COMMANDER S CORNER Cdr Mike Gegner, P

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1 Watch Year Executive Committee Commander Cdr Michael Gegner, P mbgegner@comcast.net Executive Officer Lt/C Joseph Gibson, P joesboat@comcast.net Squadron Education Officer Lt/C Brian Reed, AP ` reedbr@erols.com Administrative Officer Lt/C Ted Weiner, AP ted.weiner@comcast.net Secretary P/C Jenny Norris, P norrisje@usa.redcross.org Treasurer Lt/C Eva Gegner, P mbgegner@comcast.net Immediate Past Commander P/C Jenny Norris, P norrisje@usa.redcross.org Members-at-Large Julien Hofberg, S julienp@comcast.net Gary Thuro, S gjthuro@aol.com Charles Yost, P chasy@att.net RSPS Web Site: View the Skipjack on line ---- ROCKVILLE SAIL AND POWER SQUADRON MAY 2005 RSPS Quick Calendar May (Thursday) General Meeting, Volare Restaurant National Safe Boating Week 24 (Tuesday) Executive Meeting (Saturday-Sunday) Raft-up, Aberdeen Creek June (Wednesday-Sunday) USPS Spring Gov. Bd Meeting, Charlotte, NC 8 (Wednesday) Teacher Apprciation Dinner, Cinnamon Woods 28 (Tuesday) Executive Meeting 1930 COMMANDER S CORNER Cdr Mike Gegner, P Well, I m happy to say that all the hard work is done for spring preparations and the boat is finally in the water. What a relief. And for once early!. There always seems so much to do. Last month a number of us attended the D/5 spring conference in Williamsburg Va. It was well attended, and as always had great programs with emphasis on education. I was proud to represent our Squadron which was awarded a number of certificates of recognition for Web site, Skipjack publication, Power of One and the crown jewel, first place in the small Squadrons for membership achievement. I want to thank everyone for their efforts in making our Squadron the talk of D/5. As I mentioned to D/P/C Drex Bradshaw we ll be up there in the fall with our continuing effort to exceed our membership goals. At our last general meeting at Volare s Restaurant we had a good turn out and I want to thank Jeff McKinney, P, for his presentation on Medical Care at Sea. It was great information that we can all use even if we don t own a boat. This month we will be having another general meeting at Volare s Restaurant. Look for more details on page 3. I also want to remind everyone of National Safe Boating week which runs from May21st through the 27 th. Joe Gibson and I are arranging a safe boating display at Dick s Sporting Goods Store at the RIO Center in Gaithersburg, so if you get a chance please stop by and visit our display. We have numerous activities coming up over the summer so please keep reading the Skipjack so you don t miss out. As always, I m looking forward to this season and seeing many of you on the water. Editor: Lt Hal Slack, P, Landy Court, Kensington, MD or halslack@comcast.net. Distribution: P/C Barbara Schantz, P; Lt/C John Grabowski, AP; P/Lt/C Larry Hixson, AP PUBLISHER S STATEMENT the Skipjack is published monthly except the July/August issue. Deadline for articles is the day after the executive meeting for the next month s issue. the Skipjack is written by and published for members of the Rockville Sail and Power Squadron, a unit of District 5 of the United States Power Squadrons. Help us save!! View the SkipJack on line at Let Hal Slack know that you do not need a printed copy See the editor s box to the left for how to contact him. Page 1

2 CARBON MONOXIDE IT S INVISIBLE, ODORLESS, TASTELESS AND DEADLY F/Lt Lee Hays, P Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas. It is produced when a carbon-based fuel such as gasoline, wood, coal, or charcoal is burned Carbon monoxide freely disperses through the air, and will readily travel throughout a boat. The most common source of carbon monoxide is exhaust from gasoline or diesel engines. Cooking ranges, heaters, and charcoal grills also produce carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide is a cumulative poison. Relatively low concentrations in the atmosphere may accumulate in the victim s blood over a period of time with serious or fatal results. It is absorbed by the lungs and attaches itself to the red blood cells, much like oxygen. However, blood will bond with carbon monoxide 200 times faster than oxygen PARTS PER MILLION CONCENTRATIONS Here is what the parts per million concentrations of carbon monoxide mean to your health: 100 ppm.01% Slight headache in two to three hours 200 ppm.02% Slight headache within two to three hours 400 ppm.04% Frontal headache within one to two hours 800 ppm.08% Dizziness, nausea, and convulsions within 45 minutes. Insensible within two hours. 1,600 ppm.16% Headache, dizziness, and nausea within 20 minutes. Death in less than two hours. 3,200 ppm.32% Headache, dizziness and nausea in five to ten minutes. Death within 30 minutes. 6,400 ppm.64% Headache and dizziness in one to two minutes. Death in less than 20 min utes. 12,800 ppm 1.28% Death in less than three minutes How to treat suspected carbon monoxide poisoning: Evacuate, Ventilate, Investigate, Take Corrective Action - Those are the basic steps. Move the affected person to fresh air. Administer oxygen if available. Contact medical help. If the person is not breathing, perform artificial respiration as taught in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training until medical help arrives. Ventilate the area. Investigate the source of carbon monoxide and make repairs. Prevention - Routinely inspect the exhaust systems of all the propulsion and auxiliary engines abroad your boat. Gasoline engine exhaust is the most common, but far from the only source of carbon monoxide. Follow these four steps when inspecting every exhaust system: (1) Look and listen for leaks in the exhaust system, including a visual check at each joint for discoloration, water leaks, carbon, stains, etc.; (2) Check that all exhaust clamps are free of corrosion, in good repair, and are properly tightened; (3) Make sure all ventilation systems are in good repair and are not obstructed, restricted, or punctured; and (4) Make sure gaps around engine room and exhaust system doors, hatches, and access panels are minimized to reduce the opportunity for carbon monoxide to enter the cabin. Other Sources Of Carbon Monoxide Never install a portable electric generator below deck. At the time of this writing, no portable generator meets Coast Guard Electrical and Fuel System Standards. The exhaust systems are rarely constructed of marine alloys and may rust through after brief exposure to a marine environment. Do not use any flame-producing device in a non-ventilated area. Alcohol heaters and stoves, propane heaters and stoves, catalytic heaters, oil or gasoline lamps, and charcoal stoves and grills consume oxygen. As oxygen levels in an enclosed space fall, fuel is incompletely burned and carbon monoxide is produced. A clue this is happening is that a normal blue flame becomes yellow and smoky. The full article is available at Portions reprinted with permission BoatUS.com If you haven t already done so Install a Carbon Monoxide Detector It s Cheap Insurance that could save your life. Page 2

3 UPCOMING SOCIAL EVENTS MAY - GENERAL MEETING Please join us for the general meeting to be held on Thursday, May 12, 2005 at Volare Restaurant, 4926 St. Elmo Street, Bethesda, MD. The speaker and topic as of going to press had not been confirmed. The scheduled speaker from NOAA is unable to attend May s meeting and has been rescheduled for a fall general meeting. There is a parking garage right opposite the restaurant. The lower floors are only for 2 hours of parking, but if you proceed to the upper levels the parking times are longer. Please make sure you have some quarters for the parking meters. JUNE GENERAL MEETING Our June meeting will be held on Thursday, June 9, 2005 at the Cinnamon Woods Community Center. This is the meeting when we honor our education department for all of their hard work and commitment to the squadron. Social time begins at 1830 with dinner being served at The bridge will provide the spaghetti and meatballs, along with salad and bread. Members are asked to bring a side dish or a dessert. A donation of $3.00 per person is requested to off set the charge of the room rental. Sodas and coffee will be provided. If you have any questions or to make reservations please contact P/C Jenny Norris at or by at Norrisje@USA.REDCROSS.ORG. DIRECTIONS TO CINNAMON WOODS COMMUNITY CENTER. Going north on 270. Take exit 10 to Clopper Road and bear to the right. When you get off at the 270 exit you are on Clopper Road (Route 117) Go through the main intersection at Quince Orchard/Montgomery Village Ave. and stay on Clopper Road exactly 2 miles. When you see the Grand Mart shopping center sign, turn right just before center onto Cinnamon Drive. Go one block and the community center is on your left. Clopper Mill Elementary school will be on your right. Going south on 270. Take exit 12 to Clopper Road and then follow directions as above after turning right at the intersection of Clopper Road and Montgomery Village Avenue. WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS We would like to take this opportunity to welcome four members to RSPS. William and Marie Ferguson of Rockville Roger Hitchner and his wife Gail Poe of Bethesda Page 3 BOAT BUDDIES FOR A DAY It gives me great pleasure to announce to those of our RSPS members who do not own a boat, that there are several RSPS member boat owners who would welcome you as a crew/ guest on their boat. Please send your name and address to Ted Weiner ted.weiner@comcast.net or if you wish to be listed. Include if you have a preference for power or sail. Your information will be posted in the next Skipjack as a potential crew/ guest. See First Raft-up Jitters on page 5 to learn how easy this is. ONE ON ONE Just a reminder that USPS has a program called One On One. When you bring a new member into the squadron you receive a special One On One pin as a reward for the good deed. So get your name on line #4 of a new RSPS application. It reads: Which USPS member most influenced you to join our organization? Bringing in a new member will make you feel good. But even more important, your new member friend will feel good about our courses and our camaraderie. They will be glad that they joined - we will all make sure of that. Help us save $10.00!! View the Skipjack on line at rsps2/index.htm let Hal Slack know that you do not need a printed copy. See the editor s box on page 1 CALLING ALL YELLOW CARDS At the beginning of every public boating class we have students register on 4x6 forms that have two parts. The top copy is white and gets sent to HQ, the bottom copy is yellow. That s why the education department calls them the yellow cards. Unfortunately there has not been a destination for these cards until now. I have started a file for the yellow cards so we can store them in one place as a reference. If you happen to have any yellow cards from past classes in your possession, please let me know. USPS HQ says we should keep 5 years worth so that is all I m concerned about. Mostly though, I want the recent ones to use for follow-up calls when Seamanship classes start. If you have yellow cards, contact Brian Reed (reedbr@erols.com or ) to figure out how to get them from you.

4 Sunshine and warm weather boating season! WHAT? First raft-up. WHEN? Memorial Day weekend (28-29 May). From about noon Saturday until the last boat leaves Sunday or Monday. WHERE? Aberdeen Creek, South River, west side of the Bay. Approximate site: N; W. Wind direction and strength will dictate more precise location. If you get this close, though, you can t miss us. By around noon Saturday, weather permitting, my Mainship 34, Sundowner, should have arrived from its berth on the Chester River and set its hook at the site. Look for a white trawler with a flying bridge, covered aft deck, and lots of flags and a crew that includes a bearded bald guy, a blond Past Commander, and a sleepy old dachshund. We ll monitor VHF Channel 16 enroute, then Channel 9 once we get on site. We also hope to have Jenny s cell phone on: HOW TO GET THERE? If you re a grad of any advanced course, just plot the coordinates, lay out a course, and follow it. Newer folks, or those with a bit less confidence, might like to know that the South River is the next river south of the Severn (think Annapolis) and the river that enters the Bay by Thomas Point Light. So from any place on the Bay but the South River itself, just head toward Thomas Point Light, watch out for the shoal, and turn upstream past Selby Bay on your left as you pass between G 5 and R 6. Just beyond that on your right, you ll pass Quiet Waters Park and Harness Creek: G 9 and R 10. If you need fuel, Selby Bay s got that and there are two more fueling sites up by the Route 2 bridge. As you head upstream, Aberdeen Creek will be to your right front, with the entrance across the river from G 11. Approach with some caution: shoaling is common on the Bay s rivers. There s usually a 6 mph zone posted, too. If you re coming from upstream, of course, Aberdeen Creek will be on your left, with the entrance just beyond R 12 (just watch out for that duck blind). And, for our special folks in Selby Bay, all you ve got to do is head out of that popular little haven and hang a left for a short distance. Couldn t be easier, I promise. So, no excuses, OK? Folks who want or want to serve as crew need to contact Ted Weiner (see page XXXX. Dinner Saturday evening is expected to be at Mike s Restaurant, on the south side of the Riva Road bridge. Riva Road is off Route 50 s Exit 22, a large exit with many choices, so watch carefully for signs. Mike s is a good place that we ve used often; the only caution is to have cash available, as that will really THE BOATING ACTIVIST LT JOHN GRABOWSKI, AP Page 4 simplify straightening out your portion of the group bill. Water transportation between the raft-up site and the restaurant will be via some of the smaller, faster boats at the event. We expect to be back at the anchorage before dark. Sunday, we might see some latecomers arrive (it s happened before), and others prepare to leave. Generally, though, we ve still got folks doing things together into early afternoon. WHAT S HAPPENING LATER? RSPS s second raft-up of 2005 will be the weekend of June at Shaw Bay. That s on the Eastern Shore, off the entrance to the Wye River, one of the Bay s most popular cruising destinations. While all our people will enjoy that locale, smaller boats may have the most fun there, as they re low enough, and usually fast enough, to circumnavigate picturesque Wye Island. A fixed 8 bridge keeps taller boats from doing this. Our most memorable raft-up there included just such a 90-minute watery romp, with three planing powerboats carrying the whole raft-up entourage. Great! St Michaels is a short run away in the other direction. Shaw Bay s only drawback for RSPS is that there are no restaurant facilities close by, so only boaters and their guests will be able to participate this time. This weekend was chosen because it was roughly halfway between Memorial Day and the 4 th of July and because it avoided any schedule conflicts with Father s Day, the following weekend on19 June. At this writing, the anticipated 4 th of July raft-up at the Magothy River s Broad Creek, including fireworks at Gibson Island on the 4 th is a little bit iffy, mostly because many folks will need to be back to work on the morning of the 5 th. So, I m looking at shifting to the other side of the Bay to catch Rock Hall s display the night before. We have time, though, to iron that one out. Or, indeed, to check other options as well. A few weeks after that, we re heading to Solomons for the D5 Summer Council and Rendezvous (22-24 July). Some will join the D5 Cruise; others will go on their own. Whether you go by boat or car, have you made your reservations yet? And we ve still got August, September, and maybe parts of October left, too. Hope it s one busy, educational and wonderful, too summer on the water. That reminds me: Where would YOU like to have an on-the-water gathering? Nothing requires that our sites be limited to ones I know.

5 FIRST RAFT-UP JITTERS? First one as a Boater? No problem. You ll need no special equipment to raft-up. Boats should approach the raft slowly, from the stern (which would bring them into the wind). Then, they ll simply tie up alongside each other, usually with fenders and bow, stern, and spring lines. Often, only the larger boat(s) set an anchor, and only one or two will show their anchor light. Activities normally focus on socializing (have some munchies aboard for visitors) and touring each other s vessels; but there s certainly no prescribed activity. In the past, people have swum, sunbathed, crabbed, read, and played with dinks ah, freedom! If air and water are warm, we ve got some ideas to play with. First one as a Guest? No problem, either. Just don t be afraid to voice any questions you might have, especially of your host. Common questions include what to bring (or not). On our first raft-up, Terry Green made sure to tell us not to bring a steamer trunk (his term), as there s just so much room on a sailboat. We did, though, bring a bottle of their favorite wine, as they treated us to a fine Italian dinner aboard. The most useful questions involve water conservation and use of the marine toilet (MSD). This latter issue definitely warrants special attention, as water s limited and MSD s can be finicky in the extreme. They only look like the ones you have at home. In retrospect, some of the best advice I came up with was to Think Camping when preparing to spend the night aboard someone else s boat. My little Whaler lacked amenities common to larger craft, so we usually had to mooch a place to stretch out. We often slept in sweat suits it can get nippy out there most aware of the caution that On a boat, privacy is a myth. And we definitely packed light. My most useful doo-dad for overnighting? A small flashlight. That keeps me from becoming one of those things that go bump in the night as I try to find my way through strange surroundings in the dark. Sound complicated? Truly, it s not. You d get advice as a house guest; this is little different. The bottom line is to keep an open mind and have fun. Help us save!! View the SkipJack on line at rsps2/index.htm Let Hal Slack know that you do not need a printed copy VESSEL SAFETY EXAMINERS TRAINING Due to Coast Guard Auxiliary resource conflicts, the first Vessel Examiner training classes will not begin on April 30 as announced in the April Skipjack. The revised training schedule is not firm as the Skipjack goes to press. Tentatively, classes will begin in early May with the goal of administering the examination prior to May 21. RSPS bridge members will contact each person who signed up for these classes with the new schedule as soon as possible. On May 21, the Coast Guard Auxiliary will conduct Vessel Safety Checks for boaters at the boat launch ramps at Sandy Point State Park. This annual event kicks off Boating Safety Week and provides an organized program where USPS personnel can perform the required five (5) Vessel Safety Checks under the observation of qualified Vessel Examiners. The Coast Guard Auxiliary has extended a warm invitation to Rockville Sail and Power Squadron to join them at Sandy Point for this event. NATIONAL BOY SCOUT JAMBOREE 40,000 Boy Scouts are expected to attend the National Boy Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P.Hill in Virginia the last week of July. Also, about 100,000 parents and visitors are expected to attend. This is a major event and an excellent opportunity for USPS as the Boy Scout organization has asked USPS to participate. The National and D/5 bridge will have a booth to advertise boating safety and the USPS youth programs. D/5 is seeking volunteers to help man the booth to communicate with scouts and their guests. Personnel are desperately needed Sunday 24 July through August 2nd. USPS has an opportunity to influence these young scouts. Many scout organizations have some type of water activities and some are in cooperation with USPS Squadrons. This is a Youth Activity - an Educations activity and a community service program. Our USPS Chief Commander and other members of the national bridge will be joining D/5 Bridge members and other D/5ers in this venture. If you would like to help, please contact Joe Gibson ( joesboat@comcast.net) or a bridge member as soon as possible, as D/5 must submit names and dates to the scout organization prior to the event. Page 5

6 May 2005 Volume 33, No. 2 Rockville Sail and Power Squadron Landy Court Kensington, MD Sailing and Power Boating Safety through Education