April 2022
Commodore Comments
April is upon us! Time to ready ourselves for the Stephen C. Smith Regatta at the end of this month. Please join us at our monthly club meeting this Tuesday, April 12th. We will have some CDs and shirts available.
The Wind Ceremony requires many of our club members to pitch in to make this event happen. I want to mention many of those who helped make this event go smoothly. Sandy Layne and Judy Knerr co-chaired the event and handled registration and T-shirt sales. The Roadies set up lights, sound, and everything to make the space ready to Get Down; John Gilbert, Wright Finney, Rick Knerr, Bob Graves, Joe Sisson. Dave Denmark brought a good amount of wood to keep a nice-sized Bonfire going till Midnight. Finally, our Band members practiced many hours and were able to pull off an outstanding performance after a two-year Hiatus.
Chuck “Swami” Kolhagen
Richard “Ricco Suave” Hill
Tina “Teensie” Mazanek
Donna McMahon
Paul “The Walrus” Hansard
Perry “Uncle Pervy” Morris
Don “Ramadan” Franklin
Gavin Franklin
“Shaka” Sharmin Franklin
Dave “Sharp Stick” Denmark
Rick Knerr
This was Kristen Korinko and Jeff Georges’ first year with the band, and they tore it up. So welcome! If I left out anyone, please forgive me.
Your Commodore,
Jack May
The R.O.A.D.I.E.S Ride Again
After a short R&R, the R.O.A.D.I.E.S were back at it. For those who don’t attend meetings or read the minutes, the training trailer has been severely impacted by storm surges. The under carriage is very rusty and the supports under the Past Commodores lounge kept getting knocked down. It was getting dangerous for not only the folks that use the training trailer, but for the public beach goers as well, so action had to be taken.
After much deliberation, discussion, yelling, cussing, name calling, and other means of civil conversation, a preliminary decision was made to lope off a good portion of the Past Commodores lounge. Plans were made but nothing drawn up due to the secrecy of the mission, and action was planned, kind of. An email went out about doing it one Monday, then a response said how about Tuesday, then another said band practice was on Tuesday and a Smith meeting was on Monday. Captain Wafer, after suggesting Monday, didn’t check his email again. Sunday, the day before, Suds, Quartermaster, Fractions, Tools, and Huh? were sipping martinis and Huh?, due to his curious nature, asked what time we were going to meet and are we sure it was on Monday? No one was sure. While Huh? was about ready to text or email Captain Wafer, Quartermaster said “Why don’t you just call him, that is a phone, right?” That man is pure genius. Huh? called and a time for 10am was settled on, and we were indeed going to do it the next day, Monday.
We got to the beach, most of us, on time. Captain Wafer, of course, was a bit late. It was good to have Tools back in our midst. The disassembly of the back deck railings and such took place. Captain Wafer got out his acetylene torch and tore through the metal undercarriage like butter. Fortunately, we had the foresight to properly support the lounge before cutting it off. The hard part, yet no doubt funny to the beach apes, was watching a bunch of old ass dudes handle the cut off portion of the lounge which was very heavy. Thankfully, no hernias or back malfunctions occurred.
The Past Commodores lounge is now closer to the beach and a step down was created. More work is to be done and other avenues of saving our training trailer from beach erosion is being discussed.
A Whole New Past Commodore Lounge
The Roadies at the Wind Ceremony ~ by Bob G
The roadies here are the ones that do ALL the work to setup for the band so those prima donna’s can come out without a worry in the world and not get their hands dirty. They try not to mess with their artistic intensity. Setup for this event began at 10 am.
My job was to get to the beach and secure some parking spots. Fortunately, it was a cold morning, so no one was at the beach yet. The county had forgotten to put a reserve sign at the gazebo, so John and I went into the chase and got some rope to block off some parking and the gazebo (Beluga!)
John Gilbert is one of the hardest working people I know with Wright Finney right there with him. These guys are constant motion, knowing exactly what needs to get down, putting light bulbs in the light poles, running electrical cable from the chase to the gazebo, getting holes dug to put the light poles in, setting up table for people to buy shirts and put their potluck meals on, grabbing people who might be able to help with this or that, etc. The power must be balanced between the lights, the crock pots, and the noise the band makes with all their electrified instruments. As the day progresses, sound mixer Rick comes down, and then power must be run for the musicians, monitors must be setup, and the sound must be balanced. In addition, Dave brings a trailer of wood for the bonfire which gets wheeled to the shore for setup.
People then start coming in and getting their shirts, from the hardworking women Sandy and Judy, eating the food, and waiting for the great Swami and the Festoons to appear. In the distance you see them chant up the beach, the crowd gets excited, wind wish sticks are scooped out of the boxes, blessings are made, and the band gets the party started. The band roadies can rest for a little while.
Once it’s all done, and after the musicians slooowwwllly break down their gear, the roadies leap into action to put things right. Cables are pulled up, light posts taken down, light bulbs unscrewed and stored, everything put back right. On Sunday I was speaking with a Shell Point resident who commented on how amazing it was when she walked by the beach that there was no sign that such an event had transpired the night before. The band members get the huzzahs and rightfully so for the many hours of practice they put in, but it wouldn’t happen without OZ working the levers behind the curtain.
SPSC Club Meeting –Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Called to order at 7:39pm with 26 members present, a new record!
Place: District 850. The food and beer, just like last time, were great. Chris, Richard, and Don all bowled a couple games before the meeting began.
Commodore: Jack opened indicating the Wind Ceremony was coming up.
Minutes: Approved unanimously.
Vice Commodore: Thanked those who came out for the coastal cleanup at Shell Point.
Scribe: Made sure all attendants received a copy of the Festoons Anthology, 2016-2020 CD
Purser: Gave out awards, namely two for Rose, one for being chair of the Endless Summer Regatta and another for being Commodore last year! Thank you Rose! The Perry Williams award was presented to Mark Powell and Joe Sisson.
New Business: Jack asked for a budget of $3,000 for the Wind Ceremony which is mostly used to buy shirts to sell. The budget was unanimously approved.
Wind Ceremony Celebration: Watched about 20 minutes of the 1997 Wind Ceremony which, if you know how to subtract, was 25 years ago! Pictures of what the beach used to look like, with Tiki huts all over the place, and a wide beach to enjoy. The bonfire back then was ridiculously huge. When asked about the origins of the Wind Ceremony, reminiscing about tossing an old heavy windsurfing board was talked about, until one year when it broke in half and the wind didn’t blow that year, so a ceremony to appease the wind gods was devised. Many iterations of the ceremony were talked about, from sacrificing virgins, which turned out to be barbie dolls, to the creation of wind wish sticks by the great and powerful Swami. The original ceremony was basically a drum circle and through time, and the advent of electricity, the band branched out with amplification.
Meeting adjourned around 8:20pm. Not sure because no one was really leaving and everyone just had a great time talking about stuff.