Welcome Mat No Longer out for QCYC at Meydenbauer Bay

Last Friday, "Indulgence" and "Big Brivet" cruised over to Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club. The reciprocal dock was pretty much open. There would have been room for Big Brivet to moor on the dock and "Indulgence" to raft alongside. We did a similar weekend cruise to Bellevue last winter, and had a great time.

When we arrived at Meydenbauer, we were greeted by a member there who was grumpy about Larry landing on the recip dock. He said, "I've got a friend coming in tonight with a 60-footer, and I am trying to reserve this space for him!"

Moments later, the member on the dock returned with his cell phone pressed up to his ear. He told Captain Dubia, "Sorry but you guys have to leave. I've got the dockmaster on the phone, and we no longer offer reciprocal privileges to Queen City or any other club inside the locks. You won't be able to stay here tonight."

Rather than make a stink, and "cast dispersion on the Queen City burgee", we left. Weekend canceled.

Our 2010 annual lists Meydenbauer Bay as a reciprocal club. As of last weekend, Meydenbauer's own web site had a list of reciprocal clubs that included QCYC. When Dorothy Dubia called Medenbauer a few days previously to confirm that there was not going to be a Commodore's ball or other function at the club that would likely fill up the reciprocal dock, the woman on the phone at Meydenbauer said, "No problem, come right on in." Dorothy remembers telling the woman that the two boats were from QCYC.

I checked with Vice Commodore Wilson, who contacted one of the officers at Meydenbauer.

Vice Commodore Wilson confirmed, "Yes, that's right. Apparently last spring Meydenbauer rescinded all reciprocal privileges for any club inside the locks, except for certain dates."

"Certain dates"? Let me make a wild guess- during the first weekend in May reciprocal will be "on" when Meydenbauer members want to tie up in Portage Bay (and few QCYC members would be headed for Bellevue).

Funny; last time I motored across the lake to Meydenbauer Bay I didn't see any floating street signs reading "One Way". Obviously, I missed them.