SAILPAST 2004

The Sailpast is one of the most important events in the Club's season. This is your chance to salute the Commodore and officially kick-off the 2004 sailing season. If you can't attend, good manners require that you send your regrets to Commodore Michael Spearing in advance (MichaelSpearing@telus.net).
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This year the Sailpast will again take place off Sandy Cove in West Vancouver just off the DFO research station. The Sailpast is to start precisely at 11:00 am on Saturday May 8th, so get out there early so there is time to form-up. The Sailpast order is listed below (print the page and take it with you). The proper procedure is to sail past the commodore's boat, Désirée, and as you pass, cast off your jib sheet, and then re-trim again (before tacking well clear of Désirée and approaching traffic). If you aren't on the list, just follow a boat of similar size or speed.

TCYC Fleet Captain Gordon Wylie, (Rhumb Line) will run a race as soon as practical after the Sailpast.

The Commodore's Reception and barbecue will take place at the Burrard Civic Marina starting after the race (at about 3:00pm). Members are asked to bring their own meat or meat-substitute to barbecue. Other food and refreshments are provided at no charge to members. Non-member guests are welcome and can cover the cost of their food/beverages by ten dollar donation at the event.

THE APRIL MEETING ON THE APRIL 15
OR
THE SAGA OF THE KAIEN PART I

The April meeting will feature Walter and Mavis Norman. They built their 45-foot boat at Waterline boatyard in Sydney B.C. They trucked the boat to Lake Superior, sailed the Great Lakes, continued to the Caribbean for a year or so before moving on to the Mediterranean, then via the Suez Canal to Australia and New Zealand. When they started home, they encountered such a storm, that they returned to New Zealand to ship the boat home. The trip took some six years.
--and why is it Part I?? well in October we are to hear from the second owners of the boat, Campbell and Miki Stewart who took it offshore for a couple of years, and then next year there are plans to get the third owners as well!!
There is a picture of Kaien on the TCYC home page. You probably saw it when you came here.

THE SPRING TUNE UP SERIES

Just a couple of days after the April meeting, Saturday, April 17, that is, will be the Spring Tune-up Series of races. It will be a series of short races, and it counts toward season championships. (See page 52 of your yearbook for information).

OTHER RACES COMING SOON

April 3-4 VARC Spring Regatta
April 9-1 WVYC Southern Straits
(April 17 TCYC Spring Tune Up Regatta)
April 18, First Race VRC Sun Tan Series
April 28 Start of RVYC Wednesday Night Series
May 1-2 VARC Halibut Bank / Southern Bowen Race
May 6 Start of FCYC Thursday Night Series
May 8 TCYC Sailpast race

GIBSON'S RENDEZVOUS/VALHALLA CUP

May 23-24 will be our weekend exchange with Gibson's Landing Sailing Association. Our honour is at stake - we still have not won Valhalla Cup. The place has not been named yet. It will probably be at Gibsons or at Port Stalishan, which is up at Point Wilson. There is movement for change from Gibsons - and maybe an advantage in racing in neutral waters. On the other hand, it may be farther than the slower boats want to go. Let Commodore Michael know if you have a preference.

ATTENTION REQUIRED!

The various governments are considering allowing offshore drilling up off the north end of Vancouver Island. We all know what a little oil - or a lot of oil can do to our oceans. This operation will presumably yield a lot of $oil$, yet only enough to feed the North American appetite for about two months. If things go badly, our sport and our very boats will lose a lot of value. We really should show up at the public hearings on the matter.

The Vancouver hearings will be at the Sheraton Wall Centre, May 11, 7-9 PM, May 12, 9-12, 2-5, 7-9, and May 13, 9-12. If we sit by we deserve any consequences!

NEWS FROM ALL OVER

The mighty America's Cup is already getting started. So far there are three entries: The defending Alenghi, the Oracle from San Francisco, and a new Italian team from a lake in Italy. There will be three warm-up regattas this year, already, starting in September. There are a number of other boats talking of being on the start line. Big players will likely come from France, England the U.S. and others.
The one that amuses me, is the one from Sausalito, where they chose to simply offer sponsorship of their campaign on eBay for auction. Here's a report:

Since the March 1st announcement of the America's Cup team auction on eBay, the Challenge Series web site has had a record 197,000 hits. More than 1100 companies have downloaded the auction package. We can now see a trend in who actually has an interest in sponsoring an America's Cup team. This could be good news for the Sausalito Challenge and other teams. Below is a list of businesses by sector who have inquired about the exclusive sponsorship. The question now looms, how many of these will actually bid? We will see April 2nd on eBay Motors (keyword:sailboat). - John Sweeney

Who's looking: Pharmaceutical - 23; Fashion/Cosmetics - 12; Biotech - 12; Software - 9; Telecoms - 8; Ad Agencies - 8; Banks/Investment - 7; Tourism Boards - 6; Automobile - 5; Oil - 4; Resorts/Hotels - 4; Airlines - 3.

Van den Heede breaks record

French yachtsman Jean-Luc Van den Heede has smashed the westbound non-stop around-the-world sailing record on his monohull Adrien.

He arrived off Oessant at 0126 GMT on Tuesday after 122 days, 14 hours, three minutes and 49 seconds at sea.

Van den Heede had taken more than 29 days off Philippe Monnet's previous record, set in 2000.

I was interested that Paul Cayard, (famous from America's Cup and Whitbread races) who won the Olympic Games Star Class selection for the U.S., broke a mast before a race, and got back to shore to replace the mast in 17 minutes. It is a little less amazing tho, when we are told that they take out their mast for rigging inspection every night. He reports that his campaign has cost over $100,000, (and that's only the selection regatta!)
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Steve Fossett's big 125' cat, Cheyenne sailing closer to the Shackleton Ice Shelf than Cape Leeuwin (Southwest tip of Australia) will none the less pass the longitude of Leeuwin later today. Her time will be faster than either the current record, or the pace set by Geronimo on her ultimately unsuccessful attempt last year.
Later update: It's April 2 as I write this, and Steve Fosset will probably have a new around-the-world record about tonight.
Cheyenne, is actually a stretched out version of the 105' Playstation, which had a slight tendency to "do somersaults": They will have cut several days off the existing record. They have 1200 miles to go, and they break the record if they simply maintain 6.99kn. The current record is 64 days, 8 1/2 hours.

Geronimo, the trimaran, is currently heading down towards the equator. Although currently 496 miles ahead of Cheyenne's pace, the Doldrums are looking incredibly dicey. Geronimo plans to cross the line near St. Peter and St. Paul rocks off the eastern tip of Brazil.. Geronimo should cross the equator within touch of previous passages. However, the farther south she goes the faster she will need to go to keep up with Cheyenne. To update this, Geronimo ran into severe weather and had to spend time sailing with "bare poles", and then decide to go farther north or farther south to avoid the wild weather. North is longer, and south carries more risk of icebergs.

The third giant multi hull Orange has once again had to end an attempt. Peyron's team considered making at sea repairs to a damaged sail drive. Ultimately they have decided to head back to France, troubleshoot and perhaps start a 3rd attempt.

Here's a map of daily positions of the current record holder, and Cheyenne:

BOAT INSURANCE

It was brought to my attention that some Tiddly members don't know that we have a group insurance policy, with definite advantages over most others. It is an Eagle-Harbour Yacht Club/Tiddly Cove Yacht Club group, with TOS on the north shore.
Here's the infomration you need.

TOS Group Yacht Insurance Program

- Available to all TCYC members as long as they notify TOS they are members
- 15% off normal rate structure, subject to a minimum rate of .50%
- $500 worth of Commercial Assistance and Towing Coverage at no additional cost which is a savings of $50 annually

For those members not already insured with TOS, in addition to the above, they will receive the broadest coverage available through our LifeLine Policy Wording which includes:
- No Depreciation on Machinery or Sails
- Automatic 6% of Value of vessel for Dinghy & Dinghy Motor coverage at no additional cost
- $2,000,000 worth of Uninsured and Underinsured Boater Cover Resultant Damage coverage for Wear and Tear, Latent Defect, Faulty Workmanship; provided the condition could not have been detected through a reasonable examination.
- No Paint and Patch Clause
- Trading Limits #3 for boat over 26' automatically
- Surveys on fiberglass boats are only required at age 15 and then every 10 years thereafter. The industry standard is becoming every 5 years after the 15th year.
- Agreed Value in the event of Total Loss, regardless of whether the vessel is replaced or not
- 24 hour Claims Service through our office, contact is made with either Paul Mendham or Bev Carlsen after hours.
- Access to our Platinum Extension, which provides additional living expense coverage, increased towing limits, and some other great benefits for $100 annually.
TOS Yacht Department staff only handles yacht insurance, making them the experts and leaders in the industry for which they are known. TCYC members need only call them for a quote, making sure they advise the agent that they are members of the Tiddly Cove Yacht Club.

TOS Contact Information:
TOS Insurance Services (North Shore)
a HUB International Limited Company (NYSE: HBG)
102-38 Fell Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. Canada V7P 3S2
Telephone: (604) 986-5265
Fax: (604) 986-5783
Website: www.tos.ca
E-mail: northshore@tos.ca
Paul Mendham, pmendham@tos.ca
Bev Carlson, bcarlson@tos.ca
Ron Defieux, rdefieux@tos.ca

LAST MINUTE REPORT
A few hours after I write this, the round-the-world record for a sailing craft, will be broken. Sunday report had Steve Fossett's CHYENNE 366 miles from the finish, and going strong (from their present position they have to average over 2 knots in order to set a new record, so it's a pretty safe bet). This would look rather small beside the Mirabella V (see last months Winks), but here's a picture to give you an idea that it's still pretty big.

APOLOGY

This is a pretty old and dusty Winks. My computer and the computer of Jenifer, our webmaster, don't like each other. They have been fighting since April 4. If I were writing now, it would tell you that the May long weekend, Valhalla Cup will be at Gibsons.

NOTICE

We cannot get a group reservation for the weekend at Gibsons, but if you call now, and tell them that you are with Tiddly Cove Yacht Club, they will put us together.
CALL NOW 604-886-8686

Other than that, Cheyenne did make a new world's record, and the eBay auction for an America's Cup boat sponsorship, got no bids whatever.