photo by gtsphotos.com

Maria Petrillo, Mystic, shown sailing at the ICSA/Gill National Championship, is named to the The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) All Academic Sailing Team for 2009, adding to the All American honors the 2009 Roger Williams University graduate earned last spring. The 2009 ICSA All Academic Team recognizes ten First Team and ten Second Team student-athletes who maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a scale of 4.00, were a key starter or reserve member of their school’s sailing team, and who had reached junior standing at his or her institution of learning in order to be considered eligible for this distinction.  Also remarkable is that six of the scholar athletes named to the 2009 All Academic Sailing Team – including Maria Mahler-Haug, Branford – were also named to the ICSA All Academic Sailing Team in 2008.

photo by Dan Sokolik

Congratulations to sailing legend, Peter Ross, and the crew of Tynaje for finishing first in Class #1 and first overall in the Red Lobdell Memorial Regatta on August 15th. This is Peter’s fifth time winning the Regatta. The trophy was presented to Peter at the Stonington Harbour Yacht Club on October 17th.

by Captain Don Greene

Congratulations to all of you who purchased personal flotation devices (PFD) for you and your children’s safety. And most importantly, that you are wearing them!

I do want to talk about other safety factors: narrow channels. We talked about who has the right away: no one. Each captain must do whatever is necessary to prevent collision.

With the volume of boats moving in the local rivers, we need to be especially vigilant when crossing or overtaking another vessel. Remember, when overtaking a boat from behind, one toot on your horn means you intend to pass the vessel on his starboard side. Or, you intend to bring the vessel down your port side He should responde with one toot on his horn to signify that it is safe to proceed. He will maintain course and speed until you have safely passed the vessel.

During low tides, there are many areas where you need to stay as close as possible to the middle of the channel to make sure you do not run aground.

If you want to take a short trip from the boat launch in Westerly, try this trip down the Pawcatuck River. It will take you to Pawcatuck Point. This is a great exercise for you to practice traveling through narrow channels. First, make a 90 degree turn to starboard taking the green bell #23 down your starboard side. Continue to follow the red and green buoys to Sandy Point.  Bring the red #4 down your port side and continue past the red #2 Academy Rock bell to the junction buoy, Stonington Point. You will see the top of the junction buoy is painted red. Continue to Stonington as if you were returning from sea, “red right return.”

I have mentioned that these buoys are subject to movement based on wind and tide. Do not go too close to them. The red #2 bell at the entrance to Little Narragansett Bay hides behind Academy Rock. This rock did a lot of vessel damage though the years. Look at your chart to confirm where you are. And always make sure to carry your chart every time you leave your dock.

Don’t forget to take a few minutes before you leave your anchorage to fill out a float plan telling someone on the dock what time you are leaving, where you are going and how soon you expect to return. It could save your life.

Follow the navigation rules and have a great safe summer!

Wednesday Night Race Series:
Next Races: July 8th,  July 15th

Join the Mystic River Mudhead Sailing Association, and you can race Wednesday nights in Fishers Island Sound. From late May through August, the Mudhead racing fleet is out there searching for the next shift and the opportunity to pass boats.

You must be a member of the Mudheads in order to race. Register by Tuesday at noon and have a current PHRF-Eastern CT certificate. The courses are usually windward-leeward, using both drop marks and government buoys.

Please contact them at Mudhead@mudhead.org for more information, or visit the website www.mudhead.org.

Benefit Cup for Hospice SECT

Come out and race to benefit Hospice SECT! The Benefit Cup Race is set for July 18th in Fishers Island Sound.

The MegaParty at Mystic Shipyard will cap off the day with local cuisine from local Mystic restaurants and music from Rock n’ Soul Revue.

by Don Greene

I pulled into a marina to offer my services when a young lady walked over to me and asked if I knew how to operate a GPS. I said, “Yes.” She asked if I could teach her. I asked her to get her local charts; she said she didn’t have any. She said she didn’t need one because the GPS would help her to get where she needed to go. Someone told her that paper charts were the old way to navigate.

The tools of navigation are first a chart of the area you are going to boat in. The difference between a street map and a chart is that the street map offers you a safe choice of roads to travel on. A chart offers you an unlimited choice of travel lanes. You make the decision which course you will take. Also, it’s important to keep your paper charts on hand in case your GPS fails in giving the correct course or if the signal is bad. If it is a handheld GPS, and you forget to charge the battery, it could die during your trip, and if you did not plot your course on the paper chart, you might have some trouble finding your way.

To make this decision you have to find out where you are now. You also want to know where you want to end up, or, what your destination will be.

Let’s say for example you are passing the R-2 buoy at Watch Hill Passage. (R2 signifies that it is the beginning of Watch Hill Passage.) You can tell your GPS to capture that buoy for use when coming back. I want you to learn some basics of the GPS, but also how to use the chart. You would now get out your chart pick a course to steer towards the R-2 bell at the entrance to Block Island’s Great Salt Pond.

I chose a leg that I new was clear of under water danger. Once you reach the bell at Block Island, capture the Way Point listed on the chart as R2 Bell at 41 degrees 12.1 North and 71degrees 35.6 West.

Once you learn to do basic plotting, I will give you a problem to solve in each Resident. I also plan to introduce different uses for the Navigation tools that are available. We are lucky enough to boat in this area. There are always new places to go on Long Island, Newport and going down the MA shoreline to Nantucket. Long trips require some charting skills and knowledge of tides.