Chris Bechtler
Marina Manager
336.461.4456
Fax: 336.461.3556

Monday - Closed
Friday, Sat & Sunday 9-7

FROM THE DOCK MASTERS LOFT

December, the holidays are upon us whether we wish to admit it or not, the good news is that means before we know it we will be boating again. We have been busy around the marina winterizing boats and performing maintenance on trailers. If your boat or PWC is not already winterized we can still do it for you. Give us a call or drop us an e-mail at OldNorthMarina@yahoo.com and we will handle it for you.

Are you done with your holiday gift shopping yet? Well don't fear, I have the perfect solution for the boater or fisherman on your list. We are an authorized Ellett Brothers dealer and are ready to meet any of your boating wants or needs.

I have scheduled four Boating Safety Classes for 2009. All classes will be held on Saturdays from 9:00AM to 5:00PM so mark your calendar and please sign up with Candice at the club; dates are February 21st, March 14th, April 11th and May 9th. Cost will be $35 for members and $40 for non-members. I look forward to seeing you in these classes.

Keeping with my new tradition of closing with a nautical terms and phrases. This month’s phrase is Eight Bells - Aboard Navy ships, bells are struck to designate the hours of being on watch. Each watch is four hours in length. One bell is struck after the first half-hour has passed, two bells after one hour has passed, three bells after an hour and a half, four bells after two hours, and so forth up to eight bells are struck at the completion of the four hours. Completing a watch with no incidents to report was "Eight bells and all is well." The practice of using bells stems from the days of the sailing ships. Sailors couldn't afford to have their own timepieces and relied on the ship's bells to tell time. The ship's boy kept time by using a half-hour glass. Each time the sand ran out, he would turn the glass over and ring the appropriate number of bells.

November

November is still a beautiful time of year for sight seeing on the lake. You’ve already had your boat winterized?  Our pontoon boat is still available for rent on those days when you just want to go take in the beauty of Badin Lake.

As always if you need anything please call the marina or e-mail me at OldNorthMarina@yahoo.com

Keeping with my new tradition of closing with a nautical terms and phrases. This month’s phrase is The Devil to Pay – On old sailing ships to pay the deck seams meant to seal them with tar. The devil seam was the most difficult to pay because it was curved and intersected with the straight deck planking. Some sources define the "devil" as the area below the waterline seam between the keel and the adjoining planking. Paying the Devil was considered to be a most difficult and unpleasant task. Of course in modern society the devil to pay has been used to describe unpleasant circumstances. For example if I do not get this article turned in soon, I will have the “Devil to Pay."

October

Oh where did the summer go? October is upon us, which means reduced hours for the marina. Winter hours are Thursday – Sunday 10  AM to 5  PM. These hours will be in effect from October 1st through April 1st when we resume our extended hours. But just because the calendar says it’s fall, doesn’t mean you have to avoid the marina. I believe some of the best boating of the year is yet to come.  The weather is cooler the lake is less crowded. Some of you may not be interested in late season boating in that case you may want to winterize your boat. In any case we are here and ready to serve you.

I anticipate conducting more Boating Safety Classes after the first of the year. This way the information is fresh in our minds when we put your boat back into the water in the spring. As always if you need anything, please call the marina or e-mail me at OldNorthMarina@yahoo.com

I have decided to close my newsletter articles each month with some nautical terms and phrases.

This month’s term is Fathom - Fathom was originally a land measuring term derived from the Ango-Saxon word "faetm" meaning to embrace. In those days, most measurements were based on average size of parts of the body, such as the hand (horses are still measured this way) or the foot (that's why 12 inches are so named). A fathom is the average distance from fingertip to fingertip of the outstretched arms of a man, about six feet. Since a man stretches out his arms to embrace his sweetheart, Britain's Parliament declared that distance be called a "fathom" and that it be a unit of measure. A fathom remains six feet. The word was also used to describe, "taking the measure of" or "to fathom" something. Today, of course, when one is trying to figure something out, they are trying to "fathom it" or "get their arms around it."

Children must wear Lifevest.

RALEIGH, N.C.-Children under age 13 must now wear a life vest while boating, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

1. The new Coast Guard boating-safety rule automatically becomes state law, applying to all public waters of North Carolina. It requires any child under age 13 to wear a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device, or PFD, if the boat is under way-that is, not anchored or tied to shore. The only exceptions are for children who are below deck or inside an enclosed cabin. Previously, boating regulations required only that PFDs of the proper size and in good condition be aboard the boat and accessible to children. The new law does not apply to commercial vessels.

The intent of the new law is to reduce the number of children who drown every year because they were not wearing lifejackets. National figures show that from 1995 to 2001, 210 children under age 13 died while boating -121 of them from drowning.

Marina Committee Robb Rowe - Chairman Bill Fagg Fred Hutton George McFarland Chris Bechtler, Marina Manager.