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The Grapevine – S&S 34 Association Newsletter Issue 32 – October 2013 *Please don’t
forget – subs now due!
Welcome to all Members
As you probably all know by now, our AGM was held on July 31st, with Andrew Waldby re-elected as President. Jim Putt remains Treasurer, Roger Raymond was elected as Vice President, Vera Waldby as Secretary, Col Sanders as Committee member and I continue as Webmaster. I am trying to keep up with editing the Grapevine, although with email and the website there the issues are not as frequent as in the past. However, nothing quite replaces a Newsletter and I apologise for the delay in getting this one out to you. Feedback is very welcome, as is information, articles etc, please email me [email protected]
The Grapevine is published and posted to all our members who request a hard copy. I try to keep an email list and will email to non-members who request to be on the list but of course there is no hard copy available to non-members. Don’t forget subs are now due, see end of the Newsletter for details and keep our Treasurer happy – only $30 to be part of the S&S 34 family!
Simon Torvaldsen, webmaster (& Grapevine editor)
President’s Report
Well another summer season of sailing in Western Australia has started. In this article I will focus on some of the outcomes from the AGM and what the committees’ plans are to improve the focus for the S&S34 Association. I will also talk about the activities that are currently planned for the S&S34 Association.
Firstly, in my Presidents Report I spoke about putting together a Strategic Plan for the association, which the AGM attendees discussed in length and agreed that the committee should work together on this plan over the coming year. The focus of this Strategic Plan is to identify what the membership wants from the association and the sort of activities that the members and association want to be involved in. These activities may not solely be sailing related; but activities that provide improved benefit for members, increase the exposure of the association and our magnificent yacht, and increased social interaction of the membership. This Strategic Plan should not be one that is set in concrete but should be one that is living and has the ability to change with the times and the want and needs of the membership. We should also revisit it regularly to
ensure we are following what we said we would do and alter plans to improve our association. As part of this Strategic Plan; Roles & Responsibilities of the committee will also be agreed upon. This will improve the effectiveness of the association, and will clearly outline what the responsibilities are for each committee position. I feel passionate about this type of Strategic Plan as I have seen it work in a positive manner for similar organisations. Although little has occurred since the AGM on this matter due to other priorities, now that we are back into the swing of sailing and summer we will get to work and will keep the membership informed of our progress.
So, onto what the association is planning this sailing season; both from a racing point of view and a social point of view.
From a social point of view it was agreed to continue with the Xmas Twilight at Royal Perth Yacht Club of which the timing will be communicated shortly. It was decided to organise a mid-year social event. This maybe a social sail or a social gathering and would focus on including Fremantle and non-river based S&S34’s. At the AGM it was decided that the association would also look at conducting a cruise on Sunday 9th March following the Algal Bloom Race, however as described below that is the date set for the Commodores Race. So, we will see what else we can do.
As for the racing calendar for this year I will discuss separately the plans to improve the planning for the annual Commodores Race at Fremantle Sailing Club, which was cancelled earlier this due to unforseen conflicting events. As we have done for the last few years the S&S34 Association will take advantage of the combined Division 2 races between Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, South of Perth Yacht Club and Royal Perth Yacht Club. We will also look to take advantage of the Algal Bloom Race off Leighton to include separate results for S&S34’s. We will promote this with all local S&S34’s with a hope to include many more yachts than just those that are based on the river. As suggested by Treasurer Jim Putt it was also agreed to see what could be done to take advantage of Fremantle Sailing Club’s Jib & Main races on the second Sunday of each month. These races will form part of the Association Racing Champion Boat for the year. This award was originally initiated by past President Colin Sanders which took the overall winner of the combined Division 2 races as the Association Swan River Racing Champion, and we will
look to continue this with the broader racing activities to make this as fair as possible.
As many members are aware, the 2013 Commodores Race was cancelled at the last minute due the Commodores not being available because of conflicting activities. Shortly after this year’s AGM Jim Putt and myself had a meeting with Lucy Warhurst the Sailing & Events Manager at Fremantle Sailing Club. Although we briefly touched on what led to the cancellation of the 2013 event, the focus was on what we could do to ensure the Commodores Race continues to be a success as it has been in previous years. It was agreed that communication to all involved parties (Commodores and S&S34 owners) would be sent earlier to ensure involvement. This was particular important because of the Commodores busy schedule throughout the year and so it was imperative that the Commodores Race was placed on their calendars to ensure their participation. Lastly the date for the 2014 Commodores Race had already been set for Sunday 9th March 2014.
Well that is all for this article. Please see below for a list of dates to keep in your calendar for S&S34 events for this Western Australian Summer Sailing Season (some dates are approximately and further details will be communicated when they are confirmed).
Saturday 14th December 2013 – S&S34 Association Swan River Race 1 in conjunction with the combined RFBYC, SoPYC & RPYC Division 2 fleet race at RFBYC.
TBC Thursday in December 2013 – Annual S&S34 Xmas Twilight at RPYC – further information to be communicated as soon as confirmed.
Saturday 15th February 2014 - S&S34 Association Swan River Race 2 in conjunction with the combined RFBYC, SoPYC & RPYC Division 2 fleet race at RPYC.
Saturday 8th March 2014 – Algal Bloom Race off Leighton Beach to be conducted by RPYC – separate S&S34 Association results.
Sunday 9th March 2014 – 34th Commodores Perpetual Trophy Race at Fremantle Sailing Club.
Saturday 5th April 2014 - S&S34 Association Swan River Race 3 in conjunction with the combined RFBYC, SoPYC & RPYC Division 2 fleet race at SoPYC.
Mid-Year 2014 – TBC S&S34 Association social event.
1st June – 30th September TBC – S&S34 Association AGM.
Thank you very much and fair wind.
Andrew WaldbyPresident S&S34 Association
What is happening on the website?
It was decided at the 2012 AGM to upgrade our website. This has finally happened!
The website is really our window to the world; with over 500 hits per week it is how most outsiders and potential members contact the Association. I hope you like the new look and format. Now with upgraded features such as blogging comments it has become more interactive and is in use by members (and others) worldwide. The Discussion Forum is also still in use, and is a better format for having “conversations” with other members than just commenting on the website. I have added additional things such as historical Grapevine articles, and we also now have a search facility so if you can remember the name but not the boat or vice versa you can easily find what you are looking for.
From my point of view it is much quicker and easier to post and review material, so I can respond more quickly to member requests, and do a better job for you.
The current format is just a start, I am interested in your feedback and suggestions as to how the website can be further improved - please email Simon or contact me via the website.
Using the Web Forum:
The S&S34 Discussion Forum (see the link on the Association website) continues, now with 855 Posts within 184 Topics. This is a great resource and source of information, and is very easy to use. You don’t have to be an Association member to use it, although we hope it will be something that will encourage you to join.
If you have a question about how others handle any aspect of their ownership of the S&S34 - whether it be to do with rigging, sail handling, outfitting for cruising, racing, or anything else - tap into the knowledge of the whole S&S34 community by using the Forum. And, if you haven’t already joined the Forum (some still haven’t), please do so - only by joining will you be notified of new discussions and so have a chance to contribute your knowledge. Joining is easy - open up the Forum webpage (use the link on the Association website), and click “Register”. You’ll need to enter three things:
• A username - this can be anything that you can remember, and it will be displayed as the “author” on any posts that you make. I’d suggest using your own name.• Your email address.• A password. Yes, sorry, but this is another internet password!
Then read and acknowledge the Forum Agreement, and you’ll be registered. That’s all there is to it. Once registered, there’s one more thing you should do: set up “Notification”. This will ensure that you’ll be automatically notified by email, whenever there’s activity on the Forum. You need to do this for each of the boards (ie; discussion categories) - Mechanical; Hull, Rigging and Sails; Electrical and Electronics; etc. For each one, enter
the category summary page (eg; click on “Mechanical” from the main Forum home page), and then click on “Notification”. Select either “New topics only” or “All new posts”, then click “Update notifications”. Return to the main Forum home page and repeat for the next board. Finally, please contribute - the more we use the Forum, the more useful it will become as a resource for all of us.
Thanks to Chris Jackson (Wilparina, Brisbane) for having hosted the Forum for us for many years.
Racing Report by Simon Torvaldsen
S&S 34s remain active as always in both club and offshore racing. There are strong river fleets at RPYC and RFBYC with a few boats at other clubs. There are a larger number of boats at FSC but we don’t often entice them out for a race, cruising being the preferred option.
S&S 34 Association 3 race series - There is again interesting racing this season. As Andrew has outlined, there are again 3 RPYC/RFBYC/SoPYC combined races on the river. Invitations are extended to all S&S 34s to participate, just contact the relevant club. We could have some exciting racing with a fleet of a dozen or so. Details will also be posted on the website.
Ocean racing – a small band of 34s are flying the flag in Offshore Racing. Blondie won the Beneteau Offshore Championship last season (there were 3 Divisional winners, no overall) and is competing again this season, winning the first race (George Law Race), ahead of the new Farr MX Stimulus Package, and more recently Div 2 in the Naturaliste race, 51 mins ahead of the Sydney 36 This Way Up on IRC.
Later in the season Swagman and Le Jag plan to join Blondie for some real competition in the Div 3 offshore fleet. We also have Huckleberry in new hands and hopefully coming out later on, along with the new owners of Individual. So we could have up to 5 S&S 34s on the offshore racing circuit! Once again the S&S 34 has proven that it is still a highly competitive racer under IRC, against all competition. If anyone else is contemplating some offshore racing and would like any help or advice, please feel free to contact me.
If you want to be a top offshore navigator, this is the dress code!
Some thoughts about Charts and ChargesFrom Jim Putt
With spring in the air and sailing season not far off, this is a good time to check and ensure your paper charts are up to date. Many chart corrections have been issued over recent years. As an example, AUS 117, Gage Roads and Cockburn Sound has required thirty three (33) corrections in the past three years. Some of the new marks have been positioned near the centre of the Sound and represent a hazard to navigation for small ships.
The Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) offers an excellent customised service (AHS) to anyone wishing to maintain the accuracy of their charts. To take advantage of the AHO service, all that is required is to email a list of your charts to [email protected] and they will supply fortnightly, a list of corrections relevant to your charts. If your charts have not been corrected for some time, all is not lost. Log on to http://hydro.gov.au/webapps/jsp/charts/chartslist/jsp and you will find under the heading of ‘View’ the details of corrections applicable since the last reissue of that chart. Some corrections are issued in the form of a small chartlet. These can be printed by an inexpensive printer and then glued over the area affected. When selecting the printer scale it is important to select ‘normal’ rather than 100%, the latter causes scaling errors.
It is well worthwhile having a good look at the various services provided by the AHO. Log on to http://hydro.gov.au The AHS provides a service for electronic charting which probably resonates more closely with the younger generation. Fremantle Sailing Club has installed Seafarer RNC charting which is viewed on a computer located in the Library. The RNC (Raster) charts are a direct representation of the paper charts. Once the software has been purchased and installed, every Australian chart is available. The program can be used for passage planning or updating existing charts. The chart information is fully updated each month by a CD supplied by the AHS at a cost of about $250 pa. The AUS (1:300,000) and 700(1:250,000) series of charts do not contain all known navigational information.
Legislation no longer requires commercial vessels to carry paper charts if the vessel is fitted with an approved electronic navigational system. It is reason able to presume that the unit cost of paper charts will increase.
The WA Department of Transport (DoT) have their own series of paper and electronic charts. These compliment the AUS charts and can be found at
www.dot.wa.gov/imarine/coastaldata/1311/asp NtM’s for these charts are issued regularly.
DoT charts are generally on a scale of 1:250,000 and contain all the detailed navigational information for recognized anchorages or harbours up or down the coast.
Also, cruisers may be unaware of the current practice of charging wharfage. A vessel lying alongside a DoT jetty taking on fuel will most like have to pay wharfage in addition to the cost of the fuel. Anchoring within a DoT harbour is prohibited.
ADVANCES IN BATTERY TECHNOLOGY – ANYONE FOR LITHIUM?
For over 150 years, battery technology didn’t change much – the only practical option was the lead acid battery invented in 1859. Even AGM batteries use the same basic chemicals.
But now there is a new option – Lithium. These are the incredibly powerful batteries you see powering mobile phones etc. However, until recently they were not safe to use in large multi-cell formats (they tended to blow up!). Now a modified version called Lithium Ferrous Phosphate (LiFePO) is available in large multi-cell sizes.
Pros: 1/3 the weight of LA batteries Physically smaller (about ½ the size) Fairly flat voltage discharge curve, ie maintains
good voltage until nearly flat Very rapid charging potential, accepts high
current until almost full Minimal Peukert effect, ie no loss of battery
capacity at high discharge rates Can be repeatedly discharged to 20% capacity
with no loss of battery life Claimed to last up to 3x longer than LA
Cons: More expensive, up to twice the price of a
standard quality AGM. However, an AGM battery can only be regularly discharged to about 50%, and is hard to fully charge from the engine, so a LiFePO battery only needs to be about 60% of the capacity of an AGM. Combined with the longer lifespan, it may be cheaper in the long run
Needs a good alternator and charging system, with an external regulator
Will be destroyed if it runs flat (<10%) or is badly overcharged, so needs an electronic module to protect it (sold with the battery)
Cells can become unbalanced during charging so needs an electronic module between each cell to ensure they are balanced as the battery charges up. These are (or should be)solid state epoxy potted and sold with the battery
Can be charged with a standard AGM charge profile, but do charge better and more fully with a profile adjusted for LiFePO (actually a simpler charge profile)
Our experience on Blondie:
I replaced a 40AH start battery and 2x100AH AGM batteries with a 40AH LiFePO and an 180AH LiFePO. 75kg of batteries were replaced with 28kg. We have a Balmar 100AH alternator with external regulator, and “tweaked” the charge profile a bit to suit. I also installed a 10A LiFePO mains charger
The batteries certainly perform, with excellent voltage of 13v+ until well discharged. They charge very rapidly, the main limitation being our circuitry which has a slight resistance at these amperages, and the output of our alternator. The battery charges at 80A (& 50A at idle!), which after a while overheats the alternator, fortunately Balmar have a sensor which detects this and halves the output until it cools down. We have had to throttle it back a bit via the voltage regulator. It charges at this rate until virtually full, then the charge drops over about 5-10 mins to nil and the battery is full. The old AGM ”trickle charged” the last bit of battery capacity at around 10A, we could never get it more than about 90% full from the engine it was just too tedious.
The electronic control modules are simple and reliable, and marine rated. One advantage is that each battery can be isolated at the flick of a switch (but beware if you have no power maybe you haven’t switched it back on again!). There seems to be very little loss of charge with the batteries idle, even over several months.
Is it worth it? Definitely yes, especially if your batteries need replacing. However, the downside is that you may have to upgrade your charging systems to get the best out of it and I think an external voltage regulator is probably required, which really you should have to get the best out of charging your AGMs anyway. Our Balmar one was very easy to reprogram for the best LiFePO profile.
What did it cost? In our case about $2000, including all the protection modules, but not the mains charger. This gives equivalent usable house capacity to about 300AH in LA batteries, but weighing 22kg instead of 90kg, plus taking up much less space and charging far more readily.Fortunately for me EV Power, one of the best Australian suppliers is located in Perth, mainly supplying batteries
for electric cars and bike, but very happy to do boats. The contact details are:
http://www.ev-power.com.au Phone Rod Dilkes on 0428 321 865
Rod was very helpful and ensured I got the gear that was correct for our boat.
Simon Torvaldsen
Annual Subscription to the S&S34 Association
You don't have to be a paid up member but it sure helps! Both the Association and yourselves are advantaged by the continuous flow of information and being a member assures that you will continue to receive relevant information and stories of interest. Go for it!
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION is only $25.00 (or you can pay $50 for 2 years). Post a cheque or money order payable to S&S 34 ASSOCIATION, to:
Jim Putt165 Jersey StWembley WA 6014
OR by direct bank transfer to;Bank West account; S & S 34 Association of W A, BSB 306 050 Account 418 7992.
Please make your deposit notation reference code yourSURNAME.
If you or your boat details have changed (or you are a new member) please forward the following information to the above address (or return email): Owner’s Name(s),
Address, Yacht name, Yacht Club, Sail Number, Boat Name, Racing or Cruising, Phone Numbers (Home, Work, Mobile) and email address.
Do you still want a printed Grapevine?
The Association is very happy to mail a printed copy of the grapevine to all members who want it - this is one of the benefits of membership. However, in the interests of reducing waste, if you don’t wish to receive a printed copy via post please let our treasurer Jim Putt [email protected] or myself know and you will be taken off the mailing list and receive an email copy only. Anyone who wishes to receive an email copy and isn’t, please email me [email protected] and I will put you on the list. I am also happy to put your crew on the email list if they wish.
The Legal StuffS&S34 Grapevine is an opt-in, privately maintained e-newsletter in association with the S&S34 Association of WA. Submissions gratefully received. Please send to: [email protected] with "S&S34 Grapevine Article" in the subject line.If you wish to subscribe to this newsletter please email: [email protected]. Type "S&S34 Grapevine Subscribe yacht name" in the subject line and I shall add you to any further mail outs. It is not necessary to join the Assoc. to receive the Grapevine emails. However, it would be appreciated if you could also include the following details so that the S&S34 Association "List of Yachts" can be updated: Sail Number, Yacht Club, Boat Name, Owners names, Phone Numbers (Home, Work, Mobile, Fax) and Address.If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter please email:[email protected] type "S&S34 Grapevine Unsubscribe" in the subject line and I shall remove you from the mailing list.
Although I scan all e-mail and attachments for viruses, I cannot guarantee that viruses will not be transmitted with this E-mail. It is the recipient's responsibility to check this e-mail for viruses.
