Michael Brown – PaNNTOA

Slip Share Calendar

Searching for a slip? Want to share your slip? Slip Share is a voluntary program for PaNNTOA members. As we all start cruising this year many of us will leave our slips empty for months at a time. Slip Share will allow members to share their vacant slips with other Members. Please check with your Marina to ensure you are allowed to share your slip while you are away. Most Marinas will allow for 30 days of sharing without doing sublet contracts.

Once you have decided to participate click here to provide us with information about your available slip. Once you send in your slip information it will be posted on the Slip Share calendar. Please give us some time to update the calendar.

Save the Date

2023 PaNNTOA Rendezvous – June 1-3, Port Sidney Marina, Sidney, British Columbia

An exciting weekend event awaits us at the beautiful Port Sidney Marina…just a short hop across the border from favorite San Juan destinations and a perfect provisioning location for the Gulf Islands.

While the program is now being put together, we can tell you that a weekend of educational and entertaining activities is shaping up to include:

An opening reception on the docks on Thursday evening followed by the Beacon Street Night Market just steps away
A gala Friday night evening at the adjacent Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea aquarium featuring delicious food and amazing wonders of the deep
Multiple guest speakers featuring talks on Canadian boating destinations, hands on the dock First Mate training, Nordic Tug factory updates, tips for maintaining your vessel from experienced mechanics and vendor partners, optional nearby tours and attractions, drawings with great prizes and a fascinating presentation by the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue

There will additional social functions including a daily continental breakfast, Mary’s famous clam chowder lunch, Commodore’s Farewell Buffet Dinner and more!

Registration fee (not including moorage) – $130 per person (USD)/$150 per person (CAD).

Because slips are limited at Port Sidney Marina, there is an early registration window beginning on March 15 and ending on May 1. Beyond that, any remaining slip requests will be awarded on a first come, first served basis with some shared slips and rafting possible.

Watch the website for registration information and remember … entry into Canada requires any of the following including a US Passport, State of Washington enhanced driver’s license, Nexus card, or other recognized ID accepted by Canadian Customs.

Searching for a slip? Willing to share your slip?

As we cruise this year, many of us will leave our slips empty for months at a time. Slip Share allows members to share their vacant slips with other PaNNTOA members.

Slip holders post their slip availability* and contact information via Slip Share Instructions and Calendar located on the PaNNTOA home page. If you have not already logged into the PaNNTOA site, you will be prompted to do so before access to registration or the calendar is granted. *Please check with your Marina to ensure you are allowed to share your slip while you are away. Many marinas will allow for 30 days of sharing without doing sublet contracts.

Members looking for a slip (requestor), access the same calendar. The requestor clicks on the desired date to see the slip owner’s contact information. The requestor emails the slip owner to confirm availability and work out the details. The slip owner is responsible for updating the calendar to show the slip is no longer available.

As a general practice, stays should not exceed 48 to 72 hours. Limitations are at the discretion of the slip holder.

DISCLAIMER: The Pacific Northwest Nordic Tug Owners Association (PaNNTOA) will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information, nor for the availability of this information. PaNNTOA will not be liable for any losses, injuries or damages from the display or use of this information.

Seattle Yachts Service – Labor Discount

Just in time for spring, Seattle Yachts Service is offering PaNNTOA members a 10% discount off labor only. If you have questions, contact Joanie Martin, Seattle Yachts Service Writer, 360-245-1326.

Oh La La … Volunteer Opportunity (averages less than 1 hour/month)

Our all-volunteer organization (except the wizard behind the website) is looking for a new Membership Director. Mark Malnes, after serving for several years, is ready to transition the role to a shiny, new director.

This is a role easily performed by anyone with access to the website. Our staff wizard has created several automated tools and processes to make the job straightforward.

The membership director provides information to the PaNNTOA board related to membership statistics, reaches out to potential members referred by other members, sends membership lists to sponsors that offer discounts (sponsors must pinky swear they will not send spam based on our supplied list) quarterly, and, if so inclined, thinks about ways to increase membership.

The membership director also works with the Communications director to reconcile bounced emails (did the member forget to renew? Sell their boat? Find a cooler group to hang out with? (Can’t be that!))

If interested (even in the mildest manner), please email the Commodore. Thanks!

Waggoners Webinar Redux

For those who missed it, and for those who attended and thought, “Hey, knowing which marinas in Canadian waters have closed or changed hands, is a helpful bit of knowledge,” our eminently useful Vice-Commodore Jeff Redmond, recorded Mark Bunzel’s recent PaNNTOA Webinar. It is available for your viewing pleasure HERE

Our thanks again to Mark, from the Waggoner Cruising Guide, for his presentation. Mark reminds us that the Waggoner Guide contains a link for updates made after the 2023 Guide went to press. Just saying…nobody wants to show up at a marina and find a one-eyed cutlass-wielding seagull and no moorage.

Commodore’s Corner – January 2023

Welcome to the 2023 boating season … okay, the very early, armchair cruising part of the season. It’s the ideal time to start knocking documentation and planning items off the checklist. For example, now is the perfect time to check your passport/Nexus card/other trusted traveler program expiration dates. Crossing the border is pretty much back to normal but there is a bit of a back log if you’re applying for any of these programs. Fortunately, there’s still time to get a passport before our 2023 Rendezvous in Sidney, BC, June 1-3. Waggoner Cruising has a great post related to border crossings (both directions).

And speaking of Waggoner, be sure to check out an exclusive PaNNTOA webinar being hosted via Zoom on February 15th. Experienced mariner and author of the Waggoner Cruising Guide, Mark Bunzel, will be giving a seminar on longer cruises in Canadian waters. Whether it’s your first trip or your fifteenth, you’re sure to learn something useful.

Before the bright work needs to be polished and the oil changed, while the weather is less than conducive to relaxed boating, visit the PaNNTOA forum topics. Add a question, answer a question, or just share your $.02. You may have already solved a problem someone else has, or maybe you know the perfect destination for an April shakedown cruise. If you have a question, chances are so does someone else. Please share. Your knowledge and thoughts are valuable and valued.

Stay warm, stay healthy, and we’ll see you on the water soon.

Aloha,
Sandra P., PaNNTOA Commodore (in case you were confusing me with some other commodore)

PaNNTOA Exclusive Waggoner Webinar – Extended Cruising in Canadian Waters

Using the June 2023 PaNNTOA Rendezvous as a jump off to a longer cruise up north? Or just looking for tips on longer cruises? Join us via Zoom on February 15 at 6:30 p.m. PST for a presentation by Mark Bunzel, Editor and Publisher of the annual Waggoner Cruising Guide. In addition, there will be Q&A at the end of the presentation. Zoom information will be found on the PaNNTOA Events tab.

Do you have specific questions? Want to know about marinas, water, fuel, logistics, spares, etc.? Please post your questions on our corresponding PaNNTOA General Chat forum topic. And if you have responses to other member’s questions, please post them too! Mark may adjust his presentation based on the questions posted.

Mark is also co-author of Cruising the Virgin Islands, nautical publisher and distributor at the Waggoner Store, and a long time cruiser and leader of umpty-ump flotillas in the Pacific Northwest and points south. You know the guide is great; be sure to check out the super helpful Waggoner Guide website.

Looking for guides and nautical books? Waggoner is generously extending a *20% discount to Panntoa members. Mention you’re with Panntoa when placing your order to receive discount. (*Note: discount does not apply to bundles as they’ve already been discounted.)

This one hour seminar is a great resource and if you want more, Mark will be teaching a full day seminar, “Cruise to Desolation Sound and Broughtons,” on April 22 at Cruisers College. Mark will also be presenting several seminars at this year’s Seattle Boat Show.

Seattle Yachts Service – 2023

Seattle Yachts is a proud sponsor of PaNNTOA and its Members. We offer all active PaNNTOA members 8% Off Labor at Seattle Yachts Service – a subsidiary of the Seattle Yachts family located in Anacortes, Washington. As many of you Nordic Tug owners are already aware, Cap Sante Marine was recently added to the Seattle Yachts family and is operating under new management as Seattle Yachts Service’s south yard or SYS South.

With our experienced team, equipment, and Travel lift, we are your one stop Nordic Tug service shop. With two service teams, one focusing on commissioning new boats and one specifically for customer boat service, we can assist everyone through every step of their boating life. If you’re thinking about bottom paint, stern thruster, water maker, solar panels, dinghy davits, and more… now you’ll gain an 8% measure of relief on the bottom line.

Veteran yacht technician Nathan Kusler will be your point of contact at SYS South. Nordic Tug owners will benefit from his experience and familiarity with electrical, mechanical, plumbing, paint, and fiberglass projects. Whether it’s routine Tug maintenance, upgrades or repairs, his good communication and personal attention when managing projects, will be much appreciated by owners.

Feel free to contact Nathan directly to get acquainted and talk through any projects you have in mind at nathan@seattleyachts.com or 360 208 8539.

Our Services:

Seattle Yachts Sales

Nordic Tugs Dealership and Yacht Brokerage Services

Seattle Yachts Service

2 Full-Service Boatyards – Your Pacific Northwest Nordic Tugs Authorized Service Center
Fuel Dock and Travel Lift Services
Fully Stocked Marine Parts Store, Outboard and Tender Sales
Custom Boat Projects

South Yard
Marine Parts / Service Center
360.293.3145

2915 W Avenue
Anacortes, WA 98221

North Yard
Service Center

360.293.8200

2417 T Avenue
Anacortes, WA 98221

Sales Office
New and Brokerage

360.299.0777

1019 Q Ave Suite A and B
Anacortes, WA 98221

service@seattleyachts.com

https://www.seattleyachts.com

2022 Photo Contest Winners!

Of course, in our eyes, all submitted photos were winners but like so many things in life, we had to narrow prize winners down to three. Our Judges, Doug Ford, Amy Jamison of Seattle Yachts, and Angelo Muzzin have completed their work and the results follow:

First Prize

John Hall, 37’ Flying Tiger, submitted, “Like father, like son… Our oldest son and his family enjoying their ‘new to them’ Nordic Tug 32, “Intugsicated” in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It’s great fun to share adventures with them!”

Second Prize

Gary White, former PaNNTOA Commodore and skipper of 37’ Last Splash, “This photo of Last Splash was taken in June 2022 at Stuart Island. A brief rain shower followed by a lovely rainbow.” We tried to convince Gary the prize was another year of being commodore, but he wasn’t buying it.

Third Prize

Mark Leopold, 37’ First Tracks and winner of the 2021 Photo Contest, “…in May when we were fortunate to have this lovely cove all to ourselves… looking South with the tip of Orcas Island in the far background. Beautiful scenery in every direction!”

We would like to acknowledge the time provided by Doug, Amy and Angelo for judging this year’s photo contest. We would also like to thank Seattle Yachts for the generous donation of one of our photo contest prizes; a round trip haul out at their facility in Anacortes.

Thanks to all for participating.

Author: Michael Brown