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Sail and Power Boating  Boating is fun..We'll show you how DISTRICT 28
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Sail and Power Boating Boating is fun..We'll show you how DISTRICT 28
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The Lead Line is the official publication of District 28 and is published twice a year, in January and August. Articles may be submitted to the Editor, P/D/C Lee Whitehead, SN. Selected articles are included on this website. A complete copy of the Lead Line, in Adobe Acrobat format (pdf), can be
downloaded by clicking on the issue link below. Use your browser "back" button to return.
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2009A freeware reader can be downloaded from Adobe.com 2009 District 28 Fall Conference filled with a fun agenda
San Diego once again forms the backdrop for the 2009 D/28 Fall Conference, 25-26 September. The Conference is hosted by the San Diego Sail and Power Squadron at the Holiday Inn Bayside, 4875 North Harbor Drive.
Friday night’s social activities will be at the home of Barbara and Brockway Clark with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres beginning at 1800. Saturday’s spousal activity will include a tour of San Diego’s Gas Lamp Quarter featuring Historical homes, 150 restaurants and night clubs, 90 boutiques, unique stores and shops. All on both sides of 8 short blocks along 5th Avenue.The agenda and reservations information can be found on the District Activities page
* * * Chief Commander's Representative
R/C Robert Schloeman, JNThe Chief Commander’s representative at the Conference is “one of our own,” R/C Bob Schloeman, JN. Bob served as D/28 Commander 2000-2001, and was Phoenix’ squadron commander in the 1990s. He is currently chairman of the Squadron Activities Committee at the national level. Earlier he served on the Boating Activities Committee, Marine Electronics Committee and Committee on Rules. He is the semi-permanent instructor of the Weather Course for the Phoenix squadron. He maintains several web sites including those of the Phoenix squadron and D/28.
Now retired (except for what seems to be full-time employment for USPS) Bob was formerly an engineer with Sperry Flight Systems Division in Phoenix. He is the holder of a private pilot’s license since 1960, and has been an amateur radio operator since 1954. He has a couple of patents for automatic flight control systems used in commercial jet aircraft still in use today.
* * * Commander's Message
By D/C Van Diehl, SNThe number of activities that the D28 squadrons put together since last Spring have been awesome – Courses, Seminars, Cruises and Rendezvous, National Safe Boating Week, Vessel Safety Checks, Cooperative Charting work, On-the-Water training in Piloting and Advance Piloting classes, and Boat Operator Certification. From 1 September ’08 to 31st August ’09, forty-two members completed Advance Grades and eighty members’ Elective courses. And not to forget the fun and fellowship at BBQs, Potlucks, etc. The district and squadron newsletter editors are doing an excellent communication job, through a distinguished set of award-winning newsletters: D28’s Lead Line (Lee Whitehead, SN), Balboa’s Trident (Peter Redwood, SN), Lake Mohave’s No-Wake Zone (Andy Pensavalle), Phoenix’s Bos’n’s Pipe (Lee Whitehead, SN), San Diego’s Ship’s Mail (Daniel Nephew), and San Luis Rey’s Mariner’s Needle (Jill Powell, P). The same can be said of the outstanding job the webmasters are performing. At D28, Bob Schloeman, JN), Balboa (Peter Redwood, SN), Lake Mohave ( Bob Schloeman, JN), Phoenix (Bill Johnson, JN), San Diego (Diann Nephew), San Luis Rey ( Al Donlevy, AP). All of these activities could not happen without the participation of a large number of volunteers of the D28 squadrons, demonstrating the vitality of our organization. Thank you for all that made all these wonderful fun and learning opportunities possible.
In the words of the NEO Bob Sweet, in response to my Open Letter to National: “district structure is more important than ever. We need regional presence to relieve burden and overlap facing squadrons. Promoting USPS should be more regional and coordinated. So should offering courses. We have found that a “slate” of program offerings gains far more attention and attendance than singular, ad hoc offerings from individual squadrons.” To learn more about D28 squadrons and their people, and to foster the ideas of a more regional district organization I made visits to some of our squadrons. I made a point, at the meetings I attended, to talk about the USPS University programs, and the importance of its implementation across al squadrons of the District 28. My goal is to have all squadrons being the Campus of the USPS University.
I participated in squadron meetings of Balboa, San Diego, and of my own squadron – San Luis Rey. It was a great fun to attend the Katherine Landing Inland Rendezvous at Lake Mohave.. There was a good D28 representation at the Rendezvous, including members from San Diego, San Luis Rey, Balboa, Phoenix, and Lake Mohave squadrons. Thank you to Cdr Andy Pensavalle, of Lake Mohave, Cdr Allan Bombard, of San Diego, Cdr Miguel Ramirez, of South Bay, Cdr Mark Thompson, Balboa, and Cdr Loie Powell, San Luis Rey, and their teams for their warm welcome at their meetings. I also attended the yearly July San Luis Rey Barbeque, at Buddy Todd Park. The San Luis Rey barbecue is a well-attended yearly event that congregates a large number of San Luis Rey and D28 members and family. I was joined there by P/D/C Katie Law and P/D/C Bill Bridge, from San Diego, P/D/C Lou Loth and D/Lt/C Mark Keltner and wife Lynne, from Balboa. Thanks to Cdr Loie Powell and the SLRSPS team.
The first District meeting, the District Summer Council, was held at South Bay Squadron. It was very well attended Its rich agenda included an abbreviated presentation of the new “Anchoring” seminar , presented by DEO Bill Bridge, SN and a very informative seminar about Coop Charting, by P/C Steven Bakalis, SN. To include training on the new USPS Seminars in all District meetings was one of the requests made by the squadron commanders at the first D28 Bridge meeting last march. South Bay members were hosts to the July Summer Council meeting at Chula Vista YC, which Lt/C Susan Johnson, their Administrative Officer, and her team organized with great success. District members attending this event were unanimous in their praise for South Bay work.
My District vision - the implementation of the USPS University ( Courses, Seminars, Boat Operator Certification, On-the-Water training) is underway in all squadrons. The Seminar series is a refreshing addition to the regular USPS courses. It contains an amazing array of topics that are taught mostly in two hours. This provides an opportunity for members and public alike to brush up their knowledge, with topics like Using Charts and GPS, Radar, Anchoring, Trailering, and many others, without having to seat in, for many weeks, in a regular course. The Seminars series should attract experienced boaters to update their boating knowledge. It might help to attract to membership experienced boaters that might not be interested to the Public Boating course and might help in the retention of squadron members.
Another important item of the USPS University is the Boat Operator Certification (BOC) program. One of my goals is to have the BOC program in all squadrons in operation by the Spring Conference.. There are several certification levels: Inland Navigator, Coastal and Advance Coastal, and Offshore. The Inland Navigator Certificate includes an On-the-Water skill test that is to be administered by Advance Certifiers. Advance Certifiers (AC) are responsible to train and test the Boat handling skill requirement of the Inland Navigator Certification and be BOC champions. We need to have AC in all squadrons. For that purpose I organized AC training in July and early August.. Trainers were the BOC National Committee Chair, R/C Jack Fletcher and Regional Certifier, Darrel Sausser. San Luis Rey is pioneering the Boat Operator Certification program in D28 with eight of their members signed up to get the Inland Navigator Certificate.
On-the-Water (OTW) training in the regular training courses, an important new addition to the well-being of the USPS organization, has being included in some squadron courses. The Ensign published recently an article I submitted about the inclusion of on-the-water training in the Piloting course. Cruises are, perhaps, one of the most important safe boating learning tools. In July, I organized San Luis Rey cruise to Coastal harbors and Catalina.. We sailed most of the day and motor-sailed during the night, arriving at the entrance of the San Diego ship channel a bit before sunrise. The night sail was wonderful, with clear sky, illuminated by the new moon, millions of stars, even the Milky Way was visible, a sight you never see the urban land. As I reminisce about the cruise, the thought comes to mind that Squadron cruises offer our members an excellent opportunity to put into practice what was learned in the classroom., in Cruise Planning, P and AP, GPS, etc .In addition, there is the sharing the experiences of more seasoned cruise members. San Luis Rey is planning to include a short cruise, OTW, as part of the Cruise Planning course.
These are times of big changes in USPS. We need these changes otherwise USPS may not survive. In a recent letter, P/C Wes Heuser, Balboa SEO and the D28 VSC champion, sent me results of a poll he did among one hundred (100) trailer boaters.. The poll was related to name recognition of the following boating organizations: USCG, USCGAux, Sea Scouts, Orange Coast College of Sailing and Seamanship, and USPS. Results: USCG 100%, USCGAux 95%, Sea Scouts 60%, Orange County College 62%, and our own USPS 10%!!! I hope that the new directions described below, will include a comprehensive marketing and PRO program, and a name change to better reflect what we do. The new directions that are being discussed are changes from a dues based organization to a more market focused one. That means, USPS needs to adapt to what current and future members want and ways to attract more of the boating public to USPS programs. Less and less inexperienced boaters are coming to our public Boating classes. Now there are a number of web places where you can take the basic Boating course online, Boat US is one of them where you can even print your certificate. The new Seminar series, as previously mentioned, has the purpose to attract the experienced boaters and retain our own members. USPS wants to sell their education programs to a wider audience than its own members, since that is what helps fund what the organization does. The more that USPS can get in educational sales, the less stress there will be on member dues. I gave my inputs and comments to the proposed new directions in an Open Letter to that National Bridge and shared it with all District Commanders. I will be going to the Governing Board meeting in Kansas City to represent D28 in these important changes. I will be reporting them to you at the Fall Conference.
My special thanks for all of you that contribute to the success of D/28 and make it the best non-profit seamanship and navigation learning organization of the country, with a boating club atmosphere. My thanks also to my Bridge, that helped make my job so much easier.
We hope to see you at the District Fall Conference, in San Diego.* * * Executive Officer’s Report
D/Lt/C Conniee Johnson, NSummer has officially hit in Phoenix with heat advisories nearly every day. They say average temps for July were the hottest on record here. I know Lake Mohave squadron can relate to this. The California boaters just don't feel the boating burn like we do here. (burn your hands on the boat steering wheel and ache to get IN the water not just on the water) You are missing all the fun over there. We do envy you getting to wear jackets in the evening though! We have not had a night under 90 degrees in a few weeks now. Enough of that - it is perfect boating anytime you can be on the water.
We were all taught to share when we were babies. The Power Squadron needs to share who we are and what we do with others. We shouldn't keep all the fun to ourselves!
Let's start with WHO WE ARE! We are the greatest boating club ever! How do we get that out to others who have never heard of us? By putting our name in their faces everywhere they go! Put it on billboards, in newspapers, magazines, on a sign at the docks, on gas pumps at the local marinas, in libraries, in your doctors office waiting rooms. Make up those trifold brochures and spread them anywhere you go. Have them in your car at all times. Never go anyplace without handing at least one brochure out or asking a store to put one on their bulletin board.
Now WHAT DO WE DO! We continue doing what we are doing - but to a wider audience. Teach those basic classes to new boaters. Meet with Marine dealers and Marine supply stores to form a relationship with the management there. Leave trifolds for a start, but go further asking them to partner with you in promoting classes to the uneducated first time boater. Maybe the dealer would offer to pay for a course for all new boaters. Its worth asking. The most they can do is say NO. That word should not discourage us. It is only a word. Try another approach - would they be willing to provide a location for us to hold a class or seminar? Don't give up. Persistence pays off.
Continue doing boat inspections. There should not be one boat inspected who is not offered a chance to become a member and do what you are doing. Tell them we need all the help we can get - there are a lot of boats out there. Invite non-members on your co-op charting or green team events. Show them what fun we can have and still be providing a service to others at the same time. Hold a safety fair at the local dock or launch ramp. Invite the local boating and waterways groups to assist in the event. This will establish a relationship with other groups who basically have the same interests as we do. Put articles in a local paper or on a website with pictures of your social activities. Encourage all attendees to bring one guest to an event or meeting. Make them feel welcome and they will want to return again next time.We don't need a publicity department - we are all the publicity department! Go out and spread the word!
* * * Administrative Officer’s Report
D/Lt/C Mark Keltner, APAs reported at the D/28 Summer Council meeting, membership has declined slightly year-to-year. I anticipate that some members will renew their membership this year. Membership is the life blood of USPS, and our programs and policies will remain attractive to many.
Once again, we are being asked to contribute one dollar per member to the USPS Educational Fund. This is a very worthwhile contribution made by the squadron treasurers from dues paid by members. The money is used to offset costs for our educational programs. None of the actual contributions is used. Interest from the fund is employed. This fund has grown steadily through the years, and it plays a large part in our programs. Instructor Qualification, for example, is provided at no cost to members because of this fund.
Plan to attend the Fall Conference in San Diego in a few weeks, and the D/28 Spring Conference will be in Phoenix 5-6 March 2010. The Winter Council meeting will return to SWYC if construction is complete.* * * District Secretary’s Report
D/Lt/C Shaun McArdle, APThe minutes of the Summer Conference were somewhat abbreviated, compared to previous such reports. Robert’s Rules of Order does not require reiteration of written or oral reports on which no action is taken. Even so, summaries of reports, in the past, have been included in the minutes, perhaps as a convenience to those who did not attend the meeting or did not have access to such reporting,
I proposed that we use modern age electronic means to make these reports available to everyone, whether or not they attend a meeting. The idea is to have reports sent electronically to a site to which all District members would have access; also, that reports be sent before a meeting, thus giving attendees and appropriate officers a heads up for committee meeting or other discussions at the conference or council. Additionally, this would eliminate the paper shuffle at the venerable Mail Box, which is, nowadays, not a particularly efficient way to distribute reports. This is a work in progress.* * *
The next Lead Line issue will be in February 2010. Article deadline is January 15, 2010Squadron Publications Online Balboa Power Squadron's Trident
Lake Mohave Power Squadron's No-Wake Zone
Phoenix Sail & Power Squadron's Bos'n's Pipe
San Diego Sail & Power Squadron's Ship's Mail
San Luis Rey Power Squadron's Mariner's NeedleOther Regional District Publications Online District 13's Pelorus
This page last revised August 24, 2009
