This must have been something to see

http://www.captain-net.com/towboat/towboat.htm
If you grew up boating on the river, you know how freaky this is! Those tugs have mass!

Sailing Moths video

I don't think these would cut through the milfoil very well, but it sure looks like fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-2VZDQTvU&feature=rec-r2-2r-2-HM

After Sailing Party Fryday February 12 (without the sailing)

After Sailing Party (without the sailing)

Friday, February 12
6:30 or so

Given by:
The sailors of C-10 (Shannon and David)

At:
501 S. 10th St.
Minneapolis (yes it is downtown)
Please RSVP to: 612-718-3033

We will be serving drinks, appetizers and light dinner. It sounds like there will also be an Americas Cup race that day.

House is at the corner of 10th Street and 5th Avenue. You will need to park on one of the streets nearby. Some are free, most are metered (I have a bowl full of quarters just inside the front door for our guests).

From the south
Take 35W north to the 5th Ave exit. The front door is just to your right as you come up the ramp at the stop light.

From the west
Take 394 to the 12 St exit, first right turn onto 12th street. Continue to 3rd Avenue, then left 2 blocks to 10th St, right on 10th 2 blocks and you are there.

From the North
Take 94 east to the 4th Street exit. Continue on 4th Street to 3rd Avenue, turn right on 3rd to 10th St, left on 10th 2 blocks and you are there.

From the East
I don’t know anybody from that direction.

See you all the 12th

Buoy applications now accepted for Minneapolis Board

OK everyone, it's February, and that means time to think about getting your application in. If you should do it ASAP or not depends on what camp you fall into:
New Buoy Applicants / Non-Minneapolis residents
By all means, do it as soon as possible. The city uses your date of application to grant you place in your selection pool. What pool you are in mostly depends on if you are a Minneapolis resident. See the menu bar on the right for the actual link.
Returning Minneapolis Buoy Applicants
For returning buoy holders, things are not so rushed. Just as long as you get in by April 8th, you will go into the priority pool for your lake, where actual buoy assignments are drawn by lot. That part is random, but you are assured of a buoy. One of the factors that may play into your thinking is that the city will charge your credit card as soon as you apply. Me, I'd rather keep that money in my account until April.

Keeping an eye on the weather and Radios

One of a sailboat skipper's most important jobs is to keep an eye on the weather. Even on small lake like Harriet, summer storms can appear and put a small boat in peril. Even if your boat is capable of handling the rain and high winds, nobody wants to get caught in a electrical storm if it can be avoided.

This fact is one of the reasons I have a link to current and hour-by-hour forecasts for the lake on this site. But what about fast breaking storms? Is there a way we can be warned of them? In a word, yes. The US National Weather Service weather broadcast (NWR) contains codes that can alert special weather radios in a specific area about approaching bad weather. Called SANE, these codes are entered into your radio to mark its general location. For Hennepin County the SANE code is 027053.
Turn your weather radio to station WX1, and you are set to go. The radio sits silent unless there is approaching bad weather, and then you get an alarm followed by an voice alert. Note that not all weather radios support SANE, and if you use one that does not, you get get the alerts for the entire state of Minnesota and western Wisconsin. On any given summer day, the older radios were constantly going off with alerts. It's also a good idea to turn it on and listen to the up-to-the-minute forecast as you rig for sailing.


Some VHF boat radios also support NWR broadcasts, and that raises another issue. Lake Harriet is a small lake, and is completely covered by all of the major cellular operators. Therefore, there is little or no need to use VHF radios for communication. However, the US Coast Guard states that if you have one on your boat, you MUST ALWAYS have your VHF radio on and tuned to Channel 16 when in the boat. Because of the extra battery draw, I'm not sure many (if any) of the boats on the lake with radios do this, myself included.

Island hopping at the British Virgin Islands

Zoran Jandric and his family sailing for 12 days the British Virgin Islands.

Zoran did the Basic Keel Boat Sailing course last year on Lake Calhoun with me and I am proud to see him sailing the ocean and island hopping at the British Virgin Islands this January 2010.

Cheers.

Henk

US Sailing Basic Race Management Seminar April 24

By definition a “once in a lifetime opportunity” only comes once……………..

It is a pleasant surprise that US Sailing has agreed to hold a one-day Basic Race Management Seminar at Okoboji on Saturday, April 24th. Until now it has been necessary to travel to Chicago or Milwaukee to take this seminar.

The purpose of this seminar is to teach a greater depth of race management techniques and to certify US Sailing Race Officers. This seminar is not about the Part 2 of the Racing Rules of Sailing regarding the right-of-way rules. This seminar would be of primary interest to those on the race committee. We would hope to have people interested in race management from other lakes in Iowa, Minnesota, and surrounding states.

I took several US Sailing Basic and Advanced Race Management Seminars in the 2000 to 2003 time frame when I qualified to be certified as a US Sailing Club Race Officer. My first certification was issued in 2002 for a four year term. I renewed it in 2006 with my latest certification expiring on December 31, 2009. I now need to take a US Sailing Race Management seminar in order to renew my certification as a Club Race Officer. The need for me to take a race management seminar is what started this conversation about bringing the seminar to Okoboji.

The instructor will be John Strassman from Milwaukee who is certified by US Sailing to teach this seminar, is a National Race Officer, and a member of the US Sailing Race Management Committee.

I would like to see more Okoboji people become certified as a US Sailing Club Race Officers. Bob Evans was certified Club Race Officer at one time. In order to be certified as a Club Race Officer you need to attend this seminar, pass the test, have a rule book, and run four races (Okoboji YC races qualify).

Don’t be intimidated that US Sailing race management procedures might seem difficult. The Okoboji Yacht Club and the Inland Lakes Yachting Association (ILYA) follow US Sailing procedures in running our club races and regattas. You will also be pleased to learn that almost all sailboat racing in the United States follow US Sailing rules and procedures. Your experience and learning are transferable to other sailing venues and around the world.

In my opinion, if you have participated in OYC race management, review the study questions before the seminar, and pay attention in the seminar you have a good chance of passing the test. Sailors will benefit by attending, because the more they know about how races are organized and as a result they will become more competitive.

Even if you do not plan to become certified, this is an excellent opportunity to learn more about race management and have fun talking about sailing.

More information about US Sailing race management and the Race Officer certification program can be found at this website http://raceadmin.ussailing.org/Officials/Race_Officers/CertificationTraining.htm

Please let me know if you are interested in attending this seminar. It will be a full day seminar on Saturday, April 24th at the Okoboji Yacht Club. There will be a nominal cost to cover lunch, instructor travel, materials, etc.

Phil Petersen
Head Judge
Okoboji Yacht Club

If you are interested to attend please contact Henk: 612-310-0113