Features

Wear and Tear on Boats

By Tim Akpinar

Wear and tear can be a tricky legal issue when it comes to examining damages to a boat. It’s not so much the general concept of wear and tear that’s confusing. The notion of a boat and its machinery being worn away with use is straightforward enough. Inside an engine, piston rings wear away as they slide up and down cylinder walls. Below the waterline, propeller blades rotating at high speed wear away as a result of cavitation. Boat owners accept this basic premise.

The tricky part comes when wear and tear arises in the realm of insurance claims. Here, the concept is sometimes used as a legal defense in denying property loss claims. Here’s an example. Let’s say a boat sinks. The owner is likely to view the sinking as a single catastrophic event, which appears to be a covered loss in an insurance policy. It could seem like an open-and-shut case.

Sailing into a Storm

By Randy White

I recently returned from sailing my new boat from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Marmaris, Turkey, a voyage of 1,453 nautical miles through 27 waypoints. We ended up sailing through a major storm, and I want to share the choices we made that led to that experience as well as the lessons we learned.

Building an Electric Boat

By Dan Fannon

F or quite some time, I’d wanted to build a boat. But what kind of boat? Would it float when it was done? Would it look more like a workbench, or would it have graceful lines?

My wife, Melissa, and I had many questions. In search of answers, we went to an annual gathering of boatbuilders in Guild, Tennessee, at Nickajack Lake on the Tennessee River, where we could talk with people who had built their own boats.

Find squadron members with mobile member search

By Dan Bartell

Have you ever been away from home and needed to call a United States Power Squadrons member but didn’t have the person’s number in your cellphone? Or perhaps you’re having lunch at a marina, and you see a boat flying the ensign or with a squadron burgee and want to call or email to say hello. Now there’s an easy-to-use extension of the USPS Information Center that runs on your mobile device’s web browser available at usps.org/mobile.

Off-season charter in Belize brings wealth of adventure

By Peter Baumgartner
Photos by Denisse Allaire

My first mate, Denisse Allaire, and I chartered a Beneteau 42.3 sailboat for a week in September from the Moorings in Placencia, Belize. The off-season rate made the three-cabin, two-head monohull affordable.

We flew from Denver to Houston, Houston to Belize City, and from Belize City to Placencia in a boxy Cessna. The Friday before the charter started, we rented a cute, air-conditioned beachfront cottage for the night. The next day did not go as smoothly.

I had been communicating with Palencia through the Moorings in the U.S., but our messages hadn’t been relayed. Denisse and I requested a two-person kayak we could fasten on deck instead of a dinghy. Belize did not get this message. Likewise, we didn’t get the message that our briefing was to begin at 9 a.m. and spent the morning shopping in the quaint town of Placencia.

Sailor satiates wanderlust, grows on Salish Sea

Sailor satiates wanderlust, grows at helm on the Salish Sea

By Patrick O’Brien

After years of living in Boulder, Colorado, we moved to Oriental, North Carolina, to cruise the Atlantic coast and beyond on a 40-foot Passport. After enduring the rigors of offshore sailing for two years, we sold the boat and returned to Boulder, only to stay for a year before leaving for Seattle, Washington.

Wanderlust seems to be a force in my life, and with it comes the desire to grow as a sailor.
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USPS embraces alternate brand identity with America’s Boating Club

By Paul Mermelstein

How many times have you talked about the United States Power Squadrons to friends and gotten a blank look? As Chief Commander Gary Cheney explained in the Spring 2018 issue (“Name recognition,” page 4), we now have a way to talk about our organization that helps connect us better to the boating public. United States Power Squadrons is America’s Boating Club.

In February 2017 we announced the America’s Boating Club brand to our squadrons. Through our collaboration with Rushton Gregory Communications the past year, we have created a comprehensive advertising campaign to promote our organization, improve name recognition and develop a modern image.

A picture of a captain's hat and a steering wheel on a boat

The Rewards of Teaching

Honoring the 2017 Charles F. Chapman Award for Excellence in Teaching recipients

By Yvonne Hill

To a one, the 2017 Charles F. Chapman Award for Excellence in Teaching recipients find teaching to be its own reward. Their joy comes from the success and skill their students enjoy as well as the act of teaching itself.

This year’s recipients, Frank Kemp, Vic Stewart and Larry Byrd, received the 2017 Charles F. Chapman Award for Excellence in Teaching at the 2018 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Named after Charles F. Chapman, a founding member, former chief commander and noted educator, the award honors talented instructors who share their boating knowledge with exceptional passion and skill.

Five Islands Harbor, Georgetown, with Artemis and other moored vessels.

Back to the Sea

Learning to slow down and enjoy cruising

By Laura Landis

I’ll never make up the 18 years I spent too far from the sea. I left the New Hampshire coast for New Mexico in 1996 and didn’t return until the summer of 2014 when I could no longer bear to be away. Thus began my return to cruising.

Last year was my third year on Artemis, a 1983 Sabre 34 I bought on eBay. The first year was challenging. The second year, I brought Artemis from Oriental, North Carolina, to Yarmouth, Maine. I pushed hard, was mostly alone and never had a real crew.
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Sea Vester: The life and times of an animatronic teaching aid

By Drex Bradshaw

The story of Sea Vester as an educational tool for District 5 began when I saw Seamoor the Sea Serpent astride a land-based personal watercraft at the International Boating and Water Safety Summit in Panama City, Florida, in 2003. The Army Corps of Engineers called it a training aid. I immediately said, “We need one.”

I spoke with Robotronics, who built the ACE unit, and asked if District 5 could borrow Seamoor with the possibility of buying this kind of unit later on. Several District 5 squadrons taught boating safety in middle schools, and a training aid like this would be an outstanding asset.

Photo of father helping daughter secure her life jacket.

Educational Horizons

Charting the future of United States Power Squadrons boating education

By the USPS Educational Department

The strength of United States Power Squadrons lies in its talented members and the strength of its boating educational program. To survive and thrive, we must update our courses and expand the delivery and range of our educational portfolio. Educational Department volunteers are hard at work ensuring that our curriculum responds to the wants and needs of the boating public, our members and their families. Take a look at the future of United States Power Squadrons education.
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A Fish Tale

The Big One That Got Away

By Rich Rutkowski

Sometimes it’s all right if one gets away, even if it is the “big one.” That may seem strange coming from an inveterate angler, and I wouldn’t say it if I hadn’t been there on that August day in 2001.

The day dawned calm and still with a chilled-apple crispness in the air. Winter Harbour, located at the northern end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is generally a serene place, and that morning was no exception.

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