The Cat's Tales
Catalinas of
October
2003
John Celick —
Newsletter Editor\Treasurer
http://www.catalinasmbay.org/
From the Captain of the Fleet:
WHITES LANDING – OCTOBER 17-19
As you can see
by the enclosed flyer (Pictures by Norm Perron), White’s is a fun trip!!
Highlights will include pumpkin carving, beach activities, volleyball and a
cookout at the outstanding facility of Balboa Yacht Club. This has always been
one of the best outings of the year and we expect a good turnout this year.
In the past,
boats have arrived both Friday and Saturday. Some come earlier with a trip to
Avalon prior coming to White’s. On Friday there are no planned activities.
Saturday there is “yoga” on the Beach, volleyball in the afternoon and a
pumpkin carving contest. EVERYONE BRING A PUMPKIN. Later that evening its
cocktails ashore followed by a cook your own dinner over the BBQ at the club.
Sunday there are no planned activities.
In addition to
the regular mooring fee, there is a nominal $20.00 charge per boat which covers
the costs of ice, BBQ, trash handling and the utilities used at the facilities.
PLEASE INFORM CRAIG FRITZSCHE if you are attending.
**GOOD NEWS – NO BEACH LANDING **
In the past,
some have had a challenge landing their dinghies on the beach. While this has
provided a source of entertainment to some viewers on the beach, some of us
didn’t fare to well – a little wet!!!
Available to us now, we can use the pier (Dock) down (East toward
Avalon) the beach from the club for an easy and dry landing. If the beach
landing in the past has prevented you from coming, it’s no longer a problem.
NEXT MEETING – LAST OF THE YEAR
Mark your calendar: Tuesday - October 21
for the last scheduled meeting of 2003. Pot Luck – It’s an opportunity for some
creative dishes, any theme and style. Let’s all participate on this pot luck.
The speaker will be announced later.
Your Fleet Captain, Hal Avery
TECH
TALK: Marina del Rey Web Camera
One
of the SMWYC members, Kathy St. Amant, worked on this
site of the LA County Lifeguard. It's fantastic, you
can pan the camera and see photos of the marina, updated every 30 minutes. It
also has great weather information on the page. Put this site in your browser’s “Favorites:”
http://watchthewater.co.la.ca.us/beach.cfm?bid=42
Norm Perron
MORE
TECH TALK: DSC Marine Radios and MMSI Numbers
At
our last monthly meeting, Scott Jarema talked about
lots of neat electronic stuff for boats, including the fairly new DSC VHF
radios. Based on some questions I received, it appears some of our members
could use more information. Below is the text of an email I sent out some time
ago.
Many
of you may already know about this, but for those who don't, a new feature has
been put into newer VHF marine radios: DSC. "Starting on June 17, 1999,
marine radio manufacturers must include a Digital Selective Calling (DSC)
capability in their new radios in order to get FCC approval to sell them in the
U.S.", FCC quote.
This
feature has two major advantages: To transmit your Latitude/Longitude and other
info about your vessel if you're ever in a distress situation; and, to
selectively hear friends call you instead of lots of chatter on the radio.
For
the first advantage, you must connect a GPS (or Loran, I believe) to your
radio, register your radio and get a MMSI number (Maritime Mobile Service
Identity). One way this can be done is by going to the Boat US web site at
http://www.boatus.com/mmsi/ You will need to fill in a
fairly lengthy form, then an MMSI number will be assigned. (You also enter a
password so you can make changes at a later date.) The form asks for a serial
number and model number of the radio. If you don't have it, don't worry, most
fields are optional. You can fill them in later. This number must then be
programmed into your DSC equipped radio. You should browse the Frequently Asked
Questions on the Boat US site. My radio (Standard Intrepid LE) has the
capability to automatically keep trying to reach help each 4 minutes if the
call is not answered. I believe this is standard with all DSC radios.
The
second advantage is selective listening on the radio. You could program your
radio to include, for example, Fleet member boat names and their MMSI. Then
when you go on a cruise with these members, no one would need to listen to any
chatter on the radio. If a member wants to reach anyone on the cruise, they
would select and call a particular member. Some of the newer radios allow a
"group" of members to be called. At that time, all group members
would get a special ring (loud enough to be heard on the bow of my boat) on
their radio and their radio would automatically switch to the caller’s channel.
Then the radios would act normally. Instead of trying a few different channels
to reach a buddy, you just make one call. If your buddy's radio is on, it will
automatically be switched to the caller's channel (after some special rings.)
If you call someone that is on a different channel, his radio will
automatically be switched to the caller's channel. In the testing I've done on
my radio, the caller gets a different response if the other radio is
"on" or "off", so you can tell if their radio is
monitoring. I know, you're supposed to monitor channel 16 and listen in case
there is an emergency you can help with. If someone puts out a
"distress" call, everyone with a DSC radio will get the distress call
and the Lat/Lon of the distressed vessel.
By
the way, this is the reason why we can't use channel 70 for voice any more. It
is dedicated to this function.
One
drawback to my radio is that it doesn't "timeout" if someone calls me
and I don't answer. If you have a 2 year old Intrepid LE, don't leave it “on”
when you leave the boat. I did that once and found several people motoring
around my mooring wondering what all that noise was.
DSC
Marine Radios and MMSI Numbers (Continued):
Since several of our members already have MMSI
numbers, we will be adding a new field to next year's roster to include them.
If you have an MMSI number and haven't sent it to me, please do so soon so it
will be included.
Norm
Perron
Welcome
to Another New Members – Peter and Farrell Rosen
Peter and Farrell sail a Catalina 38 named Summer
Solstice which is also the date of their anniversary, June 21st.
They are members of Del Rey YC. Welcome aboard!
Date:
|
Event: |
Remarks: |
|
Fri – Sun, Oct. 17 -19th |
Cruise
|
White’s Cove Season Finale at BYC
Facility Contact Craig |
|
Tuesday, October 21st |
Meeting
|
Pot Luck Dinner at SMWYC, Speaker TBA |
|
Wed-Sun, Nov. 26-30th |
Cruise
|
Thanksgiving at Contact Norm Perron No
meeting in November |
|
Friday,
December 12th NOTE THE DATE CHANGE! |
Party
|
No meeting in December |
Meetings are on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at the Santa
Monica Windjammers Yacht Club,
Cocktails at