Sunday, November 2, 2014, 2:00:00 AM clocks are turned back 1 hour   

As I said in my last article I don't look at it as the end of sailing season but the beginning of a new season, that season being maintenance!  This Saturday is our all day work party; you will find many jobs both inside and out in the Job Jar.  On top of the usual jobs of cleaning and polishing we will begin the renovation/clean up of the Junior Sailing School washrooms.  This is an area that has been neglected for a long time.  The objective is to make them brighter and easier to clean.  The end result will look very similar to the restrooms by the pool at Port Credit Yacht Club.  The demolition will start Saturday led by Mike Robertson.  We are looking for a few people to help and ultimately a member who would like to take the lead on this project.  If you have any interest in this please let myself or Mike Robertson know.

At the begginning of the season we introduced swipe cards for members to use at the bar to open their tabs for the day.   One of the recommendations of our auditors was to move to a cashless society.  Part of this process was to make sure tabs were opened under the correct name and member number; hence the cards.  I have asked the bar staff to start asking for them to get us used to it.  If you do not have your card, your name and member number still works. The real advantage to this is that your order won't end up on another member's bill and vice versa.  Please remember that when the bar staff ask for your card, they are doing what we have asked of them.

One committee that you may not be aware of is the Archive Committee.  This group has been going for the past year.  They are tasked with collecting and digitizing all of our old records, minutes of meetings and pictures.  Mel Trottier; who heads this committee, contacted the University of Toronto Information Program for guidance on this project.  We, as a club were used in a credit course with students  assisting us for a semester.  One student, Maegen Ayre who started with us as a student last fall has come back on her own time to see this project to completion.  The committee saw it only fitting that we thank Maegan by giving her an honourary Junior Membership in recognition of her outstanding efforts for us.

I would like to thank the Entertainment Committee for all of their efforts in putting on a great Halloween Party this past Saturday.  As usual they raised the bar on the decorations and theme and a good time was had by all.

Well that's all I have for this week, see you Saturday at the club.

Mike Macdonald

If you already know what jobs you can fulfill please sign up for new jobs in the job jar.  If you are not sure where you can fit in, then we can advise you first thing Saturday morning and help will be available to sign you up.  I cannot assist individuals by email ahead of time.

You can be on more than one team as long as you are not required on both teams at the same time.  As you sign up you will receive an acknowledgement email.  If there is a reason for any change of team work before any work party each affected member will also receive an email from the team lead.

Here is a list of work teams that will be active starting November 1^st and will continue till further notice.  Watch this space for notice of other work team starts as work progresses.

Active Teams November 1 until work team job is complete.

Remove interlock and store

Anchor Fabrication Team

Waler Fabrication Team 

Tie-Back Fabrication Team 

Metal Cutting Team

Sheet Steel Drilling Team

The contractor will start driving the new wall next Tuesday, November 4^th or Wednesday for three days. Workers who are available for the mid-week team to assist should sign up now or speak to me Saturday morning.  We need about five workers to supply the contractor with steel as the machine moves along the wall.

Roger Marsh

We'd like to say thank you to everyone who donned their freakiest, scariest and funniest costumes on Saturday night for ABYC's Famous Halloween Party!  Your spirit and enthusiasm truly made it a 'FAMOUS' night to remember.

Also, thank you to all the volunteers who made ABYC's Famous Halloween Party such a success!  We couldn't have done it without your help.  

Happy Halloween & Trick-or-Treat!

Written by,

Natasha Brahmachari & Alex Beitinger (DAS BOLT)

http://www.startrek.com/article/was-michael-myers-halloween-mask-william-shatners-face 

Also, check out the pumpkin creations...

Make sure you take a few minutes to check out the wonderful Jack O'Lanterns created by our very own ABYC members.  These pumpkins really set the mood for our Halloween party last Saturday night.   

Thank you for your creativity!  

To see photos of the Pumpkin Carving & the Halloween Party, click on the following link:

ABYC 2014 Halloween 

What's the origin of the large mast that serves as our flagpole in front of the clubhouse?

Imagine it is a crisp, cold February evening. The southwest wind is light but sharp as it blows gently off the lake and over the point along the harbour's edge.  Two people are standing on the lawn of the new clubhouse alongside a roughly fifty-foot piece of fir from British Colombia.  It is around 7:30 p. m. and the fire in the forty-five gallon drum is finally burning nicely.  Ed blows into his hands and then spreads them out over the flame to warm them for a few moments.  His teenage son Bill heaps a few more taper shavings onto the fire. He warms his hands too, and his tools, before returning to their work.  In a few months, this solid timber will be the handsome, stately mast that will serve as ABYC's new flagpole.

Ed Wilson and his son crafted the wooden mast over the course of four months in 1978, from January to April.  "Why then, in the dead of winter?" I asked.  Replied, Ed, "Well, because in May, we launched our boats and by then our time was spent sailing and tending to them."   "Ah, but of course." I said.  And so, working from a single picture of a tall ship that Hans Ballman, the yardmaster at the time, had given him, one that included no instructions, only measurements for a square-rigger mast, which Ed scaled down to size, he and his son spent every weekday evening during that winter and early spring planing and shaping the square piece of fir into the structure we see today.

The very base of the mast retains its original timbered dimensions.  Shaping the cylindrical part of the structure above the base required dedicated patience and skill.  Ed and his son started by removing 1˝" of wood from each corner above  the base of the mast.  They used a skill saw first and then a rip saw to obtain a finer cut. With an axe and an adze, they planed the 8-sided piece of wood into 16 sides.  Once it was 16 sides, they planed continuously, always with the grain, until all pointed edges were gone and the timber was smooth and round.  Ed and Bill crafted the topmast that sits above the crow's nest in the same fashion. They also crafted the yardarms.

Otto Van Dam poured the concrete base for the pole.  He also crafted much of the steel work we see today. Otto designed and crafted the stately crow's nest and he assembled the original standing rigging.  He used turnbuckles that Al Stapleton had secured from a local engineering firm, which remain in use today.

Unfortunately, after a few years, the steel cables succumbed to the elements and had to be replaced.  As it happened, Ed held a splicing school at the club on Saturday mornings so he and his students took on assembling all of the standing rigging we see today.  Just as Otto had done, over the course of several weeks, they served, parceled, spliced eyes, and eventually painted and attached the rigging to the pole. There are approximately 36 splices all together.  Two lightning rods ground the structure.

On a sunny warm day in the spring of 1978 the flagpole was raised for the first time.  Lanyards had been attached and during a ceremony that is in accordance with nautical tradition, the ABYC burgee, and the Canadian, Ontario, and United States flags were hoisted.  To this day, they are raised and lowered in the same order each morning and evening.

With thanks to:

Ed Wilson, Otto Van Dam, Al Stapleton, Grace Stapleton.

Most of our new members who have joined the club in the last 8 years or so, probably take our beautiful Island Garden in front of our clubhouse for granted.  But in fact this Garden has a history.

Before we had this garden, the Island was just overgrown with a green ground cover that was hard to maintain and didn't look very welcoming as you drove up the driveway.

Several years ago Carolyn and Brian Neysmith decided that we needed a more beautiful and welcoming Island Garden and then personally engaged and funded a Landscape Architect to design a new garden for the Club.

They then asked a few members, myself included, to help them get rid of all the ground cover and help prepare the ground for replanting.  After this was done they purchased and planted perennial and annual plants and created a new beautiful centerpiece in front of the Clubhouse.

Each year since then they have attended the garden from spring to fall.  They purchase and plant new annuals and update and replace perennial plants when appropriate.

So when you next look at this very attractive Island Garden say a quick thank you in your mind to Carolyn and Brian for their hard work and dedication for the past several years.