That’s West Seattle Yacht Club commodore Jim Hanson, showing us the club’s official flag on the bow of his boat “At Ease,” moored at Des Moines Marina, where we talked with him about the club’s open invitation to you to join them for an open house tomorrow night, whether you have a boat or not, and about WSYC activities including their plan to sail in the upcoming Opening Day parade:

Hanson is in his first year of retirement (from ServiceMaster, 20 years after retiring from the Air Force) and his second tour as commodore of the West Seattle Yacht Club, which just celebrated its 45th anniversary. He’s got big plans this time around, including the club’s participation in the Opening Day parade May 3.

“We’ve just never taken the opportunity before,” he explains. But this year, WSYC officers and spouses will be on board rear commodore Jim Letson‘s 45-foot Bayliner, “Best Friends,” in formal blue blazers (see officers’ photos here) and white caps, while a club member waits on the log boom to take photos.

It may sound very fancy, but Hanson insists it’s a club about boats and socializing, not really about yachts. “We’re just getting the word out, we have more boats than yachts, and not even just big boats. We want to see the club grow. It’s a great family club, and a great cruising club. Boating is a lot of fun.” That much is clear in Hanson’s voice and his smile, as we talked on board “At Ease”:

The club has cruises coming up all summer and even into the fall (Hanson says the Halloween cruise is the most fun one of the year). For members who are retired or otherwise can devote the time, the cruises can become all-weekend events — the next one is April 25, as club members head south to Tacoma and put in at Dock Street. Last weekend, club members split by gender, with women heading north to Victoria on the “Doe Run” aboard the Victoria Clipper, and the men sailing to Port Orchard on the “Stag Run,” a shakedown cruise of sorts for them to check out the boats and make sure everything is in ship-shape for the coming season.

In all, the annual West Seattle Yacht Club schedule has 10 cruises (listed online here), though Hanson mentions some informal meetups in the San Juan Islands during the summer, too.

But before all that boating begins — there’s the big open house on land, 7 pm tomorrow (Friday 4/11) at the Alki Masonic Hall in The Junction. Besides socializing, there will be a presentation on boating safety. As club member Lorrie Walker explained it in the first note we got about this event, “We’re a small family-oriented yacht club that welcomes anyone with an interest in boating.” And not only do you not have to own a boat — “we have ‘social’ members who don’t have boats,” Hanson says — you don’t even have to be a West Seattle resident (Hanson and his wife Peg live in Renton; he says they got involved with the WS club through friends).

Besides heading out to sea and general revelry, the West Seattle Yacht Club also pitches in for charity, particularly with the WestSide Baby diaper drive and West Seattle Food Bank food drive. And you’ll see them in the American Legion Grand Parade during the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival this July, too.

Membership information (and benefits) can be found on this page at the WSYC website. And you can find out more at the Friday night open house, too (7 pm, Masonic Hall, 4736 40th; map).