FWYC Letter Log February 2014 | Page 4

Page 4 In Port Well, we’ve had quite a first month! The “polar vortex” gave us some of the coldest temperatures in years, and that certainly had an effect on us. We had two nights with temperatures below 20° F – really cold for us here in NW Florida. Although the staff turned the water to the docks off and drained the lines using the valves we have for that purpose, it turns out that there were a few low spots the water didn’t drain from. The result, after the water was turned back on, was a series of leaks. Our General Manager, Eric Mattiza, and maintenance man, David Brown, along with members Bill Geyer and Chip Cook, worked in cold, rainy weather to fix them all in the two days after the freeze, such that the water service to the docks was fully restored by the time our weekend boating activities started. My thanks to all four gentlemen – good job! in activities, you may run across something that needs to be fixed – I need your help in becoming aware of these things. If you’re out on the docks and find a loose board or other problem, remember the “blue tape” program. There are stations on the docks that hold rolls of blue painter’s tape; if you see a problem on the docks, please mark it with a piece of blue tape, so our maintenance man David can see it. For other problems you may find, remember that we have maintenance report forms available on the bulletin board in the hall way. Thank you. I do hope you all enjoy the Club. Have a walk around the grounds and take in the beautiful views of the bay and bayou. Or kick back in one of the comfortable chairs on the back porch and take in the sunset. I hope to see you all around the Club – happy boating, sailing, or just plain relaxing! Vice Commodore Jerry Vaughan [email protected] Inside, a couple of new paintings have brightened our walls. Not everyone gets to see the first one though – in the men’s room, Dave and Pat Tye have provided a really nice painting of work boats at the dock. There’s also a new painting hung on the wall of the main hallway; I don’t know who contributed it, but many thanks to you! In years past, the Club had a semi-official committee called the Landscape Committee. They were a group of volunteers who gave their time and effort to sprucing up the club grounds. I’ve been approached with the suggestion of restarting the Landscape Committee, and I’m all for it. If you’d like to be part of it, or if you are one of those wonderful folks who have been doing this sort of work on your own all along and would like to connect with the Landscape Committee, please let me know. It’s not spring yet, and we’re probably in for more cold weather, but activities around the Club will start to pick up in the coming month. When you take part ~ Fort Walton Yacht Club, Established in 1951 ~ Allen Klein