The Beacon

Saanich Peninsula Squadron

December 2003 - January 2004

 

 

P.O. Box 2122, Sidney, BC V8L 3S6

A Unit of Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons — Vancouver Island South District

 


 

IN THIS ISSUE YOU WILL FIND:

 

Bridge Members Page

page 1

Commander’s Comments page 2
Calendar of Events page 4
Happy Holidays from the Beacon page 5
CHS Needs Our Help! page 6
The Way I Personally Feel About Charts page 7
Missing: Squadron VHS Video page 7
Report: National AGM Saint John N.B.  page 8
The Saga of the Dagan - Chapter 1 page 10
Cruisemaster's Report page 13
Training Status Report page 14
In Memoriam - PC Helen Louwerse page 15
Coffee Break page 15
We'll Miss You Jean page 15

Classifieds

page 16

 

BE ALERT! The world needs more lerts.

 


page 1

The Beacon

Volume 33 Number 7      December 2003 - January 2004

The Official Newsletter of the Saanich Peninsula Squadron

A Unit of Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons

 

Commander

Cdr Lesley Head 704-0325

commander*

Executive Officer Lt/C Gay Miller 656-5190 executive

Training Officer

Lt/C Ian King

704-0325

training

Asst. Training Officer

1st Lt Ron Harris 656-8881

ato

ATO - Course Registrar  

1st Lt Colin Nicholson

656-5085

registrar

ATO - Student Cruise

1st Lt Martin Russell

 652-5543

studentcruise

Treasurer

1st Lt George Winn

472-2219

treasurer

Secretary

1st Lt Kathy McDougall

654-0207

secretary

Membership Officer

1st Lt Lorri Pelto

656-4462

membership

Public Relations Officer

1st Lt Robert Anthony

884-4950

pro

Supply Officer

1st Lt Dick Cotton

385-5223

supply

Administrative Assistant 1st Lt Jim Milbrath 655-0747 administrativeassistant
Beacon Editor 1st Lt Ralph Hodd 652-1715 editor
Archivist 1st Lt Ralph Hodd 652-1715 archivist

Communications Officer

1st Lt Tony Kluge

656-7032

communications

Environment Officer

1st Lt George Winn

472-2219

environment

MAREP Officer

1st Lt Len Burton

656-6450

marep

Webmaster

Position vacant - volunteer required

webmaster

Social Cruisemaster

Position vacant - volunteer required

cruisemaster

Port Captain

1st Lt Len Burton

656-6450

portcaptain

Special Events

1st Lt Bill Walters

652-6566

specialevents

 

*All email addresses are @saanichpeninsulasquadron.org

 

Meetings of the Squadron Executive Committee (the Bridge) are normally held on the third THURSDAY of each month at 1930 in the Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club, except in July and December. All members of the Squadron are welcome to attend.

 

The Beacon is our official newsletter. Members with articles or information should send material to the Editor before the 15th of each month.

 

We also maintain a website www.saanichpeninsulasquadron.org . We suggest you check the site regularly for notices of upcoming events, classified ads, etc. 

 


page 2

Commander's Comments

 

Again we are coming up to a very important time of the year for so many of us. Some of you may be away this year, as I will be, and others will be at home enjoying family times. Like so many, I have found that Christmas seems to mellow out even the toughest of people. Everyone is a little more caring and maybe we see a lot more smiles too!

 

This month our students will be writing exams and we are hoping to get a good number of registrations in for the winter courses. All the students attending the Student Cruise had a great time, learned lots and came away with a greater understanding of what was going on in class. Many thanks to Martin Russell, who co-ordinated the whole thing. Good Luck to those of you who are writing! Don't forget to join CPS when you have passed..

 

I would like to take a minute to talk about volunteers and volunteering. Oxford defines a volunteer as: "a person who undertakes a task, or offers one's services voluntarily". Voluntary is defined as "acting or able to act of one's own free will", then, it adds "unpaid". The point I am trying to make here is that we are all volunteers, acting together to provide an education in boating. Some of us do this as an enjoyment and others want to help others, still some do it because of a need to be a part of an organized group and there are those who do it because they were convinced to do so by a friend, associate or family member. I would like to say a big "Thank you" to those who continue to support our squadron by volunteering! 

 

 

Since becoming Commander we have lost from the Bridge, three of our volunteers who have made a large contribution to this Squadron. The first, being Doug Mitchell, Chief Instructor and a great teacher. Although Doug is no longer on the Bridge, we still see his happy face at classes most Tuesdays. We hope that Doug will continue in this capacity for many years to come. The second member of the Bridge to resign is Peter Payerl who created the web site we have today and made it interesting and very professional. 


Peter had to leave his Webmaster's position due to work constraints, but we hope he will continue to participate in Squadron functions and fly the CPS flag. The third to resign was our Cruisemaster Ray Scott. He did a bang up job this year, (not literally), but has decided to sell his gas guzzler and take time off. Hopefully he will join next year's Bridge in a different capacity.

All this leads up to the need for new faces on the Bridge for the 2004 -2005 season. If you are a member of Saanich Peninsula Squadron, or are about to join, we would love to have you come aboard. We meet once a month on a Thursday night for a "Bridge" meeting, to sort out and vote on club business. We also have paperwork to do which adds up to maybe 5 hours a month. (Some positions have a lot less work). This year we will be looking for a Webmaster, and a Treasurer as well as Cruisemaster. No prior experience is necessary, but it is suggested that the Webmaster have computer skills and the Treasurer should be able to add, on a calculator! You can contact me if you are interested at 704-0325 or click on Commander if you are on the Website.

Don't forget the Christmas Party is at Dunsmuir Lodge on the 5th. Semi-formal dress is optional. We hope that the menu is as good as last year and we sell out like last year as well.

Our T.O. is asking that all of you interested in advanced or elective courses let him know what you want a.s.a.p. If we can't provide the course, some of the other Squadrons will.

On a personal side, Dagan is progressing. See page 10 for the next instalment. 

For an account of the National AGM in New Brunswick see page 8. Some very important things are happening at HQ as well as National. We have a new CEO at HQ replacing Brian Burch, and there are some contracts pending.

On that note I would again like to wish all of You a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Cdr. Lesley Head


page 4

Calendar of Events

Dec 5

Christmas Party at Dunsmuir Lodge All members must reserve a ticket in advance. Please call Gay Miller at 656-5190 or e-mail [email protected]

Dec 6

Lighted Boat Parade in Sidney 5:30 to 8:30 PM

Dec 9

Exam night for Boating and Seamanship Sail

Dec 16

VHF Course exam

Dec 18

NO BRIDGE MEETING THIS MONTH

Dec 25

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Jan 1

AND A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR

Jan 6

Registration Night at Parklands for Boating and Advanced

Jan 12

Grad Night for the Fall Course

Jan 13

First night of Boating Course

Jan 14

Advanced Piloting Course starts at Parkdale School. (Please note that completion of the PILOTING course is a prerequisite for ADVANCED PILOTING). The instructor is Cliff Cunningham.

Jan 15

Bridge Meeting, 1930 at SNSYC. All are welcome.

Jan 19

District Council Meeting, at Mary Winspear Centre, Sidney, 12:30p.m.

 

 


page 5

Happy Holidays

 

 

From All of Us Who Bring You the Beacon


page 6

Canadian Hydrographic Service Needs Our Help!

 

A recent article by Sandra McCulloch of the Times Colonist entitled "Ottawa eyes a sea chart change" discussed the fact that the Canadian Hydrographic Service, which distributes $1 million worth of charts from its office at the Institute of Ocean Sciences to 300 dealers in B.C. each year, is in danger. The federal government is looking at eliminating the marine chart distribution centre here, and moving West Coast chart distribution to Ottawa. This would result in longer wait times for the charts by West coast dealers - dealers who distribute the charts to you and me, their customers - customers, both recreational and commercial, who are required BY LAW to carry current charts on board. This added wait-time and the necessary dealings with Ottawa will cause the loss of timely access to charts and could leave some boaters with out-of-date charts or none at all. This, of course, poses safety issues.

Depending on who you talk to the move may, or may not, save the Federal Government money. The proposed changes would necessitate moving the half-dozen people in the chart-distribution area into "more important" jobs. The office has 186 charts for sale and its primary raison d'etre is to supply a 300-dealer network according to sources at the CHS. These dealers have registered a largely negative reaction to the proposal to move chart distribution to Ottawa. CHS is not convinced this move is not the right thing to do... yet!

The Chart room is not down and out quite yet but they need "LOTS OF SUPPORT" from all the boating public and CPS Members. A letter to MLA David Anderson expressing our displeasure about moving a facility that provides an invaluable service on the West Coast may have an impact. An impact, which will see West Coast chart distribution kept here on the West Coast! I would encourage all members to contact David Anderson at the following locations:

Constituency Office: 970 Blanshard Street,Victoria, British Columbia,V8W 2H3 
Hill Office: House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6
Phone: (613) 996-2358   Fax: (613) 952-1458   E-mail: [email protected] 


page 7

The Way I Personally Feel About Charts

 

I'd never go anywhere without a current chart or charts onboard- period. Aids to navigation are constantly being repaired, replaced and upgraded. Even a current chart may have a typo somewhere on it. A chart is invaluable for anchoring. It's a must to know where you are going to drop the hook and how deep the water is at low and high water. You have to know which way the current flows, the Flood and Ebb tide. 

 

We live on an Island. At tide change the Flood will come in from the Pacific Ocean, flow down the Straits of Juan de Fuca and flow towards the Gulf Islands. If you're in Johnstone Straits, the flood will come in from the Pacific Ocean, flow down Queen Charlotte Strait past Port Hardy. And then there is the legality of carrying charts. Professional Mariners are required by law to carry them. We all took the Boating Course to be better and safer boaters


If for any reason one is in a boating incident with Commercial Traffic that carry current charts by law, and a boater that doesn't carry charts, who do you think would win a court challenge? The same applies to the rules of the road with regards to navigation. Lately boats are being approached and boarded to check for safety equipment, up-to-date flares, lifejackets and Coast Guard Boating Regulation Compliance.

What we stand to lose should the government decide to move the charts to a central location would probably be an increase of fees due to shipping - our loss, a delay in receiving current charts being delivered by our postal service - our loss and a loss of an invaluable service that is already in place

 

Len Burton - MAREP Officer


page 7

Missing: Squadron VHS Video

"The Right Way"

 

This video gives a pictorial review of the Collision Regulations and was loaned to a Boating Course student who was not present when the video was shown to a recent Boating class. Would the student/member who borrowed this video please return it to Doug Mitchell (656-2959) as soon as possible! 

 


page 8

Report: National AGM, Saint John, N.B.

 

First of all it was announced that there has been a replacement chosen to take over Brian Birch's position as Executive Director. He is Mr. Alain Brière. Alain hails from Ajax, Ontario, holds the N certification and is a senior engineering and information system security specialist by profession. An over simplified definition of his job would be Office Manager.

The VHF Committee has nearly completed a CD ROM of the course. We saw a preview and it looked to be well done and informative. It should be ready for fall 2004. Part of the VHF Officer's duty is the upgraded course from VHF to GMDSS. (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System). Those of us who upgrade our radios to include DSC (Digital Selective Calling), the panic button, should also upgrade our radio license. The District VHF officers are expected to become fully prepared to offer the courses. Because right now only DOT qualified instructors are teaching the course, National is having to implement a policy and plan to upgrade the District Officers. Twenty DSC units with all the GMDSS features have been donated to CPS, and one of these will be given to each District. Exams for the license upgrade are done both on paper and manually on these units. The status of this situation is pending at this time. For your information, PMTI offers a VHF/DSC course in N. Vancouver. It takes 5 days to teach and examine.

Web Site management at National is now under a new Officer. A demonstration of her expertise left a lot to the imagination. We will have to see how she progresses.

I noticed that Boat Pro was left out of any discussions. This is still a large bone of contention.

There were problems at the AGM. One of the Districts refused and appealed a motion to nominate the Past Chief Commander Durward who resigned last year over the Sportfishing contract scandal to replace Past Chief Commander Springate, on the nominating Committee. After a lot of organizing and ballot casting, the motion was accepted and we were able to get on with pledging in the new officers and new business. 

The Commander's meeting produced some serious concerns on my part, which I have documented and sent along to both the District Commander and the Chief Commander Tony Gardiner. These issues have been answered in part and the Chief hopes to change the format of the meeting to allow all of us more time and input.

Modularization is at a snail's pace still and although I was not privy to the Training meeting, it appears that a fair bit was accomplished to speed things up.

The new Global Weather program has now been completed and is in the final stages of editing. It should be ready for next fall's classes. Tony Merry of Pender Isl. Squadron has written this course and has offered to come over to our Squadron to give a weather seminar (one day) in return for me attending their Squadron to give a GMDSS seminar to their members.

The results of the legal department investigation into the Sportfishing Contract - that is currently bankrupting us - are that the contract cannot be broken and must be paid out in full. This was passed along to the Squadron Commanders via e-mail since the National AGM.

I have left the two big issues of concern until last as they created a lot of serious discussions during the AGM as well as since that time. These two issues are a contract with ORION re: flares and a DVD to be produced by CPS for Squadron and retail sale. Let me elaborate.

 

CPS/Orion Partnership:

"The proposed partnership will result in a new CPS training module on the use, handling, and disposal of flares. CPS and Orion will work to develop a flare demonstration program that will be acceptable with local authorities throughout Canada." (white flares similar to those used by the DND for practice). 

"CPS and Orion would steward a new environmental program to safely dispose of expired flares as a benefit to the members of CPS across Canada. Squadrons would collect the flares and ship them back to Orion for disposal. All costs of disposal would be born by CPS. There is a thought to develop a program between CPS and Orion so that members could, for one week a year, buy products from Orion at a considerably lower price than normal". Orion's Distributors and retailers have yet to respond to that issue at this time. "The sale of the products is the least critical in this new partnership but would aid CPS in funding the disposal of expired flares".

As you can see there are a variety of issues here that must be addressed. CPS does not want to get themselves into another problem contract as they have with the Sportfishing Contract. So any member can e-mail HQ with their thoughts and concerns about this proposed contract. 

Training DVD by the Shards:

At a poorly attended meeting of the District Training Dept. past Chief Commander Dave Durward demonstrated a partially finished video of cruising and rules of the road filmed in Florida and Venice by the Shards. After doing so and asking for input from those there, he asked for a vote to ask the Foundation for $27,000 to produce this video. All questions pertaining to producing, financing, ownership, content, and especially marketing were left completely unanswered. 

The vote was held although there were few there and the vote was not done in a legal manner. I and many others present at that meeting, sent letters to the Chief Commander as well as our District Commanders asking for a full audit of this meeting and a halt to the blatant misuse of Foundation funds. I am pleased to say that because of the controversy, the DVD has been put on hold and nothing will be done at this time until a full assessment is made by the marketing Dept.

This is a very brief summation of what occurred at National. I would welcome anyone who is concerned about any of these issues to give me a call to discuss what is going on. I would also be happy to give a talk on all of this to any of you who wish to get together as a group.

I have attempted to keep my comments and concerns out of this summary. As you can imagine I have a few. Anything that affects the Squadrons and their training departments is of concern to me.

I look forward to hearing from any of you in the near future,

Cdr. Lesley Head

 


page 10

The Saga of DAGAN (cont'd) 
by Capt. Lesley M. Head

Well Folks, here is the next installment. I left off last month thinking that the deal was set and the boat would arrive in a couple of days. This is what happened.

"Two days after arriving home I got a call from Ray. The owner wanted an extra $2000 to seal the deal. He would give the money to Ray as a commission. Well, here I saw the same problems starting as with the boat in Steveston, so "Forget It" was the answer Ray got. Another three days, and I received another call from Ray. The deal was back on. I wired up a deposit and the owner would bring her to Prince Rupert shortly. Shortly turned into three weeks. Finally we got the word that she was there and "Bilge Rat" shipped up about 100 pounds of tools by bus and set off July 15 to get her ready to travel down the Inside Passage.

Dagan Comes Home - July 2003

Low and behold she was in a sorry state, tied to the dock with an electric pump working constantly to pump water from the bilge. The owner had run her up to Prince Rupert in a day; no lights, no toilet, no bilge pumps, no safety equipment, no radio or any means of ensuring that she would reach port. 

Dagan had arrived 10:30 at night, was tied up and abandoned at the dock, and Ray was warned to check her several times a day or she could SINK! "Bilge Rat" would take five and a half days to get her running again. The starter motor was full of water, and everything, absolutely everything was covered with oil. He managed to get a GPS installed and fixed a radio and radar that were on board. He also had to get bilge pumps installed and working. As the electrical system was useless, "Bilge Rat" also had to hook up a new system. He had to add to the existing battery bank, found that they were useless, bought some more batteries, purchased an alternator, hooked this all up, and while all of this was going on....I arrived to bring her home!

The flight up was as slow as before but this time there was a good reason to be in a hurry. I had taken time off work, and promised to be back in six days. Turned out that I was late by a day, so I arrived and got into Prince Rupert mid-afternoon. We then had to rush around to get groceries, safety equipment, anchor rode, propane, scotchmen and the list went on."Bilge Rat" had rented a truck for the day to collect all this stuff and get it to the boat. By nightfall we were pretty well done. 

One of the men who Ian met while he was there offered us the use of his 10 h.p. generator. All he wanted was for us to ship it back when we arrived in Sidney. Acts of kindness and trust like this are so uncommon that it was nice to know that there are trusting people out there still. I had arrived with a propane stove, paddles for a dinghy we never bought, and deck chairs in my luggage. Exhausted from our full day, we went to bed hoping that all was ready to set out the next morning.

Day 1 July 22/03

After a noisy night at the dock we woke to a new day and the start of our adventure. Overnight another fishing boat had tied up to us so we had to wake them to cast off. The moment we moved off the dock was exhilarating. We were excited and yet wondered if Dagan would bring us safely home. The first question, of course, was whether or not we would make it to the fuel docks. The tanks appeared to be on the verge of empty and by the time we arrived at the docks there were a dozen or more fishing boats waiting. After floating in front of the docks with our fingers crossed that we wouldn't run dry, we got in and proceeded to fill her up. A mere $2000.00 later (this included hydraulic oil, 2611 litres of diesel, fuel cleaner, motor oil) we cast off at 08:30 hours and headed out of Prince Rupert Harbour. Now, I must tell you here that when we were docking, reverse gear decided to take a holiday, and for the rest of the trip it really never was there. Sometimes neutral decided to join reverse, then things would get quite interesting. Since getting her into gear was a challenge - the linkage had been stretched severely - I let the "Bilge Rat" dock her from then on, as she didn't respond to my touch at all! 

I didn't want to be accused of dock bashing and "Bilge Rat" was quite prepared to take the heat!

South out of Rupert and off we went. The GPS was running okay and I had copied charts from the program onto paper to give us an overview of the route. Later on, this would prove valuable, as we had missed a chart when purchasing our paper charts. I like to work off the paper charts first, and then back up with the GPS program. It was also important when we got stuck in the middle of a gale and the GPS packed it in. So, south we went and headed into the Inside Passage. We were surprised to find that once traveling that route we were very much alone. We saw perhaps half a dozen boats the whole day. Now, this being the first day, we got into a pattern that we would follow the next few days. Up at sunrise, breakfast on the move and boil water for toiletries. "Bilge Rat" was down in the engine room about once an hour to check on bilges and water in the fuel system. Then an afternoon's catnap on the back deck in one of the deck chairs, supper still on the move and then find a dock to tie up at just before sunset. 

The windlass was seized and we had only a 70 lb. anchor and 300 feet of 1 inch rode to use in case of an emergency. Should we have had to put it down we would never would have been able to retrieve it as it weighed too much for two people to bring in.

Cooking on the go was a simple chore as both of us are excellent cooks and we had a variety of things in cans and packages, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. The meat didn't fair so well. We didn't have a cooler, ice or fridge so some of the meat went off pretty quickly and was thrown out. Milk and apple juice was kept cool in the two, regulation fire buckets full of sea water. We drank lots of tea and drank loads of water. We had purchased about 30 gallons of water to bring along and had some left over when we arrived. Our toilet consisted of a 5 gallon grape juice bucket wedged in what had once been a head. It was a little sharp on the edges (the bucket) so one did not tend to stay in there very long. "Bilge Rat" had the honourable job of emptying our "honey bucket" daily. He and I separately, had brought enough toilet paper to keep a Coast Guard vessel supplied for at least two weeks. 

The sun was up at about 4:00 a.m. each day and didn't go down until about 10:00 p.m. daily so we would be tired by mid-afternoon. The sun shone everyday and a little catnap on the back deck became a daily habit. We had erected a two-man tent on the back deck for sleeping accommodations and I had purchased an air mattress for sleeping on. I blew it up during the day and blew up the hair dryer doing it! The mattress was good and firm.

At night with the cold air it would soften up, and after a couple of nights, sleeping was becoming awkward, as it was like an under filled water-bed. "Bilge Rat" would get out at some ungodly hour to start prepping the boat and I would quite literally crash onto the hard deck! I tried blowing her up again but the old lips just couldn't get enough of a grip on the mattress. I would go back to the back deck for a break from the wheel and watch the water pass the scuppers. The warmth of the sun, the constant drone of the engine, and the sound of the water passing by was a perfect combination for snoozing. After my snooze the "Bilge Rat" would come onto the back deck and take his turn too. We passed some beautiful mountains and lovely bays. There was hardly any sign of humans except for the areas that had been logged and hadn't grown back in yet. Salmon would jump in the waters around the boat and "Bilge Rat" would complain that it was his "one that got away".

That first day we encountered a huge Grey whale heading north at Stella Creek. He was just sauntering along and we watched him as we passed by for about 10 minutes. It was a wonderful sight. The only other time we had seen "Greys" was in Tofino, but this one was much larger.

That first night we arrived at Hartley Bay, about 96 nautical miles south of Prince Rupert. We had been traveling since 08:30 and docked by 20:00 hours or 8:00 p.m. by landlubbers time. We had traveled at just over 8 knots, a good speed as we had the current with us a good deal of the time. The boat, as I had mentioned, was soaked throughout as she had sunk in the spring and she was very heavy. Her waterline was almost covered although she was empty. The only thing in the hold was an empty 200 gallon steel tank, that we believe had held spare diesel. Once down in Sidney the boat started to dry out. She was up 6 inches even before we started to strip her out. We tied up at the gas dock in Hartley Bay and "Bilge Rat" went below to try to find "neutral" and "reverse"! (to be continued )

 


page 13

Cruisemaster's Report

 

Now that the cruising season is over for most of us, here is a brief summary of the summer's activities. Maple Bay 3 boats plus 1 car, Otter Bay - 11 boats, Ganges Marina - 7 boats, Telegraph Harbour Marina - 8 boats for a grand total of 4 cruises and 29 boats. For future reference, it is worth noting that some parties felt that games, etc. should be kept to a lower level to allow more time for socializing and several parties indicated an interest in mid-week cruising - something for my successor to consider.

Ray Scott - Cruisemaster

 


page 14

Training Status Report Fall Student Cruise

 

Well, we lucked out with the weather as usual. Other than a little wind in the morning, which stirred up an unpleasant chop, the day was fine. Unfortunately, one of the volunteer vessels had a problem with her dingy hooking a wave and bending the weaver davit. As the sea conditions were very rough, the vessel had to drift into shelter to release the dingy from the other davit. At this point, Commander Leslie Head in Special "K" took the dingy in tow to our destination, Otter Bay Marina. Our Chief Instructor, Doug Mitchell took the students on board Private Affair for the remainder of the cruise. The Skipper and Proctor Gay Miller, who were aboard the damaged vessel, headed back to the marina to call it a day. We arrived at Otter Bay Marina where Cliff Cunningham conducted the fire extinguisher demo with the Pender Island Volunteer Fire Dept. This demo allowed the students to have "hands on" experience at using a fire extinguisher to extinguish fuel fires. We then gathered down on the dock as the Sidney Marine Rescue Society gave a speech about how they operate as well as the functions they perform.

By this time lunch was upon us so we all enjoyed a short break, snooped around the other vessels and enjoyed the warm sunshine. After lunch a docking demonstration by Ken and Joan Clarke taught us all a few tricks. Next I  (Martin Russell) gave a demonstration of anchoring off the main dock. 

I would like to thank all the skippers, proctors and other volunteers for their time and the use of their vessels. Without these people student cruises would not be possible. Thank you again to all.

Student Cruise Captain - Martin Russell


page 15

In Memoriam

 

Very sadly, Past Commander Helen Louwerse passed away on Thursday, November 20, 2003. Helen was an inspiration to many of us. She will always be remembered as strong, jovial and fair. Helen introduced the 2-year term for Commanders and encouraged anyone with a new idea. She will be sadly missed. A memorial service will be held in the spring and her ashes will be scattered at sea.

Our condolences to her husband, Hank and the rest of her family.

 


page 15

Coffee Break!

 

A welcome call for busy students at the Squadron's Tuesday evening classes, signaling a quick break from their studies and an opportunity to enjoy coffee provided by the Squadron. The Squadron's original coffee pot was lost in the Parkdale School fire and a call went out for a volunteer to build a new storage box for the new coffee pot. Squadron member Horst Schreiner responded and from a rough sketch outlining requirements produced this most attractive cabinet which will hold two coffee pots and associated supplies. The top surface is large enough to act as a serving table. The cabinet can be locked and is on casters for easy movement to and from the storage room. Many thanks to Horst!

Horst Schreiner delivers the cabinet he constructed to Lorraine Nicholson who prepares the coffee for student classes.

 


page 15

We'll Miss You Jean!

 

At Jean Chretien's retirement dinner, a reporter said, "Madame Chretien, your husband has been such a prominent public figure, such a presence on the international scene for so many years! How quiet retirement will seem in comparison. What are you most looking forward to in these retirement years?"

"A penis," replied Madame Chretien. A hush fell over the table. Everyone heard her answer and no one knew what to say next.

Le Grand Jean leaned over to his wife and whispered, "Aline, in Hinglish dey pronounce dat word, "Appiness."



page 16

Classified

 

WANTED: Webmaster to make occasional changes as well as upload pictures to the website. Site is up and running. Please contact Commander Lesley Head at 704-0325 or e-mail [email protected]

FOR SALE: 24 ft fiberglass sailboat - $4200.00 obo
10 hp outboard. Call Cathy at 920-6854 after 4 PM or e-mail [email protected]

FOR SALE: 60 feet of anchor chain 5/16 - $60.00. 
Please contact Mary Hunter at 658-8715

 

FOR SALE: 9' lap strake style fiberglass dingy - $300.00 
Good condition, dark green in colour, rows beautifully. 
Smart Alternator Regulator
By Cruising Equipment Inc. -$300.00 
Like new condition. Complete with installation instructions and operating manual.
Please contact Ted Meadley at 656-1082 or e-mail [email protected]

 

FOR SALE: Refinished Fiberglass Shell for 8 ft dingy-$50.00
No woodwork. Old woodwork and foam available.
ICOM M55B VHF Transceiver, 1989 new in box - Best Offer
Lowrance X-77A Depth sounder, 1994 new in box - Best Offer
Please call Ary Heinen at 656- 6306 or e-mail [email protected]

FOR SALE: 10 ft dingy inflatable with paddles and pump-$900.00 obo
Red colour, in very good condition. Contact Peter Richardson at 727-0995 or e-mail
[email protected]

FOR SALE: Garmin GPS Map 210 including two G Charts: 1) Nanaimo to Bute Inlet and 2) Puget Sound to Gulf Islands) plus Lowrance 3500 Depth Sounder (No transducer) Package Deal. Contact Jan or Shelley Nielsen at 250-656-1959 or e-mail [email protected]

 

Please advise [email protected] if you want to PLACE an ad. Please also advise editor if you want to DISCONTINUE an ad.

 

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