a little dinghy Gold Country Yacht Club Soundings From The Poop-deck Commodore Bruce Cutshall Vice Commodore -Jeffery Lund Wind from Willow

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1 Gold Country Yacht Club a little dinghy Volume 24, Issue 3 Special Points Of Interest Gnomes & Fairies? In Nevada County? Words to the Wise 2005 Race Scoring Letters to the editor: Mike or Jean Hauser 749 Maltman Dr Grass Valley, CA Or send to: mike@gvblueprint.com Inside this issue: Soundings Bruce Cutshall Vice Commodore Lund Words to the Wise Bark-o-lounger Samuelson Membership/Publicity New Race Scoring Secretaries Report Board Meeting Letters From the Editors Thanks Hugh!... Membership Application Renewal Soundings From The Poop-deck Commodore Bruce Cutshall Wind from Willow Vice Commodore -Jeffery Lund March 2005 My thoughts are turning towards cruising this month. For the last couple of years Jean and I have taken a short, four day cruise in the bay and stopped at a couple of Clubs on the way. We would like to open an invitation to fellow members to join us. Right now the plan is to leave Alameda on the morning of June 17 th which is a Friday, and sail to Benicia. The plan is to stay in Benicia for two nights. Sunday we will sail back across San Pablo Bay and stay at either the Corinthian Yacht club in Tiburon or the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere. We have done this for the last couple of years and had an absolute blast! Last year we were able to do burgee exchanges with the Corinthian and the Benicia Yacht Club. Both Clubs are very welcoming and gracious. This wouldn t be restricted to just the larger boats that are already in the Bay. Benicia has good launching facilities so our trailer sailors could participate as well. There is great sailing to be had between the two bridges plus the area around the ghost fleet has its charm as well. A trip up the Napa River wouldn t be out of the question either. So who is interested? Let me know and I will do my best to make sure that as many boats as possible will be accommodated. The best way to contact me is through my which is bruce@comprepco.com. Benicia is a fun little town with several great restaurants and shopping opportunities, Come join us. All you fellow cruisers will want to attend the April General meeting. Ed Guinaugh will take you aboard a 63 foot Cheoy Lee motorsailer on a trip from Ft. Lauderdale, through the Panama Canal to Golfito, Costa Rica.See you at the General Meetings.

2 PAGE 2...A LITTLE DINGHY VOLUME 24 ISSUE 3 At Our Helm Words to the Wise Don Samuelson Commodore Bruce Cutshall bruce@comprepco.com Vice Commodore Jeff Lund jeff@sierranetworks.com Secretary Karen Fellows Treasurer Jean Cutshall bruce@comprepco.com Cruise Chairmen Don Samuelson-Gary Wade Publicity/Membership Beth Buti bcbuti@yahoo.com Port Captain Hugh Talman Race Chairman Jerry Lewis jerryl@editware.com Newsletter Editors Mike & Jean Hauser mike@gvblueprint.com Junior Sailing Lynn Buchanan lynn@sailynn.com The Armchair Sailor s Review or Lazy-boy Musings The book that I m reviewing this month is in THE BOX. At least I put it there when I finished reading it. Again, the book is called, Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz. This book was published in 2002 so it should be easier to buy if you don t find it in THE BOX and you get super anxious about that sort of thing. If you do that you will probably have to go, on line as they say. You will probably go to, EBay or something like that. Then you will have to give out your VISA card number or your Social Security number or some other very duplicatable info that will really get you in trouble in the long run. You see I don t do much on the internet or the computer either. Being kind of an old guy I generally stick to paper and pencil. I digress. The book is really entitled, Blue Latitudes: boldly going where Captain Cook has gone before. (I d underline that title but can t figure out how to do it on the computer.) Before Tony can go to where Captain Cook has gone before, boldly, he decides that he must sail in a ship that is the same as the one that the good Captain used in He signs on as crew on a boat that very closely replicates one of Cooks boats. During this relatively short cruise Tony shares with the reader what small, cramped space, mediocre food, grog, and very tough sailing is all about. After recovering from that grueling trip he starts to not quite so boldly go where Captain Cook went. On the many adventures that follow Tony has a friend with him. This friend is an Australian, Englishman, or an English, Australian; I m never quite sure. He talks a lot about, Blokes and, Shielas. At any rate, Roger, although hung over, is usually along for the ride. He tries to help out, or to give a different perspective on things. This reader thinks that Roger might in reality be Tony s alter ego. But, I ll leave that decision up to you. The author has done a tremendous amount of historical research to put this book together. He does a lot of comparing what the world was like in Captain Cook s time as to what it is like today. He delves into the society of Cook s day and how it affected the human interactions on board his ship. The author also gets into Cooks brain and shares what Cook was thinking when he was on his voyages of discovery. Imagine taking off on a very small ship that doesn t sail well to windward. It s cram packed with provisions and crew; going out on vast, dangerous oceans; and running into unknown people and places. I didn t realize that besides all of the other stuff he did Cook was directed to find the fabled Northwest Passage as well as head down to the South Pole to find out if there was another continent down there. While the author follows Cooks voyages and discoveries he relates what the modern day occupants of these places are like. From Tahitian, gay bars to dreary Aleutian Island army posts; from the dispiriting museums of North Yorkshire to the seedy ports of Indonesia our intrepid pair of voyeurs travel along Cook s path. They encounter many discoveries of their own. You will find yourself laughing out loud. (This could be an embarrassment if you are in a quiet crowd so pretend you are on your cell phone.) Go ahead, laugh. It s a good book. And best of all, if you are really quick you might find it in THE BOX before someone else gets to it. A Bark-o-lounger FOR SALE: 1980 Catalina 30 Fin Keel, Wheel, Traditional Interior, MOB Pole, Macerator, and Life Sling. New Since 2003; Standing Rigging, Profurler, 130 RF Jib,Garmin GPSMAP 168 Sounder Chart/plotting Receiver- Depth Finder, Garhauer Traveller, 2 Deep Cycle Batteries, Battery Charger, Refrigerator, Microwave, Refrigerator, Interior Lights, Interior Cushions & Upholstery, Cockpit C-Cushions and stern SS Swim Ladder. $18,900 OBO Lynn or Dale

3 PAGE 3 Racing News New Club Race Scoring for A LITTLE DINGHY VOLUME 24 ISSUE 3 Race Chairman-Jerry Lewis The Club Race Season is again split into Spring and Summer with the 2005 addition of a fun series intended for "dinghies only" for the Fall (not counted toward overall championship). The Racing format for 2005 is similar to previous years, except for the points awarded for finishing. Rather than counting the place finished as the points awarded and the lowest score wins, the score will be the number of boats beaten and the highest score wins. This makes it easier to compile the scores as the season progresses (the DNC score will not be kept and hence not have to be recalculated with every race that brings out more boats than before) and rewards sailing well against more competitors with more points. An example would be in a race date that has five boats show up. Boat X wins one race, places 2nd in other two. Previous scoring would have been 5 points and the lowest points overall for the season would be the winner. But in 'boats beat' scoring, the points would be 5, 4, 4 = 13 total points (the last place boat always gets 1 point for showing up, hence you add your own finish to the point total of each race). The next race date, the same Boat X has 9 other boats on the starting line (total of 10) and doesn't do quite so well this time, getting a 4th place and two 5th place finishes. Old low-point scoring would have been 14 points (added to the overall total favoring the lowest score, not so good), but the new scoring of 'boats beat' would give 7, 6 and 6 for 'high point' scoring of 19; much better than the prior race date even though he finished further back in the pack - but it was a bigger pack! If you have any concerns, questions or suggestions about the 2005 Club Race Season in general and the new scoring in particular, please come early (5:30pm) to the March meeting at Larry & Lena's Pizza to discuss before the regular eating/meeting starts. May all your shifts be lifts, Jerry Membership/Publicity Chairperson Beth Buti Membership forms are due! No new members this month. But membership forms and checks are due. After March, there will be a $10 late fee. Bring your forms to the meeting or send them in to the address located on the bottom of the form. Hope to see you all at the meeting! Beth Buti Editors Note The member ship renewal form is on page 5 If you ve renewed already Talk about your sport, your Club and share the application with a friend.

4 Page 4...A LITTLE DINGHY VOLUME 24 ISSUE 3 Secretaries Report - Board Meeting January 4, It was a great Board Meeting. Tune in next Month for the Details. Letters From the Editors Mike & Jean Hauser I d like to say it s Hugh s fault but my Dad probably shares as much blame So our project fairy drops by to let me know that he has a sail boat in need of finishing, I d like to run an ad, he says. Suckered in I say, (think Home Improvement s Tim Allen now).. ARRUGHH??, sail boat? Why yes, says Hugh, It just needs finishing Flash back 45 years, my Dad, the boy from Iowa who had probably not been on a sailboat at that time, gets talked into building an El Toro for my brothers & I by one of his friends. A few months later, Saints be praised, I have a blue home built El Toro...well Hospital Basement built (it was his hospital so he could do what ever he wanted in the basement)... to race around our backyard lagoon in Corte Madera, Marin County. Windy gulch as my Mother was want to say. Flash forward 45 years.. I m thinking I ve got two little Grandsons.. by the time I get done Eli will be well over 2 years old and Ezra about 3 months old...old enough to learn from the master in their own sail boat...you know..wax on,wax off little grasshoppers.. Hugh, I ll take that boat!, I said. Two days later the project fairy brings me a jar full of this and a paper bag of that. Actually it is a finishing and re-assembly job. I ve spent two weekends now sanding, gluing back pieces, fiberglasing broken parts, and painting replacement seats. All the wood & trim except the rudder and keel are in pretty used shape so I decided to replace and or paint rather than varnish. When I get to it, the hull will be bright yellow so Eli and Ezra can be easily spotted when they dump the thing. You know they will.probably intentionally...like I did. Catch me sometime and I ll tell you about using the parents patio umbrella on the El Toro as a Chute. Ever seen an El Toro plane?? Well anyway, thanks Project Fairy.um...I mean Hugh. What s your story?? Send it to Mike or Jean...mike@gvblueprint.com...or call

5 Gold Country Yacht Club 2005 Renewal/ Membership Application Form Name: Home Phone: Work: FAX: Spouse: Participating Children(ages): Mailing Address: City: Zip: Boat Name: Type/Class/Design: Year: Sail No.: Boat Ownership is not a prerequistie for membership. Because this is a working club, every member is expected to help in some way. What would you like to do? Are you interested in ( )Racing ( ) Cruising ( ) Jr. Sailing Program ( ) Other Would you like instruction in: ( ) Boat Safety ( ) Boat Care ( ) Crewing ( ) Racing ( ) Racing Tactics ( ) Racing Rules ( ) Sail Trim ( ) Rigging ( ) Other What other hobbies do you have? How did you hear about us? ( ) Regular/Renewal membership is $65.00 per year and includes monthly newsletter, discounts and participation in all club activities. ( ) New Member $75 (includes $10 initiation fee) ( ) Renewal ($10 late fee if renewed after April 1 st )Member since ( ) Supporting membership is $35 and includes the monthly newsletter and attendance at monthly meetings. ( ) US Sailing membershhip (additional, see below) ( ) $40 Individual ( ) $60 Family Membership ( ) I wish to make a donation to the RBOC* $10.00 Other amount I agree to waive all claims against the Gold Country Yacht Club and its officers for any reason and join the club knowing the risks involved. Signed: Date: Make checks payable to: Gold Country Yacht Club Dues and other correspondence should be mailed to: Gold Country Yacht Club P.O. Box 813 Grass Valley, CA Go through GCYC to join US SAILING as an Individual or Family member of the US SAILING Golden Anchor Program. Fee for Individual membership is $40 (normally $50), Family membership is $60 (normally $70). GCYC receives a $10 credit for each new membership for purchase of items through US SAILING if you join by April 1 st. These items are used for our Junior/Adult Sailing programs. Please add this amount to your normal GCYC membership fee or attach a separate check. Split billing is available for combined GCYC & US SAILING dues. ( )SPLIT - $65 payment due by April 1, remaining $65 due by June 1 ($5 service charge included). *RBOC stands for Recreational Boaters of California.

6 March 2005 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat April 2005 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat General Meeting March 9th 7:00pm Larry & Lena s Pizza -Alta Sierra March 19th - 1st Race Spring Series General Meeting April 13th 7:00pm At this writing Larry & Lena s Pizza -Alta Sierra April 9th - 2nd Race Spring Series April 17-3rd race Spring Series ATTENTION: OUR MEETING THIS MONTH WILL BE AT Larry & Lena s Pizza. Gold Country Yacht Club P.O. Box 813 Grass Valley, CA Phone (530) bruce@comprepco.com We re on the Web! Look for us at -