Back Creek Yacht Club

The BCYC Burgee

Did you know that there are many requirements of ettiquett for flying our club's burgee?  The United States Power Squadron has a host of information on their site.  Please see the following link:   http://www.usps.org/f_stuff/etiquett.html#y-c-burgee.

• Generally, burgees are triangular in shape and flown from the bow on power boats or from the spreader if on a sailboat.
• The right spreader is the side of highest honor.
• Display one burgee at a time.
  
• The burgee you fly should be the burgee of the organization under which you are participating - otherwise display the burgee of your club.
• Clubs genearlly have unique requirements for their own burgees.
• An officer's flag should be "worn" instead of an owners flag and flown on a sail boat's masthead or on a powerboat's antenea - preferably on the starboard side.
• The national ensign flown at a flag staff at the stern of your boat should be one inch on the fly for each foot of overall length.
• All other flags such as club burgees, officer flags, and private signals for use on sailboats should be approximately 1/2 inch on the fly for each foot above the waterline of the tallest mast on the boat. (That is, if the tope of the mast is 30 feet above the waterline, these other flags should be 15 inches on the fly.) On powerboats, these flags should be 5/8 inch on the fly for each foot of overall length.

Maintaining your house batteries has always been a challenge for the boating community.  Given all the new gadgets we just can't and won't live without anymore, we have an evermore increase in the need for bigger and better batteries.

The best batteries I've ever owned for marine purpose have been the the 8D AGMs.  Two of these puppies give me a very nice and maintenance free 514 amp hours.  But then I have to charge them.

I can run the engine but the charging system with two alternators still takes way too much time.  And, I can't take advantage of the 85 horse power afforded by the engine.  So, the engine must run without sufficient load to work the engine as it was designed.

Perhaps there's a better way.  Consider a charging system that better pairs your engine's 50-75 hp to an equally powerful generator.  Well, you still can't take advantage of the charging system even if you could build it into your boat.  Unless-- unless your batteries could handle a massive charge, topping off the batteries in say 5 minutes.    Consider this 5,000 watt generator mated to your diesel engine - http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_9040_9040.

Interesting, but the 8D AGMs can't handle that type of heavy charge.  Then consider the newest breed of lithium ion batteries.  See http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/04/nissan_and_nec_.html.

These batteries utilize nano-technology and carbon-less structures allowing for very large capacity batteries to be massively recharged in minutes without getting hot or risk of explosion.  And, the shelf life of these things is decades, not years.  I's certain the cost is prohibitive now for marine use.  But, as the auto industry begins to adapt to these batteries, the cost will drive down substantially giving the marine industry - especially sailors a chance to upgrade their electrical storage capabilities.

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THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO:

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST

Subject: Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND

Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.  Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

 THIRD

Subject: Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time. 

FOURTH

Subject: How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

And Finally..

FIFTH

Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411  information option, simply dial (800) FREE 411 or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.