Last week on Thursday saw some of Port Elizabeth's artists at ABYC taking in the atmosphere and painting from the club. Duncan Stewart did a particularly nice painting of Mike Robinson painting his boat, Free Spirit and I though you may like to see a photograph of Duncan painting Mike who was painting his boat - yea a bit like looking in a mirror with another mirror behind you!

Another Port Elizabeth artist, Sue Hoppe, chose Rob Onvlee's J27 and the Police boat on the moorings as her subjects and sent this photograph of her canvas:

Visit Sue's web site - Arty Farty Musings

The minutes from the South African Sailing Eastern Cape Annual General Meeting held at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club on the 13th of July 2008 are available for your perusal and pleasure

CLICK HERE to get your very own copy to keep forever and ever.

If you have any feedback or comments on the minutes then please be so kind as to pop them into the comments section below (DUH!) and I will endeavour to get them to the correct procrastinator for studied perusal and eventual answer.

According to Web Site Outlook, on the 19th of July the www.abyc.org.za web site was worth $4 277.80.

Just for fun I plugged in the following local club sailing web sites to see what their worth is estimated to be as at 19 July 2008 -(clicking on the club will give you the latest estimated value):

Redhouse - $1 569.50
Royal Cape Yacht Club - $3 204.70
Knysna Yacht Club - $1 489.20
Point Yacht Club - $1 511.10
False Bay Yacht Club - $1 803.10
Zululand Yacht Club - $1 533.00
Sailing.org.za - $3 051.40

The most clicked on link in the Sail Search ($6 161.20) Directory and Search Engine is the Sailing Scuttlebutt web site and Websiteoutlook estimates the value of Scuttlebutt at $15 205.90.

Curiosity got the better of me and I plugged a couple of local, Port Elizabeth sites in to see what their estimated values are:

MyPE - $20 242.90
E.P. Herald - $10 986.50
Algoa FM - $6 394.80
Mandela Bay Metro - $5 277.90

Of course all the above numbers pale into insignificance when you check out the estimated worth of Google.com at $1.2 Billion. On the other hand, Google.co.za looks like a bargain at $15.96 million!

More Info about Websiteoutlook:

How it works?

Websiteoutlook contains a collection of the actual number of pageviews from other websites. The visitor data is combined with information about number of links that point towards the site, country, Alexa ranking and other data that is available on-line. All this information has been used to make a formula that uses the information that is available on-line to estimate the number of pageviews, its worth and possible daily income that the site has.

How accurate is WebsiteOutlook?

It is not an exact science, but it does give you a very good picture of how many pageview, daily ads revenue a website has. It can be used for numerous purposes especially when doing research. An Advertisers can get an estimate of how many pageview a site has before buying adverts. If you want to buy a website or domain Websiteoutlook can give you a pretty good idea about the number of pageviews and website worth the site has before contacting the owner. Websiteoutlook is good for any initial research or just because you're curious.

Occasionally the mere act of taking your boat out of the water for a bit of tender loving care has some hidden benefits.

Yesterday a group of Port Elizabeth artists got together at ABYC for a morning session in front of their canvas. One of the artists, Duncan Stewart sent this photograph of his painting of Mike Robinson's Spirit 28 up on the hard:

Duncan writes:

My name is Duncan Stewart, although I have been to the AB Yacht Club for wonderful beer-batter hake and chips (probably more often than I should have, yesterday a group of us, including Sue Hoppe, were there painting.

I wanted to introduce myself and send some work - the theme of which some of your members may be interested...not too sure where to take it from there but for now just wanted to say hi. The first two are from PE harbour, the yacht in dry docks is 'Free Spirit' which i did yesterday, I think the owner's name was Mike. The others are in part based on PE reference and personal expression. Two of these are on display at Blue Waters cafe at Hobbie Beach.

My love-affair with water and wind has persevered for years unabated despite being reduced to a surf-ski at present, in the future, I would like to build a collection of work - possibly an exhibition, related to sailing, wind and my experiences with the awesome ocean.

Thanks again for your time and for the use of ABYC's facilities....much appreciated, and enjoyed.

After the Optimist Dinghy Selections Regatta to select the top five South African sailors to represent South Africa at the Optimist World Championships in Cesme, Turkey, was held in Port Elizabeth this year, ABYC's, Glynis Baer was selected to manage South Africa's team.

The Selections Regatta saw SA's top 30 sailors, their parents, supporters and coaches spend the week from the 25th of March to the 1st of April sailing in our bay.

The South African Team, under the guidance and management of Glynis, who is also the South African Optimist Class President, are presently sailing against 250 other sailors in Cesme, Turkey. According to Glynis, the accommodation at the Altm Yunus Resort is comfortable and upmarket with the food being a particularly strong drawcard. The temperature is in the 30 to 40 degree celsius range, the sea a lovely blue and the prevailing North West wind is in the 20 knot range. It sounds like the holding of the Optimist Selections in Port Elizabeth and out of Algoa Bay Yacht Club, was a good one as we mimic the wind and sea conditions of Cesme, Turkey.

After the first day of racing yesterday the top South African sailor, Ed Lehtinen, is lying in 47th place.

Read More about the Optimist Worlds on the Optimist Web site and see the photographs from the Port Elizabeth selections regatta HERE.

From 1 February 2009 the Cospas-Sarsat system will no longer receive alerts from 121.5MHz Distress Beacons.

Only the 406MHz beacons will be detected. The 406MHz beacons are far superior, more accurate and can be located faster.

Why switch to the 406MHz Beacon?

406MHz Beacons transmit a much stronger signal and are verifiable and traceable. They can be accurately detected within a few minutes. Each 406MHz Beacon has a unique identifier encoded in its signal. As long as the Beacon has been registered, the rescue centers can quickly confirm if the distress is real. These beacons have a position accuracy of less than 5kms – reducing the Search and Rescue teams search area, saving time and lives.

Guidelines for the operation of the 406MHz Beacon:

1. Be aware of maintenance procedures for the beacon
2. Learn how to use the beacon in an emergency
3. Understand the self-test feature of their beacon
4. Manufacturers contact details for approved 406MHz beacons can be found on the Cospas-Sarsat website www.cospas-sarsat.org under the “Beacons” tab

How Distress Beacons work:

When a Distress Beacon is activated it transmits a signal that is detectable by passing aircraft and satellites. As the satellites orbit the earth they detect activated distress beacons and report their positions to the relevant rescue authority.

When to use Distress Beacons:

Distress Beacons are only to be used in life-threatening situations.
In the event of an emergency, first signal other vessels in the area by using radios or other methods.
Cell phones may be used, however, do not rely on them alone as they might be out of reception range, loose battery power or become water-damaged.

How to register a Distress Beacon after acquiring one:

Visit www.icasa.org.za or contact Eileen (ICASA) on 021 5951 640 or 021 5957 300

What to do if the Distress Beacon is set off accidentally:

Firstly – turn it off!
Then contact the proper authority in whose area you are.

South Africa have sent a Youth Team to the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Århus, Denmark. The South African sailors are amongst the 29 APP sailors who are helped each year to compete by ISAF and the programme. They get financial backing and an internationally renowned coach in the form of Jim Saltonstall (World Youth Sailing Trust coach) to help them throughout the week.

Hobie 16 Champion, Matthew Whitehead along with crew member, Michael Ovenstone are currently lying in FIRST place in the Multihull category, sailing on a Sirena SL16.

After four races they are two points ahead on 12.

The South African positions:

1. Rudi McNeill - Laser, 22nd after four races (climbed 3 places)
2. Claire Walker - Laser, 36th after four races.
3. Taariq Jacobs and Neil Malan - 29'er, 10th after five races (climbed 10 places)
4. Mathew Whitehead and Michael Ovenstone - Sirena SL16, 1st after four races (climbed 3 places).

The Volvo Youth Championships end on the 19th of July 2008.

CLICK HERE for the full report and photographs of Mathew and Michael on the Sirena SL16

I have heard all the stories from members who say that only a small percentage of us have access to the net and on the other side I hear from other members who faithfully have the ABYC web site as their home page and visit daily.

Throwing more confusion into the mix is the fact that many members have 3G, GPRS and HSDPA enabled cellphones but no internet connection from home.

So, in the interests of trying to make the ABYC web site and information available to as many members as possible you are now able to get the latest postings / stories on the ABYC web site in an easy to read format on your cellphone.

Of course if you want to use the real power of the site to search, view images and older content you will still have to access the ABYC site via your standard internet connection.

Type the following URL into your phone browser: http://abycpe.mofuse.mobi/ and bookmark it in order to access the "mobile enabled" content.

Why "mobile enabled" content:

You get the text and only the text that matters.
No huge image files.
No having to scroll left to right and back again.
Small page sizes.
All of this saves you money in terms of data fees.

If your cell phone is WAP compatible, phone your network customer care (Vodacom 082-111 or MTN 083-173 or Cell C 084 140) to activate data on your account.

Ever get asked to write about something, think it will be a total bore, not too mention the event and then, GET SUCKED in?

As Tom Waits said; "I confess, I am not weird about it or anything ......" Yup I got sucked in and found a few facts about Scrabble that should help you at 6:30 p.m. on the 12th of July at ABYC:

* A Scrabble board is 15 spaces high and 15 spaces wide, for a total of 225 squares.

* Scrabble was invented in 1938 by architect Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts created the game as a variation of another word game he invented, Lexiko.

* There is just one Q in a Scrabble game.

* The highest known score for a single word in competition Scrabble is 392. In 1982, Dr. Saladin Khoshnaw achieved this score for the word "caziques," which means "Indian chief."

* The highest possible score a player can get in Scrabble, on a first turn, is for the word MUZJIKS (128 points).

* The highest score obtainable by playing a seven-letter word is QUARTZY (164 points) across a triple-word-score square with the Z on a double-letter-score square.

* There are 10 two-letter words spelled with vowels only: AA, AE, AI, AY, OE, OI, OY, YA, YE, YO.

* The SOWPODS dictionary has a total of 267 751 words out of which 124 are two letter words.

* SOWPODS is an easily-pronounced anagram of OSW and OSPD. (See Below)
** OSW - In 1988 for the first time a single list of all the valid words, without the ambiguity of discussing conjugations, declensions and plurals was published under the title Official Scrabble Words from Chambers (this would come to be known as OSW).
** OSPD - Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (derived from the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and four other college dictionaries).

FOR THE SCRABBLE PLAYER WHO WANTS TO GET AHEAD:

1. Two letter word combinations are often overlooked so the following list could help you on the 12th of July:

The Letter K is worth 5 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* KA (5+1)
* KO (5+1)
* KY (5+4)

The Letter J is worth 8 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* JO (8+1)

The Letter X is worth 8 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* AX (1+ 8)
* EX (1+ 8)
* OX (1+ 8)
* XI (8+1)
* XU (8+1)

The Letter Q is worth 10 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* QI (10+1)

The Letter Z is worth 10 points. Possible combinations are as follows:

* ZO (10+1)

2. CLICK HERE to download the entire SOWPODS word list (686 kilobytes).

3. And for the 3G phone enabled CHEATER, here is an online SCRABBLE HELPER.

The Scrabble Evening takes place at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club at 6:30 p.m. on the 12th of July.

Two to a team.

Please bring your own Scrabble board and your mates if you have any.

Join ABYC for a talk presented by Rainer Schimpf on Bait balls, Whales, Orca kill, & Dolphins in Algoa Bay

Friday 18th July 6.30 p.m. for 7.00 p.m. In Chartroom

*Pasta Supper included @ R50.00 per head for MEMBERS and R75.00 per head for NON MEMBERS

Please book with the Chartroom Restaurant or Office - 041 585 2893 or 041 585 4058