A PUBLICATION OF

The Tampa Sailing SquadronApollo Beach, Florida

Editor: Kevin Gil lighthouse@fusionproductionsinc.com

Vol. 2009 • Issue 5 Circulation 200 May/June

A Nice Day on the Water ....... 1From the Helm ........................ 2Board Notes ............................ 3Covered Dish Dinner .............. 9Women’s Sailing ..................... 9Message from Editor ........... 11TSS Unified Calendar ......12-13Cruising Fleet ...................14-15Legacy ................................... 16

In This Issue

Continued on Page 6

A Nice Day on the Water.

So…it was blowing 22 knots, and i know the title says a “nice” day on the water, but what better time to go sailing in big breeze than racing on a fast boat with a practiced crew?

My opportunity was at the diYC Commodores Cup (Feb 28/Mar 1) on No Limit (a Farr 395) with Mike Gable and his extremely experienced crew. during the 2 day event we were racing in the Spinnaker A class. this class is the top of the food chain in local sailboat racing, which included another Farr 395 (Wired), a custom designed 41’ (XS), a B32 (Mad Cow), a J109 (Mariah), a J105 ( Fire&ice) and a J-35 (rocket). it’s a tough crowd with very competitive racing as they are all fast boats with good sails and practiced crews.

Yes, the breeze was up. the wind meter showed a consistent 22 knots for

Take a Minuteto check the expiration dates

on your vessel’s emergency

flares, fire extinguishers and

first aid supplies.

Flashlight batteries should be

replaced at least once a year.

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e2

From The helm

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e2

April turned out to be a month with loads of sailing activities for tSS. Youth sailing hosted their annual Flea Market on the 11th followed by Francine & david Webb hosting a weekend at the Mainsail Arts and Jazz Festival in St. Pete at the Vinoy Basin on April 18th. While the ladies perused the Art’s side of the festival, the men were busy checking to ensure that the beer at the Budweiser truck was cold enough for consumption. Before weighing anchor on Sunday, Francine & david served up a great breakfast including Bloody Marys.

the next weekend at the Sea Scout regatta tSS had over 250 Sea Scouts, Kids from the Shriners and parents. Many members took kids out for racing and a Cruise to Nowhere. i personally had the fortune of taking some of the Shriners kids on my boat. it was great to see the look on those kids faces when they took the helm ( in some good winds ). it was a day i won’t soon forget!

May promises to be filled with Sailing activities as well. it starts with our annual Commodores Cup on May 9th and the Newcomers cruise on Memorial day weekend and will be followed by a weekend cruise to Bradenton at the twin dolphin Marina on June 12, 13 & 14th.

Have you checked our Web Page lately? Bill Fishbourne has posted pictures of our recent and very successful Gasparilla regatta. to access them simply click on the link at the top of the page and enjoy! A special thanks to Bill Fishbourne for making this possible.Come on out and rediscover the joy of sailing!!

Ken BoucherCommodor

BoArD NoTeS may 4, 2009

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e3

Secretary: Lynn Levert

the proposed budget was carefully reviewed and revised by the Board. the treasurer will present the 2009 – 2010 budget for Board approval at the June Board meeting.

Congratulations to our new members, Charles Booth and Ed Verner!

Give a warm welcome to our new applicants: donald Schwartz, Joseph Alfred, Brian o’Leary and ralph Salgado.

Bob Wicklund was awarded Life Membership for his consistent and conspicuous contributions to the Club which clearly warrant this recognition. Bob has been the mainstay of tSS Club racing and regattas, serving as perpetual race Committee and training tSSers in race management. Bob also has planned and managed several construction projects over his 20 plus years of membership, including our railway, ramp and hoist.

Members are invited to attend meetings of the ad hoc committee discussing membership issues.

the Board again discussed the Finance Committee’s conceptual plan for funding the main dock rebuild and developing special reserves for future replacement of our waterfront assets (eg., docks, seawall, hoist and railway). the Committee will be proposing language for Bylaws and rules & regulations amendments for consideration by the Board and members.

Hurricane season begins June 1. Slip owners, read the rules and check your lines for wear. double dock lines and trailer tie downs are required.

the Board approved wet slips for the Stocksdales and Kresges.

Cruising Fleet Captain drew Barrett outlined a terrific schedule for this Watch. Check the cruising bulletin board for details. May’s cruise to Boca Ciega and June’s cruise to the twin dolphins on the Manatee river will be lots of fun. Check out the plans for the long cruise, too!

thanks to tSS for hosting Year 21, another successful Sea Scout regatta. tSSers helped with the shoreside activities, the traditional or competitive program and the “sails to no-where.”

Club racing has started and the Commodore’s Cup regatta will be closely followed by the transBay race from St. Pete to tSS.

Youth Sailing is hosting the dinner at the Commodore’s Cup. Sailing camps begin soon. Jane Millman will be the instructor this year and will be applying for tSS membership.

the next covered dish dinner will be May 23, hosted by Frank and Cher Ciufia.

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e4

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e5

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e6

most of the day with the puffs coming in at mid 20’s. the races were twice around a windward/leeward course. there was plenty of action as the crews set spinnakers and the boats sailed like rockets downwind. the windward mark had an offset mark which required a small reach before the chute could be set. in lighter air it is common to set the chute just prior to turning the offset. We inadvertently did this on our first leg. When the wind filled the chute without the boat being turned downwind we went over on our ears. A crazy few seconds ensued with most of the crew in the cockpit yelling for things to be released and most of the bow crew looking for something to hold on to. this was the first of a few broaches. in later races, the crew became almost nonchalant about them. Each occurrence would prompt some very loud direction from the cockpit, but each crewperson knew what they needed to do to get the boat back under control. After 3 races with 3/3/2 finishes and 4 or 5 broaches, we ended the day in second place overall.

A day spent trying to keep a boat under control in heavy breeze should have been exciting enough, but i found an odd way to add even more excitement to the day. While tacking the boat in the third race, i quickly crossed the deck and threw myself under the starboard lifeline. the lifeline popped loosed and my momentum carried me off the edge and into the chilly waters up to my eyebrows. the boat was rocketing along at more than 7 knots, so i’m sure i created quite a wake as i was being dragged through the water. Since i still had a solid grip on the broken lifeline, i quickly used it to pull myself back to the side of the boat. A few helping hands gained me a grip on the nearby stanchion and with a leg up i was quickly back onto the boat. Although it seemed like a lot longer, i probably wasn’t in the water more than about 10 seconds. the cockpit crew later determined the incident had looked like “someone trying to put a cat into a toilet”. A damage assessment from the rail showed that, while soaking wet and soon to be chilly, the worst detail was the loss of my sunglasses.

the morning of day 2 arrived along with a steady 30 knot breeze. the diYC clubhouse was filled with apprehensive racers, all of us wondering if the race Committee was going to brave the elements or not. the previous day had seen some carnage from the race boats with an assortment of damage, including torn sails and two boats with broken booms. the wind briefly rose to the mid 30’s and the rC decided to postpone while they assessed. An hour later the wind had abated a bit and the rC dropped the postponement flag. Crews and boats started getting in the right mindset for another day of heavy air racing.

Spinnaker A is the first class to start and we launched our ride upwind, hiking for Jesus. Although the knot meter was consistently reading 30 knots, the boat was being kept fairly well under control by a combination of proper sail adjustments and plenty of big guys on the rail.

Continued from page 1

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e7

there was a small discussion in the cockpit about how soon to jibe after the chute set, but never any concern about whether we should even be putting one up. this confidence was justified since we cleanly set a heavy air spinnaker and jetted off downwind with the 40’ boat doing between 10 and 11 knots. However, nearly 200 yards from the leeward mark the chute exploded. the entire center blew out leaving the edge tapes streaming in the wind. the crew leapt into action to get the shredded sail into the boat before it went under the boat and entangled the keel or rudder. We then settled back into our rhythm of sailing on wind shifts for the second upwind leg, and arrived at the windward mark without incident. Well, almost without incident……200 yards from the windward mark the jib ripped along the top batten. Needing to get that last bit of upwind distance, we let the top of the jib flail. Since the only other chute on board was the largest, the decision was made to keep the jib up downwind and sail wing on wing. this seemed like a good call, but 2 events quickly combined to make everyone rethink. the boat (Mad Cow) that was looking to move up from third to second was quickly catching us. to compound this, the breeze died down to a relatively benign 20 plus knots. Somehow this convinced us that we could raise the large spinnaker, so we set about doing this. the boat was certainly faster with the large spinnaker up and Mad Cow was no longer catching us. However….200 yards from the finish line….Bang…..the large spin blew up. After the usual scramble to get it on board without driving over it, we coasted through the finish line on the main to take second place in the race.

So there we were, sailing around behind the starting line with no intact headsails left on the boat except sails relegated for lighter air. A horn sounds signaling the rC starting another race. Lacking many options we started and sailed the race with the main only and pulled off what could have been our best start of the regatta. Amazingly we went twice around the course with only the main up and were able to stay relatively close to our competitors. during the last leg to the finish line, Mad Cow was again gaining on us and we briefly put up the medium air jib. this jib somehow made it past that critical 200 yard point without erupting and we finished the race in third with Mad Cow in fourth. At the time we thought we had protected our lead for a second overall in the regatta. A later scoring decision by the rC allowed for a throw out for the Spin A class. Mad Cow dropped an eighth place finish where they had broken their boom. Since No Limit only had seconds and thirds to select from it wasn’t to our advantage to drop any races. After the rescoring was done, No Limit had moved to third for overall.

the right boat and the right group of guys made for a very nice day of sailing. there is something satisfying about sailing in extremely challenging conditions with a group that is obviously competent. Congratulations to the crew of No Limit for their third place finish in the regatta and their current first place standing with Boat of the Year points.

Matt dalton

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e8

WANTED: Sailing tips, tall tales and salty stories.Send submittions to lighthouse@fusionproductionsinc.com

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e9

COVERED DISH DINNER

May 23, 2009

5:00 p.m. Social Hour 6:00 p.m. Dinner (BYOB)

COME, ENJOY BARBECUE BY KING OF THE GRILL, FRANK CIUFIA!

HOSTESS CHER CIUFIA WILL ADD HER SPECIALITIES

Barbecue chicken provided by TSS

If you would like to join the fun and good food, sign up to bring your favorite appetizer, salad,

starch or dessert.

Call Beverly 672-4682 or Darlene 645-5206 if you have any questions or need to be counted in on the

dinner and can’t sign up.

Women’s Sailing will be held on the last Sunday afternoon of each month at 1:00 pm. We are looking for volunteers with

larger boats to host our group on those days. Our group is open to all women of all skill levels whether they are members of TSS or not. There are no fees. Please contact me @ 813-956-1642 or susan@mymothersgarden.com if you plan to attend or if you

can bring your boat. Susan

Winner WinnerChicken Dinner!

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e10

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e10

The TSS Unified Calendar

5/7/09 3:21 PMtssevents.org - event calendar - Events

Page 1 of 1http://tssevents.org/sail/index2.php?option=com_eventcal&pop=1&task=month&date=1241161200&Itemid=44

event calendar - Events

A p r i l M a y 2 0 0 9 J u n e

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

April April April April April

1 2

3 4

BOARD

MEETING

5

Sea

Scouts

6 7 8 9

COMMODORE'S

CUP REGATTA

10 11

YOUTH

SAILING

BOARD

MTG. 7:30

12

Sea

Scouts

13 14 15 16

17 18

Membership

Mtg.

Sunsail Bare

Boat

Presentation

19

Sea

Scouts

20 21 22 23

Work Party

Newcomer's

Cruise

24

Newcomer's

Cruise

25

Newcomer's

Cruise

26

Sea

Scouts

27 28 29 30

31

June June June June June June

categories

Select all Other Events TSS Members Women\'s Sailing

Sea Scouts Racing All Food Work Party

Board Meeting Cruising Fleet Youth Sailing

visit http://www.tampasailingsquadron.org/for a link to the live always up-to-date online calendar!

MAY 2009

June 14th Manatee Twin Dolphin Cruise hosted by Ken and Jan Boucher.

Don’t miss. . .

July 11th Cruise Confidence Seminar led by Bill Cullen.

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e11

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e11

5/7/09 3:21 PMtssevents.org - event calendar - Events

Page 1 of 1http://tssevents.org/sail/index2.php?option=com_eventcal&pop=1&task=month&date=1243839600&Itemid=44

event calendar - Events

M a y J u n e 2 0 0 9 J u l y

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

May

1 2

Sea Scouts

3 4 5 6

7 8

YOUTH

SAILING

BOARD

MTG. 7:30

9

Sea Scouts

10 11 12 13

Manatee

Twin

Dolphin

Cruise

14

Manatee

Twin

Dolphin

Cruise

15 16

Sea Scouts

17 18 19 20

21 22 23

Sea Scouts

24 25 26 27

28 29 30

Sea Scouts July July July July

categories

Select all Other Events TSS Members Women\'s Sailing

Sea Scouts Racing All Food Work Party

Board Meeting Cruising Fleet Youth Sailing

JUNE 2009

Message from the Editor

In order to serve the club better, we ask that you please send your submissions with the publication month in the subject line.

Lighthouse May

The lighthouse email address gets lots of mail, and it becomes a large task separating Lighthouse submissions from other mail. As some of you know, on occasion a submission gets overlooked. Our appologies for that!

Also, if you’d like your submittion to run in multiple editions of The Lighthouse, please submit under seperate cover for each month you’d like it published.

We appreciate your help in making The Lighthouse great!

Kevin and Desiree GilLighthouse Editors

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e12

“Cruising Fleet Plans”

Cruise Fleet Captain: Drew Barrett Month: MAY Year: 2009 _____

ajbarre@gmail.com / (813) 988-6851

Picture: BCYC http://groups.google.com/group/tss_cruising_fleet

Event Name: Newcomer’s Cruise ___

Category: Cruise_________________

Host(s): Len Berkstresser _________ Host Vessel: Anna ________________

Vessel Contact: Channel 16 ________

Start: May 23 1000 _______________

End: May 24 or 25 1400 __________

Info Method: Board / Lighthouse ___

Contact Info: c (813) 220-2510 ____

Skipper Meeting: Available _______

Navigation Hints: N/A ___________

Hint Source: ___________________

Description:

This is our annual cruising season “kickoff” cruise. It is a good experience

builder that is not difficult for boats of any size. The cruise includes a good sail all the

way across Tampa Bay. Then you will negotiate a long and relatively narrow channel

and finally, go through two bascule bridges before arriving in Boca Ciega. Our host is

the Boca Ciega Yacht Club (BCYC).

The BCYC is much like us. They are active and have a club house with showers

and heads. There is also a good barbeque facility and places to eat in and out of doors.

They are most hospitable and will visit us in October as the second part of our “home n

home” history. After dinner many cruisers have been known to make the easy walk into

Gulfport for a night of dancing fueled by the beverage of your choice. There are a

number of good places to eat within an easy walking distance.

Len Berkstresser is out host. He will have more details at the regular meeting.

Please join us for this fun weekend. Some choose to spend three days in Boca Ciega

while others spend two. Contact Len or Drew with questions. If you don’t want to take

your boat, please think about joining others on their boat. We shall both be happy to try

our hand at match-making. Please sign up using the sheet on the Cruising Fleet bulletin

board. A Google Earth Picture of the BCYC appears below. There is a protected and

easy anchor area just south of the entrance to the club.

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e13

Planned - Subject to Change TSS Cruising Fleet Plan 2009 - 2010 Watch

Month #Date

Start

Date

EndCruise Description Cruise Leader(s) Leader Contact Info Alternate 3 Partner

1 14-Mar 15-MarDolphin Cruising

Club Visit to TSS

Drew Barrett &

Lauren Merritt

h (813) 988-6851

ajbarre@gmail.comDCC

2

1 18-Apr 19-Apr Mainsail Art ShowFrancine & David

Webbmanava14@verizon.net

2 18-Apr 18-AprCruising Fleet

Planning MeetingDrew Barrett ajbarre@gmail.com

1 23-May 24-MayNewcomer's Cruise

Boca Ciega YachtLen Berkstresser c (813) 220-2510 BCYC

2

1 13-Jun 14-JunManatee Twin

Dolphin

Ken & Jan Boucher

(tentative)c (813)404-9170

2

1 11-Jul 12-JulCruise Confidence

SeminarBill Cullen (813) 988-1130

2

1 8-Aug 9-Aug H.I. Sunspree Bob Bettinger (813) 649-1811

2

1 12-Sep 13-Sep Boca Ciega Raft Up Autumn & Dan Fels (813) 917-8558

2

1 10-Oct 11-OctAutumn Fest BCYC

visit TSS

Drew Barrett &

Darla Vegenski

h (813) 988-6851

ajbarre@gmail.comBCYC

2 24-Oct 2-Nov3 Keys: Largo,

MTH, EYWAndy & Luanne

Beer Can Cook

Out

1 28-Nov 29-NovHockey Cruise to

Downtown Tampa

Bob & Jeanne

Sardo

(863) 698-2062

bsardo35@hotmail.comDIYC

2 14-Nov 15-NovBahamas -

(Bimini +)Don St. Amour c (813) 967-7718 Vinoy Rib Fest

1 12-Dec 12-DecChristmas Boat

ParadeTBA TBA

Vinoy Christmas

in the Park

2St. Pete Strictly Sail

Show

1 9-Jan 10-Jan Long Cruise

2 4th Island DIYC

1 13-Feb 14-FebCortez Seafood

Festival

2

1 13-Mar 14-MarDolphin St. Patty

PartyDrew Barrett

h (813) 988-6851

ajbarre@gmail.com

2

No

v-0

9M

ar-

10

Dec-0

9Jan

-10

Feb

-10

Ju

l-09

Au

g-0

9S

ep

-09

Oct-

09

Mar-

09

Ap

r-09

May-0

9Ju

n-0

9

Eligible for "Beyond the Bridge"

Cruising Fleet Captain: Drew Barrett c (813) 503-0688 email: ajbarre@gmail.com

TSS Cruising Fleet Plan(Subject to Change)

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e14

TSSers, Consider a Legacy to Young Sailors

Leave a legacy to young sailors. designate tSS Youth Sailing, inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, for your “after life” gifts.

Give to a home grown, home run program that benefits kids you know. tSS Youth Sailing, inc., was born at tSS, founded by tSS members. tSSYS is run by your fellow tSSers. Except for a few, the kids are from the Southshore area. Some are children and grandchildren of tSSers!

tSSers can have direct experience and personal involvement in the tSSYS program. Want oversight into your dollars well spent? transparency? Accountability? Just drop in during the sailing camps or their Board meetings. You’re welcome!

Belief in their mission •See their mission realized firsthand•Using money wisely•direct impact on lives•

Planned giving:

Bequests in your will•Beneficiary designations (irA, insurance, retirement, bank account, •annuity)Monetary gifts and non-monetary donations for sale •Cash value life insurance policies•Memorials and remembrances •

Help the dollars add up! donate to tSS Youth Sailing, inc.

Pat Austin

T a m p a S a i l i n g S q u a d r o n – T h e L i g h t h o u s e15

Kevin and desireeenroute to Key West, Florida

(by car, unfortunately!) lighthouse@fusionproductionsinc.com

From The ediTor

if you wish Not to receive the Lighthouse via snail mail and only view it online in Color (and you can print it on your printer...

saving tSS lots of money), please send Kendall Morris, Webmaster, an email with a subject of No Lighthouse by mail! and we will

take care of it. gvchallen@msn.com

the Small Print. all articles must be submitted no later than the 26th of each month in order to insure publication and mailing (no exceptions, except when accompanied by beer). As editor, i reserve the right to change the look, font, size, correct spelling, bla-bla-bla, except change the meaning or intention of anything you submit. All content will be reviewed by me and another prominent member of the club. Articles that are not time sensitive might be held for a future issue. And it goes unsaid.... No Anonymous Articles Published! oh....and i know i am a bad speller and tend to make strange arm movements when it is pointed out.

Cell Fone: 813-451-4718 thanks and see you around the club Kevin Gil, Editor

LIGHTHOUSE SUBMISSIONS EMAIL<lighthouse@fusionproductionsinc.com>

All text and Images Must be submitted via e-mail by the 26th of each month.

if you don’t have a computer...find someone that does, it’s 2009

Photos: digital only (.tiff, .jpg, .eps) the bigger the better.Words: .txt or word documents only.Drawings: get them to me and i will clean them up.Ads: .tiff, .pdf, .eps scanned art or printed materialLarge Files: Call me and i will give you FtP access

Please send all articles to lighthouse@fusionproductionsinc.com

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