Boating adventures, cruising stories, boat projects and much more
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.
By Peter Baumgartner
Photos by Denisse Allaire
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.
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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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.
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.
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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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.
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.
The Big One That Got Away
By Rich Rutkowski
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.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.
New sails breathe new life into an old sailboat
By Jeffrey Taylor
I replaced the jib on Principia a couple years ago and had the mainsail made to order just last year. The old sails had big, fat, blown-out bellies and, at over 10 years old, were long in the tooth for Dacron sails.Before replacing the sails, I didn’t know my boat was behaving badly because I had no idea how sweetly it could sail with nice, crisp, new sails. The old sails weren’t so bad in a light breeze, but if the wind picked up, they dragged the boat so far over on its ear that Principia was in danger of rounding up and behaved like a pig going to windward.
After getting the new jib, the improvement was so great that even with the old mainsail I could hardly believe it was the same boat. I hadn’t planned on replacing the main until Principia got caught out in a violent, intense thunderstorm at the beginning of the season. I rolled up the new jib before the first 45-knot gust hit, but the storm tore the old mainsail to shreds.
Planning and sailing a charter boat in the Dodecanese Islands
By Van Diehl
Fulfilling a lifelong dream of sailing to faraway destinations, my wife, Cida, and I have organized four charters, two in the British Virgin Islands and two in Greece. On our first Greek charter, we sailed around the Cyclades Islands in a Bavaria 45. For our second Greek charter, we wanted to sail the Dodecanese Islands, which was on my bucket list.When we started planning the charter, the first person I contacted was Bob Miller, the San Luis Rey Sail & Power Squadron educational officer. He and his wife, Sharlene, loved the idea and signed up, along with their friends and former squadron members Neil and Renee Scheuerlein. Eudes and Beth Lopes from Brazil and Werner Rech from Germany rounded out the group.
Offshore sailing course teaches sailor to trust herself and her skills
By Libby Cross
My husband, David, had always been into boating. After taking a United States Power Squadrons boating course, he joined Greenville Power Squadron (now Lake Hartwell Sail & Power Squadron), bought an 18-foot bowrider and later moved up to a 26-foot cabin cruiser. He took all the courses for a full certificate. I joined the squadron a few years later and made it to Advanced Pilot.After we retired, we planned to move onto a trawler and do the Great Loop while visiting friends in the eastern U.S. and Canada. At some point, David started talking about sailing the Caribbean. It sounded like a wonderful dream, but I didn’t think of it as a reality.
