If you are trying to reach the US Power Squadrons on your PC website go to the intermet and type in www.usps.org this will give you the National website and will answer
all your questions on the USPS.
However if you would like to see what Milford Power and Sail Squadron is doing, type in www.usps.org/localusps/milford and you can read all about our local
activities. We also have the latest edition of "The Bell" presented and many of the photographs taken
during social events and during the sailing season.
Life Jacket Wear is Main Theme for Safe Boating Week
Recreational boaters and their passengers can greatly increase their chances of surviving serious accidents by
wearing a life jacket while boating. It's not enough to have it on board-boaters must wear them to save their lives.
This is the key message of National Safe Boating Week (May 17-23, 2003)
According to the latest Coast Guard statistics nearly 80% of those who died in boating accidents in 2001 were not
wearing life jackets, even though in many cases there were life jackets aboard. With more comfortable life jackets
on the market now it's easier than ever to wear one,
The NSBS says although boating fatalities and injuries have declined over more than two decades, the numbers remain
high: 681 dead in 2002. The latest statistics= emphasize the speed and suddenness of accidents. Two-thirds of all
reported recreational boating fatalities in 2002 involved capsizing and falls overboard.
In an emergency, boaters and their passengers often don't have time to find and put on stowed life jackets. It
all just happens too quickly The safest way to go is t o wear a life jacket while you are on a boat. If more recreational
boaters did so, and insisted that their passengers follow suit, it would prevent tragic and needless deaths. Simply
put, like jackets float, boaters don't.
Tracking the North Magnetic Pole
During the sixteenth century, mariners believed that somewhere in the North was a magnetic
mountain that was the source of attraction for compasses and unfortunately, for any ships that strayed too close
to it. It was not until 1600 that someone came up with a better idea. Sir William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth
l, suggested that the Earth itself was a giant magnet and the force that directed the compass originated inside
the Earth. Using a model of the Earth made form lodestone *a naturally occurring magnetic rock), he also showed
that there should be two points on the Earth where a magnetized needle would stand vertically at the North and
South Magnetic Poles.
This is basically the same definition used today. At the magnetic poles, the Earth's magnetic field is perpendicular
to the Earth's surface. Consequently, the magnetic dip, or inclination (the angle between the horizontal and the
direction of the earth's magnetic field) is 90 degrees. And since the magnetic field is vertical, there is no force
in a horizontal direction. Therefore, the magnetic declination, the angle between true geographic north and magnetic
north, cannot be determined at the magnetic poles.
Sir William Gilbert believed that the North Magnetic Pole coincided with the North Geographic Pole. Magnetic observations
made by explorers in subsequent decades showed that this was not true, and by the early 19th century, the accumulated
observations proved that the pole must be somewhere in Artic Canada.
In 1829, Sir John Ross set our on a voyage to discover the Northwest Passage. His ship became trapped in ice off
the northwest coast of Boothia Peninsula, where it was to remain for the next 4 years. Sir John's nephew, James
Clark Ross, used the time to take magnetic observations along the Boothia coast. These convinced him that the pole
was not far away, and in the spring of 1831 he set out to reach it. On June 1, 1831 at Cape Adelaide on the west
coast of Boothia Peninsula , he measured a dip of 89 deg. 59 min. For all practical purposes he had reached the
North Magnetic Pole.
The next attempt to reach the North Magnetic Pole was made some 70 years later by the Norwegian explorer Roald
Amundsen. In 1903 he left Norway on his famous voyage through the Northwest Passage, which, in fact, was his secondary
objective. His primary goal was to set up a temporary magnetic observatory in the Artic and to re-locate the North
Magnetic Pole.
A Pole position was next determined by Canadian Government scientists' shortly after World War ll. Paul Serson
and Jack Clark, of the Dominion Observatory, measured a dip of 89 deg. 56 min. at Allen Lake on Princess of Wales
Island. This, in conjunction with other observations made in the vicinity, showed that the pole had moved some
250 km. northwest since the time of Amundsen's observations. Subsequent observations by Canadian scientists in
1962,1973,1984 and most recently in 1994 showed that the general northwesterly motion of the pole is continuing
and that during this century it has moved on average of 10 km per year.
From the National Geomagnetism Program of Canada
Education Report - May 2003
Our courses are just about over for the spring and our members are anxious
to get out on the water to enjoy themselves and to practice all those new techniques that they learned over the
winter. It has been a long winter and we were pleased to see all the new members participating in our marine educational
program.
This month we had five members that passed the Seamanship Course:
Terry Blakeslee,S
Claude Blouin,S
Chris Christman, S
Richard Cottle, S
Don White, S
Congratulations to you all, You've passed the first course and now on to more challenging work with the Piloting
Course and the basics of navigation.
Congratulations are also due for Ron Novick,P for passing the Piloting Course.
Advanced Piloting is still underway at the Egan Center with five students learning the difficult techniques of
plotting, currents, tides, and many essentials necessary to the study of advanced navigation.
The 6 lesson Boating Course scheduled to be held at the Milford Yacht Club
had to be cancelled. We only had one person who signed up and no calls asking about the course. It indeed was strange
since we advertised in several papers to get the attendance. The US Coast Guard Aux. holds their one day boating
course around the same time but that hasn't bothered us in the past. Quite possibly there was some foul up in the
newspaper advertising. However we move on and will present a Boat Smart Course on June 7th .
Our last Boat Smart Course of the spring is scheduled for June 7th and 14th at the Milford Public Library from
10:30 to 2:30PM.No courses are scheduled for the summer. The announcement for this course was sent to the newspapers
and local circulars on May 1 for publication.
We are expecting at least 15 students--?????
We are looking for a place to hold the Weather course in the West Haven area. If you have any suggestions please
let me know.
A vote of thanks to all our instructors who did an excellent job of teaching. They continue to present the course
material efficiently, effectively and without personal benefit. They all deserve our cheers for a job well done.
I'll mention their names below and offer my own personal thanks for your unselfish assistance to Milford Power
and Sail Squadron.
Bob Post,P 6 Lesson Boating Course
Hank Chmielewski, AP, Seamanship
Dick Boardman, S, Boat Smart
Bill Carotenuto, AP, 6 Lesson Boating Course and Boat Smart
Tony Barbieri, JN,6 Lesson Boating Course and Boat Smart
George Sender, AP, Piloting
Happy Sailing,
Bob Reeves, SEO
3 April Milford Squadron Bridge Meeting, Egan Center
17 April 6 Lesson Boating Course, Milford Yacht Club
23 April Change of Watch Dinner Get-together, Marley's in Orange
8 May Milford Squadron Bridge Meeting, Egan Center,1900
17-23 May National Safe Boating Week
17 May Vessel Safety Check at Spencers Marina, 9-1 PM
5 June Milford Squadron Bridge Meeting, Egan Center, 1900
20-22 June Essex Island Rondezvous, Essex Island Marina
25 June Milford Power Sq.Dinner Get-together, to be announced
12 July D/1 raft- up and Annual Poker Run, cookout at Hamburg Yacht Club,
Hamburg Cove
20 July Quinipiaac schooner cruise for the squadron
15-17 August Mini-Cruise to Mystic Seaport
6 September D/1 Sail Race , New London
"The Bell" is on vacation during July and August
For details on any specific event please call Henry Chmielewski, 878-5203
