The Quartermaster Yacht Club will give the first in a series of free workshops it has developed on topics of interest to members of Vashon’s boating community next Wednesday, Oct. 26. Created both to reach out and give back to islanders who spend time on the water, the “Tech Talks” are appropriate for novice through expert boaters, and will cover everything from anchoring techniques to water rescues and lifesaving; digital navigation software to marine radio use and more.
“Folks in the club are very interested in the club being more involved with the community,” said Kevin Jones, yacht club member and driving force behind the Tech Talks. “After we did a survey of members a couple of years ago to find out what courses they would be interested in for themselves, the responses and the sheer amount of knowledge and experience within the club gave us the idea for the talks. We wanted to share all of this information with other community members who boat and might be interested.”
The yacht club is located in a sheltered part of inner Quartermaster Harbor at Burton. Jones explained that this geography sometimes leaves the club — which he described as a “fairly informal, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-take-care-of-things club” — feeling somewhat disconnected from the rest of the island, as they are not close to town and most community events or activities. But it is still very much a community-focused organization.
“One of our members, Jim Hauser, is a Maritime Emergency Response Team (MERT) coordinator,” Jones said. “So we were involved in the Cascadia Rising exercise, sending boats to places around the island that would have been cut off after the earthquake. And we always participate in Strawberry Festival.”
The club brought the historic MV Lotus to the island for Strawberry Festival 2015.
Right now, the club has 10 Tech Talks scheduled to run through the fall-to-spring months so as not to take up time during peak boating season. The talks will be offered monthly with the exception of next May, in which there are two scheduled. There is an emphasis on lifesaving and rescue topics in this first schedule.
“We are so excited that Kevin has put this together for us to reach outside ourselves,” said yacht club Commodore Nancy Lewis-Williams. “Boating can be scary for those who haven’t done it before, and the amount of information to learn is overwhelming. These talks are a great way to help people newer to boating get the basic skills they need in a very low-stress environment.”
Jones said that the hope is for a good turnout from non-club members, as they already know they have significant interest from within the club.
“If community interest is low, we may have to reevaluate,” he said, adding that attendees will be asked about their level of interest in various topics and continued attendance.
