The Shoreline Yacht Club in Long Beach hosted our Holiday Party.
Thank you, George Merino, for doing the leg work and getting the club this wonderful venue once again. Over 70 members spent a pleasant afternoon and evening visiting, renewing old friendships, and enjoying the Holiday Spirit. It was nice to see George McHarris, who has been getting more active in the second half of the year.
Marty Hovivian made an appearance, absent for too long.
And Alex and Elida Athie were on hand full of holiday cheer.
At the appointed time President Biss, our resident Santa Claus, called everyone to take their seats. Mike followed with a quick overview of California Healey Week (CHW) 2024 taking place in San Luis Obispo, May 13th to 17th. Greg Aden, VP of Activities, gave a rundown of club events in the near term.
Then Tim McNiff, the Newsletter Editor, made the announcement of the Spirit Points winner for 2023 and with the assistance of last year’s trophy winner, Chuck Lakowski, presented the Bill Barnett Spirit Award to Phil Caliva. This was followed by Steve Kirby giving a planning update about his next tour to Vancouver, Canada for Rendezvous 2024.
Dinner was then served, delicious as always, and the Club provided bottles of wine at all the tables.
Terry Cowan, who is handy with a wrench, also shoots a mean camera. Most of the pictures accompanying this article are his, including the iPhone shot of the Christmas tree in green lights hanging from the mast of a sailboat in the marina. Then it was time to say our goodbyes, wish everyone Merry Christmas again and head out into the night.
One last thing. As we do every year, we collected unwrapped toys to pass on to the Marines Toys for Tots program. We also collected batteries and funds to buy batteries. Phil Caliva took charge of all that and there is a little article elsewhere with photos of them being delivered.