Gabriola Island Power and Sail Squadron

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1 S C U T T L E B U T T Gabriola Island Power and Sail Squadron Gabriola Power Squadron Happy New Year January - February 2016

2 Your Squadron Bridge POSITION NAME PHONE Commander Mike Hoeinghaus, AP Past Commander Ralph Hagen, AP Executive Officer Jean-Pierre van Praet Educational Officer Bert terhart, S Secretary Robert Derksen, S Financial Officer Jude Briscoe PRO/Marketing George Myette Membership Officer Elaine Pearce Webmasters Robert Derksen, S Bill Kalbfleisch Communications Officer & Don Butt, AP Scuttlebutt Editor Member at Large Fred Kaarsemaker Member at Large John Woods Privacy Officer Don Butt, AP Gabriola Power and Sail Squadron PO Box 71 Gabriola BC V0R 1X0 We are a Squadron of Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (CPS-ECP) in Vancouver Island North District MEMBERSHIP REMINDER Many of you have been notified by Headquarters regarding your membership renewals. It is easy to renew on-line. Just go to CPS-ECP and click on membership. On-line renewal and rejoin is a great way to go. It is so quick and easy. And have a look at the CPS benefits of being a member. For more info call our Membership Officer, Elaine Pearce

3 Upcoming Events Check the website for details - Courses and Upcoming Events The Squadron website has the information about all courses in detail as well as easy registration. Boatiing Basics - for PCOC only. Starts Wed Jan 13, Rollo Cenre, at 7 PM Boating Essentials - the extension of Basics, follows Basics Boating Essentials including PCOC - the package of Basics and Essentials. Advisable. Maritime Radio - one day, with license, Sat Feb 6, at 9.30 AM, Rollo Centre. Note that Squadron members who already possess their radio license with ROCM, may audit this course free of charge as a refresher (important: please contact SEO Bert terhart if you intend to audit). Seamanship and Weather can be offered should there be sufficient interest. Contacts - Cdr. Mike Hoeinghaus or Educational Officer, Bert terhart for questions. (See p. 2 for phone numbers) Social events and AGM are in the process of planning. When information is available everyone will be notified by an , with reference to the Squadron website for full details. There are plans in the works. This boater is the daughter of one of our Past Commanders, Bill Fletcher. Pam was recently elected as the MP from W. Vancouver, Sechelt, Squamish & Whistler and takes her place in Ottawa as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She is one busy person! Congratulations!

4 Featuring Executive Members George Myette, Public Relations & Marketing Born - Goodsoil, Saskatchewan 1953 Attended primary and secondary school in Meadow Lake, Sask., Pierceland, Sask. and Wainwright, Alberta Graduated Mount Royal College (University) with Diploma Applied Social Sciences 1975 Studied Business Management at University of Calgary 1981 Worked in the criminal justice field, developing community corrections programs in Calgary/Edmonton Switched careers to the oil and gas industry in 1982 and joined the Schlumberger Corporation before moving on to establish a small management consulting firm and eventually acquiring an oilfield service firm - Flextube Inc./Matrix Well Services in Sold the firm to Canadian Fracmaster in 1997 and joined Pajak Engineering in Calgary as Manager - Business Development from 1999 until my retirement in Continue to provide part time management consulting services to Pajak on a remote basis. Have lived/worked in England and Venezuela during my oilfield career and travelled extensively in the Middle East. Am an active volunteer in criminal justice and sit on the boards of two national, non-profit organizations as well as a being a member of a working group with the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse in Ottawa. Have an avid interest in boating and did some blue water traveling as a part time crew member with the Idlewild - a 57 foot motor vessel that circumnavigated via the Northwest Passage in Was not a boat owner until my wife and I moved to Gabriola Island in 2013 but had always longed to live on the west coast and spend time on the water. Initially acquired a 2452 Bayliner but have since downsized to a Malibu 175 Tyee, primarily for fishing and prawning. Joined Gabriola Island Power and Sail Squadron to improve my navigation and boating competency skills and look forward to promoting the objectives of the organization.

5 The Christmas Potluck And Carol Sing-a-long About two dozen people arrived with gourmet dishes and tuned up singing voices for the annual Squadron Christmas potluck and sing-a-long. The turkey and ham were as good is it gets, and generously provided by Village Foods. Thank you! Jude Briscoe and her committee of Elaine Pearce, Mike Hoeinghaus, and Jean-Pierre van Praet made the arrangements at their usual perfection standards. Thank you! Finally to Hiromi Bradshaw for providing the keyboard playing to keep us all more or less in pitch - Thank you!

6 The Christmas Potluck..more pictures

7 The Low Light Cruise, Nov 22 We live and boat in an area that is arguably one of the best cruising grounds in the world. Spectacular, safe anchorages abound in protected waters with predictable weather at least during the summer months. But summer cruising grounds are frequently fog-bound. And any season outside of summer means long nights and short days. What s a skipper to do? So said Squadron Educational Officer, Bert terhart in his notice about the cruise On a chilly moon-flooded evening six Squadron members, well bundled up to prevent hypothermia, ventured out in the waters east of Gabriola shores, and to find their way back safely home in the dark. Well, admittedly the full moon s light helped, but only a bit. We learned how important it is to identify with certainty what is known and we can relate to even in the dark - stars, moon, lights on shore, hazard locations, etc. Thank you Bert for some essential boating information that is not found in our manuals. Besides, it was fun. Oh, and one more thing, we did get back home unscathed.

8 Low Light Cruise, more pictures Bert s boat is a model of a well maintained sailing ship - she is a beauty. Jostling for position facing north for the first salute to the four cardinal points. January 2, just outside of Silva Bay. An annual event of Silva Bay Yacht Club to which many of our Squadron members belong.

9 Bert terhart obtained permission from various authorities to allow us to set off flares in a demonstration. It was worthwhile, inasmuch as most of us (fortunately) never know what the experience is. We shot white flares in the air, and hand held the white-hot flares that burned or smoked. While potentially life saving, these things are dangerous when knowledge and caution is ignored. The dry run was invaluable. Flare Exercise, end of Stalker Road We put the students to work; they took bearings, plotted fixes, then walked from one end of the park to the other, calculated course and times made good. It all worked and we got some exercise. The Plotting Exercise at Drumbeg Park

10 From the Wheelhouse Mike Hoeinghaus, AP - Commander A busy fall has passed, courses completed, holidays celebrated, and the new year is on the horizon. I hope you all had a merry and safe Christmas and wish you all a safe and happy New Year. We completed our fall courses with the Essentials final exam on December 16th. As usual, our SEO Bert terhart did a superb job with the course, not only setting it up but instructing nearly all of the modules. Bert and Don Butt also set up a walking navigation exercise for the students at Drumbeg in which they walked a course, took and plotted bearings and calculated their course and speed over ground. It was an excellent practical application of the classroom teachings and enjoyed by all the students. After the plotting exercise, Bert had also arranged for a flare demonstration also at Drumbeg where the students and other squadron members had the opportunity to light off various types of flares. These exercises are always fun and practical training for everyone. Our Christmas Party at the Golf Course on Saturday, December 5th, was well attended and fun for all. It was a great social evening with members and guests. The Vancouver Island North District Executive Officer, Ion Barnes and his wife Lois, attended as the District Representative. The food was excellent as usual, Don Butt led us in singing Christmas Carols, and there were door prizes and a 50/50 draw. A big Thank You to the Social Committee: Jude Briscoe, chair; Elaine Pearce and John Van Praet, for putting it all together for our enjoyment. The winter courses start on January 13th with PCOC followed by Essentials. A Maritime Radio course is also planned. George Myette, squadron Public Relations Officer will be putting up the sandwich boards on the ferry hill, and will be mooring Lil Gabe at the Village Food Market to advertise the upcoming courses. Please help get the word out to your friends and neighbors and let them know they can register online at the squadron web site. Together with the Nominating Committee members, I will be putting together the list of Squadron Officers for the next year, to be presented at the Annual General Meeting which we will schedule for late April to early May. We have several positions to be filled, so get involved with the squadron and volunteer to join the Bridge. If you are interested, please me at hoeinghaus@shaw.ca and I will get in touch with you. Our first Bridge meeting of the New Year is on January 21st, upstairs at Robert s Place at 7:00 pm. Squadron members are welcome to attend. Cont..

11 Commander s Report, cont. This past year has been busy and enjoyable. With a lot of new members on the Bridge, thankfully supported by past officers, we had a lot to learn. We made it through the year with very few hiccups and look forward to a busy new year. Bert and our instructors completed the year with 100% of the students passing. Since boating education is our primary mandate, they have done an outstanding job. Respectfully submitted, Mike Hoeinghaus The following was received from Nanaimo Squadron and requested to be passed on to our Gabriola Squadron membership: Nanaimo Squadron Meeting Tuesday January hrs at Nanaimo Yacht Club Guest Speaker at 1900hrs: Debbie Cook. Anchor Rage: the proposed freighter anchorages near Gabriola Island. Topic: Proposed Freighter Anchorages Just offshore of Gabriola Island Pacific Pilotage Authority (PPA) is proposing to introduce 5 new anchorage sites for freighters off the northeast shore of Gabriola Island. The proposed anchorages will cover virtually all of the northeast shore of Gabriola Island: from Sandwell beach to Whalebone beach to Dragons Lane. The ships that will anchor here for days and weeks at a time are cape size vessels which are 300 meters in length - roughly the size of the US Nimitiz aircraft carrier (333 m in length). The shipping industry stand to gain substantial economic rewards while residents of Gabriola Island and local recreational anglers will suffer all the negative emotional, health and financial consequences that result from turning an exquisite, pristine waterfront and shoreline with world class views across the Georgia Strait into an industrial parking lot. No business meeting. Guest speaker and refreshments!

12 From the Educational Department Bert terhart The 2015 training calendar finished up with 3 students graduating with flying colours from the Boating Essentials Course. Heather Nicholas, Teresa Rittemann and John Bullas were more than up to the challenge and their enthusiasm was infectious. My thanks to them for coming to class ready, willing and able. My thanks as well Don Butt, Ralph Hagen and of course, Mike Hoeinghaus who helped make the course a success. Essentials also saw a first ever live Charting Exercise. Thanks to Don Butt, our students got some very real, very useful hands-on experience at plotting, conning and DR work. Don managed to arrange for some great weather to boot! The students came away with a new-found appreciation for the challenges any navigator faces aboard a small vessel. The Squadron s fall series of Workshops also saw good turnouts for both the Low-Light, Low Visibility and Flare Exercises. Once again, we had great weather for the Low-Light exercise and despite the chilly temperatures, clear skies, calm seas and a nearly full-moon made for a beautiful late afternoon and early evening. My thanks to Bob and Mary-Jane Derksen for helping iron out the bugs and to Jude Briscoe for supplying coffee, cake and cookies! With 2016 already here, I m looking forward to the next round of courses and workshops. We ve got Boating Basics and Essentials, Maritime Radio as well Man-Overboard, Docking and Anchoring Workshops on the calendar. I fully expect these courses and workshops to be as much of a success as their 2015 predecessors. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Squadron executive in supporting our training efforts. I think I ve got the easy job as there is much more work that goes on behind the scenes! Thank you on and all. Respectfully submitted, Bert terhart, Educational Officer

13 Mirth, & Facts about Newfounlanders WE ARE... ~ the funniest people in Canada (ask anybody) ~ the sexiest people in Canada (MacLean s magazine survey) ~ the only Province that has four identifiable flags ~ the only Province able to land the space shuttle (Stephenville) ~ the most giving people in Canada (Stats Canada) ~ the most sexually active people in all of Canada (what else are we gonna do!) A NEWFOUNDLANDER..... ~ built the world s first artificial ice arena ~ invented the gas mask ~ was once governor of northern Rhodesia ~ was with Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg WE ARE THE ONLY PROVINCE TO HAVE IT S OWN..... ~ encyclopedia ~ dictionary ~ pony ~ dogs ~ cultural publication Hey, nice day to go fishing? No thanks... Something is not quite right! As the song goes in this season: I saw three ships come sailing by... Well, I only see two and a mast.