By Commander Bill Van Alstine, June 6, 2024
Wind was blowing at 3 knots, from south/southwest. The sky was dark – at 7:30pm: a fan blowing on the back of my neck.
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But by 7:30pm we were almost 20 strong, with a couple of beers in us and pizza on the table at Pizzakaya in Roppongi.
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23 people showed-up, including Eugene Mall, our very popular past commander from the early noughts.
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Eugene is famous for a beach BBQ he would host back then. He was also a member of the Foreign Correspondents Club and the club was able to hold our Change of Watch and other important events there.
There were several new faces at the Keelhaul, Cathy, Toshi, Jochen and Yuta.
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Toshi described the sailboat he had just purchased (at a pretty reasonable price).
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The crowd was getting raucous with several conversations going at the same time. For instance, the chance of being arrested for taking a kayak up the Shibuya river and climbing out at Shibuya Station.
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But just as the group was reaching peak enjoyment, Tim Langley interrupted the whole thing and made sure that everyone in the restaurant knew that
1. He owns a Rolls Royce (no, he didn’t say that)
2. They have to pay for their own beer, except for Chris who had two great posts on Skuttlebutt.—that page on the website, see here
3. That the Commander would make a brief statement, emphasizing it be “brief”. And it was.
We had almost the entire Bridge at the Keelhaul and we were able to speak at length about some important stuff, like how to get Members on the water more often.
How successful was the Keelhaul? We finished close to 10:30pm, well beyond the call for last order.
For those of you that could not make it, don’t worry: we will be there again July 3, same place, same channel.
That was fun!!
(how many comments must I post in order to get a free beer? lol)
If you comment to a Post, you receive a rousing “attaboy!” and a slap on the back at the next Keelhaul. No, you cannot request the slap be redirected to another nor to someplace else on your body.
Free beers, on the other hand, go to those who provide a relevant and uplifting (about sailing or about TSPS… for example, exploring Shibuya River (Brennan), or Meeting Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandson on a Tall Ship (Claude), or Purchasing a yacht in Japan (Toshi)… the field is wide open. The point is enriching the webpage with constantly fresh and inspiring content.
I attended the June Keelhaul and endured Tim’s comments and speeches (and presence) yet I have been cropped and deleted from all the photos…please include full-size photos of me enjoying my free beer in the July Scuttlebutt. I thank you.
Thank you for posting a Comment, Brennan. Attaboy! If you truly want to drink on my dime, however, you have to write a compelling Post, nice and fluffy with photos and endearing comments about sailing or how great it is to belong to TSPS… then, maybe. But all the Tabasco you can handle… of course.