LYNN — All hands were on deck at the Lynn Yacht Club Saturday as members performed the yearly duty of removing the floating docks from the water for the winter.
“The key is to go slow and make sure no one gets hurt,” Commodore David McQuarrie, describing the process of removing the 20 floating docks, each weighing about 2 tons according to McQuarrie.
The key to the process is the club’s travel lift, which is used to bring the docks ashore. From there members scrape off the barnacles and seaweed covering the bottoms. The volunteers also put the ocean life, like eels, back into the ocean.
Dr. Edward Tarlov, 79, whom members refer to as the fleet surgeon, couldn’t help because of a broken arm but he was still there keeping a close eye on things and enjoying the club he loves so much.
“It keeps you young and in touch with a lot of people,” said Tarlov, a retired neurosurgeon for Lahey Clinic. “I’ll sail as long as I live.”
“A lot of these guys are second and third generation here. It’s something we all really enjoy,” said Yard Chairman Doug McAuliffe, describing what he calls a working man’s club.
He, along with the other 100-plus members, will have to wait to hit the water to fish and sail until April 1, when the nearly 150-year-old club will begin another season.
