|
|
|
|
Upcoming Events
Monday, September 21 - Meeting Night - Speaker to be announced. Look for details coming soon!
September 18 to 20 - Pender Harbour Cruise and Jazz Festival - Great music, great friends! A perfect combination! See details below in Cruise Coordinator's Corner.
TBA - False Creek Raft Up - We'll raft up, share some appies, share some stories, and enjoy great company! Stay tuned for a date and details to come.
Past, current and incoming Power Squadron members are all welcome at Squadron Nights, held on the third Monday of each month. We meet at the False Creek Yacht Club on the north shore of False Creek under the Granville Street Bridge. The doors open at 7:00 pm, the event begins at 7:30 pm. We look forward to seeing you there!
|
|
|
 From the Commander's Log....
What a summer cruising season we had aboard our vessel, Main Attraction!
Isabela Booth and I decided to spend 25 days out in Desolation Sound / Discovery Islands over the month of August. Our first time in this area, we planned a counter-clockwise cruising plan, starting in Secret Cove, where we found the Upper Deck Café (the marina's restaurant) to be a very nice meal. Next stop was Lund, where you can book a 1947 Hudson taxi to take you to the Laughing Oyster restaurant (also a delicious meal) and will return you back to the marina, all for a simple donation to the SPCA or other animal shelter! Prideaux Haven, Roscoe Bay, swimming in Black Lake, the warm waters of the north end of Pendrell Sound (a NO WAKE ZONE for the preservation of the natural oyster spatfall), Walsh Cove and the pictographs, Refuge Cove hamburgers, Cassel Lake Falls, Hole-in-the-Wall, Octopus Islands, Rebecca Spit/Hariot Bay, Gorge Harbour (more pictographs), Squirrel Cove, Powell River, Pender Harbour, and Gibsons…. what a trip!
But no trip would be complete without a good story.
Anchor’s “Away"
 Upon weighing anchor at Cassel Lake Falls, at the end of Teakerne Arm, we found our ground tackle to be snagged. This area is notorious for snags as it was the site of a former booming ground, where loggers heaved felled trees over the falls from Cassel Lake to collect them for transport via the sea. The fresh water falls into the salt water of Teakerne Arm are spectacular! Upon trying to break the anchor free to bring up the chain, we found the windlass struggling to manage against the weight of debris tangled up in our rode, which eventually gave up and burned out, making retrieving the rode impossible. For those who don’t know, Desolation Sound is made up of fjords, with very high mountains, steep shores and deep waters, less than a mile wide. And spectacular scenery.
Not being able to revive my windlass, I dragged the entire bar-tight mess over to the shallowest spot I could find: 130 feet deep, 50 feet from shore. I jettisoned the entire ground tackle overboard after tying a buoy to the bitter end, coiling up and tying off the length of nylon that was too long for the depth, drawing a picture of an anchor on the buoy, along with the name of my vessel and phone number in indelible ink. I would have to make plans to retrieve it later.
Cell service is tricky in Desolation Sound. You need to be out in the middle of the main arteries of the sound to pick up a signal, which I did. I called several marinas, asking who they might recommend as a commercial diver to help rescue my gear. They all said the same person. Call “BARNACLE.” Not discouraged enough to cut our vacation short, I called “Barnacle" and made plans to meet up with him a few days later in Gorge Harbour, as we planned to continue our trip alongside friends of ours, with whom we could raft next to. So we continued on, exploring and enjoying all that the Discovery Islands have to offer, knowing that once our friends had to leave, we would be faced with marina-hopping stops for the remainder our days left cruising. And that day came at Rebecca Spit.
Upon securing a slip for the night at Hariot Bay, right next to Rebecca Spit, I noticed an old sea sled landing craft (complete with a derrick) arrive and find its slip. I knew that this was the machine I needed to act as a windlass to lift my rode, so I approached the skipper to find out if his vessel was for hire. I met 84 year old retired BC logger Harper Graham, who was all ready to help me out with his 1940’s war-time landing craft Gung-Ho, as long as it was “next week!” So, next week it would be.
 We rolled into Gorge Harbour, having booked a slip for the night, and managed to meet Barnacle in person. He lives on a 60-foot ketch, matte-black, with a pirate’s flag flying at the top of the mainmast, right in the middle of the harbour on a mooring ball. I explained that I had hired some equipment to assist in the anchor retrieval, and we agreed to meet at Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island a few days later to head back up to Cassel Lake Falls for the job.
That day came, and we all met up and headed back up Teakerne Arm. Barnacle donned his dive gear to see if he could find where the nylon rode met the chain, so that he could attach the hook from the end of the derrick on Harper’s sea sled to pull the whole thing up. But the chain was too deep for the sea sled’s hook, so Barnacle and I decided to attach a mooring line, the eye splice end looped onto the submerged derrick hook, and apply a rolling hitch to the rode. We would lift that ground tackle up by brute force. Barnacle resurfaced, jumped aboard Harper’s sled, and we began to lift, 20 feet at a time, the whole lot.
Now’s probably a good time to say that the total length of my ground tackle is 575 feet: 300 feet of nylon octoplait and 275 feet of G4 chain. Using the derrick, which wasn’t the fastest winch in the world, meant we could only pull 20 feet at a time, but I digress...
Once we had managed to lift all 300 feet of nylon rode aboard to grab the chain, we switched to chain hooks. This was much easier than employing a rolling hitch, since snubbing off the rode to release the load on the derrick’s hook to re-lower and reapply the rolling hitch was time-consuming. Then came the moment of truth. The sea sled began to pitch forward, and the derrick began to whine and bend. Suddenly, there was a tremendous "BANG, BANG, BANG!" as the debris unraveled itself from my chain. The sea sled pitched backwards in relief, having lost the tremendous load of the snag. Barnacle yanked up the remaining chain, and there was my anchor, unscathed, now aboard the sea sled. Five hours of work later, we hand-over-handed it back aboard my vessel into it’s anchor locker, and we were done. The chain had wrapped itself around a submerged log, yet the anchor had been free. An anchor tripping device wouldn’t have helped. And I couldn’t have done it without Barnacle, or Harper’s vessel, Gung-Ho.
 
We can’t wait to go back!
Moral of the story? Accidents can happen to anyone, regardless of your level of training. Knowing what to do can make the difference between a vacation enjoyed, or a vacation lost. In this case, Seamanship, including the knowledge of lines and knots (i.e. rolling hitch), made all the difference.
Every cruising season, we set about fulfilling our mission of teaching safe boating education to the general public starting in the Fall — to folks interested in boats and boating. And every year, we ask the same question: What kind of boater are you, or what kind of boater do you want to be?
We can divide on-the-water interests into a few broad categories:
- Human-powered (SUP, kayak, canoe, etc.)
- Small craft powered (10-hp motors and up, waterskiing, inner-tubing, fishing)
- Coastal cruising (weekend, overnight stays, anchoring)
- Sailing
- Advanced coastal cruising (longer journeys, conning, exploring our world-class coastline)
- Blue water cruising (celestial navigation, circumnavigation, international/world-wide destinations)
The best part about these categories is that you can ask also yourself “What kind of boater do I want to be?” Make sure you simply have the basics required to avoid fines? Sharpen your skills to tackle more ambitious goals? Either way, we can help you build upon your knowledge to feel confident on the water and return home safely.
NOW is the time to take the course you’ve been thinking about. Try out a new topic you may have been thinking of. Tell your friends that they can, too! Gather some friends and take a course together! Don’t wait, courses start now!
Fair winds and calm seas,
|
|
|
|
Join Us for Squadron Nights!
Our next meeting will be Monday, September 21.
Speaker to be announced!
Come join us after our summer cruising season and visit old friends, meet new friends, and share some stories.
Squadron Nights provide a great opportunity to socialize with fellow boaters, find out what’s happening in the squadron, and experience fun and fascinating guest speakers. If you haven’t attended before, we meet in the FalseCreek Yacht Club pub. Guests are welcome! Be sure to mark your calendar for the third Monday evening of each month. We look forward to seeing you!
|
|
|
COURSE SIGNAGE
It’s that time of year again! It's time to put our lawn signs out, advertising the boatingcourses.ca website and our courses starting this fall.
Cara Duffield
Public Relations Officer
|
|
|
Education News
We start our fall training program on September 15 at Prince of Wales School with Boating Essentials (BE). Then we have Boating Basics, both in English and Mandarin, providing the basics as well as Transport Canada’s requirements for a Pleasure Craft Operator Card, which starts on November 17.
Boating Essentials adds to Boating Basics with a lot of practical knowledge on topics such as chart reading, plotting courses and fixes, anchoring, environmental responsibilities, and more. It is the kind of information essential for boaters on our Pacific Coast and crossing the Strait of Georgia.
The best way that I have heard our students to describe these two courses are:
Boating Basics gets you out boating, while Boating Essentials gets you home safely!
The full program of courses and start dates are:
We are offering Boating Essentials before Boating Basics, because many people coming to Boating Essentials already have their Pleasure Craft Operators Card (PCOC), often from another organization, and so do not have to take Boating Basics first. We want to capture those interested in Boating Essentials at the beginning of the training season, before they have an opportunity to sign on elsewhere.
Those without a PCOC are able to take that course after completing Boating Essentials.
For those who want to take an evening radio course, we will still be offering our three-evening course at Prince of Wales School, but for those that want a one-day weekend course, we are offering a course every month during October, November, and December at Jericho Sailing Centre.
We encourage students to enroll online, so that we can monitor the interest of our courses. If we do not have adequate attendance, the class may have to be cancelled
How to sign up for courses:
Go to boatingcourses.ca.
Click on British Columbia (on right).
Scroll down and click on Vancouver (on right).
Scroll down & click on the name of the course that you want, remember to check the date.
Click on Register for the course that you want.
 Scroll down and click on Register online. |
|
|
|
SOCIAL MEDIA WORKING FOR VPS
In an effort to entice new members and to bring new students to our courses, we’ve been focused on building our social media footprint this summer. Stories about our cruises, articles about boating safety and cross-promotion with other Squadrons has led to a bigger presence. However, we could use all the help we can get, especially to promote our upcoming fall courses.
If you are a member of Facebook or Twitter, please use the above links to find us.
1) Click Like on our Facebook page or Follow on our Twitter profile and you will increase the number of people who will see our posts.
2) Click Like or Share on any of our Facebook posts or click Re-Tweet or Favorite on Twitter, to exponentially increase the number of people we can reach.
Even if you are not a member of these sites, please encourage your friends and family use these links. Social media uses algorithms to determine who actually sees the content we post. As more people interact with our Facebook and Twitter profiles, those algorithms enhance our visibility.
The more people we can reach, the more potential students we can have and the better we can help educate our fellow boaters.
Cara Duffield
Public Relations Officer
|
|
|
Photos courtesy of Jerry Powers
|
|
|
 Cruise Coordinator's Corner
by Cruise Coordinator Ingrid McLaine,
cruisecoordinator@vpsboat.org
We have some exciting cruises planned from June until September 2015! All the cruises take place over the weekend, but if you can’t make it up on a Friday, no problem! Just come up on the Saturday.
- TBA - False Creek Raft Up
We’ll raft up in False Creek just off of David Lam Park (Yaletown) around 5 pm.
Please bring appy’s to share.
If you don’t have a boat, let me know and we will arrange pick up by dingy (see contact info below).
- Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20 - Pender Harbour (weekend of Jazz Festival)
Pender Harbour is 48 nautical miles from Vancouver. To reserve, please call Garden Bay
Marina (604-883-2674) and tell them that you’re with the Vancouver Power and Sail Squadron. (Please also let me know if you will be attending, see my contact info below). 
If you’re coming by ferry, go to Horseshoe Bay and take the Langdale ferry to Langdale. It then takes about an hour to drive to Pender Harbour where accommodation can be booked.
Itinerary (Optional):
Friday
6 pm - Meet up at Garden Bay Pub
Saturday
11 am - Walk/check out Jazz Festival activities
5 pm - BBQ at VPS member Don White’s dock
If you're interested in attending any the cruises listed above, or if you have any questions, please call or text Ingrid Mclaine at 778-879-9024 or email me (cruisecoordinator@vpsboat.org).
If you have any ideas for future cruises, please let me know!
|
|
|
|
WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL 2015
The Wooden Boat festival was fun this year, with the weather making it an eventful one. In all, we spoke to 53 people over the four days of the festival.
Thanks to all those who came out to man the booth: Jeff Booth, Peter Girling, Bill Blancard, Michael Spissinger, Daniel Blackman, Norm Walker and Geoffery Tang. Special thanks go to Isabela Booth, Terry Friesen and Eardley Beaton for braving the high winds and rain on Saturday.
|
|
|
|
HELP WANTED
VPSS has an amazing history, and some of that
 history has been captured in photos over the years. The bridge would like to digitize these photos in order to create digital albums of all the great activities we have enjoyed over the years; to remember members, past and present.
Therefore, we are looking for some volunteers who would be willing to take on this project. If you are interested in helping our squadron to honour those memories, and have some thoughts about how it could be done, please reach out to Commander Jeff Booth or Historian Dennis Steeves, either by phone or email, and let them know.
Be part of a fantastic legacy project honouring Vancouver Squadron’s 60 years of service!
|
|
|
|
RVCC SAFETY CHECKS
If you'd like to have a safety check done, please contact Jerry Powers at
604-921-8896, or jwpowers@shaw.ca
|
|
|
Photos courtesy of Jerry Powers
|
|
For Sale
2009 Aluminum Boathouse 52 X 26 Currently at Mosquito Creek.
Boat entrance: door height is at least 22’ 8”; automated roll up door with remotes, UHMW sliders on side of doors
Floor: 3/4 inch plywood with non slip paint
Electrical: 100 amp/24 circuit 110 volt panel. Multiple outlets, fluorescent lights, shore power is 120/50 amp marine twist lock.
Has a mezzanine with staircase and railing.
Multiple 8 ft translucent skylights. Currently houses a 36 Grand Banks with mast up.
$90,000
Phone 604-943-4602
|
|
|
For Sale
2 x Mustang Cruiser Suits
1 x X-Small (to fit 86-91/34-36") Sea Horse Series model SH-475, $85.00
1 x Large (to fit 112-117cm/44-46") MS-475, Squadron Class, $165.00
Both for $210.00.
Very little use, like new.
If interested, call John Steede 604-230-0848
|
|
|
|
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
22nd Annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup 2015
Rain or Shine!
To all my fellow squadron members, I am seeking volunteers to participate in the 22nd Annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Squadron members, their families, and friends are urged to attend. Everybody has a great time at this event; the sharing of stories, meeting new friends, and perhaps even bragging rights on the most usual item found!
This year we have the best location we have selected for a cleanup; a beautiful view of our city, the mountains and lots of beach.
Supplies such as latex gloves, garbage bags, sharps containers, pencils, and clipboards for recording your results will be provided. There is a limited supply of tongs to pick up the garbage, so if you have your own tongs or gloves, please bring them along. In case of inclement weather, bring rain gear or rubber boots.
We are also looking for a few volunteers who can set up and man the booth.
Coffee and refreshments will be provided. Bring a lunch if you wish to stay and picnic at the beach afterward.
When: Saturday, September 19, 2015
Where: Spanish Banks East, Locarno Beach/Tolmie Street
Registration and orientation: 0930 hrs
Cleanup: 1000 to 1500 hrs
You can get there by transit, taking the C19 Alma/UBC bus (weekends only). Get off near the Beach Cafe, and walk east towards the Locarno Beach parking lot.
If getting here by vehicle, take West 4th Ave and turn right on NW Marine Drive and follow this until you arrive at Tolmie Street. Parking is available off NW Marine Drive and there is a small parking lot that says "Locarno Beach, Tolmie Street". You will see a VPSS tent with signs showing "Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup" near the area where the Volleyball BC poles are located.
A Brief History:
This cleanup is part of the International Coastal Cleanup and is held nationwide each September. In 1994, two staff members from the Vancouver Aquarium began this cleanup and it has grown ever since then, expanding nationally. Loblaws Companies Limited is one of the major sponsors of this event. Some recent changes are that you can now register to clean up at any shoreline near you, anytime throughout the year.
Cleanup results for 2014:
Over 139,000kg of trash was removed, nationwide, by 54,000 volunteers. That's enough to fill nearly 70 dump trucks! Over 2,528km of shoreline was cleaned.
The number one item collected was cigarette butts (over 325,000).
The number one category of items collected was single-use food and beverage containers.
Bizarre findings this past year included a picture of Terry Fox, a chandelier, a Cher cassette tape, and a plastic astronaut. Our volunteers collected 9 garbage bags with a total weight of 102.5kg (or 225lbs).
The most collected items were: 615 cigarette butts, 82 plastic pieces, and 80 glass pieces.
The 3 most unusual items collected were: Burnt umbrella, coleman freezer bag, and flip flops.
In October 2014 a Certificate of Appreciation was presented to Vancouver Power and Sail Squadron from Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver, in recognition of our commitment to keeping Vancouver spectacular. This has been a first in our Squadron's history.
For further information, or to volunteer, contact Bill Blancard, Environment Officer, VPSS at 604-931-5153
Hope to see you there!
|
|
|
|
The Shore Family is offering their vacation home near Lund, Desolation Sound, for a squadron discount of 10% during the summer, and 20% during any other season.
Just 2km across the water from Savary Island and 2km south of the Copeland Islands... Come Experience a piece of British Columbia coastal heaven!
For more information, visit shoresatlund.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
