A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

SPLASH! 619 River St Port Huron, MI 48060 September 2011 A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE What a great summer for our Squadron. We appreciate all the effort and hard work our chairpersons and their committees put into each event to make them successful, THANK YOU. I am amazed at how well each event came together and as Commander I am very proud of all our members and the great job everyone does. We look forward to our fall and winter activities with enthusiasm. Please plan to attend and continue to support the Squadron and the committees that work hard to make them happen. This past weekend there were several members of our Squadron who attended the Great Lakes Cruising Club Rally in St Clair. Friday evening kicked off with dinner and a very entertaining band. Saturday afternoon we participated in the Dinghy Ride up the Pine River which included a water fight of which some of our members participated and we understand they ran into town just hours before to purchase their awesome weapons. Saturday evening after dinner some members participated in bowling. I am pleased to tell you P/C Judy LaPorte s very first bowling score ever recorded was 112.way to go P/C Judy! The GLCC is a great group of boaters and I would encourage you to get to know them. Our Squadron continues to grow because of members like you. I challenge each member to invite one person to join us at our General Membership Meetings or Rendezvous, a great way to get prospective members to find out what we are all about. CDR Teena Lashbrook, P Inside this issue Executive Officer 2 Education Officer 3 Administrative Officer 4 Safety Report 5 Grayfox Cruise 6 Calendar 7 General meeting 8 Thanks to all who participate and are involved, to those sitting dockside we want you, get in and test the water! Boating Is Fun, We ll Show You How!! CDR Teena Lashbrook, P Your 2011 Bridge Commander CDR Teena Lashbrook, P 810-434-7267 teenalashbrook@hotmail.com Executive Officer Lt/C Mike Bachler, P 810-987-5167 bachlermphps@yahoo.com SEO Lt/C Richard Haas, P 810-320-6720 dhaasphps@comcast.net Administrative Officer Lt/C Dale Lashbrook, P 810-300-5023 d2lash@hotmail.com Secretary Lt/C Colette Witherspoon, JN 810-984-0216 cwitherspoon@workingdiver.com Treasurer P/C James McDonald, P 810-984-8084 mcduck245@hotmail.com Asst Treasurer P/C Robert Frohm, AP 810-385-5025 Asst Secretary Lt/C Virginia McLellan, S 810-984-2146 virrik7@hotmail.com

Page 22 Splash SPLASH!! Lt/C Mike Bachler, P Executive Officer This boating season so far was incredible lots of great weather and many opportunities to participate in the fine art of boating along with the many fun events provided by our Power Squadron. Thank you Comcast Parade of Lights Committee for making this year s Boat Parade the best ever fore it is your efforts that make it all possible. Also thank you Teena and Dale Lashbrook for running the meetings during my voyage back from Tarpon Springs, Florida. Everything went very well and we had a lot of spectators along the shores of the Black River cheering the passing boats with their shimmering reflections on the water. The Times Herald also published a very nice article about this special event. Congratulations to John and Ann Kendrick for taking a 1 st place in the 30ft. + Power Boat Class in the Comcast Parade of Lights, great job! Thank you Mike Nall and float committee for your efforts in the Rotary Street Parade. Your boat looked great as it represented our Port Huron Power Squadron in the parade. We passed out lots of candy to the children and pamphlets to the adults. The signs looked great, what a billboard! September is in the air and the boating season is still with us as we drive our vessels on the calm fall waters that still retain the leftover warmth of the summer. May the air be gentle and waves kind as we finish out the season with family and friends in land of sky blue waters. Lt/C Mike Bachler, P

v September 2011 Calendar Page 7 Education Department Lt/C Dick Haas, SEO As we begin the new academic year we start thinking of ways to fill our time since our boats are put up for the winter. There are projects to be completed around the house, plans for next year's boating plans to be worked on, and of course time we can improve our boating skills and knowledge. USPS has a wide variety of classes and seminars available. We will be offering several classes during the year and a number of seminars in the spring. The following are what we will be offering in the Fall: 03 Oct to 12 Dec - Piloting - Piloting is the first of the navigational classes focusing on techniques for piloting a boat in coastal and inland conditions. The course emphasizes planning and checking along with the use of GPS for determining position, and introduces digital charting along with traditional charting, compass and dead reckoning skills. Plotting, labeling, use of the compass, aids to navigation and a host of related topics are included in this all-new approach to coastal and inland piloting. Location: Port Huron Power Squadron Headquarter, 619 River Street, Port Huron. Time: First night 6:30 to 9:00pm. Cost: Members - $65.00 Non-Members - $165.00 Contact Dick Haas at 810-320-6720 or dhaasphps@comcast.net not later than 14 September so materials can be ordered. 06 Oct to 10 Nov - America's Boating Course, 3rd Edition - Basic boating class designed to familiarize the student with the fundamentals of safe boating and qualify for certification in most states that require boating education before operating a watercraft. Includes Introduction to Boating, Boating Law, Boat Safety Equipment, Safe Boating. Course is six (6) weeks long and requires passing an end-of-course test. Location: Great Lakes Cruising Club Headquarters, 405 water Street, Port Huron. Time: First night 6:30 to 9:00pm. Cost: $35.00 Six month trial membership included upon completion of the course. To pre-register or more information contact Robert Mattson at 810-984-3298 or rrmattson@hotmail.com. Lt/C Dick Haas, AP

Page 4 September 2011 Lt/C Dale Lashbrook, P Administrative Officer As the song goes, its been quite a summer. It has been packed with many successful projects and outings (the old standbys Pig Roast, Mackinaw Family Night, Mac Party, Dry Ice Sale, Lighted Boat Parade; to name a few) due to the hard work of many, many Squadron members. I m not going to try to thank everyone, because there isn t enough room. However, I want to mention few new (or revived) events this year and their committees. On June 13 we had a Dingy Rendezvous to Bogey s for dinner organized by Dan & Barb Busen. Thirty people attended, about half arrived by land the other half by sea. It was great fun. Mike Nall and Howard Sherman s committee put together a great float representing The Port Huron Power Squadron in the Rotary International Day Street Parade. We passed out nearly 3000 pieces of candy to the kids and several hundred pamphlets regarding life jacket safety to the adults along the parade route. It was great exposure for the Squadron and its mission. On July 27 (the fourth Tuesday) we had a cookout at the Squadron (in the style of the Second Sunday dinners). About thirty five members attended. Also, six participants from the lighted boat parade attended. Two of them became members. Don Bacon and his rendezvous committee have planned several great rendezvous this year. However, the one to Ralph Molinaro s home marina at Elba-Mar on Grosse Ile may well be the highlight of the season. It was spectacular fun and the Elba-Mar group treated us like Royalty. Now back to work, fall is almost here and we have several things yet to accomplish before the next Change of Watch in January 2012. Please review the Squadron calendar for September, October and November. The Grayfox Cruise is set for September 17 th. Specific details will be forwarded to you shortly or call me (810-300-5023) or Leonard LaPorte (810-689-8187) if you have questions. This Cruise is especially for our members that do not currently own boats (of course everyone is invited) and gives them a chance for an enjoyable outing on the water. The final rendezvous of the season (the Frostbite Cruise) will be to St. Clair Harbor on September 23rd 25 th. Please join us, everyone is welcome. Remember the General Membership meetings start up again September 27, 2011. This month s program speaker is Jim Eastman, from Bay City, speaking on Senior Boating. The meeting will be at the Great Lakes Cruising Club (405 Water Street) 6:30 social hour 7:30 program and meeting The Fall D-9 Conference is at Shanty Creek October 28 th 30 th. Why not combine a fall weekend Color Tour with the Fall Conference? It should be beautiful up there that time of year. Call me for information if you wish to attend. Lt/C Dale Lashbrook, P

September 2011 Calendar Safety Report Page 5 Seaworthy Magazine: Why Boats Sink (And How to Keep Them Afloat) The cost of repairing a boat that has been underwater, even briefly, is usually about 40% of its value. Besides having to pay the deductible, the skipper typically loses the use of the boat for several weeks while it is being repaired. The best defense against a dockside sinking? Visit your boat. And, at least twice a season, inspect any fittings above or below the waterline that could be letting water into the boat. All too often, skippers rely on bilge pumps to bail them out when they can t visit their boats. The pump fails and the boat sinks. If you can t visit your boat regularly, consider using a buddy system with other boat owners to watch each other s boats. Modern boats sink for a variety of reasons, which is the point of this discussion. According to the BoatU.S. Marine Insurance claim files, for every boat that sinks underway, four boats sink in their slips. There are two reasons for this discrepancy. One reason is whenever a boat leaves the dock, someone is aboard, which leaves open the possibility that the leak will be discovered and the problem corrected before it sinks the boat. And, reason # 2, boats tend to spend a majority of their time at the dock. Why Boats Sink at the Dock The handsome sport fisherman had been an impressive floating beauty when the owner left the marina on Monday afternoon, barely 13 hours earlier, which is why he was having so much trouble believing that it was his boat that was on the bottom when the call came from the marina manager. There were five bilge pumps aboard, all of which were working. How could his boat have sunk so quickly? The answer was traced to a cracked generator intake hose, which, according to the surveyor s report, may have been leaking steadily for weeks or even months. The bilge pumps kept the water out until the batteries (and the pumps) died and the boat filled with water. BoatU.S. Marine Insurance claim #970083A. When a boat sinks at the dock, the question most likely to be asked is: What happened to the bilge pump? That s the wrong question, however. By dutifully emptying the bilge periodically, a bilge pump can actually hide a problem--until the pump clogs or the battery goes dead. Water, not bilge pumps, sinks boats. The correct question should be: Where did the water come from? For an answer, BoatU.S. Marine Insurance examined 100 claim files of boats that sank in their slips. Prevention: Protecting Your Boat Visiting Your Boat: The First Line of Defense Against a Dockside Sinking If you need a reason to visit your boat more often, consider that the cost of repairing a boat that has been underwater, even briefly, is usually about 40% of its value. Besides having to pay the deductible, the skipper typically loses the use of the boat for several weeks while it is being repaired. At least twice a season, inspect any fittings above or below the waterline that could be letting water into the boat. All too often, skippers rely on bilge pumps to bail them out when they can t visit their boats. The pump fails and the boat sinks. If you can t visit your boat regularly, consider using a buddy system with other boat owners to watch each other s boats. Another alternative is to ask your marina manager to keep an eye on the boat. Many marinas offer routine inspections, but usually at an extra cost. Respectfully Yours, P/C Mark S. Krainbrink, AP

September 2011 Page 6 Grayfox Picnic Cruise We just received the information for the Gray Fox Picnic Cruise. Is it possible to add this information to the bottom of one of our articles or put it in someplace in the Splash? Whatever you can do to get this in would be appreciated. Gray Fox Picnic Cruise Saturday, September 17, 2011 Boat leaves the Gray Fox dock promptly at 1:00 pm What to bring: Deck Chairs Adult beverages of your choice If you bring children - be sure to have their life jackets as the Gray Fox does not have children's life jackets. What is provided: Hot dogs Potato Salad Chips Soft drinks Maximum 80 people RSVP requested - P/C Leonard LaPorte 810-689-8187 Pollock Randall Funeral Home Inc. Jeannie Hall Rob Hall Insurance 2246 N. Lapeer Road P.O. Box 910 Lapeer, MI 48446-0910 (810)664-1814 (810) 664-7222 Fax (800) 875-4255 Long Distance jhall3@farmersagent.com 910 Lapeer Avenue 1200 Michigan Avenue Port Huron, MI 48060 Marysville, MI 48040 (810) 982-0179 (810) 364-7100 Fax (810) 982-1118 Fax (810) 364-3797 Pollockrandallfuneralhome.com marysvillefuneralhome.com John W. Kendrick Ann Randall-Kendrick Barbara J. Randall

September 2011 Calendar Page Page 7 9 September 13 September Executive committee Mtg. 7:30pm PHPS HQ 17 September Grayfox Picnic Cruise 1:00pm Grayfox Dock 23-25 September Rendezvous-frostbite Cruise Fri-Sun St Clair Harbor 27 September General Membership 7:30pm* Great Lakes Cruising Club October 02 October Lay-up Breakfast 9:00-11:00am PHPS HQ 11 October Executive Committee Mtg. 7:30 pm PHPS HQ 25 October General Membership Mtg. 7:30pm* Great Lakes Cruising Club 28-30 October D/9 Fall Conference Fri-Sun Shanty Creek * Social Hour precedes the General Membership meetings starting at 6:30pm September General Meeting 25 October, 2011 7:30pm The featured speaker for the September general meeting is Jim Eastman author of the new and ground breaking The Book for Senior Boaters and a mid-michigan native. The presentation will be part of his Michigan Book Signing and Speaking tour. Jim s Book has been described as informative, eye opening, a real wake up call, on point and entertaining. A Book that gives Senior Boaters the recognition and focus they deserve within the boating community.

Port Huron Power Squadron A unit of United States Power Squadron 27 September, 2011 Sept General Membership Mtg Great Lakes Cruising Club 405 Water St., Port Huron SPLASH! 619 River St Port Huron, MI 48060