Scuttlebutt COMMANDER S MESSAGE PAGE 1. Newsletter America s Boating Club of Door County United States Power Squadrons. In This Issue THE DOOR

Transcription

1 THE DOOR Scuttlebutt Newsletter America s Boating Club of Door County United States Power Squadrons Vol. XII, Issue 11 December 2018 In This Issue COMMANDER S MESSAGE Commander s Message..1-2 From your Education Officer Calendar of Events.. 5 Merit Mark Recipients..5 My December contribution to the Scuttlebutt is always one of reflection on our squadron s success in the past year. Your bridge, executive committee and all members should take pride in our accomplishments. I sincerely thank you all. NEW MEMBERS By the end of 2018, we will have added 18 new members. Three new members transferred from the Milwaukee squadron. Five were referred by friends or members. The remaining 10 came to us through Cyber Squadron. Cyber Squadron members are those who join directly from the USPS home page join now option, ABC3 online students, or unattached members, such as life members or members who have moved and not joined a local squadron. Cyber Members, then, typically choose the squadron most convenient to where they boat. Thank you all for choosing the little squadron that could. Let us know what you need from us and I guarantee you will not be disappointed. MERIT MARK RECIPIENTS Seventeen of our members earned a merit mark in 2018, compared to fifteen in A merit mark is the only pay we get for the contributions we make to USPS. The Merit Mark is greatly coveted. You can get only one per year. Five merit marks bring senior member status and 25 merit marks will earn life-time membership, exempt from national dues. The concept of merit marks was conceived by Chief Commander A. B. Bennett, who presented the first awards in Alan Wentworth assembles information from the bridge on potential merit mark recipients. Alan then sends all the information to the area monitor for presentation by the chief. A lot of work. Thank you, Alan. I encourage all our new members to strive to earn a merit mark. Talk to us. We ll tell you how. PAGE 1 VESSEL SAFETY CHECKS Door County set a record of completing 222 VSCs in This contributed to District 10 s record of 1,439. Mike Wember is our newest vessel examiner and a welcome addition to the team. Lou Pasquesi is our VSC chair. Thank you, Lou, for another great year. Oh, by the way, Lou completed 123 himself, once again, putting him in the Century Club. Way to go Lou! (continued on page 2)

2 COMMANDERS MESSAGE (continued) LEARNING IN RETIREMENT Did you get the new Door County Learning in Retirement Catalog? We are listed in it. Our course offering is listed on page 10, #6. The 2-hour session will be held at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay on Tuesday 12 March and consists of 4 facets: History: 100 Plus Years as United States Power Squadrons; now doing business as America s Boating Club. Cruising Door County, Northern Lake Michigan and Canadian Waters. Mariner s Weather; Angry Clouds & Angry Waves Marlinespike-How about a few knots by Grog? Come and lend your support and experience. BOATING SKILLS VIRTUAL TRAINER The Boating Skills Virtual Trainer (BSVT) is a boating simulator that gives the operator training in boat handling under a variety of conditions. In February 2017, I submitted a grant application to the USPS Educational Fund in the amount of $16,400 to purchase a BSVT unit. The grant is predicated on the permanent loan of the BSVT to the Door County Maritime Museum, and the placement of the unit in their recreational boating exhibit (Maritime Tower Level 4). The grant was awarded in May A Gen II unit was purchased January The unit is scheduled for delivery by mid- December. Hand-off will be to Kevin Osgood, Executive Director (new), DCMM. The USPS s gift to the Door County community, More about Kevin in closing. Lots of prouds here. Remember the original A Team series on TV? One of my favorite quotes from Col. John Hannibal Smith (the late George Peppard) was: I love it when a plan comes together. This one sure did! Thank you all. HOLIDAY PARTY If you re not coming to our Holiday Party at Crossroads, you should re-consider. My April Scuttlebutt article stated the following: Congratulations to Dick Grota, who took Overall Honors in the Silver Fleet at the Nite Nationals on Green Lake, early March. Dick also came home with the Grand Masters trophy. The Nite is an 18-foot Iceboat that can achieve speeds 5 t i m e s t h e s p e e d o f t h e w i n d. Yes: that s 63.3 MPH on clear ice in Pewaukee. I ve asked Dick to give us a presentation on Nite Racing-Ice Cold Fun at Crossroads. Come and enjoy! DISTINGUISHED CIVIC SERVICE AWARD Our squadron s success rolls up to the District. If you ve been reading D-10 Cdr. Dave Fine s Top 10 news you can use, you are aware that District 10 submitted an application for the BoatUS Distinguished Civic Service Award. Described as the most prestigious award in the USPS, the BoatUS Civic award recognizes squadrons and districts that excel in community service. The District application described the 938 volunteers who contributed 8,132 hours to civic service. There are 10 elements that define the award. Door County contributed 14 hours per member to the effort. Our sister Squadron across the bay, M & M, contributed the same. The only squadron with more (18 hrs./member) was Minnetonka; The two David s and the Goliath. IN CLOSING So: What about Executive Director, Kevin Osgood? The Door County Maritime Museum is my other day job. Among other things, I serve as secretary on the Board of Directors. We are very excited to have Kevin join us. As Executive Director. Kevin is also Public Relations officer for the USCGA, Flotilla 4702, Green Bay. Kevin and Heather will be joining us at our Holiday festivities at Crossroads. Hope to see you there. Cdr Bob PAGE 2

3 FROM YOUR EDUCATION OFFICER Ahoy everyone, In keeping with my ongoing theme of learning to use good navigational skills and safety devices in all kinds of challenges, I would like to share two news items I came across recently. The first involves a 29 year old American sailor named Levi Verwosetan. Levi had been cruising and living on his 23-foot catamaran for the last three years. He said he has been living on fish and goats he killed on various islands around Australia. He was found in shark infested waters off Australia with his capsized boat. Levi said that his boat capsized in under a minute when a wave hit his hull which had its hatch cover off. Before he could react when coming up on deck, the boat turned turtle. Levi spent the night near the capsized boat in his dinghy. When daylight came he was able to activate his EPIRB which he was unable to do for the previous 12 hours because it was dark and he couldn t see how to activate it. As soon as the EPIRB was activated the coast guard responded and rescued Levi in twenty minutes. Levi credited his rescue to the EPIRB and was grateful he had it. CLICK HERE When I read about Levi s rescue I immediately wondered where he kept his EPIRB and how he was able to access it when his boat was overturned and why he couldn t operate it in the dark. After giving it some thought I surmise that Levi kept his EPIRB in his dingy and not below deck on the catamaran. Maybe he kept it in a ditch bag in the dinghy. That made me wonder where the dinghy was when the cat capsized. Was he trailing it? Did it fall off the deck and float free when the cat flipped? I assume that Levi gave some consideration before the event to how to get to the dinghy in the event of a capsize and how to access the EPIRB. What is an EPIRB? EPIRB stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. PAGE 3 It is a portable unit that runs on its own long life battery (usually a sealed lithium one). Once activated, it broadcasts its position via the Cospas - Sarsat polar orbiting satellite system and/or ground stations located around the Earth. It can take up to 45 minutes for a position fix dependent on the location of the satellites in orbit. Once identified, the system can usually determine the position of an EPIRB to within 3 nautical miles; although GPS-enabled EPIRBs now have the ability to pinpoint an EPIRB s position to within 50 metres or less, within 3 minutes of activation. The EPIRB is registered by its owner with an emergency coordination centre. In the case of UK boat owners and UK registered vessels this would be the The Maritime & Coastguard Agency s Emergency Coordination Centre in Falmouth. The beacon transmits a coded radio distress signal on 406 MHz which, once received, will usually instigate a search and rescue operation. This is usually coordinated and run by the centre where the EPIRB is registered; but if you are sailing the World, the rescue itself might be coordinated by SAR (Search & Rescue) organizations operating under the jurisdiction of another country. Some EPIRBs have a secondary distress beacon which transmits on MHz. This is used for homing purposes once SAR teams are within a few miles of the indicated position. Sometimes vessels will carry a separate transmitter for this purpose known as a SART (Search And Rescue Transmitter). Both items also have a bright LED light which flashes once activated. Nowadays, EPIRBs come in varying sizes. Original EPIRBS were the size of an average-sized travel kettle and were used by vessels. Smaller PLBs (personal locator beacons) are now used by individual crew, although their usefulness in the case of a man overboard situation is questionable. The more recent AISbased PLB is now considered more beneficial in such circumstances as it broadcasts locally on VHF to the casualty vessel and any surrounding vessels, as long as they have an AIS receiver. A quick search of the internet reveals that EPIRBs can be deployed either manually (by pressing a switch) or automatically activated (by submerging it in water). I assume that Levi knew which type of EPIRB he had and that it was not automatic or he could have just thrown it in the water while keeping it tied to a lanyard attached to his hand. (continued on page 4)

4 FROM YOUR EDUCATION OFFICER (continued) Since he said it was too dark to activate, I guess that Levi didn t know where the switch was. That means that he hadn t committed to memory where that activation switch was. We all need to practice using our safety equipment before we really need it. I think that under these circumstances Levi, who says he can t wait to resume sailing, should purchase a water activated model so he won t need to fiddle in the dark. It is also a good thing that the dinghy deployed so Levi could spend the night in it instead of in one of the sharks. I wonder if it was luck or planning that let the dinghy float nearby and upright. Let that be a lesson to each of us that preplanning, or asking ourselves what if questions, is a crucial part of safe navigation. Activating an EPIRB Release EPIRB from bulkhead bracket or enclosure when abandoning the vessel and embark the life raft. In case you have manually activated EPIRB, remove "carry safe" collar from the EPIRB. Uncoil the lanyard from EPIRB and tie it to the life raft. Switch the EPIRB on manually using activation switch (the way to do that depends of the EPIRB model) or just throw it in water where it will be activated by the sea switch. The EPIRB is the most efficient, when floating at water. An example of switching on an EPIRB (pull the tear-off tab up, then press the activation button and slide the switch left). EPIRB tied to the life raft The activated EPIRB should give strobe light warning every few sec on ds (depends on the EPIRB model). Ensure that the EPIRB is not obstructed by anything that could prevent radio signal from reaching the satellite. In case your vessel is sinking and you have mounted automatically activated EPIRB and you don't have enough time to release EPIRB from enclosure, then the EPIRB will activate automatically when enclosure will sink enough that the EPIRB will be released from enclosure by HRU and sea switch will come in contact with water. In such case try to recover the EPIRB and tie it, using its lanyard, to the life raft WARNING The EPIRB must only be used in an emergency - in situations of grave and imminent danger. Cancelling a False Alarm If an EPIRB is activated by accident, it must NOT be switched off before informing a CRS or MRCC, for example with a VHF radio. Only after being instructed to do so by a CRS or MRCC may the EPIRB be switched off. The EPIRB can be switched off following this procedure: Remove the EPIRB from any water and dry its sea switch contacts. If the EPIRB is still flashing then it must be turned off manually w i t h t h e a c t i v a t i o n s w i t c h. An example of switching off an EPIRB: (slide the switch right). If the EPIRB is still flashing, then prevent its radio signal from reaching the satellite by cutting off or folding down the antenna and wrapping it in metal foil, metal container or locker. Otherwise re-fit the EPIRB correctly into its mounting bracket or enclosure. The second item is from local news. Every fall the US Coast Guard takes out the summer buoys in Green Bay and Door County and replaces them with smaller torpedo shaped winter buoys that can withstand the tremendous forces of winter ice. Green Bay is the largest freshwater body of water to freeze over in the winter in the United States. Here is a video of the Mobil Bay pulling out summer buoys last week in Sturgeon Bay. The buoys are number 24 (nun) and 23 (can). I misidentified them in the video. CLICK HERE Coast Guard at work (continued on page 5) PAGE 4

5 FROM YOUR EDUCATION OFFICER (continued) CLASS NOTES Our four piloting students have come to the end of the course. We will review and have distributed the test by the time you will be reading this. This class was different because we were able to give it in the go to meeting format as well as in a classroom. Consequently one of our students took the course in Arizona. This is a format I will pursue for as many future classes as possible. We will offer Advanced Piloting beginning in mid-january. I hope anyone who has not taken the AP course or is out of town or state when it is given will consider joining us at that time either in the classroom or in Go-to-Meeting. All members will receive an of the exact time and place the course will be held. Also, put on your calendars that Weather will begin in spring and complete in fall as it has done in the past. Alan Wentworth will be the instructor. He is wonderful so don t miss the opportunity to take this course from him. Thank you all for another great year. Fair winds and Merry Christmas, Steve 2019 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 29 Jan Executive Committee Meeting TBD Feb Squadron Annual Meeting & Change of Watch Feb USPS National Meeting -- Orlando TBD Feb Squadron Cruise Planning Meeting 26 Mar Executive Committee Meeting The Coast Guard also removes the white tubular danger buoys with the orange markings and stores them with the summer buoys in the parking lot behind the DNR office and the Mobil Bay dock. Dan Balch Bob DeNoto CONGRATULATIONS MERIT MARK RECIPIENTS Sandy King Lou Pasquesi 27 Apr Vessel Safety Examiner Season Prep Apr D10 Spring Conference - Minneapolis 17 May Fitting Out Meeting & Social 25 May Sister Bay & Yacht Works Marinas 28 May Executive Committee Meeting 1 Jun Blessing of the Fleet Baileys Harbor 8 Jun VSCs Quarterdeck & Harbor Club 15 Jun VSCs 22 Jun VSCs Fish Creek/Egg Harbor 23 Jun Squadron Summer Social 29 Jun VSCs Wave Pointe Marina Karen DeNoto John Hermann Dolores Hermann Austin Hermann Terry Keating Gary King PAGE 5 Rex Pope Steve Rank Bob Ross Craig Weis Cynthia Weis Mike Wemberg Alan Wentworth 13 Jul VSCs Gills Rock Marina 23 Jul Executive Committee Meeting 9-11 Aug Squadron Annual Rendezvous Menominee, MI 31 Aug Sister Bay MarinaFest TBD Sep USPS National Meeting 24 Sep Executive Committee Meeting TBD Oct District 10 Fall Conference 26 Nov Executive Committee Meeting 6 Dec Holiday Party

6 OFFICERS AND BRIDGE Commander Bob DeNoto Executive Officer John Hermann, Educational Officer Steve Rank Administrative Officer Open Position Secretary Lou Pasquesi Treasuser Cynthia L. Weis Member at Large Alan Wentworth ============================================= Commander s Department Chaplain Karen DeNoto Flag Lieutenant Craig Weis Merit Marks Alan Wentworth, Executive Department Public Relations Open VSC Officer Lou Pasquesi Safety Officer John Hermann Port Captain Open Education Department Adv. Grade Courses Steve Rank Elective Courses John Welch ABC Representative Bob DeNoto & Boat Operator Certification Administrative Department Membership Cynthia Weis Cruise Planning Terry Keating Meetings & Programs Open Member Involvement Dolores Hermann Secretary s Department Newsletter Dolores Hermann Webmaster Austin Hermann Facebook Manager Cynthia Weis Treasurer s Department Ships Store Cynthia Weis Thank you to all of the members who contributed articles and pictures. Please take no offense if your article was somewhat changed or if your picture was not included in the Scuttlebutt. Changes, exclusions and inclusions are made based on space. Submit articles and pictures for the January Scuttlebutt by December 28, Send your comments, ideas and articles to: dolores.e.hermann@gmail.com The Door Scuttlebutt is published twelve times a year b y America s Boating Club. Door County Squadron, a member of District 10 of America s Boating Club, the United States Power Squadrons. The Door Scuttlebutt can be found on the Squadron website: HERE S WHAT S NEW!! Check us out on FACEBOOK - Go to your FACEBOOK page and type in: DoorCountySailAndPowerSquadron In Google type DoorCountySailAndPowerSquadron your boating related photos and stories to Cynthia Weis weiscynthia@yahoo.com for posting and tell her if you would like to include a comment. It is helpful to you to say you like the site and be sure to give it a review. HAPPY DECEMBER BIRTHDAY 2nd Chuck Holtz 21st Bob DeNoto 24th Marybeth Deedon 25th Daniela Ranum PAGE 6