❒ ‘Opening Day’ includes annual Blessing of Fleet

Coinciding with National Safe Boating Week, the Benicia Yacht Club’s Opening Day on the Strait celebration will take place Saturday with games, crafts and the annual Blessing of the Fleet.

The Yacht Club chose “Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight,” a traditional maritime saying, as its theme to express the joy of boating as well as what nature offers to those who participate in sailing and boating, according to information provided by the club.

The saying comes from longtime observations about weather that date to Biblical times. Variations of the phrase have been found in Italy, France and Scandinavia, as well as in Shakespearean verse.

Those celebrating Opening Day on the Strait can shop at arts and crafts booths and boardwalk-style contests. Plenty of children’s games and crafts will entertain youngsters.

The event includes an opening ceremony, and those attending can learn about the club’s youth sailing and races. U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Vallejo Flotilla 51 will perform safety checks of vessels.

Safety also is the purpose of the North American Safe Boating Campaign, which has launched a “Wear It!” campaign to promote the use of life preservers. Among the recommendations the organization has made this year is to bring attention to the need to wear flotation devices by wearing a life preserver to work Friday and taking a photograph of that or other local efforts to encourage boating safety.

Not only is the campaign trying to get more boaters and sailors to wear flotation devices to work, it also is attempting to set a world record Saturday for the most people wearing a life jacket.

One of the traditional elements of Benicia’s Opening Day on the Strait is the Blessing of the Fleet and boat parade.

That is a custom that has been carried down through the centuries since it began, most likely in Mediterranean fishing communities, particularly those in Greece.

The Blessing has been used in hopes of assuring safe sailing against the dangers of the sea and of the fishermen’s plentiful catches.

Entertainment at the celebration will be provided by two musical groups.

Benicia Yacht Club is open to the public for the celebration. First-year membership specials will be available.

Boat Parade Blessing application forms and Coast Guard vessel safety check information is available on the Yacht Club’s website, http://beniciayachtclub.com.

The Benicia Yacht Club Opening Day on the Strait and Saturday, May 16, 2015, from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. at Benicia Yacht Club, 400 East Second St.

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