There's More To Charts Than . . . . .

It was a dark and stormy night . . . . .

Actually, it turned out to be a bright and beautifully clear day.

Earlier, very early in fact, we woke up in Sidney BC to morning fog. My daughter Lesley and her husband Rod, June and I, had cruised here after visiting Friday Harbor, anchoring at Reid Harbor, Stuart Island (one of our favorite anchorages), mooring at Roche Harbor, at Brentwood Bay BC (all too, too very upscale from our last time there seven years ago), touring Cowichan BC (a really delightful stop), and then to Sidney, one of our favorite marinas. (You'll periodically see many of Lesley's photographs of this trip on her photoblog, also accessed to the left of this column.)

Now, as the morning progressed, not a cloud in sight, hardly a breeze, and great visibility, so we set out for Victoria, the final destination of this leg of our summer cruise. We'd done this run before, both from Roche Harbor and from Sidney and return, so no worries.

We headed south through Sidney Channel between Sidney Island and James Island (before we'd run through Cordova Channel to the west). Good sea on Haro Strait - - quite flat with a slack current. Rod was at the helm as we roared along at our typical 9 Knots. Doing some light navigating I made D'Arcy Shoals with its green buoy, which we put to port. The Zero Rock beacon came into view, as well as the red "V30" buoy to the west, just off Cordova Bay. The charts showed no other navigational marks for at least three miles, so we decided to split the 1- 1/2 miles between the two.

When your comfortably cruising, it's fun to look for sea activity. We'd spotted lots of sea birds, seen a seal or two, watched a container ship round the distant point entering Haro Strait from Juan de Fuca Strait. Some activity off our starboard bow caught our attention. It looked like some seals, perhaps even whales? churning the water. Whatever it was it was pretty active and certainly deserved a closer look. We had lots of time. The current was now ebbing and we had a small following sea, so we'd make Victoria in good time.

Glasses out. Wonder what it was. Closer, and even closer. Then . . .

"Hard to port, Rod!"

"Rod, VERY hard to port!"

No seal or whale, but a ROCK breaking the water surface.

It seemed like an eternity as the valiant Lady Mick came about, even with the helm hard over and Rod increasing the starboard RPMs. but she did, and once again we were again in quiet waters heading south.

Our rock has a name: Little Zero Rock. Its position is 48. 31.8, 123. 18.9. It has no marker. But, and here is the lesson,  the chart shows it as breaking at mean tide. And it was!

Some navigational attention to details found on a chart, not just navigational markers but contours and depths  - - and yes, the occasional rock that might be sticking up, is a must, believe me.

Added to this, some chart views (including some Vector views) are strong on markers, but very weak on details. You really have to look, preferably before you head out.

Little Zero Rock might be little, but it certainly made a very big impression on the four of us!

Lesson well learned, and hopefully, remembered.

And Victoria on the Causeway was delightful.

The Annotated Sailing Alone Around the World

Many boaters have favorite books stashed on board, books about the sea and cruising and maritime adventures and the like. We have tucked in our salon book shelf such titles as Jonathan Raban's Passage to Juneau; Alan Moorehead's Darwin and the Beagle (fitting, as last Thursday was the bicentennial of his birth);  Kathrene Pinkerton's Three's a Crew; Louis Rubin Jr.'s Small Craft Advisory; Farley Mowat's The Boat Who Wouldn't Float; First You Have To Row A Little Boat by Richard Bode; Fishing With John by Edith Iglauer; Denton Moore's Gentlemen Never Sail To Weather; The Twilight Seas by Sally Carrighar; Muriel Wylie Blanchet's great classic The Curve Of Time. And many, many more - - it's a really big book shelf, and June (my prolific reading wife and companion) no doubt will point out some of her favorites that I've overlooked.

Soon to join this collection of maritime dreams, fantasies, adventures, and lores will be an old classic now revisited. Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World: The first solo voyage around the world. Next month will see the release of The Annotated Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum annotated by teacher/journalist Rod Scher. (Pre-orders are being accepted by Amazon.com). This edition provides explanation, commentary, clarification, and "In the News" sidebars for historical context that will make Slocum's masterpiece more accessible to today's readers, sailors and landlubbers alike.

Joshua Slocum's story was the stuff of well honed seamanship and amazing skill, far away dreams, and bold adventure. Nova Scotia born, a master mariner by his mid-twenties, on April 24, 1895, and at the age of 51 Captain Slocum left on his legendary 42,000-mile adventure to circumnavigate the world in his 37-foot sloop "Spray". Thirty-seven months later he returned, the first person to sail around the world alone. His published the story of his account in 1900. In 1909 he set out on another lone voyage, to South America, never to be heard from again.

Some review of Slocum's book.

"A classic book. . . . Slocum's writing is as elegant as his thirty-seven-foot sloop, SPRAY, whose crossing of the Atlantic he describes vividly." --New Yorker

"A literate and absorbing yarn published in 1900 and still in print. . . [Slocum's] story is a convincing tale of the intelligence, skill and fortitude that drove a master navigator." --New York Times

"As a writer Slocum is given to plain understatement, dry wit, wry humor and Yankee observations about nature that led some to call him a sea-locked Thoreau. . . . He offers descriptive glances at the sea, in storm or calm, that can rival those of Joseph Conrad." --Smithsonian

Rod Scher, a longtime boating enthusiast, former software developer and a recovering English teacher, is currently VP of Technology for Class.com, where he spends much of his time developing educational software while plotting ways to get back out on the water. In the interests of full disclosure, Rod is also my son-in-law. He, Lesley and Annie, their shepherd-retriever mix, live in Lincoln, Nebraska.

This is a "must" book for your shelf, after you've read it, of course.

To order any of the books cited above, and especially The Annotated Sailing Alone, simply click on the title.

Legislative Update

More Washington State legislative news (with apologies to those of you living and boating beyond this fair state).

A week ago I posted an alert from the Recreational Boaters Association of Washington (RBAW) to the effect that the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs had introduced legislation in both the senate and legislature that would divert federal boating funding to enhanced marine law enforcement. Now comes these updates from David Kutz,
RBAW Government Affairs Director

Tuesday, February 10^th:

The Senate Hearing yesterday went very well for us yesterday. Below is the link and information for the TVW website if you would like to watch a recording of the hearing on your computer. There is no judgment on the hearing until the Senators meet in executive session to either vote the bill up or down, or just let it die. We won't know for several days probably.

Our legislative committee would especially like to thank the following members who took the time to attend the hearing and sign in for our side: Dick Marshall, John & Linda Dawson, Michael Best, Dave & Sherron Scott, Richard & Diane Hurst (Olympia YC), P/C Jim Lengenfelder (OYC) and Janice Kutz. We also had another boater from SW Washington testify plus State Parks testimony and Jan Visser was there for us from the Boating Safety Council.

The other side brought in about 4 sheriffs in uniform plus Ms. Arlow the WASPC lobbyist. They made some inaccurate statements but their point was that they need a lot of money to improve their enforcement manpower (of which this fund would be too little to make much of a difference). We explained they have been absent in all of our previous years stakeholder processes, even when we were fighting for funding for them which we have done on several occasions. We made the point we already supply L.E. over $7 million in grants which is already 75% of the boating safety funding available to Parks. Anyway Senator Jacobsen seemed to understand better the funding process and looked to be open to a bill compromise.

We are hoping to meet with WASPC and introduce another bill this week that will address some of their concerns and get some of our real needs quantified and get everybody on board with us.

We still have to plan on the House hearing Friday morning at 8 am for HB 1848. Our strategy and/or the hearing is subject to change depending on how much we can work out this week.

Thursday, February 12^th:

As you probably heard, the hearing in Olympia for SB 5691 and HB 1848 went well on Monday afternoon Feb. 9th. We boaters made some good points and were very well represented and received. We also had good back up from State Parks boating officials.

After an extensive meeting today between all parties, we are pleased to announce we have an agreement in principle on the boating bills- SB 5691 and HB 1848.

Other than the panel and designated persons, there is no need to attend the hearing Friday morning at 8 am.

We may still need legislative support to pass an agreed upon bill and you will hear from RBAW further on that as details unfold.

If you are planning on coming to the RBAW Legislative Reception on Monday Feb. 17, we will have the latest update there.

Thanks again to all of you who continue to support our legislative efforts for recreational 
boating in Washington. Please remember to RSVP if you are coming to Olympia on the 17th.

Good sailing.

Waste Management

This past summer we cruised to Alaska, actually to Glacier Bay and then south to Juneau, Sitka, Fairbanks, Victoria BC. We wanted to see what was still left of the glaciers while there was still something left of us. It was a marvelous trip and a truly beautiful cruise - - a great family reunion, and an awing experience of the Alaska coast and the glaciers themselves. We cruised on Holland America's "Westerdam".

This 82,000 gross registered ton vessel is 936' in length, and like all ships of her size she is required to have a very sophisticated pollution-control plan, including a very detailed plan as to how she manages her waste. (Hard to think of there being any waste with all of us constantly eating!)

You and I may not quite reach 936' in length. Yet, if your vessels is 40' or more in length (that's 4% of the "Westerdam" length!) you, too, get to have a waste management plan. You're one of the big boys and girls now.

According to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs, if you will), Title 33 Part 151.57 "requires all recreational vessels 40 feet or more in length, if operating, or certified to operate, beyond three nautical miles from shore, that is equipped with a galley and berthing to have a written waste management plan." A quick look at the charts will tell you that a lot of the time you're more than three nautical miles from shore more often than you think. Remember, one minute of latitude is one nautical mile. Go measure.

The CFR goes on to say that the "Master or Person in Charge of the vessel is responsible for ensuring that a written waste management plan is on board, and that each person handling garbage follows that plan. The plan must describe the vessel’s procedures for collecting, processing, storing and discharging garbage, and designate the person who is in charge of carrying out the plan."

Sounds complicated? It really isn't. Here's a sample that will work for almost all of you (unless you're the Master of the "Westerdam") that you can copy, fill in, print out, sign, laminate (helps keep it looking good), and post. Ours is posted on the inside door of a galley dish locker.

Waste Management isn't exactly your most scintillating reading topic, but not only will this meet your legal requirements, it will also meet your ecology responsibility. And that's pretty cool.

WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN

(Vessel Name)

1. This plan describes policy and procedures for handling this vessel's garbage according to MARPOL Annex V and 33 CFR Subparts 151.51 through 151.77. As Captain I am responsible for carrying out this plan. All crew members and passangers shall follow this plan. It is the general policy of ths vessel that all food waste and garbage will be retained on board for proper disposal ashore.
2. Waste for this vessel is collected (where, e.g. in the trash container under the galley sink) and stored (location, e.g. bagged and placed on the aft deck immediately prior to mooring). When moored, all waste will be carried from the vessel and disposed of (location f dumpster, etc., e.g. at the place designated at a moorage). Plastics and waste containing plastic materials shall never be discharged into the waters from this vessel regardless of location.
3. When sailing on inland waters or at sea within 12 nautical miles of land, no food, garbage or waste of any type will be discharged. When on an extended voyage, beyond 12 nautical miles of land, certain non-plastic and non-floating waste may be discharged if storage space is not available. In this case, all plastics (including foam plastic) are to e segregated from other wastes and stored on board for proper disposal ashore. Only those materials permitted for discharge according to the MARPOL Annex V placard may be discharged in the water. In no case will waste of any kind be discharged into the water without my prior inspection and explicit permission.
4. If you have an questions about this plan, waste handling procedures or materials that may be discharged, please consult me.
   

_____________ _________
(Captain) (Date)

Let's keep the waters, our waters, clean!

In Memorium

Ray Rairdon died early yesterday morning.

Many years ago I was trying to discern an 'encore' career. I knew I liked boats, I like people, and I fancied myself a pleasant fellow. After some false starts the idea of boat brokering appealed. After all, it combined boats, people, and I had recently got my USCG Masters ticket. Checking out various brokerages in the area didn't produce much. Then one early evening, as June and I were puttering around the west side of Lake Union, Ray Rairdon, whose brokerage I'd visited earlier, hailed me as we passed by a boat he was on visiting. "I want you to come and see me, Mike, when you can, and let's talk."

And so started my connection with Ray. I was now a seller of boats. Ray Rairdon Yacht Sales was a great place. Ray and his wife, Melissa coached me, as well as became good friends. Not long after Richard Ashton joined the brokerage, and he and I hit it off well.

Selling boats? Well, that's another story. I liked showing boats, I thoroughly enjoyed talking with customers about what they were looking for and what might work for them. But when it came to that famous (infamous?) step of closing a deal? I was an absolute failure! Something like jumping out of airplanes with great gusto and form (which I did many times in Her Majesty's Canadian army), but unable to pull that rip-cord (that's why we had static lines connected to the plane!). No, closing was my Achilles' heel. So, with good support and blessings from Ray and company, I ventured into starting my own business: CruiseMasters Boating Instruction.

Over these past dozen or so years, I've made many good friends and strong acquaintances in the boating world throughout the Northwest. I've seen the brokers develop their professional training and standards, resulting in many now qualified as "Certified Professional Yacht Brokers". Ray and Melissa were prime movers in this effort. To me, and certainly to many, many others, Ray was really the dean of the Northwest brokers - - a person of great integrity. A leader in the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association and in the industry as a whole; a docent with the Museum of Flight - - he use to fly his own Cessna 172; a passion for car racing - - Mercedes SL Gulf Wings and Porches; he liked fast. Ray was a truly unique man, and a real gentleman.

Over the years I've helped move boats for Ray, especially during the Boats Afloat shows. Ray and Melissa and Richard have given me many training referrals. And they're never too busy to chat for a moment when I stop in for coffee (they never had sugar on hand!) and catch up with what's going on in Ray's world.

Just a little over two weeks ago, just before the recent boat show, I stopped in to drop off some brochures. Ray and I talked about the impact of the economy on boat sales, and together with Melissa generally mused over the changes in the other Washington.

Yesterday Richard told me that Ray had died, four days before his 83rd birthday.

Yesterday I lost a coach, a mentor, and a friend. And my heart goes out to Melissa and to all those who loved this guy.

Requiem in pacem

No services are planned. Ray's ashes will be scattered over Puget Sound. Memorials may be made to the Museum of Flight, 9404 East Marginal Way South, Seattle WA 98108-4097, noted "In memory of Ray Rairdon", or call Rebecca Tamfu at 206-768-7238 to make donations over the phone. 

RBAW Legislative Alert

I've been planning to write a post on the Recreational Boating Association of Washington (RBAW), a great organization that well looks after the interests of those of us who live and boat in Washington State. But just today I received the following alert from the RBAW, which is urgent and important, so I wanted to get this out now and in the near future do a more focussed post on the RBAW itself.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs have had introduced legislation that will have a severe negative impact upon recreational boating in the state of Washington. The bills- SB 5691 and HB 1848- would divert significant portions of our Federal funding 
for boating programs to the narrow issue of enhanced marine law enforcement.

Also, we 
have learned from the Coast Guard that the bills appear to put much of Washington State's 
federal funding for recreational boating safety at risk.

These bills were prepared without input from boaters, and the Sheriffs and Chiefs' lobbyist has repeatedly failed to meet with your recreational boating representative at the Capitol. These bills are now scheduled for hearings, on very short notice- the Senate bill on Monday, February 9th, at 1:30pm in Senate Hearing Room 2, and the House bill on Tuesday, February 10th, at 10am in House Hearing Room C. We need boaters to be in attendance at these hearings. We will arrange for the speakers, 
so all you have to do is sign in and be present at the hearing for a show of support.

If you can make it to Olympia for either or both hearings, please contact the Recreational 
Boating Association of Washington lobbyist at rbawlobby@yahoo.com, so we can coordinate.

In addition, we need boaters to take the following actions:

Most important: 1)- Use the legislative HOTLINE- 1-800-562-6000- to call your legislators and ask them to oppose SB 5691 and HB 1848. Tell them that these bills will hurt boating programs and endanger our federal funding of boating programs. The 
operator will be able to identify your legislators for you and take your message for all three- a senator and two representatives. The hotline is open 8am to 8pm Monday 
through Friday, and 9am to 1pm on Saturday. This is very quick and easy, please call today.

2)- Contact your local county sheriff. Ask him (or her) if he (or she) actually supports the hostile position taken against boaters by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and 
Police Chiefs. You may reference SB 5691 and HB 1848, and that the bills will hurt boating programs and endanger our federal funding of boating programs. Ask them to 
contact their association and express their displeasure with the association action, and to 
copy you on the communication.

3)- Contact your mayor. Ask him (or her) if he (or she) is aware that the local police 
chief's association is proposing legislation that is hostile to boaters, that will hurt boating 
programs and endanger our federal funding of boating programs. Reference SB 5691 and 
HB 1848, and indicate your belief that the city should control its legislative agenda, not 
the chief. Ask the mayor to convey to the chief, and to the Association of Washington 
Cities, opposition to the bills, and to copy you on the communications. Further request 
that the mayor have the chief communicate that opposition to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

4)- Forward any and all responses- positive or negative- to the Recreational Boating 
Association of Washington's lobbyist at rbawlobby@yahoo.com

Time is of the essence! Calls need to begin immediately, and boaters need to be in Olympia for the hearings on Monday and Tuesday.

So there you have it. Let's move.


Apology and a Correction

The 2009 Great Seattle Boat Show ended Sunday. We took in the Qwest Field Event Center venue on Friday, looking at new equipment and gadgets, buying books (great discounts!), and generally 'shmoozing' with friends. We talked with David Kuntz, president of the Recreational Boating Association of Washington (RBAW), who kindly and gently commented that the title I had used for my December 29th posting about the state's new boaters education program (and requirement) was incorrect. And he's right.

I titled the post "Getting Licensed by the State."

Wrong.

A license implies something that can be revoked or requires renewal, like a driver's license or a USCG Master's license. That's not the case with the Washington State Boater Education Card. Once issued, it's yours for keeps. The proponents of the state initiative - - RBAW was a key player - - were very intentional and did not want this to be a "license." And it never was (except by me).

So, apologies, and thanks to David for pointing this out to me.

But, you still need to get your Card!

Of Boats & Barbra

I want to share a delightful piece by Rod Scher (pictured above), teacher and journalist, from a 2007 column in the magazine Smart Computing, which he edited for many years. The  Lady Mick was our vessel and wonderful home for more than 15 years.

I love boats, and as luck would have it, I recently got to spend two weeks cruising the San Juan Islands in a venerable, creaky wooden boat with my venerable, creaky (but not at all wooden) in-laws.

The boat is a classic 1957 Richardson sedan, 46 feet in length, broad and beamy, with an extended pilothouse and helm above-decks and aft staterooms, forward vee-berths, and light, airy salon below. When the boat creaks, it’s the honest sound of wood flexing. It’s the way a boat is supposed to sound. (On some boats, what you hear instead is the sound of fiberglass panels slowly delaminating.) When you walk the decks of the Lady Mick, you feel teak underfoot, not plastic. This is as it should be.

There’s something warmly old-fashioned, almost primal, about sailing in an old, wooden boat. You’re afloat in a vessel made of oak and cedar and mahogany, with water lapping against planks that have been hewn and steamed and bent around rows of wooden ribs in a process not unlike that used to build the Spray, a 37-foot sloop in which 51-year-old Joshua Slocum single-handedly sailed around the world in 1895-98. The Lady Mick was built (in North Tonawanda, N.Y.) using plank-on-frame construction, by a factory that had been established back in 1909. Well cared for, a boat built like that will last 100 years. About how many modern contrivances can you say that? 



Such boats are built not by corporations, but by craftsmen, and they have been made in almost this exact fashion for centuries. It’s an expensive, time-consuming process, but this is what it means to build a boat, rather than to extrude one. 



And so, there I was, happily bobbing along, keeping an eye out for “obstacles to navigation”, when it occurred to me: This boating thing seems like a primitive, traditional undertaking, but it’s really not. 



Consider that the elderly, much-loved Richardson carried, along with its warm, low-tech patina of teak and mahogany and history, the following devices: GPS, Loran-C, a digital fathometer, two laptop computers, one desktop computer, radar, an AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponder, three VHS radios (two bulkhead-mounted, one handheld), a flat-screen TV, two FM walkie-talkies, and charting software with digital charts that apparently covered the entire planet, most of Betelgeuse, and portions of Tolkien’s Middleearth. (The boat also boasts a computerized, automated foghorn, but we can’t figure out how to adjust the pitch, which remains curiously high. It’s a very effeminate foghorn, come to think of it, sounding oddly like Barbra Streisand screeching her way through the first few bars of “Memory.”) 


In the end, it begins to feel somewhat counterfeit to rhapsodize about the supposedly low-tech, traditional allure of an old boat such as this. After all, as old as she is, the Lady Mick does boast a fairly impressive array of high-tech devices. (Foghorn excepted, of course.) And, given the ease with which an unaided sailor can get lost or beached or worse—and especially since so many idiots in high-priced plastic boats tend simply to run over slower vessels—that’s a good thing; today’s boater needs all the help he can get, technological or otherwise. 



Really, living on board was kind of like pretending to go low-tech. You know, something like when you go camping and try to explain to people how you were out there “roughing it” in the wilderness with your cot and foam pad, propane stove, frozen steaks, solar-powered blender, rip-stop nylon tent, MP3 player, Bluetooth-equipped cell phone, and USB-enabled Swiss Army knife. Explorers—and mariners—of old would have just laughed at us. Slocum, who sailed 46,000 miles all alone in a boat he built largely by hand (a boat whose most prominent example of high technology was a tin wind-up clock with a smashed face), would have been insulted by the idea that my two weeks in the Lady Mick constituted sailing at all. 



Still, it’s the closest I can come these days to seeing what life must’ve been like for Slocum and his fellow boatmen. So if you’re out there zooming around in your plastic Bayliner super-yacht, please be careful. Don’t hit the Lady Mick, because—old and creaky though she might be—we love her. Just save the beer for after you dock, keep your eyes open, and listen for Barbra.

(Reprinted with permission from Smart Computing.)

Rod Scher, a longtime boating enthusiast, former software developer and a recovering English teacher, is currently VP of Technology for Class.com, where he spends much of his time developing educational software while plotting ways to get back out on the water. He is author of The Annotated Sailing Alone Around the World, Joshua Slocam's classic sailing tale, to be published next month. Rod is also my son-in-law and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The oblivious dog in the picture is our Jolie the Bichon Frise.