gold country yacht c lub a little dinghy vol ssuegcyc.net/apr2002.pdfnew alternator. after a bit of...

At Our Helm 2

Commodore’s Corner

3

Racing Chair 4

Bare-boat in BVI

5

SCUTTLEBUTT 10

RC made EZ 10

Picture GalleryPicture Gallery 14 Cruise News 15

Distilled Wisdom 16

True Tales from the

Sea

16

From the VC 18 Watch ESPN2 18

Calendar Of Events

19

Minutes 22 4 Sale 23

Inside this issue:

VOL 21 , ISSUE 4

APRIL 2002 ...a little dinghy GOLD COUNTRY YACHT C LUB

2 We are on the web! - www.nccn.net/~gcyc/

All material in this newsletter has been written and gath-ered by G. Frank Nin the newsletter editor of the Gold Country Yacht Club (GCYC), and the publication of this material in this newsletter is at his discretion and it is his responsibility alone and not that of the GCYC. Permission to re-print photos and stories, have been granted where noted. Every attempt has been made as not to infringe on any copyright laws. This newsletter is for a non-profit club. The GCYC is a non-profit organization.

How To Reach Us: We welcome letters from our readers. The writer should include his/her name, address and phone number. ...a little dinghy re -serves the right to select letters for publica-tion and edit all submissions for length.

Letters to the editor:

G. Frank Nin P.O. Box 813

Grass Valley, CA 95945 Or send by email to: [email protected]

Commodore

Hugh Talman 272-2344 [email protected]

Vice Commodore Tish Buti 273-7819

[email protected]

Secretary Don Wight 272-4647

Rebecca Carter (Assistant)

Treasurer Nicolette Talman 272-2344

Cruise Chairman Pat Lund 913-2898

[email protected]

Publicity/Membership

Paul Butts 432-7512 [email protected]

Port Captain Dough Epperson 273-3551

Race Chairman Jerry Lewis 272-9380

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor G. Frank Nin 477-1591

[email protected]

At our Helm

On the cover:

Coronado 15 fleet, time, date, place and photographer unknown.

3

Ahoy Mateys, Well, Spring has definitely sprung. The weather is warm and breezy – perfect for sailing! I wasn’t able to make the first race, but I hear it was great. In fact, I was so inspired that I fin-ished getting Island Girl ready to sail and she is now sitting on a mooring ball at Scott’s Flat. Nicki and I haven’t raced before, but we have all the necessary racing gear: bimini, roller reefing, fishing pole holders and fish finder. Nicki is eager to try out her new fishing pole – is there a handicap for troll-ing?? Anyway, we’ll see you out there, undoubtedly bringing up the rear. And when you come out to the lake, be sure and bring your dinghy because you now have a place to keep it. Thanks to Paul Butts and my son, Hugh, the dock is now in it’s usual spot in the cove to the right of the bait shop (known as “Sandal Cove” to some). It makes it very convenient for those who like to go for those

Wednesday night cruises and stay for dinner. Speaking of racing, I want to thank our Race Chairman, Jerry Lewis, for the great race committee seminar he gave, complete with model boats, buoys and barge. He explained everything you ever wanted to know about officiating a race. With his instructions in hand, anyone could be in charge of race committee. Too bad more members could not attend. If we ask him nicely, maybe he would consider doing it again. Also speaking of racing, several of our mem-bers are planning to race their Catalina 22’s

(Continued on page 12)

Commodore’s Corner

3 Great Locations!

128 Auburn St, Grass Valley

1110 E. Main St, Grass Valley

122 Argall Way, Nevada City

(530

) 27

3-6

424


O’Dell Construction 123 Mill St., Grass Valley, CA 95945

John O’Dell General Contractor/Civil Engineer

SCL 2611854

Tel: 530/272-2613 Fax: 530/272-2123 www.odellconstruction.com

[email protected]

Kick Off Race, March 30 The lake is full, the winds were blowing and the weather was won-derful. Mike Bringolf was the Race Committee as the GCYC kicked off the racing season with PERFECT weather. Who picked that date any-way? The previ-ous weekend's practice was rained out with some added sleet. Sunny, warm and windy!! Seven boats were ready come the first race day with many others commenting (when reminded about the race) that were working on their boats, not quite ready yet. Since the barge is still not repaired, Jerry brought his power boat and Mike pumped up the marks and loaded the anchors and other race committee gear onto the boat and set the marks. While setting the pin, the line tangled and the heavy con-crete bucket

Racing Chair by Jerry Lewis

pulled the whole thing under. Our 'most excel-lent pin' is history until the lake level goes down enough to reveal however far down it went. The racers got off to great starts each race, with all seven on the line at the horn for the start of the second race - a row of star-board tack boats on a direct beat to the wind-ward mark. But halfway up to the mark the wind veered and everyone had to tack to port to make the mark. This lead to a collision be-tween two Capri 22s - Paul Butt's Too Cool and Jerry Lewis' Kudzu (yes, it is finally named, but not yet labelled). Jerry had tacked back (p11)

3 Day Pass (must be 18 or older, first time visitor)

www.courthouseathleticclub.com Expiration Date:2/28/2003

“Fitness for Everybody” Call Now Tel: GV (530)274-3481 or Aub. (530) 885-1964

COURTHOUSE ATHLETIC CLUB

5

The sun shone from behind a cloud, low on the western horizon, radiating shafts of sunlight in all directions. A square-rigged, three-masted ship glided into harbor. Our boat lay easily on a mooring while the breeze maintained its constant cooling for us. It was another beautiful evening in the Brit-ish Virgin Islands. Madalyn and I were on our first bare-boat charter experience, having been certified six-teen months before to independently rent a sailboat and enjoy the excitement and gratifi-cation of a sailing vacation. We had arrived at the Sunsail marina on Tortola, BVI, three nights before, staying in the marina hotel prior to getting our boat. The Sunsail staff guided us through the steps to become famil-iar with the cruising area. Charters normally start at 4pm with a sleep-aboard in the har-bor. We did the same, but we were on our

35 foot boat “Symphony” early, since we and she were ready – or so we thought. We received a comprehen-sive briefing on the sailing area, had a fine dinner at a local restaurant at the wa-ter’s edge, and looked for-ward to the yacht briefing the following morning and getting underway. The morning was beautiful, and after our breakfast the staff acquainted us with the features of our boat. In the final step, our guide noticed unacceptable vibration on the engine. We needed a new alternator. After a bit of a wait, the alternator was replaced – but now the en-gine would not start, and the cabin filled with smoke from burning rubber. Things did not look so good. Our ea-gerness to be underway was

A Bare-boat Charter in the British Virgin Islands, Jan

9-15, 2001 by Gary Wade


rushing to claim them. Fortunately, the moorings outnumbered the immediate de-mand, so we had our first experience picking up a mooring line. We got it on the second try, and learned how to better communicate between the bow and the helm. All our sub-

not being ful-filled. After progressively senior mechan-ics were unable to fix the en-gine, we were upgraded to a larger boat. The 40 foot “Educated Ice” was to be our home for the next few days. We hurriedly transferred eve-rything (except the charcoal, we discovered) from one boat to the other, had a very quick briefing on the new boat’s features, and were advised to motor at cruising speed, plus raise the sail, to make it to our destination in time. We were feeling less than comfortable, with this being our first charter ex-perience, the boat being lar-ger than we had planned to handle, and a bit of the wil-lies due to the experience with Symphony’s engine. Out of the harbor, we picked up a compass heading for The Bight at Norman Island, engine at cruising speed, the genoa full, winds at 15-20 knots, we were making six and a half knots to our desti-nation. As we approached the harbor about 3:30pm, we saw with relief that there were numerous mooring balls still available. There were also several other boats

The next General Meeting

April 10 At

Larry and Lena’sLarry and Lena’s Pizza and Grill

15690 Johnston Place, Grass

Valley Ca. Phone (530) 272-1094

Just off HWY 49 and Alta Sierra Drive

6:00 PM to eat – 7:00 PM for

meeting

20% discount on food called before 4:00 PM

7

sequent moorings were picked up on the first try. We took the dinghy ashore, thankful for the outboard engine because it would have been a long way to row, paid our mooring fee at the hot, crowded, noisy bar, and got back to the serenity of Educated Ice quickly. Now was when we realized we did not get the charcoal. Madalyn did a great job of pre -paring our filet mignon in a skillet, and we dined well. We were safely on a mooring; why was I nervous? Why did I keep watch-ing the GPS to be sure we weren’t drifting? It was, of course, our first time alone on a mooring. After one safe night, I learned we were secure – while on a mooring, at least. Morning, with a breakfast of croissants, jam, coffee, tea, and fruit, we prepared for the scuba diving boat to meet us in harbor. The scuba operators in BVI, knowing that much of their clientele are in harbors rather than ashore in hotels, arrange to meet divers at their boats. Except they were look-ing for Sym-phony. They were a little con-fused when Educated Ice re-sponded to their radio call, but a quick expla-nation, transferring our gear to the dive boat, and we were off for our first dive at Carrot Shoals. Once again we were in a learning situation. We are both certified divers, but it had been almost a year since we last dove. The waves kept the dive boat tossing, a cur-rent was running past the reef where we dove, and the equipment was unfamiliar. To tell the truth, I did not see much that first dive except the other divers. We moved to

Spyglass Wall for the next dive, where there were no problems from waves, cur-rent, or equipment. This made a much more enjoy-able dive. We were returned to Educated Ice about 1:30, had lunch, and chose to relax a while. Later in the after-noon we took the dinghy around to The Caves, de-scribed as the second most popular snorkeling attraction after The Baths. There are three caves close together, half below and half above the water. It was quite inter-esting to swim into the land and be in the water looking up at the rock roof overhead. Two caves were quite short and had plenty of light. The

third cave was about 100 feet long, and we were fortu-nate that another snorkeler had a flash-light. And we were glad we saved that cave for the

last, as it was the most inter-esting, with higher ceilings and more contour. We re -turned to our boat, had a din-ner and a most enjoyable sunset, and turned in for a restful night. Our third day was our most intense day of sailing. Yes,


after motoring, then staying at the mooring, we hoisted sail and headed for Marina Cay, past the easterly end of Tortola. (We had planned to snorkel at The Indians, just outside the harbor, but the few mooring balls were taken, and we knew we it would not be our last chance at snorkeling in the week.) There was a fresh breeze approaching 20 knots, and we tacked into the north-easterly wind with one reef in the mainsail. I kept to the helm while Madalyn got a workout as crew – hoisting the sails, hauling on the jib sheets, coiling lines, and bringing food from the galley. We quickly learned that two people are kept busy sailing a 40 footer. That is why we have no pic-tures taken while underway. The weather was pretty con-sistent the whole week. Winds were 15-20 knots day

and night, cumulous clouds always filled some or most of the sky, and temperatures were in the low 80’s each day. One day was cloudier and windier in the morning, but re-turned to normal by mid-day. The only rains we got were showers once a night or so. Our sleep would be disturbed by water on our faces, causing us to jump up and close hatches in the middle of the night. Of course, that is expected in the Virgin Islands. The passages between islands are quite clear, free of shoals, and we only needed to avoid other boaters and the obvious points of land. We did practice simple navigation, identify -ing compass courses for our destination. We rounded the end of Beef Island after a few tacks, fell off the wind a bit, and headed

for Marina Cay. Thanks to the chart and the BVI cruising guide provided by Sunsail, we had no trouble identifying the harbor or know-ing exactly where the reefs were and the best entrance.

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9

Dropping the sails we mo-tored around the Cay (island) and saw to our relief there were still two moorings left. We easily picked a favor-able one, and settled in for some relaxation. Then, to our surprise, almost all the other boats left their moorings – we could have had our pick of many. It seems Marina Cay is a popular lunch stop, and we arrived as the others were preparing to leave. We dinghied ashore again, paid our fee, and checked out the restaurant. Marina Cay is a delightful stop, with a Pusser’s souvenir store, a small resort, showers and restrooms, and two fine restaurants, all on a small is-land. We decided to enjoy a dinner ashore, watch the sunset, and enjoy one of the rum drinks the Virgin Islands are famous for. We had a fine dinner with excellent, friendly ser-vice, and returned to Educated Ice. We closed the evening playing another round of Phase 10, an excellent card game for two. The CD played soft music in the back-ground, and we retired knowing that we

were in paradise. The star-studded skies added to our pleasure, and we could see the stars through the hatch above our berth. Day four, and our goal was The Baths followed by a downwind run to Manchion-eel Bay at Cooper Island. We tacked across Sir Francis Drake Channel towards Vir-gin Gorda’s south end. As I said before, the waters are very open, and we just have to avoid other boaters – in-cluding those that don’t seem to know the rules of the road. We never did

know what the “give-way” boat on the port tack in-tended, as we on the starboard tack came far too close, and we were forced to make an emergency tack to avoid colli-sion. The other boat tacked momentarily after we did, but



Seems that the Buchanans have a new crew member. “Trixie” will be lending a hand (or

rather paw) aboard their Cata-linas, both the 25 and

the 22. At 10 weeks old, she’s proving quite train-able. I wonder if she can pull lines? Ah…spring is in the air and the first race was really quite exciting. I actually had a bird’s eye view of some exciting action on the race course. Seems Jerry “Jaws” Lewis will have a bit of competition for the crash-‘em-up title. Paul Butts and Jaws Lewis tangled on the race course and I’m sure that won’t be the last time. It’s a good thing Those Capri 22s are stout little boats! All you sailors out there, if you hear any good gossip, please email Sculley at:

[email protected]

Scuttlebutt…by Sculley

That was the theme at the Race Committee Seminar held by Race Chairman Jerry Lewis on March 27th at the Litton Building. Those in attendance reviewed the new starting se-quence, learned how to set square lines and deal with barging, over early boats and scoring a race. Of particular inter-est were the "visual aids" used to make im-portant points - model sailboats, pins, marks, flags and even a model of the club's barge. Eve-ryone could benefit from this refresher so Jerry will schedule an-other seminar later in the year.

"RC made EZ"

11

(Continued from page 4) Race Chair

onto starboard once out to the layline for the mark, but Paul was still on port going a bit past the layline. With big 150% genoas blocking the view from each other, they converged un-aware of the other. Until Jerry saw a boat suddenly cross his bow only four feet away. Maybe the boat turned 5 degrees as he pushed the tiller hard to windward, but they were too close and too fast. BOOM! All the others turned to see what hap-pened only to see Jerry's Kudzu bounce off of Too Cool's beam - a perfect "T bone" hit. Fortunately, these boats are tough and no serious damage, only some gelcoat damage at Too Cool's gunwhale height on the bow of Kudzu (or should it be named "Jaws?"). The results should be elsewhere in this newsletter (if not, they're online on our website). It was a fun start to what should be a fun and com-petetive year of racing. Watch out Catalina 22 fleet! Wayne had Ariel II performing quite well, but Don Hare on NoCatHare outperformed every-one once he got the boat set (two bul-lets in the last two races, tieing Car-sten Owens in Bananna with exactly the same corrected times in the sec-ond race). Next race April 14th, Jerry Lewis is race committee for that one. Come out and join in the fun. The more the merrier!


(Continued from page 3) Commodore’s Corner in the Camelia Cup April 6th at Folsom Lake. I look forward to hearing all about it. April 13th is the Trans-Folsom and April 20-21 is the Knocti Monster race at Clear Lake. Sail Expo at Jack London Square is also April 20-21. Contact our Race and Cruise Chairpersons for further information on these events. There will be a Board of Directors meeting on April 9th at the Litton Building. We will be discussing the Regatta, so I hope all offi-cers will attend. Tish Buti is heading up the Regatta this year, and I hope you will all find a way to help out. It’s hard to believe that this time last year we had just submitted the plans for our club-house to the County for ap-proval. We’ve accomplished a lot in a year, thanks to Joe Day and all of you who have helped out. And there have been many who have volun-teered their time and equip-ment. Your hard work is much appreciated, but we’re not fin-ished yet. I will be setting a date for another work party to build the barbecue. We want to get that finished so we can

use it for the Regatta. It will be great to have the festivi-ties at our very own club-house! I want to thank my Vice Commodore, Tish Buti, for taking over for me at the last meeting (the first one I’ve missed in six years). Any-way, I hear there was a good turnout and that she did an excellent job. I hope to see another good turnout at this month’s meeting at Larry & Lena’s in Alta Sierra. Don’t forget, you get a 20% dis-count if you call in your or-der before 4:00. Carsten Owens won the raffle last month – don’t forget to bring a prize, Carsten. Anchors Aweigh, Hugh

13

Friendship Club Day will also bring points to those who attend. This is a great day in so many ways. The girls have a great time sail-ing, swimming & eating, as do the rest of us. Make sure you have this day, June 30th, marked on your calendar. You won’t regret it. The Pacific Northwest cruise, which will take place beginning July 4th, has sev-eral people showing interest. That region is a beautiful place to vacation. Everyone will have a wonderful time. Doug Epperson is the one to contact for information. For those of us who will be in town for July 4th, we will have the boat parade then raft up at the inlet for a bar-beque & potluck. I’m look-ing forward to seeing what the Montgomery’s come up with this year. Can anyone out decorate them? Labor Day weekend will be the Tahoe cruise with two nights rafting up & what can be some very fun sailing during the days. If Fleet Week is held then our next cruise will be October 5th & 6th. Then to finish up for the year, on November 29th & 30th, the Cold Turkey cruise which will be a trip to Angel Island. Remember, you receive

Spring has arrived, the racing season has be-gun and now it is time to think of our first GCYC cruise. Sail Expo will be held at Jack London Square from April 17th to 21st. On Saturday the 20th after everyone has had a chance to pick out their new dreamboat, find some new tricks of the trade or just get some great ideas, we will meet at a restaurant in Jack London Square for dinner. Please let me know if you will be joining us for dinner by April 18th so that I can give an accurate count for dinner. If you will be at the Sail Expo but can’t make dinner let me know so you can get your cruising points. I have added another cruise to the schedule, Saturday, May 11th at Scotts Flat Lake. Come join us and share your sailing skills with the Boy Scouts of Troop 4. Jeff Lund will provide more details at the April meet -ing. Our next cruise will be the GCYC Regatta on June 8th & 9th. There is a lot to be done to make this a success so please, if you haven’t signed up to help, give Tish a call. Everyone who works and/or participates will receive cruising points. This is one of many great events our club puts on. Once the regatta is behind us we can then relax on Wednesday nights with a barbeque and sail, or whatever seems to happen. With our new clubhouse we can enjoy the barbe-que there or on boats. We have 4 dates that are considered cruises & you will receive points for attending but don’t forget the other Wednesday nights to get together for dinner & sailing. Our new clubhouse will be a great meeting place!

Cruise News By Pat Lund


Any reason to have an electic bilge pump? I have a manual one that I was told to use to just pump any water into the deck. They are

really cheap (under $20) and seem worth the expense for minor water prob-lems at least. I thought about plumbing one to the sink drain hose (I removed my galley...it seemed more "quaint" than functional - I use that space for two cool-ers and use a coleman propane stove to cook). If I plumb it to there, I would install a valve that I could shut off the flow back up the hose so I don't flood the cockpit. I also planned to wire it to an accessory plug. That would remind me to open/close the valve too! If I should install one, where is the best place to put it? I figured by the volcano since that seems to be the lowest point of the boat… Dave

Hi Dave, Manual is fine but not the twenty dol-lar kind. The output of a bilge pump needs to go directly overboard from

a location that remains above water un-der all but the most severe conditions. That translates to the transom about cockpit sole height for many C22s. Since a failed trough-hull is one of the more

Distilled Wisdom

This is the transcript of the ACTUAL radio conversa-tion of a US Naval ship and the Canadians, off the coast of Newfoundland, Oct. 95. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Op-erations 10/10/95. CANADIANS: Please di-vert your course 15 degrees to the South, to avoid a collision. AMERICANS: Recom-mend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North, to avoid a collision.

common ways to sink a boat one should never plumb a bilge pump into a below waterline through hull. Even if you were savvy enough to have the required wooden plug in case of a through hull fail-ure a bilge pump plumbed into the same hose sys-tem would just put the wa-ter back into the boat when you need it the most. In the worst case it could allow water to flow back though itself and sink the boat on its own someday.


True Tales from the Sea!

Contributed by Doug Epperson

15

CANADIANS: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a coll i-sion. AMERICANS: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert your curse. CANADIANS: Negative. I say again, you will have to divert your course. AMERICANS: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CA R-RIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET, WE ARE ACCOM-PANIED BY THREE DETROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMER-OUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S 15 DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UN-DERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP. CANADIANS: We are a light-house. Your call.

John O’Dell Realty 123 Mill St, Grass Valley, CA 95945

Lisa O’Dell-Nin REALTOR® Associate

Bus: (530) 272-2613 Cell: (530) 263-1518 Fax: (530) 272-2123 www.nevadacounty.com

E-mail: [email protected]

(Continued from page 13) Cruise News points for attending each of the cruises. The person/family with the most points by the beginning of December will receive the “Chester Ramey Cruising Award” plaque. If I am not at the cruise I will have someone who will be keeping tract of those who at-tend so please make sure that either the des-ignated person or myself knows you are there. I will announce whom the person will at the meeting prior to the cruise. We have club members who either don’t have boats or are unable to take their boats to other areas. It would be nice to get people together so that everyone will be able to en-joy not only the cruises but also other times and places you plan to go boating. Let me know if you have space to take passengers or if you want to be the passengers. I will keep a list and make announcements at the meet-ings. It will be another fun year & I look forward to enjoying it with you. Pat Lund


A note from the Commodore of Vice…Tish Buti Thanks to all of you who signed up to help with the Regatta at the March meeting. There are still a lot of spots to fill and we can use everyone. If you weren’t at the meeting and know what you’d like to do, please call me at 273-7819 and let me know. I know Race Season has started and I know that we all have yards and houses that beckon with all those spring projects (Butis have a list a mile long!), but I hope you’ll make time to help out with our Clubhouse and Barge projects. Hugh and Doug will need lots of muscle to get things in shape be-fore June.

www.nccn.net/~gcyc/

We’re on the web

Thanks to all of you who are spread-ing the good word about us ? Our mem-bership is growing every month! It will be really ex-citing to see what happens when we start advertis-ing for our Junior and Adult Programs. Thanks to one and all and hope to see you on the water!

From the VC…

Place Your 3.5” x 2” Ad Here!

Contact: G. Frank Nin For more information.

(530) 477-1591 [email protected]

17

Watch ESPN2 Friday 4/12/02 2:30PM ESPN2 Expedition to the Arctic 80° North Saturday 4/27/02 3:30PM ESPN2 Volvo Ocean Race (Show #6) Leg 5 Highlights Sunday 4/28/02 3:00PM ESPN2 Volvo Ocean Race (Show #7) Leg 6 highlights

April 6 Camellia Cup – Folsom Lake 9th BOD Meeting 10th General Meeting-Larry & Lena's Pizza 13 Trans Folsom Race – Folsom Lake 14 *Race #2 Spring Series

20-21 Konocti Monster Race-Clear Lake

20-21-Sail Expo Cruise Jack London Sq. 20,21,27,28-Adult Sailing Class

27-28 Konocti Cup Race-Clear Lake May 4 *Race #3 Spring Series 8 General Meeting- Larry & Lena's Pizza 19 *Race #4 End Spring Series 25-26 Whiskeytown Regatta/Cruise

29th BOD Meeting

Calendar of Events

For a complete calendar go to the GCYC website at www.nccn.net/~gcyc/

(Continued from page 14) bilge Pump http://www.catalinayachts.org/Fleet4/sailtech/NL-Trans.jpg the white fitting, port of the rudder, is the output of a manual bilge pump. A Whale Titian is pretty much the standard for an installed manual pump. It is installed in the cockpit wall so it can be run from the helm. Since losing electrical power is a real possibility when things start going bad having a good manual bilge that you can use underway is a high priority. I couldn’t find a C22 install photo this morning, here’s the one on Wing Tip.

http://www.catalinayachts.org/Fleet4/wingtip/WTEngineCon.jpg Our family C22 picked up the water from a hose under the floor boards. Phil Agur WING TIP C270 #184


(Continued from page 9) light air they waited far too long. Fortunately, that was the only close call we had in the week. We picked up a Na-tional Park mooring and ex-plored The Baths, an area of huge granite boulders, calm pools, and sandy beaches. We walked along the shore a ways, then snorkeled back to the dinghy, hav-ing some of the best snorkeling of the trip. Unfortu-nately, we were there at the same time as a lunch cruise boat and shared the area with a hundred oth-ers, or so. We learned that January is definitely the busy season for BVI, with hundreds of boats, charter and private, eagerly seeing the same key sites. This became espe-cially clear as we arrived at Manchioneel Bay around 2:30 and found all the moor-ings already taken. The sail downwind from The Baths had been most enjoyable, and we were surprised as we

saw six boats racing for the one final moor-ing buoy. Manchioneel Bay was our one night of an-choring – and my most sleepless night. We did find a good (the best?) anchorage just outside the mooring area, and settled in knowing the anchor had a firm hold. Mada-

lyn snorkeled over the anchor to be sure it was well set before I turned off the engine. We discovered the boats did not come with any indication on the anchor chain to tell how much scope was out, so we did some guessing – and let out another 15 feet, then another, then about 30 more feet. Fortu-nately, the wa-ter was clear and shallow, so I could snorkel

over the anchor chain and clearly see it ris-ing and falling on the bottom as the wind gusts pushed the boat back periodically. With enough chain out that there was plenty still on the bottom during the strongest gusts, I felt we were secure. Little did I then ex-pect that the wind was going to shift all night long. We had enough chain out that I was worried about the radius of swing. We were close to shore, a reef, and other boats. I spent the night in the main cabin, looking at the Global Positioning System (GPS) every time I woke. Whenever the GPS showed an

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unfamiliar loca-tion and bear-ing, I was up on deck with the flashlight ensur-ing we were safe. And we were in fine shape all night. That was clearly my most stress-ful “learning experience”. Our fifth day was scheduled for scuba diving again. We radioed the dive boat and asked to be picked up last to give us time to get a mooring after others left for the day. We did NOT want to leave the boat unattended at anchor. We got our pick of moorings at 9:00, moved to the dive boat at 10:00, and headed for the Wreck of the Rhone. This is a famo us dive site at the shallow wreck of the R.M.S. Rhone, a 330 foot steamer that sank in a hurricane in 1867. We had two excellent dives, with 80 foot visibility in the water, and an excellent guide, substantially aided by the comfort we gained diving three days earlier. We first descended near the forward mast and its crows nest, swam past the bow and then through the hull. A large spiny lobster was in a nook inside the hull, its hiding place illu-minated by my flashlight. The sec-ond dive was the mid-ships and stern parts of the ship, and we were shown the propeller, exploded boiler, a set of huge wrenches, a shiny brass porthole, and other artifacts, all the while enjoying the colorful fish,

corals, and sponges. We also purchased a video taken while we were diving. We returned to Educated Ice again about 1:30, had lunch and relaxed. Another local rum drink on the beach cer-tainly helped the relaxation! It was with some regret that we had our last dinner aboard, and turned in for our final night. We were cer-tainly not ready to be going home. Day six. An easy downwind run to the Sunsail base. Met at the entrance to the docks


Wayne Buti 530-273-1336 530-613-3669 [email protected]

Davis Realty Inc. 901 La Barr Meadows Rd. Grass Valley, CA 95949

(530) 273-1336


GCYC Minutes General Meeting, March 13, 2002 Called to order at 19:00 hrs Officer Reports: Commodore: Hugh Talman, absent

1. Clubhouse report by Wayne Buti on Hugh’s behalf; much was accom-plished last weekend and construc-tion of the clubhouse is on sched-ule. The Club needs cinder blocks for construction of the BBQ; if any-one knows of a company that would be willing to contribute they would be appreciated. Summer meetings will be at the clubhouse with no gate fee for those attending.

Vice-Commodore: Tish Buti 1. Insurance has been secured for the

Club. 2. For those who haven’t paid Club

dues, there will be a $10 fee for dues received after April 1st.

Secretary: Don Wight, nothing to report at this t ime. Treasurer: Nicki Talman

1. Club balance as of 3/8/02, $10,061.71 with all bills current. A lot of memberships yet to be depos-ited.

Race Chair: Jerry Lewis 1. The racing rules

were presented at the meeting and are posted on the Club website.

2. A fun race is sched-uled for the week-end of March 23rd.

3. A seminar is avail-able for those who would like to be on the race committee, contact Jerry for details.

Cruising Chair: Pat Lund 1. Don’t miss the Sail

Expo at Jack Lon-don Square in Oak-land, April 20th &21st, dinner after-wards.

Port Captain: Doug Epperson, absent

1. Barge and Club boats need work

2. Barge will go on the Lake soon.

Publicity & Membership Chair: Paul Butts

1. Introduced four new members; Al-fred & Rayna Yribe, Michael Wilkie and Arlene Taylor

Newsletter Editor: Frank Nin, the Club says “Great Job Frank” Committee Reports:

1. The sign up sheet for the Regatta help is open and every-one is encouraged to pitch in and help.

2. Lynn Buchanan; A

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woman’s adult sailing class is scheduled for April 27th & 28th, also the Club needs adults to assist in the Junior sailing classes beginning June 17th, contact Lynn for details.

Old Business: None New Business : None Announcements :

1. Opening day on the Bay will be April 28th.

2. South Bay Opening Day will be April 13th.

3. A “Rules of the Road “sailing semi-nar is being conducted at Stock-dale’s Marine on March 23rd.

Raffle: brought by Jerry Lewis and won by Carsten Owens Adjournment: 19:47 hrs

1965 Varalay Snipe

Fiberglass Hull, Wood Deck, Aluminum Mast and Center-board, 2 sets of sails, Roller Furl-ing Jib, and many extras. Trailer included...

$1,500 [email protected]

(Continued from page 19) BVI by the Sunsail staffer who had given us the yacht briefing. Gently backed into our slip and tied up. Removed our gear from the boat, and we had completed our first inde-pendent bare-boat charter. We had the after-noon to relax in an air-conditioned hotel room, get our first real shower, watch other boaters come into harbor (graced by a rain-bow), and talk about where we would sail when we return, for we will definitely return. There is so much more of the Virgin Islands to see that we did not get close to. And we would like to experience BVI during a less busy season. We now know we can handle a 40 foot boat with confidence. We also ran through the lists of friends we would like to share the experience with, friends who will be compatible and enjoyable for a week in a small space, and who could help with the sail handling while underway. We are sold on the pleasures of bare-boat sailing, and look forward to adding it as an experience on other travels. We watched the sunset again, as it turned

the sky pink, with shafts of sunlight radiating in all d i-rections from behind a cloud. It was another beau-tiful evening in the British Virgin Islands.

P.O

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