vol. 60 no. 3 - portland yacht clubportlandyc.com/wp-content/uploads/201003_portlight.pdf · vol....

March 2010 Vol. 60 No. 3

Anam Cara chases Riva Photo by Dale Mack

2 PortlandYC.com March 2010

T he Commo-dore’s Ball is now in the re-

cord books. It was a most memorable night and was enjoyed by 160 attendees decked out in their finest. Master of Ceremo-nies Larry Snyder had certainly done his homework and was able to present a burgee from the Helsingborg Yacht Club in Sweden, the hometown of some of the Johnson ancestors. Larry was able to obtain the burgee with Karen Anderson’s help in spite of ru-mors of unpaid Johnson HYC dues and membership revocation. The club was elegantly decorated thanks to Julie Hinkley, Marcia Hoelscher, Judy Wells, Ruth Parr, Kim Lee and Kristi Miller. Following the traditional Command Change Ceremony, Officer in Charge, Harry Braunstein, assisted by Past Commodore’s Bruce Aschim and Bill Stevens were able to successfully com-plete the historically impossible Grand March to a tight eight abreast conclu-sion within the confines of the club ballroom. Members were then intro-duced to the band, “Five Guys Named Moe”. They were comprised of the five Moe’s plus three more guys in the brass section and three lovely ladies doing vocals. I never really figured out which of the band were the “Moes” but they were certainly great.

Crab Feed The next event will be the Crab Feed which occurs after Portlight press time. Jim & Sandi Hansen and Mike & Tammy House, event co-chairs, and their cast of workers are bracing for a hungry crowd of 360 people and have ordered 1200 pounds of crab to keep everyone happy. Jim Johnson was again coerced into providing a short boat ride “team building session” for the crab feed workers prior to the event. Fortunately, Kelly Johnson will be helping Jim get the engines started so there should not be a repeat of last year’s difficulties.

Special Projects Your Board has been active with the annual review and approval of house-keeping items. New for this year is the appointment of Rod Wells to a three year term as Endowment and Special Gifts Chair. You may recall that this position was established to provide assistance to members wishing to make special purpose gifts or create endow-ments for the benefit of Portland Yacht Club. Our membership includes many generous members who have given time and money that will prevail to the benefit of all of us. Rod will be avail-able to discuss and make recommenda-tions to any prospective donor or their representative. The remodeled dining room and bar areas are in large part the result of just such gifts and will be en-joyed by all of us for years to come. At the March 1st Winter Meeting, we will consider another similar project for the remodel of the kitchen. The cost and scope of these types of projects often make them unachievable from our dues and labor alone. I salute these indi-viduals and hope that you are able to attend the Winter Meeting to discuss the kitchen project in detail.

Education Sessions On the education front, Dan & Doris Dickson and Brian & Pat Hedges hosted the first education series event. Captain Bob from West Marine con-ducted a class on Marlinspike Training and furnished line and fids to a group of about fifteen wanna-bees who at-tempted eye splices with braided line. It was a fun two hour session before the Saturday lunch. As a participant and surprised casual observer, there didn’t seem to be a discernible skill dif-ference between boaters although I was unable to find any completed splices by the power boaters. Future education sessions have been opened up to pro-spective members as a part of our “Get to Know Us Better in 2010” campaign and include the following:

March 20 Nobeltec Navigation & Weather

Phil Volker April 17 Crossing the Bar

New Member Recruiting Our thanks to the members who staffed the Portland Yacht Club booth during the Portland Boat Show. The show had been shortened but we saw no signs of lost enthusiasm. A total of forty-five boaters expressed interest in PYC and were invited to our Happy Hour on February 12th and the pro-spective member cruise to Willow Bar on March 7th. Bob Bishop’s Member-ship Committee is looking for members to participate and mentor prospective candidates.

(Continued on page 3)

C O M M O D O R E ― S C O M M E N T S

the PORTLIGHT published monthly by the

P O R T L A N D Y A C H T C L U B

1241 NE Marine Drive

Portland, Oregon 97211

P: 503.285.1922 | Fax: 503.283.4960

Email: [email protected]

EDITOR—Dale Mack

OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES Commodore Nick Johnson (sail)

Vice Commodore Rod Wells (power)

Secretary/Treasurer Nancy MacGregor (sail)

Rear Commodore Jerry Miller (power)

Trustee Julie Hinkley (power)

Trustee Michael Lewis (sail)

Trustee Larry Justice (power)

Trustee Charlie Bishop (sail)

Trustee Larry Cirotski (power)

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Bob Knauer / Bernie Bills / Stan Borys

Skip Nitchie / Frank Tillman Donna Moore / Virginia Peterson

March 2010 PortlandYC.com 3

Portlight Deadline

March 10

Email articles and photos to:

Dale Mack [email protected]

W e are get-ting closer t o t h e

Opening Day Parade. All boat owners are required to provide insurance verification to the office, and to provide proof of a current VSC. The Fleet Captain has a notice in this Portlight with dates that we will have inspectors available for VSC certifications. As many of you already know, Marie in the office watches the insurance expirations like a hawk. It is a difficult job, and this is the first time that we have spent this much effort in monitoring these poli-cies. We will have the water on at the outsta-tion about the first of March in order to get it cleaned up in time for our March events. The water in the moor-age will be turned on sometime in the middle of the month. We extended the fence at the west moorage and moved the gate up to the landing above the N-row ramp. By the time you read this we should have a new ramp in place also. We are march-ing along, probably not as fast as some may wish, but we do what we can as funds become available. The days are beginning to get longer, thank goodness. We can all look for-ward to another year of fun and fellow-ship on the water.

Fred Carter Club Manager

M A N A G E R ― S R E P O R T S A I L O R S ― T E L L T A L E S

Cruising So when do we start boating you might ask. Tom & Sheila Winslow are plan-ning great things for our March 12th-14th St. Patrick’s Day Cruise to Willow Bar. There will be a chance to dispose of your old socks and enjoy a little Guinness. Vessel Safety Checks will also be available. Our first “Weekender” cruise is to Sandy Beach on the weekend of April 9th. The Stag Cruise is on the weekend of April 23rd.

(Continued from page 2)

Education Session

Nobeltec

Navigation & Weather

Taught by Phil Volker

March 20

9am to 11am PYC Ballroom

We hope to have at least one traditional cruise and one no-host “Weekender” each month throughout the cruising season. Opening Day is not far off so install all those boat show trinkets, put on your new tags and get your 2010 VSC so we can get going. See you at the club.

Nick Johnson

Commodore S/V Molodez

C O M M O D O R E ― S C O M M E N T S ( c o n t . )

T he Sailors’ Dinner on April 9 is shaping up to be very special. Craig Mortensen will be giving

us an account of his circumnavigation of our earth in a thirty-six foot boat. You will find out if he avoided pirates off the Somali coast and what to do when a whale crawls under your boat and takes your rudder 600 miles from shore. Craig will leave plenty of time for Q&A. Five trophies will be pre-sented to well deserving recipients. The 2010 OCSA Race Book is available at Schooner Creek Boat Works or North Sails for $25. All racers should have one to find race dates, read the Notice of Race (NOR) announcements, and have the forms for entering the races. You will also receive an indis-pensible waterproof race chart with the book. The Race Book has the wrong date for the Sailors’ Dinner. It will be held April 9. It is time to get your boat polished, review the rules and join in the fun.

Skip Nitchie Sailing Captain M/V Gilligan

T R A I N I N G


T his is going to be a great year to go cruising. Commodore Nick has laid out a great cruise

schedule that includes a number of bo-nus cruises. There will be eighteen cruises this year! The schedule includes the traditional holiday weekend cruises, men’s cruise, ladies cruise, plus nine No-Host Week-ender cruises. These mini-cruises will be a gathering of PYC boats at some destinations that PYC hasn’t cruised to officially in a number of years: Had-ley’s Landing, Coon Island, Sandy Beach. This is also the year that PYC

Date Destination Chairs / Hosts

March 12-14 St. Patrick’s Day—Willow Bar Tom & Sheila Winslow

April 9-11 Weekender—Sandy Beach No Host

April 23-25 Stag Cruise—Willow Bar Jim Butler

May 1 Opening Day No Host

May 14-16 Weekender—Hadley’s Landing No Host

May 28-31 Memorial Day—Willow Bar Bruce Padgett and

Karin Denman

June 11-13 Weekender—Camas No Host

June 25-27 Martin Island No Host

July 9-11 Weekender—Oregon City No Host

July 16-18 Bald Eagle Days—Cathlamet Rod & Judy Wells and

Don & Barbara Peterson

July 24-August 1 Barclay Sound Roger Jorgensen

August 6-15 Downriver Cruise Fred & Kay Koudele

Brian & Donna Moore

Cliff & Becky Stephens

Ken & Pam Emmons

Don Dell & Roberta DeBouver

August 27-29 Weekender—Coon Island, East No Host

September 3-6 Labor Day—Willow Bar << Host Needed >>

September 17-19 PYC Ladies’ Cruise—Willow Bar << Host Needed >>

September 24-26 Beacon Rock Bob Martin

October 15-17 Weekender—Bartlett Landing No Host

November 26-28 Thanksgiving Leftover Cruise—Willow Bar No Host

C R U I S I N G S C H E D U L E

will do the Bluewater Cruise to Barclay Sound on the West Coast of Vancou-ver Island. You might make the week-long Downriver Cruise to Astoria part of your summer vacations this August. Hosting a cruise is a lot of fun, and is a great chance to enjoy the teamwork and camaraderie of our club. Nick was resourceful enough to engage chairs for most the hosted cruises, but a few openings remain. The Labor Day Cruise needs a host-chair in particular. All the cruise host-chair people would appreciate you joining their committee.

If you would like to host a cruise, or be a part of the committees for the indi-vidual cruises, let us know. And when we’re out on cruise, please offer your assistance as it is needed—setting up tables and chairs, helping pick up dur-ing and at the end of the cruise, etc. The more help there is, the smoother things will go. Being on a cruise com-mittee is an ideal way to get better ac-quainted as newer members.

Larry & Laura Cirotski Cruising Chair M/V Morning Star

“Cruising to Your Favorite

Destination”

May 14 –16 at Coon Island

Come join the fun.

Contact

Julie Hinkley [email protected]

or Barbara Peterson

[email protected] or

visit our website at Ladiescruise.com


St. Patrick’s Day Cruise

March 12 — 14

PYC Willow Bar Outstation

Friday Dock Greeting at Arrival

Appetizer Potluck with Guinness Beer Sock Burning Ceremony at Dusk—Bring your old socks Saturday Traditional Irish Breakfast

Dock Activities Vessel Safety Checks Appetizer Potluck and BYOB Happy Hour Irish Dinner Stew in a Bread Bowl, Salad & Dessert Irish coffee After Dinner Fun with Irish Music Sunday Continental Breakfast

Weekend Farewell

Adults: $18 Children: $9

Please RSVP early to

reserve your spot

RSVP 503.735.0632 or

[email protected]


C O M M O D O R E ― S B A L L P h o t o s b y B o b K n a u e r


P O R T L A N D B O A T S H O W P h o t o s b y D o n n a M o o r e

N E W Y E A R S A T T H E O U T S T A T I O N P h o t o s D o n D e l l

P Y C S M I L E S P h o t o s b y D o n n a M o o r e


P A L M S P R I N G S R A M B L I N G S P h o t o b y M i k e W a l k e r

O n Saturday February 13th, a Pre-Valentine’s Day celebra-tion was held at the Hilton

Terrace in downtown Palm Springs. Can you imagine thirty-five people at-tended! The food was great, and a good time was had by all. Could this be the start of a Winter PYC Outsta-tion? I know you need water for an outstation, and the pool and fountain should take care of that!

Stan Borys Roving Palm Springs Reporter

Children’s Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday, April 3 9:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Easter Egg Hunt Face Painting Balloon Art Coffee, Juice, & Snacks for Kids

and Adults BYOB (Bring Your Own Basket)

Cost: $5 per person

Reservations by April 8

503.735.0632 or [email protected]

Outstation Cleanup

Gary has determined that a major cleanup

won’t be required this year.

Contact Gary Erdahl

503.666.8892


“ E S P A R R E D ‖ — T H E Q U E S T F O R H E A T

ADVERTISE IN THE PORTLIGHT!

For information about commercial advertising in the Portlight, please contact the PYC office

at 503.285.1922 or email: [email protected]

M y 1991 boat favored me with no repairs required for the first twenty months of our

ownership. I now know that this was too good to continue. The Bunch has an Espar D7L Diesel fired heater (rebuilt in 2004) that easily keeps the boat warm in the worst win-ter weather, and it had been completely reliable until one day in January. I came aboard and found the boat at 54° and the thermostat calling for heat. I tried switching the heat off, then on and the heater fired. Success, but the next morning the heat was off. Switching the ther-mostat off/on worked again, so I replaced the wall thermostat ($39). Success, but several days later the fault was repeated. I then replaced the igniter with a new part ($97), and the heater ran for several days before the heater failed again. This time, the heater fan wouldn’t start. I found that the fan motor had developed a “dead sector” and would randomly refuse to start. A search of the Internet and sev-eral phone calls located “the last re-maining new D7L fan motor any-where” in Seattle. Since the alternative was a new heater, I bought ($797) and installed the new motor, noting that the failed motor had been installed in 2004. Success, but then I saw soot on the dock, and black smoke whenever the heater was running. I traced this condition to a failed “thermal switch” that senses the pres-ence of flames in the combustion chamber. It was randomly failing to switch over, and this had failed my new igniter. I ordered another igniter ($97), and began a search for a new thermal switch. Neither the Internet nor calls to all of the listed Espar dealers pro-

duced anything but sympathy; there are no such switches available anywhere, and they are not repairable. The deal-ers each offered a new D8L heater as the only remedy. Okay, I am an engineer, and I was $1,000 into fixing my heater. Yet an-other search of the Internet located a source of thermocouples and a zippy

little programmable controller that would functionally replace the failed switch. I ordered the parts ($7 + $83), programmed the controller, and in-stalled the thermocouple in place of the switch. Success, but not without first burning one thermocouple to a crisp. I then measured the running temperature at the bottom of the probe housing at 1,700°, far in excess of the 900° rating of the thermocouple insulation. I posi-

tioned a new thermocouple farther up in the probe housing and finally, I thought, perhaps, maybe, had things under control. The heater seemed happy, but “Owaa tafoo liam,” as we chanted in the Boy Scouts. One day later, the heater failed. All of the usual suspects seemed okay, and just before I disassembled the elec-

tronic heater controls, I thought to check the fuel supply. Both main fuel tanks were empty! Switch-ing to the auxiliary tanks and bleeding the filters and lines had the heater back on line. Again. How much have I “saved” by making these repairs? That depends upon the future durability of the heater, but a new Espar D8L is more than $5,000. Boat Electric, the happy supplier of the ig-niters and the “last re-maining D7L motor” wants me to supply the switch replacement to them. It seems that there

are several thousand of the Espar D7L and D12 heaters out there with failing thermal switches. We will work something out. I owe it to the other victims.

Joe Brady M/V The Bunch


Cookout—March 5

Salad Bar * Baked Potatoes * Garlic Bread * Bean Soup

with Dessert & Coffee to top it off!

If you’re a Barbequing Enthusiast, don’t for-get to bring your entree of choice.

Your Cookout Committee Host & Hostess are Chris & Susan Dorn

Cookout—March 26 “Spaghetti Night‖

Your Cookout Committee Host & Hostess

are Michele King & Lucky Klassen

Enter the “Free Cookout” drawing by sign-ing up before noon on the Wednesday proceeding the cookout.

3:00 Bar Opens — 6:30 Dinner

Cost is $7.50 per person RSVP 503.735.0632 or [email protected]

I t’s time to start planning to clean your boat, get your Vessel Safety Check, and commit to participate

in the Opening Day Parade on May 1st. Start by signing up on the bulletin board or call the club office. Besides

J O I N T H E F L E E T F O R O P E N I N G D A Y

Planning your summer vacation?

Save August 6-15 for the

DOWNRIVER CRUISE!

Cruise Hosts: Fred & Kay Koudele

P lan on getting it done early! Make a Reservation today!

An Annual VSC Inspection is required for all boats in the PYC moorage, and a copy of the inspection form must be provided to the club office. PYC wants all boats participating in the Opening Day Parade to have a VSC also. Points are awarded to clubs for VSC participa-tion. PYC Vessel Examiners will be available on the following dates to do a VSC and award VSC Decals for those meeting the requirements: March 12-14 St. Patrick’s Day Cruise

March 20 PYC

April 9-11 Sandy Beach Cruise

April 17 PYC

April 23-25 Stag Cruise Sign-up sheets will be on the bulletin board for VSC’s for those dates. If those dates won’t work for you, then call one of examiners.

PYC Vessel Examiners

Michael Lewis 503.981.7467 (h) 503.522.0140 (c)

John McCoy 503.657.5253 (h) 503.703.7661 (c)

Larry Snyder 503.737.1509 (h) 503.799.3351 (c)

David Stuckey 503.247.2545 (h) 503.753.5339 (c)

your name, include your boat’s name, power or sail, and your boat’s length over all.

Berkeley Smith Fleet Captain S/V Hotspur


April 3 sa Children’s Easter Egg Hunt 9:30-12 am sa NO LUNCH 9-11 fr Cruise: Sandy Beach fr Sailors’ Dinner @ PYC 15 th Ladies’ Spring Dinner 6 pm 17 sa Education Session 9 am 23-25 fr Cruise: Stag, Outstation

March 1 mo Winter Meeting 6 pm 5 fr Cookout 6:30 pm 7 su New Member Flotilla to Outstation 12-14 fr Cruise: St. Patrick’s, Outstation 20 sa Education Session 9 am 26 fr Cookout 6:30 pm

C A L E N D A R

Happy Hour Every Friday 3-9 pm Saturday Lunch Every Saturday 11:30-1:30 Golf Every Wednesday, year round Board Meeting Third Wednesday every month Bridge Third Thursday every month 10 am Portlight Deadline 10th of every month

Spring Ladies’ Dinner “Changes in Latitudes”

Thursday, April 15th

Save the Date

Details to follow in the April Portlight

Sales - Installation - Service Please consider us for your next boat equipment or electronics project

Visit our website for details on services we provide www.rodgersmarine.com 3445 N.E. Marine Drive Portland, OR 97211

Phone 503-287-1101 FAX 503-288-3745 [email protected]


Portland Yacht Club 1241 NE Marine Drive Portland, OR 97211

FULL SERVICE BOATYARD all repairs, service, installs, all boats up to 65’

503-543-2785 prompt written estimates

A&D Yacht Services AT ROCKY POINTE MARINA

Need to Move a Car? *** Snow Birds ***

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College Students To or From any State

Over 100 terminals nationwide 800.214.5622—Vancouver,WA

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W I N T E R R A C I N G P h o t o b y D a l e M a c k

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