Flotilla 2-2 News & Views October 2015

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Flotilla 2-2 News & Views October 2015 Feature Article US Coast Guard Heritage, Legacy from US Life Saving Service by Kevin Walsh 2015 is the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of the US Coast

1 Flotilla 2-2 News & Views October 2015 Feature Article US Coast Guard Heritage, Legacy from US Life Saving Service by Kevin Walsh 2015 is the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of the US Coast Guard and as we celebrate that anniversary we might well ask, what was there before the Coast Guard that was dedicated to providing rescue on the sea?? China and Great Britain had some form of rescue service prior to our establishing some form of organized maritime rescue. The first US organized ability to save sailors in danger on the sea was begun in Massachusetts and was named the Massachusetts Humane Society. This organization began building small buildings in isolated areas which were stocked with survival supplies for shipwrecked sailors see picture at left. This was a very primitive start and it was soon seen that what was needed were manned stations with trained personnel who were able to take sailors off of shipwrecks with boats or breeches buoys. In 1871 Congress established the Revenue Marine Bureau which had responsibility for both life-saving stations and revenue cutter operations. President Hayes nominated Sumner Kimball to be the General Superintendent of the US Life Saving Service in Supt. Kimball was serious about the Life Saving Service and began to insure that qualified trained personnel were manning the services stations and that stations were repaired and new equipment procured. As time went on the Life Saving Service grew to include 279 Life Saving stations from Maine to Alaska. The stations of the Service fell into three categories: lifesaving, lifeboat, and houses of refuge. Lifesaving stations were manned by full-time crews during the period when wrecks were most likely. On the East Coast, this was usually from November to April, and was called the "active season." By 1900, the active season was year-round. Most stations were in isolated areas and crewmen had to perform open beach launchings. That is, they were required to launch their boats from the beach into the surf. Before 1900, there were very few recreational boaters and most assistance cases came from ships engaged in commerce. Nearly all lifeboat stations were located at or near port cities. Here, deep water, combined with piers and other waterfront structures, allowed launching heavy lifeboats directly into the water by marine railways on inclined ramps. In general, lifeboat stations were on the Great Lakes, but some lifesaving stations were in the more isolated areas of the lakes. The active season on the Great Lakes stretched from April to December. An exception was the nation's first rescue center on the inland waterways, the United States Life Saving Station #10, established in 1881 at the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, Kentucky. Houses of refuge made up the third category of Life Saving Service units. These stations were on the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. A paid keeper and a small boat were assigned to each house, but the organization did not include active manning and rescue attempts. It was felt that along this stretch of coastline, shipwrecked sailors would not die of exposure to the cold in the winter as in the north. Therefore, only shelters would be needed. On January 28, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the "Act to Create the Coast Guard," merging the Life-Saving Service with the Revenue Cutter Service to create the US Coast Guard. There was a network of more than 270 stations covering the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico Coasts, and the Great Lakes when this act was signed.

From the Helm, Gene Little, FC September A lot of training hours from throughout the year and across the Flotilla culminated in the successful requalification for two Coxswains (Tom & Walt), two

2 From the Helm, Gene Little, FC September A lot of training hours from throughout the year and across the Flotilla culminated in the successful requalification for two Coxswains (Tom & Walt), two Crewmembers (Diana & me) plus initial qualification for three Crewmembers (Bodge, Kevin & Kim). Congratulations to these members and a huge thank you to the trainers, mentors, and crewmembers who worked many hours to make this happen! I d especially like to single out Tom & Dave for all of the Training Patrols they worked, which enabled our new crewmembers to gain proficiency. Operations culminated this month with the Can You Canoe Cayuga? event on September 19th. The organizers made a smart decision to shorten the event due to forecasts of strong southerly winds, but it was still a long day for our two patrol boats & crew. From left, Tom, Dave, Don, Bodge, Bo, Walt & Gene are ready for action! October With operations winding down, it s time to begin another cycle of member training. In many ways that started with the Fall D-Train, in which three Flotilla members participated--vincent Mbera, Bo Stevens and Gene Little. Please mark your calendars for the 3 rd week of March as D-Train is a great opportunity to train, meet your peers and most importantly hear from the Gold team. Let s use the hard water months to hone our skills in preparation for next summer. Also consider Food Service (when it gets re-scheduled) Aux Weather on-line courses both required and desired. Winters should be heavy on course work, with application of skills in the summers. I highly recommend we prepare new Public Education courses - Weather, week-end Navigation, working on hopefully a resource for Paddlecraft, etc. I am also hearing that the public has requested an ABS course before the boating season sets in. Those of you at our October Meeting met the new CWO John (Chris) Henderson OTO I met Chris at Harbor fest and again at D-Train and we can expect his full support. AND we need to welcome Thomas Lacey who transferred from a Flotilla in Alaska (D17) to our Flotilla! Welcome Tom! November will be election of Officers--Flotilla Commander and Vice Flotilla Commander. Please get your letters of intent to Rob Schleelein if you are qualified and would like to run. Goal setting for the Flotilla for 2016 please give thought to what you would like to see us as a Flotilla accomplish next year.

3 December 12/13, Sunday, COW at Bella Domani on 5988 East Taft Road, Syracuse at 13:00. Attire is Service Dress Blue (blue coat, blue shirt and long tie), OR Civilian coat and tie/appropriate woman s attire. Our Flotilla December meeting time and place has NOT been finalized as yet. FC Squawk Box: This month s Deckplate Article is Curiosity. I chose this article because it fits our transition from summer operations and public education to even more member training and planning for the year ahead. While we should be proud of our accomplishments, across our Auxiliary functions and throughout our lives, we also need to consider what next? How do I continue to grow as a person and a leader? Read the article and see if you agree that it wasn t curiosity that killed the cat. Significant Accomplishments: September /23-9/7 State Fair (continued from August) 9/12 Division Boat Ride on Skaneateles Lake 9/9 & 9/18 Crew Member Re-quals & Quals 9/18 Flag Retirement Ceremony at Myers Point 9/19 Can You Canoe Cayuga? Walt, Tom. Rob & Bodge on the MARIA; Photo courtesy Bo Stevens 9/24-27 Fall D-Train October /5 Division Meeting with Civil Air Patrol October 14th Flotilla Meeting Notes (negative reports omitted); called to order at 1900 by FC Little, followed by Pledge of Allegiance and brief moment of silence. Roll call: Mike Beeching, Dale Campbell, Don Campbell, Carlton Cole, Dave Cornelius, Tom Every, John Frieman, Gene Little, Paul Phelps, Diana Robinson, Walt Robinson, Rob Scheelein, Bo Stevens, Kevin Walsh, Kim Walsh. Guests: Rick Kunz (Div 2 Commander), John Steinbarge, and CWO2 John (Chris) Henderson (OTO) Swearing in of new members: Gene Little administered the Oath to Kevin Walsh, Kim Walsh, Carlton Cole, John Frieman, Bo Stevens

4 Awards presented: Kim Walsh (instructor certification); Tom Every (25 years of service). Also of note: successful requal of coxswains Tom Every and Walt Robinson and crew members Gene Little and Diana Robinson. New crew members Bodge Hyatt, Kim Walsh, Kevin Walsh were also congratulated Tom Lacey, newly transferred from Alaska, was not present but welcomed in. Division report by Gene Little: Election of 2016 officers was held during previous meeting at Hancock Field. After Jan 1, Mike Kennedy will take over as Division Commander from Rick Kunz. Rick was recognized for his service to the Division. Rick in turn commented on the past year s developments, progress and participation. He is looking forward to his next role as Operations Staff Officer. Paul Phelps service was also noted, having decided not to accept a 2016 Division position. Operations review will be held Sat. 11/7 starting 10am at the Oswego Station. Gene spoke enthusiastically about Fall D-Train recently held in Dunkirk. Recommended as many members as possible participate in the Spring D-Train (3 rd week of March 2016?). OTO Chris Henderson took the floor to introduce himself. He replaced Kevin Kleisath as Sector Buffalo OTO in June. He appreciates the Auxiliary s passion for the boating & maritime community as well as the regular CG. He would like to focus on 1. Operational safety 2. Standardization among the flotillas. If one flotilla has found something that works, it can probably be applied to others so that all are improved. 3. Partnerships with other agencies to make our waterways safer. We should build on the strengths of other groups. OTO Henderson is happy to help with training. While lacking in small boat experience he is happy to learn. He is an experienced quartermaster with a strong background in navigation. He would be pleased to help run tabletop exercises or similar training over winter. Oswego will soon begin training for new boat crew members. Invitation extended to coordinate or share training if any of our people would like to take part. Mark your calendars for SABOT, 1 st weekend of June in Alexandria Bay. Staff officer reports: Communications, Mike Beeching: nothing new to report. Mike will be moving to day shift in December, so will hopefully be available more often. Computer services, Kim Walsh: Newly appointed to take over design and maintenance of our WOW web pages from Ian Adkins and recently completed C-school in San Antonio. (John Steinbarge is taking care of remaining paperwork to make the change official.) Kim gave a short PowerPoint presentation showing how the WOW site will be revamped and improved and explained what can (and cannot) be put on the site. Information Services, Diana Robinson: recently ed instructions and tips on reporting hours. Asked all members to at least get caught up this month with 2015 hours thus far, then do the last quarter at the end of December. Both Rick Kunz and Chris Henderson urged the members to report their hours and spoke on the necessity and value of good statistics. Operations, Tom Every: Three members successfully completed crew training and check rides. We have at least 3 new members who will start crew training in 2016 probably Spring. We had 118 total underway hours this boating season - - which is very good considering that 2 boats were down for repairs for extended periods of time. We did more training but somewhat fewer safety patrols than in previous years but he s satisfied with the result. In general we have improved communications with Tompkins County agencies, but Tom will be working to improve County center notification and callouts.

5 Member Training, Walt Robinson: Would like the 7 members who took AuxSea class but not the exam and those who would like to challenge the exam to take the exam. Is willing to schedule a review & refresher. All members who took the Communications class passed the exam. Urged the last of those who took the Weather class but not the exam to take it soon. (One member is taking the Weather exam Monday.) Would like to begin AuxPatrol class in January. Operations training for crew & coxswains will be scheduled with Tom. Would like to see more instructors step up to take some of the load off Tom, who has been putting in a huge effort. Required online LMS training: all members have to successfully complete the entire series before the end of the yea r2016. Make sure you get these done! You may experience software compatibility problems. No one browser is a silver bullet. If you can t start or complete a course with one browser, try another. (Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Edge) Materials, Mike Beeching: let him know if you need anything. Discussion of problems getting enough copies of NavRules. Public Affairs, Gene Little: participated in State Fair and other activities this year to get the word out. Looking forward to C-school soon for Public Affairs. Publications, Kim Walsh: Changing News & Views to incorporate suggestions from other PB officers. Always looking for news items, feature articles, pictures, etc. any useful info of general interest! Will be using Arnie Albrecht s narrative of our flotilla s history to be the framework for an upcoming article. Public Education, Walt Robinson: In 2015 we had 63 students, ages 10 to adult, bringing in $2350. We might do a winter ABS course for family & friends but need to get at least 10 people to sign up. Would like a group of people to meet and discuss where boating education is going now that we are competing with free online courses. We need alternatives to ABS, and a commitment from members to run them. Kevin asked Walt to put out a date for a meeting John Steinbarge would also like to attend. Rick Kunz noted they ve been talking with Syracuse schools and SUNY Syracuse to teach boating safety classes in school. Rick will also be sending us some radio PSAs we can share with local stations. Dave Cornelius suggested a letter to the editors of local papers reminding rowers to use PFDs or at least have them on boats. College teams will NOT use them, but we often see other rowers without any protection. The Paddlecraft course is being revised, and we may be able to use that for Cornell & IC. Walt commented on success of timely local articles in bringing people out of the woodwork for both ABS and new membership. Human Resources, Dale Campbell: we have 2 new members in the pipeline, plus 7 possible applicants. Marine Safety, Gene Little: Finger Lakes Institute will be putting on a presentation at Hobart & William Smith College. We did 46 vessel exams this year (not counting a few not yet reported). Discussion with John Steinbarge of correct report forms (7046s, 7030s, 7029s) and codes. Other items: 2015 statistics: is new membership declining or increasing compared with last year? Operations? Training (PE & MT) up/down from 2014? It was suggested by Mr. Henderson that in future all officers look at quarterly reports (2 years) to keep ahead of trends and set benchmarks. New business: Bo Stevens has connections with the local 518 organization, which is planning a Polar Bear Plunge in January. They asked if we know of any divers. Although we can run past Oswego, will recommend they contact Ithaca FD for support. Food Service (FS) class will be held 10/30 11/1 in Oswego. A form has been ed around. Hepatitis shots will be provided. TCT to be held Friday 12/11 and Saturday 12/12 at Oswego Veterans Parade: Sunday 11/8, meeting at 1400 on S. Titus. About 6 members will march. Boat? About 6 will also attend the Wednesday 11/11 11:00 ceremony at DeWitt Park. (Uniform will be ODUs)

6 Upcoming flotilla elections: to be held at Nov 11 th meeting. Rob has distributed standing rules and slate. If interested in running please notify Rob. Can also be nominated from the floor at the Nov meeting. Paul will represent Division for oversight. Mike Beeching: Wreaths Across America ceremony will be 12/12 at Sampson. Closing comments: Please get your hours and other reports in!!! The Walshes will be hosting the 2015 Holiday party at their home in Cortland on Sunday, 12/6 starting at Please bring a dish to pass. Details to follow for RSVPing, etc. Change of Watch ceremony & dinner: Sunday 12/13 at Bella Domani in North Syracuse. Dress is Bravos or appropriate civilian attire. Details to follow The meeting was adjourned at New Member Status Carlton Cole - Received member number John Frieman Received member number Paul Carter Filing Application Gregg Stone Filing Application Paul Stewart Need Follow-up Elliott Wells initiating Process Upcoming Events See the attached calendar. Attachments: Flotilla 2-2 Calendar, as of Oct 29, 2015 Deck Plate Leadership Article: Curiosity As before, more information about the series and some videos are available on-line at the website: Date Event POC Notes Sun, Nov 8 Veteran s Day Parade Ithaca Wed, Nov 11 Veteran s Day Memorial Svc Ithaca Wed, Nov 11 / 1900 Flotilla Meeting Gene Sun, Dec 6 / 1400 Flotilla Holiday Party Gene Location Walsh s 4741 Cosmos Hill Rd, Cortland (Homer) Fri, Dec 11 / TCT full class CG Station Oswego Set, Dec 12 / TCT full class CG Station Oswego Sat, Dec 12 Wreaths Across America Sun, Dec 13 / 1300 Division Change of Watch Gene Bella Domani restaurant 5988 E Taft Rd, Syr Wed, Jan 13 / 1900 Flotilla Meeting Gene Wed, Feb 10 / 1900 Flotilla Meeting Gene All events at Flotilla 22 Base, unless specified otherwise; see color code below Flotilla Meeting Div or above Member Training Public Education Special Event Ops Safety Patrol Calendar last updated: October 29, 2015

Official Newsletter of Flotilla 22, Ithaca, NY: News & Views February 2017

Official Newsletter of Flotilla 22, Ithaca, NY: News & Views February 2017 From the Helm, Kim Walsh, FC to Flotilla 22 Ithaca: I m still getting used to my new role as Flotilla Commander and my increased