CARVER OWNERS CLUB
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Update on Al and Pat Herbert

Al and Pat Herbert were our Regional Vice Presidents for the Alabama Rendezvous.  You may remember that the Rendezvous was cancelled.  Here’s the rest of the story.  On July 3, while on a cruise in the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, Al and Pat’s boat, the Outrageous struck a submerged aid to navigation (ATN).  The shaft and transmission were pulled through the transom.  Al and Pat managed to keep the Outrageous afloat until they got it into a marina where it sank.  The Outrageous was declared a total loss.  Al goes on to say, “The fact of the matter is that we hit a submerged ATN, we saw nothing on the surface, because the ATN was under water and the real story is what we did to stay calm, get the vessel towed to a safe harbor and escape injury. Lessons learned, is to inform all club members to perform practice drills for such an incident!! I KNOW, EVERYONE SAYS THAT  THIS TYPE OF THING ALWAYS HAPPENS TO SOME ELSE, BUT IN REALITY, IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANY ONE OF US, AT A MOMENTS NOTICE!! The real question is, WHAT WOULD YOU AND YOUR MATE DO??? CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE A WORKABLE PLAN TO ESCAPE INJURY OR EVEN DEATH ???”

Al and Pat replaced the Outrageous with a Hatteras and, according to our by-laws, cannot continue as officers in the Club.  I’m sure that you join me in wishing Al and Pat our best.  I’ve asked Al to consider hosting an Alabama Rendezvous at the Lake Guntersville Yacht Club because of its central location to the mid-South.

The Florida West Coast Rendezvous is ON!

When we tried to schedule the Florida West Coast Rendezvous last October, we could not get enough reservations to make a go of it.  Thanks to the hard work from many people, we have moved the Florida West Coast Rendezvous to February 27 – 29, 2004 at Palm Island Marina.  We already have enough reservations to make this Rendezvous happen unless the weather causes some unforeseen problems.  If you would like to attend, please make your reservations at once.  We only have a couple of slips left for boats with beams over 15 feet.  You can make reservations by signing into the web site and choosing Events Registration or by calling 800-835-1996.  Please be aware that the 800 number is my office phone (for Bishop Enterprises Corporation), not the marina or the Carver Owners Club.  The cost is $80.00 per person plus slip fees or hotel.  This includes a Friday night potluck dinner, the Boat Hop, Saturday night’s cocktail hour and dinner, and the Sunday morning continental breakfast.  It is a great bargain.  If you are not going to bring your boat, please make reservations so we can have enough seats at dinner.

Other Rendezvous and Events Registrations

I absent-mindedly failed to mention several of the planned Rendezvous and events in last month’s newsletter.  Here is the list of events we have planned so far.  Please be aware that this list changes almost every day as we get more offers and as we get more information.  You can see our most up-to-date information by going to the Upcoming Events section of public web site or the Events Registration section in the members only section of the web site.

•  Florida West Coast, February 27 – 29, 2004

•  Chicagoland Planning Meeting, President’s Dinner, To Be Determined (TBD)

•  Florida East Coast, TBD (Daytona, St. Augustine, Jacksonville)

• Outer Banks, North Carolina, TBD

• Tidewater Virginia, late May

•  Chesapeake Bay Rendezvous, June 11 – 13, 2004

•  Lake Ontario Rendezvous, late July, early August, Canadian side of the lake.

•  New York City Rendezvous, early August – Montauk Yacht Club, or Liberty State Park Marina, or Haverstraw Marina

We also have events that we would like to have, but have not planned to the point that we are sure they will happen.  These are:

• Mid-South Rendezvous

• Chicagoland Rendezvous

• California Rendezvous

• Mini-cruises, such as Norfolk to Mystic Connecticut

• East Coast ICW cruise.

If you have an interest in helping out with a Rendezvous or event, please contact Patsy at events@carverownersclub.com.  Patsy thanks all of the volunteers who have offered to help.  We are able to plan for so many events because so many people have stepped up to help.

Rendezvous Sponsors

We have been very fortunate to have the Chesapeake Bay dealers, Shady Oaks and McDaniel, financially support the club and its Rendezvous.  Dealers in other areas have not been as supportive and Carver no longer offers any support.  We need to find additional sponsors to keep our costs down.  Some examples of other potential sponsors are: insurance brokers, finance brokers, equipment suppliers (Simrad offered to provide us with gifts for Awards), and tax advisors.  If you know of someone who would like to be a sponsor, please ask them to contact Patsy.

Who Can Attend a Rendezvous?

First of all, you do not have to bring your boat to participate in a Rendezvous.  About a third of the people attending a Rendezvous come by some means other than boat. 

The second question I frequently get is, do I have to own a Carver to attend a Rendezvous?  The answer to this one is trickier.  The Carver Owners Club is exclusive to boats made by Carver. This includes Carver, Californian, and, now, Trojan yachts.  If the Rendezvous is Club sponsored, you have to own one of these boats to attend.  You can bring guests to the Rendezvous.  If your guests do not own a Carver and want to bring their boat instead of staying on yours, sign them up as your guests and have them make their own marina reservations to accommodate their boat.  This does not use our reserved slips for Carver boats.    If you are a club member and you choose to bring a boat other than your Carver, no problem.  Just sign up and use your Carver boat information on your nametag. 

The third concern is when we have people who don’t sign up, but want to attend some of the events.  We control attendance with nametags.  We ask people who attend the Rendezvous to wear their nametags to all sponsored events.  This is the only way to control party crashers who have not paid. 

Please Help Update Your Email Address

With last month’s newsletter, I managed to achieve a certain level of fame.  Not only did I manage to blow away our email processing thingy, I also became classified as a spammer.  There are two reasons for this.  One is that the club has grown to the point that we send out a large number of emails with the newsletter.  This is great news.  Two is that we have too many incorrect email addresses.  So, if your email address changes, please change it on the web site or email me with your old and new email address so I can update your information.  Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Hurricane Isabel Update

I received several more sets of photos from Hurricane Isabel.  My thanks to Rick Sorrenti, Peggy Frazier, and Cary and Carol Duncan.  Your photos are great.  I didn’t put up all the photos I’ve received – I just ran out of time, but I appreciate them just the same.

TechGuy, AnswerLady, and Boat Talk

Sue and Jim have had a busy month.  One of the things that came up is the subject of missing posts.  I delete the older postings from time to time so the Boat Talk section works faster.  Deleted posts do not disappear, but are archived.  If you are looking for missing posts, please let me know and I’ll research them for you.

From time to time, I receive requests for a lost or forgotten password.  These requests usually come with a note about hating to be a bother.  Please don't be concerned about asking for some help.  I'm trying to rig up a way that your password will be automatically sent to you, without my intervention.  Of course, real work gets in the way of my doing that anytime soon. 

Vessel Safety Checks:  Do you open the Flare Guns?

BoatU.S. learned that some of the plastic flare guns made by Olin (now Orion) can’t be opened wide enough to accept a flare cartridge and would be useless in an emergency.  Ted Swanson, a marine surveyor in Florida, regularly checks flare guns while doing surveys and found that 13% of the Olin guns (9 out of 69) he has inspected can’t be fully opened.

A spokesman at Orion Safety Products confirmed the problem; nylon material used to keep the breech closed can deform and jam the opening mechanism.  Any Olin plastic flare gun is suspect, as are Orion guns made before 2000, the year the mechanism was reengineered (guns with the modification have the USCG approval code 160028/12/1 stamped on the body.  A recall has not been issued, although Orion has agreed to replace any of the defective guns, regardless of age.  Orion recommends checking the operation of the guns now and at the beginning of every season; if the breech won’t open, the gun should be sent back for replacement.

Article in the Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 4, Fall 2003.  The Beacon is the official publication of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Association Inc.

Manuals Library

I received a nice response concerning the Owners Manuals.  Thank you.  I also received a few questions about what I meant by an Owners Manual.  Here goes.  The Owners Manual shows the Carver Boat features in a boat.  For example, the Owners Manual shows the through-hulls, the electrical wiring, the bilge layout (including sanitation hose, water hoses, pumps, water heater), and materials used in manufacturing.  The Owners Manual does not include the full Owners Kit.  Excluded from my definition are: the engine manuals, any electronics manuals, the generator manual, heads, galley equipment, etc.  I’ve excluded these because they are generally available from the manufacturer.

I am beginning to build a list of the manuals available from the Club.  I am currently looking for a manual for a 1989 35 ' Santego.  Please contact me if you have such a manual and are willing to share it with another, new owner.

Volunteers

I will absolutely miss someone who offered to volunteer, so please accept my apology upfront.  I’ll correct my omissions next month.  It’s hard to keep a good man away.  Rich Barnum, the founder of the Club, bought a Californian and offered to volunteer for the club.  We are still working through some of the details.  If I remember correctly, I want him to take over everything and he wants a more limited role.  We are close to reaching an agreement.

• Marshall Mandell volunteered to help with the Rendezvous, cruises, and to be a liaison to Rendezvous Sponsors.

• Charlene and Lou Patane are working to set up the Florida East Coast Rendezvous

• Neal Pleasant organized the Texas Rendezvous and Roundup.

• Bill Jackson and Bob and Ann Rippel are helping organize the Tidewater Virginia Rendezvous.  I should mention that Bob is a long-time airplane pilot, as are many of our members. 

• Ted Cooper is helping set up our Ontario Canada Rendezvous.  Ted is also a pilot.

•  Joe Cacciatore offered to be our Club airplane pilot.  Now all we need is an airplane.  Please contact Joe if you would like to donate an aircraft or if you need a pilot.  He is also a certified instructor.

• John Oettinger is helping us work out the details for the New York City Rendezvous.

Web Site Manual

One of our members suggested that we create a hard copy manual that explains how to use the Club’s web site. That is a great idea.  Hopefully, in the next month or so, we’ll have a hard copy that you can download or we can mail to you that explains everything you would want to know about the web site.

Having a Bad Day

Please note the name of the boat, Temporary Insanity.

Safe boating,

Dave Bishop, webdude@carverownersclub.com