Do April showers bring May crab? Showers or not, Redwood Region will host the first Crab Feed since I have been a member, next month on the 10th. Recent member (last year) Sharon Castle has done lots of leg work getting a venue to host May's "Run for the Crab" event. Sharon attended the annual calendar party back in November last year with a proposal to have such an event, and her energy around making it a reality has been boundless. We have booked the Oakmont Golf Club for the meal, which will also provide steak for the non-crab-eaters. Don Magdanz will be putting together a spectacular drive to get us to the event. Big thanks to both Sharon and Don.

Last month we had our annual Whale to Whale Tail Rally to the Pt. Arena Lighthouse. If you missed it, you missed IT. Those of us who attended were treated to another wonderful drive and gimmick rallye put together by Bob Schoenherr and Anita Benzing. The weather really cooperated this time with an almost wind-free and sunny day at the lighthouse. Whales were definitely spotted and picnics were had. Thank you Bob and Anita.

March also brought our first Autocross of the year, and just last weekend Redwood hosted the first Zone 7 AX of 2014. I was able to attend on Saturday, but had to miss Sunday due to prior commitments. My '83 SC (Bruno) had just received newly rebuilt and covered sport seats the day before. What a change! Those of you who have followed my progression of seating options know that this is the fourth iteration and I believe it will be the last. The Sparco's were too hard and restrictive, the Recaro's were beautiful and of the correct vintage, but were too low and just never felt right. The standard Porsche seats were amazingly comfortable, but had minimal bolsters and were way too tall to allow me to wear a helmet. The new sport seats are from the early '80s and were an original equipment option for my car. After rebuilding and recovering in two tone leather (burgundy inserts w/black bolsters), they are just low enough to allow me to wear a helmet. They are even more comfortable than the standard seats. I think I am finally done.  It has been quite a journey.

You are probably wanting to hear about my Thunderhill DE experience -- well, that story is yet to be told. Due to the rain and a recent death in the family, I did not attend the DE. I will be rescheduling for July. The good news is that now I have my sport seats, and will soon have more safety equipment to hold me securely into them.

Still to happen in April (4/19) is the Brunch run to the Point Reyes Station House Café. This has become an annual event and it always provides a great combination of West Marin hills and Coastline. Good food, great people, and a fabulous drive; what more could we want?

I'd like to finish by noting that registration opened April 1st for Porsche Parade 2014. The registration process was straightforward, if a bid lengthy. This is the first time that Susan and I will attend Parade, and as suggested, we have signed on as volunteers. Volunteering at Parade is one of the best ways to get to meet and interact with members from other regions across the country. Redwood is still asking members to send in stories about their Parade experiences for this newsletter. Please share the fun and the excitement you have had when attending this amazing National event. This year it is so close to our Region, I hope to see many, many of you there.

That's all for now. Down the road,

                            Membership Report for March 2014

Robert and Phyllis Sachs ('68 911) have 50+ years with PCA. WOW, congratulations you two! Also congratulations to James Brown ('58 356) with 45 years of membership. Membership continues to be very strong with our roster at over 900. This growth is due to everyone's hard work by the present and past board members. Let's keep it going.

By now you may have tried to register for Parade in Monterey. A mad rush always occurs on the first days of registration. Hope those of you who put up with the web traffic got in. But for those of you who didn't, we have our own "Parade" all year long in Zone 7. Try some of the events in other Regions and get the same flavor of great people and Porsches you would get in Monterey this year.

Anita and I can't make Parade this year because of my work schedule, but we sure are going to take advantage of many Redwood and Zone 7 events. We have a Redwood Zone 7 AX the first weekend of April; we both can't wait to see if our cv-joints hold together for those two days. Yes, I sheared one at the last AX, probably because it was a 40 year old part and our wheel combo worked real well. Was a great day; fun to watch an F150 tear it up and Anita in a very nice Cayman. Thanks Tom Markovich for insisting on Anita driving your car. Thank you to everyone that offered help when we broke -- best part about our club are our members.  See yah at the next AX, tour, or concours.

Bob