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.

SSYC Raftups

Good morning Skippers and Crew of SSYC:

I am writing to invite all Skippers and Crew to participate in a discussion and sharing of ideas as to what each of our expectations are or should be relative to rafting and perhaps boating in general. With respect to Longbranch, last week end, probably all of our expectations were not met as many of us experienced and some of us observed the raft break up at 3:30 AM Saturday night. Please feel free to forward this invitation for a shared dialogue to any interested crew person.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to agree on a common expectation at SSYC raft ups. For example "all boats over 30 feet will put out and set an anchor". I am not advocating this particular requirement but only mention it as an example to encourage a discussion.
It is probably a good idea to try to sort out and reconstruct where each boat was in the raft up and who had anchors out to try to identify how to prevent a recurrence.

When emergencies occur, MOB, sudden squall, unexpected medical emergency or accident, engine failure, jammed rigging or rigging failure when wind gusts, anchor caught on obstructions, some skippers have an expectation that each crew person has a responsibility to help resolve the emergency to the extent of that crew person's experience and knowledge. Other skippers may regard crew persons as passengers like on an Argosy Commercial Tour Boat. Some crew persons may regard them selves as falling into either category. It seems to me that we need to have an understanding between us all as to what our expectations are and what other person's expectations are.

Please email to me your best thinking and suggestions as to causes of the Longbranch experience and thinking for the future.

It will help me frame the agenda for the next Skipper's meeting on June 11, 2007. Please come prepared for a forward thinking discussion.

Thank you all,

Larry Gill ,
Fleet Captain