This year the Club returned to the shore for its Holiday Party after two years on the Westside. Past-president George Merino, a member of the Shoreline Yacht Club in Long Beach, made the arrangements for our party to be held at the club.
As the gracious host George even docked his “yacht” at the end of the closest dock and provided Champagne and Mimosas to early arrivals.
As the 48 attendees moved into the club they dropped off the unwrapped gift for Toys for Tots and found their candy cane name tag/place holder provided by Cindy Kirby. As the group grew there were many hellos and greetings for everyone, including new members Duke Hingley and Gary and Marti Barmore. Duke joins us from the South Bay and the Barmores from Costa Mesa. Missing the festivities were Carol Ames (under the weather) and John and Daryl Hedblom.
John found a way “not to be up on the housetop”.
After opening remarks from President Scroggie, we enjoyed our lunches of Chicken Marsala or Teriyaki Beef, rice pilaf and steamed vegetables with red and white wine provide by the club. The food was delicious and when asked by George if we wanted to return next year the group gave a resounding YES! After more remarks from Steve Kirby regarding future events and yours truly about submitting articles for the newsletter Mike got on to the big reveal – the Bill Barnett Spirit Award winner. It really wasn’t a big surprise for those who read the newsletter. During the summer there was a real three-way race going on for the points lead but the last year’s winner Dex Kaytis took a hit in points after his BT7 took a hit in the front end. I was making a push, but our 2016 winner was going to every event he could find and sometimes two or three the same day! Congratulations to Phil Caliva, who set a new record for points accumulated in eleven months of events.
The party closed with lots of hugs and kisses and wishes for a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year as we all headed home to our own upcoming holiday celebrations.