RHYC Wagon Wheel Weekend

Friday – Sunday Days 111 - 113 – August 29-31 Longbranch

Dinghy Parade with wheel in view.
Magic is to the left of the sailboat.

Throughout the day the wagon grew as boats arrived and were strategically placed around the circle of boats. Glen being the wheel master assisted each arriving boat find just the right spot to drop their anchor and then back into the circle, get them tied to the neighboring boat and then transfer the master lines over. The master lines are large lines which are start by tying the four compass point boat sterns together. As each boat arrives and joins the group forming a circle, the lines are transferred to their outside stern corner to maintain the circles integrity.

By late afternoon early evening we had the makings of a good sized wheel with a few slots ready for the few boats that would arrive on Saturday morning. When complete the wheel had 25 boats varying in size from 30 feet to 66 feet. An equal number of dinghies and many kayaks were in the water. The dog count was 14 and the human count was 60 plus a few who just dropped in to say hello.

Looking around the wheel from Magic's stern. It's early so very few people are up.

Our cruise captains for the weekend had a full weekend of fun activities and non scheduled time so everyone could have a fun and relaxing weekend. The theme of the weekend was Beach Party and a beach party it was. Scheduled activities included: Blindfold dinghy races, rubber duck races, wheel bingo, our signature dinghy parade through the bay and colors at dusk each evening (lowering of the flags).

Friday evening was spent catching up with friends about their summer and our summer adventure. Glen and Tom narrated while photos were shown on Magic.

Saturday morning started with a breakfast and unscheduled breakfast hosted and served by Steve and Kim Oberto on their beautiful boat Maximo. After breakfast Glen got busy with arriving boats and I attended the RHYC board meeting as the clubs secretary.

The afternoon was filled with bingo, a blind fold dinghy race and general beach party activities on the swim steps of the boats. Dinner was supplied by the cruise team and prepared on a handful of host boats. Each host boat cooked and served the meal to a group of assigned members. Magic was a host boat and we enjoyed a yummy dinner for eight people on our upper back deck under the evening sunshine. We had Lemon artichoke chicken, Macadamia nut green beans, Creamy garlic mashed potatoes, Salad, fresh French bread (I baked of course), and toped it all off with Cherry cheesecake for dessert. It doesn’t get much better than this … Sharing good food and good friends under the sun and on the water.

Many club members went up to the Community Hall in Longbranch for their annual Laborday weekend dance. We choose to stay back at the wheel and spend the evening relaxing and visiting with friends. Well after dark we ventured over to go bowling on Millenia the Millens boat. No they don’t have a true bowling alley, but they do have iwee. What a blast. I had tried to talk Glen into getting one of those before we headed north but he didn’t think we’d ever use it. I bet we would have. It’s fun and funny to watch adults electronically bowling.

Glen and Tom are very competitive!

Sunday afternoon we had a true beach party inside our circle of boats. There was a beach bar set up on the back of ‘To Life’, and beverages were served in beach buckets with sand shovels no less. There were rubber duck races, lots of beach ball type games, and of course our signature dinghy parade.

Belly up to the bar!

Bodie Miller enjoying a beverage

Rubber Ducks getting a tidal assist from Glen and Mini Magic

Steve Oberto added a little spark to the dinghy parade by going in his jet powered Kayak. But he added a couple new special features … a flame thrower, and CO2 cartridges. First he’d have flame shooting out the back and then at times he would have a cold white frosty ‘flame’ shooting out the back. What a hoot.

Later club members made their way around the wheel over to Maximo to pick up their dinner of Debi Freund’s famous White Chicken Chili and Corn Bread. Some ate on Maximo and others headed back to other boats to eat. Auh, another great dinner.

There were 14 dogs in the wheel this weekend. A couple went swimming, many sat in their dinghies or on their back decks watching the festivities, and others went from boat to boat visiting their human and canine friends just like their owners… and not necessarily with their owners. I think the RHYC dogs have as much fun on the cruises as the humans.

Rusty having a bad hair/ear day? Nope, just moving fast.

Webster the water dog.

In all it was a great weekend visiting with many many friends from our Roche Harbor Yacht Club family, and making some new friends who are currently on the wait list to join this fun club.

The club’s next cruise will be a ‘Redneck Holiday’; that ought to be a hoot! I hear there will be a bowling tournament as well as other ‘Redneck’ activities.