…A Little Dinghy

…a little dinghy

November 2015 Gold Country Yacht Club monthly Newsletter Call for more info: 530-272-6969

Volume 37, Issue 11 From the Commodore

Hi all, the first snow has fallen here in Grass Valley so there is some hope that we will have a lake behind the dam at Scotts Flat. We are only 6 months away Regular Columns: from our next Go for the Gold Regatta and already the planning has started. What better way to spend these cold winter days than thinking about sailing in • From the the nice warm summer breezes on the lake? Well, if you're interested in help- Commodore 1 ing out or racing this year please let us know.

• Club Notices 3 I hope everyone had a • Membership 3 happy Thanksgiving this year. Donna and I • Classifieds 6 went to relatives in the Sacramento area and had a great time. My nephew cooked a tur- key on a rotisserie over a fire pit, it was very good. We will be in Puerto Vallarta at the time of the Christmas Party this year, so we wish you all a great time at the party and a very Merry Christmas to Individual all. Highlights: Howard Hendrich

• Shift Change 2 Commodore, GCYC s/v Alice, Catalina 30 • Macho Man 4

• SFL Forecast 6

March 2013 General Club

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At Our Helm Shift Change Rick Paulson

Commodore Howard Hendrich The time has come for me to give someone else in the club an opportunity to serve 530-272-6969 as a channel for GCYC’s many talented officers and scribes. I’ve enjoyed this en- [email protected] deavor even more than I expected, and because of that may have over-stayed my welcome. It’s been a fun 5 years and before I turn this post over to a very promising Vice Commodore editor in Dave Cowell, I’d like to share some of my favorite content from …a little Phillip Easley dinghy during my tenure. 530-477-6806 [email protected] My first issue it was an honor to introduce the new commodore, Chris Buti. Chris’s opening statement Secretary alongside the Buti family’s first sailboat, a Venture Debbie Mack 21, “It feels odd writing my first Commodore’s 925-899-0739 message in “…a little dinghy”. I have been with [email protected] this club nearly 20 years now and I have so many memories to share with all of my fellow ship- Treasurer mates.” Chris served a productive 2 years as the Stephanie Perry GCYC Commodore. 530-887-9522 [email protected] Of course there’s no forget- ting our perpetual Race Cruise Chairman Committee Chair, and my Vacant race skipper, Jerry Lewis,

here sporting his Aussie look during the 2011 GFTG Re- Publicity/Membership gatta. Teresa Gaman

530-272-8042 Remember Don an and Katie [email protected] Wight departing the Gate on Port Captain their adventure to the lower Baja regions (redun- dant?)? How fun that was to share in their adven- Bryant Cockcroft 530-265-5196 tures, so well chronicled by Katie throughout their [email protected] travels!

There have been so many excellent contributions Race Chairman Jerry Lewis to …a lil dinghy during these five years that I 530-272-9380 could fill several pages with great photos and [email protected] quotes from our talented club members.

Newsletter Editor But of course I can’t neglect to recognize our most prolific Rick Paulson contributor, the bard of GCYC, Dudley. To date his volumes 530-274-2549 include Going to Town, Offshore workout, The Lost Screen, [email protected] Gas Pains, That Damn Noise, Stopping Traffic, A Whale Tale, Type Casting, Mandarum, Dudley’s Philosophy of Sailing, Sailing Education Book Learnin’, Bucket List, Island Time, Rules, Going Gold, Hugh Talman Sights and Sounds, Away Sailing, A History of Scott’s Flat 530-272-2344 Lake, and in this issue, Macho Man. It’s been an [email protected] honor and a pleasure editing and posting your work, matey. Keep the creative juices flowing.

I leave …a little dinghy (the newsletter of course) in good hands. Dave Cowell’s dry humor and passion for sailing will guarantee plenty of good information and entertain- ment for the GCYC. Thanks for the support these years and see you on the water!

Rick Paulson Newsletter Editor s/v Oski, Catalina 22

Page 3 of 11 …a little dinghy Teresa’s Membership Log Club Notices Ahoy Friends, Suggestion Box As some of you know, I am stepping down from the Membership/Publicity You can anonymously make rec- Board seat. It was a fun-filled 3 years ommendations to our board of di- and I really enjoyed meeting such a rectors with a mind to make this great group of people. You will be in an even better yacht club! good hands because Hugh Talman has graciously stepped up to the helm and It can be found at www.gcyc.net will replace me as your new Member- or with this link: ship/Publicity Director. He has a lot of experience in this Yacht Club, and, he has a sincere, positive attitude about its existence and future. Thank you, Hugh, and, thanks to GCYC for letting me serve. Free Sailing Magazines Put your hands together for new mem- Latitude 38 and 48 North maga- ber, Thomas Poppleton (and first mate zines can be picked up anytime Terry Graban) from Nevada City, whom at 148 Richardson Street in we met at the last General Meeting on Grass Valley. They are in the

November 11th. He has a 1976 26' driveway in the BLUE MAIL- Balboa, named LaBall Troth. BOX. Usually we get them be- tween the 2nd and 4th of the All hands on deck -- I look forward to seeing you all at the Annual Holiday Awards month. They are also available Banquet on Saturday, December 5th, at Ponderosa Hall, 11228 McCourtney Road, at the general meeting. Nevada County Fairgrounds, Grass Valley. I'm sure by now you've received a call from Katie Wight regarding the pot luck dinner, pirate gift exchange (1 gift per Family with 2 steals), and the rest of the evening's schedule. Please RSVP to Katie so we Club Meetings know how many tables to prepare. The last meeting was held Wednesday, November 11th. Appetizers begin at 5:00, dinner begins at 6:00. Thank you, Katie, for all your hard The next General meeting will work preparing for this wonderful party. We look forward to seeing everyone there. be held at Alta Sierra Pizza; And, don't forget your dancing shoes! Wednesday, January 13th dine from 6pm, Commodore’s bell at If you haven't renewed your membership this year, and you want to attend the party, 7pm to start the meeting. please renew now for 2016. Thank you. (The club meets the 2nd Happy Holidays! Wednesday of every month but December, and two Wednes- Teresa Gaman days before the Gold Country Membership/Publicity Director Regatta.) GCYC s/v Kia Orana, Catalina 36 s/v Blown Away, Capri 18

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Macho Man by Dudley

I may not be a racer, but that doesn't mean that I'm above showing off my sailing skills whenever someone is watch- ing. There is nothing better looking than a perfectly trimmed sailboat beating to weather, wind in the hair, spray on the face, boat healing at its most efficient angle. And there is, or at least was, never an excuse for using the motor when there was wind blowing. That would be a sign of weakness.

Teresa and I had sailed our Catalina 27, Invictus, up to spend Friday night in Alameda before heading over to a raft-up at Clipper Cove the next day. Saturday morning the wind was ripping down the Oakland Estuary. Clearly using poor judgement, I decided it would be more manly to beat up the channel than to use the motor. We set off on a port tack and making good speed, but little progress, we tacked back toward the other side of the channel. And we tacked back, and forth, and back, and forth. Motoring boats were passing us on our left. They were passing us on the right. And we kept tacking. I was having fun against the challenge, but had I been more attentive to my mate, I would have noticed that she wasn't sharing my glee.

We'd probably tacked about 40 times when Teresa stomps down below muttering, “I'm never going sailing again.” No sooner had she ducked her head inside than, BOOM! CRASH! Suddenly the mast was bent at a 90 degree angle with the lower part draped across the deck and the upper part dragging alongside with the sails madly flapping in the water. Curiosity getting the best of her, Teresa came back topside to see that we had a problem and her anger slowly gave way to helping me figure out what to do.

We fired up the old Atomic 4 and got control of the boat. Being in no immediate danger, we decided to head for the nearest dock which happened to be an abandoned collection of pilings and rotten wood with ugly nails menacingly protruding as potential hazards. Probably not the best dock to use in such a blow, so we motored onward down the channel. We were soon joined off our starboard side by a police boat that had noticed our misfortune and come to offer assistance. Assuring them we were fine and we needed no help, which would have been another sign of weakness, they left us to figure out what to do with the damage.

We had the equipment aboard to cut the mast loose and let it sink to the bottom, but not being sure what our insurance company would cover, I decided to save as much as possible. The jib was easy to recover, but there was no way to retrieve the main attached to the bent mast. So we slowly motored on toward Jack London Square where we happened upon a vacant double-wide slip big enough to fit into with the bent mast hanging over the side. We tied up to the starboard side and I got onto the dock to access the damage and figure out what to do.

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We had to separate the mast from the boat, so the first step was secure the mast to a cleat on the dock and unscrew all eight turnbuckles from the deck. Once the mast was free of the boat, Teresa and I wrestled the L-shaped mast onto the dock where we could remove the main. We then stripped everything from the mast: standing rigging, running rigging, spreaders, and boom until we were down to the bare, bent mast which with the convenient bend fit nicely on the dock.

I went to the harbormaster's office, but it was closed on weekends so leaving a message that we had left a broken mast on their dock and that we would remove it on Monday morning, we headed off for the raft-up under motor power. You look pretty silly in a sailboat without a mast, even sillier than motoring a fully-functional sailboat into a strong headwind. And I have come to accept that testing ones testosterone level is not healthy for a relationship...or the boat.

BTW: The insurance company covered the cost of a new mast, boom, spreaders, standing and running rigging. The sails survived unscathed. I returned to Oakland the fol- lowing Monday, as promised, cut the mast into 5 foot lengths, and hauled it away. The reason for the mast fail- ure was a broken threaded T- bolt toggle jaw on the starboard forward lower shroud turnbuckle. The 1979 Cata- lina 27 used a 2-piece T-bolt and the 2 pieces separated in a spot not visible with a visual inspection (see picture).

Dudley s/v Kia Orana, Catalina 36 s/v Blown Away, Capri 18

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Will there be Water in SFL this year? Dave Cowell

I've been asked that question several times recently. Everyone wants to figure out whether to buy a season pass and rent either a parking spot or mooring ball. That's a Boatbuck commitment. Last year I did neither; not because of any great premonition or research into the effects of the drought but luckily personal issues. Of course everyone saw the early graph put out by NID about the expected levels of SFL (below). But that was mostly dis-information as it combined both water level indication (height above sea level) and water quantity information (acre-feet of storage). The duck on the right is sitting at the current water level. But the red and green lines don't represent lake level they are estimates of lake volume which was not very well thought out since the volume isn't linear and the shoreline and useable (sailing) lake definitely not proportional to the level. We should make our own graph this year.

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The actual historical data looks more like this:

45000

40000

35000

30000

25000

20000 AF 15000

10000

5000

This graph was made from the CDEC recorded data for SFL.

What's of note was that NID told us that they couldn't fill the lake because of repairs being done to the South Yuba Canal from Lake Spaulding. That flume is the only source of water for all of the NID distribution system of the NC-GV area. Note the extensive ditches:

Cascade Canal Red Hill Canal Buffington Canal Red Hill Reservoir and Pipe Cascade Shores Treatment Plant

Snow Mountain Canal Upper Grass Valley Canal Willow Valley Canal Elizabeth George Treatment Plant Cement Hill Canal Lake Vera Pipe Lower Grass Valley Canal Sugarloaf Reservoir and Pipe Alta Hill Reservoir Nevada City Treatment Plant

Loma Rica Reservoir Loma Rica Treatment Plant

And, of course Deer Creek has to have a flow for ecological and esthetic reasons. (That is augmented below Nevada City by the treatment plant recycled water so that Lake Wildwood has an increased flow. Ditto for Wolf Creek below Grass Valley.)

Consider also the Deer Creek Power house which is just above the Cascade Canal. It has contractual water delivery for PG&E power generation. So, there had to be water in the South Yuba Canal since no-one in

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town ran out of water. There is the state mandate for cities to reduce consumption so the demands were reduced and obviously in-flow was able to meet them.

What is NID's plan for 2016? The South Yuba canal is fixed and the El Nino is supposed to cure the drought so you have a rosy outlook. Scotts Flat isn't a flood control reservoir and so it can be filled whenever there's an excess of water coming in from both rain, snow melt and the BT flume to what's being used in the ditches and Deer creek. (Some of us remember days when Deer Creek flooded the lower floors of what's now Lefty's Bar and Grill. So there's hope on that front. Just hope.)

SFL, Combie and Rawlins are what's considered the Low Division storage system of NID. If you peruse the NID Mas- ter Plan of 2007 you'll see they have a prescriptive Water Right of 112,784 total and 101,384 useable acre-feet of water from the South Yuba River and creeks above the Bowman Lake road that flow into the Bowman-Spaulding canal. Of that water 48,547 and 43,547 acre-feet go into SFL (historically) and of course what falls in the Deer Creek drainage.

Still looking at the NID Master Plan section 5.4.1.1 there's some interesting points made for their determination of the supplies.

Paraphrasing:

1. PG&E will get the same water needed for the Deer Creek Powerhouse. 2. Upper Division reservoirs will be filled first. 3. During the irrigation season future South Yuba Canal imports will be used solely to make deliveries to the Cascade Canal.(quoted) 4. The system will be operated such that the primary effect of increased water demand in the Deer Creek Sys- tem will be increasingly lower water surface elevations at Scotts Flat Reservoir at the end of the irrigation season, over time. (quoted)

What's the natural flow into the lake. According to the Plan it's an average of "34,229 acre-feet, of which 4,249 acre- feet occurs during the summer."

Moving on to the Master Plan 5.4.1.1.3 they take the overall Deer Creek system demands and subtract the summer inflow to get the requirement for storage (lake level) water of 16,276 acre-feet. So at the current level of 19,460 A-F they only have to put it up to 35,736 A-F which is where it was at high pool this past year. What a coincidence.

So the question is: Will NID put more water into the lake before the irrigation season and will the El Nino bring more water from the drainage to bring the lake up to desired level?

El Nino can be a curse. According to NOAA the warmer ocean water will bring heavier rain and snow to the Southern Sierra but not necessarily the Northern. The storms are supposed to be wetter but warmer which combined with the lower elevations here could be a problem. Anyone remember the New Year’s flood of 1998, it rained to 9,000 feet and washed off a lot of snow. The Upper Division reservoirs have to be held at a flood pool until the end of March and so during a rain event that water could be used unless the government changes the rule like they did this year. If not then none of that water will make it into SFL. Depending on the snowpack spring run-off will only be held at the Upper Divi- sion lakes. Why? Because of evaporation rates and power generation contracts.

As a kayaker I used to watch the SF Yuba come up in May/June when first Bowman filled and spilled and then Spaulding filled and spilled. The Yuba River would rise from 500 cfs to 2000 cfs and the kayakers would flock to Ed- wards. (The river deaths would rise too as people miss-judged the power in the new flow. As a reference the New Year’s flood had 30,000 cfs and the Bridgeport Covered Bridge almost washed off its foundation.)

So, what's the answer? Until the end of the year if it rains at Donner pass - forget it. If there's a snowpack at Snow Mountain (5,000 ft) get your money out. If it rains in February plan on having a short season and probably the same kind of year. So far we're below average rainfall. The three month climate outlook has us only at 40% chance of above "Normal" precipitation during which the drought continues. We won't really know until March. The key will be the snowpack! Until the Upper Division lakes are filled don't expect anything to top off SFL.

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The Master Plan 5.4.1.1.5 says it all:

“For much of the winter the natural flow in Deer Creek below Scotts Flat is greater than NID's demand for water in the canals below the reservoir, so the majority of the demand for winter water is met by utilizing these natural flows. The net inflow of 33,381 acre-feet would be enough to offset the summer deficit of 28,143 acre-feet, and during an average year would refill the reservoir to full pool prior to the start of the irrigation season.”

But wait…, there's another player. PG&E has just finished a re-licensing of the Deer Creek Powerhouse with the Fed- eral Energy Regulation Commission. There's a lot to see in that and the contract with NID. If there's interest I'll bring that up in a subsequent article.

The issue at hand is that although NID's operation of the Cascade Canal and SFL outflow meets water customer re- quirements it minimizes the recreational value of the lake. You'll never see a picture on their website showing the current condition, will you? The lake's always full. They should be accused of false advertising.

What can we do to mitigate the situation? Purchase water to fill the lake? Move to Rawlins? Pressure NID to fill the lake by boycotting or demonstrating? Join with GCFF and SYRCL to pressure for more flow in Deer Creek below the dams in the fall? In other words become pro-active.

Keep your fingers crossed for a snowpack. I'm not buying my pass until April.

Dave Cowell 2016 Newsletter Editor s/v Mas Tiempo, Islander 30

Classifieds

Flying Junior Sailboat for Sale – Contact Port Captain Bryant Cockroft for more information: . 530-265-5196 or email [email protected]

Asking $600

13.25’ molded plywood and fiberglass club racer, cen- terboard dinghy, fractional sloop, in fair/good condition with nearly new Pineapple sails.

No trailer

Gold Country Yacht I have a 1987 Macgregor 26 D for sale $4500.00 Club Will consider trades, full or partial. Tom Grimaldi 209-617-2115

PO Box 813 Grass Valley, CA 95945

PHONE: 530-272-6969

E-MAIL:

[email protected]

On the Web See us at:

www.gcyc.net

J24 1980. Very fast boat. Hull and standing rigging is in good condition with many updates. Has large sail in- ventory including 2 spinna- kers, several sets of working sails and one brand new set of racing sails. Carbon fiber spinnaker pole, duplicate set of blocks and sheets. Tactic sail computer, Sony marine am/fm dvd player stereo and VHF marine radio. Single axle trailer and a great mooring spot at Scotts Flat Lake! $5900.

Call Seth - 530 292 3274.

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For Sale 1977 Banshee Sailboat

13 feet long, 4 ‘11”beam, 120 lbs., Fiberglass Trailer included!

$850

Call Kate, 916-350-0947 or email [email protected]