Watermark March 2021 #207

20/3/2021

SOME OF US HAVE GONE TO THE DARK SIDE

Bill and Lis's new boat John and Jill's new boat

Birthdays
March          Pam Nelson, Jan Probert, Rob Lorden, Michael McCook
April            Barry Jones, Roger Hawthorne, Peter Longbottom, Lyn Viskovich
May              Trent Stephens, Ian Rennie

Rob’s Ramblings – aka Commodore’s Report
It has been an interesting month with the Prada and America’s cup events and catching up with various club members at the top end of Waiheke, Waikalabubu and Woody Bay in the last month. It is good to see other club members organising land based events to interesting places on terra firma.
We look forward to our next on the water event at Huruhi- Picnic Bay on the 20th March, weather permitting, and catching up again.   Hopefully we can get to meet the two club members’ newly acquired boats on the weekend.
Our clubs “best places for coffee advisor” introduced us to the French café Bisou at Surfdale a couple of weeks ago and we will be recommending Sunday brunch there.   There is both a walking and a dinghying option to get there. We are keen to go back.

We are also keen to hear from members about what they want to do on the water and off it.    We will be putting together a draft sailing programme for the next sailing season and would like to hear from sailors any suggestions they may have.   Please give us a call or drop us a line if you have any suggestions.
Similarly we would like to hear from members about any ideas they have for formal or informally organised events. Barbara McEwan (chair of our social committee) and I would love to hear your ideas.
Stay safe out there on land and water and go team NZ go team NZ (if they haven’t gone by the time you have read this.)
Rob
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Off Water events
AGM 26TH JUNE
More details to follow

On Water Events
Easter 2nd to 5th April: Round island trip, Izzy bay/ Oneroa/Man o War Bay /Rocky Bay
ANZAC 24th April: Old Fox to Owhanake

This month’s bad joke

One day, an elderly man Jimmy was walking down Main Street when he saw his old buddy Fred driving a brand new pickup. Fred pulled up to him with a wide grin.
“Fred where’d you get that truck?!”
“Mary gave it to me,” Fred replied.
“She gave it to you? I knew she was kinda sweet on ya, but a new truck?”
“Well, Jimmy, let me tell you what happened. We were driving out on County Road 6, in the middle of nowhere.
Mary pulled off the road, put the truck in 4-wheel drive and headed into the woods.
She parked the truck got out, threw off all her clothes and said,
‘Fred, take whatever you want.’ So I took the truck!”
“You’re a smart man, Fred! Them clothes wouIda never fit you.”

Nautical History
Why Ships Use "Port" and "Starboard"
Unlike left and right, "port" and "starboard" refer to fixed locations on a vessel.
Since port and starboard never change, they are unambiguous references that are independent of a mariner’s orientation, and, thus, mariners use these nautical terms instead of left and right to avoid confusion. When looking forward, toward the bow of a ship, port and starboard refer to the left and right sides, respectively.
In the early days of boating, before ships had rudders on their centerlines, boats were controlled using a steering oar. Most sailors were right handed, so the steering oar was placed over or through the right side of the stern. Sailors began calling the right side the steering side, which soon became "starboard" by combining two Old English words: stéor (meaning "steer") and bord (meaning "the side of a boat").
As the size of boats grew, so did the steering oar, making it much easier to tie a boat up to a dock on the side opposite the oar. This side became known as larboard, or "the loading side." Over time, larboard—too easily confused with starboard—was replaced with port. After all, this was the side that faced the port, allowing supplies to be ported aboard by porter
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Toilet paper test

Lately I, and a couple of others, have been having a few troubles with the macerator pump fuel blowing in our holding tank system, I suspected that it was caused by toilet paper jamming the pump up, so I decide to carry out little test. Taking three brands (below) the earth care and camp soft are meant to be dissolving or biodegradable.