U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Sierra Division 11

Date: July 16, 2009
Division: Sierra Division 11
DCDR Name: Diana Kincade

HIGHLIGHTS

1. 8-Hour TCT Class – August 1, Reno, NV
2. Division 11 Training and Picnic – August 8, Station Lake Tahoe
3. Regatta Patrol Activities
4. VSC Activities and Visit by Mike Lauro DSO-VE
5. Joint National Weather Service Efforts
6. July 4th Visit by CDR Charonsuphipat and CDR Grenier
7. Night Training with Station Lake Tahoe
8. Patrol with Gold Side Officers in Training

DETAILS

1. Division 11 is hosting an 8-hour TCT Class on 01AUG to be held in Reno, NV. Jerry Collins will be teaching the class. Members from other Divisions are welcome to attend.
2. Our Division 11 Training and Picnic is being held at Station Lake Tahoe on Saturday, August 8. A flyer has been posted on the District Calendar and District members are invited. Our program consists of three speakers. Thomas J. Nuckton, MD, MS, Critical Care Attending, Sutter Health System, San Francisco, CA, will speak of his research on cold water immersion hypothermia. National Weather Service Reno will speak on weather forecasting models for Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake. Battalion Chief Pat Dillon, Training Officer North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District will give a hands-on fire extinguisher demo. A pot luck picnic will follow the presentations.
3. Operational Activities
a. Regatta Patrols – Facilities from all our flotillas have provided safety zone patrols for the following events since mid June: 20JUN Southern Cross Sailboat Race, 03JUL Kings Beach Fireworks, 04JUL Incline Village Fireworks, 04JUL Tahoe City Fireworks, 04JUL South Lake Tahoe Fireworks, 12JUL “Jam to the Dam” Paddle Board Race and 18JUL Trans Tahoe Swim. Due to a high winds and seas we assisted 4 persons during the paddle board race on 12JUL. Two facilities from 03-03 patrolled the Donner Lake Fireworks and the following Sunday at Donner Lake, Truckee, CA. We were grateful as we had our hands full with four fireworks displays on Lake Tahoe July 3rd and July 4th. Including last weekend we have 534 regatta hours logged this year with several others events planned this summer. Our regatta hours have encompasses 47% of our total patrol hours.
b. 08JUL Flotilla 11-01 members took the channel 16 high site from 0900 to 1500.
4. Member Training
a. QE Activities – 29JUN we qualified 2 coxswains, 1 boat crew, and re-qualified 1 coxswain and 1 PWC operator. We now have the first coxswain and boat crew qualified for our Carson City flotilla. They are now actively training more boat crew for their flotilla. 25JUL we plan to qualify 2 boat crew and re-qualify 1 coxswain.
b. Flotilla 11-03 is conducting an AUXNAV class on Tuesday evenings in Reno, NV.
5. Public Education Activities
a. Flotilla 11-01 conducted an ABS class in Incline Village on June 27. 18 students attended the class.
b. Flotillas 11-01 (in Kings Beach, CA) and 11-03/11-05 (in Reno, NV) will conduct ABS Classes on August 1.
6. Public Affairs Activities
a. Flotilla 11-04 continues to broadcast public service announcements on Tahoe Channel RSNTV (CHNL12 on South Shore) every Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning at 0930.
b. Flotilla 11-01 manned a booth at the annual Concours D’Elegance Wooden Boat Show, Carnelian Bay, CA on June 19-20.
c. Flotilla 11-01 participated in two July 4th celebration parades. The Red, White and Tahoe Blue Parade in Incline Village, NV held on July 2nd and the Truckee Parade held on July 4th. The Truckee Parade reported over 40,000 attendees this year. Our Truckee entry, which consisted of 2 boats, 1 motorcycle, and a wake boarder, took the Mayor’s Choice Award for the entry that best depicted life in Truckee.
d. Flotilla 11-05 will participate in the Carson City National Night Out on August 4. The purpose of National Night Out is to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, community safety, emergency preparedness, generate support for and participation in, local anticrime programs and strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.
7. Vessel Exam Activities
a. VSC Days - Flotilla 11-01 hosted VSC Days at Ski Incline and Donner Lake on 27JUN and Lake Forest Boat Ramp on 11JUL. 165 VSCs were conducted during these 3 days. Mike Lauro DSO-VE joined us 27JUN to view our Stations and distribute VE Inflatables to our newly qualified vessel examiners.
b. Division 11 has conducted 469 VSCs this year, 377 this last month. Flotilla 11-01 has conducted 280 VSCs this month which does not include 42 exams that we have conducted of which we do not have decals. We have sent out a plea for more decals to the other Divisions. Special thanks go to our Flotilla 11-01 FSO-VE Joe Harris, who organizes our VSC Days and leads by example. Vessel examiners are now canvassing the streets and creating relationships with the rental companies on Lake Tahoe.
c. Due to Mike Lauro’s VE Qualifying class in January we have qualified nine new vessel examiners this summer and re-qualified three.

AGENCY INTERACTIONS

1. Vic Beelik SO-PB and Jack Leth SO-OP toured Lake Tahoe with the National Weather Service Reno on June 26 to introduce CG Station Lake Tahoe, law enforcement marine units, marinas, newspapers and concessionaires to the NWSs new graphic lake forecasting products. The NWS distributed their new brochure. Vic Beelik produced and distributed CDs with URLs and a flyer on NWS’s internet weather service information.
2. CDR Charonsuphipat and CDR Grenier joined Division 11 for our July 4th holiday activities. We introduced the Gold Side to Lake Tahoe Fireworks patrols on both the evenings of July 3rd and July 4th. CDR Charonsuphipat and CDR Grenier also participated in the July 4th Truckee Parade and was the object of water and string guns riding in “Buzzy”, Angelo Perata’s facility.
3. Station Lake Tahoe invited the crews of all Auxiliary facilities conducting fireworks patrols on July 4th to a picnic prior to the evening events. Consistent with Senior Bennett’s picnics he served steaks and king crab legs. Station personnel hosted the Auxiliary with a beautiful selection of salads and desserts.
4. Two facilities from Flotilla 11-03 Reno conducted joint night training with Station Lake Tahoe on July 7th. Training consisted of night towing and search pattern exercises in rough lake conditions. The Reno operational members treated the crew of CG 255578 to dinner during the exercise.
5. Flotilla 11-01 had their summer picnic at Station Lake Tahoe on July 9. Station personnel attended.
6. One of our newly qualified coxswains, Tom Henderson, escorted Gold Side “officers in training” OT Joshua Valdivia and OT Kevin Curry on a patrol on Lake Tahoe on July 11.
7. FN Mitzy Doronio has volunteered to become the assistant Auxiliary Liaison to BM2 Potter.

UPCOMING EVENTS, DATES AND LOCATIONS

1. 01AUG 8-Hour TCT Class – Reno, NV
2. 01AUG Flotilla 11-01 ABS Class, Kings Beach, CA
3. 01AUG Flotilla 11-03/05 ABS Class, Reno, NV
4. 01AUG Big Blue Adventure Kayak Race, Lake Tahoe
5. 04AUG National Night Out, Carson City, NV
6. 08AUG Division 11 Training and Picnic, Station Lake Tahoe
7. 15AUG Flotilla 11-05 Summer Pot Luck, Reno, NV
8. 29AUG Flotilla 11-05/04 South Lake Tahoe Air Show