Hi CYC Cruisers,

Our names are Rossy Gomez and Jeff Pullig, we’re coordinating the Husky Sailgate Cruise to Husky Stadium on September 6, 2014!  If you never been to Husky Stadium its a spectacular venue for college football, with it’s views of the Cascades and Lake Washington it’s spectacular indeed.  Also the stadium underwent a recent renovation in 2012 and opened last year for the Boise State Broncos last year.  It’s roomier and easier to get around, more vendors and not a bad seat in the house.  You can also walk by the west entrance and see the crystal football from the 1992 National Championship!

Speaking of the Broncos, we have their old coach, Chris Peterson, as our new head coach and we’re hoping that the same winning attitude that he fostered at Boise State can transfer to the Huskies, so it should be an exciting season.

“Sailgating” –  as its called here is the same as tailgating is at every other stadium, but on a boat.  Husky Stadium is one of two stadiums that offer this unique tradition – the other is the University of Tennessee, but’s it’s on a river – not a lake so it doesn’t count!

Originally, we were going to coordinate a group start time from Shilshole Marina, but we realized that most of you may not be able to all leave at the same time.  So instead the first CYC Cruiser to arrive, find an open area of water and fly your CYC flag for others to see and join you.  Rossy and I plan on leaving the night before on Friday September 5, 2014 and spend the night, I would suggest that you do the same, because the traffic over Montlake Bridge and University Bridge is pretty heavy before a game and they may not raise it for you until after the traffic has died down – after kickoff (12:00 PM).

Bridges

Speaking of bridges, there are 5 you will have to be aware of if you’re coming from the salt water side of things.  They do not operate M – F from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm for rush hour.  After 11 pm, you need to call ahead and set up a special request to open the bridge.  The bridge heights are from west to east: Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Salmon Bay Bridge (railroad): 43′ – average, depending on the tide it can be higher or lower;  Ballard Bridge: 44′; Fremont Bridge: 30′; University Bridge 42’6″ and Montlake Bridge: 46′.

Most of the time, the bridge operators will see you approaching and eventually raise the bridge for you, but you can also contact them on marine channel 13 and give them a heads up of your approach or you can give them a whistle: one long, one short.

Tickets

You can purchase single game tickets at: gohuskies.com.  From that website they will redirect you to Ticketmaster.com.  Ticket prices range from $35 to $150 depending on were you want to sit.  I wasn’t able to get a group sitting ticket arrangement – sorry.

Shuttle

The UofW offers a shuttle service from your boat to the dock, it’s free on this leg of the trip, but they charge $10 for the return trip from the stadium to your boat.  The docks are typically jammed pack, so dinghies, kayaks or whatever small craft you might think you will utilize to get you from your boat to shore and return to avoid the $10 fee are discouraged.  The $10 goes to support the Crew Team – speaking of which, they won the 2014 National Title  -so the money goes to a worthy cause!  To hail the shuttle just raise your hands, a life vest or your boating flag.

Return

After the game, we plan on sticking around on the boat and bask in the victory!  The Montlake and University bridges will be jammed with traffic for several hours anyways so we probably won’t return until later that evening, or the following day.

Please notify the CYC Cruising Coordinators to let us know you plan on sailgating with us at Husky Stadium on Saturday 09-06-2014.  Kickoff is a t12:00 PM, so try to be there before that.

We look forward to sailgating with our fellow  Corinthian Yacht Club members.  Go Huskies!

Rossy and Jeff