As the time passes, the individual Memberships in the Society change. Due to this constant self renewal, institutional memories are lost. It occurs to me that many of the current Members might not know that the Society once had its own Marina, or at least a piece of one. As the Port is pondering what to do with its Eastbay expansion, maybe it's germane to revisit what we once had. As one who was involved, let me share my personal memories of this piece of Society history.
At the time, 1979, there was a total lack of moorage available in Olympia. I put myself on the waiting lists at every Marina in Olympia. I was given an Estimated Duration of Moorage Wait that varied from Marina to Marina but the shortest EDMW given was 7 years.
Emboldened by this geologically short time span, I sallied forth with more pluck than sense and bought my first real boat, a San Juan 7.7, the Eddystone Light. That was back before 'light' meant low calories. Because the dealer wanted to sell me the boat, he granted me rights to keep her in a slip at Tyee Marina in Tacoma. He kept the slip just for those potential customers who could not find their own moorage. So I sublet the slip from the dealer, and earned frequent commuter miles as I traveled to and from Tacoma for daysails at every opportunity. With no prospects of the arrangement ending, at least not for 7 years.
Also, with the enthusiasm of a convert, I frequented the local waterfront. One conversation with Tom Schuler, who then ran Westbay and incidentally was, at the time, the local dealer for Catalina sailboats, re-alerted me to the fact that there was a SSSS, a fact that I had previously chosen to ignore. However, when he said that the Society was going to lease a block of slips from Westbay and sublease them to Society Members, he got my undivided attention.
There was potential in this organization after all, I reasoned. At least potential for me to have my own local moorage slip right here in Olympia. Maybe the Society wouldn't be much I thought. At the price, how could it be much? But the potential for moorage was a great inducement. I raced home, armed with a mailing address, and reached immediately for my checkbook and was duly welcomed into warm embrace of a friendly organization.
Bill Sheldon, then starting his second consecutive term as Commodore, called a special meeting to choose, by lottery, the folks who were going to be fortunate enough to get moorage. You can bet your mother's jewels that I attended the drawing. There were about 22 to 24 slips newly available ranging in size from 22 footers to 36 footers. First and last month's moorage were required before we moved in. There would also be a special assessment when we installed, at our own expense, electrical power outlets on the previously 'unenergized' dock. Seems the assessment was somewhere around $150 each. My memory is that it was not an inconsequential expense but readily handleable.
I was one of the lucky ones, my name was drawn and I selected the closest in 30 foot slip that allowed a starboard tie up. Although I had only a 26 foot boat, I was already thinking bigger thoughts and wanted to provide for my future. This would probably be my last opportunity to get a slip of any kind or size in Olympia. I signed the agreement, with SSSS, not with Westbay, and waited impatiently for an opportunity to move the Eddystone Light to her new home. I ended up moving in several days before the new slips were declared officially habitable because I couldn't wait for another full week to pass before I had a chance to bring the Eddystone down from Tacoma.
Within days, I was involved in a whirl of organizing meetings. No one really wanted to be the Moorage Boss so Mike Cahan, remember Cahan's Furniture, stepped in to fill the void, even though he had no intention of keeping his boat there. Mike's tenure was to be short until someone could be strong armed into accepting the responsibility.
I ended up accepting co chairmanship with Jim Johnson and within months became the sole chairman as Jim pleaded family duties left him too little time to devote. Luckily, by the time I was left holding the bag alone, the kinks had been largely worked out and my administrative duties were light. We hired a 'volunteer' bookkeeper who did all the billings and paid Westbay from the proceeds on behalf of the Society.
When the time came to install the electricity, we had more worker bees there than we had dreamed possible and kept our electrical contractor, under whose direction we were to work, scrambling to find enough materials and supplies to keep us busy. By the end of the first weekend work party we were 85 per cent wired. The next work party was just devoted to finish up details. We had one meter and it served all the slips. Every loving one of 'em. We just had to find a way to distribute the cost of electricity among ourselves. We ended up dividing the electrical cost depending on the proportion of the cube of our individual LOA as compared to the total of the cubes of all LOAs. It may not have been the most equitable way, but we agreed on the method and there was never any argument. Everyone was happy.
Our moorage had its own gate and a sign restricting access. Each Member had a key that allowed them to pass through that gate. The sense of community was tremendous and we all looked after everyone else.
The deal that SSSS had cut with Westbay was that Westbay would charge the Society 90 per cent of the standard rate and the Society, through its moorage committee, me, would charge 100 per cent. This margin would allow for the infrequent vacant slip.
Westbay's contract was with the Society in whole, not with the moorage committee.
Since this left the Society liable for the total of the moorage bill, if the moorage committee was unable
to meet its obligations, there had been (I understand) considerable controversy regarding
the wisdom of the moorage idea.
(Most Members all ready had moorage, many had cheap moorage with OYC. They did not want
to put their pocketbook on the line for moorage for others should this not work. And there was fear of
turning SSSS into a 'Yacht Club' with high overhead and facilities to fight over, if it did work. But a way
was found. SSSS has always been flexible enough to meet our Member's needs. Ed.)
There must have been considerable relief among some Members when, after the first year, I was
able to report that after all our bills were paid we had a surplus amounting to over two monts total
expenses.
Then one day we had a little storm, actually one heck of a storm. With the wind loading, storm surge, and one of the highest tides of the year, the solid sided boathouses slipped over the tops of the pilings, or just leaned them over, and came crashing down through the marina like D-9 bulldozers. Whole chunks of the Marina, complete with boats attached, ended up aground on Squaxin Island. We had, when the wind died and the police let us down on the docks, docks on top of boats with other boats on top of the boats that were on top of the docks. Amazingly, although many boats were damaged or totaled, only a few sunk.
The moorage committee rallied together and somehow each of us survivors had someplace to keep our boats, not an optimal place, but at least someplace. The insurance companies and the boat repair outfits were both exceptionally busy for quite a while. Amazingly, Eddystone came through with only some black rubber marks from a tire bumper that someone kindly inserted between her hull and the remains of her finger pier.
Westbay was eventually rebuilt to its present configuration, and we again had a Sailing Society moorage, but it was never again the same. The new configuration did not have a mix of finger pier sizes on the same dock and the old sense of camaraderie was just not there anymore at its same intensity. The Sailing Society Moorage just petered out and died a mutually agreeable death. But for a while it was one glorious ride.
Little did I realize, when I joined the SSSS for the sole purpose of a chance at Olympia moorage, what else I was getting in the bargain and how positively it would affect my life for years to come.
Gary Zerbst, Infinity