Opening Day of Boating Seattle

Ranger Tugs would like to invite you to the Opening Day of Boating Ceremony Saturday May 2nd, 2009. It is hosted by the Seattle Yacht Club on Lake Union and is always the first Saturday in May. Each year the theme of the parade changes. (The first parade was nearly 100 years ago) The theme this year is Wild Wild West. There is an award for the division that we are in for best decorated fleet of boats. Ranger Tugs will also be giving out individual awards for best decorated Ranger Tugs. We have already registered with the Seattle Yacht club for up to 15 boats under Ranger Tugs. We will meet at 8:00 A.M on Saturday morning in Portage Bay. The parade course closes to boat traffic at 9:40 for the crew races. (So it is really important to be in place before then) The official parade begins at 12:00. I am waiting for more information regarding moorage at the Seattle Yacht Club. It is possible that moorage is available for Friday and Saturday night. It would be fun to have a place to get together after the parade for the award ceremonies, food and refreshments 😉 If you are interested in joining us for this fun northwest boating tradition then all you have to do is register here by replying to this post. You do not need to register with the Seattle Yacht Club. For more information about this event take a look at http://www.seattleyachtclub.org/OpeningDay We hope to see you there!

Ranger Tug Crew

Sounds like a lot of fun...although I'm not sure I'm up to this decorating part. That might take a bit of work!

Linda & I are really interested in participating with Island Ranger (and of course, our three dogs). We'd be cruising down from South Whidbey, so would plan to come no later than Friday through the locks - and would need a place to dock or anchor (both Friday and Saturday nights).

Never been to this before. Do I understand that you either participate in the parade, or tie up to the log boom, but not both?


Thanks Jeff!

Mac & Linda
(& Porsche, Charlie & Obe too)

Sounds Great! We look forward to seeing you. We will have Little Toot (1980 18' Ranger Tug) and the rest of our factory fleet well adorned in western wear. You do not have to decorate Island Ranger. I have e-mailed the folks in charge of moorage for Opening Day. They have not yet responded. I will follow up on this next week. The parade starts in Portage Bay and the procession passes the log boom that is out in Lake Washington.

Jeff

I guess its ok for Mac not to dress his boat up but Mac has to dress himself up right? :lol:

No sure I was ready for that image today....

Bob and Nita Ostlund will be escorted by the Nellie.

You can count the Laurie Ann and her crew in for this one. Sounds like fun. We would also be interested in perhaps finding a place Friday night to stay.

JEFF: THANKS for the invitatiion. We are heading to Mexico TODAY and do plan on attending this event. We would need to find moorage for Friday night. We will confirm upon our return from Mexico in three weeks. THANKS AGAIN! Denny 😉

Michelle and I would like to join the parade and the party. Any thoughts on moorage would be great... :idea:

Blue Bayou will take Interstate 5 North from the California Delta in late late April, and my target is to launch on Friday, MayDay (oops! not supposed to say that, Coast Guard will cite me).
As others have said, I could sure use a comfortable place to tie up for Friday and Saturday nights, alongside other Tug Nuts, of course.
Thanks,
Charles

I still have not received an e-mail back from the Seattle Yacht Club regarding moorage. I did have a SYC member/Ranger R25 owner look into the moorage for us. Here is what he found out. The deadline for the moorage application is this Friday March 27th. The application is available at http://www.seattleyachtclub.org/OpeningDay He recommended not only filling the application out online but also faxing it in. Ken MacDonald is the dock master and is in charge of placing the boats on Dock 0 when they arrive. Ken can be reached by phone at 206 910 9488. The SYC office number is 206 325 1000. When you send your application in make a note that you are part of the Ranger Tug group.

Thank you,

Jeff

So, yesterday, March 23, I filled out the moorage application, sent it over the Internet 2 ways, and then also printed it off and faxed it to the general fax number at SYC. Of course, no response within 24 hours, and Friday is the deadline for applications. Has anyone else heard back?
I notice that "rafting up" is their plan for O dock, so I am assuming the Moorage guy will raft the Ranger Tugs in one or two groups.
I'm not clear about whether or not we are in the Parade. If we're rafted up on Friday night, do we break up the raft at dawn on Saturday, race over to the starting line, then wait until Noon for the parade to begin?? Or, are we merely watching the parade from the Yacht Club, and leaving our boats in their raft? I suppose whether or not your boat is decorated with bales of hay and lassoos might have something to do with whether you're in the parade or not. I thought about stacking some good ole Montana bales of hay on my foredeck and roof, then I thought about all the bugs and mice and leftover straw that would result----not.
Thanks for any updates or advice on how to pull this off, as I have only driven around Lake Washington by car back in the last Century, and have not a clue (to quote someone else) as to what procedures to follow the first days of May.

We are already registered as a group for the opening day parade. I will be able to get our parade registration number from SYC in a few weeks. We will either stay tied up or mingle in Portage Bay (same area as dock 0) until it is our turn in the parade. It sounds like every effort will be made to raft the Ranger Tugs up together.

Jeff

I have looked at Lake Union and Lake Washington, in the 2009 Waggoners, and on maps I have, and it's not clear where I should drive my boat trailer to launch my R-25. Plus, I will have to leave my pickup and trailer parked for a few days nearby, while Blue Bayou is, presumably, rafted up at the Seattle Yacht Club on O Dock, with other Ranger Tugs.
Can anyone suggest a good point from which to launch, and easily park a truck and trailer overnight? I don't mind paying a parking fee, but it should be a secure place, with a decent launch ramp and side dock. Thanks in advance,
Charles

bluebayouCharles --- Go to "www.seattle.gov/parks" then click on "search by features" and then to "launch facilities". The closest is Sunnyside Ave. N. on the north end of Lake Union. The parking will be very difficult, for this event. The next best is 14th Ave NW in Ballard. This launch has been completely revamped since I moved away from Seattle, so I don't know about the parking. Both ramps are free and the parking is probably on the street. The best ramp with patroled overnight parking is Eddie Vine north of Shilshole Marina. This, of course, gives you the adventure of going through the Chittenden Locks. Go to the thread "For those of you who moor..." and scroll down to a note from Island Ranger. Mac has a web site there that is excellent and manditory for anyone who is new to the locks. Good luck.
--- Cary

Cary, Thanks for those suggestions. I located the "eddie vine" ramp and park on the Internet, then I called the ramp supervisor a few minutes ago. What he said about "secured parking," is that the whole park is locked at the gate, at 11pm, well after dark. There is no security, only a public park, which is locked hours after dark.. He did caution me that, in the past year, there have been "3 incidents," to use his term, of tires being flattened maliciously.
So, I suppose I could try that, take my chances leaving my rig(s) there for 2-3 days, and also hope to figure out my first time, ever, climbing a channel in the locks, in the Ballard locks. Sitting here in my office in California, those unknowns make me wonder if there's not a private facility on Lake Washington that would make life easier.
I also have no idea how many Ranger Tugs will be at this event. Guess that's still up in the air, although the deadline for mooring applications has passed.
I'll be off-line until after Easter, going to visit family on the Atlantic side of the country. Happy Easter, Tug Nuts !!

Some info on Opening Day.
Moorage in Lake Washington and Lake Union is very limited. You could try to contact some local marinas to find moorage for Friday night or you can just tie up to the Log Boom for free. The log boom opens on Wednesday evening (as soon as it's securely in place) and boats usually start tieing up soon there after. There is usually some space availalbe in Kirkland at either Carillon Point Marina or at the public dock/marina in down town Kirkland. You will have to call Carilon Point and see if they will rent you a spot for the night. The Downtown Kirkland dock is open to the public. I moored my boat there last year for opening day and then just left Saturday morning and went over to the log boom. My boat was the only one at the dock on Friday night and one of 3 that spent the night on Saturday. The fee at Kirland Marina Park is $12 a night for 20 - 30 foot boats so all Rangers would be about the same price.

Last year it rained so I'm not sure if that impacted the number of boats and if there will be more boats out this year. Here is the link to Marina Park in Kirkland:
http://www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/depart/par ... Marina.htm

This is no power at the Kirkland dock, and water is available if you have your own hose. There are lots of restuarants and stuff to do near by so this might be a good option for those who don't want to tie up to the log boom all weekend. You can take you dinghy from the Log Boom over to the University of Washington, or other place on Lake Union. Either way, make sure you get back through the Montlake Cut to Lake Union/Portage Bay well before the crew races or else you will not be allowed to join the parade. You can also try Craigslist to see if you can get weekend moorage on Lake Union, but I'm not sure what's available. I know that Stimson's Marina in Ballard has some open spaces. Stimson's is a ways a way from Portage Bay as it takes a while to get there when you have to stay under the 7 Knot max speed limit in Lake Uion and the Ship Canal. Here is the website.
www.stimsonmarina.com

You could also try posting an add on Craig's List to see if anyone who lives on Lake Washington will let you rent their dock for the weekend. The URL is seattle.craigslist.org/boa. I found a nice couple who live in Kirkland who let me use their dock for Sea Fair for $20 last year. It was awesome.

Good Luck! I'm not a ranger tug owner but the new R29 was my favorite boat at the Seattle Boat Show this year. I think I saw a brand new R29 this past weekend (4-4-2009) cruising past Husky Stadium when I was on my way over to get my boat on Lake Union. Hope to see the cool new Rangers in the Parade!!!

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that kirkland has a ramp which you can use for launching. Crime in downtown Kirkland is pretty low as there are so many police officers driving around looking for speeders and drunk drivers that I'm sure your boat, truck, and trailer will be safe. Other good places to launch on Lake Washington are Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park and in Bellevue at the SE 40th ST Launch Ramp:
http://bellevuewa.gov/se_40th_boat_launch.htm
The SE 40th ST launch ramp is huge, has tons of parking, and is very safe. The ramps at Coulon are great too, but much further away. Bellevue is about 30 minutes cruise around Mercer Island to 520 where the log boom is. Kirkland is about 15 minutes cruise away.

Thanks, aevans17, whoever you are, for that useful information. I shall follow up on it this week. Just back from Easter in Florida without laptop, so here goes. Oh, and what is a "logboom" ??? I think we have dock space on O dock at the SYC reserved, rather than a logboom........remains to be seen. Charles

Charles, a "logboom" is a bunch of floating logs, tied together and anchored to the bottom. Sometimes one end is tied to a pier or the shore. Gives lots of boats places to tie up without using piers. No way to get ashore but secure.

Charlie