The February meeting of the Vancouver Fleet was held on February 27 at the Scottish Cultural Centre.
Show and Tell included a WatchMate XB-8000 AIS transponder, a mid sized drone, Off shore Personal Survival Course with David Sutcliffe, and a Pacific Ocean planning chart by British Admiralty.
The program was Heavy Weather Sailing with Christof Marti, owner and chief instructor of Simply Sailing, who gave a wonderful talk sharing his experiences including challenges sailing the Pacific and Atlantic. He told us to know how to access one’s forecasts and said “fix it before you leave or you will fix it on the ocean”. He described the Duchman boom brake and demonstrated a trysail. He spoke about tactics:
- passive – heaving to and lying ahull
- active – forereaching
He described drogues and suggested a back up rudder such as a windvane.
The program for March 27 will be Sarah and Will Curry of Hydrovane on Tips and Traps.