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| January 2006 |
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Crew Communication - You Don't Have to Yell
The article, "Stop Gawddammit" reminds me of an early sailing experience of mine. I have included it below for your consideration - I first learned to sail when I was in my mid-twenties. I'd been on a friend's eight-foot pram and was hooked immediately. Two weeks later, I went sailing again, this time on my own boat. Pogo was a 12-foot home built sloop I bought from a local businessman. Pogo was under powered and overweight, much as I've gotten to be. This was a good thing as it made her very forgiving of beginner's mistakes. It was a really good thing. It probably saved my sailing life, not to mention my physical one. Not having any sailing instructors in our small Indiana town, I did what I usually do - bought a book. I carefully read all the instructions and memorized all the salty nautical terms of sailing. On about the third sail on Pogo, there was some decent wind. I had my wife holding the jib sheets as I steered and maintained a death grip on the main sheet. Cleat them off? What cleats? "We don' nid no steenkin' cleats!" Eventually, we heeled enough to bring the lake alarmingly close to the gunnels. I knew from my extensive experience (reading the book) that one way to correct this was to spill some air from the sails, so I said, "Let out the starboard jib sheet." My wife casually replied, "What?" "Let out the starboard jib sheet!" I calmly shrieked. "Huh?" Water was slopping onto my foot. "Drop that #@$%&ing rope!!" "Why didn't you say so? You don't have to yell." Thanks, Jim Smith Joćo Pessoa, Brasil Yes, after it becomes second nature, we forget that, at one time, we didn't know all this stuff either. Actually a pretty good teaching point. I've seen a lot of people take out first-timers and the first thing they do is go over every nautical term on the boat; sheets, halyards, downhaul, topping lift, cunningham, clew, luff, etc. If you've never sailed before, that big white piece of cloth flapping in the breeze sure looks like a sheet. Best just to ease into the terms, adding a couple each time out. I remember once I was going to sail the Hat Island race on Lou Townsend's T-bird and was going over the lines before the race. There was one stopper labeled "smart pig". I stared at it a while, scratching my head, until the crew finally let me in on the joke. Can you guess what it was? Hint; it's in the earlier list of terms. 
Spring Swap Meet Date? April 8 Thanks so much for the wonderful magazine. I've been reading it faithfully for many years. I can't find the date for the Boater's Garage sale this spring yet and want to plan around it. Do you have a date yet? Thanks, Mike Dunn We just picked a date! The Boater's Swap Meet, held in the Fisheries Supplies parking lot, will be on Saturday, April 8. For more details see Calendar. Flicka and Friends Moving The Flicka Home Page will be moving to another internet provider and will be listed under a domain name rather than the long web address currently in use. The address is: http://www.flicka20.com If you list the Flicka Home Page on your webpage, please make the change effective January 31, 2006. My plan is to have the entire site (250+ pages) moved during the month of January. Each page will be checked before the transfer and corrections and updates will be applied along the way. Besides the Flicka Home Page, the entire run of Flicka Friends will be placed at the flicka20 site. This gets everything in one place. Obviously, this is a challenge. The "old" Flicka Home Page will remain online until this project has been completed. The old web page will be modified to redirect anyone who didn't get the message to the new site for a few months. Also, once the site has been moved, GOOGLE and other search engines will be sent a message to remove the old site and to "crawl" the new site. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, please let me know. Thanks you for your patience. Tom Davison Flicka Home Page WebCaptain Flicka Friends Editor Thanks Tom. We've modified the address on our website under Sailing Links. We have a lot of sites listed so any readers finding an obsolete or wrong address please let us know. It will be a great help in keeping things updated. 48° Up 
We love your magazine. We live in Central Oregon, so there isn't much of a sailing community here. 48° North helps us "keep in touch", so to speak. We backpacked Yosemite for a week this summer, and then took our 23 Cascade to Lake Tahoe for a week as well. The photo is from the pack trip. On the back side of Vogelsang, south of Tuolomne Meadows, somewhere above 10,000 feet. We pack as light as possible and the only reading material we brought between the two of us was this. Michael Scannell There's something about sailors and mountains. Skiing, hiking, climbing, sailing, are lots of the same people. Just a love of being outside dealing with mother nature I guess. It's always good to carry a 48° North. One of the reasons that we haven't gone to glossy paper is that, shall we say, it makes it more "muti-task" friendly. Fish Farms in Paradise - Attention All Boaters in B.C. and U.S. Re: Fish Farms and the 'Navigable Waters Protection Act' http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/N-22/87530.html This is not a Fish issue. My problem with fish farming is both a Navigation, Safety and Tourism issue. I can't help but wonder why the mariners of our coast and visiting US boaters have not spoken up louder by now about the loss of our historic small vessel anchorages to fish farming operations. Our reputation as one of the finest cruising destinations in the world is in jeopardy. In BC, over 20,000 recreational vessels cross our borders every year to travel in Canadian waters. Each vessel may have 2 to 6 people on board. There is no way of knowing the total number of Canadian small vessels plying our island coastline. The numbers are significant. The 'Navigable Waters Protection Act' specifically protects our Canadian navigable waters from obstructions, debris, environmental poisons and hazards to navigation. The Navigation and Safety issue is the loss of vital public anchorages and small vessel harbours of refuge that make the BC coast unique in all the world. The Tourism issue is the loss of 'boating tourism' jobs in BC. For every job gained in the fish farm industry, two or three have been lost in the sport fishing and recreational boating tourist market. Our paradise of a cruising destination has become less and less of a paradise as there are fewer and fewer destinations. The fish are disappearing and the cruising grounds are shrinking. Visitors and local vessels alike are being squeezed together into more crowded anchorages. The sport fishermen are eating hamburgers, not salmon, and going home.... where they already have no fish. The number of small vessel anchorages historically available to us has been greatly reduced due to the occupation of fish-farm-related gear. Nets, cables, ropes, housing, haphazard buoys, storage sheds and fish excrement pollution infest previously idyllic anchorages. Even failed fish farms remain on marine charts; warning the prudent mariner to still avoid this spot in case of sunken abandoned debris. The heart of the matter is that you cannot understand, unless you are a marine traveler, the importance of a protected anchorage to a vessel and it's crew. As a long time marine traveler, I have come to fully appreciate the value of a safe anchorage. It is, at the very least, a good nights' sleep; and in extreme weather, can mean the difference between safety and survival. Every nook and cranny that appears on the map of the coastline is not an anchorage. A commercial harbour is not an anchorage. Harbours are organized, commercial, and, oddly enough, often don't allow anchoring. Small vessel anchorages, for the most part, have no commercial value; but they are a critical necessity for the safety of travelers on our waters. An anchorage is usable only if it has the unique combination of geographical features which can give a mariner protection from winds, waves and strong tidal flows. Even then, only a precious few have depths that are shallow enough, without sunken rocks, and have the bottom consistency to hold an anchor safely. Needless to say, the locations of almost all of the fish farms are located in the best anchorages - for these very reasons. Hundreds of our natural anchorages have been destroyed and rendered useless to traveling mariners due to the presence of fish farms. Poorly maintained fish farms have had whole sections broken loose in storms and floated off with the tide, endangering all vessels. Obstructions and hazards to navigation by anybody's definition. There are even more applications in process for even more anchorages to be lost to the public use. Our small craft anchorages have been in common marine use for ports of refuge since there have been travelers on this coast. In so many areas now the anchorages contain fish farms and the marine traveler must move on, often at risk in inclement weather, to find an anchorage that is still usable. This is not protecting navigable waters for the Canadian people! I also believe, from an Environmental consideration, that fish farm waste pollutes the seabed floor (no dumping in our harbours!).... and the 'Navigational Waters Protection Act' specifically prohibits this as well. The ocean quality is also a concern of BC marine travelers. It is way past time to re-think the value of fish farming and it's impact upon our waters. The handful of jobs created, and the profits (?) of a few, are destroying (have destroyed?) our precious cruising and fishing grounds which could ultimately provide far more jobs and profits for many more people in the tourist and fishing industry. If there are no anchorages and no fish, we lose a lot more than a few jobs; we lose our heritage. The waterfront land remains mostly inaccessible in the north, and mostly private property in the south. Our "government" docks have been "divested", so marina facilities have decreased on the coast. This all makes our waterways even more critical as a public thoroughfare and small vessel anchorages as ports of refuge. These anchorages are not used by all Canadians every day, but, when needed, they provide safety and protection for all mariners. They are being used by hundreds (thousands?) of local Canadians and also vacationing, traveling boaters. Some anchorages are used daily, others more seasonally. We are traveling in every description of small craft; anonymously; from kayaks and fast runabouts to private yachts, commercial fishermen, sailboats, canoes and sport fishermen. It is a vast highway of water, and the network of islands and passageways extend for the entire length of our coast. It is a natural highway that requires no budget or maintenance, so it's transportation value should be protected. All we need is to be able to exit often to rest and enjoy. What good is a highway if there is no place to stop safely? Marine historical use and the interests of the Canadian public should take precedent over recent private enterprises. While (some) of these obstructions are presently legal, the will of the people can and hopefully, will, change the opinion of the Minister. >From the 'Act'........... "Where work endangers or interferes with navigation (4) Where, in the opinion of the Minister, an existing lawful work has become a danger to or an interference with navigation by reason of the passage of time and changing conditions in navigation of the navigable waters concerned, any rebuilding, repair or alteration of the work shall be treated in the same manner as a new work." The passage of time has eliminated too many of our critical anchorages. They are missed by all who would seek sanctuary within them. They are, in fact, important navigable waters for thousands of mariners. Anchorages should be left clear for transit. Farming licenses can be revoked. Following below are more of the pertinent quotes taken from the 'Navigable Waters Protection Act' which I believe were perhaps not considered fully before the fish farming experiment was approved. My comments on these quotes are in italics. The act in it's entirety can be found at this link. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/N-22/87530.html I am in confusion as to whether the Ministry of Transport or the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans should receive this letter, since my research regarding the administration of the act seems to place it in limbo between these two Ministries, so I will send a copy to each for their response. (The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans also approves fish farm applications. If responsibility for this act is being transferred to this ministry, is this not a conflict of interest between what is a marine transportation concern and a fisheries commercial enterprise?) The Minister of ? has the power to enforce this act and reclaim our small vessel anchorages from private enterprise. Any old port in a storm may be ancient marine law, but that's not much good if there's no room to get in to anchor safely, or you are afraid of what your anchor may snag because a farm had once been stationed there. Who checks to see that all obstructions are gone when a farm fails? If you agree with this letter regarding the invasion of our coastal small vessel anchorages by fish farm operations, please contact your member of parliament where you live, your yacht club, newspaper or ? with your opinions. Now would be a good time. Sincerely, B. Watson Retired Master, Home Trade 350 Ton S/V White Dragon Sidney, BC Help Sail Sandpoint Add More Hobie 16s Sail Sandpoint Sailing Center (SSP), the Seattle-based, non-profit, sailing school dedicated to youth sailing, has agreed to add 5-6 Hobie 16s to their fleet of training boats. The Hobie 16s will be used to train mostly teenage kids the joys and challenges of multihull sailing. It is hoped and expected that a few teams will emerge from the program to compete at the National level. SSP's certified instructors will provide instruction and coaching to the youth/teams. The program is expected to start up this spring. SSP currently has received two donated Hobie 16s, and is looking for 3-4 more. If you know of anyone who has a Hobie 16 they would be willing to donate, please contact Morgan Collins of the Sailing Center at (206) 525-8782 or Peter Nelson of Hobie Fleet 95 at (206) 772-2662. Similarly, if you have or know of a child between the ages of 10 and 19 who would be interested in learning high-performance catamaran sailing, please contact Morgan or Peter at the numbers above. SSP is seeking Hobie 16s in good working order of any age. Pickup is available. Sail Sandpoint is a non-profit, 501-c(3) organization. Donations are eligible as charitable contributions for federal tax deductions. Peter Nelson Seattle, WA That's going to be fun. Sturdy, safe, fast. They're finally doing work on the shoreline down there and we hope to have an update on the progress of the master landscaping down at Sand Point next month. Time to Get Up Speed in Kilometres I wouldn't miss getting a copy of 48° North. 'Tis a great magazine. With reference to Bluebill Verdi's letter about the US and Metric; I checked Google, metric system, and saw that only three countries in the whole world don't use the metric system, Liberia, Burma, (Myanmar) AND THE U.S.A.!!!!! There has been U.S. Metric Association since 1916...time to get up to speed you guys. Ian Foubister 2396 Marvette Place Sidney,B. C. Canada I agree, but it's basically going to take this current young generation to really put it in place, although there isn't much pressure to do it. As long as you can still get a pint it's okay.
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