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Greetings From Your Dockmaster - It’s
November Already
Welcome to the November issue of Kona
Kai’s monthly e-mail newsletter! As all Southern
California boaters know, some of our best weather is yet to
come, but so is the rainy season!
That’s why now is a great time to
plug up those pesky “leaks” you meant to get to
after last year’s rainy season, and see if you
can’t have a drier Winter this year.
If your canvas is getting older and the
water leaches through, there are some waterproofing sprays
available that will solve the problem. Another area to check
are “channels” that direct water inward instead of
overboard. Often, these trouble spots can be fixed with simple
channel blocks that redirect the flow. Similarly, there are
some simple weather stripping solutions to overhangs that drip
water inward.
In any event, whatever you can do to
reduce the moisture inside your boat will pay back big
dividends in reducing mold, corrosion and odor.
Good luck, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Pete Taliercio - Dockmaster
Between the Sheets - How Fast Will She Go?
Sailing down the bay a friend of mine
asked “how fast will your boat go?” I begin
to spew out my text book answer. “You see, a
sailboat’s hull speed is equal to the square root of the
length at the water line times 1.34, but that’s not
always correct, since as a boat heels, the water line is
extended and the speed would be more than that unless the heel
angle becomes too great, and ...!”
My friend’s face morphs into that
“deer in the headlights” look and he asks for
another beverage and says “Oh, look at the pretty
bird!”.
Seriously though, how do you find out
what the best speed for a given point of sail, wind and course
is for your particular boat? To get the answer, you need to
develop a polar chart for your boat. There are general polar
charts on the web for many production boats that can be
downloaded for free, but these usually represent the
manufacturer’s new production boats and do not represent
the many boat bucks you personally may have invested in the
quest for more speed.
Until recently you had go spend many boat
bucks to achieve a polar chart that only approximated your
particular boat, but thanks to the internet, there are now some
excellent analyzers which will give you a much more exacting
answer to the question, “How fast will she go?”.
One I found that I like is the Sailfish Yacht Analyzer at
techsail.com which
for only one half of a traditional boat buck, I was able to
develop my own polar charts that represent the specific changes
I have made in my boat.
So now I know for a given wind speed and
point of sail what my boat performance should be. The challenge
now is achieving the proper sail trim to reach that speed.
“How fast will she go?” -
Hey, I’m not going to tell you that!
Richard Benscoter | |||||||||||
Are You a Good Power Boat Crew Member?
Most people agree that the duties of a
good crew member is assisting with departing and returning to
the dock and tending to the needs of guests, but a really good
crew does much more without having to be asked by the skipper.
This includes properly securing dock lines and fenders, making
sure that ports and hatches are closed, assuring that
breakables are safely secured below, and showing guests how to
use the head.
You should know the basic operation of
the engines and how to use the VHF radio in the unlikely event
that the skipper becomes incapacitated or lost overboard.
A good crew member knows that when things
are not going well, what you do can either help the
situation or make things worse. All skippers, no matter how
capable, are not perfect. Use carefully and calmly worded
reminders like: “Watch your stern, there, Bill.” or
“Uh, you do see that dinghy, don’t you,
Honey?’” can prevent a far worse embarrassment. Say
it as quietly and tactfully as you can, depending upon the
urgency of the situation, except in a real emergency.
Don’t unduly alarm the skipper or embarrass him/her in
front of guests.
Should contact with boats or docks become
a concern, take action early, and don’t panic, as you
might make the skipper panic. Quickly move to the spot where
contact is likely, and be ready to fend off. Don’t
wait for the skipper to ask. Have a loose fender in hand,
dangling on it’s line; or have a “boat hook”
handy. A boat hook can be used to fend off with steady
pressure long before you get too close. The fender can be
dropped in between the boats at the closest point, where they
are about to touch. Do not
endanger yourself when fending off, however. Boats can be repaired!
Last, but not least, at the appropriate
time, ask the skipper in which order the lines are to be
released when you leave the dock, and in which order they are
to be secured when you return. And then there’s the
skipper’s pet peeve; the crew member that accomplishes a
task without shouting it out. Here’s a few samples
- “You’re Clear!”; “I’m
Off!”; “Aft Line Secured!”; “Looking
Good!”; “Two Feet From the Dock!”; etc.
Bob Sherman | |||||||||||
soon as a marina lets them know about
it”, Allen said.
Armored Hull - Does This San Diego- Based
Company Have A Solution To The Copper Paint Pollution Problem?
The web site says “Never Bottom
paint again ... You will never need to hire divers to scrape
your hull ... Your boat will never need anti-fouling
paint and years later it will look like the day you purchased
it.”
This is the claim of Armored
Hull, the San Diego company
that invented The Boat Hull
Shield™, a self contained
pool that is moored in your marina slip which provides a
complete enclosure around the underside of your boat isolating
it from the surrounding water. According to Armored Hull
founder Dennis Allen, “Not only is the bottom of your boat
protected, but so are your props, outdrive, trim tabs , thru
hulls and your zincs last 3-4 times longer.”
San Diego marina managers interviewed by
BlueSkyNews.com who have had experience with the product
expressed concerns about irresponsible tenants who either
didn’t maintain it or who left the marina abandoning the
product. Although they weren’t acquainted with the
details, some also expressed concern about the environmental
impact of the bleach solution used inside the pool to keep the
bottom clean. Marina managers also point out that you do still
need to hire a diver at least once a year to scrape the outside
of the enclosure as well as change zincs.
At the request of city officials, Armored
Hull is in the process of developing new best management
practices to better control the usage by it's customers.
According to Allen, Armored Hull is instituting programs to
address the concerns. "We have a chlorine neutralizer that
reverts the solution in the pool back to straight water within
about 15 minutes", Allen said. "And we are now
instituting a check system to ensure our users are accountable
for neutralizing the solution prior to dropping the gate".
On the subject of users abandoning the
product, "The company has a policy that we will remove any
abandoned Armored Hull product anytime a marina lets us know
about it", Allen said.
One point of consensus - faced with an
looming state ban on copper-based bottom paint, any proposed
solution is worth investigating by San Diego boat owners.
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Clif’s Chronicles - What’s That Grey Thing That Looks Like a Submarine?
Research Vessel FLIP | |||||||||||
That’s FLIP, which stands for
“Floating Instrument Platform”, a 355 ft’
long vessel that belongs to the Marine Physical Laboratory, a
division of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which in
turn is part of the University of California.
Back before the era of political
correctness of the sixties, the Marine Physical Laboratory used
to be called the “University of California Division of
War Research”, but that’s another story.
When Flip is “flipped”, it
has 300 feet below the waterline and 55 feet above the
waterline. Everything inside Flip is on gimbals (sinks,
counters, toilets, etc.), and it’s quite an experience to
ride it when it is flipped, and afterwards, everything that was
around a corner is now on a different floor. In the flipped
position, as the name implies, it is like sitting in your
living room. The motion is imperceptible. Flip is technically a
barge (it has to be towed to its desired position), but once
flipped, it does have orientation motors that let it rotate in
the vertical position. The flipping process takes many hours,
but the last few degrees go relatively quicker, so it’s
an e-ticket ride in the last few minutes.
The purpose - Researchers needed a stable
platform for sonar and transducer research. Click Here if
you would like to know more about Flip.
Clif Oliver | |||||||||||
NEW - BlueSkyNews.com Desktop Photo of the
Month
High Rise Sunset | |||||||||||
From the Poop Deck
Madeline | |||||||||||
Editors Note: Once again - We do apologize
for Madeline. We keep trying to smooth out her rough edges. If
you have a pet question or photo to send to her, please e-mail
it to Madeline@BlueSkyNews.com
e-Letters to the Editor
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Art Renga
Chula Vista
Editor’s Reply: Art - We’re afraid fraid you’ll just
have to wait a little bit longer for that second
“down South” entrance to San Diego bay. Most
Navy types have heard that rumor as well as the one about the
center sections of the Coronado bridge being filled with foam
so they would float if blown up ... Well they are different
than the main bridge, so maybe...?
Dear BlueSkyNews.com - I think I saw an article in one of the recent
newsletters regarding training and certification for divers
servicing boats in the San Diego Bay. If my memory isn't
playing tricks on me and that article really exists, could you
kindly email it to me?
Thank you.
John Huff, Maintenance Supervisor
Harbor Island West Marina
Editor’s Reply: John -Your memory is correct -The article was about
the California Professional Divers Association which offers a new Certification Course
for hull cleaning divers
To Bee - Or Not To Bee!
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We couldn’t decide which of
“Oliver’s” haloween costumes we liked the
best the best. We think Oliver would have preferred neither,
but being a good “boat dog”, he was a good sport
and modeled both on the Silver Gate Yacht Club docks.
Dear Flo-Tilla
Flo Tillatm | |||||||||||
Last Saturday my wife said to me,
“Honey, I think we need a new barbecue for the
boat”. I had been thinking the same thing, so we got in
the car, and headed off to get a new barbecue.
The next thing I know, I’m cooling
my heels in Nordstrom’s in the blouse department! Why do
women do this?
Sincerely,
Gullible George
Dear Gullible,
Suck it up! She’s probably just
getting even with you for those exciting trips to West Marine
so you can go ga-ga over some pulleys and fish-finders.
I’m sure Nordstrom’s was on the way to the barbecue
store.
Have a question you’d like Flo-Tilla
to answer?
San Diego’s 35th Annual Parade of
Lights
The Port of San Diego’s 35th annual
“Parade of Lights” will be held on Sunday, December 10, and
Sunday, December 17, 2006 from 5:30 PM until 9:00 PM. Fireworks
on both Sundays begin at 5: 30pm; the Light Parade begins
immediately following the fireworks The parade takes
approximately one hour to one and a half hours to pass any
given point along the parade route.
If you’ve never witnessed San
Diego’s Parade of Lights before, plan to be entertained
by the imagination of San Diego’s recreational boaters,
who deck out their boats with lights in creative and
entertaining themes. Bring the chairs and blankets early to
stake out a good viewing place along the waterfront, and
prepare to have a fun evening.
For boaters wishing to view the parade
from their boats on the bay, a good viewing area is where the
parade route turns for Coronado, near the 10th Street Terminal.
For those viewing on land, the north and south ends of the
Embarcadero as well as the pathway along Coronado are good
spots as they tend to be less crowded. If you plan on viewing
the parade from Harbor Island, get there early and be aware
that parking is at a premium. Another good spot is the park
behind Seaport Village.
To enter your boat in the parade,
download the entry form and
return it to the Parade organizers by November 30th with the
entry fee of $30.
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