May 2014 Meeting Notes

We started off the May meeting with Tolling the Boats lost in May, followed by birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and officer reports.

Old and New Business:
South Sound Boating Opening Day – We had the base float at the Des Moines yacht club opening day of boating season festivities on May 10. You can see some photos from the event at a previous blog entry. Don Masero thanked us for showing up and invited us to participate in the Des Moines Waterland Festival Parade on July 12 (this is one of the SeaFair parades).

Earl Greening with the Seattle Base Float at Cabela's

Cabela’s Armed Forces Weekend – We had the base float at Cabela’s May 17 and 18 for Armed Forces weekend. We had a good time talking with everyone at the store, including some prospective members. We also picked up over $250 in donations. It was a fun time and we are well treated by everyone at Cabela’s. We are planning some other weekends there and hope you will come out too.

Memorial Day – We will have Base members at the ceremony at Tahoma National Cemetery and at the Cruzin to Colby car show on Memorial Day.

Summer Picnic Update – After looking for suitable locations for a late summer picnic, we found that all the spots were already reserved. So we are going to table the picnic idea for this year, Base Commander Dick Gonzales has promised to start looking into doing this for next year.

Smokey Point Rest Stop Event – We are going to be back at Smokey Point Rest stop this year. We are scheduled to cover the north bound rest stop on June 27, 28, 29, and 30. We need volunteers to man the coffee booth and donations of cookies to hand out. If you are interested in in lending a hand, you can sign up at the next meeting or contact Steve Shelton.

Independence Day Parade – We are planning on participating in the Kirkland parade on July 4. This is becoming a tradition with our group and we hope we can count on you to be there too.

Seattle Base Tolling the Boats Ceremony – This is set for August 16 at the Kirkland Marina Park. We will have more information on the start time as we get closer to the event, but be sure to mark it on your calendar.

Good of the Order:
Western District 4 Commander Al Durkee was at the meeting. He passed along a few memories about Robbie Robertson and Ervin Schmidt. He also wanted to remind us about the upcoming USSVI National elections and to get out and vote. More information about the election will be posted shortly.

May Program: 

Dick Gonzales thanks Pete Wallingford with a certificate of appreciation from the Seattle Base

Our speaker for May was Peter Wallingford, CEO and President of Diamond Reef Systems. Pete is an experienced scuba diver and started out by talking how he became a diver in the Florida Keys after he finished college. He told us about his experiences diving for lobster in the Bahamas and as a tour guide. After that he moved to Washington to work as a commercial diver in Lake Washington, Hood Canal, and at various dams around the northwest. Pete then told about his part in the recovery of a Navy Corsair fighter plane from Lake Washington. He told us the details of how they found the plane, including how it looked like another salvage group had tried to move the plane before they got there, and the final recovery of the plane. Pete had wonderful photos from his diving exploits and of the fully restored Corsair that is now at the Museum of Flight.