Home	Spring Meeting 3/9/19 GGYC

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

What started out as a rainy morning on San Francisco Bay morphed into a nice day for our 2019 Spring Meeting. Seventeen boats were represented by 35 people with the Golden Gate YC staff providing a most welcoming day. As folks gathered topside and enjoyed a nice spread of cheese, crackers and grapes, Commorodre Mueller had a Board meeting on the lower level with Treasurer Roy Samuelson, Secretary Mike Patterson, Measurer Kit Wiegman, Race Chair Roger Anderson, Past Commodore Bob DaPrato and Webmaster Rick Van Mell.

GGYC laid out a fine buffet lunch with entrees of Tri-Tip and Salmon, accomanied by salad, beans, and potatoes, with a nice slice of cake for dessert. The line moved quickly and everyone was fed by 1305. Eric introduced our guest speaker Neal Noten and Neal took it from there.

"Know Before You Go" is both a great reminder for those that have cruised offshore and an excellent primer for those that have the itch to "head out the gate and turn left." Neal's talk was divided into four sections: Boat Stuff; People Stuff; Nautical Skiller; and Navigation Skills.

Starting off with "Boat Stuff," he asked for a show of hands of who had GPS aboard - all but one boats present did, but he noted that because it is such a valuable tool, he recommended having a backup GPS on board. Radar and AIS add to the safety and redundency for finding marks and land, and identifying ships while at sea. Add in SSB radio (with or without Ham radio)and you greatly expand your communications horizon. Neal noted that one advantage of SSB is that you can conduct business on SSB, but not o the Ham frequencies. Finally, a Satalite phone, like an EPIRB, can link you almost anywhere most of the time.

A dodger, bimini or awning, and weather cloths provide protection from spray, wind and sun, and offer some privacy when desired.

A cruising dinghy is your transportation between anchor/mooring and shore, your barge to ferry supplies and parts to the boat, and your magic carpet to visit friends and explore the beaches, nooks and crannies of beautiful anchorages. Your dinghy should be sized to accomodate your whole crew, plus room for a typical provisioning run.

Both an autopilot and wind vane are good to have. The wind vane does the job for hours on end with no electrical draw, and the autopilot does the trick when the wind doesn't blow, navigating channels, and holding the boat on a course while you set or douse sails.

One of the things you almost can't get too much of is anchors. Neal carries both a 44 lb and 32 lb Bruce anchor as his working pair forward, and a danforth (or similar) aft. At least one chair rode is good for anchoring in rocky areas to minimize damage from chafe. With the chain you'll want an anchor snubber, preferable with stretchy nylon line, to absorb shock loads and make the boat more comfortable.

For power generation, consider increasing your engine alternator to 100 amps or more to charge batteries more quickly and conserve fuel. Neal's preference is to carry a wind-powered generator rather than solar panels (they work at night!), but Eric chimed in that his 400 watt solar panels means he doesn't even need to charge with the engine at all.

Additional items can include a water maker, extra fuel jugs, heavy duty fenders and courtesy flags for any country you may visit. If you're really serious, Neal has an eight page checklist!

Moving on to People Stuff, he reminded us that before setting sail each of the crew should have a physical and dental exam so there are no surprises. Note any needed medications and also check which vaccinations are required for where you are going. A tetanus booster is high on the list.

Some crew thrive on long passages at sea and other like a good bit of shore life. Take these into consideration when you are planning the trip and selecting crew. It's a good idea to rotate crew among positions so everyone learns how to do most tasks.

Provisioning, particularly south through Mexico to the Panama Canal, has many opportunities to try local markets which often have the freshest, and least expensive, food. Big markets (Supermercados) can provide the staples and specialty items. It's great to have a fair stash of US currency in small denominations - $1s and $5s. You may be able to get a better value by paying in US dollars in some places. For local currency, try to use only ATM machines associated with a bank. That minimizes the chance that the machine will eat your card and leave you stranded. And, you can often barter (and have some fun) with items like paper, pens, pencils, knock-off Swiss army knife, T-shirts, and, sometimes AA batteries!

Under Nautical Sills, in addition of the anchors and snubber mentioned above, practice your anchoring techniques. The old wisdom of "reef early and reef often" is double true when cruising offshore. No sense in making it more strenuous and potentially more dangerous by waiting until the rail is in the water or the thunderstorm is on top of you. Plan your landfalls with plenty of daylight to spare, and if shallow water is in the picture, try to have the sun behind you rather than in front of you. Consult your tide tables as part of the planning process. When your leg length gets into days, take an extra good look at the long range weather picture so you don't get caught offshore in a blow if you can help it.

And finally, rounding out the Navigations Skills, have a backup of chart types, preferably electronic and paper, or at least two independent sets of electronic charts. Use Google Earth to capture pictures of destination harbors and identify customs/immigration, harbor master and fuel docks so you'll know where to go when you get there. Most places have been covered in cruising guides - the smart way to plan your cruising. Know you fuel consumption rate in gallons per hour and miles per gallon, preferably at a few different boat speeds, so you can calculate the fuel you will need if some (or all!) of a leg has to be done under power. Lowering your cruising speed might dramatically reduce fuel consumption even though the total time is longer. Be sure your insurance is up to date, and be aware of restrictions related to hurricane season.

So, as Neal concluded, all you need to do now is GO Cruising!

Eric then conducted the Business Meeting and Treasurer Roy Samuelson advised that the good news is that we have money (since dues are collected at the beginning of the year) and it's all donwhill from here. Pitching in for Vice Commodore and Member Chair Jocelyn Swanson (on vacation in Asia), Roy reported we have 129 active members of which 118 are already paid up. We've had 4 new members this year already. Race Chair Roger Anderson ran through the race schedule and encouraged boats to sign up for the Vallejo and Plastic Classic races on jibeset.net or the sponsoring club web sites. The other I-36 only races are the 6/22 Summer Sailstice race with a provisional start at or near GGYC, out to the Pt. Bonita buoy and back to finish at Blossom Rock buoy - then on to a celebration at Encinal YC. On September 14th is the Coyote Point Destination Rally for racers and cruisers, a repeat of the successful course we used last year. Bob DaPrato ran through the cruising dates (see 2019 Cruise Schedule ) and encouraged everyone to fill out the Sign-Up forms on the table. We had 12 boats fill in their participation in 13 racing and cruising events, and we have 7 weekends with 6 to 8 boats signed up already. The meeting wrapped up about 1515.

Below is your list of the great Islander bunch at the Spring Meeting and pictures of the festivities. No excuses, come support your Association and sign up for races and cruises.

Boat	Owner & Crew
Bella Luna	Bob DaPrato & Maria Santiago
Cassiopeia	Kit Weigman
Everyday	Gail & Merv Giacomini
Falcon	Bruce & Donna Hallberg
Freedom Won	John & Nanci Melton
Green Flash	Liz Munnally and Mike Patterson, Neal Doten and Paula
Mischief	Charles & Kathryn Hodgkins
Nantucket	Richard & Gina Doyle
Natural High	Dennis & Judy Bush
Ophira	Gary & Pat Salvo
Serenity	Eric Mueller, Roger & Susan Anderson, Doug Cross
Some Day	Roy & Melinda Samuelson, Dan Buckley, Jessica Gammell
Vanishing Animal	Rick Van Mell
Wild Horses	Ruby & Rob Benderman
Wind Catcher	Doug Ford
Windsong	Mike Stone
Windwalker	Rich Shoenhair

Pictures by Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

In the beginning...	fog and rain.	Bob arrives ...	Dennis & Judy
tables awake ...	fire is going ...	nice to warm up.	Intredpid racers ...
heading out ...	marks being set ...	more to come.	A break to windward
Looking better.	Gary & Eric ...	Speaker Neal	Friends gather ...
Bruce & Donna	John and Ruby	Ruby & Liz	Gina, Nanci and Richard
Nibbles almost gone.	Tables are set ...	All good info ...	Great food ...
take your pick ...	veggies & sides ...	salad too ...	get in line.
Doug, Susan, Roger, Eric	Neal & Paula	Bob & Maria, Pat & Gary	Judy & Dennis, Kathryn & Charles
Mike & Liz	Donna, Bruce, Miriam	Roy, Jessica, Dan	Rob, ruby, Gina
Richard, John & Nanci	Doug & Doug!	Time for fun ...	Neal kicks it off ...
Know Before You Go	Plan ahead ...	Like the "Luck"!	What Neal covered
Courtesy Flags a must.	Check, Check, Check	Better than money!	For a Happy Crew
Radar = safety	Timing is everything	Know your jumps.	Google ports.
Time to GO ...	Thanks Neal.

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