E-mail from Past Commodore Bill Mixon:

For the past two years Linda and I, along with fellow CTYC member Mark
& Cindy Nystrom (Verlo Mattress) have donated our time to cook for the
homeless and needy.
This year we started at 6:00pm on Friday and finished around 10am on
Saturday. We cooked 75 smoked turkeys and 50 smoked hams.

From Linda & Bill Mixon and Mark & Cindi Nystrom we wish all Con Trios
members and their families the very best this holiday season.

click here to see a few pictures of the cooking going on

Some E-mail comments on the above:

"Way to go! Have a Merry Christmas!  Tim." (Past Commodore Tim Tighe)

"God Bless People like these. They are very far and few between these days. Merry Christmas to all and we still think of everyone in the club."
Ron and Jane Freeman

Sorry I wasnt up to helping this year--looks like you pulled it off without me.
Jim Farr

October 2008 "Hailer" Newsletter is posted.

The Con Trios Yacht Club is looking for a new editor for The Hailer. If you would like to get more involved with the club and like to write this is a great opportunity to get to know more members and what the club is all about. Email the webmaster@contriosyachtclub.org if you may be
interested. Many Thanks to Con Trios Yacht Club First Lady Judy Meinershagen for her years as our Hailer Editor. Judy has done an outstanding job not only with the Hailer but all of the events during Gary's years as Board Member, Fleet Captain, Commodore and soon to be Past Commodore.

Got the following email from Con Trios member Dennis Carroll:

Here is a few pictures of our son Roman, he is the new Orchard Farm Eagle mascot. He loves it especially the cheerleaders. Dennis & Susie Carroll

click here to see the pictures

Final Phoenix Update, December 4th, 2008

Thanks to a lot of help from their friends Past Commodore John Bicknese Little Johns Motorsports finished 2nd in the Nation in their class. Big Muddy and their crew are having a party to celebrate the teams great finish on Wednesday, December 10th with music by Rail starting at 7:30 PM.
Little John and the team, and maybe the boat if the weather allows, will be there to say THANKS to everyone that helped and cheered them on.
This being a Wednesday night Ladies rail drinks are only $1.00! Congrats to the team.

Darryll

Got the following email from Con Trios First Lady Judy M. 10/29/2008
Click on the blue underlined text to see the pictures.

Hi Darryll.
Having a great time in Key West, as you can tell by the attached pictures. We went deep sea fishing this morning. First Lady of Con Trios caught the first fish, which was a Bonita Fish, which is basically a "fake tuna" (garbage fish). Then, Con Trios Member, John DiFatta, landed a 4' Sailfish, which was absolutely beautiful. Then, Commodore Gary Meinershagen sat in the "hot seat", and WOW oh WOW, what a hot seat it was. Gary landed a 7', 75 pound Sailfish. He put up quite a fight. It took Gary about 20 minutes to finally land it. The Captain and First Mate said it was one of the biggest Sailfish they had ever seen. Not only was it long, but it was really "thick". The Captain told Gary that he definitely had a trophy fish. He said he has taken some people out 20-30 times to try and catch a Sailfish, with no luck at all. They wanted around $1000.00 to mount it (replica), but we opted not to go that route. Gary did stop on the way back to our rental house and bought a Sailfish flag, which he will proudly fly on our houseboat. What an exciting day. I believe we will hit a few local establishments this evening and let Gary go with his "bragging rights". I'm sure he'll be telling this story for a long time to come. See you when we return.
First Lady, Judy

It's getting close to that time when most of us have to winterize. Here's some information regarding the fuel we use.

BoatUS.com has some information regarding Ethanol in Gasoline and how it affects your fuel systems, particularly fiberglass fuel tanks, in Seaworthy Magazine, click below to read the articles.

Ethanol information in Seaworthy Magazine

And it's also time to start putting together your receipts for the tax refund on the fuel used in your boat. Click the link below for more information.

Motor Fuel Tax Refund information for boaters.

Full Lunar Cruise photos are up!

Posted photos from the Full Lunar Cruise aboard the Grafton Ferry on Saturday, August 16th, 2008. Fleet Captain Denny and his lovely bride Pat put on another fun event! 130 plus people enjoyed the sounds of The Rail Band with Marvin in excellent voice as always. I don't know who Denny knows up above but we could not have ordered more ideal weather. Clear skies, cool temperatures and a full moon. Perfect conditions for everyone to dance the night away while cruising the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers! Food was prepared and served by Lori Cotton of Kilroy's at Smartt Field. Click on the "Photo Galleries" link to see the pictures. Many thanks to all the members that pitched in to help load and unload the tables, porta johns and such! Another example of why this club continues to be such an enjoyable organization to be a part of.

Good News for Recreational Boaters!

President Bush has signed the Clean Boating Act of 2008 (S. 2766) into law after it passed both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on July 30, 2008. This relieves boaters of the need to apply for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water Act permit for their overboard incidental discharges.

click here for more information on the BoatBlue.org website

Margaritaville Party 2008 at Grafton Harbor

Fleet Captain Denny Galkowski sure had some balls putting on this event!

Get it? He had beach balls for us to play with in the pool!
Many Thanks to Denny and his lovely bride Pat for putting on one fun event at the Grafton Harbor (Joe and Jan were wonderful hosts as always). Everyone had a great time playing with the beach balls, (you know if you give your kids a beach ball they will play with it for a few minutes and then move on, give a bunch of adults some and they will play with them for over 6 hours!) listening and dancing to the great music from The Stingers and food prepared by Grafton's Landing. Check out the Photo Galleries page for pictures and video of the day.

Congratulations to Con Trios Yacht Club Secretary Alan Deutschmann for winning the Con Trios Award at the 2008 Blessing of the Fleet for "Best Decorated Con Trios Yacht Club Member's Boat". This is the second time Alan has won this award, he is undefeated! Check out the Blessing of the Fleet website for more information and pictures of this fun event.
www.blessingofthefleetstl.com

Bob Smith emailed me to let me know he has started a new magazine called "The River's Edge". He is no longer with Rollin on the River magazine. The article about the Con Trios Yacht Club's Past Commodores Party can be found on "The River's Edge" website at:

http://www.riversedgemag.com/index_files/Page1016.html

Champagne Brunch pictures are coming in! Click on the Photo Galleries link to see them all plus a video from Mike and Karen Halley of the festivities! Thanks to Fleet Captain Denny and his lovely bride Pat for putting together this fun event poolside at Sundowners at Yacht Club of St. Louis! The Board Members did their usual excellent job of serving the champagne and strawberries. Stay tuned for more pictures coming from Mary Beth, Mark and Judy!

Click here to see all the wonderful items that were donated for the Silent Auction at the Champagne Brunch. Many thanks to all the donors!

TV reception on your boat
Since we moved into Yacht Club and don't have an antenna on the dock I have been trying to decide how to get more than the one and a half channels I now get. My boat has a built in antenna in the bow that doesn't work all that great. Dock mounted antenna was a possibility but that doesn't help while anchored out. A better antenna on the boat also didn't seem to be a viable alternative with no radar arch. Well, I have found a solution! Applied for and received my $40 off coupons for the digital TV converter boxes. Tried brands from a couple of stores at home with a cheap rabbit ear antenna.  Hooked one up on my boat in the dock using just the boat's built in antenna and got almost all of the local stations perfectly clear, channel 9 was the only one I cannot get. I especially like the 24 hour weather channel from KSDK channel 5 on channel 5-2. This is not an endorsement of a particular converter box, just the results of my limited test. So if you are looking for an inexpensive way to improve your TV reception try one of the digital converter boxes, it worked for me.
The easiest way to get your coupons is online at www.dtv2009.gov. They also have an 800 number - 1-888-DTV-2009.

Digital TV Converter Boxes, 12 volt model
Con Trios member Jim Morgan found a 12 volt Digital TV converter box on the web that qualifies for the $40 converter coupon offer.  He has ordered one and is going to let me know how it works.  Looks like this might be a possibility if you don't have a generator or simply run your TV off of the battery system.  Here's a link for more information:
http://www.data-action.com/ehtm/product_set-top-box.htm
Jim said it cost him $12 after the coupon and rebate.
Click here for more information from BoaterEd.com.

Past Commodores Party 2008 photos have been posted!
15 of our Past Commodores threw a terrific party at the Aeries Winery in Grafton Illinois Saturday, May 3rd, despite less than ideal weather and water conditions.  Past Commodores Mike Tremmel and Bill Mixon along with Bill's wife Linda and Jim Farr prepared a feast of steak, shrimp, chicken and all the trimmings.  Many thanks to the cooking crew for the time, equipment and effort they volunteer for many of the Con Trios Yacht Club events.
Past Commodores were presented with Con Trios Yacht Club shirts with the year they were Commodore.  Those present were:
1985 - Fred Cross
1986 - Wayne Obst
1988 - Derrill Machens
1989 - Rich Shamel
1991 - Sonny Robbins
1992 - Kenny Whitney
1995 - Web Morrow
1996 - Bill Mixon
1999 - Mike Tremmel
2000 - Mike Ramirez
2004 - John Bicknese
2005 - Carl Tiemann
2006- Jim Svoboda
2007 - Tim Tighe
2008 - Gary Meinershagen
Besides the great food we had beverages served by Sonny and Kenny, music on the deck provided by Aeries Winery, Scott and Lisa selling Properties, Raffles, a Pinata to bust, an interesting shuttle service consisting of a tractor, hay wagon and 4 wheeler, but most of all a great time with great friends.  Thanks to the Past Commodores for keeping this fun club going for 42 years!  Also a big "Thank You" to everyone that helped in any way.  The one thing that makes a club great is the way all members pitch in to make things happen!  Thanks to Grafton Harbor from those of us that came by boat, as always their staff was more than helpful, even giving us rides to the Winery before the shuttles began operating.  Thanks again Joe and Jan!
Click here to go to the galleries page to see more pictures.

Holiday Party 2007 pictures are up, go to the "Photo Galleries" page.

Added a photo of Spirit of LaSalle passing the Grafton Lighthouse taken by Eric Ridenhour to the "Photo Galleries" page.

Fall Color Cruise 2007 aboard the "Spirit of La Salle" pictures are up.  Click on the "Photo Galleries" link.  Thanks to Fleet Captain Gary and his wife Judy for all their hard work putting this together.  Rich Luttrell and his staff at Yacht Club of St. Louis did an outstanding job of setting up a temporary dock in front of the club so we could board, preparing the appetizers onboard and had the Sharks Band playing that evening after we returned from our "3 hour cruise".  Over 130 guests enjoyed the beautiful weather and a leisurely cruise down the Mississippi.  If you have any pictures you would like to contribute email the webmaster@contriosyachtclub.org

The Moonlight Cruise 2007 aboard the Grafton Ferry on Saturday, August 25th was another fantastic party thanks to Fleet Captain Gary, his wife Judy, The Rail Band, food catered by Sharky's Landing, a full moon, perfect weather and 130 people having a great time dancing the night away on the water.  Click on the picture above to see more pics.

Parrot Head Party 2007 photos are up.  Thanks to Fleet Captain Gary and his lovely bride Judy for putting together a great party and coordinating it with the Blessing of the Fleet!  Go to the "Photo Galleries" page to see all of the pictures.  Also check the Blessing of the Fleet website www.blessingofthefleetstl.com for winners and pictures of this year's event. Congratulations to Alan Deutschmann on winning the Con Trios Yacht Club award at the Blessing of the Fleet.