October 2009 eBook all pages (free PDF, 36.6 - Latitude 38

We Still
Offer More!
Making boating easier – and more fun!
is what a marina should be all about.
That's why Oyster Cove Marina rates number one with many
Bay Area boaters. It's an exclusive yet reasonable facility of 219
berths, accommodating pleasurecraft in slips up to 60-ft long.
Oyster Cove is the private Peninsula
marina closest to Blue Water boating.
Want to cruise to Sausalito, lunch at Tiburon, or sail to Angel
Island? How about a day's fishing outside the Gate, or a weekend
at the Delta? No other private Peninsula marina is better situated
or offers nicer, fresher surroundings.
• Berths 30 feet to 60 feet
• Double Finger Concrete Slips
• Telephone Available
• Five Minutes from SFO
• Heated Dressing Rooms & Showers
Page 58 • Latitude 38 • October, 2009
• Laundry Room
• Nightly Security Patrol
• Complimentary Ice
• Cable TV/High Speed Internet
• End Ties Available at $5.95/Ft!
385 OYSTER POINT BOULEVARD #8A
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
( 650 ) 952 - 5540
LETTERS
Lynn Thornton, and that person is Chief Deputy Russell Perdock.
We hope he is prosecuted. A lot of people are assuming
that the accident was the result of Perdock being drunk, but
there doesn't seem to be evidence to support such a belief.
We think he was just getting his kicks by recklessly hauling
ass through the black night — as he testified he'd done many
times before — without being able to see because it was black
out, he wasn't wearing his prescription glasses, and because
the speed would have made his eyes water up. It was just an
instance of really poor judgement.
⇑⇓TELL ME THERE'S A SPEED LIMIT ON CLEAR LAKE
I'm surprised that I haven't heard anything about it, but
can you please assure me that, in the light of the death of
Lynn Thornton, there is now a 5 mph speed limit on Clear
Lake after dark?
Carl Chesney
Ghoolie, Catalina 22
Sacramento
Carl — An attempt was made a few months ago to establish
a night time speed limit but it was quickly quashed by Lake
County's powerboater-filled Clear Lake Advisory Committee.
Regardless, the California Harbors and Navigation Code does
require that all vessels "be prepared to stop within the space of
half the distance of forward visibility." Just how much forward
visibility does one have on a pitch black night? Not much.
By the way, having travelled from shore to our anchored-out
boats well over 100 times this year — including in Mexico, the
Caribbean and Catalina — we consider ourselves to be experts
on operating sailboats and fast dinghies at night. We can report
that on nights when the moon is full or close to it, visibility is
actually pretty good. But on moonless nights, such as the night
that Perdock rammed the boat Lynn Thornton was on, you're
all but blind. No wonder two unlit pangas slammed into each
other behind Profligate one night last December while we were
anchored at Punta Mita.
The worst conditions of all are moonless nights when there
are background lights — as was the case the night of the Perdock
collision. The biggest problem with background lights on
moonless nights is that you have no depth perception, making
it all but impossible to know if the light you're looking at is
100 feet or 1,000 yards away. And Perdock's stated concept
of avoiding boats by looking for their silhouettes against background
lights is sheer lunacy.
For everyone headed south to Mexico this season, try hard
to reach your anchorage or harbor while it's still light. If you
must enter in the dark, proceed very slowly. We've entered the
harbor at Santa Barbara countless times, but on a recent dark
night, we felt that anything over two knots was still too fast
to safely pick out the channel markers from the background
lights reflected on the water.
⇑⇓"PEOPLE WANT TO HELP SO SUCK IT UP!"
The Gold Country YC celebrated Bismarck Dinius' victory
after three long years of his having to fight charges that he
was responsible for the death of Lynn Thorton in that terrible
boating accident on Clear Lake. Our little yacht club here in
the foothills of Nevada County on Scott's Flat Lake has been
behind Dinius, who is one of our own, for what's been a long
and hard road for him. He was welcomed to cheers of joy as
he arrived at our most recent general meeting. We, along with
much of the sailing community around the country, had been
praying for him all during the ordeal. And we haven't forgotten
about Lynn Thornton. Our prayers are with her family