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February Virtual Squadron Night
Join us for an amazing adventure story on February 15, 2021 at 7:00 PM - "Seaburban Around Alone - The Lure of the Distant and Difficult with Bert terHart".
Please click here on February 15th to join the free presentation:
http://bit.ly/VPS-SeaburbanAroundAlone
Meeting ID: 869 4041 3986
Passcode: 599831
For our February meeting we are very pleased to welcome Bert terHart. Many of you will have read about Bert in the January issue of Pacific Yachting so you know you can expect an incredible story. On July 18, 2020, Bert ter arrived back in Victoria after having spent 265 days at sea alone, becoming the first North American to sail, non-stop around the world using only traditional navigational tools.
What does a mind-bending, near suicidal attempt at the very nearly impossible have to do with anything other than crazy? Discover what it takes, and means, to adventure into the most remote, extreme, and hostile marine environment on the planet.
Bert terHart has had a life-long passion for the oceans and oceanography. With advanced degrees in math, physics and physical oceanography, he has studied the role the world's oceans and coastal seas play in moderating and regulating climate, nutrient productivity and pollution distributions, and salmon migration.
A career in academics, however, was not to be. Software engineering and business drew him away from the formal world of academia. Bert went on to create software and technical tools used by health care professionals in Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and Australia ultimately helping in the diagnosis and treatment of tens of thousands of patients.
His passion for the oceans has translated into more than 45,000 miles of blue-water sailing and a keen advocacy for the citizen scientist in all of us. His programming and business skills have been sought out by the universities, professionals, and environmentally responsible businesses and corporations in Canada and the US.
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Upcoming Boating Courses
Maritime Radio Online
The one-day virtual Maritime Radio course teaches emergency radio procedures and everyday operating techniques. This complete package will prepare you for the Restricted Operator Certificate (Maritime) with DSC Endorsement exam which is included as part of this courses. To operate a maritime radio, you need the certificate. It's the law!
Upcoming dates: March 6, 2021 or April 10, 2021 or May 1, 2021
To register, please click her and scroll down to Vancouver.
Please check here for all upcoming classes and dates.
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Upcoming Squadron Nights
March 15: To the Broughtons – and beyond! with Ross & Elizabeth Bligh
Our March presentation will take us on a trip from here to the mid coast. We'll deal with getting through the three main passes heading north, transiting Johnstone Strait, how to get beyond Cape Caution, and all of the great places you can anchor or tie up in along the way. There will be lots of pictures and a few videos as well. The presentation will be of particular interest to anyone who has yet to make it to the Broughtons or has yet to get beyond Cape Caution -or who just likes taking a virtual trip up the coast!
Ross Bligh is a recently retired elementary school principal. He started sailing when his dad bought a Columbia 26 in 1974 - and he has not stopped since. Elizabeth Bligh recently retired having been the Principal Harpist of the Vancouver Symphony for 35 years. The first thing she did when we bought our boat was to take the Power Squadron course. Ross knew she was an excellent first mate when, cooking breakfast on the go on the second morning on the boat, she shouted from the galley, "There should be a buoy on your starboard side any moment now!" And, yes, there is a small harp on board!
Ross and Elizabeth sail 'Elision' (rhymes with 'collision' lol) a Beneteau 36.7 which they moor at the Spruce Harbour Floating Home Co-op in False Creek. They are members of the Deep Cove Yacht Club.
Login here on March 15: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/165741117
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Do you have any Stories?
...that you'd like to share?
If you feel the urge to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be), and have a story you'd like to share with fellow members, we'd like to read it!
Funny stories, lesson-learned stories, great cruising stories, you-won't-believe-what-happened stories...
Please send any short masterpieces to pro@vpsboat.org and we'll try to include them in the Masthead when we have space.
Happy writing... and boating!
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Education Update
Our combined Boating 2 and 3 online course started in January with 15 students and will run for 12 weeks with exams to follow shortly thereafter. We could have enrolled more students but 15 is the recommended number for a blended online course.
So what is a blended online course? The student receives two training charts and a chart plotter with the rest of the material available online. This includes the course notes and the corresponding videos of narrated PowerPoint presentations and as well downloadable publications from Transport Canada such as Chart 1 and Aids to Navigation, which are no longer in print. All of this is available to the student on a 24/7 basis. Once satisfied, the student completes a quiz testing their understanding of the material. What makes it a blended course is that the group meets together once a week in a Zoom like environment with the facilitator and tutors to review and answer questions which is really like a glorified proctor session that might happen in the classroom. Tutors are assigned to a two or three students and answer specific questions arising during the week and review the chart plotting exercises.
This session we are fortunate to have 8 tutors, including our Commander, who is also the facilitator using GoToMeeting, which she also uses for bridge meetings and for our social night presentations. Even when we get back to teaching in the classroom, it will not herald the end of online learning. It is here to stay because of its 24/7 flexibility and that younger people expect it as the new normal.
In other education news, Peter Bennett continues to offer the Maritime Radio course with the next one scheduled for March 6. More Radio Examiners (RE’s) are needed because during the Covid situation the exams must be done orally with each exam taking about one hour to complete for each individual. All you need is the DSC endorsement to apply for RE status.
As well there are several seminars available from the National site on topics such as Weather for Boaters, AIS, etc. Check them out at www.cps-ecp.ca, click on Courses and Seminars, then on Boating Courses and Seminars Calendar, then scroll a long way down to item 08, Seminars.
Anyone, anywhere can participate. The most recent radio course had people from Quebec, Washington state and Pennsylvania besides various places in BC. Remarkable!
Peter Girling - VPS Assistant Educational Officer
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No 2021 Bilgewater Bash
Sadly, due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, there will be no VPS Bilgewater Bash this year.
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Membership Renewal
Don’t forget to renew your membership! If you are having difficulties or would like an invoice for your dues, please contact Membership Officer, Maureen Forrestal, for help.
Life members!! Yes, you need to renew too, even though you will not be charged anything. You should be able to click on the renewal part of your membership profile to renew at $0.00. If, for some reason, it comes up with a dollar amount, again, contact our Membership Officers, who will be able to directly or indirectly, correct the issues.
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Membership Renewal
Don’t forget to renew your membership! If you are having difficulties or would like an invoice for your dues, please contact Membership Officer, Maureen Forrestal, for help.
Life members!! Yes, you need to renew too, even though you will not be charged anything. You should be able to click on the renewal part of your membership profile to renew at $0.00. If, for some reason, it comes up with a dollar amount, again, contact our Membership Officers, who will be able to directly or indirectly, correct the issues.
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Boat Blue
Boat Blue is the Canadian Power and Sail Squadron (CPS-ECP) National Environment Committee's campaign to bring the protection of our waterways to the forefront of what it means to be a responsible boater.
To learn more about the campaign, please click here.
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Marine Weather
Attention Boaters! For marine weather warnings, watches or advisories, please check
https://weather.gc.ca/marine/region_e.html?mapID=02, call a marine forecaster (anytime & free) at 1-844-505-2525, access recorded marine weather at 604-664-9010 or subscribe to updates on Twitter @ECCCWeatherBC
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Squadron Bridge (2020-2021)
Commander Elizabeth Zygmunt
Executive Officer Craig Douglas
Educational Officer (Boating, PCOC) John Steede
Assistant Educational Officer Peter Girling
Assistant Educational Officer (Radio) Peter Bennett
Secretary Charles Tai
Financial Officer Don Mathew
Assistant Financial Officer Les Hausch
Membership Officer Moe Forrestal
Assistant Membership Officer Twyla Graeme
Programs Officer Brian Kennedy
Environmental Officer Bill Blancard
Communications Officer
Newsletter Editor Sabine Just
Supply Officer (Regalia) Don Zarowny
Webmaster/IT Officer Peter Bennett
Historian Dennis Steeves
Past Commander Bill Botham
Officer-at-Large Dave Atchison
Officer-at-Large Roger Middleton
Officer-at-Large Jennifer Dom
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