Headlines of the day: Don Kenniston wins the Fabulous Free Friday Faceoff but is not present at the time of drawing so tomorrow night (Friday) between 6 and 6:30 p.m., the drawing will be for $550 in dining room credit. All you have to do is to be present between 1800 and 1830 and have your name drawn from the magic silver bowl by Commodore Neil. You have to be present to win.

Sunday night is the Decommissioning with ceremony at 1700 and closing Buffet Dinner at 1800. Make your reservations now as we expect this to be a sellout.

Even though the dining room will close Sunday night, until workday October 12, there will still be many things happening at the club. Duplicate bridge on Mondays, mahjong and bridge on Tuesdays, post season cocktails on Thursdays and, of course, the docks are still in and these are some of the most beautiful days of the year.

We had a major invasion by the folks from the Queens Harbor Yacht Club in Jacksonville, Fla. 30 or so strong, very friendly folks joined us for George’s roast beef dinner and we spent a lot of the evening looking for their boats and wondering how long it would take them to sail back to Florida. It turns out that they are traveling by bus, staying at Fisherman’s, and visiting the coast of Maine by road not water.

The Finance Committee is hard at work planning the budget for 2014 in preparation for the October 5 Board Meeting. Bob Reiser is moving in to the treasurer’s chair and Jeff Francour to the finance chairman role so new responsibilities for both of them. With the current year winding down the advance information is that we are on solid footing for 2013 and looking forward to a strong 2014.

The ships store has has a great season and although they are officially closed for the season, this reporter would bet that they will be open on selected evenings for folks who want to do some early Christmas shopping.