Buoys
ASMBYC work party: Nov. 13, 2010
ASMBYC MDR Buoy Update
April 17, 2011
The last few weeks have been very heavy with almost daily work on the marks. But we have succeeded. For the first race of the Sunset Series, all the marks were in place. Two of which were only dropped in that Wednesday morning.
We are still working on a new Fixed U mark (Mid point between S and D) and we need volunteers to finish this up. This is a refurbished aluminum mark of the old design so it requires more work to set up.
   For the last push, the teams of volunteers came from CYC and they really pulled through. I’d like to acknowledge the volunteers from CYC: Denise George, Mike George, Rick Peters, Yumio Dornberg, Rick Peters, Conrad Brown.
From SMWYC, Rick Toomim spent some time with me on G Mark.
DRYC volunteers Sterling Tallman, Eddie Hollister, Earnie Barker dropped new marks and rescued SS Mark.
PMYC – Kent Andersson brought to rescued J Mark from KHYC to DRYC.
This is all a team effort. If I don’t get the help of volunteers then this is an impossible job.
At the moment, after U Mark is completed (needs some repairs and painting), we will have no other marks ready in case of an emergency. I have the potential for 2 marks to be available, 1 PVC mark of the new design, and 1 Aluminum mark that was unfinished from Tom Oconor’s term. A few volunteers should get this going in half a day.
This year has been a tremendously difficult year for our marks. At one point in the year, we were missing 9 marks. That’s a massive loss. And the number of marks assembled and deployed in a short time was unprecedented. From Tsunamis to storms, it was quite a challenge. Hopefully, we will be ok for awhile and we can prepare an inventory for next winter.
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ASMBYC MDR Buoy Update
March 14th, 2011
The first of the new marks was put in position this morning. T mark is now available for racing. The new marks have a new design as the people who have participated in the last ”Work Party” know. They are made of PVC instead of the previous Aluminum design that was layered with fiberglass.
When these new marks were designed, Harlan Holmes (ASMBYC Treasurer) who is an engineer provided computations on flotation and center of gravity so we could try out various parameters on paper and see what will happen. This was the basis of the design of the new marks. I am pleased to report that the mark is floating EXACTLY at the computed waterline and the mark is vertical. So this bodes well for the remaining marks that will be put in position.
As soon as ground tackle is available from CYC, we will be transporting the other marks. Next in line is A mark which we expect will be in position in the next couple of weeks, before the Sunset Series starts.
G Mark has been a bit of a problem lately. It sank right after the Sunset Series in 2010 (around September). Our diver Nigel Gale found the mark in January. In February he floated the mark with some temporary flotation and cleaned it. But unfortunately, at the beginning of March, it sank again. So we’re looking at options including adding more floatation in the water or towing it back in. We can still salvage the mark but obviously the foam is no longer able to keep the water out. This mark is of the original aluminum design so I’ll have to investigate why it took on so much water. The current theory is that the water pressure at depth compressed the foam or popped a hole (there are pre-drilled holes covered with fiberglass).
That’s it for now.
Roberto Cordero – MDR Buoy Chair
ASMBYC MDR Buoy Update
November 13th, 2010
The work party built 5 marks, just waiting for ground tackle, and 1 more mark was 2/3 built. We even did a float test. The number of volunteers was awesome. Maybe 20 people showed up throughout the day. This is called TEAMWORK!If you hit these marks on the ocean you have to answer to me :)Roberto Cordero – MDR Buoy ChairSee the rest of the photos on our Facebook page.
ASMBYC MDR Buoy Update
November 15th, 2010
Team 2 is going to work on the ground tackle soon at CYC.
The missing marks are T, AA, A, F, G (Recently sank) and we are adding a new U mark (final letter designation to be determined).
The first mark we will drop will be T mark. Our new diver Nigel Gale will also attempt to salvage G mark based on the GPS location with a Grapple hook. We’ll see what happens.
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November 15th, 2010
