Cat Supervisor

Ozzie seems to take his job quite seriously. I’m not entirely sure what his job is, but its not just house cat. It appears to be supervisor of all activities.

For instance, if we watch a DVD or more likely an old episode of StarGate on DVD, he’ll curl up on the arm of the couch next to Garnet and watch intently. He seems to particularly like SG1 vs. Atlantis, but I digress.

The last couple of days, Garnet has been busy pulling moss off our tar and gravel roof. I’d be happy to leave the moss alone, particularly as I’m reading more and more about green roofs, but our insurance company insists we get rid of it.

So while Garnet’s been busy up on the roof, Ozzie’s been busy too. Watching him work.

His vantage point today - the top of the chimney, presumably so he won’t miss any details of the job at hand.

Pick a card, any (operator’s) card

I see there are some issues with the Canadian government’s program aimed at improving safety on the water.

Critics say the pleasure-craft operator card is being hawked by providers who charge $40 to $60 to take a multiple-choice exam of dubious worth, under a system with so few controls that stories of cheating are as common as ducks on a dock. Full story here

As a former professional sailing instructor, I’ve seen pretty much everything out on the water, and anything that helps improve safety is a welcome.

The biggest issue really is this: providing an operator’s card without ever being required to prove yourself on the water is a bit of a joke. You certainly can teach the theory in a classroom or on the internet, but putting that theory to practice in a real-life situation on the water is completely different.

The problem is compounded by the amazing array of pleasure craft out there, and they’re faster than ever before. Powerboats sporting 60’s era muscle-car engines are common, as are sailboats weighing several tons.

Every time we go out sailing - EVERY TIME - boaters either ignore or don’t seem to know the simplest rules of the road. When I was teaching CYA certified courses, I told my students to assume ‘the other guy’ didn’t know the rules of the road - since most of the time that’s the way they behave. It may be cool to clip across someone’s bow doing 30 knots in a jet boat, but it certainly isn’t the right thing to do, and it certainly isn’t safe.

Now, add in a little booze, and no operator’s card in the world is going to make a hoot of difference. In my experience, the concept of designated driver doesn’t seem to have taken off in the boating world. Nor has the notion of actually wearing the PFD you’re legally required to have on board.

For the uninitiated, in Canada while you’re legally required to have a PFD for everyone on board, you aren’t required to actually be wearing it. So, the vast majority of boaters don’t. As you might surmise, they do little good to you in the locker on the boat after you’ve fallen overboard.

The thing is, the government was reluctant to institute a licensing system. So they did a half-assed job and come up with the operator’s card, and then farmed out provisioning to the private sector where every card issued means revenue. I’ve seen the ‘take the boating test’ tents set up in the parking lot at Canadian Tire, and the goal certainly doesn’t seem to be education - it’s about getting you a card as quickly and easily as possible.

I fully support the idea of licensing boaters - but only boats of a certain size or power. Its ridiculous, for instance, that my 13 year old can’t operate our 6 ft. long Zodiac tender because it has a 2-hp. motor on it.

The whole idea here is that people go out and have a fun time and a safe time on the water. Knowing that someone driving a boat heading towards me has actually taken a course and passed a license would make me feel a lot better. As it stands now, I assume they know very little about the rules of the road of safety at sea.

Operators should be required to take a course offered by an organization like the CYA or The Canada Power and Sail Squadron, and testing should be similar to a drivers’ test. Until that happens (and it probably never will) no amount of ‘clamping down’ on the way operator’s cards are issued is going to make much of a difference to safety on the water.

Globe Knows How To Use Black & White

They probably did this ages ago, but I use RSS so extensively that I often never see the front page of news web sites.

In any event, I love the way the Globe and Mail is using black & white for their left-hand-side thumbnails.

Most news sites, in fact almost all news sites, have become horrible to look at. Part of the problem is that no matter how the site gets designed, as soon as you add all those ads, colour schemes and balance go out the window (no pun intended).

Using the monochrome images really eases the busy-ness of the site, and I think it’s a great move.

Another Crappy Day in Paradise

On board Madsu on a sunny and windy Saturday afternoon in Howe Sound heading out to the Straight of Georgia. We’re beating to windward doing about 5 knots and heeled about 12 degrees. Britannia is outbound from Squamish to Vancouver. The foredeck was packed with young girls yelling hello. In the foreground, clamped to my BBQ mount is our solar battery charger - it works like a charm.

EB’s on the tiller doing a respectable 5.2 knots SMG - got to like that GPS.

Meanwhile, the boys were up on the weather rail cooling off with a little toe dip in the salt chuck.

Experience an Asset

Not that I’m thinking of applying.

But.

I was reading the requirements for the job of President of the CBC.

That’s the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation we’re talking about.

One of the requirements:

Experience in the broadcasting industry or other cultural industries would be an asset.

An asset ? Novel idea.

Can you imagine any other billion dollar corporation suggesting that knowing something about the industry it’s engaged in would be an asset.

I actually know something about broadcasting. Probably rules me out.

Not that I was thinking of applying.

If you are, they’re still taking applications via a head hunter.

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