Newsletter 58

May 2024 Newsletter 58

ATTENTION ALL SALTY DAWG WOMEN

We need your voices!

The mission of the Salty Gals group is to build community among Salty Dawg women sailors, to give voice towomen's concerns, and address specific issues that affect women sailors. Whether you are captain of your own boat, or a partner with your captain, retired, working, young, not so young- we want to hear all of your concerns. We have come to realize that many women do not have their email addresses in our system. If you think this is the case for you, the primary SDSA member can verify, add and remove family members, details here. Please become a part of our community!

LIONFISH IN THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC

Written by Doug Weibel

Lionfish – Pterois volitans. Have you seen them while snorkeling?

This invasive species, native to the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, were found in Florida waters in 1985 and quickly spread throughout the Caribbean. Without natural predators, and spawning as frequently as every four days in warmer climates, these fish have a negative impact on coral reefs where they consume seventy species of fish up to half their own size. Their explosive growth in the Atlantic has slowed but this invasive fish is still a cause of concern for coral reef health.

ARE YOU A GREEN BOATER?

Written by Katie Bloxham

Cruisers like us see firsthand many of the issues that our oceans face, from pollution which fouls our playground, to overfishing and habitat destruction, which threaten marine life and the source of food for billions of people around the world. Green boaters promote sustainable boating practices and protection of marine environments through their personal actions, community involvement and advocacy.

Salty Dawg sailors already do many things to support Green Boating. Some of these are out of respect for the waters we live on and around, and others are just plain common sense. So here’s a celebration of Salty Dawgs being Green Boaters!

First, however, a few facts:

Plastics: Plastics never go away. Instead they break into smaller and smaller pieces. Recycling is often presented as a solution to our plastics crisis, but it falls short. Only 9% of all the plastic waste ever created has been recycled.

WHEN TO REPLACE YOUR SAILBOAT RIGGING

Written by Steve Madden, M Yachts

The standing rigging is what keeps the mast in place, and thus requires particular attention. How do you know when it’s time to re-rig? There are some obvious answers to this one — for instance, if your wire rigging has broken strands or if it’s suffering from “candy-striping,” i.e., rust-colored streaks swirling down the wire. The latter may indicate two things: one, that it’s simply surface rust, which you should be able to polish off, or two, that as the wire was being manufactured, a strand might have picked up some contamination during the process and is compromised, which is cause for concern. A third visual indicator is cracks in swaged fittings, some of the most common end fittings for wire. Cracks are hard to see (use a magnifying glass), and sometimes marks that look like cracks can be left by the machine used to create the swage. Then there’s just age, and this factor as a reason to re-rig is more subject to a boat’s history than anything else.

THIS MONTH IN PICTURES

Great times had by all at Puerto Bahia Marina!

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: ALEX HELFAND

Boat Name and Type: Compass Rose, Nautich Open 40

Home Port: Annapolis MD

Years volunteering for the Salty Dawgs: Since September 2020

I became a member of Salty Dawgs in 2020 as a result of my search for information on Bluewater sailing. This was in preparation for taking delivery of a new catamaran in 2021.