The 2012 ( AND 50TH) Green River Friendship Cruise is going happen. Mark your calendars for 25-28 May (Memorial Day weekend.

Sorry it has taken this long to get to you with this year’s Cruise announcement but we just made the decision to go ahead with the planning. Our concern has been, as you can imagine, that the snowpack is significantly less than what we had last year. As of our last check it is about 88% of normal. Last year at this time we were at 128% of normal. 88 % is plenty of water to make the cruise. The issue will be how fast or early the water comes down the rivers. If the weather stays close to normal, we will be in great shape. If it gets to warm to soon, the river levels may drop to rapidly for some of the lower draft boats. We’ll just have to see what mother nature does to us. That means that the cruise could get cancelled. Just keep checking back to the website and I will also let those on this e-mail list know. In the mean time, AWAY WE GO !!! THE CRUISE IS ON!!!

The website will be updated soon but even though it still has last year’s dates on it for now, all the basic information is still the same. Go to www.friendshipcruise.com for more information. We thought it more important to let you loyal and dedicated folks know it’s on as soon as possible, and even before we updated the website, so you can make plans.

We need help from all you cruisers to get the word out to all your boating friends to come and join us. As we said last year, the numbers are dwindling and if we don’t get enough boats to break even on costs, we will lose one of the greatest motorboat river trips in this country. Last year, we did a bit better than the year before , but still not enough to make it worth all the planning, insurance, rescue craft and other expenses that go with sponsoring and event like this. The cruise is non-profit so no one is makes anything on the cruise. It is put on by some dedicated people that just want to keep a tradition that first started in 1957 going. Just for fun and to show you how things have changed on the number of boats , here is a quote from the 1966 Friendship Cruise announcement talking about the 1965 Cruise: “11 States were represented in over 600 boats. 302 boats were “First Timers”. We find more and more boats are spending two nights on the river. 60 percent of the boats were registered by midnight Friday in 1965. —-There were 131 people from Green River and Moab who spent some time and effort in 1965 on a volunteer basis to make the cruise pleasant for all. The Directors of this non-profit organization also serve without pay.” Kinda fun to see what used to happen. Bottom line- We are not sure if we want 600 boats but a couple of hundred would be fantastic. You have four assignments in keeping the tradition alive. Assignment 1 – Make sure you schedule yourself to come on the cruise. Assignment 2 – Round up all your boating friends to go come also. It makes it really neat to share the scenery and outdoors with friends. And drifting all lashed up is a blast. One year, I counted 6 Boats all lashed and they were having a really great time. Assignment 3 — Print our Cruise Announcement page (when it gets updated) , take it your local boating store and ask if they will post it on their window or bulletin board. Assignment 4 – Send me the name, address and phone number of the boating store/s in your area so we can send them flyers and brochures in the future. That should be easy enough.

We are working on some other pretty exciting things that will bring some vitality to the Cruise and bring it more into today’s high tech information world. We have developed the new website that we put up right before the cruise last year and will be updating soon. Linked to that we will be setting up Facebook where you will be able to upload your picture and share some of you experiences, highlights, points of interest and ideas. We will also link to other sites that may of interest and has a direct relation to the cruise such as the Canyon Lands, John Wesley Powell Museum, Ham Operators that support us etc, etc. Pre registration is also right around the corner and may be up in the really near future. Those are just a few things coming down the pike and as always, your ideas are welcome.

Well, that’s about it for this first communication. Remember, if you wish not to receive these e-mails, just reply and let me know, I’ll take you off the list.

Thanks for your support and it’s always fun to hear from you.

Bruce

P.S. So we can get idea of how many of you are planning on coming, how about a reply to this email if you are coming and let us know with number of boats in your party ? That does not lock you in but helps us with a general idea as we develop the support required. Thanks.

IT’S HERE! Hope you used this weekend to do your final preparations for the Cruise. This is really going to be a good one. I just checked the river flows. The Green is running at 28,000 cfs, about 2 ½ times above what  we consider needed to be  a “good” water level.  That means “No Worries”.  The  Colorado is running at about 100%  of Normal and  expected to go up shortly,  or again “No Worries”.  The weather is expected to break and it looks like it may even get “hot”, especially for us that have rarely seen the sun in the last few weeks.  And finally, our Commodore, Kathy Ryan tells me all the preparations are complete on the cruise organizers side with the exception of our great volunteers who need to set up the Fire Station for the registration.   Now all we need is you and your friends.   Avoid the overcrowded mess the holiday weekend brings to the local lakes and come on the Friendship Cruise.

One last item to double check.  Remember in the last e-mail  I alerted you to the Fire Pan requirement. Well,  here is another that one of our long time cruisers and great supporters let us know about. Bart Bartholoma and his wife LaRae go beyond the call to make sure the Cruise continues.  Apparently last year they had a little issue with Fire Extinguishers at the safety check.  I have copied his information to us so that you can make sure you are good to go.

Bart writes after he read our alert about the firepans;

“Your firepan heads up was welcome. We already had that one covered.
You should be aware of another which we encountered last year.
When Randy gave us our boat inspection on launch day last year, he told us we would need a new fire extinguisher this year because the date on ours would be over the 5 year limit.
He said it had to be replaced or recertified every 5 years.
We went to buy one this year and those on the store shelf were already
2 years old. So that means we would have to get a new one in 4 years The store clerk thought they were good for 12 years.
I researched the Utah State Boating site and sure enough it says 12 years.
So I called the State Boating and they had the Director call me. I recounted what Randy had told me and what I understood from the regulations.
He agreed that it is 12 years.
The key to the discrepancy is the type of extinguisher.
If it is NON-RECHARAGABLE it has a life of 12 years.
It appears that Randy was unaware of this, so I asked the Director to contact him so we would not be unable to launch because of a fire extinguisher violation.
Below is a copy of the pertinent part of the regulations and the words printed on the fire extinguisher. The caps are mine for emphasis.
You might consider sending one of your great emails out to give boaters a heads up on this one.
Also, please touch base with Randy in case he never got the email from the Director.
Thanks a bunch for all that you and the whole group do to make this a wonderful week end WITH A TWICE IN A LIFETIME WATER LEVEL.
Bart Bartholoma”

Attached we included the technical stuff Bart found out about if you are interested.

Check out the other attachment if you have a minute or two . Mark Peterson and his lovely wife Karen have been on the Cruise about as long and as many times as anyone.  They are great supporters. The Grand Junction, CO paper did an article on them. It’s pretty good.  I included it because it does have some pretty interesting history.

Well that’s about  it .  I can’t think of anything that we haven’t covered over the last few months.  The boat is already to go except for loading. The tow vehicle is serviced and ready.  We are finishing up the menu.  I am excited, ready and look forward to seeing you all.  Please drive safe! We don’t want anything bad happening to you on the way here.

Any Last minute questions, don’t hesitate to ask.  My last ability to answer e-mails will be Tuesday evening.

Bruce

“The Friendship cruise is the confluence of rivers, of land, of day, of night, of sun, of moon, of birds , of beast and especially, the Friends that hold  this experience most Special and Privileged.”

Author: Kathy Jordan

Mark Peterson was only a kid when he went on his first Friendship Cruise with his father, Pete, in 1957. They traveled in a boat built by his grandfather, Arnold Feller, and Mark fell in love with the beauty and history of what was then a 197-mile trip.

Mark said a group of people from Green River and Moab, Utah, who had formed Canyon Country River Marathon Association and a group from Grand Junction who had formed the Colorado River Skippers joined together because they wanted to do boat racing on the river.

The two groups planned the route starting in Green River, going downriver until they reached the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, then turning north and going upstream to Moab.

Some people were apprehensive about joining in the race, being unsure of the course.

To get folks familiar with the course, the Friendship Cruise was started. The leisurely trip over the course was held annually the day before the race.

Mark said that, at first, camping was primitive with no fancy gear. Your bed was a tarp or sleeping bag, and participants cooked over an open fire. In the early days most of the boats were handmade 14-by-16-feet Feller Craft with 40 horsepower motors. These boats were made by Mark’s grandfather, Arnold.

The marathon race quickly became popular as word spread across the country and people came from New York, California and everywhere in between. One year Feller took a Life Magazine photographer to Mineral Bottom so the he could take a picture of the boats taking off. Over 600 boats were on the cruise.

Mark said that in the early days participants went to Green River to sign up for the Friendship Cruise, paid registration fees, and then had pancake breakfasts. After breakfast boats were launched and the cruisers headed downriver.

Large signs were put up as mile markers and for locations, such as pointing out Indian ruins.

One hugely important sign was the one at the confluence of the Green River and Colorado River, informing the boaters to turn to the left or they would end up in Cataract Canyon.

Mark’s grandfather, Arnold, won the first race. Mark’s father, Pete, holds the speed record for the trip, clocked at 2 hours and 46 minutes and set in 1966. Pete’s average speed was 77 mph.

When evening came, most of the boaters settled in for the night at Anderson Bottom, a little more than halfway around the course. There the cruise participants would have what everyone referred to as the “party.” They had a steak fry and, in the early 1960s, live music. Someone had hauled in cement and made a dance floor, which is still there. The kids could run around and play games while the adults talked over the events of the day.

After the Lake Powell, Blue Mes a and Highline lakes were established, river racing dropped off, but the Friendship Cruise remains.

Mark said sometimes he thinks: “Why do I love this so much? The reason is because I can see the same thing every single time. We live in a society where things are constantly changing. This area is part of my childhood that has never changed. I can go through there and see things that I saw when I was 6 years old. And I think, ‘Wow, it is still there? It hasn’t been moved, the color hasn’t changed and my kids get to see it and experience it. No one has put a road on it or paved it or put in a parking lot.’ It is something that is fun to pass on to your kids and see them enjoy it.”

The 49th Annual Friendship Cruise will be over Memorial Day weekend. Registration takes place at the Green River firehouse all day Friday, May 27, and until noon on May 28.

Registration fee is $150. Boats will be launched all day Friday and until noon on Saturday at the Green River State Park. The Friendship Cruise today is only 184 miles. For more information go to friendshipcruise.com. If you have a boat, gather up your friends and family and enjoy this adventure trip into history. Check out several historic sites where Indians, cowboys and rivers explorers have gone before you.

~

Kathy Jordan is retired from The Daily Sentinel. She is involved in many local preservation efforts and is on the board of directors for Colorado Preservation Inc. 



http://www.gjsentinel.com/lifestyle/articles/green_river_friendship_cruise

I AM EXCITED and I hope you are too. Listen, if you think you have decided you don’t want to go on the cruise this year, THINK AGAIN. As many of you know, I have been doing this Friendship Cruise thing since ’68. There was one other year I can think of when the water was this high and that was in ’82 or ’83 (can’t remember the exact year but I sure can remember the water). It was fantastic! In other words, this year’s water is a twice in lifetime event. There is not much to worry about when the water is running over 20,000 cfs on the Green and probably more on the Colorado. What a ride. What happens is you move a bit faster, more coves and outlets are opened (more sites to see closer to the water), it seemed to us that it was easier to get to campsites because you can get off the river easier, and you really don’t have much to worry about, especially dragging bottom. It can get really fun if you have a GPS that shows how fast you are traveling. Then you calculate where you are and how long it will take to get to that camp site, or fuel stop, or point of interest. This much water is really a Hoot. YOU JUST HAVE TO GO ON THIS ONE!

Okay, I’ll settle down. But it’s only a little over two weeks ‘till we are there and I can’t wait! “Take it easy, Bruce”. Now for a little more serious stuff. We understand that at last year’s boat inspection some of you were required to show a “Fire Pan” even if you didn’t plan to use one. We checked and it is a requirement, so don’t get caught off guard without one. Just bring it and avoid the hassle. A garbage can lid works really well unless your garbage can is now plastic. (Go find a metal one). Just check out the requirements on our web page www.friendshipcruise.com and click the link to the National Park Service regulations. Next, don’t be concerned with debris because of high water. There is always debris on the river but even in high water it pretty well stays in what we call the “debris line” which is right along the swiftest part of the river. Certainly there are some “floaties” in the calm stretches but again, normal vigilance when you are up on plane is sufficient. If you are drifting there certainly is no problem as you become a “floatie” too. A couple of you have asked about fuel prices at Mineral Bottom. Plan on paying about the same as you would on the lake or about $1.25 – $1.75 more than in town, which is really reasonable considering what our vendor has to do to get it to Mineral. But remember, it’s not like you do this every day so give yourself that well deserved vacation. Yes you may pay a little more right now to get here and to do the trip but for the trip itself, I’d pay twice the price. If you are really concerned about burning a bunch of fuel, drift a bit more, especially after Mineral Bottom. Also remember that fuel at Mineral Bottom is “CASH ONLY” for obvious reasons (card readers just don’t work well there).

I checked the long range weather forecast and right now, that looks good too — mid 80s during the day and 50s at night. It can’t get any better than that. ( We’ll keep watching as it gets closer). To make your trip more enjoyable, I suggest you get on the river as early as you can so you can take it easy, drift a bunch and do some serious relaxing. On those really lazy afternoons when you might be drifting with a cold drink, a few mellow soft tunes playing, magnificent scenery drifting by and so relaxed you find it hard to move a mussel, think of my river summation, “It’s the only time I can go on a 115 mile trip (that’s going down stream”) through some of the most beautiful country in the world, and not expend one ounce of energy to get there”.

I just want to take a minute and thank so many of you that have made that little bit of extra effort to get your friends coming, making posters for boat and sporting goods stores talking with radio and TV stations. Please keep up the good work! If you know someone at a Radio or TV station, ask if we can do a segment or get a public service pitch. We, from the Cruise Organizers, would be happy to do an interview, answer questions, be a segment on a talk show. Simply, we want to share this magnificent experience with as many people as possible.

Thanks so much for all you have and continue to do.

Bruce

See you on the River!!

LESS THAN 6 WEEKS TO GO !! START YOUR ENGINES!!

Thought I’d drop you a line to let you know everything is moving right along and we are planning on an incredible water year on the Friendship Cruise. All you have to do is watch the news and it should be a pretty good indication of things to come.  On the west side of the Wasatch,  all the water forecasters are saying this year is comparable to the 1983.  The east side of the Wasatch, or the Green River and Colorado, snowpack  is at a great 120 percent of normal.  Depending on the melt, this should be a banner year.  It looks like the best runoff in years!!   There is another website that gives you a bunch of information about the snowpack and water content above Lake Powell. Take a look at www.lakepowell.water-data.com . We will try to get that link added to our webpage. When you get to that website, you can click on all kinds of water and snow data that will be affecting the two rivers we run on. It’s kinda fun.

A couple of items of interest.  The new website I told you about in  my last e-mail is up and running. The Official site of the Friendship Cruise is now  www.Friendshipcruise.com. Check it out and add  it on your “favorites” . We are not completely through with it but it has all the pertinent information and gives a little more information about who and what we are all about.  We are delighted with the feedback we are getting from you cruisers and the same applies to the website. We want your feedback as to what you would like included or what we are not clear about.  Our intent is to add a bunch more pictures and get Facebook up and running with the website so you folks can easily add pictures, videos, comments and stories.  As we talk to many of you, we find there are great  and interesting things that you have done or discovered while on the cruise.  Sharing will just make the cruise that much more enjoyable.  Next on the website- You will find a link called “river regulations.  The National Park Service asked that we include the link so you are completely aware of what is their rules are.  We also have another link to their site under the “environmental” section of the website.  Please click on it for a quick review.  Most of you already know all the information but it is a good refresher.

I suspect there will be at least one more update as the time gets closer.  I hope you are all as excited as I am.  My boat will come out of moth balls in about a week and then I really get excited. Just want to thank those of you who have been talking it up with your friends and those of you that have been making those trips to boat dealers, repair shops, camping stores and sports centers.  We love it. If you have connections with local  radio or TV stations , give me a contact and I’d love to talk to them.
Well that’s it for now. Keep in touch and may you always have “Red Sky at Night”.

Bruce

Sorry it has taken this long  to get to you with this year’s Cruise announcement but we had a major concern that might have caused the cruise to get cancelled. Last fall the road to Mineral got washed out and there was a possibility that it would not get fixed by Memorial day of this year. If that would have happened, we would not have been able to get the fuel truck to Mineral bottom and consequently most boats which are unable to carry enough fuel for the whole trip would not have been able to go.  Another problem the washed out road  would have created is that  Mineral is one of our emergency takeout points. It is too far to tow boats clear around to Moab and not much better to take them all the way back to Green River.  Without Mineral Bottom  we just didn’t think we could pull it off.  Anyway, The road is fixed and THE CRUISE IS ON!

Last I looked,  the snow pack was running at about 120% of normal. That means if the weather stays normal, we will have plenty of water coming down both rivers.  The snow graphs are showing this is about comparable to 2008 which was a super year.  The website will be updated soon but even though it still has last year’s dates on it for now,  all the basic information is still the same.  Go to www.ecso.com/friendship/index.html for the webpage.

We need help from all you cruisers to get the word out to all your boating friends to come and join us.  As we said last year, the numbers are dwindling and if we don’t get enough boats to break even on costs, we will lose one of the greatest motorboat river trips in this country.  Last year, we had too few boats to break even. There were 27 Boats that made the trip in 2010.  The cruise is non-profit  so no one is makes anything on the cruise. It is put on by some dedicated people that just want to keep a tradition that first started in 1957 going.  Just for fun and to show you how things have changed on the number of boats , here is a quote from the 1966 Friendship Cruise announcement talking about the 1965 Cruise:    “11 States were represented in over 600 boats. 302 boats were “First Timers”. We find more and more boats are spending two nights on the river. 60 percent of the boats were registered by midnight Friday in 1965. —-There were 131 people from Green River and Moab who spent some time and effort in 1965 on a volunteer basis to make the cruise pleasant for all. The Directors of this non-profit organization also serve without pay.”  Kinda fun to see what used to happen.  Bottom line- We are not sure if we want 600 boats but a couple of hundred would be fantastic.  You have four assignments in keeping the tradition alive.

• Assignment  1 – Make sure you schedule yourself to come on the cruise. 
• Assignment 2 – Round up all your boating friends to go come also. It makes it really neat to share the scenery and outdoors with friends.  And drifting all lashed up is a blast. One year, I counted 6 Boats all lashed and they were having a really great time.
• Assignment 3 — Print our Cruise Announcement page (when it gets updated) , take it your local boating store and ask if they will post it on their window or bulletin board.
• Assignment 4 – Send  me the name, address and phone number of the boating store/s in your area  so we can send them flyers and brochures in the future.  That should be easy enough.

We are working on some other pretty exciting things that will bring some vitality to the Cruise and bring it more into today’s high tech  information world. We are in the middle of developing a new website  but may not have it up in time for this year.  Linked to that will be Facebook where you will be able to upload your picture and share  some of you experiences, highlights, points of interest and ideas. We will also link to other sites that may of interest and has a direct relation to the cruise such as the Canyon Lands, John Wesley Powell  Museum, Ham Operators that support us etc, etc.   Pre registration is also right around the corner and may be up in the really near future.  Those are just a few things coming down the pike and as always, your ideas are welcome.
Well, that’s about it for this first communication.

Thanks for your support and it’s always fun to hear from you.

Bruce