SCUTTLEBUTT

September - October, 2012

PO Box 71 Gabriola BC V0R 1X0

http://powersquadron.gabriola.org/

Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons

Gabriola Island Squadron

SQUADRON EVENT CALENDARGabriola Events Schedule - see website for updates ”Gabriola Power Squadron”Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup,. Sept 15 at 1400. Details inside - check websiteFall Social with guest speakers, authors of Dreamspeakers cruising books of the local waters. Contact Walter Berry 250 247- or Ian Waymark if you are attending.Boating Basics begins September 5 and Boating Essentials October 3, at the Parks and Rec wing at Gabriola Elementary School. (These two elements of the Boating Course have been separated out to allow for PCOC qualification only, or for holders of PCOC to take the “essentials” part of Boating. See the website and Ralph Hagen’s report in Training in the edition for details of all the course dates - plenty of activity!

“Gabriola Power Squadron”

“VIND”A Squadron in Vancouver Island North District

Fall Social...Our guest speakers for our fall members night will be Anne & Laurence Yeadon-Jones, authors of the Dreamspeakers series of books that have guided many of us into safe harbors. Anne and Laurence have introduced update versions of their books this year and will be introducing their new book at their talk on Oct. 13. For those of you who are not familiar with the Dreamspeakers books please go to < http://www.dreamspeaker.ca> to see their website. Anne and Laurence will have their latest books with them and they would be pleased to autograph any books you presently have or any books you purchase from Page’s Marina, prior to Oct. 13. On Oct. 13 they will be introducing Dreamspeaker’s Broughtons Adventure. SBYC members are also invited.

Anne and Laurence were our guest about 5 years ago and they received a great reception. At present, the venue for the meeting is the Ha-ven and there is no charge to attend. The Haven may be too small. At this time I need to know how many of you plan to attend this event. There will be a 50-50 draw and there will be some door prizes to entice you to take part. Please ad-vise me by return e-mail if you plan to attend. If the numbers are large enough, we will move the meeting to the Silva Bay Pub and see if Tanya can plan a special dinner for us.

Cdr Ian and P/D/C Don (that’s me) will be attending the National CPS Conference & AGM in Edmonton in October

D i s t r i c t R e n d e z v o u s

Hello Ian,

This Thank You email to you (and Don) is a month overdue -

Firstly, thanks to Don for the taking such wonderful photos - and thank you Ian for including the smugmug link in your email.

Thank you and your Gabriola Squadron Members for hosting such an entertaining Rendezvous.

You ask what can you do next year to make the Rendezvous better - I hope that means that you are willing to host the Rendezvous again with Gabriola Squadron!! It is a most suitable/idyllic location. Then next year, we will make the greatest effort to come by boat and stay for the full weekend.

It does involve a lot of people to organise events. We rushed to attend by 10am latest on Saturday, so that Peter could help the Cape Lazo team with the Mystery Cruise - in the event, he was the only competitor representing Cape Lazo. I did not compete as I was getting my bearings and walking the dog, looking for CL Members - but did recognise that members from Gabriola Sqn were in attendance early to hand out cruise details and also provide chart plotters etc to those who had forgotten to bring them.

I did find it helpful that this year there were more Bocce teams, so everyone had a chance to play. This was the first year that I partook in Bocce as there were more teams, playing fewer games. The award ceremony was entertaining as there were plenty of trophies to be presented.

The food was very good. Nick, Isabelle and Kevin were wonderful chefs, and it was great to be musi-cally entertained by Barry and Kevin. All Members made the effort to ‘mingle’ so everyone was made to feel welcome.

It was a long day for us - leaving home at 7am and arriving back at 11pm - (must have been a long, tiring weekend for you and your team!) - but we enjoyed the day and arrived home feeling really proud of Gabriola Squadron and a job well done!

Trust you had a restful August - enjoying the water.

Best Wishes,Diane

Diane Bolton is Commander of Cape Lazo Squadron and Secretary of the District Bridge, published with permission.

Feedback on the Rendezvous...

Jul 27-29 at Page’s Resort & Marina - hosted by Gabriola with lots of innovations, hearty BBQ food and trophies, with a sailpast saluting D/C Clifford Miller on Sunday. Cdr Ian did a great job of coordinating and will help from Squadron and District members, pulled it off. Oh, and one more thing - Gabriola won the tug-o-war with an androgenic heave.

Knotty People

.Fireworks Cruise

A tip from Commander Ian...

If you operate a DSC radio you may be interested in the following information:

In perusing the instruction manual of my Uniden Solara DSC Radio I came across the topic, “Dis-tress” on page 16. Please open the following site: <www.uniden.com/content/ebiz/uniden/resourc-es/ownersmanuals/SOLARA%20DSC-BKom.pdf> and scroll down to page 16.On page 16, under Distress, you are instructed to send a distress signal by pressing the red dis-tress button for 5 seconds, when DSC appear on the screen, you then press the “select” button to send your distress signal. It is a two step procedure. Harbour Chandler was not aware of this procedure. I phoned Uniden, their technical support person had to set up a radio to confirm it was a two step procedure. May I suggest you check your respective radio manuals and read the proce-dure for your radio. Until I read my manual, I was confident, in an emergency, I simply held the red distress button for 5 seconds and help would be on the way. I now know that procedure would not have worked.

Sometimes it pays to read the instructions!

Safe boating, Ian

Something new for the Squadron - Don Hutton shared his expertise with splicing and whipping. Every tried splicing double strand rope? Come to the next one and find out how, easier than you think!

Eight boats sailed to Vancouver to watch Brazil’s awesome fireworks display. See the rest of the pictures at dbutt.smugmug.com and scroll to Fireworks 2012

From the WheelhouseIan Waymark, P - Commander

From TrainingRalph Hagen, AP - Training Officer

We are about to embark this fall upon a vigorous program.New this year is what was the BOATING course divided into two courses, BOAT- I N G BASICS which is the Transport Canada approved course for the PCOC encom-passing the legal and safety issues, and BOATING ESSENTIALS which is the navigation and boat handling issues. BASICS is scheduled to commence this week on September 5 running four Wednesday evenings with the exam on September 29. ESSENTIALS commences immediately following on October 3 running nine Wednesday evenings with the exam on December 5.

The MARITIME RADIO course is scheduled for Thursday evenings October 4 and 11 with the exam on October 18. Additionally we have contracted to provide the RADIO course to a Nanaimo emergency rescue group. This presentation will be on two evenings October 9 and 16 with the exam on October 23.

SEAMANSHIP, at one time called Piloting, will be offered this fall commencing Thursday, No-vember 1. This course, which is the next step up from BOATING ESSENTIALS, will run on Thursday evenings for twelve weeks with a Christmas break and ending early March. This course is mainly navigation matters.

We have discerned a level of interest in a WEATHER course and Bert Terhart will present a four week course which should prove to be interesting for boaters in understanding what they see every day on the water. This course is Bert’s creation but, coupled with the CPS hand-book on Fundementals of Weather, will enable those who wish to challenge the CPS exam. This course will run on Tuesday evenings commencing October 2.Responding to the requests we are presenting a series of one session workshops on matters of interest and concern to boaters. These are intended to come on once each month. This fall we have planned:

12 VOLT SYSTEM Monday evening October 1PRACTICAL RADIO – a review Monday evening October 29MEDICAL EMERGENCIES Monday evening November 26All of our courses and workshops will be held commencing at 1900 hours (7:00 PM for the uninitiated) at the Gabriola Recreation room at the school. The fees are: BASICS - $80.00, ESSENTIALS - $200.00, SEAMANSHIP - $145.00, RADIO - $80.00, workshops - $10.00.

I am pleased to announce that, at my request, Commander Ian has appointed Don Hutton as Assistant Training Officer who brings a wealth of experience from many years of CPS training and boating in the Yukon.

Ralph Hagen, STO

August started, for a few of us, tied to the dock at False Creek Marina as the Squadron’s Celebra-tion of Light Cruise drew to a close. We enjoyed kind winds, fair seas, great company and a terrific fireworks show.

The first August weekend saw Li’l Gabe in her usual spot at the Village as we started the promotion of our fall classes and one day workshops. We had good interest shown for our courses and at this time it looks like we are in good shape to offer Boating Basics, Boating Essentials, Marine Radio, Seamanship, Weather and a number of workshops such as Knot Tying and Splicing.

It is always tricky to try to mention the names of all the Squadron members who helped out with Li’l Gabe as there is a chance I might forget somebody. However, I will do my best to include everyone. Thank you to David Andrews who stores Li’l Gabe for us, most often has her ready to go and usually comes down to the village to be on site. Thank you to Cec Ashley, Dawn Reeves, Douglass Legg, Ralph Hagen, Don Hutton, Madeleine Ani & Bob Wood. On one morning we could almost hold a Bridge meeting. Thank you also to Don Butt who kept us supplied with brochures. If I have missed anyone, please let me know.

We continued with our Courtesy Boat Checks and I believe we finished up with 31 or 32 completed checks. I know each of us who took part in the boat checks will have a story or two to tell. I will tell only one story, with no names. In checking two PFD’s I noted they had received a lot of use and were there-fore worn a lot when the boat was underway. In opening the PFD cartridge compartment I noticed the Co2 cartridge was lying loose in its pocket. I showed it to the owner who could only wonder how long he had worn that PFD thinking it would keep him afloat if he fell overboard. He now knew the PFD was only a dead weight around his neck. The cartridge was refitted, and the owner stated he was off to Harbour Chandler’s for replacement kits for both PFD’s. His boat did pass and did receive a sticker. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to go down to the docks and check boats. A special thank you to Safety Officer Bob Wood who got us all motivated.

I also sent written thank you letters to our sponsors who were so supportive during the Rendezvous. Thanks went to Harbour Chandler, Coast Realty, The Village Market, Page’s Marina and also to the Lions for the use of their grill.

August saw three of our members with some health difficulties and Get Well cards were sent to Rose & Digby Jones, Carol & Fred Withey and Oliver Woolcock & Lynn Coleman.

Last week I registered to attend the National CPS AGM in Edmonton on Oct. 18-20. I hope to have a full report for you in my October Commander’s report.

A final thank you must go to our Web Master, Bob Derksen , who has kept the Squadron web site up to date. If you have not been to our web site for a couple of weeks, I invite you to peruse it.

Ian Waymark, Cdr

Your Squadron Bridge 2012 - 2013

POSITION NAME PHONEPast Commander Cecil Ashley 247-9653Commander Ian Waymark 247-7883Executive Officer Dawn Reeves 247-7132Admin. Officer Douglass Legg 325-7877Training Officer Ralph Hagen 247-8491Secretary Wendy Geddes 247-7918Treasurer Siggi Andrun 247-9794Membership Officer Elaine Pearce 247-7538Public Relations Officer Rufus Churcher 247-8779MAREP/Weather Bill Kalbfleisch 247-8027Assistant Training Officer Digby Jones 247-9150Assistant Training Officer Robert Weenk 247-0267Environment Officer Madeleine Ani 667-7891Cruisemaster Douglas Cunnian 247-7669Supply Officer Douglass Legg 325-7877Webmaster Robert Derksen 247-9792Social Officer Walter Berry 247-8651Safety Officer Robert Wood 247-7339Port Captain Dawn Reeves 247-7132Communications Officer Don Butt 247-7804Scuttlebutt Editor Don Butt 247-7804Privacy Officer Don Butt 247-7804

Member at Large Hans Andrun 247-9794

Member at Large Don Hutton 247-0019

Member at Large Bert Terhart 247-9301

B o at Gr e en

Here is a useful booklet for some great ideas for better green boating, but will also lower that fuel bill. That is a big plus. It applies more to displacement hull craft.

Funding for printing this guide was provided by the Government of Canada and the T.Buck Suzuki Foundation. Much of the material in this booklet is taken with permission from the Canadian Center for Fisheries Innovation’s Fishing Vessel Energy Efficiency Workshop Report, and from the F.A.O. Fisheries and Aquaculture Department’s Fuel and Financial Savings for Operators of Small Fishing Vessels.

It can be downloaded at...http://www.bucksuzuki.org/current-projects/green-boating/green-boating-guide/

Congratulations to Safety Officer Bob Wood and the Courtesy Boat Inspection Team, for over 30 inspections this summer - well done team!

Hey, did you read about all the workshops in STO Ralph Hagen’s re-port? How about considering one or more - call Ralph or Ian.