A Publication of January 2015 Nobscot Sail & Power Volume 61 Squadron, Inc. Number 5 I am sure you will agree, it is cold out there! As I write to you I am already yearning for the spring and summer. To help us prepare for that time the New England Boating Show is coming up at the Convention Center from February 14th through the 22nd. We are still looking for someone to represent us during the planning stages prior to the show. If you are interested, please reach out to Joe Kelliher, D12 Boat Show Chair, at [email protected] and/or me at [email protected] to help plan this important event for the Squadron. I, unfortunately, have the task to share with you some sad news. P/R/C Herb Schulman, AP passed away on December 21st. Herb was an active member of the USPS for over 54 years and leaves behind his wife, Sylvia, and 2 children. Please keep Herb and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Also coming up is the Spring America’s Boating Course which is scheduled to start on Monday, March 9th. Please spread the word to family, friends and acquaintances. We find word of mouth works well for us so please do your part to disseminate the news! Our next membership meeting at Bella Costa happens on Febru- ary 18th. One of our own, Dave Mitchell, has a really interesting topic he will share with us. Check inside the Rhumb Line for more details. You don’t want to miss his presentation. It is sure to be entertaining and, for some, will create envy when we learn about Dave’s secret pastime! Our Change of Watch is coming on March 28th at 1800 (6:00 P.M) Herbert Schulman, AP at the Wayside Inn. Ellis Allen was honored with an award from National for his 50th year of mem- bership with Nobscot. I reached out to him to congratulate him and invited him to join us at the Change of Watch so we can present to him his well deserved award. We are also working on a guest speaker for this annual event. Make sure to check the Rhumb Line and our website for further details. As I mentioned before, the Squadron needs your help. The volunteer pool is drying up and we need folks to help in any way they can. We need committee chairs, bridge officers and folks who have time (an hour or two a month) to help with the monthly activities of running a social, educa- tional, volunteer organization. Please reach out to any member of the Bridge or me. There is always something that needs to be done and we can always use an extra set of hands, so please reach out to us! Enjoy the cold weather and all the activities that complement the cold and snow! And if that prospect doesn’t excite you then warm up to thoughts of the upcoming summer through the Boat Show or a boating related course in preparation for a beautiful summer. Best wishes, Commander Dave 1 LED LIGHTS for BOATS By P/R/C Don Hagen, SN, Radio-Tech Officer An earlier column showed the advantages of LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs for home lighting.1. LEDs have now entered boats. New boats come equipped with them, and older boats can be fitted with them. Advantages over incandescent bulbs include much higher efficiency, much longer life, and better durability. They presently have a high purchase price, but that is likely to decrease in time with increased production. Efficiency.2. A typical LED bulb draws about 15% as much power as an incandescent or 30% as much as a halogen bulb. For example, a typical three-watt LED bulb produces about 240 lumens of light, which would require a halogen bulb of 10 watts or an incandescent of 20 watts. High luminous efficiency is important for a cruising sailboat using cabin lights or navigation lights at night. Long Life. Most LED bulbs have a 50,000-hour operating lifetime, far exceeding the 1,000- hour rating for incandescent bulbs or 10,000 hours for fluorescent tubes. Actually, cruising sailors often let their battery bank fall below 12 volts, which further reduces the lifetime of 12-volt fluores- cent tubes. LEDs with constant-drive technology have no problems operating with voltages be- tween 8 and 30 volts.3. Durability. LED bulbs are rugged. They do not have a glass shell or a filament, so they are not damaged by vibration in a marine environment. Sources of LED Lights.4. Many boat owners have replaced energy-consuming incandes- cent interior cabin lights with LEDs. With only a screwdriver, you can replace most existing fixtures with a similar or brighter LED light. Existing wiring is more than adequate. Easier yet, you can often replace an incandescent light bulb in an existing fixture with an LED that fits in the same socket. An example is the BA15D, which is a three-watt 18-LED bulb with a standard bayonet base. This produces 240 lumens of light, and is available in cool white, warm white, red and green. These currently cost about $20-25, which admittedly is a lot to pay for a light bulb. LED replacement bulb sources include Ancor, Lunasea, Dr. LED, and Marine LED. External navigation LED lights can operate far longer than traditional incandescents, and are less likely to fail. This is especially advantageous for anchor lights and masthead lights, which can be difficult to replace. The bulbs of many popular navigation lights can often be replaced with an LED, although they are still quite expensive. Sources include Attwood, Imtra, Perko, and Sea Dog. ————————————————— 1. D. L. Hagen, "Modern Efficient Home Light Bulbs", The Rhumb Line, Nobscot Squadron, February 2012 2. ."Benefits of LED Bulbs", marineledshop.com/led-benefits 3. .ibid 4. K. Englert, "The Advantages of LED Lights", Boating Magazine, 26 March 2013 2 THE MOST DANGEROUS NEARBY PORTS TO AVOID by Peter J. Wihtol THE MOUTH OF THE MERRIMACK RIVER – NASTY, MEAN, BREAKING WAVES AND CUR- RENTS. Even on “good days” avoid the time of strong, outgoing tidal currents at this river’s mouth. There are large breaking waves, from ocean-generated swells, plus somewhat smaller waves from strong, mid-morning-to-afternoon local “sea breezes” Some boaters have “stuffed their bow” into these breaking waves and flipped themselves over. Deep-draft boats need to avoid the sand bar at the north jetty. If there is any place you want to be wearing your PFD, this is it. COHASSET HARBOR There are many ledges and shallows to avoid when approaching this harbor’s entrance. You must have accurate GPS readings and continually know where you are while approaching the harbor. The channel going to the inner harbor is quite narrow and out of necessity, the local boaters tend to hog the middle. Keep a close eye on the depth of the channel because you can often find yourself too close to the shallow edge of the channel. If you boat is an outboard or inboard/outboard, then tilt it up somewhat to minimize prop damage. Little-to-no throttle here. Generally there are no moorings available. THE NORTH AND SOUTH RIVERS, are just south of Scituate Harbor. “There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When She was good, she was very, very good. But when she was bad… she was horrid.” Most of the time the North River and South River are easy to-get-to and the terrible reputation of the mouth of the North River is really an over-exaggeration. But in the distant past and over several years, the Scituate USCG Station had three, 40-foot patrol boats run aground, and badly damaged on the sandy beach here. They were trying to rescue recreational boats that had washed up by the surf onto the beach here. Nowadays a commercial towing service is the preferred method of boat salvage. The worst case is during the biggest tidal differences at this river’s mouth. Watch out for several bad conditions happening at the same time: Monthly and seasonal lunar conditions – causing strong outgoing tides. Lots of tidal water going out to sea (due to heavy rains). Big, wind-driven ocean swells coming in from a distant ocean storm in the East or North East. Strong local winds coming from the Southeast. Bad sign. On particularly bad days you will see several larger local boats (40’or so), hesitatingly circling around about a quarter mile inside the North River’s mouth. Beware that the entrance to the South River is just inside the mouth of the North River and on the left. Its entrance is shallow – especially near low tide. This is the time to VHF radio someone at a South River marina or the Scituate Harbor Master for local advice about the water depth and conditions. GREEN HARBOR, MARSHFIELD, MA has a shallow/narrow harbor entrance. With lower tide lev- els it can be too shallow for your boat – even inside the harbor. Good only for “locals” and “the reg- ulars…” especially those owning more shallower draft power boats “Ding not thy prop.” 3 PLYMOUTH HARBOR has a rather large harbor entrance. It is a huge area and it is easy for a newcomer to become disoriented here -- especially if this is your first time here. Plus there are am- ple opportunities to run aground. Additionally, one’s anchor could pick up (get fouled by) a lot of eel grass.