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Editor: Kris Steyn 082 619 5511 krissteyn@gmail.com At the Helm It has been some time now since we have had a newsletter. Due to pressures and unforeseen occurrences we have had to shuffle responsibilities a bit amongst the committee members. Kris Steyn, who has recently returned from a two month extended honeymoon, is now responsible for the monthly newsletter. We would like to thank Gavin for all his time and effort up until now with this task. Welcome back Kris and we look forward to your rejuvenated enthusiasm being reflected in our newsletter. The good news is that for this month's speaker, we have managed to confirm Nick Sloane's availability. Those who were at our March meeting will remember that Nick was due to speak then, but unfortunately - for us that is - had to go off to Florida at the last minute. Nick is the CEO of a successful salvage operation in Cape Town and he will give us some insight into this exciting and sometimes mysterious activity. Certainly not to be missed! Thank you to all the members for your co-operation in getting your subs up to date. Also to Kris, thank you for spending a lot of time to ensure that our finances remain in a healthy state. News amongst our members is that Bob and Debbie, of Anne M fame, were back in Cape Town for a short visit. I believe that they have lots of stories to tell and look forward to reading their interview in our newsletter. News is that She has changed ownership from Brian Bradfield to Bernhard Diebold. Bernhard intends doing a similar job on She as to what he did with Zeeslang and Brian can then look forward to once more sailing on a beautifully restored boat when he visits Cape Town. Brian seems to spend more time away than at home these days! We are pleased that She will be staying in Cape Town for some time to come yet and not lost to an overseas buyer as is the case with so many of our lovely old wooden boats. We also look forward to hear how far Willie Schutten's new boat is progressing. Willie was away last month to France to check on progress.
In addition to Nick, there will also be a roaring fire, curry and rice for R10-00 and plenty of red wine available at our next meeting on Thursday 29th May. Just what one needs on a chilly Cape Town winters night!
Shore Leave Last Thursday Of The Month 29 May 7pm
A brief history; went to sea in 1980 with Safmarine - transferred to the salvage tugs "John Ross & Wolraad Woltemade" in 1984.
Became master in 1990 - and remained as master / salvage master until Smit bought out Pentow Marine from Safmarine / Maersk.
Promoted to Salvage Master in 1995 and mooring master in 1997 - for their VLCC SBM operations offshore Durban & Mossel Bay.
In 2000 - was made start-up project manager for the Russian Caspian Pipeline Consortium - for the new pipeline / sea interface in Novorossiysk, on the black sea.
SVITZER -AFRICA
Our esteemed brain-teazer has disappeared from the radar screen - no doubt in search of new wierd and wonderfull nautical sayings to addle our cranial content - WATCH THIS SPACE !
From the Crow's Nest I came across a wonderful picture of a sailor flying all sails and a kite (on a long string). He had attached a camera to the kite and was doing a "gee mom, this is me" wave at the automatic camera. Thus a simple solution to a technical problem was achieved. As the new editor, I am having an "out-of-boat" experience, and hope when reading this you will disregard my bloops and strange turn of phrase's. Hopefully my creative juices will solve all my technical difficulties.
I am hoping to build on my predecessors skillfull presentations and hereby declare all good ideas will be pillaged in true seafaring fashion. If any of you are looking for or wish to part with any nautical stuff, I will be adding a "wanted/available" section within the newsletter - so advertise free , and clear out those stored "just-can't-thow-away" items. I am including a few of my own to start the ball rolling. Smalls (don't you just love the visions that word conjures up) FOR SALE - Full set of Foulies - From New Zealand , Line 7 , with built-in harness and luminous hood in the jacket, full trousers with braces, fleecy long-johns with braces, all to fit a 5'10" to 6' 3" person. Call Kris 082 619 5511 or krissteyn@gmail.com WANTED - Garmin 12v power cord for my GPS. Call Kris 082 619 5511 or krissteyn@gmail.com See you all at the next meeting ...............
Fire Side Chat Pull up a chair with your favourite beverage and ..... Having had a few nasties myself with anchors not behaving as expected, I thought we could investigate what's new in keeping our boats where we expect them to stay. So here is the first one to compare with our previous knowledge. From the website yachting monthly a comment from the inventor...
Yachting Monthly's bonus feature section Bubble anchor
Dear YM, The reason it works so well is that the buoyancy bubble makes the anchor immediately orient itself upright when launched into the water, and the natural physics involved changes the center of gravity so that it ALWAYS reaches the bottom ground in a completely upright position. Further to that the anchor will always revert to an upright position if, for instance, it is pulled out sideways or backwards and will immediately reset itself. The most important aspect of all of this is that the HydroBubble does not have to react with the ground to help it to set. We utilize the only consistent factors to do with the deployment of an anchor; these consistent factors are the water and gravity. ALL other anchors have to deal with the extreme variables of ground conditions to help orient the anchor to set. This is why the other designs whilst they maybe similar in shape and may perform in easy test situations, (i.e. rolling over on the garage floor) when they encounter difficult ground (i.e. weed beds, rocks, sloppy mud/sand, hard bottoms, etc.) they have no option but to try to deal with the variable ground conditions. We come as close as it can be to a 100% success rate simply because our anchor ALWAYS approaches these variables in ground conditions in a perfectly upright position, ready to set. This enables the single point to immediately dig in to whatever is down there. And another comment.... The patented HydroBubble® anchor features a unique buoyancy tank, or 'bubble', which creates a specific center of gravity which orients the anchor to an upright position immediately after it is launched into the water. The bubble makes the anchor act like a person hanging from a parachute in the air. The physics of this phenomenon absolutely ensures that the anchor must land on its feet in an upright position and stay upright. The HydroBubble® anchor is then ready and compelled to set the instant a pull is applied to the rode. The harder the pull, the deeper the anchor will penetrate into the seabed, and the more effective the anchoring will be. The 'bubble' forces the anchor to always seek an upright orientation any time it is in the water. Should it tip for any reason, the physics of the design are such that it must immediately return to an upright position. I would love to discuss this one at our next meeting.....
Scuttlebutt Annie (Hill) has rescinded her UK citizenship and become a full blown KIWI, still with Trevor, Iron Barque still floating... Bob & Debbie were back in Cape Town for a lightning visit - usual reasons - paperwork ! They are still in St Maartin , although Anne-M has been sold and replaced with a Montevideo 43 named Passat ?. They plan to move south soon to Venezuela (assuming the hurricanes will be kind and not go south) and stop all this work nonsense. Debbie is keen to retire and play with her luxurious toys on the floating condo they now seem to have. TBA Committee
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Please let me introduce myself. My name is John Willis. I am the inventor of the HydroBubble anchor system, and the founder of Anchor Concepts, Inc. I am a retired industrial engineer and an inventor of industrial processes and proprietary equipment. Although I am not a sailor I feel the need to continue working on the HydroBubble anchor project. I believe that safe and reliable anchoring is one of the most important safety issues in boating, particularly for sail vessels. I will agree with you that our anchor looks a little strange -'weird' is probably going a little too far. Its strange look compared to other designs and perhaps more traditional styles is what compels the HydroBubble to work so exceptionally. The HydroBubble is the only significant new design in decades and as such is patented.