Please read the following article regarding the PaNNTOA annual meeting and vote. If you don’t receive an email from PaNNTOA regarding the vote by June 10th, please send a note to vicecommodore@panntoa.com or communications@panntoa.com and we’ll get it sorted out. Voting is done via “reply” to the official email.

Last year’s photo contest was such a great success we’ll be doing another one this fall. Keep clicking away, contest details will be out after Labor Day (‘cause who has time to fiddle with contests in the middle of boating season).

And speaking of contests, our first recipe contest resulted in some absolutely delicious entries (and entrées). Though the contest is over, consider adding your favorite recipe, or a new one you develop this year, to the contest forum. And don’t be shy about adding positive feedback to the recipes submitted. In the category of living vicariously or perhaps planning for the future, be sure to follow our contest judge, Laura Domela, on Slowboat.com as she leads an Alaska-bound flotilla (in progress).

Sitting by the dock in your boat,

Waitin for your chance to vote.

PANNTOA really needs you now

Read on and let me tell you how.

(with sincere apologies to Otis Redding)  

Here we are again, unfortunately having to do a General Meeting by absent proxy voting. As you can see, the three elected officials have agreed to stay on for one more year. It is our great hope that during the coming year, we will find willing and able volunteers to assume responsibility for those positions. Mark Malnes has agreed to step into the Membership Director position. Thank you Mark! Our Communications Director Mike Young, is looking to retire after serving for 2 years in the position. We are still looking for his replacement. If you are interested, please contact me at commodore@panntoa.com

Jeff Brein and Sandra Piotrowski will continue to serve the organization in their respective positions. A healthy organization cannot exist without volunteers to step into the various leadership roles. Thanks to all the existing board members who have served this year.

Gary

FIRST PLACE:

Flank Steak Marinade

Joni Hardcastle & Dave Leon

SECOND PLACE:

Welsh Biscuits

Brian Helminen (aka Captain BRH)

THIRD PLACE:

Marinated Barbequed Salmon

Roger Hind

1. Something I hadn't seen (much) before.
2. Something with easy-to-find ingredients or that one already has onboard. (Traveling by boat in remote areas means you can't always find the ingredients needed for recipes).
3. Something easy enough (and delicious enough) to become a staple for a boat chef. Having a good base of recreatable recipes that you can keep ingredients on hand for is so helpful. At home I'm fine having a dozen (or two!) jars of ingredients I bought and used once for a random recipe I wanted to try, but that's definitely not an efficient use of space on a boat.
4. Versatility!

“If Doug hadn't been ineligible, his recipe "Skillet Hashbrown Surprise" would have been a strong contender. This recipe has so many of the qualities I love: versatility, using up leftovers, breakfast!!, and endlessly customizable to suit individual likes/dislikes. All components of a good boat galley recipe!”  

THE PRIZES:

Keep a sharp lookout for our winners as you cruise the Salish Sea in the months ahead. They will be enjoying one of these prizes Panntoa provided for this Galley Chef contest [Commodore not included]:  

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUDGE LAURA:  

If you’re wondering why we describe Laura Domela as our “Celebrity Judge,” just check out the website slowboat.com. Laura, her husband Kevin Morris, and Sam Landsman – all Panntoa members – lead small flotillas to Alaska and elsewhere, as well as offering cruising consultation and other services described on the website. They share these adventures more widely via the blogs they post, including many examples of Laura’s stunning professional photography. They’re just now departing on their latest cruise, so you can anticipate fresh blogs soon! Laura's Dungeness Crab Enchiladas   

Ingredients:  

A couple large handfuls of fresh crab (about a pound) 

Cream Cheese (6-8 oz) 

Shredded Mexican cheese blend, or jack cheese and/or cheddar cheese, your choice 

Chopped garlic (I use 4-5 cloves) 

Shallots (1-2 medium/large, diced) 

Fresh jalapeños (1-2 Tbsp or so chopped, and more sliced thin for garnish) 

Fresh spinach 

Tortillas, corn or flour 

Green enchilada sauce or salsa verde 

Tomatoes, sliced thin to garnish (optional) 

Olive oil for sauteéing 

Sour cream (optional) 

Chopped fresh cilantro (optional) 

Chopped green onions (optional) 

 

Directions:  

Preheat oven to 350-375.  

Heat about a Tbsp or so of olive oil in a large, non stick frying pan over medium heat (this frying pan will hold all of your filling, including crab, in the end, to pick a big enough pan). When oil is hot, add diced shallots, chopped garlic, and chopped jalapeño. Sauté until translucent but not brown. Add a couple handfuls of fresh spinach until wilted. Add cream cheese and lower heat, stirring until it's all melty. Then add crab and a handful or so of grated Mexican cheese. Stir to blend.  

Spray a glass or metal 9x13 pan with olive oil or other nonstick spray, and lay/arrange the tortillas in the pan like taco shells with the open side up. I usually end up using flour tortillas, because they're the right size to fit across the width of the pan I normally use.  If you prefer corn tortillas, just layer them so the edges of the outermost tortillas are touching either side of the pan, width-wise.  

Start portioning out the crab/cheese/spinach filling into the tortillas until you're satisfied they're all filled somewhat equally. If you need more filling, add some fresh spinach before rolling up. I usually start at one end of the pan and roll the enchiladas so the opening of the tortilla lengthwise is on the bottom of the pan. Once you're finished rolling, top with green enchilada sauce (jarred tomatillo salsa works fine too...but I find that red sauce a bit strong for the crab). I like to have enough sauce so that there's sauce along the edges and in the cracks between the enchiladas, but it doesn't have to totally cover the enchiladas. I use my spatula along the edges of the pan to sort of pull away so sauce gets down in there a little more. Top with a bit more grated cheese, and then add thin sliced tomatoes and thin sliced jalapeños for color/design. Bake at about 350-375 until the cheese is bubbly. Let rest a couple minutes, then serve. Top with sour cream and chopped cilantro and or sliced green onions.  

Notes:  

This recipe is forgiving and endlessly customizable. Omit jalapeños if you want it less spicy. Use cilantro in the filling AND as a garnish. Add shrimp if you don't have enough crab. Cut back on the cheese and add more seafood. Tomatoes in the filling instead of on top. I've used the jars of Frontera Tomatillo Salsa instead of enchilada sauce and it works just as well.  

I came up with an earlier version of this recipe on our first trip to Alaska in 2015 when we were catching more crab than we knew what to do with. It's been revised and improved over the years, and as you can tell, I still haven't worked out the amounts, but like I said earlier, it's fairly forgiving.  

If you make the full version and have leftovers, wrap a couple leftover portions in foil. They reheat nicely in the oven. (Honestly, they're even pretty great cold in the morning for breakfast.)  

The photo above from our NT42 galley: a large pan of enchiladas for our flotilla group, plus two individual pans for the vegetarians on board (made with zucchini, spinach, and probably some beans). 🙂

Carole and I are sitting here on Last Splash in Reid Harbor after a couple of days of lingcod fishing. I hope you are able to get out and enjoy your tugs as well!

As the result of having to postpone yet another rendezvous we will be holding a General Meeting and election similar to last year. If we can put it together, we will have a Zoom meeting. We’ll send out an email as soon as the details are available.

We are working on developing three mini-Vous for later this summer.  It is our goal to have one in South Sound, one in North Sound, and one in Canada. These will be similar in nature to the Port Browning mini-Vous held several years ago. They are intended to be small groups with no major presentations or speakers but just rather an opportunity for Tuggers to get together, share stories and have fun.

We are looking for cruise captains to organize the North Sound/San Juan’s and the Canadian Vous. We have a cruise captain that has volunteered for the South Sound event. Each one of these events will be assisted by our rendezvous Director Jeff Brein to help coordinate and organize the location. Details on when, where, and how they will be conducted will follow.  There will be some Panntoa funds available to help in these events. If you would like to volunteer to be one of those cruise captains, please contact myself or Jeff Brein at Rendezvousdirector@panntoa.com  

Speaking of volunteers, the primary message I want to share with you on this Commodores Corner is the need for volunteers. The Communication Director’s position on the PaNNTOA board will be vacated shortly.  The Membership Director’s position has been vacant for a while and the Web Director position will need to be filled in the not so distant future.

Your three elected officers, Commodore, Vice Commodore and Rear Commodore are also available for volunteers to fill. Several of the current officers have offered to stay for another term if replacements cannot be found.  However, it would be nice to have new blood moving into the organization to learn the ins and outs before taking over. An ideal scenario would be for you to volunteer for the Membership, Communications or Web Director appointed positions, and then move into one of the elected positions.  

The benefit to the organization is continuity of institutional knowledge of policies and procedures.  

As I’m sure you’ve seen, the current board members have done an excellent job in improving the website and finding new and interesting articles to keep you engaged with fellow Tuggers. There are over 150 Tugs out there which means probably close to 300 individuals all of which I’m sure are capable of taking a position in one way or another.

Remember this is an all-volunteer organization and therefore we need volunteers to support it. Please take a look at the job descriptions of each position under the ‘About Us’ tab and consider taking a position on the board. If you can’t find enough information with those descriptions feel free to call or email me at Commodore@PaNNTOA.COM and I will discuss them with you.  Any of the members on the board are willing to give you insight as to what their jobs have been.  

Enjoy the start of boating season and we hope to see you out on the water!  

Gary White  

Panntoa Commodore