Whales

If you have a “whale” you would like to share with our readers
please forward to the editor editor@gamonyachting.com

Cruising with “Toddlers”

Cruising with “Toddlers” Indeed, a warm welcome to the part of the fleet that sag under the weight of our kids’ toys. You may, indeed, know all of the following, and more. But I wish someone had told me.

Miranda, our “activities director” started sailing at 6 weeks, although we didn’t get our Nonsuch until she was almost 1. She took her first turn at the helm at 5. She’ll turn 10 in 2 weeks. Lessons learned about cruising with a toddler: get a life jacket with a handle on the collar. It’s easier to grab, should you need to do so. (And I’m not even talking about if they go overboard . . .) In fact, you may need two of them, so your little one can wear one while the other dries. Until
they’re old enough to be calm (and that varies substantially from child to child), you may want to put a tether from the back of the lifejacket to the binnacle. And make sure that the length of the tether is just less than the distance from the binnacle to the edge of the boat. Any time that the little one is up on deck, make sure he/she is wearing both tether and lifejacket.

For a long cruise, lay a cockpit cushion in the bottom of the cockpit. Then place vertically cushions on either side of the child (so you can change tacks easily) and let them nap for hours. You’ll have a more relaxing cruise and a better evening. Toys that float are good. Toys that float, can be seen at a distance, and can be
snagged with a boat hook are priceless. Get a cheap inflatable pool that’s maybe twice the size of your cockpit bottom, a bucket with a rope on the handle, and a 1” plastic tube long enough to reach across the cockpit. Now you have all you need to set up a salt water wading pool. It’s especially nice for hot summer nights when the little one needs a cool down before
going to sleep. Just remember to close the
companion way doors, and brace them, or
the little one and all the water will end up in
the cabin after some strenuous moves. If you can tread water for an hour or two, consider taking the little one for a swim off the stern in his or her lifejacket. They’ll get used to maneuvering in it, should they ever go over the side, and you’ll get used to helping them up and down the stern ladder. You can get a little protection, when you’re anchored, by trailing the dinghy off one stern cleat, and a fender on a dock line off the other. And fenders are lots of fun for toddlers and little kids. Ride’em, cowboy!
Staying in that area can be important if you’re anchored in a place that motor boats or PWC go through or past with any frequency. Not only will they be less likely to blast past too close, but it also adds something that lets the little one cope with the wake. If you make a salon bench up into a bed, it’s probably narrower than the bed your child is used to. Put the back cushions on the floor beneath, and then try to remember not
to trip on them in the middle of the night.
Sooner or later, and probably both sooner AND later, the sleeping toddler rolls off the bench and onto the cushions. The startle of falling is better than the ouch of hitting the hard floorboards. Lee cloths work, too, IF the toddler tolerates being closed in. Oh, and expect to need to re-cover the upholstery in a few years. And no crayons or markers -- colored pencils come off of fiberglass better, and don’t mark much at all on upholstery. Color Wonder and its ilk is also a godsend.

I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. But you’ll find
your own path anyway.

Enjoy.
Marion Gropen
Meander, NS36 #41, 1986
North Shore YC
Port Washington, NY

Please take care...

The Wellington Rescue Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary boat based in Wellington, Ontario was called out twice this past summer to pull forty-foot sailboats from a rocky ledge off Gull Pond, about three nautical miles east of Point Petre on the south shore of Prince Edward County. Each time the weather was clear,
the seas were light, the ledge showed clearly white through the shallow water. It extends about three-quarters of a mile offshore, west of Gull Bar, a clearly visible sandy spit. It is easy to see on CHS 2060 and even on NOA14800 at the front of the Richardson chart book. These boats did not stay to chat and we
have no idea how they came to be there.

A third call came on thanksgiving Sunday and our crew went out in brutal seas at some risk. To make a long story short, our crew did not make it to the site. Two sailors from the wrecked boat were rescued by helicopter. I believe at least three vessels, OPP,
Coast Guard, and Coast Guard Auxiliary attempted the rescue. The wrecked boat, an 8 metre sailboat, is still... guess where... up on Gull Bar.

Maybe with GPS it has become easy to navigate badly with confidence. Who knows why sailors home in on this shoal like moths to a flame? Sooner or later it will lead to a death, maybe a rescuer’s death. Please take care when you are plotting a course
along the south shore of Prince Edward County.

Doug Monk
Wellington Rescue

Dear Editor,

From stem to gudgeon, I thoroughly enjoyed the Nov/Dec 2008 issue. The shot up the vermilion mast of Spirit of Canada on the cover is a beautiful composition. Rereading Gary MacDonald’s lyric poem with that lee-rail-down photo makes me want to launch much earlier next spring. Peter Fordham’s account of helmless passage making, steering by sail trim and drop keel, is a revelation. Trailer sailing has never looked so good as experienced by the Radonics.

(Read Full Letter)

Dear GAM,

We wanted to share with our northern friends our usual preparations for winterizing our boat down here in Galveston Bay. Typically we begin around the US Thanksgiving in November.  Though the Friday after Thanksgiving would have been a beautiful day for a sail, the temperature rose into the mid 70s and a nice breeze filled in from the south. Unfortunately, household chores kept us in town till evening. To sail today, Saturday, we had to anticipate a cold front that was predicted to pass through late Friday night or early morning.

(Read Full Letter)

Dear GAM,

In reference to your article written in the GAM Magazine issue of March/April 2008, heading “THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA” on page 4 of this magazine under (Editors note; Jack Nye).

Jack Nye did indeed sail across the Atlantic twice Solo.

I wish to set the records straight: Jack did not surpass Stefan Szwarnowsky on his first Solo in the year 2000; Jack was 76 years old on that voyage at that time. (His full story was in GAM Magazine issue April 2003, written from the original story by Jack Nye “Solo Atlantic” One on one. I do have a copy of this magazine if you would like a photocopy of it. (Very interesting story.)

Karin Larson, Publisher/Editor of GAM did edit and published Jack’s story. In brief, Jack lost his boat called Panderama and his life was saved by a container ship called “The Atlantic Companion” where other people on other boats lost their lives due to a very bad storm.

However Jack did surpass Stefan on his second Solo voyage across the Atlantic in the year 2004, at the age of 80 years young on his 2nd boat called “English Rose”, a 32 footer sloop. His article, again, was written by Karin in GAM (Jan/Feb. issue 2005) called “Atlantic Alone”, from Armdale Yacht Club, Halifax Nova Scotia, to Plymouth England.

For confirmation of all the above Jack Nye can be reached at Nye Manufacturing Ltd. Telephone number (905) 897-2311.

Also for your information Jack sailed across the Atlantic last year (2007) from Long Pond Newfoundland to Ireland and returned back to Long Pond Newfoundland, as captain of his own boat called Panderama II, a 29 foot  Sloop Rig with a crew of 1 on each leg.

Yours truly,
Sylvia Walker

Dear GAM on Yachting,

I picked up my June 2007 copy of GAM magazine and noticed that it was the 50th. Anniversary of the first publication. It brought back a flood of memories.

I loved sailing and tried to join several yacht clubs but was told that only men were allowed to become members. Finally I found out that the Queen City Yacht Club, located on Ward’s Island would allow women to become members but only if they owned a sail boat. This stipulation about owning a boat did not apply to men.

That year, in June 1958, I bought a SNIPE sail boat (14 foot 6 inches in length) and joined the Queen City Yacht Club. I met the other woman member of the Yacht Club, karin larsen, one day while I was waiting to catch the Club boat, Lillian, to return to Toronto.  She was about the same age as me and also owned a SNIPE Karen told me that she was the editor of a new magazine, ”GAM on yachting”. She said that GAM meant “to call upon, chat with and otherwise communicate with, as the officers and crew of another vessel”.  She gave me a copy and I found it to be so interesting that I bought a subscription and have had one ever since.

It was great, at last, to own my own sailboat and go out sailing. The boat was the right size as I could handle it by myself or with crew, whenever I wished to be on the water. I wanted to spend a week of my vacation that summer at the yacht club and had asked karin if I could rent a room at her home. She lived with her father in a beautiful large old house on Ward’s island and I was delighted to be able to stay there.

That summer I sailed in a regatta nearly every Saturday.  We would race in the afternoon and then the host club would give the skipper of each boat, which was racing, tickets for the skipper, and crew to have a free drink, and dinner followed by dancing. I came second at regattas on two occasions. I also raced when our club held weekly races and on awards night at the Queen City Yacht Club I was given a cup for sportsmanship. I think they were surprised that a woman could handle a sailboat.

In January 1959 the Queen City Yacht Club held their annual meeting. This was held at the Maple Leaf Room at Union Station.  Karin larsen phoned and asked me if I would be attending. I said that I would like to and since only members were allowed to attend, karin and I were the only two women present with the hundred men who were members. I rather liked those odds. I remember that karin and I were well looked after. We were asked to be scrutineers for the election of officers that evening.

I have owned a number of boats since then but I think my greatest thrill was when I bought my first sailboat.  GAM on yachting has certainly changed over the years with glossy paper and colour.

Karin has done a great job of drawing attention to causes, especially those that effect sailors.  GAM continues to be my favorite magazine, full of interesting stories and advertising about boats and marine supplies.

Fran Beaugrand*

(* Fran Beaugrand's story of commissioning and then sailing the very first Shark appears on page 16 of the 2008 May/June issue.)

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