Testing with Transport Canada is continuing but will be upgraded by the addition of an appendix that outlines the recent changes to the Small Vessel Regulations. We will be including them in the main text when possible.
Read more: Your Educational Department has been busy this...
Originally priced at $149 USD (CAD $194), Navionics Plus Canada MicroSD cards for Lowrance, Raymarine, Humminbird, Simrad, B&G and many other chartplotters...
The Canadian Safe Boating Council (CSBC) is a volunteer charitable organization. Our mission is to reduce the incidence of injuries and fatalities across Canada that occur as a result of recreational boating activities through innovative, relevant and effective measures.
Volunteers and boaters from across North America will congregate in Ottawa to exchange ideas, have their say in the business of their national organization, attend workshops, network with old friends and meet new ones.
Read more: National Conference Details and Preliminary Agenda
Originally priced at $149 USD (CAD $194), Navionics Plus Canada MicroSD cards for Lowrance, Raymarine, Humminbird, Simrad, B&G and many other chartplotters are now available for only CAD $155 (at today’s exchange) until Sept. 27, 2018, with coupon code "CPSECP20".
We welcome back Alice Hinton to our National Office Staff. As many of you know, Alice retired in August of 2017 from her full-time accounting position with CPS-ECP, but came back on a part-time/temporary basis earlier this year to help out during the busy time of our year.
Simply stated once a CPS-ECP member has earned 20 Merit Marks (representing twenty volunteer hours per year for twenty years) they become a CPS-ECP Life Member and their CPS-ECP membership fee is waived (read free.)...
Sign up now for our new listing of online courses! Enhance on your boating skills this fall and winter from the convenience of your own home!
In cooperation with CPS-ECP, ICOM Canada has created a new VHF DSC Simulator that can add value for all Squadrons teaching the VHF Maritime Radio course.
A few years ago I wrote the following article for Canadian Yachting and with Fall courses coming up soon I thought it would be a good idea to run it again in our newsletter. Squadrons can feel free to use this article to help promote their courses.
An Abacos Adventure
By Mark Stevens; Photos by Sharon Matthew-Stevens
It’s a perfect Sunday morning jaunt.
We’re gliding through green-blue waters, colours so vivid and bright they hurt your eyes. We’re set for a close reach out of a harbour guarded by a necklace of tiny emerald islands decorated by palms that dance in fifteen knots of wind.
Our boat, “Tropical Escape II” (perfect name for both the boat and our adventure), is a 44-foot Robertson and Caine catamaran, chartered from Sunsail’s Marsh Harbour base on Bahamas’ Great Abaco Island.
Read More about An Abacos Adventure...
Gulf Yacht Club
By Katherine Stone
Back to the days when most sailors made their boats in their garages, backyards, or basements, because that would have been the only way that they could procure a boat of any type. Boaters of yore were hardy folk who endured sleeping on floor boards in open boats with very little shelter, no boat cushions, cotton sails that never dried out and often succumbed to mildew, a hand compass and line of sight was used to navigate, no GPS or chart plotters, and their idea of a head was a bucket, if you were lucky.
This is how many of the first members of the Gulf Yacht Club recount their childhood and early adult years.
Read more about the Gulf Yacht Club...
Hanse 388
By Katherine Stone
The Hanse group produced their second most popular boat of all time with the Hanse 385. The trick was to build on that winning formula when they upgraded to the Hanse 388, which they have done in spades. The German build quality is first rate and true to the Hanse tradition. Leaving the hull the same with a steep stern and straight stem for an optimal long water line, they went with a slightly stiffer, heavier displacement, new deck, interior layout and window line. Hanse’s highly experienced yacht construction team, judel/vrolijk & co., have combined ease of sailing, comfort and performance into the newly designed Hanse 388.
Read more about the Hanse 388...
Ask Andrew – How to hire a boat repair contractor
By Andrew McDonald
A recent conversation with a fellow contractor got me thinking: With all of the information out there, including: Websites showing repairs, YouTube tutorials, Instagram pages and snapchat streams – let alone books, magazines, service manuals, and years of practical experience – how does a boat owner know which method(s) are ‘right’, who to trust, and who to hire to do the job? In short: How do you find and select a contractor?
Unfortunately, most people are forced to hire a contractor due to a circumstance where something has broken or failed, or the task...
Read more about hiring a contractor...
What to do with used sails?
Sail shape is long gone. They have stained, feels thin and you see broken threads everywhere. Your sail is used-up and ready for the garbage. What to do with it is a common question that sailmakers get asked.
The best advice is to not put it into an unsuspecting dumpster. The green alternative is to recycle. If it is in reasonable condition, you can sell it used. There is a market for it. Most reusable sails can be found in the boating section in the local and nation sailing publications, newsletters or buy & sell web sites.
When the sail is too far gone to resell and it is made from Dacron there are other options.
Read more about re-using used sails...
