Southwindsnovember2003

November 2003For Sailors FreeIts Priceless

Marine Radio Nets

Catalina 22 Boat Review

Who Owns the Waterway Anchorages?

1100tthh AAnnnniivveerrssaarryy IIssssuuee

November 2003 Southwinds www.southwindssailing.com

SAVE ON TOOLS FOR EVERY PROJECT

THE BEST VALUES ON MULTI-TOOLS, SPOTLIGHTS & CHARGERS

COUPON SAVINGS ON VHFS, JACKETS & DOCK CARTS

MORE THAN 270 STORES 1-800-BOATING westmarine.comHURRY! PRICES GOOD NOVEMBER 4TH THROUGH NOVEMBER 30TH, 2003 Selection varies by store.

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by

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TentSale!

November 69

Save UPTO40%Under the tent 4 DAYS ONLY!ThursdayFriday: 9am7pm

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2

S I N C E 1 9 7 7

FLORIDAS LARGEST HUNTER, CATALINA, MORGAN, MAINSHIP & CALIBER DEALERSHIP

YOUR SATISFACTION IS OUR MEASURE OF SUCCESSwww.masseyyacht.com E-mail: [email protected]

TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU ON FLORIDAS WEST COAST IN THE HEART OF AMERICAS FINEST CRUISING AREA.

The Massey Team of Yachting Specialists experienced sailors one and all are dedicated to helping other sailors make sound, knowledgeable decisions relative to yacht selection, ownership and custom outfitting.

We have a large assortment of Sunsail, Sun Yachtand Stardust phased-out charter yachts availableat favorable prices. Call for details.

2003 Jeanneau SO 37 Newin the water and ready to sail away.Loaded with factory and dealeroptions, hard dodger/bimini combo,electronics, autopilot and much more.Regular Sailaway Price $155,047.Call Massey and save over $10,000.

Clearance Price-Save over $10,000

2003 Catalina 400 MKII Inmast furling main, electric sail handlingwinch, ST6001 A/P, and Lippencott hard dodger. Regular Sailaway Price$224,203. Call Massey today for special Model Year-End Price.

MONOHULLS45 ft. to 65 ft.

48 Tayana 00 . . . . . . . . . $449,00048 Soverel 75 . . . . . . . . . . $75,000470 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote47 CaliberLRC 04 . . Call for TurboQuote47 CaliberLRC 97 . . . . . . . $279,500466 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote46 Beneteau 01 . . . . . . . . $260,00046 Beneteau 97 . . . . . . . . $199,00046 Bavaria 99 . . . . . . . . . $199,000456CC Hunter 04 . . Call for TurboQuote45 Morgan 95 . . . . . . . . . $239,500

40 ft. to 44 ft.

44 Morgan 90 . . . . . . . . . $174,90044DS Hunter 04 . . Call for TurboQuote44 Hunter 04. . . . Call for TurboQuote44 Beneteau 95 . . . . . . . . $178,00043 Endeavour 81 . . . . . . . $139,00042s7 Beneteau 96 . . . . . . . $179,000

42 Hunter Passage CC 92. . . $144,90042CC Hunter 04 . . Call for TurboQuote42 Endeavour 85 . . . . . . . $137,00042 Catalina 02 . . . Clearance Price-Call42 Catalina 01 . . . . . . . . $189,50042 Catalina 96 . . . . . . . . $119,00042 Catalina 89 . . . . . . . . $109,00042 Beneteau 83. . . . . . . . . $89,50041 Morgan 89 . . . . . . . . . $124,90041 Morgan 87. . . . . . . . . . $89,50041 Morgan 73. . . . . . . . . . $58,50040 Jeanneau 01 . . . . . . . . $175,50040 Jeanneau 00 . . . . . . . . $155,000400 Catalina 03 . . Clearance Price-Call400 Catalina 01 . . . . . . . . $194,900400 Catalina 95 . . . . . . . . $149,00040 CaliberLRC 04 . . Call for TurboQuote40 CaliberLRC 97 . . . . . . . $244,900400 Beneteau 97 . . . . . . . $134,90040 Beneteau CC 97 . . . . . . $120,00040 Beneteau 96. . . . . . . . . $98,900

35 ft. to 39 ft.

39 ODay 84 . . . . . . . . . . $83,700387 Catalina 04 . . . . . New Model-Call386 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote383 Morgan 82 . . . . . . . . . $69,500380 Hunter 00 . . . . . . . . $125,00038 Morgan CC 93 . . . . . . . $137,50038 Island Packet 99. . . . . . $245,00038 Hans Christian 83 . . . . . $139,00038 Catalina 98 . . . . . . . . . $45,00038 Beneteau 01 . . . . . . . . $147,000376 Hunter 97 . . . . . . . . $121,00037 Jeanneau 03. . . Clearance Price-Call37 Hunter 98 . . . . . . . . . . $95,00037 Hunter 97 . . . . . . . . . . $95,00037 Gulfstar 76 . . . . . . . . . $49,90037 Endeavour 83. . . . . . . . . $58,00

37 Endeavour 82 . . . . . . . . $65,00037 Endeavour 80 . . . . . . . . $44,900365 Pearson 80. . . . . . . . . $56,00036 Westerly Corsair 86 . . . . . $79,00036 Tashiba 87 . . . . . . . . . $135,00036 Hunter 04. . . . Call for TurboQuote36 Catalina 03 . . . Clearance Price-Call36MKII Catalina 99 . . . . . . $125,00036 Catalina 94 . . . . . . . . . $85,00036 Catalina 94 . . . . . . . . . $84,50036 Catalina 94 . . . . . . . . . $82,500351 Beneteau 96 . . . . . . . . $77,500350 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote35 CaliberLRC 04 . . Call for TurboQuote

30 ft. to 34 ft.

34 Ericson 87. . . . . . . . . . $59,90034 Catalina 03 . . . Clearance Price-Call

34 Catalina 98 . . . . . . . . . $89,50034 Catalina 87 . . . . . . . . . $49,50033 Hunter 95 . . . . (2) from $64,90033 Hallberg Mistral 72 . . . . . $55,000326 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote320 Catalina 00 . . . . . . . . $89,500320 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote320 Catalina99 . . . . . . . . . $97,500310 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote310 Catalina 01 . . . . . . . . $89,900306 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote30 Hunter 88 . . . . . . . . . . $38,500

CATAMARANS44 Dean Catamaran 99 . . . . $285,00037 Prout Snow Goose 84 . . . $115,00035 Prout-Catamaran 72 . . . . $59,00034 Prout Catamaran 90. . . . $110,000

Palmetto, FL 941-723-1610 TOLL-FREE 800-375-0130 St. Pete, FL 727-828-0090 TOLL-FREE 877-552-0525

Edward MasseyBrad Crabtree Scott Pursell Frank Hamilton Mike Fauser Bill Wiard Mary Beth Singh Jack Burke Al Pollak

Massey Yacht Sales & Service is Now the Exclusive Florida Gulf Coast Dealership

Representing New 30 to 46' Hunter and Mainship Yachts!


Call for boat show special pricing and information:Tampa Boat Show, Oct. 2 - 5

SAIL EXPO St. Pete, Nov. 6 - 9, Fort Myers Boat Show, Nov. 13 - 16 St. Pete Boat Show, Nov. 20 - 23

S I N C E 1 9 7 7

FLORIDAS LARGEST HUNTER, CATALINA, MORGAN, MAINSHIP & CALIBER DEALERSHIP

YOUR SATISFACTION IS OUR MEASURE OF SUCCESSwww.masseyyacht.com E-mail: [email protected]

TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU ON FLORIDAS WEST COAST IN THE HEART OF AMERICAS FINEST CRUISING AREA.

The Massey Team of Yachting Specialists experienced sailors one and all are dedicated to helping other sailors make sound, knowledgeable decisions relative to yacht selection, ownership and custom outfitting.

We have a large assortment of Sunsail, Sun Yachtand Stardust phased-out charter yachts availableat favorable prices. Call for details.

2003 Jeanneau SO 37 Newin the water and ready to sail away.Loaded with factory and dealeroptions, hard dodger/bimini combo,electronics, autopilot and much more.Regular Sailaway Price $155,047.Call Massey and save over $10,000.


2003 Catalina 400 MKII Inmast furling main, electric sail handlingwinch, ST6001 A/P, and Lippencott hard dodger. Regular Sailaway Price$224,203. Call Massey today for special Model Year-End Price.

MONOHULLS45 ft. to 65 ft.

48 Tayana 00 . . . . . . . . . $449,00048 Soverel 75 . . . . . . . . . . $75,000470 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote47 CaliberLRC 04 . . Call for TurboQuote47 CaliberLRC 97 . . . . . . . $279,500466 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote46 Beneteau 01 . . . . . . . . $260,00046 Beneteau 97 . . . . . . . . $199,00046 Bavaria 99 . . . . . . . . . $199,000456CC Hunter 04 . . Call for TurboQuote45 Morgan 95 . . . . . . . . . $239,500

40 ft. to 44 ft.

44 Morgan 90 . . . . . . . . . $174,90044DS Hunter 04 . . Call for TurboQuote44 Hunter 04. . . . Call for TurboQuote44 Beneteau 95 . . . . . . . . $178,00043 Endeavour 81 . . . . . . . $139,00042s7 Beneteau 96 . . . . . . . $179,000

42 Hunter Passage CC 92. . . $144,90042CC Hunter 04 . . Call for TurboQuote42 Endeavour 85 . . . . . . . $137,00042 Catalina 02 . . . Clearance Price-Call42 Catalina 01 . . . . . . . . $189,50042 Catalina 96 . . . . . . . . $119,00042 Catalina 89 . . . . . . . . $109,00042 Beneteau 83. . . . . . . . . $89,50041 Morgan 89 . . . . . . . . . $124,90041 Morgan 87. . . . . . . . . . $89,50041 Morgan 73. . . . . . . . . . $58,50040 Jeanneau 01 . . . . . . . . $175,50040 Jeanneau 00 . . . . . . . . $155,000400 Catalina 03 . . Clearance Price-Call400 Catalina 01 . . . . . . . . $194,900400 Catalina 95 . . . . . . . . $149,00040 CaliberLRC 04 . . Call for TurboQuote40 CaliberLRC 97 . . . . . . . $244,900400 Beneteau 97 . . . . . . . $134,90040 Beneteau CC 97 . . . . . . $120,00040 Beneteau 96. . . . . . . . . $98,900

35 ft. to 39 ft.

39 ODay 84 . . . . . . . . . . $83,700387 Catalina 04 . . . . . New Model-Call386 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote383 Morgan 82 . . . . . . . . . $69,500380 Hunter 00 . . . . . . . . $125,00038 Morgan CC 93 . . . . . . . $137,50038 Island Packet 99. . . . . . $245,00038 Hans Christian 83 . . . . . $139,00038 Catalina 98 . . . . . . . . . $45,00038 Beneteau 01 . . . . . . . . $147,000376 Hunter 97 . . . . . . . . $121,00037 Jeanneau 03. . . Clearance Price-Call37 Hunter 98 . . . . . . . . . . $95,00037 Hunter 97 . . . . . . . . . . $95,00037 Gulfstar 76 . . . . . . . . . $49,90037 Endeavour 83. . . . . . . . . $58,00

37 Endeavour 82 . . . . . . . . $65,00037 Endeavour 80 . . . . . . . . $44,900365 Pearson 80. . . . . . . . . $56,00036 Westerly Corsair 86 . . . . . $79,00036 Tashiba 87 . . . . . . . . . $135,00036 Hunter 04. . . . Call for TurboQuote36 Catalina 03 . . . Clearance Price-Call36MKII Catalina 99 . . . . . . $125,00036 Catalina 94 . . . . . . . . . $85,00036 Catalina 94 . . . . . . . . . $84,50036 Catalina 94 . . . . . . . . . $82,500351 Beneteau 96 . . . . . . . . $77,500350 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote35 CaliberLRC 04 . . Call for TurboQuote

30 ft. to 34 ft.

34 Ericson 87. . . . . . . . . . $59,90034 Catalina 03 . . . Clearance Price-Call

34 Catalina 98 . . . . . . . . . $89,50034 Catalina 87 . . . . . . . . . $49,50033 Hunter 95 . . . . (2) from $64,90033 Hallberg Mistral 72 . . . . . $55,000326 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote320 Catalina 00 . . . . . . . . $89,500320 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote320 Catalina99 . . . . . . . . . $97,500310 Catalina 04 . . Call for TurboQuote310 Catalina 01 . . . . . . . . $89,900306 Hunter 04 . . . Call for TurboQuote30 Hunter 88 . . . . . . . . . . $38,500

CATAMARANS44 Dean Catamaran 99 . . . . $285,00037 Prout Snow Goose 84 . . . $115,00035 Prout-Catamaran 72 . . . . $59,00034 Prout Catamaran 90. . . . $110,000



Massey Yacht Sales & Service is Now the Exclusive Florida Gulf Coast Dealership

Representing New 30 to 46' Hunter and Mainship Yachts!


Call for boat show special pricing and information:Tampa Boat Show, Oct. 2 - 5

SAIL EXPO St. Pete, Nov. 6 - 9, Fort Myers Boat Show, Nov. 13 - 16 St. Pete Boat Show, Nov. 20 - 23

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS Southwinds November 2003 3


4


SAILBOATS - NEW AND BROKERAGEBeneteau Sailboats Back CoverBoaters Exchange/Catalina Sailboats 10Cape Fear Yacht 33Carson Yacht Sales/Beneteau Back CoverCharleston Boat Works J/Boats 58Cortez Yacht Sales 71Eastern Yacht Sales/Beneteau Back CoverFinish Line Multihulls/ F-Boats & Used Multihulls 40Flying Scot Sailboats 73Hunter Sailboats 12,13,14J/Boats, Charleston Boat Works 58Massey Yacht Sales/Catalina/Jeanneau/Hunter/Mainship11,16,25,38,47,55,IBCMasthead Yacht Sales/Catalina 3,19,77Murray Yacht Sales/Beneteau Back CoverPerformance Sail & Sport/Hunter/Hobie/Windrider 19Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/St. Pete. 8Sailors Wharf Boatyard and Brokerage 23Sarasota Youth Sailing Program donated boats 71Snug Harbor Boats/Compac/Elliot 17St. Barts/Beneteau Back CoverSuncoast Inflatables/ West Florida 15Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg 67Ullman Sails/Hunter Sailboats, West Florida 59Whitneys Marine 39Windcraft, Trimarans and Catamarans, Sail or Power 48Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie 32

GEAR, HARDWARE, ACCESSORIESAir Duck Hatch Windscoop 37Bluewater Sailing Supply, www.bluewaterss.com/ 10Boaters Exchange, boats, gear, etc. Rockledge FL 10Bosun Supplies/Hrdwre/Rigging www.bosunsupplies.com 43Defender Industries, www.defender.com 75Fujinon binoculars 41Garhauer Hardware/www.garhauermarine.com 49Glacier Bay Refrigeration/ www.glacierbay.com 44Grin Designs/Scully/Dinghy sail & More 28Harken Gear 57Hotwire/Fans & other products 36Island Marine Products/Davits,motorlocks,etc. 35JR Overseas/Moisture Meter 35,44Masthead Ent. www.mastheadsailinggear.com 3,19,77Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign 62Performance Sail & Sport, www.perfsail.com 19Rparts Refrigeration, www.rparts.com 68Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete 8Sailors Soap 16,30,43ShadeTree 48Rolls Batteries/Surrette, www.rollsbattery.com 69Tackle Shack/Hobie/Sunfish, St. Petersburg 67Tartan, C&C of Florida 26Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie 31West Marine IFCZarcon Boat Shutters 21

SAILS (NEW & USED), RIGGING, SPARS, RIGGING SERVICESAtlantic Sails/new, used, repair West Florida 56Banks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida 75Bluewater Sailing Supply, www.bluewaterss.com/ 10Bosun Supplies/Hrdwre/Rigging www.bosunsupplies.com 43Cruising Direct/sails online by North 22Dwyer Mast/spars, hardware, rigging 75Hong Kong Sailmakers 69Masthead/Used Sails and Service 3,19,77National Sail Supply, new&used online 53North Sails 20Sabre Sails/ Ft. Walton Beach, FL, & Mandeville, LA 17Sail Exchange/www.sailexchange.com 54Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete. 8Schurr Sails, Pensacola FL 27Snoop Sails & Canvas, Sarasota, FL 61SSMR Rigging & Chandlery 60UK Sails, www.uksailmakers.com 3Ullman Sails/West Florida 59US Spars 21Weathermark Sailing/Catalina/Vanguard/Hobie 31

CANVASBanks Sails/new, used, repair & canvas/ West Florida 75Sail Covers & More, buy online, www.sailcovers.net 77Shade Tree, Boat biminis 48Snoop Sails & Canvas, Sarasota FL 61

USED SAILING/BOATING SUPPLIES 45Dons Salvage, Clearwater FL 45

Nautical Trader/buy/sell/consign, West Florida 62Scurvy Dog Marine/Used, Consign, Pensacola FL 46SSMR Rigging/Consignment/St. Pete 60

SAILING SCHOOLSSailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/ St. Pete. 8Sea School/Captains License www.seaschool.com 46Capt. Josie Sailing School for Women 73Yachting Vacations/Sailing School 50

MARINE ENGINESBeta Marine 37Fleetside Marine Service 74RB Grove/Universal and Westerbeke 8Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, St. Pete. 8

RESORTS, MARINAS, RESTAURANTS, BOAT YARDSBitter End Yacht Club, British Virgin Islands 18Bob and Annies Boatyard 34Crows Nest Restaurant & Marina 4Pasadena Marina, on the ICW, St. Petersburg FL 42Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District/Tampa Bay FL 8Sailors Wharf Boatyard and Brokerage 23

CHARTER COMPANIESFlagship Sailing, Tampa Bay Area 4Sailboat Row/Salt Creek Marine District, Sunsail 8Sailtime, Time-Share ownership 74Yachting Vacations/Sailing School 50

MARINE SERVICES,MARINE SURVEYORS, MARINE INSURANCE, MISC.Aqua Graphics/Boat Names/Tampa Bay or buy online 74Bluewater Insurance/ West Florida 4Davis Maritime Surveying 63First Patriot Inc, Insurance Agency, Paul Phaneuf 32

MARINE ELECTRONICSDockside Radio 64JR Overseas/Moisture Meter 35,44Rolls Batteries/Surrette, www.rollsbattery.com 24Sea Tech/Navigation/Communication 65

BOOKSBubba Stories Book 18

YACHT CLUBSFt. Pierce YC 20,72

REGATTA ADVERTISEMENTS, BOAT SHOWSBitter End Yacht Club Regattas 18Davis Island YC Thanksgiving Regatta 52Ft. Pierce YC Fall Regatta 20Gulf Streamer Race Halifax River Yacht Club 51Regata del Sol al Sol, St. Petersburg to Mexico 24Sail Expo St. Pete/Sail America 5

Subscription Information This Page

Alphabetical Advertisers List 77

ADVERTISER INDEX BY CATEGORY (See page 61 for alphabetical list)

SUBSCRIBE TO Southwinds1 YEAR/$12 $20/2 YEARS (3RD CLASS)

(941) 795-8704 www.southwindssailing.comP.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, FL 34218-1175

New Subscribe On-line on our Web site a secure site using your credit card: www.southwindssailing.com

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6

LOCAL NEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS Southwinds November 2003

SouthwindsNEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

9 From the Helm

10 Letters

15 Snooty Snubs BubbaBy Morgan Stinemetz

22 Racing Calendar

26 Three Days in Havana and One inPinar del Rio: Part IV

By Elena Pimiento

29 Catalina 22 Boat ReviewBy Dave Ellis

30 Getting Your Sailboat Towed ProperlyBy Bruce Pierce

32 Flotsam and Jetsam: Nautical Miscellany

34 Who Owns the Anchorage?By Capt. J. Michael Shea, J.D.

36 Finding Your Thanksgiving Turkey:Provisioning in the Caribbean

By Carol M. Bareuther

40 Gales in the BahamasBy Colin Ward

44 Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team

46 Marine Radio NetsBy Gary Jensen

50 Southern Sailing: Where did Seamanship Go?By Dave Ellis

52 Racing and Regattas

67 Short Tacks

72 Classifieds

78 Lessons Learned: Tough Lesson!Kirk S. Jockell

77 Alphabetical Index of Advertisers

6 Advertisers List by Category

6 Subscription Form

COVER

The Leukemia Cup,Charleston, SC

September 27. JimKransberger photo.

Provisioning in the Caribbean. Dean Barnes photo. Page 36

Gales in the Bahamas. Colin Ward photo. Page 40

7

From the Carolinas to Cubafrom Atlanta to the AbacosSouthwinds Covers Southern Sailing


SouthwindsNEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS

Southwinds Media, Inc.P.O. Box 1175, Holmes Beach, Florida, 34218-1175

(941) 795-8704(877) 372-7245

(941) 795-8705 Faxwww.southwindssailing.com

e-mail: [email protected]

VOLUME 11 NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER 2003

Copyright 2003, Southwinds Media, Inc.

Publisher/EditorSteve Morrell

[email protected]

Advertising Sales RepresentativesGary Hufford (727) [email protected]

Steve Morrell (941) [email protected]

Design/Graphics ProductionHeather Nicoll, io Graphics

ProofreadingKathy Elliott

Contributing WritersCarol Bareuther Dave Ellis Rona GarmBill Jensen Jim Kransberger Bruce PierceE. Pimiento Michael Shea Nancy E. SprakerColin Ward

Contributing PhotographersDean Barnes Lauren A. Doyle Bryan KaminskiKim Kaminski Jim Kransberger Duke OverstreetMorgan Stinemetz Colin Ward

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: ARTICLES & PHOTOGRAPHY:Southwinds encourages readers, writers, photographers, cartoon-ists, jokers, magicians, philosophers and whoever else is out there,including sailors, to send in their material. Just make it about thewater world and generally about sailing and about sailing in theSouth, the Bahamas or the Caribbean, or general sailing interest,or sailboats, or sailing in some far-off and far-out place.

Southwinds welcomes contributions in writing and photography. Sto-ries about sailing, racing, cruising, maintenance and other technicalarticles and other sailing-related topics. Please submit all articles elec-tronically by e-mail (mailed-in discs also accepted), and with photo-graphs, if possible. We also accept photographs alone, for cover shots,racing, cruising and just funny entertaining shots. Please take them at ahigh resolution if digital, or scan at 300 dpi if photos, or mail them to usfor scanning. Contact the editor with questions.

Subscriptions to Southwinds are available at $12/year, or $20/2 yearsfor third class, and $24/year for first class. Checks and credit card num-bers may be mailed with name and address to Southwinds Subscrip-tions, PO Box 1175, Holmes Beach FL, 34218-1175, or call (941) 795-8704. Subscriptions are also available with a credit card through a se-cure server on our Web site, www.southwindssailing.com.

Southwinds is distributed to over 500 locations throughout 10 South-ern states. If you would like to distribute Southwinds at your loca-tion, please contact the editor.

Read Southwinds magazine on our Web site,www.southwindssailing.com.

8


Ten years ago, at the second Sail Expo St. Pete in 1993, DoranCushing launched Southwinds magazine. The boat showwas in November of 1993, but the first issue was dated De-cember.

This current issue marks the 120th issue. The first onewas 32 pages long and covered racing and cruising. This cur-rent issue is the largest one ever printed at 80 pages. A fittingmilestone.

In the spring of 2002, I purchased the magazine from Doranand have been working long hours ever since, wondering whatI got into here. It has been a challenge, and I hope everyone hascontinued to appreciate it as much as in the previous years.

One person who has been with the magazine from the firstissue is Heather Nicoll, owner of io Graphics. Heather does allof the graphics layout for the magazine, and during these tenyears she has been the one truly burning the midnight oil (orshould I say the pixels on the monitor in todays graphics). With-out Heather, who is a joy to work with and a true professional,this magazine would not have been, and would not be, whereit is today. Thank you, Heather.

Thanks also goes to Kathleen Elliott who has been proof-reading the magazine for many years (since 1997), keeping our

style, grammar andspelling up to par, be-sides always surpris-ing me with correc-tions on miscella-neous knowledgewhich I had no ideashe knew about.

Many othershave contributedwho I cannot allthank, but spe-cial appreciationgoes to our adver-tisers, who are really the ones thathave kept the magazine alive and well. We hope wehave served you well, and we will work to serve you on intothe future.

To our contributors, thank you for the letters, articles, racereporting, and photographs. Many of these are done with littleor no pay, but all through the love of sailing, boating, writingand photography.

FROM THE HELM

Sailing Experiences: Stories and photos about experi-ences in places youve cruised, anchorages, marinas, orpassages made throughout the Southern cruising wa-ters, including the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

Race reporting: Generally, we are always looking forsomeone to send us race coverage throughout theSouthern states, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. Spe-cifically, we are looking to hire someone to coordinateall racing, who is into racing, a good writer and photog-rapher, and willing to work a lot of hours, do some trav-eling, and doesnt need a lot of money to get goingwith a great potential for the future.

The Florida Keys: Racing and cruising articles about thekeys.

Bahamas: Trips, experiences, passages, anchorages, pro-visioning and other stories that are of interest.

Hurricane Stories: Hurricanes are a part of owning aboat in the Southern waters, and we would like to hearhow you and your boat might have been affected by astorm or how you prepare your boat for one. Send usletters or articles.

Ten Years of Southwinds

Trawler Coverage?

Since I purchased the magazine in 2002, I have had manyinquiries about why we do not give coverage to trawler boat-ers (a new-coined phrase). Many of these boaters were sailorsmost of their lives and have moved on to trawlers as they haveretired to a boating lifestyle less demanding than crawlingaround on the foredeck in high winds and cranking the winchhandle with an older, worn shoulder. Much of our coverage

already overlaps into this area. One of our main advertisers, oneof the largest and most successful brokerages and boat dealers,has recently taken on a trawler line to answer this same demand.This is after selling only sailboats for many years. Southwindswould like to know our readers opinions: Should we begin togive coverage to trawlers and their lifestyle? Please let us knowin your letters to the editor.

Steve Morrell, Editor

out of the Caribbeans largest island, it will open one dayas a cruising ground. Today American sailors can legallygo to Cuba and cruise if they follow the proper procedures.If you have a story about such a trip, let us look at it.

Miscellaneous Photos: Photographs are always enjoy-able, whether for their beauty, their humor, or for manyother reasons, and we take them alone.

Cover Photos: Southwinds is always looking for nicecover shots, which are always paid for. They generallyneed to be a vertical shot, but we can sometimes crophorizontal photos for a nice cover picture. They need tobe of a good resolution. If digital, they need to be takenat a very high resolution (and many smaller digital cam-eras are not capable of taking a large high resolution photoas is on a cover). If a photograph, then we need it scannedat high resolution, or if you send it to us, we can do so.

Letters to the Editor: For those of you who are not asambitious to write stories, we always want to hear fromyou about your experiences and opinions.

Contact [email protected] for more in-formation and questions.

The Politics of Sailing: Politics begins when two or morepeople get together. Politics affect us all and particu-larly in the general world of boating and our waters. Wehave already heard about anchoring, liveaboards andother topics (like Cuba), but there is always more.

Maintenance and Technical Articles: How you main-tain your boat, or rebuilt a boat, technical articles onelectronics, repairs, etc.

Individuals in sailing industry: Interesting stories aboutthe world of sailors out there, young, old, and somethat are no longer with us but have contributed to thesport or were just true lovers of sailing.

The Caribbean: Stories about the warm tropical watersfarther south of us.

Charter Stories: Have an interesting Charter story? Inour Southern waters, or perhaps in the Bahamas, theCaribbean, or points beyond in some far-off and far-outexotic place?

Cuba: Of course, there is always Cuba, and regardless ofhow our countrys elected officials try to keep Americans

WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTEDStories and photographs wanted in the following areas:


Freedom of the press is limited to thosewho own one. H.L. MenckenIn its continuing endeavor to share its press, Southwinds invitesreaders to write in with experiences & opinions.

SUNFISH PARTS NEEDED AND SUNFISHCALENDAR BEING ESTABLISHEDGulfstream Sailing Club in Hollywood Florida has receivedfive Sunfish hulls just the hulls. We are in need of all the restof the parts. If you have any spare parts you would be willingto donate or to sell to the club at reduced prices, please contactour Sunfish chief Danny Escobar at [email protected].

In addition, weve just implemented a statewide Sunfishracing calendar for all sunfish events, from the club level onup. You can get to the calendar from the Florida Regional pageat the sunfish class home, www.sunfishclass.org or directly at: http://gotfolk.cus.com/calendar calendar.pl?calendar=Sunfish

If you have any Florida Sunfish events youd like listed inthe calendar, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with Sun-fish somewhere in the subject.

Gulfstream Sailing ClubHollywood, Florida

SEEKING INFORMATION ON CROSSING THE GULFI plan to cross the gulf in a 38-foot cutter, but would be morecomfortable with information about the Gulf and the Cancunarea. Does anyone know of a guide or resource for information?

Ronald L. RiffelSarasota, FL

[email protected] of our readers who know of any literature on this subject or canhelp Mr. Riffel, please contact him, and also let us know so that otherreaders my share this information.

Editor

READER ENJOYING SouthwindsI Just finishing reading the September Southwinds nearly fromcover to cover, including the ads, non-stop. I enjoy it very much,and its getting even better all the time. Keep up the great work.

Len KraussPunta Gorda, FL

GREAT CLASSIFIEDS EXPOSUREIn August, you began running an advertisement to sell myYanmar YSE 12 engine. I am pleased to advise that I have abuyer as a result of your advertisement. Please discontinue theadvertisement.

FYI, I have also had inquiries from West Africa and Franceas a result of the Internet ad you made available. Im MAJORimpressed!! Thank you very much.

C.T. ClagettSt. Petersburg, Florida.

MORE CLASSIFIEDS AND DISPLAY AD SUCCESSESDear Southwinds Staff:We always thought of Southwinds as a Florida magazine. Wemust compliment you on the extent of your geographic read-ership! Sailors from as far away as Texas and California havecontacted us in response to our display and classified ads. Keepup the great work, choosing Southwinds has been the best

LETTERS

10

See LETTERS continued on page 17



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November 2003 Southwinds www.southwindssailing.com16

ing of new docks, because new docks mean more boats andmore boats mean, to some, fewer manatees, Bubba replied.

Thats kind of fuzzy logic, I offered.Of course, it is fuzzy logic, the live-aboard, live-alone

sailor stated. Docks, in their own right, dont cause manateedeaths any more than the signs out on the water that stateyoull have to go slow, because you are in a manatee zone,actually save the lives of these dimwitted creatures. Mana-tees cant read. Its just an extension of the brainless deer cross-ing signs you see along the highways. Deer cross roads any-where they feel like it.

He had me on that one. As many deer crossing signs as Ihave seen at the edge of highways-and I have seen a lot ofthem-I have never seen a deer crossing at a designated deercrossing, though one ran into the right rear fender of myVolkswagen once, up in New Hampshire. But that wasnt at adeer crossing.

What pictures have you shown to the manatee and whatfor? I asked, getting back to the subject at hand.

I have shown him pictures of his natural enemies likesharks and barracudas and Indians. Indians, you know, usedto spear manatees back before the whites settled Florida.Manatee is an Indian word for tastes a lot like chicken, Bubba said.

Youre having me on, arent you? I said.Well, yeah, about the chicken part, agreed Whartz.

And, frankly, I am not too sure about sharks and barracudas.I do know that this lettuce-muncher here has shown no inter-

est in any picture I have shown him. Maybe the world reallybelongs to the meat eaters, and the vegans are doomed topermanent second place.

Why were you trying to get a reaction out of Snooty?Well, if I could get him to react to a picture, then I was

thinking that it would be possible to train him, through aconditioned response, to attack small motorboats and flipthem over. Theyd have to be going slow because manateesdont swim fast. A small, anchored fishing skiff would be agood target to start with. Once we had him conditioned, wecould get other manatees to react the same way, Bubba ex-plained. They wouldnt be defenseless all the time.

Are you doing this on your own? I questioned.No, I have a research grant, he said.From whom?Duncan Seawall, Dock & Boat Lift, Incorporated of

Sarasota, Bubba replied smugly.How have things gone so far? You are not looking happy

about all this, I said.I have only one picture left to show Snooty, Bubba

sighed as he placed a color picture of Trixie LaMonte, thefamous exotic dancer, up against the aquarium tanks glass.The photo, an 8x10 glossy, showed Trixie in a state of un-dress and hanging onto a vertical brass pole of some type.Trixies athletic figure was displayed in all its glory. I wasstill thinking about the time I had seen her in action when Inoticed a twitch from Snooty. Then it swam down to thebottom of its tank and apparently took a much closer lookat the photo. Then it started swimming loops in the tank,overhead loops. And figure eights. Then it did what lookedlike an aileron roll. And then it jumped clean out of the wa-ter, like a porpoise would. It was a great show.

Bubba never saw any of it. He was facing the other way,with his hand holding the picture of Trixie up, as a gaggle ofhigh school girls, on an outing of some kind, filed by.And you know, I never had the guts to tell him that he actu-ally got to Snooty with his last shot, the photo of Trixie. Therewas no way to translate that into making manatees have abad attitude about small powerboats. I mean, Bubba wouldprobably come up with a bottom-of-the-boat, life-sized de-cal of Trixie LaMonte that would shed marine growth andsave the manatee.

Nah. Never happen. What do I know about animal be-havior anyway?


LETTERS Continued from page 10use and value of our advertising budget.

Regards,Steve Smith, Jennifer Smith and Crew

SSMR, INC.St. Petersburg, FL

Steve, Jennifer and Crew at SSMR,Thanks for your comments and good news on your success with theadvertising. Many people forget that Southwinds is delivered in 10Southern states to over 500 locations, and our Web site has about 20,000visitors a month, giving the magazine worldwide exposure. Since theentire magazine is downloadable on the site, the readership has increasedsubstantially. In September, we had over 4,000 readers download themagazine at www.southwindssailing.com.

Editor

SOUTHWINDS WEB SITE PAYS OFFThank you for your Web site and all its valuable information.Last year I was looking for suggestions for coating the teak onmy boat. Aside from all the varnishes and oils, Cetol was one ofthe suggestions. After doing quite a bit of searching on the Internet Ifound the two-part article on the Southwinds Web site from 1998.

I have to say they were more helpful than the manufacturerand any other reference I was able to find. It has been over a yearnow, and my teak looks almost as good as the day I coated it.You have saved me many days of teak work over the year. Keepup the great work helping all the sailors out there.

PS. Southwinds is the first place I look for suppliers for mysailboat needs.

Page ProffittMadeira Beach, FL

RACE AROUND CUBA PROPOSALI have an idea for a sailing race around the island of Cuba. In1508, Sebastian de Ocampo set sail to circumnavigate Cuba. Hewas successful in proving that Cuba is an island. 2008 marks the500th anniversary of the start of his adventure to map the worldcorrectly. I propose a sailing race called La Copa de Sebastian deOcampo to be held in 2008. The purpose of the race is to pro-mote harmony and friendship between the people who live onthe island of Cuba and the international community of sailors.Below are some ideas I propose in this plan. I write them assum-ing nothing is to be taken for granted.1. Have a trial race prior to 2008 to work out the bugs.2. Involve the Republic of Cuba and Guantanamo Naval Base

officials working together3. No engines.4. Clockwise around the island5. Start and end at Havana. The start could be outside the har-

bor, and the end could be crossing the harbor mouth.6. Have several checkpoints as close to shore as possible. I would

like to have the race visible from shore to build excitementon land. I suggest going between La Isla de Juventud andPinar del Rio.

7. Sail at you own risk.8. Do some historical research.9. Prize is awarded to the winner in Havana. The prize is to be

called La Copa de Sebastian de Ocampo.Kenny MerrikenBlythewood, SC

Kenny,This sounds like a great idea, if we can only keep the governmentsinvolved from screwing it up (or stopping it). It is sad that we need thepermission of the U.S. government to pull off something like this, when


LETTERS Continued from page 17

18

in reality, they should be asking for our permission. Hopefully, there issome reader out there who has the energy to work at this. Southwindsmagazine will do what it can to help in developing this idea if someoneis interested. The first thing we can all do is vote in the next election forcandidates who will be for such a race and/or others like it.

Editor

TOWBOAT OPERATOR COMMENTSON TOWING ARTICLE ON SALVAGEBeing a towboat operator, I disagree with some of the thingswhich Captain Michael Shea said in his article about towboatsand salvage.

First, I find something very funny. A couple of months agoyou had an article from a lawyer, very upset because he was inan anchorage where an unattended boat was dragging its an-chor. A towboat in the area stood by and did nothing.

Now another lawyer, Michael Shea, tells of a boat that wasdragging and the tow vessel tried to save it.

It seems that there is no way for us tow captains to keepthese lawyers happy. Maybe what they would like us to do is torescue all these vessels, sometimes putting our lives in jeopardy,for the sheer joy of it. These high fees we must charge are toprotect us against the legal fees that may ensue. It sounds like avicious circle.

On commenting on the vessel in the Florida Keys whichwas in peril, I do not know all the details of this, but a scenariothat sounds likely is: The Keys have many coral sanctuaries. Ifthat vessel was dragging toward one of these sanctuaries, andthe tow company let it go onto the reef, it would have cost thispoor boater a great deal more than the $5,000 he was billed. Atower cannot tow a boat off a reef. (It will destroy the coral.) It isnecessary to bring in cranes and serious equipment to get a ves-sel off a reef. The fine alone from the government would havebeen far greater than the fee charged by the towing company.

Ive been towing boats for four years; Ive towed over 1,000boats. In not one of those tows have I taken a straight tow andturned it into a salvage. If Captain Shea wants to come and lookat my invoices, I have them all. The companies I work for arenational organizations with independent franchises. They arein the membership business. To succeed they need to have agrowing, enthusiastic membership. If we were to turn tows intosalvages, our membership would decline rapidly, and we wouldnot be successful.

Ive been racking my brain since I read this article, trying tofigure out how you can take a straight simple tow, and establishperil on the way in. I arrive on scene; the boat is either sinking orbroken down. One is a salvage; the other is a tow. As Im tow-ing, Ive never had it change to a salvage. I guess its possible ifthe towed vessel starts taking on water. Although, as I said, inover a thousand tows, its never happened to me, but I supposeits possible.

Usually, at the time of salvage, we are no longer in an emer-gency situation. The vessel has already sunk or gone onto the rocks.There is time to discuss the bill before the work is begun. The onlytime this isnt the case is if your boat is about to go aground.

Regarding the gentleman who was charged $4,000, I won-der why he didnt ask how much it would cost before he agreedto the service. I always quote a price, unless its an emergency.

The boating community is a small community; everyonetalks to each other, on the docks or at the trailer ramps. Ourgood reputation is the most important thing to our success.

That being said, it hasnt always been this way. Unfortu-nately, Im going to have to agree with some of the horror sto-


ries that Captain Shea has described. There are some very repu-table towers out there, and there definitely are some pirates. Ibelieve that you are better off having a professional tow com-pany assist you. As a sailboater with 32,000 miles underneathmy keel, I would never feel comfortable having anyone but aprofessional tower tow my vessel. I have seen much damagedone by Good Samaritan towers.

Although Eckerd College does offer some good services,its service area is limited to Tampa Bay. They do have nice ves-sels. I do not feel they have the experience that a full time tow-boat operator has.

The small fee to be a member of a professional towing com-pany seems like money well spent.

I do agree with Shea that its a good idea to meet with yourlocal captains, discuss what establishes peril, what it takes tobecome a salvage, what are their mileage restrictions (unlim-ited does not always mean unlimited). Then when the towerarrives at your boat, clarify exactly what the problem is, andwhat the towers intentions are.

You may find it difficult to get in touch with some of thelarge corporations local towers. Their memberships are sold throughthe stores, and they are just subcontracted by the giant corpora-tions. Some do not advertise and dont even put their phone num-bers on their boats. Others are franchises, businesses in yourcommunity, and they would be happy to sit and talk with you.

I guess you have a choice when youre broken down orsinking: Call a lawyer, or a reputable towboat company. I knowwhich Ill call.

Captain Bruce PierceNaples, FL

Bruce,Thanks for your response. It sounds like the real problem is the un-scrupulous towers out there and how do you know when you are deal-ing with one. If you are a member of a towing organization and knowthe local tower, you can perhaps tell, but if you are new to an area orhave never met or used your local towing service, the advice seems tobe to take caution.

See Bruces article on page 30 on how to properly tow a sailboatin this issue of Southwinds. Also, see the article on page 44 aboutthe services Eckerd College offers.

Editor

PANAMA CANAL ZONE ISSUEThe Last Cruising Yacht in Panama: The last yacht left todayon the annual South Pacific run, after failing to find a place inthe Canal Zone to refit and repair severe damage before con-tinuing.

The story is a long one, and the Pedro Miguel Boat Club(PMBC) and the yacht are the immediate victims in this story.Ultimately the cruisers of the world will be the big losers if theseactions by the Panamanian Autoridad del Canal de Panama(ACP) go unchecked.

Historically, the PMBC has been a place to work on boatsfrom the mid 1930s, and for its 65 years has been a legal, helpfuland vibrant organization for all of the local and internationalyachting community, and a source of charitable support for thePanamanian community.

Complying with the legal changes required by the rever-sion of the Canal Zone back to Panamanian ownership, aspenned by President Carter and General Torrijos in 1976, theclub switched from a Delaware non-profit organization to aPanamanian non-profit organization. All seemed well as a de-cade passed. Then in 1996, the Panama Canal Commission (PCC)


LETTERS Continued from page 19

20

required (in their words) the operating site of the club.The PCC had to terminate the license/lease agreement with

the PMBC to remove them. This is where things get screwy, asthe Panamanian government had to issue the order, and bytreaty, should have compensated the PMBC or relocated them.However, the ACP stated that the PCC (an agency of the U.S.government) was responsible for the clubs relocation or theclubs monetary compensation. Well, in some minds maybe,but the PCC flatly denied its responsibility for compensation.

A case against the PCC was filed in the U.S. Court of Claimsby the PMBC, for a taking of the clubs property and liveli-hood. The PCC, via the U.S. Dept. of Justice, offered a deal fordropping all requirements for the PMBC to give up its area ifthe PMBC would withdraw its case against the Panama CanalCommission. It sounded fair to the club, so a deal was struckand everything should have ended happily. Not so.

The Panama Canal changed hands from the PCC to theAuthoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP) as the new owner,with the same old folks running the show. The ACP continuedfor a while doing business as usual with the PMBC. Then in2002, the true intentions of the ACP started showing.

Things got worse when the ACP required $440 for boatsto stop at the club, claiming the transit was being delayed.When that did not cause boats to stop coming to this havenfor yachts in Panama, the ACP decided to up the pressureand went even further.

In November 2002, the ACP stated they did not recognizethe PMBC as having any rights to occupy its site and filed foreviction of the club as intruders, or trespassers. The ACP claimedmany things that would not hold a cup of water in a one-gallonbucket even in small claims court. The first legal decision in theprocess was found in favor of the PMBC nullifying the ACPsrequest for eviction of the club; the writing was on the wall for theACPthe PMBC did have rights and was not a trespasser.

The ACP struck again by ordering a stop transit of allvessels to the Pedro Miguel Boat Club. No notice, nothing in writ-ing, just, You cannot transit to the PMBC to any vessel re-questing transit. This strangulation of access to the PMBC is adirect attempt to cripple the economic viability of the club and hasnotched up the survival difficulties of the club to extreme levels.

The bottom line is that if this 65-year-old club, one thatoffers major assistance to the cruising community at the PanamaCanal, was a multi-million-dollar for-profit business, probablynone of this would be a problem. However, as originally noted,the PMBC is a non-profit organization that has spent two-thirdsof a century helping fellow cruisers get safely through fromone ocean to another, and no one gets rich from the work.

When I think of this, I think of the Alamo, and my bloodpressure rises, and this looks like a last stand. A good attorney,heck, a good U.S. foreign policy advisor, could probably havestraightened out this attitude permanently in a few days ofgentle phone calls. To bring a sensible solution to the problem,it is now up to you and I, the people, the cruisers, and thedreamers, to get the connections going and force the issues.The Alamo never had a chance. If we have learned anythingfrom history we need to rally round the last stands, andthen there will not be a Last Cruising Yacht in Panama.

If you want to help the Pedro Miguel Boat Club, or want toread a more technical, detailed history on the subject, or wantto know who the parties are, go to www.pmbc.ws-. Visit thePedro Miguel Boat Club Web site, http://www.pmbc.ws orsend an e-mail of support to [email protected], and this willbe forwarded to the appropriate authorities and posted on the


SHARE YOUR OPINIONS WITH THE EDITOR:PO Box 1175, Holmes Beach FL 34218 Fax: (941) 795-8705

E-mail: [email protected] Web site: southwindssailing.com

Web site.The only chance to save the Pedro Miguel Boat Club is to

let the government of Panama know this is an issue importantto the world yachting community.

Craig OwingsSV Pogo II

BUBBA GETS AD RESPONSEI can only hope for one of two things. You have a great GeorgeCarlin or Carl Hiassen sense of humor, or your ad was mis-adressed and was intended for the new publication, Dumb Matesand Other Personality Insecurities, Inc., which will be out ofcirculation shortly (subscriptions are way down).

Sewing machine? Is that the same as a Danforth? Now thefishing I get into but would prefer to shoot vodka down theirthroat to nummify rather than Cribari, so your vintage stock is safe.

I am Desdamona, who is still out there looking for her rocketship, but she is from Timmins, Ontario close to Keokuk. How-ever, they sell razors there. Good luck.

An admirer

AND ANOTHER BUBBA SUITORHi There! No, I am not a foxy lady so dont get your hopes, oranything else, up! I am from South Africa, currently on a 26-footboat, but am hoping to get on another boat. Im helping a 72-year-old friend get a little boat organized. Being a South Afri-can, I dont have lots of money and no connections anywhere! Ido have a daughter, though, who is married to an American.She is managing a restaurant in Tucson. I have done two oceancrossings from South Africa to the United States on a 34-footRoberts. The second time on a 34-foot Wildcat catamaran whichI helped deliver to Annapolis. I also helped deliver a 37-footIsland Spirit cat to Darwin, Australia, and then again a 40-footCape trawler from the Seychelles to Cairns, Australia! I love sail-ing, cant stand the ICW and hopping from one marina to an-other. On the ocean you have the beautiful sunsets and sun-rises, the dolphins, catching fish early in the morning, and alsoswimming in the wide big ocean when the boat is becalmed! Itis an awesome feeling to swim in the ocean, turn your back onthe boat and see nothing but water. Thats when you make sureyou have a tight grip on the long line tied to the boat!

I hate roaches. On a boat its them or me, and they usuallylose. I can bake a mean loaf of bread. Theres nothing like freshbaked bread early in the morning.

What on earth is Cribari? I usually drink fizzy wine in SouthAfrica, but not here; its too expensive. I can sew but only do itwhen I have to not one of my favorite things to do.

At present Im in Titusville. We might be moving north asour permits in port expire in August. We need to get out of theU.S.A. and get our passports stamped again for six months.

Where can I advertise for a crewing position, as I know Idont have qualifications for your ad? You may also be tied upwith a foxy lady already. I saw an ad in a magazine I picked upin the laundry. I tried a few Web sites, but they all want moneyand what guarantee do I have I will get on a boat? Was thinkingof going to Fort Lauderdale but where do I stay? Any sugges-tions? I am a lady, of course, in my late fifties a hard workerlike all South African women!

Regards,An admirer


RACING CALENDAR

Wed like to encourage all sailing associations, yacht clubs and regatta sponsors to notify us of upcoming events in your area.Simply fax or e-mail us by the 10th of each month to ensure that your racing and regatta schedule will be included.

Send to [email protected] or fax to 941-795-8704Southwinds Magazine also offers reduced advertising rates for regattas.

Yacht Clubs and Sailing Associations: Please update your phone numbers by e-mailing [email protected] and give us your Web site address also.

SAILING CLUB DIRECTORY IS NOW ON THE INTERNETFor a list of yacht clubs and sailing associations in Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippiand Tennessee, visit our Web site southwindssailing.com. Their addresses and Web sites will also be listed. We are asking allthese organizations to e-mail us your Web site address and we will put a link to it.

FLORIDA EAST COAST

NOVEMBER 1 - 2Coral Reef YC Annual RegattaPHRFCoralreefyachtclub.orgNOVEMBER 8Hughs CupWomens YRACoralreefyachtclub.orgNOVEMBER 15 - 16SE Florida PHRF ChampionshipCoral Reef Yacht Clubcoralreefyachtclub.orgNOVEMBER 15 - 16Star Schoonmaker CupCoral Reef Yacht Clubcoralreefyachtclub.orgNOVEMBER 22Hughes CupCRYC/ WYRAWomens Regattacoralreefyachtclub.orgNOVEMBER 22 - 23J-FestLauderdale Yacht ClubLyc.orgDECEMBER 6 - 7Star Commodores CupCoral Reef Yacht Clubcoralreefyachtclub.orgDECEMBER 26 - 29Orange Bowl RegattaLasers and LighningsOptimists and 420sCGSC/CRYCcoralreefyachtclub.org

FLORIDA WEST COAST& INLAND

NOVEMBER 1Clearwater Challengecyc.orgNOVEMBER 1 - 2PHRF Festival of the IslandsCMCSswfloridaphrf@yahoogroups

NOVEMBER 5 - 14USA Paralympic TrialsSonar and 2.4 MeterSt. Petersburg Yacht Clubspyc.orgNOVEMBER 8 - 9MC Scow SE RegionalsLake Eustis Sailing [email protected] 8PHRF Transbay RaceSt. Petersburg S. A.spsa.netNOVEMBER 9SPSA - TBYRAWomens Racespsa.netNOVEMBER 15Fall Bay Race PHRFSt. Petersburg Yacht Clubspyc.orgNOVEMBER 15 - 16Flying Scot RegattaSarasota Sailing SquadronSarasotasailingsquad.comNOVEMBER 15 - 16PHRF Marco Fall RegattaMIYCswfloridaphrf@yahoogroupsNOVEMBER 22 - 23Alter Cup Area DFlorida Multihull ChampClearwater Community SA727-462-6368NOVEMBER 22 - 23Snipe State ChampionshipSt. Petersburg Yacht Clubspyc.orgNOVEMBER 28Old Shoe RegattaDavis Island Yacht Clubdiyc.orgNOVEMBER 29 - 30Thanksgiving Day RegattaAll classDavis Island Yacht Clubdiyc.orgDECEMBER 6 - 7Laser District 13 OpenSt. Petersburg Yacht ClubSpyc.org

DECEMBER 5 - 7Tornado Catamaran ChampsClearwater Community SA727-462-6368DECEMBER 6J-24 & Melges 24Davis Island Yacht ClubDiyc.orgDECEMBER 6Cmcs Sunfish RegattaEdison Sailing CenterFort Myers239-277-9352DECEMBER 27PHRF Couples RaceDavis Island Yacht ClubDiyc.org

NORTHERN GULF(AL, FL,LA,MS,TX)

NOVEMBER 8 - 9Flying Scot GYA ChampsPensacola Yacht Club(850) 433-8804NOVEMBER 9 - 16US Womens Match Racecompeted on J-22syc.orgNOVEMBER 22 - 23Cold Turkey RegattaVanguard 15 & Lasersyc.orgDECEMBER 27 - 28Sugar Bowl RegattaPHRFPHRF - Southern YCOne Design - NOYC & SYCSyc.org

SOUTHERN STATES(AK, GA, NC, SC,TN)

NOVEMBER 2 - 3J22/J24?MelgesMiss Piggy RegattaLake Lanier Sailing Clubllsc.com

NOVEMBER 16GT Frigid DigitLake Lanier Sailing Clubllsc.comDECEMBER 71064 RegattaLake Lanier Sailing ClubLlsc.com

JUNIOR REGATTAS

NOVEMBER 8 - 9Great Oaks InvitationalHigh SchoolNewer teams



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CUBA

Thursday, February 13 - The Castles

Today is our last day to tour Havana be-fore we leave Marina Hemingway. Oncemore, the shuttle bus takes us to HabanaVieja; we walk to the Muelle la Luz, nearthe cruise ship dock, and wait for the ferryto the Historical Park across the harbor. Theferryboat is a dark blue workboat, perhaps22 meters long and has absolutely no frills.It is rated for 90 passengers, and at leastthat many board, some with bicycles. Thefare is 10 centavos, or about $.09 US for thethree of us. The ride lasts about 15 minutes;we alight at Casablanca, cross a railwayonce used for the Hershey train and walkup the hill. The steep road takes us to a 15-meter-tall Carrarra marble statue erected in1958, Jesus blessing Havana harbor. Theview of the harbor is spectacular, includ-ing the city of Havana, the Capitol and theBacardi building. Tony leads us along awinding road through what appears to bea military compound, though no one stopsus. There is a rise to the old fort, built in1764-74. Atop the rise are some Soviet mis-siles and tanks and a lone horse, grazing.We cross a bridge over a deep, dry moatand enter the Castillo San Carlos de laCabaa. A park guide stops us and sendsus right out as we did not come in the

Three Days in Havana & Onein Pinar del Rio: Part IVBy Elena Pimiento, s/v Habanero III

Havana View from Castillo Cabana


Gun Battery

proper entrance and have no tickets.Tony leads us around the moat walls,

and we end up at the other fort in the park,Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, builtin 1589-1629, overlooking the entrance toHavana Harbor at its outermost point,Punta Bartovento. The fort has been re-stored beautifully and looks as though theSpanish left only a short time ago. It de-fended the Spanish colony until 1762 whenthe British attacked from land and dug atunnel under the walls. A tall lighthouse,erected in 1844, is the oldest in Cuba. It stillguides ships safely into the harbor.

Linda and I follow Tony up and overthe battlements, climbing cobbled rampsand steep steps, eventually coming to theSala de la Estacin Semafrica, the sema-phore and harbor control station, still inoperation. A man steps out of the office andasks if wed like to come and see the place.Up the stairs, we enter a long narrow of-fice with a 360-degree view. Three menwelcome us and show us two sets of largecubbyholes lining the wall beneath the win-dows, each with one or two flags. On oneside are the flags of nations; on the otherare code signal flags familiar to mariners.The flagpole outside the office is used forthe signal flags, and lights are used at nightto send messages about the harbor, for ex-


CUBA

ample, two large ships entering, two small ships leav-ing, harbor closed to all traffic. We see a panel withsome phones and VHF radios at least 20 years old anda large handwritten log book, into which one man iswriting information about an American-flagged ship(!)that entered the harbor a few minutes previous. I askabout the ship that is now approaching and am told itis Canadian. Usually six or seven ships per day, in-cluding an increasing number of cruise ships, enterthe harbor; only a few are Cuban-flagged. Most fly aflag of convenience, e.g. Liberia, Panama, Bahamas.The man at the panel switches the VHF radio to theNOAA Key West weather frequency; the reception isexcellent and so is the forecast for the next few days.Returning to channel 16, we overhear a vessel ap-proaching Key West.

One of the other men motions for me to lookthrough some Nikon 20x120 binoculars on a wheeled tripod:I see the head of the 15-meter marble Jesus poking up overthe Castillo Cabaa. The man motions for Tony, who jokesabout seeing a fly in Christs ear. Then, he wheels it to an-other window, and I see the upper half of the Bacardi Build-ing in Habana Vieja, across the harbor. Just to compare, I lookthrough my 300-millimeter telephoto lens at the same build-ing; it takes a while even to find it in the skyline! The thirdman then shows us some black coral jewelry he has for sale.We leave a $1 contribution and explore the rest of the fort,starting with lunch at a restaurant opposite the lighthousemuseum. The food is reasonably good and reasonably priced;it is especially good to sit down. The one-room lighthousemuseum has pictures and descriptions of the 13 major lightson Cubas coast. A geological model of the country and the oceanbottom surrounding it also shows the location and appearanceof the lighthouses. Many of the lighthouses are over 100 yearsold and have a good reputation for reliability to help keep mari-ners off the many reefs and low-lying cays that surround Cuba.

We leave el Morro and follow Tony on the path less taken

El Morro Light

to the Castillo Cabaa, finding the entrance this time and buy-ing the proper tickets. He troops all over the highest levels,mainly rooftops, throughout one of the largest colonial for-tresses in the Americas. Built following the English invasion,it covers 10 hectares, runs 700 meters in length. When it wascompleted, King Carlos III of Spain, who paid for it, took uphis telescope saying, surely a fort so big (and expensive) couldbe seen from Madrid. It is large and imposing enough to havedeterred any enemy from staging an offensive by land or sea.The moats surrounding it are 12 meters deep, carved fromsolid rock serving to separate individual fortress components.Tony continually marvels at the design from a military view.Even the peaceful garden was once packed with explosivesthat could be ignited to foil an enemys attempt to gain entry.Linda and I rest in the cool shade while Tony explores waysto get back to the ferry without going all the way around. Wesee streets within the fort lined with what we envision wereonce fort offices, shops, officers quarters, stores - and will beagain someday if Disney shows up. There is a chapel, a his-tory museum and a Museo Che Guevara, who had his head-quarters here in January 1959. We bypass all that and walkdown the hill, back to Casablanca, arriving only a minutebefore the ferry departs.

Back in Habana Vieja, we stop for a mojito at the Bar DosHermanos, a favorite of the poet Federico Garca Lorca in1930 (perhaps he ran a tab there, too). Again, it is good to getoff our feet, and the car-watching keeps us busy. Walking backto the bus stop, we see a bride in a horse carriage being pho-tographed in the Plaza de San Francisco. Later, she whizzesby, perched on the back seatback of a red and white 1957Sunliner convertible. The groom is nearly invisible. We willmiss this amazing country of contrasts and hope to returnsoon.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subjectmatter? Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail lettersto the editor: [email protected]


BOAT REVIEW

shiny new Catalina Mark II in his showlot. A convenient feature he demonstratedwas a mast-raising system that can, no fool-ing, be used by one fit person. The wholeoperation can take less than fifteen min-utes to be ready to put in the water.

What is it like to sail the boat? JohnHampton has had his Catalina Mark II fora little less than two years. He keeps it be-hind his home in the water in the TampaBay area. The day of our test sail was abright, cool October weekday with windsgusting to 15.

The Honda outboard pushed the boatat the hull speed of 5.9 knots at not muchover half throttle. The transom-hung rud-der easily steered the boat under power.

The mainsail is a relatively small, loweraspect ratio sail configuration. The jib onthis boat was just a little overlapping. Thefoot was cut high at the clew, so visibilityforward was very good. After sliding thefairlead for the jib sheet forward nearly twofeet, the jib set very nicely.

The Catalina 22 has a weather helm. Italways has. Many racers have worked theboat, within the class rules, to negate thehelm. It is still there. Hampton likes hisweather helm, feeling that it is a safety fac-tor. I loaded the boat up, overtrimmed themain and looked for the blackest puff onthe water I could find. Happily, the boatwas still controllable when over on its earto decks awash.

Down below it is surprising the room

What is it that made this boatpopular? More important,why is it still, after some thirtyyears, a most popular boat?

The size of the boat, at a little under22 feet, makes it large enough to be a vi-able gunkholer and pocket cruiser. Itweighs in at about a ton, making ittrailerable by most vehicles. The swingkeel version, as they all were until 1995,is easily ramp-launched.

Most successful classes of sailboatsowe much of their success and longevityto the people who sail them. By that stan-dard the Catalina 22 will enjoy manymore years of popularity. I still see someof the names at its regattas that I sawtwenty years ago.

There is a strong used boat market,with prices ranging widely. On the Web,www.catalinayachts.com is a good sourceof information and contacts about theclass.

In 1995 Catalina started producingwhat they call the Mark II version. Thehull at the waterline is the same. It seemsthat they pushed the top of the mold outso that the hull is 8 inches more beamy atthe shear. This allows a wider cabin andkeeps the deck the same width.

The Mark II also offers a fin keel at36" draft and a wing keel at 26". Moststill opt for the swing keel version.

Paul Silvernail at Masthead Enter-prises in St. Petersburg showed me a

The Catalina 22 has beena fixture in the Southeast

since shortly after itsintroduction in 1969.

Fleets have enjoyed sailingalong the Gulf Coast and

on larger inland lakes.Lake Lanier has had

a strong fleet since thelate 1970s.

Catalina 22By Dave Ellis

on the Mark II version. Yes, it will sleepfive, but I know of nobody who wouldwant to do so on a 22-footer. There are anumber of features found usually onlarger craft, such as a Porta Potty, stove,gangway ladder that doubles as a reach-able cooler and a pop-top arrangementin the cabin that expands headroom to 57".

Everything on the boat is set up verysimply. The main halyard leads back tothe cockpit. The jib is on a roller furler.The vang is up there at the base of themast. There are two little winches. I hadno trouble pulling in the jib in the heavi-est puffs.

I had trouble uncleating the mainsheetin the puffs. A skipper has to pretty muchreach aft and grab the sheet right next tothe cam cleat at the aft traveler and pullsharply downward. It did not work to flipthe line down from the skippers positionat the tiller.

The swing keel cranks down with awinch handle inside the cabins backedge. It goes up and down surprisinglyeasily. Hamptons boat has had the cablebreak twice in two years, both times whilecranking up. He has placed a secondsheave to make a more gentle turn for thecable. He says that Frank Butler ofCatalina has been more than accommodat-ing, having the cable fixed at no charge, call-ing him to make sure all was well.

Perhaps that is one reason the boatremains so very popular. Its the people.


SAILBOAT TOWING

30

Youre out there on the water andyour boat is broken down. Yourengine just wont start andtheres no wind. You need a tow.

How do you get in contact with atowing company? One of the easiestways is to hail us on the VHF radio,Channel 16. The range on a VHF ra-dio is usually about 40 miles or moreif your sailboat has an antenna on thetop of the mast. If the tow companydoesnt respond, you might try hail-ing the Coast Guard and they can re-lay to us, or you may find a vesselwithin range to do a relay.

If you dont have a VHF radio (which every boat shouldhave) you can use your cell phone if youre within range. Beaware that the range of cell phones is very limited, some notmore than two miles offshore, others up to 15.

What should you know before you need to get towed?Your position is the most important thing we need to know.

Of course, the best way is to check your GPS. It will give youthe exact latitude and longitude. Our response time will be muchquicker if we dont have to search for you. In addition, if yourenot a member of a towing company, youre paying for our time,and it can add up rapidly.

Also, if theres some significant landmark you can give us,this helps, like a marker number, or right off the power plant, etc.

Youd be surprised at some of the interesting responses Ivegotten when asking someones location: Im right here. Imin the cockpit. I can see the Skyway Bridge. Ive heard them all!

Some people use dead reckoning. The problem is that your

compass may not be calibrated thesame as mine, so it can be like tryingto find a needle in a haystack. Also,because of set and drift, you couldbe miles from where you think youare. Therefore, it is to every boatersadvantage to invest in a GPS.Now how do we handle it when thetowboat is on scene? It may be goodto have some form of bridle systemon the bow of your boat so that wecan just hand you our line, tie a bow-line on it, and its a pretty simple sys-tem to be clear from your foredeck.Then Ill need to know where you

want to be towed to. Youve been to the place youre going. Youknow what youre looking for. I dont.

If you have the latitude and longitude of your home dock,this will be great, so the tower can see on the chart exactly wherewere going. And its a good idea to have something on paper,like a hand-drawn chart of the area where your home dock is,to hand to the tower.

This again can be a funny situation. People give me direc-tions like, You go to the white PVC pipe; take it on your left;keep the floating branch on your right. There will be five houses,then turn right. Some of these directions can be very difficultto follow. Most of the time, we end up on a working VHF chan-nel with the customer giving me directions one move at a time.As you can see, if you could hand me something, it would makeit a lot easier.

Now were under way. Way is the term which meansyour boat has movement forward or backward. When towing asailboat, it takes time to establish way. Often a sailboat willnot want to follow; it will want to steer off to one side or an-other. So its a good idea for the captain of the vessel being towedto stay at the helm until way is established.

I once towed an Irwin 52. I was sitting comfortably in mychair. I looked over to my port, and there was a beautiful sail-boat going by. I waved at them, admiring their boat. Then it hitme. This is the boat Im towing; its overtaking me! It actuallyspun me around backwards! Fortunately, I was able to quicklyrelease my towline to avoid a very embarrassing situation.

A friend of mine picked up a sailboat broken down at abridge. He hooked up to the sailboat, turned around and wentout. He didnt go very far when he turned around, hitting thebridge. He did not establish way, and the sailboat was not linedup and was about to hit the bridge. Fortunately, he was able tocorrect himself before the sailboat hit the bridge.

Usually, it will take at least 500 yards or so, depending on

Towing Your Sailboat Properly You Think its Easy Being Towed?By Captain Bruce Pierce

Duke Overstreet photo


the current, to establish a good pattern in any narrow situation.If there are any bridges youll be going under while being

towed, the tower should be the one to contact the bridge, ashes the one with the power. Also, bridges will open on requestfor towers towing a vessel in distress. Its a good idea if youfollow the conversation on Channel 9. And you do want to bein contact with the towboat captain as you go under the bridge.You should steer your vessel to keep it down the center be-cause of the current.

One of the best ways to dock a sailboat is do a hip tie,tying alongside your vessel with the stern of our vessel behindyours. Well use fenders and lines to secure us firmly. Now thetowboat has complete control of your vessel. We may ask youto stay at your helm to turn your rudder. When we are tied upto you like this, we become your power and rudder. We canusually turn you on a dime.

Before we do this, we need to be on the proper side. We canusually spin you around inside a narrow channel, but we needto know if there is enough room for two boats side to side goingdown the channel. By the way, most towboat captains live forthis; we love it!

If youre planning to go off shore, check with your towingcompany. Some have mileage limits as to how far they will gobefore they start charging you, even though your coverage maystate unlimited. There doesnt seem to be consistency amongoperators of the same company as to how far they will go be-fore they reach their version of unlimited. Ive heard one cap-tain say 25 miles, and another captain in the same company say50 miles. The company that I work for only has one member-ship plan; we will go as far as we need to go to get you.

It rarely happens, but if conditions are extremely rough,more than just small craft warnings, and it is unsafe for the towvessel to get you, we can contact the Coast Guard who willcome and get you at no charge.

Id like to say something on the Good Samaritan tow.Although this may seem like a good option, and a less expen-sive one, the towboats that we run are specially propped fortowing. Our transmissions are usually different, geared espe-cially for towing. We give up speed for low-end towing power,which boaters are not willing to do.

Boats in general are not designed to tow another boat, es-pecially a sailboat, as they have undersized engines. The GoodSamaritan may not realize it, but he could be taking years offthe life of his engine and transmission. Even though we modifyour towboats, we typically go through many transmissions ayear. So it would sure seem to make sense to be a member ofone of the towing companies and not risk damaging the well-intended Good Samaritans boat.

As I stated earlier, there is a lot of expertise involved indocking a vessel. The Good Samaritan may not have this ex-pertise. Ive seen a lot of damage done to vessels being towedby Good Samaritans.

May the wind always be on your stern. Well be standingby for you!

Capt. Bruce has a masters license with a towing and sailing endorse-ment. He has worked four years as a captain for Sea Tow in Sarasotaand is now working for them in Naples. He has logged over 32,000miles in his sailboat Crossroads.

Any comments or thoughts about this article, or the subject matter?Southwinds would like to hear from you. E-mail letters to the edi-tor: [email protected]


FLOTSAM & JETSAM

What really is flotsam & jetsam? We have found many varia-tions in the meanings of these words. At Southwinds,we consider it to be a broader definition of the miscellaneousstuff out there we run into in our lives. Then theres the nauticalmeanings that carry the origins of the words.

In the nautical sense, flotsam would be the floating thingswe find out there in the water like parts of boat wrecks orsomeones hat that went overboard. It could be natural like any-thing from a coconut to a log-maybe a bunch of leaves or some-thing like that.

Jetsam, in this nautical meaning, would be something man-made, or man-processed, and jettisoned from a boat, or fromland, like garbage, a bottle, an old rag doll, or maybe a com-puter (if it could float) if someone got mad at it. A cell phonewith hammer marks in it, that floats, could work here. A corpsewould also fit this definition.

After some research, we found some other meanings:Linguistics calls words used together in a phrase like flot-

sam and jetsam, a Siamese twin. This is because they arelinked together by and or or and have commonly been usedtogether with some comparable meaning.

The New Century Dictionary defines flotsam, as Such partof the wreckage of a ship and its cargo as is found floating onthe water. And jetsam as, Jettison; also goods thrown over-board to lighten a vessel in distress; esp. such goods whenwashed ashore.

According to The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, flot-sam is the stuff from a wrecked ship and could be its cargo orother stuff that went overboard, perhaps accidentally. Jetsamwould be the stuff deliberately thrown overboard. These thingscould also be jettisoned to lighten the load. The Companiongoes on to say jetsam means, in the original legal sense, theplace where the stuff went overboard. Flotsam and jetsam alsofloat on the surface, as opposed to ligan (also spelled lagan),which sinks to the bottom. It was noted somewhere that some-

one also referred to newly ejected oyster-spawn as flotsam.In general, we seem to have found that flotsam, jetsam and

ligan means anything that ends up in the sea that came from aship, no matter how it got there. Flotsam was at one point any-thing that came from a ship and is floating around, and it washeld at one time that if it still floats, it belongs to the originalowner. Jetsam had the meaning that it was thrown overboard,and more often than not, to lighten the ships load. There was atime where jetsam that reached the shore belonged to the king(lots of room for corruption there).

It appears that ligan still holds the meaning today that it issome object that was put in the sea out there with a float at-tached for later retrieval.

Southwinds DEFINITIONWe are going to make a leap and offer a final definition, for thesake of the evolution of language, and only to be used in dailyconversation, not as legal maritime definitions (and we can bequoted on this without need of our permission): Flotsam is thatstuff floating around out there thats not intentionally jetti-soned. It can be man-made or otherwise, but not naturally fromthe sea (like seaweed or a dead fish). Jetsam is that stuff thatwas thrown out there and jettisoned by a human, or humans.We will accept, as part of this meaning, objects thrown into thesea by human pets, like a dog throwing his ball into the sea,intentionally, or unintentionally.(Much of the above was taken from the following Web site:www.everything2.com).

AS LONG AS WE ARE DISCUSSING LANGUAGE:From Dr. John Griffiths of Durango, ColoradoAhoy! Did you realize that ahoy is almost an anagram of ya-hoo? There ought to be a class of words that relate like that,ahoy and yahoo being Order 1 almostagrams, as are cheat andyacht. Sailboat is an Order 2 almostagram of tablesaw.

A Collection of Nautical Miscellany(to be continued in future issues)


ANCHORING

It is not that simple, as noted by one ofour readers in a letter to the editor:Maritime law gives the boater the rightto navigation. This includes the right toanchor. I wish that was the law, but itjust is not the case. Navigate yes, anchorno. You do not have the right to anchor innavigable waters unless it is a designatedanchorage. This may be a surprise tomany of you, but it is the sad truth.

The right to control anchoring goeswith the ownership of the bottom. Own-ership involves federal, state and localgovernments, and in some places it caneven be private ownership or subject toriparian rights of the shore-side owners.In short, if you own the bottomland orhave rights to it, you can control the an-choring of boats over that bottom.

When our country was set up, the

Who Owns the Anchorage?Can they stop me from anchoringin navigable waters?By Capt. J. Michael Shea, JD

land belonged to each colony. The colo-nies owned all of the bottom land withintheir territory and out to sea (in mostplaces three miles). The colonies in turntransferred the bottomland to cities, coun-ties, and, in some cases, port authorities.As territory was purchased from othernations by the federal government, anadditional step was added. The landswent to the federal government and thento the state governments. By this histori-cal transfer very little bottom land (bays,sounds, and coastal bottomlands) isowned by the federal government. Thestates or their political subdivisions (cities,counties, and port authorities) own most.

Now you see the picture. It is not thefederal government that is in control ofanchorages. States and local govern-ments, because they own the bottom-

lands, are in control. But you say, Ithought the Coast Guard set up anchor-ages? Yes, but they are, for the mostpart, for large commercial vessels andfor storm anchorages and were desig-nated many years ago. The Coast Guardcan and does preempt state and localgovernments when they set up an an-chorage, but rarely does so.

But what about navigable waters?Arent they federal and open to all of us?Yes, BUT navigable waters means to navi-gate those waters; it does not cover an-choring. When we talk about navigablewaters, we are talking about the watercolumn itself. A navigable waterway isdifferent because it is a waterway. Like aroad or highway, no vessels may anchorin a waterway or channel.

There are a number of anchorages up

Everyone knows the Coast Guard regulates anchorages,so what is the deal here? Why doesnt the Coast Guardjust step in and end this fight developing on our coastalwaterway over anchorages?


and down our coastlines that have justsprung up by usage. They are usuallyquiet places where people set up a moor-ing and anchor their boats. Often there isno formal arrangement with state or lo-cal authorities for the anchorage; peoplejust start anchoring, and the next thingyou know there is a number of boats an-chored without permission from anyone.There is one of these next to my yachtclub, and although there has been a lotof discussion regarding the anchorage,the city which owns the bottomland, haschosen to do nothing. This is not the casein other places. Many local governmentshave passed ordinances to limit, in someway, the anchoring of vessels for a maxi-mum period of time. Some ordinancesprohibit anchoring for more than 24hours.

In one local case, our port authority,as the apparent owner of the bottomland,tried to prevent a dry dock company fromanchoring their dry docks at the end of adead end channel. The port authority wasgranted the ownership to all of the bot-tomland in our county by the state legis-lature when it was created. The only prob-lem was it did not include that channel -it seems that the bottomland was grantedto the city over a hundred years ago. Thecity has chosen to stay out of the fight,and the dry dock is still in the channel.

In another case, the port authoritywanted to charge a local restaurant for theuse of bottomland under the restaurantsdock. The restaurant was built whenFlorida had a statute to encourage water-front development. The statute grantedpersons who improved the water shore-line, riparian rights to the nearest chan-nel. The restaurant owners sued. Thecourt ruled because the restaurant had,in fact, improved the shoreline before the

statute was taken off the books, they wereentitled to the riparian rights, and thatincluded the dock and anchorage. Afterthe ruling, the restaurant sold to a ship-yard. The shipyard pulled in a dry dockin a matter of months.

As noted in the previous two ex-amples, ownership can be hard to ascer-tain. However, if ownership is clear, localgovernments can regulate anchoring overthe bottomland they own. I know this isnot the answer you want to hear, but it isthe law.

As noted earlier, we often find infor-mal anchorages where sailors have juststarted anchoring boats. Sometimes thisis a result of a shortage of dock space, andsometimes it is just people who choosenot to pay for local slips. All too often,some of these boat owners let their boatsrun down. They become an eyesore anda problem to everyone. The easiest wayto regulate the problem of an unregulatedanchorage is to just pass regulations out-lawing anchoring in those areas.

The question then is how can we pro-tect anchorage areas? To start with, wehave to realize unregulated anchoragesare a thing of the past and have a shorttime to live. We have to address the issueas marina owners, yacht clubs and sail-ors. We need to approach the local au-thorities who own bottomland with planson ways to manage anchorages. It is ourjob to get out there and lobby for the an-chorages and that includes local anchor-ages for the transit sailor as well. If wedont argue for the transit sailor in ourlocal areas, dont expect it to happen inan area where you need to anchor over-night. If we do not pressure our local au-thorities to set

Southwindsnovember2003

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