A change in the weather ahead! You know that feeling when you’re bobbing on flat water, no breeze, sweat dripping down your forehead and suddenly you see a ripple ahead? Then the new breeze ruffles the sails, and a little crinkle of water laps past the boat? I feel like this moment is like that for our Yacht Club. Power UP! We have seven new memberships this month to welcome into our wonderful community, Yes seven! Some are experienced sailors without boats, and some have boats, but may need mentorship. Please stretch out and welcome them into our sailing family.
Along with new members, Humboldt Yacht Club is starting to open our social activities with the lifting of CDC restrictions. Cocktail hour the first Saturday of the month lands on June 5th at 5pm. We need a host still. Basically bring in a favorite cocktail, play music, decorate, socialize on the patio and in the club room, and have a great time! Donations to the club really assist with miscellaneous expenses we have, and what better way to spend some of your hard earned cash than with a party?
No potluck this month still, but we are replacing it temporarily with a Skippers Hour discussion of race rules and deep philosophy. Really it’s a casual non-confrontational way to learn some in-depth techniques and solutions to the race struggles we all have. Next month is another story! My good friend Dave, has started a BBQ
business names Lee's Primal Fire. He is willing to do a full catered dinner for us at $25.00 a plate. Brisket and Sausage, or Chicken with sides. We must RSVP with confirmed numbers so he can purchase and cook the proper amount. Please send me a separate RSVP email so I an make a list. We will do this "potluck" on Saturday July 10th at 6pm. This way he serves all the food and we will meet the guidelines for our community. The brisket is to die for!
(Continued on next page)
N E W S L E T T E R
CO M M O D O R E ’ S CO M M E N T S
b y B r i d g e R a n d a l l
BOARD OF GOVERNORS Commodore: Bridge Randall Vice Commodore: Brad McCabe Rear Commodore: Dance Farrell Secretary: Mario Kalson Treasurer: Garrett Coonrod Port Captain: Wes Hodges Members At Large: Anjie McCabe Jack Cline Tim Cook Past Commodore: Larry Fox Newsletter Staff:
Richard Hendry, Editor Gail Forsewin
Marlin Spyke
HUMBOLDT YACHT CLUB
Post Office Box 445 Eureka, California 95502humboldtyachtclub.org
COMMODORE’S COMMENTS
(continued)Back to the Sailing Schedule, June 5th is also our first Whistler Race. Please read the Near Shore Safety Checklist to make sure that your boat is properly equipped with gear to venture past the mouth of Humboldt Bay. This race has two options, one is to head offshore to the Whistler buoy, second deep into the South Bay. Both have their challenges and dangers. We do need a race committee for this race, although there will be an extended time between start and finish. More time for fishing? Cocktails afterwards are your reward for an epic day on the water.
June is Dinghy Season! Big Lagoon is the perfect place to take a small boat out in safe waters and sail. Wonderful sunsets, warm beaches. The series occurs first two Sundays of the month, then all fathers day weekend! If you are trailering in, make sure you are rigged up by 10am. I'm sure camping at Big Lagoon will be happening. Find some sailing friends and share a campsite!
Heads UP! The breeze is filling in and there are sails to trim! Its going to be a busy summer of sailing for Humboldt County.
- Commodore Bridge
HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
The Board of Governors has awarded
ED and SHARON FRACKER
with an honorary membership. Congratulations Ed & Sharon, and thank you for all you have done
SPEED?
It is often useful to think in terms of time to go a mile. Since one knot is one nautical mile per hour, it's easy to work out the following table:
Speed (knots) Minutes to go a mile
1 60 2 30 3 20 4 15 5 12 6 10
Remember the basic formulas for calculating Time, Speed and Distance. Time is Hours, Speed is Knots, and Distance is Nautical Miles (6,076 ft).
D= S x T S= D/T T= D/S If you start the Skippers Challenge’ at 5pm, what time should you finish?
- Commodore Bridge
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE,
NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK…
Arguably one of the most famous works of maritime literature, who can read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner without peering uneasily between the lines and into a world of abject hopelessness and utter despair, some of which paralleled actual events.
The shooting of the albatross and subsequent shortage of water were based on notes concerning a voyage of the privateering vessel Speedwell. While rounding Cape Horn in October 1719 (the worst time of year for such a passage) she was battered for nearly a month by “the continued series of contrary tempestuous winds which oppressed us ever since we got into this sea.”
The “gloomy, dismal waters” of the Cape so dispirited First Officer Simon Hatley that, according to the captain’s journal, he shot the only other living creature to be seen, “a disconsolate black albatross who accompanied us for several days as if lost himself.”
The passages concerning the incident were later brought to Coleridge’s attention while strolling with a friend on day in 1797 - - some guy he knew by the name of William Wordsworth.
Speaking of water, the ration normally allocated each man aboard ship in the days of sail was three pints per day. They could either drink or wash with it - - I’ll leave it up to you to decide what most did.
Kenny Sullivan, who passed away while serving as our Commodore in 2016, loved his Ranger 23’ sailboat, Delirium. When Kenny passed, he left his boat to former Commodore John Bradley, who sailed her for
several years before selling it to then club-member Patrick Therien. Patrick put Delirium up for sale at the beginning of 2021.
On February 4th, the person who bought the boat posted on his Facebook page that: “Today I take the helm as skipper of SV Delirium. A 23 foot sailing yacht. After years of dreaming, reading, studying, and a documentary called Chasing Bubbles. I m (sic) hoisting the main and pointing her to the horizon.”
Skip ahead about seven weeks to Wednesday March 24th, when, at about 1300 hrs, S e c t o r H u m b o l d t B a y watchstanders received a distress call from Delirium, then offshore of Westport, CA. The skipper indicated that they were b e s e t b y w e a t h e r w h i l e contending with 10-15’ seas and 25-35 knot winds during a transit from Humboldt Bay to Noyo River (Ft. Bragg).
U S C G C o m m a n d C e n t e r personnel launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Sector Humboldt Bay and a 47’ Motor lifeboat crew from
Station Noyo River. The MH-65 crew arrived on scene first and deployed a rescue swimmer to attend to the crew and assess the situation.
The skipper was single-handling overnight with a non-sailing passenger, and was suffering from hypothermia and sleep deprivation. Both skipper and passenger, as well as two dogs, were safely hoisted by the helicopter and flown to Mendocino Coast Hospital in Ft. Bragg in stable condition.
Unfortunately, Delirium then drifted about another 120 miles south, and washed up on the beach just north of the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Before it could be kedged from the beach, it filled with sand.
Delirium has since been cut into chunks and hauled off the beach by the County of Sonoma, at a cost of about $30,000, which was paid for by a grant available to the County to remove vessels from its p u b l i c b e a c h e s a n d waterways.
-June 1 Potluck [Cancelled]
June 1 Skippers Hour - 1800 hrs
June 5 Whistler #1 - 1300 hrs
June 5 Social Hour - 1700 hrs
June 6 Lagoon Dinghy #1 - 1000 hrs
June 8 Board of Governors mtg - 1800 hrs
June 13 Lagoon Dinghy #2 - 1000 hrs
June 16 FOG Watch BBQ [Cancelled]
June 19-20 Dinghy Weekend at Lagoon - 1000 hrs Have you checked your compass on your
boat? You know, that round thing that has a cover on it, that's so important. The magical device that lets boats know where they are headed? Not just in fog or out to sea, but on land too. We rarely need a compass within Humboldt Bay, but there may be a time when the fog is so thick it would be helpful to have a note on which heading is the channel and which is the mud. Many of our members dream of heading out of the mouth and adventuring far and wide. A good ship's compass will become critical. Do you know yours works? Do you have a hand-bearing compass also?
As reliable as a compass may be, things can go wrong in their heads. That cast Iron stew pot you hang in the Galley? Or a new electronic chart plotter? Stereo speakers playing your favorite tunes? All these things can throw "old reliable" off the edge. So, the
next time you are out bashing across the bay, take a moment and pull the cover off your compass and dig out that hand held o n e a n d c o m p a r e . Y o u m a y b e surprised! Change course and check again? More about how to correct this or at least make a correction table just for your boat will be in next month's Whistler.
Oh Mighty Compass
May She Always Rule Well !!
- from the Commodore -
