Alacosta Blurb

                              

    Maintaining an icy distance between abalone and diver for over 40 years   

                                                                              

                                  November, 2003                                 

 

New Editor: After almost three years (or was it four?) our Blurb Editor for Life Kevin Dalley decided to retire in order to serve as Club Vice President, so for the next year at least, Susan Carter is the Blurb Editor. Submissions are encouraged and welcome and can be sent to her at Susan.Carter@ucop.edu or to Still15320@aol.com.

 

Alas, we must start our first edition with an apology: some of you may receive this Blurb a little late, due to difficulties in transitioning editors when the new editor is still learning the ropes and the old editor has been travelling out of state. We promise to do better with future editions (at least as far as timeliness goes!).

 

Entertainment needed

 

Alacosta is also looking for entertainment for future meetings. Contact Vice

President Kevin Dalley if you have entertainment ideas. Kevin’s email address is

kevin@kelphead.org. His phone number is 510-531-3303.

 

Upcoming meetings:

 

  General meeting

 

The November general meeting will be on Monday, November 3rd. Note that the Library had to change our normal meeting room location and the meeting will be held in room 9A, behind the Community Center Auditorium. Apparently there will be signs at the Library directing us to the correct location. The Community Center is located at 26 Orinda Way, which is next door to the Library (Our normal meeting location). Entertainment at the meeting will consist of an U/W video of Hawaii, courtesy of John Beland.

 

General meetings are held from 8-10 PM at:

 

    Garden Room

    Orinda Library

    24 Orinda Way

    Orinda, CA 94563

 

(except this month when the location has been changed. See above).

 

 

 

 

 

Executive board meeting:

 

Executive board meetings are usually held on the third Monday of the month at 8

PM and are usually preceded by a potluck at 6:30 PM. All Alacosta members are

invited.

 

The November executive board meeting will be on Monday, November 17th, at Gary Schleimer’s home, 17055 Broadway Terrace, in Oakland. Call Gary at 510-547-3474 to rsvp. Gary asks that you show up a little later than normal (e.g. around 7 p.m. ), unless you want to admire the view from his front porch for a few minutes till he makes it home.

 

Upcoming dives:

 

Talk to the dive chairs early. Please sign up in advance. All people who sign

up are responsible for fees at the dive. People who don't sign up for the dive

may be excluded from the dive and shunned for life. On camping trips, each

diver is responsible for finding its own campsites. The chair will attempt to

organize campsites, but no guarantees can be made. There is a $5 per day fee

for use of the club boats. Personal flotation devices should be brought for all

dives using club boats.

 

NEW YEAR’S DAY DIVE AT POINT LOBOS

 

Susan Carter is chairing this traditional Alacosta event. As of press time, details, including whether anyone actually got slots at Lobos for January first, and whether the Lobos folks fixed their broken web clock, are unknown. Come to the November meeting or check the December Blurb for more details. If you did get a slot, call Susan at 415-647-9036 or email her at still15320@aol.com.

 

Cozumel, May 2004

 

Simon Kisch is leading a trip to Coz in Spring 2004. Details to follow, or call Simon at 510-841-5900.

 

Holiday Party

 

The Holiday Party will be held on the evening of Saturday December 13, at Jim and Rennie Kirby’s home in Oakland at 2060 Braemar Road. Details to follow in the December Blurb, but mark your calendars now and plan to join us for a lot of holiday cheer and general good times!

  

Papua New Guinea

 

Alacosta divers may dive in Papua New Guinea in 2004.

 

Australia

 

Susan Carter plans to lead a dive to Oz in November of 2005.

 

Madagascar

 

Alacosta divers may dive in Madagascar in 2006.

 

Old dives

 

October 25, 2003 Dive at the Breakwater

 

Eight Alacostans went down to the Breakwater for this dive, and at least five of us got wet, and four went diving! Conditions were much better than they had been the previous few weeks, with very flat seas and vis between 15 and 25 feet. Under the able boat driving of Rob Vermuelen the zodiac was successfully launched and divers reported having fun and seeing the usual suspects under water. Mike Boom found that surge was light enough to justify use of his tripod set-up, so some video may be available at some future point. Mike was wearing new custom underwear made by his wife and buddy Lynn Morton, but it was Lynn who was happily warm. Michael Ford wasn’t as warm, especially on the second dive, and used that as an excuse not to do a dock dive to search for his lost sunglasses: do we see a drysuit in his future? As for John Purnell, a series of regulator problems led him to abort the dive at the worst possible time, i.e. after getting wet and cold, but before getting a depth reading on his computer….. The other divers present, including Susan Carter and Bill McDowell, didn’t get wet, but along with non-divers Joanne McDowell and Mike B’s mother enjoyed front row seats to watch the Fort Ord fire, the seals on the pier, and the usual certification class hijinks at the Breakwater….

 

                   

                               Alacosta Calendar                              

  November 3 2003 Monday   General meeting                       

              November 17 2003 Monday   Executive board meeting, Gary Schleimer’s

              December 1 2003 Monday  General Meeting               

              December 13 2003 Saturday Holiday Party, Jim and Rennie Kirby’s

              2004          Papua New Guinea  (TBD)                    

              April/ May      2004          Cozumel 

              November 2005  Australia                              

              2006     Madagascar                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alacosta Divers and Executive Board Members

                      

                    Officers:      Mike Daily, President

                                        Kevin Dalley, Vice President

                                        John Beland, Treasurer

 James ‘Rocky’ Rockafellow, Secretary and Immediate Past     President

                                        Chris Fryer, Membership Coordinator

                                        Susan Carter, Blurb Editor

                                                   

                     Eboard Members:

Mike Elliott, Simon Kisch, Bill McDowell, John Purnell, Gary Schleimer                                                     

                                                                              

             NOTE:        The Blurb Editor was ill and missed the October meeting where elections occurred (which may explain how she came to be elected editor). She is reasonably sure that a sixth person was also elected as an Eboard member. However, since minutes are not yet available for that meeting she can’t fill in the blank. If a sixth person was elected to the Eboard, would that person make him or herself known to the editor and accept apologies, (assuming he/she wants to be known), and this list will be updated and corrected in future additions of the Blurb. Thank you.

 

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The Blurb

Alacosta Divers, Inc.

Editor: Susan Carter/still15320@aol.com/415-647-9036