Time and Dates

As District 28 secretary I am always concerned with times and dates. I am interested in such dates as: When does the Spring Conference and Change of Watch in Laughlin, Nevada begin? Ans: 2-3 March 2012. I worry about: What time does the Spring Conference begin? Ans: 0900 on Saturday morning. And when does the meeting end? Ans: 1600 Saturday afternoon. I am especially anxious about the time we break for lunch? Ans: 1200 Saturday afternoon. These times are all important as they go into the sacred District 28 meeting minutes found at SailAngle.com. The minutes are officially entered and duly noted by all in the squadrons, districts and national USPS who may be interested.

Imagine my delight when I saw the date on the calendar of December 22, 2011. You might wonder why this date, of all 365 days in the year, is meaningful to me. Of course I am sure you have already guessed the answer-winter solstice.

The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. More evident from high latitudes, a hemisphere's winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest. Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter. An observer at 32° north latitude will observe 9.9 hours of daylight and 14.1 hours of darkness. After December 22 the days will be getting longer and the nights shorter until the summer solstice. With longer days we can look forward to extended summer days and spending more time outside.

With this 18% decrease in solar energy between summer solstice and winter solstice, winter solstice will be the time when solar panels will be least likely to keep up charging all the systems on the boat. As days go onward from this date solar panels will be able to produce more electricity. By the summer solstice there will be 14.1 hours of daylight and therefore a greater likelihood our panels will keep ahead of electrical use.

If you have not taken Junior Navigation consider taking it and then you will know all about time and dates all over the world.

Remember important dates you already know; 2-3 March 2012, the date of the Spring Conference and Change of Watch in Laughlin, Nevada sponsored by the Lake Mohave Sail and Power Squadron.

I plan to see you all there and we can examine other dates, maybe even more important than those already discussed. Your wife’s birthday? Your wedding anniversary?

Edward Bowler, Secretary, District 28.
With thanks to Wikipedia, and USPS course Junior Navigation T

Back Again

It is hard to believe we have not made an entry on our blog since May 10, 2010. I guess we have just been too busy!?!?

As we prepare for a new year we begin to think about goals for 2012.I have various goals that have been set over years of practice. Such common items as; "lose 10 pounds", "exercise everyday", "get my teeth cleaned four times a year", and "eat more vegetables". This year Claudia and I are turning 65 years of age. We will be able to collect our contributions to Medicare!!!! What a shock! This fact is a real eye opener. To celebrate this event in addition to my routine goals I am going to add "increase mental exercise", or trying to keep my mind as well as my body more fit. To this end I am going to start writing more regularly. I plan to keep a journal everyday. When I am not writing in the physical journal I will be contributing to our blog. Everyone can look forward to more entries. Hopefully, more than one entry every two years.I am wishing myself good luck in this endeavor. Ted

SAYING GOOD BYE TO MANDEVILLE

We purchased our “new” used boat in December, 2009. In late January 2010 we loaded up our old Ford Windstar to the ceiling with boat stuff and started for Mandeville, LA. Three months of cleaning, and fixing we were ready to take off.

Our destination was generally undecided, but we knew we wanted to explore areas we had never visited. Perhaps the Chesapeake Bay would be a worthy cruising goal.

The marina in Mandeville wanted us out by May 1. We had already extended two months with no contract. The weather was becoming unsettled towards that date so we decided to leave a little early, Wednesday instead of Friday.

Monday, Billie, the canvas guy finally finished the last few stitches on the new dodger.

Tuesday, Russell, the engine guy finished putting the final touches on the new oil pressure gauge at 7:30 PM. He was missing a part, but he told us how to “jury rig” the system so it would work until we could get the new part.

It looked like we might actually leave the dock before the foul weather front moved in.

Wednesday, at 6 AM we were peacefully motoring down Cistine Bayou toward Lake Pontchatrain watching the sun rising in the east. We actually made it! We could not believe it. Once on the lake and two miles off shore we turned southwest as we wanted to avoid the shoal at Goose Point. Three hours later we were just north of the Highway 11 Bridge and we called on Channel 13 to it have it opened. We were now entering new territory.

On to the narrow channel adjacent to the Middle Ground where many boats have grounded in recent years. Finally we were into the Rigolets where Lake Pontchatrain empties into the Gulf of Mexico. We were facing a strong incoming current and our speed reduced to 3.8 knots.

Our last obstacle before we reached the Mississippi Sound and the Gulf of Mexico was the Rigolets CSX railroad bridge. We called the bridge tender and with a little coaxing he finally opened it and we were in the Gulf of Mexico.

The one thing that surprised us was the flatness of the Mississippi Delta. We could see for miles. There were no trees, just reeds and endless winding waterway.

We were now on the Intercoastal Waterway. We negotiated Joe’s Pass, Grand Island Channel, and the Marianne Channel. Huge barges were going east and west and as you approached each you hailed them on Channel 16 and let them know if you wanted to pass with “one whistle”, or “two whistles”. It was nerve wracking seeing these behemoth barges coming towards you at 10 knots. Finally at Cat Island Shoal we were able to head directly to Gulfport, Mississippi.

Sailing was great! We were on a broad reach, or beam reach, the sun out, and the wind a constant 15 knots. I was on the deck scrubbing the sails and lines as Claudia and the autopilot moved us from buoy to buoy.

We tied up at 7:15 PM and by 8 PM we were having a “Special Pasta Dinner” at the Gulfport Yacht Club. We had gone about 70 nautical miles in about 12 hours Our first passage. Our shake down sail. All had gone well.

NEW (TEMPORARY) HOME

New Orleans, Louisiana -Mandeville-to be exact! Never did we imagine we'd ever live in the "south". But never say never. The location conjures up imagines of warmth, sweet smells and maybe a little jazz. On the contrary cold, rainy with "snow" flurries have been the order of the day. The bayou during the winter has a rather dismal and dead look. But celebration does abound. With our arrival the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl setting off historic party time along with the Mardi Gras excitement. We've been fortunate to share in all the fun times. Go "Who Dat Nation!!"

We decided to get a little furnished apartment while"Bon Temps" is taken apart and getting a few repairs. It's a great opportunity to clean her up good and also come back to a warm place to sleep at night. They say this is really unusual weather and spring is around the corner. We're ready to turn that corner. Meanwhile we're exploring the area and finding friendly people and learning all about the devastation that Katrina and broken levees caused. The city is slowing rebuilding and their spirit is strong. Mandeville is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, 22 miles from New Orleans. It is a country-feel community compared to the hustling big city of New Orleans. People would come here to escape the heat and epidemics of the city. It still maintains a feel of small community, bed and breakfasts, antique shops and nice little restaurants. The shoreline is swamp and marshland. According to legend , pirates such as Jean Lafitte, buried treasure taken from the Spanish merchant ships along the Gulf of Mexico, here along our shores. Today swamp boat tours abound but rather than gold they find the treasures of nature: alligators, egrets, herons, turtles, and nutria. It's still an exciting place to hide.

Cruising along the Gulf of Mexico will be an adventure for us. We understand the waters are not brown as Lake Pontchartrain is where we are docked in the Bayou Castine at Prieto Marina. The lake is 40 miles east to west and gets no deeper than 12 feet. Wow! We plan to stay here until it warms and repairs are finished on Bon Temps then head south out the Rigolets and discover the Gulf coast of the United States and on to the Bahamas and ??? Let the adventure begin!

NEW BEGINNINGS

S/V FIDDLERSGREEN has sadly been sold. A few months after we returned from our 8 months in Mexico a person from the east coast purchased her and she was immediately on a truck for Annapolis, Maryland. She was on the market with mixed feelings. The engine was the original and was tired. The varnish took a great deal of work. We really found this out in the tropics.

Claudia would not let me look at another boat until we sold the one we had. Once it was on it's way east we started looking. We wanted a boat with a little more room, a newer engine, and little if no wood. From our wonderful experience in the Caribbean we started to look at Beneteaus. We decided we liked the Beneteau 361. It was made between the years 2000-2004. We started looking. We looked on the west coast, mid west and east coast.

After two months we found one in Mandeville, LA. We flew out to see her, made an offer, had a survey of the boat and engine and a sea trial. We did some negotiating after all that and the deal finally closed on December 31, 2009.

We ended up being without a boat for about two months. We are now taking care of some business here at home and are going to fill up the car with boating things and February 1, 2010, Monday, take a driving trip to Louisiana. The boat will need some work so we need to find a place to stay in the area while we fix it up. Once it is fixed up we will take off and explore the Gulf of Mexico.

We really have not decided exactly what we will do. We may go to the Caribbean, or up the east coast, or the Bahamas, or the Inter Costal Waterway, or ship her back to San Diego????

Not Blogged for 4 Months????

We have been negligent!

However, we have been busy babysitting, working at the office, Harbor Sailboats, Seaforth Boat Rentals, San Diego Harbor Excursions, a boat delivery from LaPaz to San Diego, putting in refrigeration and a watermaker on the boat, loading everything on the boat getting ready for the cruise and taking a 5 day vacation to Catalina Island.

We will try to be better in the future.

Electronic Charts-WOW!

Claudia and I have had the opportuntiy of teaching "Cruise Planning" with the San Diego Sail and Power Squadron for the past few years. We really enjoy teaching this class. We average about twenty students in each class and teach for about twelve weeks during the winter. One thing we emphasize over and over to our prospective cruisers is "Practice, Practice, Practice"!

To that end we have recently purchased some electronic charts for our trip to Mexico. We used only paper charts for our cruise to Hawaii and Canada. So this is a new experience for us. We purchased and hand held Garmin GPS and linked it to our laptop computer. Also from Garmin we purchased Blue Charts which we loaded into our laptop computer we keep on board. By linking the two we see the nautical chart of where we are with the precise location of our vessel. WOW!!! We continue to be just amazed in this electronic world.

This is all good, but could we figure out how to work it all? We listened to our old adage-"Practice" and went out into the shallows of San Diego south bay. Here the water depths are commonly 1-3 feet at low tide. However, there is a narrow channel about 10 feet wide called Emory Channel that leads to Emory Cove at the extreme southwest end of San Diego Bay. The total distance of this channel is about 2 nautical miles.

We looked at the tide tables, worked out our positions, waypoints, courses, on paper charts and then on the electronic charts. We were ready! Off we went and had a wonderful time exploring the southern end of San Diego Bay. We stayed right in the middle of the channel, depth never more shallow than 7 feet. We made it there and back never touching the bottom.

Are we ready for Mexico? With a little more practice we maybe.

T&C