CLUB GENERAL MEETING
There will be a general meeting of the Sea Kayak Club WA for all members on the 14th April at the Melville Recreation centre at 7:30pm. We will have a number of our members bringing boats and discussing merits of the various designs. The focus will be on Kayaks, Sails, Paddles and Pumps. Please put this date in your diary as we would like a large number of people to attend.

SKCWA INTERMEDIATE AWARD
The Club is in the process of defining a Club-based Award which we call the SKCWA Intermediate Award. Although the fine details of the requirements for this Award are still being tweaked, a draft list has now been considered by the Club Committee.  A list of requirements for the Intermediate Award can be seen here.

TOWING PROCEDURES
As part of the ongoing upgrade of club safety procedures, Rod Coogan has drawn up a plan for who does what, when towing a paddler in distress. It's available as a PDF document from the Safety guidelines page. 

ROUGH WATER PADDLING NOTES
Rod Coogan has put together some thoughts on paddling safely in rough water. Click here to view the full article.

NEW AUTOMATIC BILGE PUMP
Malcolm Blanch has designed a bilge pump with an automatic switch that turns on when water is detected in the cockpit. He has written up the plans so that you can make one too. Click here for the full article.

AIR SWITCH FOR KAYAK
Tim Hale has a great suggestion for a new switch to replace those mechanical switches that suffer corrosion problems. Click here for the full article.

photo Tim Hale

NAVIGATION AID
Below are the Zipped OziExplorer calibration files Steve Foreman has created for the Western Australian Digital Nautical Charts, Lancelin to Dawsville, July 2006 as released by the Department for Planning and Infrastructure. He has only calibrated the ECW map image set as those using OziExplorer would use them in preference to the TIFF images.
Download file here (ZIP, 32KB).

EXTRACTION LINE
Rod Coogan explains how to make a useful extraction line for kayaking. Click here to view the full article.

SEARCH FOR EPIRB
Thanks to Rod Coogan for his work in trying to find an EPIRB that will be small enough to carry for an individual paddler and still fit into the marine regulations. He has e-mailed and sent many letters but as yet has not received satisfaction with responses he has received. A 406 EPIRB cannot be safely worn attached to a paddler's PFD as it impedes the paddler during normal paddling strokes. The club has now purchased an EPIRB for use by trip leaders, and Rod is hoping to make a bulk purchase sometime soon, of PLBs for individual members who still have not purchased one.

TRANSIT THROUGH THE PORT OF FREMANTLE
The club appreciates the efforts of Roger Lloyd for giving us an answer from Fremantle Ports on transit of kayaks through the Fremantle Port. There is nothing in the department of Planning and Infrastructure WA Marine Act or port Authorities Regulations which prohibit small craft transiting port waters. There is a maximum speed of 8 knots in the harbour, and under the Port Authorities Regulations there is a 30 metre exclusion zone around all berths and ships at berth. We have a copy of this e-mail and are printing out copies for sea leaders to attach to their boat in the event of being challenged entry to the harbour.

NEWSLETTERS
The Club no longer produces newsletters, relying instead on information on the website and notices sent by email. However, some of the old newsletters have some interesting articles. The July 2008 edition was the last of the Club newsletters, with a report from the Dampier trip in May, plus more notes from the Cape to Cape, and other items. Download your copy from here (PDF file 2.8MB), or go to the Newsletter page for links to this and past editions.