2010 Havasu Pocket Cruisers Poker Run

Sean,
Can we set anything up so that we may convoy with other boats on the trip. Company would be good for us long distance trailer sailors. In my case the Colorado contingent to join up with.

All Potters...I command you.....Travel to Lake Havasu! (see..that's better!)

OMG Howie!!! What are you trying to do to us!!! We DON'T want anything "Biblical" to happen during the event!!! hahaha....

And Dan....B Frank Franklin!!! WOW! That guy sure does follow you closely! I'm sure the Immigration Authorities won't be a problem for him as long as he has his trusty bottle of Laphroig....and maybe one extra "for the man"!

Sean...you are AMAZING!!...I can't top Capt. Howies addition....BUT my cousin B. Frank Franklin is threatening to show up in a Monty 17....if he can avoid the Immigration Authorities!!!

I just heard from Charlton Heston, Said he's going to be there with a Potter-15!

hmmmm....maybe I should've kept my mouth shut! hahaha...

Sean, you've got the POWER! Don't stop now. How about a fireboat with hoses shooting to lead our boat parade?...Official mayoral decree for "Havasu Trailer Sailor Day?"...."Welcome Wrinkleboats 2010" parade by the Havasu High marching band?

Don't forget the sunny skies and 10-15k steady wind while you are at it.

Great News and almost unbelievable! We've had some concern about some of the inside slips at the hotel with respect to depth. Lake Havasu is a reservoir and fluctuates between 446 feet above sea level and 450. Feb is a time of year when the lake is usually held at a lower level. At close to the 446 level we figured we might lose acccess to 5 or 10 slips. Well, it turns out that pretty much all you have to do to get the lake level up is make a phone call. Yeah, that surprised me! The Bureau of Reclamation considers recreation as one of the parameters when determining lake level. It's obviously not their top priority, but they will accomodate as much as possible. I spoke with them on the phone today and requested a lake level of 449 feet for the days of the event and they said "no problem, as long as there are no overiding concerns that should arise like melt off or power generation needs". Basically it sounds like a better than 90% chance that they can give us the lake level requested! I didn't even have to fill out any forms! WOW! Don't worry, I have a fall back plan in the works to should we lose some slips to shallow water...but now I'm thinking that we are fine to push on through to the 50 boat mark!!! So ...Bring 'em on!!!

:-)

Got you on the list now, John! WOW! The Compac Contingent is certainly growing!!! That's Great!! AND ....if any Compac lover is wanting to come but not tow his boat all the way here...well...There is a Compac 23 for sale in the local paper!! Problem solved......well, kinda..hahaha

Can't wait to meet ya. AND.........DA DAAAA! That Makes 40! Look out 50!! We are on the way!

:-)

Sean, Jo, and yes, of course...Bosun!

Hi. We just wanted to let you know that we are coming as well. My wife Margie and I will be bringing our Com Pac 23 Sevilla. We live on the central cost of Calif. I made reservations a few weeks ago and we are looking forward to it.

The "Bosun" Says.."Book Those Rooms!, Find A Sponsor!, Bring a Friend!!!" :-)

Hey Gang, Short update here

Wow..things continue to move forward! I don't know if you've looked at the "who's coming" list on the website lately, but if not check it out! There are 38 boats now signed up ad I have been in contact with likely #39 and #40 today. Not only that...But #39 is the chairperson for the Lake Mead Sailing Club trialer sailors and wants to promote the event at his club. So, I would expect to probably pic up a couple more boats there! It wasn't long ago that we were wondering if we could actually top the 30 boat mark.....DONE!!! Then it was 40......I think we are about there!! And Now the number 50 looms on the horizon??!! WOW! That's just plain SCAREY!!! hahaha 50 of us in the same place at the same time?! Oh boy!!

All right, ...now...we need to talk about something here. The size of the event is exploding...way beyond where I or anyone else thought we'd get to for this year. No problem...We are gonna make it work and have an awesome event so keep 'em coming. But, the one issue that is going to come into play is available slips at the London Bridge Resort. There are about 50 slips there that we can use. However, in Feb, our lake is traditionally at it's lower level and that makes some of the inside slips very shallow and possibly unuseable. Fortunately, a lot of you guys can pull your boards and rudders up and draw very little water. We will depend on you guys to get into as shallow of a slip as we can get you into. I am anticipating that we should not have any problem using 40 of the 50 slips...probably more. BUT I am figuring that anything over 40 is a bonus and so once we have 40 boats booked at the hotel we'll be advising additional boats that they will be assigned a slip, but it is possible that it may not be useable due to water levels. We just won't know 'till we get close to the event. In that case there will be slips available at the marina which is only about a 3 minute drive from the hotel, however they will not be included in the $99/night rate. I beleve that the marina is getting $25/night for a transient slip. The other option would be to launch each day and store overnight on the trailer.

There is a boat rental operation in the channel right next to the hotel slips that does not utilize all it's slips in the winter time. I have talked to the owner and he seems receptive to possibly renting out some of those slips if we need them. This would be great because they are right there at the hotel and a lot easier to deal with than the marina. Huh Dan? (Dan can vouch for me... the marina can be a bit tough to deal with :-) ) I will follow up with him and see what kind of deal we can work out if need be. Maybe I can even get the hotel to help out on the rate, although, I don't know about that...we've already dropped them from $239/nt and $40/nt for a slip to $99/nt on a holiday weekend.

Don't panic! Right now we are fine. Of the 38 boats participating so far, a number of them are local and wont be using the hotel docks. So we are fine on slips as we speak. BUT...I am working with the hotel to make sure that slips are given out first come first served. Make your reservation and lock up your slip if you have not!! MAKE YOUR RESERVATION AND LOCK UP YOUR SLIP!!!! There is no deposit necessary and a 48 hour cancellation notice policy....SO MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS!!! The hotel is telling me that about 30 of you have actually booked as of last week. So some of you haven't . Please make the call!!

OK enough of that. I'm off on a "4 day" starting today and got a lot to do so stay tuned. Keep your ears and eyes open for anyone that might be a potential sponsor and send them my way if you think of someone!

Can't wait to see all those sails!

Sean, 'Jo, and yes, of course...Bosun!

Don, As a kid I went quickly through the Sabots on into a Kite which pre-dates the Laser as the hot young adult boat. Getting back into a Sabot was quite a learning experience. Although they seem like a simple boat, there is a ton of tuning you need to know about to be competitive. But I would say 180 lbs is about tops to sail competively with the adult sabot group, although the Balboa Yacht Club Briney Bunch was a real fun group to sail with. I did sail in the adult Nationls (I think 2005) and we had over 40 boats in about 4 classes. I do know besides BYC, NHYC and ABYC both San Diego YC and MBYC have very large contingents of Sabots (junior and adult).

Jim.....I still can't believe how crazy the folks are out here for the Sabot's. Everyone has one it seems. They have a ton of them at MBYC also, and are very popular with not only the kids program, but with the adults too! I sailed one with the adult group at MBYC and I just couldn't get comfortable in the boat. Of course it was set-up for kids sailing. I hadn't sailed a small light boat for years and forgot about coming about smartly and getting in irons. I'm going to try sailing one again....once was not a fair judgement.

Don Boyko
"Quality Time II"

Don't worry Don, when I joined the one new boat a year club, I started getting a little light in the finance department and put everything up for sale that was not nailed down. Well Zoom was one of those items, she went to a lady that was in charge of the kid's racing program at Dana West Yacht Club, in fact the check to pay for the boat was from Dana West.

Knot on Duty!!! I luv it! :-)

Now now Don before you go poking at Jim's Sabot like that....I think I overheard the same exact conversation at the J-boat convention referring to Capris! It's all relative! ;-) Plus, you made all those claims about the "Monkey Killer" while Jim sat silently waiting in ambush to silence your grumblings...better watch out...keep it up and he's likely to show up with the sabot and clean your clock! That would REALLY be embarrasing!

As for 50 boats...well, if we start pushing numbers up into that region we'll have another issue to deal with and that is the number of slips avaialable at the hotel. They have about 50 slips but sometimes, depending on the water level some of the inside slips get too shallow to use. We can always get slips at the marina for overflow, but it certainly won't be as convenient and also will not be included in the price of the hotel room. I believe that they are getting $25/night there still for transient slips. Unfotunately, until we get right up to the time of the event, we won't know the exact number of slips we may use on the inside. That being said ....50 boats would be awesome...and if they are willing to come knowing what the slip situation is....Bring it on!!

Sean