Volume 2018, Issue 2
February 2018
Commodore by Jay Leggett
It is with great pleasure that I’d like to introduce you to your 2018 TASS Board. Just in case you don’t know us, each of our new Board has in- cluded a short bio. I’m truly honored to serve TASS with this fabulous group of folks.
Jay Leggett – Commodore I joined TASS in Spring 1999, when on my first sailing trip abroad to Martinique two months later, and quickly realized I had found something that would change my life. I sailed a few times in high school and col- lege, but 99% of what I’ve learned about sailing has been from my TASS family and from our many sailing adventures both local and
abroad. With ASA 101, 103, 104; 14 years as a TASS skipper and 397
DED IN 1984 days skippering charter boats, you can certainly say I’m hooked.
Urs Rathgeb – Vice Commodore FOUN
- I grew up sailing on Lasers and our family cruiser on Lake Constance in Switzerland. While I kept sailing on and off after moving to the US when I had the opportunity to get on the water, I really got back into it over the last couple of years, and became a TASS Skipper last year. I look for- ward to serving the TASS organization on the board.
Marilyn Reed - Membership Water baby from early on. Started as a kid crabbing on Galveston Bay with my dad. Graduated to power boats and shrimping on Matagorda Bay in my 20s. Progressed to sail in early 30s. As interest and experi- ence increased and education continued, bought the boat in 2009. Been on the TASS Board ever since as either Social or Membership. Go TASS!
Shirley Nicola – Secretary Grew up in Va. Beach where I surfed and sailed as a teenager and did- n’t come back to sailing till 10 year’s ago when I found TASS. With the TASS Skippers and their super Sailors they have taken me a long way in my Sailing abilities and now I’m trying to pass ASA 105. I’ve also been on the TASS Board 4 times now, and enjoyed every minute of it with our Sailing community.
TASS Topsider TASS TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL SAILORS
Commodore by Jay Leggett Mike Vaughn – Fleet I have been sailing off and on since age sixteen and love being on the water. Also, it is interesting to introduce others to sailing.
Joanne Moschella – Social Active and enthusiastic about our club and looking forward to the coming year. ASA certifications include 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, and 118. Welcome any suggestions and assistance for upcoming events.
Nancy Welch – Purser I first had a chance to sail, reluctantly, about 12 years ago. To my surprise I fell in love with sailing. TASS provided me the opportunity to learn to sail and to meet people willing to share their knowledge. Through TASS I gained the confidence to own a boat, become a TASS skipper, and go on some amazing sailing adventures. I’m excited about being on the board again.
Charlie Holcomb – Treasurer Semi retired CPA. Love sailing and travel
Thann Dauterive – Webmaster From pirogue to sail boat and watercraft's between, I grew up loving water. Living in San Francis- co Bay for 14 years introduced me to sailing over 10 years ago. Moving to the greater Houston/Kemah area 2016, I found my “TRIBE” in TASS after attending my first meeting in Ke- mah. Since then, I have served on the board as Co- Social & Membership Directors. This year I am very excited to be the first Social Media Director elected to the TASS board. It should be an ex- citing year as we implement new software and our new website and I am proud to be spearheading this project. I am looking forward to the support of all the great TASS members current and NEW!
Huge thanks to our 2017 Board members that have served for many years; Meade LeBlanc (Secretary, Topsider & Blast editor), Jim LeBlanc (Vice-Commodore), Raj Desai (Purser), Shirley Nicola (Social, now serving as Secretary), and Marilyn Reed (Social, now serving as Membership); plus several that served in ad-hoc positions, Andrew Clark (Race Czar) and Dick Calloway (photos) -- our club would not be what is without your countless hours of service to TASS.
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Membership Corner by Thann Dauterive
2017 Membership In Review
January opened with 214 active members and closed with 170 members. New Members in 2017 totaled 30 Non-Renewal’s in 2017 totaled 74 Net Loss of overall membership in 2017 resulted in a total of (-44) members.
We also track the number of people that “join” the Meetup group social media site. This is an open forum site whereby TASS can advertise and gain potential new TASS members. Because of the nature of data gathering from the Meetup site it is difficult to capture the people that “join” TASS Meetup” and converted to TASS Active Members, however, we do know that we pick up members and also sailors that join on leisure sails over the year. In 2017 our Meetup page at- tracted 91 people who signed up to track TASS online.
Researching recreational sailing in the US it is discovered that boat sales have been on a decline over the past 5 years (new & used). Additionally, the sailing community shows an aging sailing community, many switching from the physical sport of sailing and trading in their sailboats for mo- toring vessels (less physical) to operate. This same trend seems to track with the decline over the past 2 years we have seen in membership for TASS.. Amongst Millennials (our primary target for new members), it seems TV time is a top activity and much time is consumed with internet & computers.
That said, TASS has always had a mission to “ENCOURAGE, PROMOTE, AND DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE, PARTICIPATION, AND ENJOYMENT OF ALL ASPECTS OF THE RECREA- TIONAL SPORT OF SAILING”. This year we will continue to focus on expanding the member- ship of TASS and to carry on the 34 year transition of this terrific organization. Though our great community we can all enhance membership by referrals, bringing a friend or neighbor to a meet- ing and even taking someone sailing on a TASS sail. In spite of the stats, we are encouraged by the 2018 activities, sailing and race schedule and surrounding events that this year our member- ship will expand once again. TOGETHER, let’s make this a prosperous 2018, Thann
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Membership Corner by Thann Dauterive
Sailor Birthday Kenneth Albers 1 Mary Mann 1 Dick Callaway 9 Nancy Kahlden 13 Lois Geyer 14 Gayle Dale 16 Laura Marlin 18 Laurie Sapp 19 Wally Collins 19 Ron Rogers 27
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola and Marilyn Reed
It has been a year as your Co-Social Directors, so our time has passed and now a new Social Director will be on board. But I wanted our members to know it was a privilege to have served in the club for its members and a devotion to be a part of the Sailing Community we have developed. Thank you for making it so enjoyable. We both look forward to a fun-packed and industrious year in our new capacities as Secretary and Membership respectively. Thank you entrusting these positions to us. Onward!
Black-Eyed Pea Annual Contest January 1, 2018 Black-Eyed Pea contest was hosted by Lois & Neil Geyer in Dick- inson with over 25 TASS members attending. Lot of tasty peas and other goodies along with College Football that day. Nancy Kahlden, 3rd place. Pat Fitch 2nd place Gary Powers won the pea trophy for 1st place!
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
The Houston Yacht Club hosted Sharon Green, a Top Yachting Photographer to speak at the Club on January 17, 2018. Many of our Female TASS Sailors including had reservations to at- tend but the iced over-passes in Houston kept many of us from attending. We really missed out. But Babs Bukowski and Nancy Welsh were in the area and were able to make the trip. Below is a summary of her pictures as seen in the eyes of Babs.
SAILING IS A MAGNIFICENT, COLORFUL AND DRAMATIC SPORT.
THIS UNIQUE SPORT HAS MANY VARIABLES WITH THE CONSTANTLY
CHANGING ELEMENTS, SEA CONDITIONS, BOATS, EVENTS, COM-
PETITORS AND LOCATIONS. THE CHALLENGE IS TO CAPTURE ON
FILM ELECTRIFYING MOMENTS THAT TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY.
THOSE MOMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES ARE VERY FEW, BUT WHEN
THEY HAPPEN... IT IS ULTIMATE SAILING."
~ SHARON GREEN
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
By: Babs Bokowski
Sharon Green, a world renowned yachting photo journalist, visited HYC. I am her rock star groupie !
When I raced with John Taylor on his J36, Flying Cloud, Sharon's Ultimate Sailing calendar was the present JT gave his top crew. The year I got my first calendar I thought I had won Olympic gold!
Sharon uses multimedia to describe her body of work which spans more than 30 years. As she spoke her truth, I recognized the person I had come to know through her Ultimate Sailing calen- dars.
In sum, Sharon exclaimed, "I shoot to thrill !"
Sharon's inspires many a sailor, including Dr. Babs Bukowski, sponsor of the Mermaid Regatta.
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
Here are pics of Babs' sweet spot as seen through Sharon's eyes and some of her magazine co- vers:
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
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Social Report by Shirley Nicola
Now, where's your sailing sweet spot ? Visit www.ultimatesailing.com to find The Ultimate Sailing calendar, performance apparel, novelties, prints, digital images, and her book, 30 Years of Ultimate Sailing."
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Icicle Race Pictures
7 of our TASS boats are participating in the GBCA Icicle Races this season. The stars are our charter boat - Nightwind skippered by Jay Leggett and Urs Rathgeb; Amore - Marilyn Reed; Astarte - Cheryl Morvillo; Hobgoblin - Marty Pedowicz; Stellar of Course - Ron Eddelman; Wandering Star - Rob Sherrill; and Oxbow - Andrew Clark. It has been alternately lovely, foggy, rainy, and/or cold and our stalwart sailors have hung in there! Go TASS!
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Financial Summary
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Tech Talk
Do you know the difference between slanted and straight chart symbols on your navigational chart? Is there an easy method to help you identify at-a-glance how an aid to navigation--buoys, beacons or lighthouses--would look in reality?
Slanted Letters
Cartographers use hunched over, slanted letters to identify chart symbols that move, change or shift in tides, currents or storms at sea. This isn't really an italicized slant, but more like a "leaning" cluster of letters.
Bottom characteristics also change as the tide moves in or out, so you will find the same slanted lettering on chart sym- bols like sand S, Mud M or coral Co. You'll find slanted lettering next to wrecks, names of sounds, coves or harbors.
Vertical Letters
Fixed, immovable objects are named, lettered or identified with straight up and down letters. Fixed aids to navigation like light structures, daybeacons and lighthouses don't move with the tide (at least you hope they don't!). Nor do islands, mountains or cities.
Floating aids to navigation interpretation
The Coast Guard maintains over 30,000 floating and fixed aids to navigation in the United States and its possessions. Every small boat cruising skipper must be able to interpret at-a-glance the meaning of chart symbol letters near such symbols.
This lighted buoy (top left illustration) shows RW "SW" Mo (A). The painted color--RW in this example, always comes first. This stands for red and white vertical stripes. The vertical line down the middle of the buoy body represents these stripes. Other painted colors include:
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Tech Talk
G for green R for red Y for yellow RG for red and green horizontal banded (red band on top)
GR for green and red horizontal banded (green band on top) BR for black and red horizontal banded
These are the most common painted color abbreviations found on US charts.
Next, the name of the aid appears inside quotation marks. In this case, you find "SW" as the name of this red and white vertical striped buoy. After the name, you will find the light characteristic.
Our buoy flashes the Morse code character "A", which is a short-long flash. If the light is colored, you will see an R (red), G (green), or Y (yellow) right after the light characteristic. If no color abbreviation appears in the description, then it's a white light. This aid has a white light.
Fixed aids to navigation interpretation
Notice the straight up and down lettering on this fixed light structure (top right illustration). If you see no painted color on a fixed structure, you can assume that the dayboards on top of the structure show the same color as that of the light (in this case green). At night, this light shows a green light that flashes every four seconds.
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TASS Membership Fees TASS Officers We’re on the web: February 2018—January, 2019 New ...... $65.00 Renewal before expiration . . . . $60.00 www.sailTASS.com Out-of-town/state ...... $15.00 Meetings Commodore ...... Jay Leggett [email protected] ...... 713-459-0094 Every Thursday Night Vice-Commodore ...... ……. . Urs Rathgeb [email protected] 6:00 pm—Social Hour Fleet Coordinator ...... Michael Vaughan [email protected] 7:00 pm—Meeting Membership Director ...... …….. . . . Marilyn Reed TASS Sails [email protected] Check the calendar at Social Director— ...... ………….. . Joanne Moschella Leisure Day & Moonlight sails [email protected] sailtass.com for details Social Media Directo ...... ……………. Thann Dauterive $50/members; $65/Guests [email protected]. Purser ...... …...... Nancy Welch Day sails depart at 12 or 1 pm till 5 [email protected] or 6 pm Treasurer ...... Charlie Holcomb [email protected] Moonlight sails depart at 6 pm till 11 Secretary ...... …. . … . . Shirley Nicola pm [email protected]
Crew Training Sails
$60/members; $75/guests