talking with a friend when steam started coming out of the exhaust outlet, then the genny shut down.

I knew what it was--we'd blown the impeller. Like all good skippers on here, I had a spare. Now I could have changed it, but for me to get my big body into the small area where the impeller is would not be fun to watch. GW had changed the impeller the last time it went kaput so I informed her that I was going to allow her to do it again.

She was thrilled. It took her about 2 minutes to get into the small area where the impeller is, about 5 minutes to change it, and another 3-4 minutes to wiggle her way out.

Sorry, no photos of that operation were allowed by order of my Galley Wench. No makeup, hair not combed, you get the picture, so photos were ruled out.

I did have to spend the rest of the day genuflecting and singing her praises to the rest of the boaters, bring her fresh glasses of wine, etc., but it was worth it.

BandB said:

I don't understand that. It's not my idea of boating. Don't need a boat to get drunk. That's one of many reasons we don't belong to a group as with so many it just seems it's way too much centered around drinking. Just not for me.

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I agree with you WifeyB. There is a huge and growing drinking culture in the US. It seems as if drinking to excess has become the expected behavior instead of an abherrent behavior that is frowned upon. I enjoy going to a bar and having a beer with friends or family but I never drink to excess. The last time I did that was probably 35 years ago.

That is one reason why my wife and I tend to boat alone. Our yacht club is great, but there is a big segment that sit around at an outstation dock and drink too much and get loud. I am just not into it.

Just to be clear, The OP's cruise looked like a lot of fun with friendly boaters enjoying an appropriate amount of alcohol. That is a type of group activity that I would enjoy.

"Wifey B: I understand what you're saying, but you'd think the important activity would be the cruise. Supposedly a cruising club, not a boozing club. So if there's a peripheral activity such as drinking that you choose to go for a nice walk instead, well....so be it. I don't see that as rude, but then I do agree the better thing is just not to go to start with. "


Before we joined this club there were several long term members whose main function was drinking. We went on several cruises with them and noticed it was the old timers who got real drunk, but the younger ones (my age and lower) who seemed to enjoy a beer or three, but nobody got out of hand or got drunk.


Now, here we are several years later. The older members (the drunks) have all left the club. It's not a club of teetotalers but more a club of very moderate drinkers. I think I had about 6 beers all weekend. GW and I took a few walks, walked the docks looking at boats, and spend time just taking naps on our boat.


Nobody said anything, nobody cared, probably nobody even noticed we were not part of the group. Were we antisocial? I don't think so. There is no unwritten rule that you have to stick with the group all weekend. Heck, the couple on the Nordic Tug brought their bikes and took hours-long rides each day. People 'applauded' their efforts and no comments were made about them being anti-social.


Like I said, it's a great bunch of boaters.

dhays said:

Just to be clear, The OP's cruise looked like a lot of fun with friendly boaters enjoying an appropriate amount of alcohol. That is a type of group activity that I would enjoy.

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Wifey B: Agreed. It wasn't the OP who got us on the subject. It was mention of other clubs.

GFC said:

...I did have to spend the rest of the day genuflecting and singing her praises to the rest of the boaters, bring her fresh glasses of wine, etc., but it was worth it.

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A small price to pay.

Truer words were never spoken Larry.

Awesome Mike. Looks like you had fun. Have a Klondike! I found our stash!!!!