Veterans Event / Foss Waterway Seaport / Pt Defiance

[Tim McCrain]

Richard Amberson has been working to organize the details of our event at the Foss Waterway Seaport on July 9th, and I'm very happy to provide the following update.

This event is going to be a very special one! If you are only able to attend one event this year, this should be it. At the Seaport, we will be hosting a group of soldiers from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Warrior Transition Battalion. Warrior Transition Battalions are units set up across the country to provide medical care, advocacy, leadership and support to wounded and injured soldiers as they heal and transition back to either active duty or civilian life.

We'll launch at Point Defiance Marina and run to the Seaport, arriving before 11:00 AM and tying up at the Seaport's private dock where space will be reserved for us. The soldiers will be transported to the Seaport by bus, arriving at 11:00 AM, where we will welcome them for a tour of the Seaport's museum. The soldiers will be treated to a tour of the Seaport's museum, including the working boat shop, vintage outboard collection and displays. Afterward, we'll provide a pizza lunch for the soldiers in the Seaport's large meeting room which is reserved for our use. After lunch, we'll take the soldiers for boat rides as time allows and as they are able. Some of us may go for a short slow cruise up the Thea Foss Waterway and along the Tacoma Waterfront, others may cross Commencement Bay running to Dockton and back.

The Seaport has waived their $6.00 admission fee for participating members, however I urge everyone to make a donation or consider purchasing a museum membership to show our appreciation not only for their help in honoring our veterans, but also to support their mission of preserving the northwest's rich maritime heritage.

We will need firm commitments from at least 12 boats by June 1st in order to develop a passenger list. Please reply if you're planning on attending and give the number of passengers you have room for in your boat. Participating members should plan on bringing enough adult-sized flotation devices for yourself and the number of passengers you plan on carrying. If you do not have enough vests, let us know and we'll find a way to scrape the proper number together.

Please join us in showing our appreciation to these men and women who volunteered and served our country by providing them some good eats and a day of fun on the water.

Thanks,

Tim


Here is a link with more information on the Warrior Transition Battalions' mission:
http://www.aw2.army.mil/about/transition.html

And here is one to the Seaport:
http://www.fosswaterwayseaport.org/index.php?p=WELCOME

UPDATE 11/30/ - This event will be open to non-members also, anyone who would like to help provide these veterans a fun day of boating is welcome to attend.

[westerner]

Tim, count me in on this one. Will be able to take one Vet or two depending. Three is max in my small boat.

[slo-mo]

Thank you Richard and Tim, of course I will be dreaming of floating in the photoshop boat for this one...looking forward to it!

[McSkagit Tim Jones]

July 9th Veterans Event

I can't commit this far out, but it's something I'd like to do. I'll look at my 011 calendar, looking like a busy year! I could carry six to eight..

[Tim McCrain]

Update 11/30

This event will be open to non-members also, anyone who would like to help provide these veterans a fun day of boating is welcome to attend.

[Tim McCrain]

Planning update

All,

Yesterday Richard Amberson and I met with the battalion's public affairs officers and discussed details of this event. They are very enthusiastic about the event and anticipate a good response from the soldiers.

A few details:
The event will be open to soldiers in the battalion and a "significant other". It was agreed that it would be better to make it an adults only event for several reasons.
Since this will be a "sanctioned event" for the soldiers, this activity will be considered to be in the line of duty and their medical and other coverage will be in effect. Additionally, the soldiers will sign a Hold Harmless agreement relieving the volunteers and the club from liability.

This event will not be restricted to NWCBC members, so please spread the word among all your boating friends, whether they have a classic or a newer boat, and invite them to join us. Our goal is to host as many soldiers as possible.

Thanks,

Tim

[Skagitguy]

Tim, Will be there with the ( Bainbridge ) Skagit. Being it has a cockpit of 6' x 8' It can hold quite a few. Three people on the bench seat in the back and i can bring folding chairs for two more. That's about 5 people total plus my Son & I. Chuck

[Tim McCrain]

Thanks Chuck, this is going to be a great event and I hope everyoine can make it!

[ChuckB]

Tim:
I believe I'll have the currently nameless 24' Hog in the water by then, and it too has a large cockpit area that could also accomadate 6 semi ambulatory personnel. It should be a fun event.
Are there any plans for where we will go on the rides?
ChuckB

[Skagitguy]

Ditto , nameless 24' Hog ? Lets see, how about ..... Nope that would not be nice. After all it's Sunday. Echo

[ChuckB]

Echo,
I'm actually toying with two Greek words; Xaris (pronounced Charis) means Grace, as in my wife was gracious in letting me acquire it, or Tetelestai, which means "paid for". Any thoughts other than big muthur and other fat names?
Ditto

[Tim McCrain]

Tim:
I believe I'll have the currently nameless 24' Hog in the water by then, and it too has a large cockpit area that could also accomadate 6 semi ambulatory personnel. It should be a fun event.
Are there any plans for where we will go on the rides?
ChuckB

That's great Chuck!

The original plan was to run across the bay to Quartermaster Harbor for a stop at the park, then loop back to the waterway as we did last year, but that may be a little ambitious for a large group as the more people we have the more time it will take to tour the museum, eat lunch, load up, etc. (Although, how cool would it be to have a flotilla of 20 boats making that trip?) Also, we don't want to have the success of the whole trip hinge on having good conditions in the bay.

I'd love to remain flexible and try to accomodate both those that would like a longer excursion and those that would prefer to tool around the waterfront, but I'm not sure that will be workable. One of the constraints is that we'll need to have everyone back at the museum at a pre-determined time in order for the soldiers to board their bus.

So, what might be more doable is a waterfront cruise around Point Defiance, maybe down the Narrows a ways. I don't know those waters, and float plan suggestions from any one who is familiar with the area are very welcome.

Whatever the float plan is, we'll do it en masse.

Tim

[ChuckB]

Quartermaster Harbor would be fun but there is nothing like running under the narrows bridges fo a visual spectacle...

[Skagitguy]

Ditto, I think you are wise to put something on the boat about your wife. That will hit home. Echo

We were planning a South Sound cruise around that time (the boat is on Lake Washington but we live in Tacoma). We could take 6-8 passengers, but we only speed at a whopping 7 knots, so our route would be much shorter to go out and back in the time allotted. I will let you know closer to the June 1st deadline. Would you like me to scare up some more classic cruisers?