Monday, June 11, 2007

Skippers Meeting June 11

Agenda
Skipper’s Meeting
June 11, 2007, 6:45 PM

Report of recent Past Events: (Events after our last skippers meeting
2. 5/24, 25, 26, 27 Memorial Day Week end.
PROGRAM:
First Night, Thursday, 5/24 – Blake Island Clam Bake.
Organized by Dan Land:
Boats Participating:
1. Dark Star – Dan Land
2. Whisper – Joe Grande
3. Whoop Sea – Bruce Kinnaman
4. Tusur – Sam Keading
5. Avalon – Rich Clapp
6. Christina Lee – Lee Stenson
7. Code Blue – Steve & Judy
8. Tara – Larry Gill
9. Waveguide – Walter Friesen
10. Four Par Tee -
Second night, Friday, 5/25 at Dock Street Marina in Tacoma.
Exploring History Museum, Museum of Glass, Walking, Restaurants.
Note: We have 9 slips, 6 of them will allow raft ups.
1. Code Blue – Steve Dauzy
2. Alexandria – Gary Bradley
3. Clueless – Roger Drill
4. Dark Star – Dan Land
5. Whoop Sea – Bruce Kinnaman
6. Ca Va! – Hal Tobie
7. Rophy – Natalie Danielson
8. Tara – Larry Gill
9. SURT – Mike Sinclair
10. Four Par Tee – Ron Voss
11. Whisper – Joe Grande
12. Dalliana – Gail Kalbrener
13. Norma Jean – Eric Jay
Third night, Saturday, May 26, at Longbranch – Raft Up
Happy hour and Dinner on board raft up boats
Drinks and Dancing at Long Branch Barn to a country band.
Fourth night, Sunday, May 27, at Gig Harbor
Happy hour and Dinner on board raft up boats or at the Tides tavern where a Jimmy Buffet look alike may be playing.

3. 6/9-10 Overnight to Kirkland – Report: Mike Sinclair
a. Mike Sinclair is designated “Raft Master” for this week end. He has exclusive authority over the Raft.
b. Skippers disagreeing with his requests should anchor separately.

Discussion and Planning for Upcoming Events:
July 2, 3, 4th
July 2 Monday, Optional Raft Up – Location TBD
July 3 Tuesday, Paulsbo – Raft UP.
Discussion: The Raft Master will need to know boats attending and ETAs. Please email Fleet Captain ASAP.
July 4 Wednesday, Optional,
Lake Union:
City Front:

July, August, September Club Cruise Opportunities/Plans for San Juans, Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound. (Skippers, give me your individual plans so that we can track them for buddy boating)

Special Matters:
1. Marriage Proposal – proposed by Mike Sinclair
a. Informational only, no voting.
2. Development of a Rafting “Suggested Procedure/Expectations”
a. Failures – Contributing Causes – May 26, 2007, Saturday
i. Not enough anchors.
ii. Anchors not appropriately placed or set, with bridles to keep clutches from slipping.
iii. Rafted boats not properly tied together to enable proper casting off
iv. Failure of skippers to respond to the emergency according to expectations.
v. Failure of crew to realize their responsibilities and to respond to the emergency according to expectations
vi. Failure of Skippers to have keys in ignition, have flashlights available, have crew prepared for a quick disconnect procedure, have lines ready for a quick disconnect.
3. Good News: We in SSYC have a high level of Competency among our Skippers and Crew in the techniques of Good Seamanship, which sorted out the issues, worked together to resolve them and disassembled the raft so that no one was hurt, and there was only minimal damage.
4. Suggestions for a “Procedure/Expectations” for Rafting
a. Most skippers forwarded their emails to all skippers so I will not repeat their comments here.
b. Designate a “Raft Master” who will have responsibility for instructing incoming skippers and who will have absolute authority. One voice. Not many cooks.
i. Skipper’s disagreeing with the Raft Master will go somewhere else.
c. Draft and adopt a “SSYC Suggested Procedure Document for Club Rafting. Consider for inclusion the following suggestions:
i. Better communication.
1. A meeting of skippers before breakup
2. Sufficient time to prepare after notice that the raft is breaking up.
3. Sufficient time for all persons to return to their boats. Some boats empty.
ii. Well thought out procedures are in Mike Brough’s email to each of you on 6/3. See especially his “common threads”. It seems to me to be a starting point with a good check list to use for doing our own with variations for our local conditions.
iii. Lani Schroeder email 6/5 cautions about:
1. using small dinghy’s for setting anchors and
2. Using stern anchors. Consider anchoring 69 style.
iv. Bruce Kinnaman email 6/5 suggests advance planning for the Raft, who is going, and the location of the raft. He suggests that the location in Long Branch was different than prior years which were better, shallower & more wind protected.
v. Hal Tobie email 6/4
1. Each boat have a minimum of equipment
2. Each boat has a check list, i.e. dingy tied up on short line, etc.
3. Each boat have a procedure for rapid raft break up, turn on engines, crew assignments etc.
4. Each skipper responsible to have his or her boat in compliance with the equipment and preparation requirements
vi. Chris C. email of 6/4
1. Good list of suggestions for each skipper in preparing his or her boat.
vii. Jane Montague
1. Another good list of suggestions for individual skippers.
5. Expectations of Crew
a. Vessel properly prepared and equipped
b. Crew instructed about expectations of skipper
c. Skipper conducts himself or herself in a proper seamanship manner.
d. Other qualified skippers or crew take over a vessel if skipper becomes impared.
6. Open Discussion:
7. Request for Volunteers to form a Drafting Committee (at least 3)
a. Larry Gill (I volunteer to be one)
b.
c.

Comments or Remarks for the Good of the Fleet Captain or Club

Meeting adjourned.

1 comment:

Marie Capogna said...

Larry et al,

For the sake of keeping tonight’s meeting short I’ll give my 2 cents via email:-

Wagon wheels – Although these are visually pleasing, they are hard to raft up and increase the chance of damage to boats (I believe Gaia was damage at Poulsbo a few years back?). Limit them a just a few a year.

From the Greek Island trip the most common reason I saw on other boats have the anchor slip was not enough scope. We assume that every SSYC skipper knows this but we have new skippers that may not to be aware of the correct scope ratio.

Raft Master – Great idea, we should start a list of people who are willing and knowledgeable. Also may I suggest that a deputy/reserve is appointed in case the primary cannot make the raft up? RM should aim to be at the anchor point first, in the event of that not happening all boat arriving prior should be willing to move to his/her preferred location.

Document good overnight locations with specific notes, GPS coordinates and photos. The prior skipper meeting and via email to skippers, we should have the chart and intended location. RM to brief skippers as to local knowledge.

Skipper welcome pack – Many basics are not currently covered when new skippers join. Perhaps one of the tasks of the drafting committee would be to put together a skipper welcome pack? The pack could include: Overnight Rafting instructions, How the crew trip count works, Where we go (GPS/photo of Port Madison buoy and other usual locations), Responsibilities of a SSYC Skipper. Although it may seem a reasonable amount of work to start with I believe that it would benefit the club and make SSYC more professional.

I realize that I rarely come to raft ups (other than when on charter trips), so please feel free to ignore my comments if you see fit!

J William