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| July 2006 |
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Calling Everett Gaff-Riggers
My daughter Crystal and I attended the April 48° North Swap Meet at Fisheries Supply in Seattle. If you haven’t attended one of these biannual yard sales, you’re missing one of the most enjoyable and traditional events in the Northwest. An amazing variety of boating supplies, excellent prices (if you keep your wits about you), and friendly, enthusiastic sailors galore. One important tip though, this event is advertised as starting at 0800 hours, but as we found to our dismay last fall, many people have sold out and driven away by 0400! This time we arrived just after midnight and had made some of our most important purchases by 0100. One more tip is to bring coffee and snacks, as the waterfront can be a chilly and hungry place just before dawn. Speaking of meeting friendly and knowledgeable sailors, Crystal and I bought several items from an Everett couple whom we’d like to see more of. We were so tired by 1000 that we just crawled into our van and headed home to Canada. Only as we drove past Everett did we realize that we had not exchanged addresses or even names with our new friends. He is a Master retired from the cross-Pacific routes, Michelle is a navigator, originally from France. Crystal bought your Freiberger sextant, which you no longer needed after selling your gaff-rigged schooner. If you recognize the description, please contact Dave or Crystal at 604.867.8815 or via email, boff@uniserve.com. We are still in need of equipment and advice. David Baughman Thanks to Clean Sails and Schattauer Sails We want to thank Dick Whitten of Clean Sails and Axel and Frank Schattauer of Schattauer Sails for their generous help with our senior project, restoring an old Hobie 16. It was in pretty bad shape. We cleaned it, flushed the bug colonies out of the hulls and filled in the voids in the hull. Having gotten the boat shipshape it was time to turn our attention to the sails. They were old but not really in bad shape, so when Dick at Clean Sails washed them they looked really good. Then Schattauer Sails did some patches, fixed some batten pockets and supplied new numbers. We got high grades on our project and, what’s even better, we’ve got us a nice Hobie to sail this summer. Thanks again, Dane Logan Erik Hazelton A Note from the Coast Guard About False Distress Calls A false distress call from a woman claiming a friend and members of her family were on a sinking boat on the waters near Astoria, Oregon spurred the Coast Guard to begin search and rescue operations May 25. The woman called Coast Guard Group/Air Station Astoria to request help after a friend contacted her claiming that his boat was sinking with the woman’s daughter, son, and son-in-law aboard. The Coast Guard responded to the call with two helicopters and the Coast Guard Cutter Bluebell. The friend’s call turned out to be a joke, and he could now face fines of up to $10,000 for making a false report. Coast Guard Sector Seattle has received nine uncorrelated distress calls since May 25 and expects to receive many more as the summer boating season picks up. Sector Seattle received as many as 2-3 uncorrelated distress calls a week during the summer of 2005. It can’t be proven that the calls were hoaxes but, when the calls come in, there is no time to question their validity. Every moment spent responding to false reports takes away from time that could be vital in the case of a genuine emergency. The resources including fuel, manpower, and other equipment costs also end up costing taxpayers so hoaxers are often throwing their own money away as well as potentially hurting others. It costs approximately $1,200 per hour to operate a Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat, while a helicopter or larger cutter may cost from $9,000 to $12,000 an hour. The Coast Guard would like to remind individuals that false distress calls place unnecessary risk on would-be rescuers and interfere with legitimate search and rescue cases. Consider the cost before making the call. I’m sure it’s inconceivable to all real boaters that someone would place a false call. It’s just stupid. The CG has to follow up, it could be you or I in danger for real. Then there’s just nuisance calls. It’s not in the above letter but is a pet peve of mine. Example: A guy calls in a MAYDAY because he’s going from Edmonds to Shilshole and thinks he might be running low on gas. Not exactly an emergency situation but he wants to put everybody on alert, choppers in the air, just in case. I asked the CG about this because it is a fineable action, but they said they don’t really persue it because they get so many. I’ve never been a big fan of mandatory boater education, but if it will help cut down on these nonsense calls, then it’s worth it. It will be more than worth it when someone who’s really in distress can get the help they desperately need because the CG isn’t off on some wild goose chase. Lost Friend and Fellow Sailor John Eisele was a friend and fellow sailor for twenty-five years. He passed away last week after a struggle with cancer. Our children grew up together playing on the same teams of soccer and baseball Carpooling was a weekly activity during the sport seasons. My 18’ West Wight Potter; the H.M.S. Pinafore, was moored at Lakewood Moorage in Andrews Bay near Seward Park in Seattle. Our occupations and welcomed responsibilities allowed for little freetime together. We enjoyed two-hour sails on Lake Washington. We often joked about “sailing in the great cirice of calm.” I taught him to sail. I ventured out in the Sound once or twice. He went on to sail with his daughter, Adrienne, to Hawaii and with other friends and children up the Inside Passage to Alaska at least twice. John and his family moved to Califorina about fifteen years ago. He and I gradually lost touch with each other except for a few times when he would come to do business in the Seattle area and once when we sailed his newly acquired thirty-five foot sailboat to Vancouver, B.C. for temporary moorage. His wife, Rosie, called me last week to let me know that he had been taken off life-support systems. When I called the next day to see how he was doing, she told me that he had passed away during the night. I wrote the following poem for him. Paul Meier John, John, Sailorman John, John, Sailorman. Sundays we sailed Lake Washington. We rode the waves. We watched the skies. Sometimes the sun was in our eyes. We spoke of families. We spoke of friends. We thought these days would never end. But, as always, days came and went. Then only Christmas cards were sent. Today I heard the news. You’ve probably sailed your last. John, I will always remember you. Here comes the wind. Avast! Important Message for PHRF Members ~ New PHRF-NW Protocol PHRF-NW Handicappers, led by Chief Handicapper Arden Newbrook, have been working diligently over the past few years to renew and improve the current PHRF handicapping process. With the introduction of new technology and non-traditional, even radical boat designs unimagined a decade ago, maintaining a level playing field has been a real challenge. 2006 is the year that everything will be coming together and it is anticipated that PHRF-NW will be able to implement their revised handicapping protocol by January 1st of 2007. As in the past, PHRF will continue to develop standard class or one-off ratings based on speed potential. However, many other changes and improvements to the handicapping process will be implemented shortly. Here is a brief summary: The way a rating is adjusted to allow for non-standard sails or equipment is being changed to better accommodate new technology such as asymmetrical spinnakers and America’s Cup style main sails with massive headboards. Some loopholes in the rating adjustment process that have been exploited by a relatively small number of boats will be addressed with the new protocol. Over the next few months, your club handicappers will be contacting you to obtain some new and/or additional measurements on your boat. It is essential that your PHRF handicapper has the necessary data on all boats by the end of summer. PHRF will be arranging sail measurement days in the various regions throughout the summer. Additionally, owners can ask their sailmaker or local handicapper to assist them in measuring the relevant sails before the Fall. Sails that need to be measured in are the largest main, spinnaker and headsail only. It is anticipated that most ratings will change under the new measurement protocol but in most cases, these changes will be insignificant – especially when compared with other boats you normally compete against. Boats most likely to see a major change are those boats that have managed to exploit loopholes in the current rating adjustment protocol. In any event, there should be adequate time for PHRF to address individual concerns and fix any obvious inequities before the new ratings become effective in 2007. PHRF-NW handicappers will keep the sailing community posted on how implementation of this revised protocol is progressing. If you are a current member of PHRF-NW, you will need to provide some new and/or additional sail measurements in order to comply with the provisions of the “New Protocol” which becomes effective January 1, 2007. PHRF-NW handicappers require these measurements as soon as possible in order to fully assess the impact of the “New Protocol” on existing ratings and make any necessary adjustments. For more information, go to the PHRF-NW website : www.phrf-nw.org or contact your YC’s PHRF handicapper. by Matthew Wood Appreciation Letter Wes, (Wes Koenig San Juan Sailing, cc. 48° N) I just wanted to thank-you for your efforts on my behalf in my purchase and all of the follow up that you have done. I know that you do this for a living and to make money, but your service to date has gone, in my opinion, beyond the norm. I must admit that I, as a surveyor, generally do not like yacht brokers. Most of them will not get off their duff to do anything and when they do it is with much groaning and complaining or finding some way to get out of doing what should be a part of their job. A lot of yacht brokers are worse than used car salesman. I maintain a “Good Guys” list and you and your organization have been definitely added to the list. It is quite exclusive. I generally, as a surveyor, do not recommend anyone to do anything about boats unless they are on my list. Keep up the good work. Doug Shotton CMS Member of NAMS Marine Surveyor Oakland, CA Bill Garden Rendezvous? I moved to the Seattle area a little over a year ago and live aboard my CT-41 in Eagle Harbor. In a recent conversation with a fellow boater at Elliott Bay Marina, I was told that there’s a local gathering of Bill Garden design boats in this area once a year. Can you provide a date and location or contact information for someone who can? Thanks, Roy A. Neyman email: raneyman@wwc.com
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