2019 MEETINGS

Time       7:00 to 9:30 PM.

Place     The Royal Canadian Legion, Norwood Branch, No 178
               11150 - 82 St. NW
               Edmonton, Alberta
               (780) 479-4277
                Meeting is in the dart room, adjacent to the canteen downstairs.

AOSA MEMBERSHIP is $25/person/year and $10/spouse or $5/person/meeting   APPLICATION FORM (Please bring exact payment to meeting)

SPEAKER -  A DVD of the refloating of the Costa Concordia.  We've all seen bits and pieces on the web of the refloating of this vessel.  This will be a chance to see the whole recovery in one sitting.

This vessel ran aground on January, 2012.  It took 19 months to float the hull so it could be towed away.  Of the 4200 passengers, 32 were killed in the tragedy.  Of those 32, a waiter from India was the only person not accounted for. 

The vessel was towed to Genoa for salvage operations that cost $1,500,000,000.⁰⁰.  The first items removed were passenger's luggage and personal effects stuck on board.  More than 80% of the Concordia was recycled; wiring, plumbing, kitchens and some plastic room parts.  50,000 tons of steel was melted down and sold at market price.  Since removing the wreck 24 metric tons of debris; furniture, dishes, food, personal effects and ship parts have been recovered from the sea bed.

The captain was charged with manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and abandoning ship.  For this he received a 16 years prison sentence.

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SPEAKER -  Eric Cornell - A Roberts 25 acquisition and conversion to a 27 footer.   Eric acquired this hull and very quickly started the build as you see it here.  This was many years ago so you will have to come to the meeting to find out the current status.  It should be interesting as he discusses the various additions and discussions he had with Bruce Roberts.

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SPEAKER -  Gary Hamilton - How to convert a keel boat trailer from crane launch to a functional ramp launch trailer.  What complicated the conversion is that the trailer in question was designed for for a much larger boat than his Catalina 270.  If I give any more information I'd be letting the cat out of the bag.  What I can tell you is that it works very well on the ramp, for both launch and retrieve.

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SPEAKER -  Bob Goethe spoke to us 3 years ago on best practices in man overboard recovery.  Since then there has been progress in equipment as well a sharpening of focus around cold water survival.  Bob will spend a few minutes brining us up to date on the latest and greatest in MOB resources.

The major focus of his presentation will center a sun compass he built, that can be used to calibrate a yacht's steering compass and to determine magnetic variation wherever you happen to be.  He will point us to web resources that will let us construct our own compass, and the background knowledge needed to make effective use of it.

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Q - Can the compass handle deviation too?

A - Absolutely yes.

I have tried using a pelorus together with a range defined by two navigational markers to determine deviation, and it was just too doggoned difficult to do.

I think a sun compass is THE simple tool for determining your deviation.  The steps are simple:

1. Decide where you are going to be when you are checking your compass on a variety of courses.

2. Go to http://www.geomag.nrcan.gc.ca/calc/mdcal-en.php and determine the declination/variation for that area (“declination” is the word used by geologists; “variation” is the word used by navigators; navigators and geologists should never speak to each other).

3. When you get out on the water, compare your compass heading to that indicated by your sun compass.

4. Subtract the effect of variation (which you know from step 2).

5. Whatever is left is magnetic deviation.

6. Repeat on various headings

A deviation card is something every navigational text states we all need...but none of us have one.  It is just too difficult to create.  But a sun compass is an easy-to-use tool that makes the construction of a deviation card realistic.

Considering the fast movement of the North magnetic pole and the desire to scrap daylight saving time, this will be an interesting meeting.

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Enjoy the summer break for sailing & stuff.  See you in November.

ELECTIONS - For the following positions (elected shown):

• Commodore (Gary Hamilton).
• Vice Commodore (Dave Carr).
• Secretary (Linda Payne).
• Treasurer (Ron van Amsterdam).
• Fleet Captain (Jim Spalding).
• Communications (Bob Schimmel).

SPEAKER -  We have a video of  a sailing vessel rounding Cape Horn in the late 1920s.  The sound was dubbed in much later when somebody figured out how to do that!  

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SPEAKER -  Gary Hamilton will talk about "top down" furling.  This is clever use of several cutting edge technologies that radically change the way you handle an asymmetrical spinnaker.  The components at right are part of the system.  You'll have to attend the meeting to find out how they function.

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