Permits

NOW’S THE TIME TO GET LEGIT!

Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC) and Toronto Harbour Power Vessel Permit

Available at CBYC

If weekends in April are for getting the boats ready for launch, the weekends in March are for getting you ready for the season!

There are two essential cards you must be in possession of, by law, before you hit the water.

Proof of Competency (PCOC)

Anyone who operates a motorized pleasure craft must carry proof of competency on board. This includes all types of motorized boats, no matter their size or horsepower. The most common proof is the PCOC, obtained after passing an accredited boating safety test. Failing to have proof of competency on board may result in a fine of $250.

Harbour Permit

If you want to operate any vessel equipped with an engine within the boundaries of Toronto Harbour - a much larger area than you may think - you are required to have a valid 'Toronto Port Authority Power Vessel Operator's Licence' (Harbour Permit).  You have to take a written and practical test to obtain a Permit. Failing to have the Permit on board could result in a fine of upwards of $175.

That’s the bad news! The good news is that you can take these tests in the comfort of the CBYC Club House during weekends in March.

Club member Simon Dennis is a CYA Instructor qualified to instruct and test for the PCOC and Harbour Permit. He will be available during the last two weekends in March. For both tests, you have the option of either taking instruction and the test at the same time or simply writing the test without instruction. The schedule is…

Date	10.30 hrs	14.00 hrs
Sunday March 18	PCOC	Harbour Permit
Saturday March 24	Harbour Permit	PCOC
Sunday March 25	PCOC	Harbour Permit

Permit	PCOC	Harbour Permit	Both
Instruction and test	$70 pp	$70 pp	$100 pp
Test only	$30 pp	$50 pp	$65 pp

Take advantage of this opportunity by booking through Simon direct on 416-655-3838 or email: simonintoronto@gmail.com

For the Harbour Permit, you must have experience of handling a boat under power and be over 14 years.

toronto sailing school

http://www.torontosailingschool.com

Do You Know Your Stuff? No 2....

...So here we go then, boating grey cells at the ready...

1. You see dark clouds approaching and a swell develops before any wind arrives. Is there a significant depression approaching or a local thunderstorm?

2. Do tides run more quickly or more slowly in shallow water close to the coast?

3. A navigation light where the duration of light and dark are equal is described as what?

4. You stand in the cockpit so that your height of eye is 3m (10ft) above sea level. Will the distance of the horizon be a) 3.6 miles b) 4.7 miles or c) 5.9 miles?

5. If a yacht or motor boat is on loan or under charter, should the burgee flown be that of the owner or the skipper/charterer?

6. One of your crew suggests adding a Barry Manilow CD to the emergency grab bag. Why?

7. You are reaching on starboard tack at night. You see a yacht off your starboard bow which is running before the wind but you can’t be sure if her mainsail is set to port or starboard. Should you give way?

8. Can a yacht with an 8ft draft and a 19ft mast sail to Paris, France? (Don’t panic! We have faith in you and anyway this is just the sort of question that sets you apart from the crowd!)

9. You have an injured crew overboard. What knot could be used to create a double sling with which to lift the casualty out of the water?

10. Over an open stretch of shore, would an afternoon Lake breeze likely to blow offshore or onshore?

L.eave your answers in 'comments'. For the correct answers, sail by in a few days time.

Sailing By The Bar

This swim-up bar is somewhere in Cuba. For 1000 sea miles points, can you tell me in which hotel you can find it?

Answer posted 11 May 2007. Well done all those who immediately recognised the swim-up bar at the Sandals Resort, Varaderro, Cuba.

Sailing By The Dinette

Joan: "I’ve just started doing the Lotto 6/49 because there’s an Oyster 49 for sale and I’m sure it’s got my name on it. But chatting to various friends, it seems I should lust after a catamaran. Even James has one now which he keeps in the BVI. So it must be so. Which one should I long for?"

Bob: "The great advantage of a cat’ is that you can sleep on opposite sides of the boat".

Steve: "The only Oysters you’re going to be able to buy with a ten dollar Lotto win are the ones you buy from Loblaws. You could get a cute little kitty kitty from the animal Humane Society for ten bucks. I’d go for the cat’. It won’t give you salmonella".

Sailing By With..........Dick Sekonda

When Toronto sailor Dick Sekonda lost his mast while skippering his yacht, Macintosh, fourteen years ago, he had no idea his career as a successful, self-employed, mining engineer was about to change tack dramatically.

He can laugh about it now but at the time it was a frightening experience.

“It was October 1992,” recalls Dick, “racing off the Toronto Islands, running a reefed main and a number three, plus ten crew sitting on the high side, Mackintosh hit a bad chop and the lightweight, racing mast went overboard with all the rigging. Luckily no one got hurt and there was no serious damage.”

New rigging was designed, the keel replaced and a taller mast stepped to improve performance. Then in 1994, it was decided that having replaced most things on Mackintosh, why not try and design a new set of sails?

In the early days, Dick and two friends decided to collaborate and build sails for their three boats as a winter project. They had all been racing competitively for a number of years and had a good understanding of what made the boats sail well and what didn’t.

“At first,” says Dick, “we designed sails based on our perceptions of what we wanted. We used third party software to interpret the panel layers we needed to produce the shape of the sails. Using my basement, we cut and laid out the panels for the three different boats, glued them together and sent them out to a sail maker for final assembly.

“Then we went racing, and won! We thought, hey we can do this! It was a tremendous thrill, but the thrill was not only competing on the water, it was the thrill that you’ve actually built something you’re competing with.

“And you’re competing on different levels: the design level, the manufacturing level and finally on the water. I got a tremendous kick out of it. So we built more sails!”

The three friends eventually left the basement for a small shop where they continued to build sails, mainly for their friends. However, in those early days, it was still very much a hobby, with Dick still working full time as a mining engineer.

Then the turning point in Dick’s career occurred. Sobstad, the sail makers, went bust, so they were able to buy their plotter and sewing equipment, no longer relying on outside assembly.

Dick decided to take the plunge, and in 2003, the gradual transition from self-employed mining engineer to full time professional sail maker was complete, and the ‘hobby’ shop became a commercial sail loft, Performance Sails.

Dick has an infectious enthusiasm for his new career. Asked if he considers his craft an art or a science, he replies, “A little bit of both! For the type of recreational sailing we do there’s loads of empirical information proven to work. For example, when deciding on cloth selection.

“Then there’s the selection of sail shape and the application of that shape which is going to determine the success or failure of the sail as a performance sail. We can turn to publications and, of course, the Internet for much of our information.”

The ‘art’, explains Dick, comes in when selecting, for instance, construction techniques and the ‘detailing’ such as how to attach a sail slide, or finish a corner.

Then there’s the aesthetics and graphics to consider. For example, producing designs on spinnakers such as insignia or logos.

“I would say that a ‘performance’ sail is one designed to make the boat perform as well as it can, for whatever its purpose or use by the owner. I would think that’s exactly what the folks who are out for a casual Sunday afternoon sail, or want to cross the Atlantic, or race around the buoys, all want.

“We have to be aware that some people have to make one sail do many jobs, so the design inevitably has to be compromised.

“We also recognize that some people are less interested in toughness or longevity because of the type of sailing they’re doing. But the base line is always that we want to make the boat go as fast as it can.”

Dick still continues to race and sail Macintosh as fast as she can go. His mind often drifts back to the de-masting off the Islands all those years ago.

But nowadays, he doesn’t want any more unexpected career changes.

Some Things You May Wish To Consider When Insuring Your Boat

Is your craft insured for the full market value?
Do you have an up-to-date inventory?
How much will it cost you to replace the car loads of items you load onto the boat every year?
Do your crew have their own insurance?
If not, how much is their gear worth?
Who pays if it is lost?
Should you insist they are insured separately?
Have you informed your insurers of any new equipment you’ve installed?
Does your insurer have a single item limit?
Will your fancy laptop or all singing and dancing, handheld GPS be covered if they float away across the water?

Who Knows How To Turn The Autopilot Off?

The other night, someone was recounting a harrowing tale that all who enjoy the luxury of cruising on autopilot should take on board.

A couple were cruising around the BVI, and while under way on autopilot in calm waters, the husband fell overboard while tweaking something up forward.
The wife was down below at the time and, on hearing the panic shrieking from her husband, had the presence of mind to immediately send out a Mayday over the VHF.

Unfortunately, he had never thought about showing her how to disengage the autopilot, thus she was unable to turn around by sail or motor.
So, she jumped into the dinghy and charged back after him leaving their 40 ft yacht to serenely sail on by itself.

This was her first time handling the motorised dinghy on her own: she got over excited and somehow managed to bounce herself out of the boat leaving it motoring off in another direction.

When the coastguard arrived, they had to deal with two people floundering in the water in different locations and two empty boats careering off by themselves. Luckily all survived and the vessels were gathered in before they hit anything.
Thank goodness she knew how to send a Mayday!

On reflection, what lessons were they able to pass on to all they regaled with their experiences?
When practising MOB recovery with your crew (and you do, don't you?), assume it’s the skipper who’s gone overboard.

This tends to focus the minds of the crew, taking things seriously rather than just wanting to get on with the sailing.
Make sure the crew know how to send a Mayday, activate the EPIRB and start the engine.

But the most important point the skipper who's fallen overboard wants to know is that all those left on the boat know how to disengage the autopilot!
The more so if it’s a wheel-steering boat.

And, of course, have your MOB procedure written down and on display in the cabin.

Consider Yourself a 'Jack-Of-All-Trades?'

Ever wandered where the term came from?

Jack is a shortened form of ‘Jack Tar’, a generic term for all British sailors who, during the 18th and 19th centuries, added high grade tar to their clothing and hair as waterproofing. A Jack Tar who was able to lend his hand at almost anything was known as a 'Jack-of-all-trades'.

Raise Your Glasses For a Toast to...

Up until about 1900, officers of the Royal Navy received a daily tot of rum just as their Jack Tars did. The ritual at the noon daily dinner in the Officers Quarters was to toast the reigning monarch followed by a toast of the day. This ritual is still carried out. The daily toasts are…

Monday: Our ships at sea.
Tuesday: Our men.
Wednesday: Ourselves.
Thursday: A bloody war and quick promotion.
Friday: A willing soul and sea room.
Saturday: Sweethearts and wives, may they never meet.
Sunday: Absent friends and those at sea.

Do You Know Your Stuff? Well..? (see post below)

1.The spoke of the wheel that is uppermost when the rudder is centred.
2. ABC = Airway, Breathing, Circulation.
3. Your own.
4. No, we don’t know either.
5. A vessel is approaching but its view of other vessels is obscured. Give a prolonged blast in response and clear the channel.
6. Carbon dioxide.
7. Gnomonic.

Any of These Laws of Boating Ring a Ship's Bell?

Spectators’ Law. The likelihood of an accident is in direct proportion to the size of the audience.

Wellingtons’ Law. The depth of mud or water will always be greater than the height of your boots by one inch.

Keys’ Law. The boat keys will be in the pocket of the jacket you are not wearing.

Benzene’s Law. The outboard motor on your tender will only ever run out of fuel at the furthest possible distance from your boat.

Do you know your stuff? Number 1

It’s quiz time! Post your answers in comments, please.

1. What is the kingspoke?
2. What does the mnemonic ABC stand for, as used in first-aid?
3. If you skipper a borrowed or chartered yacht and want to fly a burgee, should you fly the owner’s burgee or your own?
4. Why do small boat parts come in funny shapes and on-board storage lockers even funnier?
5. You are about to enter Toronto Marina when you hear a continuous blast for about five seconds. What does this mean and what should you do?
6. What sort of fire extinguisher should you use on an electrical fire?
7. Which are most suitable for ocean passage planning: gnomonic or Mercator charts?

Answers will be posted Monday March 12

Manure Hazard

Before commercial fertilizers were invented, raw manure was packed in bundles and transported by sea in large quantities, stored in the holds of wooden sailing ships.

To save weight, it was bundled dry but as it soaked up seawater from the bilges, it began to ferment producing highly combustible methane gas.

Because the manure was stored in a closed, confined space below decks, methane would quickly build up and on contact with the lighted flames of the ships' lanterns……boom! Eventually, after the loss of several costly cargo vessels, the scientific connection was made.

As a result, to warn the crew to stack bundles high in the hold to avoid contact with bilge water, the bundles were always stamped with the instruction ‘Store High In Transit’

Thus, thanks to exploding manure, the acronym for Store High In Transit has now found its way into the English language.

Oh well, it happens.

My Wheel is Bigger Than Yours

Is It Bad Luck to Re-name Your Boat? Maybe yes.

Did you hear about HMS Totem? On a friendly visit to Canada, this Royal Navy submarine was paid a courtesy call from a Native Indian Chief.

He presented the crew with a totem pole and solemnly told them that it must never leave the ship, for if it did, the submarine would never return to port.

HMS Totem was sold to Israel and renamed Dakar. As is the practice, all of HMS Totem’s trophies were taken off and put into storage.

In January 1968, submarine Dakar sailed on her delivery voyage to Haifa. She never made it to port, feared lost somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean.

Is It Bad Luck to Re-name Your Boat? Maybe not.

The look of excited enthusiasm on Jim’s face slowly began to fade. Celebrating the realisation of his dream – a newly acquired, beautifully sleek, previously adored craft – he was looking forward to launch over a wee dram at the Clubhouse Bar.

As much in love with her as he was, though, he just hated her name. It simply had to be changed. But hearing of the superstitions surrounding the renaming of a boat, surely it would bring down a ton of bad luck if he did so?

Not if Jim uses Vigor’s 'Interdenominational Boat De-naming Ceremony'.

The following words have to be spoken aloud with or without witnesses and great effort must be made not to collapse in fits of giggling. But first, all physical traces of the boat’s old name must be removed from everything and the new name mustn’t be applied until after the Ceremony has taken place.

“In the name of all who have sailed aboard this ship in the past, and in the name of all who may sail aboard her in the future, we invoke the ancient gods of the wind and the sea to favor us with their blessing today.

Mighty Neptune, king of all that moves in or on the waves; and mighty Aeolus, guardian of the winds and all that blows before them:

We offer you our thanks for the protection you have afforded this vessel in the past. We voice our gratitude that she has always found shelter from tempest and storm and enjoyed safe passage to port.

Now, wherefore, we submit this supplication, that the name whereby this vessel has hitherto been known (_____), be struck and removed from your records.

Further, we ask that when she is again presented for blessing with another name, she shall be recognized and shall be accorded once again the selfsame privileges she previously enjoyed.

In return for which, we rededicate this vessel to your domain in full knowledge that she shall be subject as always to the immutable laws of the gods of the wind and the sea.

In consequence whereof, and in good faith, we seal this pact with a libation offered according to the hallowed ritual of the sea."

Then the boat is re-named. It’s best to invite H.M. Queen Elizabeth to do this as she is well practiced at delivering the traditional christening. However, if she is too busy, invite your own reigning monarch. Just don’t sink as low as a Mayor.

Christening Ceremony: 'I name this ship ____________ and may she bring fair winds and good fortune to all who sail on her'

Next, it’s time for the libations! As Vigor reminds us, a word of warning here. Don’t mess with the Gods of the sea. One thing they despise the most is a cheapskate. Only use the most expensive bubbles you can afford. One bottle for the boat and one bottle for you. Cheers!

The Key to Your Safety

In these days of growing crime, here’s a little trick to help protect you.

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you’re sleeping on board in your home port and hear a noise on deck or, if at home, hear someone trying to break into your house, just press the panic button on the key fob of your car keys.

The alarm will be set off and the car horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off, or the car battery dies.

Think of your car keys as a security alarm system which requires no installation. But test it first! Your car alarm should activate from almost anywhere inside your boat or house providing, of course, your car is within range.

If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in, after a few seconds, all the neighbours will be looking out of their port holes to see who is out there and odds are the attacker won't stick around. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work there, too.

Ah, Sailing Today!

No Sailing Today!

South Hams, Devon, UK

South of Dartmoor, roughly bordered by a triangle with Totnes in the north, Plymouth in the west and Dartmouth in the east, lies an area of outstanding natural beauty called the South Hams. Extremely pretty, undulating countryside with beautiful, historic towns and villages, thatched cottages by the hundreds and some of the best pubs in the South West. If that wasn't enough, the area enjoys the most glorious, rugged coastline with amazing views, all of which is accessible and offers probably some of the finest walking in the country. I lived in the area for thirty years before venturing over to Canada. So if you want to know the inside track on where to stay, places to see, things to do, waters to sail, I'm your man! Email me.

Dartmoor, Devon, UK

Being a UK citizen resident in Canada, requires at least a once a year visit back to the old country to see friends and family. This time, it was over Christmas and the New Year.
It's quite a trek to fly the British Airways over-night to Heathrow, pick up a train bound for Plymouth (in Devon) and be sober and awake enough to pick up a hire car, having been on the go for over twenty-four hours. So we decided to recover for a couple of nights at a quaint hotel on Dartmoor. The Two Bridges Hotel is the place to stay. A lovely old country house with raoring log fires, simple but comfortable bedrooms and excellent food. Good value, too. Its claim to fame is that it was once the preferred hide-away for the actress Vivien Leigh whenever she was visitng the area. The best room in the house to book is The Vivien Leigh Suite.
If you're visitng England, Dartmoor is one of the 'must-do's', not least because it's one of the last remaining wildernesses in Britain.

How to loose ten bucks...fast!

Two of our yacht club members were looking forward to introducing their new girlfriends to life on board. It would be the girls’ first time on a boat so our two chaps decided to bet each other on what the girls’ first question might be. One bet ‘Hey, where are the brakes on this thing?’ and the other, ‘What’s the pointed end called?’ My how they laughed as they both put down a $5 bill on the chart table – winner take all.
At last the girls arrived and had a good look around the boat. The guys waited in eager anticipation when eventually one of the girls asked, ‘Tell me, what are those two $5 bills doing on the chart table?’

Safety or the Environment?

The OPP’s finest have had a fun time on the Lake this summer, running around in their super-charged patrol boats. I’ve been stopped twice and it certainly wasn’t for speeding! At least they were polite and friendly while checking my yacht had the correct minimum safety gear on board for a vessel of its length. (They even checked the flares were inside the 'four years from date of manufacture' requirement). But here’s the eyebrow raiser. Having determined who the skipper was, they then asked ‘What proof of competency can you provide?’ Think about it.

However, the US Coastguard feels it has different issues to check out. While the OPP were concerning themselves with making sure one had a buoyant heaving line no less than 15 meters and a waterproof flashlight on board, amongst other safety items, the US Coastguard dives straight down to the bilges. Are they clean or full of dirty, oily water? And what’s more to the point, where’s the mess going? Not in their waters! And you better not have installed that sneaky little ‘Y’ valve between the head and the holding tank switched to overboard discharge! So, on one side of the Lake, ‘safety’, the other, ‘environmental’. Discuss!