May 7 through 13 is STAC week, so come out to the club to win silver points.

If you have an idea for our summer member appreciation dinner and game, or want to host a dinner for 150, let me or another board member know, as we’re still considering our options (barbecue, anyone?). Also let us know if you want to run for the board, as it is time to cast your ballot at the Bridge Center during the May elections.

Our spring Santa Clara sectional just concluded. Sectional chair Tania Reyes did her usual special and thorough job of organizing the directors, caddies, volunteers, and snacks. Other board members pitched in with whatever needed to be done, including the setup and partnership desk. Jeff Hack drew high praise for his talk on Namyats. There was some miscommunication with our host about available rooms, which is why some setup took place on Saturday afternoon.

Tania started the tournament right by winning the stratified pairs with Tim White. First in their stratifications and sections were Zag Kadah & Bassam Baroudi, John Prior & Raja Smadi, and Cassandra Leung. In the limited game it was Carole & Bob Woldstad. In the evening Lynn Yokel took first in the AX game, with Kit Humphrey & Henri Farhi first in X. Strat and section tops in the limited games went to Teddi & Derek Fiero, Fung Bao, Raghu & Manju Agarwal, Colette & Art Quaife, and Richard & Patricia Bader.

The next two days it became Will Watson’s tournament. He won the two-session open pairs and his team, including Yul Inn, won the AX Swiss. Along the way, strat and section tops went to Fran Dickman (who placed second overall in the pairs and the Swiss, along with Don Nemiro), Ivy Chueh & Helen Chao, the Fieros, Mike Cailean, Carol & Keith Burnett, Frank Tao, Ted Ujifusa, Mary Harvel & Happy Fordham, Wendy Dewell (first in the two-session limited game), Richard Chueh & Charles Hung, Karen Hopkins, Audrey & David Mitchell, Mike Carney & Michael O’Connor, Ray & Maxine Lubow, the Quaifes, Surendra Mandava & David Sisson, and Mischel & John Postas.

First in their Swiss strats were Joseph Chui, John Prior, Leon Lee & Jerry Lundquist; Alan Malloy, Peggy Sprague, Katarzyna Wesolowska & Joel Koransky; Mary Harvel, Happy Fordham, Thomas & Claire Feury. If your name doesn’t appear on this list, don’t despair. Frank Tao had a section top with Mou Chin Chen, who is reputed to have celebrated over 90 birthdays.

Nonyu Li & Jiang Chen were on the team that prevailed in the GNT Flight B.

Bob & Nancy Ward took first at the Santa Cruz 299er tournament. At the San Mateo sectional, the team including Tania Reyes and Gary Porter won their knockout. Henri Fahri & Bill Langlois won the pairs with a 71.21% game. First in their strats were Michael Fleisher & Mindy Foos (3 times) and Mary Harvel & Randy Rice. The Swiss team including Wendy Fotland and Allan Malloy was first in their strat.

Last month I raised the question how the board scheduled March’s unit game against this sectional. The answer is that our decision was based on rare misinformation from the ACBL about the sectional’s dates.

Congratulations to our new masters: Alice Benyman, Eugene Boyd, Barbara Dahl, Jonathan Fotland, Andree Johnson (Junior); Charles Hung, Karen Paffendorf, Murty Ponnapalli, Mary Simoni, Donald Stone (Club); Ed Chen, Sunny Chiu, Thomas Feury (Sectional); Manju Agarwal, Raghu Agarwal (Regional); Peggy Chen (NABC); Eileen Edwards (Life); Celso Ravelo, Mich Ravera (Bronze); Richard Jacobs, Victor Rivkin (Silver); Diane Shannon (Emerald)

I wish good health to Jim Hayashi, Bill Traver, Derek Fiero, Richard Sarsfield, and other unit members who’ve recently had some tough times. My suggestion box is at (408)379-7717 or rayyuenger@comcast.net.