LETTERS The EBRPD Board considered four candidates for appointment to his remaining term and chose Elizabeth Echols. Notably, that was the second time her main opponent in the upcoming election, Norman La Force, was passed over in seeking a director seat on that board. I won't reiterate all the concerns being raised in the parkuser community around this election, but instead will emphasize how Elizabeth Echols has successfully stepped into her role as Ward #1 director. Specifically, she was a champion for reopening parks for people seeking some relief from the shelter-in-place restrictions of the local health authorities, while ensuring appropriate mask wearing and social distancing. I'm encouraging everyone who cares about recreational use of S.F. Bay Area urban parks to get involved in this election. Even if you aren't in Elizabeth Echols' ward, you can still express support through Facebook 'likes', donations, endorsements or other opportunities for involvement with her campaign. Her campaign website is: www.Elizabeth4Parks.org. It's clear to me that we already have a strong and effective advocate on the board for public access to and recreational use of our important urban parks. My sense of Elizabeth's ability to get things done is buttressed by the unanimous endorsement of her current co-directors on that board. Notably, she is also endorsed by the Park District employees' union. She is clearly a consensus builder. Let's ensure Elizabeth Echols keeps working with and for us all. She's demonstrated her intention and ability to do so. David Fielder Windsurfer Berkeley ⇑⇓ DENHAM NEEDS TO KISS FATE ON THE LIPS Latitude's advice — take an experienced crew or truck the boat — to novice ocean sailor Mike Denham on how he and his lady should get their boat south, would bring shame to him forever. So would having him work up to the passage by making short jaunts along the coast of Washington and Vancouver Island 'bunny slopes'. In 1947, 14 miles from Cape Flattery, 10 of us aboard the lightship Swiftsure watched the waves — after the wind had died — take out the Neah Bay breakwater. Come that windless midnight, a wave rolled over the lightship — which had maybe 20 feet of freeboard. I was on watch. Denham should make the emotional passage without his lover/wife as the boat and sailing are his choices not hers. His lover/wife should await him in the Bay Area. If Denham has to endure terror on the passage, his lady will never know, and that's how it should be. If Denham were going to take his boat the other way — north from San Francisco to Seattle, against the wind and current — I would agree with Latitude that he should take experienced crew or have the boat trucked. As I'm a Seattle boy, I've sailed south five times. In '54, it was aboard Wanderer II, an engineless gaff topsail cutter, with skipper Bob Jones. I was an apprentice sailmaker. The Coast Guard guys shook their heads as they towed us out of Neah Bay. Eventually, they cast us off near Tatoosh Island. Prior to leaving, Jones and I talked to a fireman and a postman who had previously sailed south with a 30-ft Block Island gaff schooner on what was to be the start of a circumnavigation. It was blowing 40 knots when they got off the Columbia River, so they decided to seek shelter at Astoria. The Coast Guard lookout at Cape Disappointment not only saw
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