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Harbor Lights December 2013 page 1 www.madisonsquadron.org

Volume 40, Issue 5 Holiday Issue December 2013

United States Power SquadronsUnited States Power SquadronsUnited States Power Squadrons®

Harbor LightsHarbor Lights Madison Sail & Power Squadron

Happy Hol idays to A l l ! St f/C J im Pahl -Washa, JN Inside this Issue

Happy Holidays! 1

From the Helm 2

Movie Night Review 3

Last Horizon Tribute 3

Squadron Contact List 4

CPR/AED Class Report 4

The Looper’s Journal 5-8

Calendar of Events 9

Crosse House History 9

Potluck & Pilar Presentation 10

Meet the Perry’s at Mariner’s 11

The Christmas Tree Ship 11

2014 Change of Watch 12

Boat Show in the Dells 13

Photo of the Month 14

The winter holiday season is a busy time for mem-

bers even if our boats are put away for the year.

Thanksgiving has just passed by, and our attention

now moves to Christmas, Hanukah, and ringing in

the New Year.

It’s a time to reflect, to spend time with family and

friends and to pack on a few pounds. It’s also a

great time to share our good fortune by giving back

to our respective communities.

With that in mind the Madison Squadron members

will reach out once again to support the Dane Coun-

ty Second Harvest Food Bank fund drive with our

annual Holiday Dinner fund raising event on Sunday,

December 15th, at Rex’s Innkeeper in Waunakee.

We moved this year’s dinner to Sunday afternoon to

help those that have some distance to drive or hesi-

tate to drive at night. We hope to have another

great turnout like last year. Remember, family and

guests are always welcome.

We’re extending the holidays into mid-January at

the historic Crosse House in Sun Prairie (upper left

photo), site of our Annual Business Meeting.

All members in attendance will be treated to a ca-

tered light dinner and beverages on Monday, Janu-

ary 13th. It should make for a very festive night.

Whatever your holiday plans, may the season find

all of you in a joyous mood. We look forward to

seeing all of you soon. Happy Holidays!


First of all…

Congratulations to St. Paul Sail and Power Squadron. On Saturday, November 16, 2013 the St. Paul squadron celebrated their 50th Anni-versary at the Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. Dave and I had the oppor-tunity to join everyone for the event and had a wonder-ful time along with great food and drink.

It was very interesting to hear about the events that have taken place for the St. Paul squadron over the past

50 years and how they were established. Again, thank you to St. Paul for inviting us to your event.

All our boats are nestled quietly in their bunks and or on the hoist waiting patiently for Spring to come…word is that we will be having quite a winter with lots of snow….and that means we won’t have to worry about the water level this year.

My second year as commander has almost come to a close. It was a very busy year again. This year we did not start out with hosting a conference but myself and the bridge all attended the spring conference in Lakeville, MN hosted by the Hiawatha Sail and Power Squadron, The D10 summer rendezvous in July, hosted by the Milwaukee squadron and the D10 Fall conference hosted by the Green Bay squadron.

At the Green Bay conference Jim and Julie Pahl-Washa and Dave and I took the Certification Class for Emergency First Aid along with being taught how to use the new defibrillator equip-ment. Our instructors were from the Fox Valley College. In September Jim and Julie Pahl-Washa attended the 2013 Gov-erning Board meeting in San Antonio.

In May we were all saddened by the death of our wonderful web master and teacher David Miran. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the Miran family during the holiday season.

We again this year continued our association with DNR, Dane County Sheriff’s office and the US Coast Guard division here in

Madison. I will be attending the Change of Watch for the Coast Guard on December 8th.

Our Third Thursday events continue to be great, and we have the annual Christmas party coming up on Sunday, December 15th at Rex’s Innkeeper in Waunakee. We have planned an afternoon event with a “white elephant gift exchange”! By plac-ing this event in the afternoon we are hoping that a number of our squadron members who do not wish to go out in the even-ing are able to attend. I look forward to meeting everyone at the community event.

We are busy getting together our class schedule for teaching seamanship, piloting, advanced piloting, and small engine re-pair. Jim Pahl-Washa will again be teaching ABC classes in the spring. We’ve held classes in DeForest, Waunakee and McFar-land over the past two years. Last year we included “On the Water Training” along with our ABC class at the Green Lantern in McFarland. Classes have yet to be scheduled, so please let us know your preferred location, and if there are any other partic-ular classes that you would like to attend.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER: the squadron’s business meeting in January scheduled at the Crosse House in Sun Prairie and the Change of Watch in March.

We took the Rest’n on the Mississippi for a cruise in July, had a delightful time. I am planning another cruise, so mark your cal-endars for 2014 during July.

Here’s wishing everyone a safe and healthy holiday sea-son….AND..YES, as always when purchasing gifts for our loved ones, REMEMBER TO GIVE THE GIFT OF SAFETY whether it be a life jacket or a gift certificate for a boating class….

Commander Carol

From the Helm: Happy Hol idays to Everyone Cdr Carol ine F r i t sch, AP


We added a slight twist to the November Bridge Meeting by changing the location, so we could add some interesting enter-tainment afterward.

After a brief dinner meeting at the Great Dane Pub & Grill at Hilldale Mall, the group attended Robert Redford’s critically acclaimed movie, “All is Lost”.

The movie, which has hardly any dialogue, extols the perils of sail-ing alone. The movie is set in some of the most remote waters on earth, where rescue is nearly impossible.

Although not a box office smash, this unusual movie has a unique

appeal. It made for a entertaining experience as we witnessed Rob-ert Redford’s efforts to keep his sailboat afloat.

The movie goers included; Claudia Miran, Dave and Carol Fritsch, Dick Baker and Cindy Parisi, Tony and Pam Truog, Lynn and Rob Hohert, Kris Stone, Fred Mohns, Julie and Jim Pahl-Washa.

The group found lots of boating safety issues to discuss afterward. We reached consensus on two key points: Boating alone is crazy and not having an EPIRB on board in ocean waters is also crazy and potentially fatal.

Anyway, we all had fun!

November D inner Meet ing and a Movie. S t f / C J i m P a h l - W a s h a , J N

T h e L a s t H o r i zo n f o r P/ Lt / C B e r t B o n n e r, A P

MADISON – Bert L. “Bert” Bonner, age 89, passed away on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013 after a short illness. Bert

was born Oct. 17, 1924 in Madison, the son of Lester and Mildred Bonner. He attended a country school,

Highlands-Mendota Beach, and later graduated from West High School in 1942. Bert joined the army in

1943 serving in the Pacific Theatre in the 85th signal battalion attached to the Air Corps. Bert married the

love of his life, Virginia (Welke) on Dec. 20, 1947.

After graduating from the University… of Wisconsin Business School in 1950 he worked for the next five

years as a district representative for Standard Oil. Bert’s first venture was Skylane Standard Service Station,

a full service gas station, which he expanded to include camping trailers and tires. Bert opened a new fran-

chise in 1968 called Insty-Prints, the first of its kind, and grew the business to seven locations in Madison,

two in Green Bay and one in Appleton. Bert was a humble man who valued his family above all else, then

education and helping others achieve their goals. His life was filled with music and dance. He sang in a Barbershop Quartet, played the piano,

organ and ukulele. His gift to all of us was his optimistic view of life, a wonderful sense of humor, and his terrific smile. He was known as the

happy whistler. His favorite escape from the working world was his boat where he spent many an hour whistling while he worked. Bert was a

long-time member of the Madison Sail & Power Squadron, having joined in 1975. He donated his time and countless printing services in support

of the Squadron. Bert had 26 merit marks and served as Squadron Treasurer, Secretary, Chair of Seamanship, and the Public Relations Officer

among other duties. Bert is survived by his wife of 65 years, Virginia; three children, Steve (Kathy) of Austin, Texas, David of West Hollywood,

Calif., and Vikki (John) Brueggeman of Stoughton.

When you plant seeds in the lives of others and water them with Love and Care,

You will reap a harvest of sweet memories That will follow you everywhere.


2013 Bridge and

Department Contacts

Commander: Caroline Fritsch, AP

(608) 221-0988

[email protected]

Education: John Finstad, JN

(608) 835-5508

[email protected]

Administrative: Jim Pahl-Washa, JN

(608) 846-8088

[email protected]

Secretary: Claudia Berry Miran, AP

(608) 274-0765

[email protected]

Treasurer: Gregory Norman, AP

(608) 837-0132

[email protected]

Member-at-Large: Jan Norman

(608) 837-0132

[email protected]

Member-at-Large: Dick Baker, AP

(608) 850-5192

[email protected]

Member-at-Large: Bob Satterfield, JN

(608) 592-1735

[email protected]

One of the perks open to anyone attending a District Conference is the opportunity to take a needed class or seminar. Four of us from Madison signed up to take the CPR/AED Certification Class from two local experts.

Margene Marcantonio from the Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department is pictured above holding an AED unit. Margene was coaching Julie Pahl-Washa, Carol Fritsch, and Dave Fritsch along with Jill Noffsinger (pictured below in the background) from the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. These two highly qualified instructors provided the certification training over the weekend. Speaking on behalf of all that attended, we have a new appreciation for the easy to learn skill, and the importance of administering CPR quickly in any life threatening incident. CPR/AED skills are especially valuable for all boaters when emergency help can be difficult to reach on the water.

Stf/C Jim Pahl-Washa, JN

Add CPR/AED Cer t i f icat ion to Your Boat ing Sk i l l s


Fol lowing A long the Grand Loop wi th Bob & Mar tha….. By Mar tha Alber t i

“Field Trip” Makes it to the Gulf

Nov. 11 – In the Heart of Dixie on Mobile River This has been a rather long day again. Chip, on Aerin E, has lived in the south so every once in a while he gives us a “Dixie Alert”. Today it was palmettos & palm trees. A couple of days ago it was Spanish moss and Kudzu. He has been educating us on the accents, food, and southern life in general. He has a wonderful sense of humor and keeps us all in stitches. Field Trip decided to act up again. Her batteries started dropping their voltage and as it dropped, so did all of our electron-ics. This happened to us one other time, on our trip to Parry Sound, Ontario, in 2012. First the autopilot goes, then the radios and depth sounder, then the chart plotter, etc. until we have no electronics. Bob’s had a lot of people work on the problem over the last 2 years. Some of the batteries were replaced, alternator rebuilt, other work was done too and of course they say, “Now you are good to go”. We have known that something was wrong again, but we were hoping to get to Mobile as we had heard there was a good ma-rine electrician here in Dog River. Fortunately, this time we were traveling with our good friends, Beach Quest and Aerin E. They led us safely down the river and into Mobile and the Dog River Marina. If we had not been with them it would have been as scary as it was in 2012, when we were all alone on Lake Michigan when it happened. Today, the river got wider as we traveled, eventually opening into a wide slow river with miles of marsh on either side. We motored into the city of Mobile and the traffic got crazy; barges and tugs, military ships, ocean-going container ships and fish-ing boats of all sizes and shapes scurrying around. We came out into the bay and it looked so amazing. After all the weeks on the twisting, narrow, rivers, to see this vast open water were a whole new vision. You’d expect to be able to go anywhere in Mobile Bay but it is shallow and you really have to stay in the narrow, marked shipping lanes or you’ll go aground. Maybe a mile or two into Mobile Bay we were greeted by our first dolphin rolling in our bow wake. I’ve heard that they love to just play in the bow wakes and will sometimes follow along with you for a long ways. It was thrilling to see. We’ve been told that they love music and one of the speakers at the rendezvous said that she has had them play next to their boat for as long as she would sing to them. She has a wonderful voice, so I don’t think that would work for me – I’d probably scare them away. We are in the Dog River Marina waiting for workers to fix what ails Field Trip. We have 5 new batteries, they have checked the alternator, the regulator and I don’t know what all. We are still waiting for someone to work on the depth sounder too.

Nov. 16 and the Tides of Mobile Bob flew back to Illinois early this morning (Saturday) to attend a family funeral. He will be back to the boat on Tuesday. As a bonus he gets to see some of the grand-kids. I was surprised tonight when I went out about 8:00 to find the marina flooded. I have a rental car and I had to wade in ankle deep water to get to it. Then I realized that it was almost full moon. The tide is accentuated for a couple of tide cycles around the full moon. The water is over some of the docks and the boats are all riding higher on the docks. I’ve had to go out and move the fenders down so the boat doesn’t scrape on the dock. Tomorrow will probably be an even higher tide as it will be full moon.

Nov. 17 - Laundry Day! Today was an exciting day at the Laundromat. I hadn’t done laundry since Demopolis – over 10 days ago. The hamper was overflowing. This marina has one washing machine and it is a mile round trip to get to it. So today, while I had a rental car, I decided to catch up on it. The place was packed so we (2 of the other gals that we’re traveling with went too) had to wait for washers and then for dryers. It took us over 4 hours. Good to have it done though. As I expected the tide is creeping up the parking lot again. It will probably flood the whole marina again. I guess they are used to it. I’ve just never had to deal with tides before. This a good place to learn about them. They don’t have extreme tides here. Some places like the Bay of Fundy, north of Maine, have tides that are over 50 feet. Can you imagine the water level changing over 50 feet? Lake Wisconsin rises and falls a few inches, but never from tides. If it did rise 50 feet it would be over the top of the house. Well, I’d better go out and move the fenders again so they keep the boat from hitting the dock.

Some of our Looper Fleet as we Pass through Lock


Nov. 18 – Dog River Marina, Mobile, Alabama Bob is still gone. He went to IL for a family funeral and to spend a few days with son Cory’s family. Last night I stayed up late to see if I could get some pictures if the high tide. So, at 7:00 this morning, I was still in bed when there was a firm rap on the side of the boat. I was in a rather ratty, thin night shirt/t-shirt and I remembered that there were workmen coming to work on the boat sometime today. I grabbed a pair of jeans and answered the door to find 3 men who looked like the 3 Stooges, here to fix the leaking “stuffing box”. To replace the packing on the stuffing box one guy has to lay on the floor in the head (bathroom) another in the stairway down to our stateroom, the third acts as “gopher” (Johnny, go for this. Johnny, go for that) at the top of the stairs. I had to go into the stateroom to show them all these places to access the stuffing box and of course they immediately hit the floor. I had no way to get out of the stateroom or get to my clothes so I sat on the bed and tried to stay out of the way for the next couple of hours. The worst part of the whole thing is that Bob had paid for the stuffing box to be repacked at Green Turtle Bay in October. But evidently, they just filled it with grease, said they did it, and sent us on our way. It stopped it from leaking for a week or so, and then it went back to dripping too much. Last night while I was sitting up writing the last update I looked out the window of the boat and sitting on the railing of the boat next to us was a Black Crowned Night Heron. He was only about 10 feet away. Now a these Herons are not a pretty birds. They look like something that ought to be sitting in a witch’s shoulder. They are a large bird, which sits rather hunched up, dark colored, short tailed with beady eyes. He sat and watched me for a long time and if I moved out of his view he moved down the railing until he could see me again. We played this game for quite a while before he moved on, I assume, to find some food. Nov. 22 – Bob is Back and Field Trip Enters the ICW Bob has returned from Illinois. Well, but we didn’t get out on the 20th or the 21st as Beach Quest was having water pump problems and Just Fakin’ It had a problem with some electronics. What can I say? They’re boats!! Boats like this have so many systems that can cause trouble. But we finally headed out of Dog River into, and across Mobile Bay today. We then officially entered the ICW (Intra Costal Wa-terway) and Florida. We are traveling in the Santa Rosa Sound, which is between the mainland and Santa Rosa Island. Santa Rosa is a long, narrow island that runs from Pensacola to Destin, FL. We anchored in a lovely bay called Ingram Bay at Mile 16 of the ICW. As our 5 boats chugged into the anchorage (it is a very large bay that could accommodate dozens of boats) a lady on an anchored sailboat yelled at us, wondering how many boats were going to be anchored on her side. We were at least a couple of hundred yards from her - plenty of room. We thought about yelling back that there were only 11 more boats com-ing behind us and did they like hip-hop or rap music? However, we be-haved ourselves by not scaring her. Nov. 23 - Gulf Breeze/Pensacola Beach, Florida While we were traveling in the ICW today we had encounters with nu-merous Dolphins. Bob corrects me and says they are really porpois-es. Whatever!! They are so much fun. They like to ride in our bow wave. Sometimes there will be several of them actually part way under the bow of the boat playing in the wake. They roll, jump, switch sides and just seem to be playing there. I just love watching them. I managed to get quite a few pictures of them. There are high winds predicted for several days, so we were happy to get into a port and securely tied down. We are in a bay with only one nar-row opening into the sound and as we came into the marina here we had to turn around. Field Trip ran aground!! Bob tried to back it off, then to power through it. No luck. So he turned on the bow thruster and managed to get her bow turning enough to get us into deeper water and then he was able to power off. Fortu-nately it is just sand so we don’t think there is any damage. There is a saying in the boating world that “It’s not if you run aground, it’s when you run aground.” So we are just thankful it was sand and not rock or coral or some other hard thing.


Porpoises Off the Bow of “Field Trip”

Black Crowned Night Heron Stands Guard


A Very Special Thanksgiving Feast Indeed...

Nov. 24 – Wintering Loons We know we will be here for several days, so we rented 2 cars for the group. Today four of us toured Fort Pickens out at the western end of Santa Rosa Island. It was built in the early 1800s to help protect Pensacola bay. It played an important role in the Civil War. It’s a National Park and quite well preserved. Bob and I went with Chip and Pat from Aerin E. Chip spent his career working for museums, collecting things from all over the world and designing the displays for them. He is a wealth of knowledge of all things historical and collectable. The drive out there was beautiful. The sand here is so white it looks like snow or sugar. They plow the roads on the island to get the sand off and keep it passable. Where they have plowed it looks just like the snow piles in Wisconsin. The winds are starting to build so we are glad we went to the fort today. Tomorrow we won’t want to be spending much time outside. We have loons at the lake at home in the spring and fall. They have the distinctive black and white patterns, are usually rather reclusive, diving frequently and rarely do we see more than a few at a time. They winter here and act like a different spe-cies. They are all a dark grey with a white throat and breast. They are much tamer and hang around the boats in groups. The most unusual sight to me is that they swim with their heads down in the water to take advantage of the clearer water. They can hunt for fish while swimming, instead of diving all the time. You hardly notice them because they are so low in the water. Nov. 25 – Storms Bring Memories of Past Hurricanes Well, it was a wild night. We hardly slept at all. The winds were over 40MPH, clocking around from all directions – 360 de-grees. The boat rocked, rolled and slammed the dock all night. It rained buckets! I went out in the middle of it to adjust the fenders and Bob discovered that we tore a cleat right off the dock. Amazingly, we don’t seem to have any damage. The dock hand, which has lived here for many years, had his house destroyed in Hurricane Ivan in 2004. He told us that this is the worst wind since Storm Ivan. The temperatures were equally unpleasant, hovering in the low 30s. We are still hoping to be in Destin by Thanksgiving, but the wind doesn’t seem to want to give up any time soon. Nov. 26 – Visit the Blue Angels Still in Gulf Breeze/Pensacola Beach, Florida. Today 6 of us went to the Pensacola Naval Air and Space Museum, home of the Blue Angels. It was really interesting. No way can you do it justice in one day. Nov. 28 – Thanksgiving Day Here we are on Thanksgiving Day and still in Gulf Breeze/Pensacola Beach. The winds have diminished to about 10 mph and we plan to travel today. There was ice on the docks this morning and “Bad Bob” from Good Grief came down the dock saying, “its official!! I always said if we had ice in the panhandle of Florida we were going to Ecuador. “So now we have one boat, Just Fakin’ It, planning on going to Belize and one, Good Grief, saying they are going to Ecuador. I’m not sure if I ever explained the way the group differentiated between to the two Bobs when Good Grief joined the flotilla. Bad Bob is a rough and gruff ironworker who worked on 4” beams 40 stories in the air. I think he has had that nickname for a long time. He is really a teddy bear but he tries his darnedest to hide that. He is amazing - a good guy with a beautiful, blond bombshell girlfriend, Diane. The group named my Bob, “Professor Bob.” We left this morning with the plan to get to Destin in time for a nice Thanksgiving dinner at the Hilton. It was pretty darned cold so we drove from the inside helm for quite a while today. When we did finally go up to the fly bridge we had multiple layers of clothes on. At one point we had a pod of about 8 dolphins/porpoises play-ing under and around the boat. I went to the bow to take pictures and got quite a few. What was really neat is that they would roll onto their side or back to swim so they could see me. When they are swimming straight I couldn’t see their eyes, but when they rolled they were looking right up at me. I love to see them play with our wave. We got to Destin about 4:00. We got to the hotel for our 6:30 reservations. Dinner was buffet style and they seated the 10 of us at a big round table. That was especially nice as this is the last dinner with the whole group together.


The Loopers Thanksgiving Meal, Martha not in photo


Farewells and Holiday Travel Plans

Nov. 29 – Destin, Florida Just Fakin’ It and Good Grief left us this morning. They are headed to Carrabelle to get in place for a weather window to cross the gulf. They REALLY want to get to warmer weather. It’s sad to split with them. We’ve been with Just Fakin’ It (Jeff, the blind guy and Judy, the well driller) since Chicago and Good Grief (Bad Bob & Diane) since Grand Harbor, by the Pickwick Lock and Dam. We will miss them a lot. They are really good people and lots of fun. We spent some of the day just wandering around the grounds of the resort. It is huge and very nice, beautifully groomed with many shops, restaurants, homes, condos, golf course, beaches etc. Dec 1 – Time to say Farewell to Good Friends We had a VERY nice dinner out for our last dinner with Chip and Pat from Aerin E last night. They leave us today. Yesterday there were 10, there are six of us now, soon to be down to four. This morning, a boat we have leapfrogged with for many weeks, showed up here – Once Upon a Time, with Brent and Susan. Shortly, thereafter, Chip & Pat left to put their boat “on the hard” (have it pulled from the water and put up on the ground on stands to have work done on it) at another marina. They have to go back to Connecticut for their best friend’s wedding and some medical appointments. They won’t be back to the boat until the first week in February. We hope they catch up to us. We will miss them a lot.

Dec. 3 - Polly Want a Cracker, or a Pair of Sunglasses? This morning Susan, who is a very good artist, was painting a picture of the parrot at the little restaurant at the end of the dock. Her paintings are lovely and she makes her living with her art. “Mary Ann” is one of the bright turquoise and bright gold parrots. Mary, from Beach Quest, was talking to the parrot (she responds and talks to her more that she does to most people) when she crawled onto her shoulder and stole her sunglasses. When anyone tried to get them back she got very possessive. She would hold them with her beak and a claw and try to scratch or bite you if she thought you were going to take them. She wound up with the glasses. Fortunately, they were not expensive. Brent and Susan left this afternoon, so now we are down to 2 boats in the group, Field Trip and Beach Quest. We have heard from Just Fakin’ It and Good Grief. They successfully completed the Gulf crossing. It is an overnight that takes about 22 hours. We’ll do it in January. We continue to get our walking exercise. This is a great place to walk; lots of beautiful paths and the trees are very colorful here now, too.

The Holidays will Bring Martha and Bob Home for a brief respite. We’ll remain here for the time being now that the dates to come home are finally set. We are going to rent a car and drive home with George and Mary from Beach Quest.

Leaving Destin Dec. 18th Arrive home Dec. 19th Leave Home Jan. 4th Back to boat Jan. 5th

All is well. We are having a wonderful time. See some of you soon.

Hugs to all. Bob & Martha


Sunset Anchorage between Mobile and Pensacola taken by Martha.

Mary Ann & new sunglasses


December Monday Dec 9: 1900-2100 hours. Monthly Bridge

Meeting at the Monona Gardens Family Restaurant, 6501 Bridge Rd, Monona. Members will gather for dinner off the menu at 1800. Open to all

Sunday Dec 15: Annual Holiday Party at Rex’s Inn-keeper Restaurant in Waunakee to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank. See insert to right for details.

Friday Dec 20: Squadron Potluck Party to welcome back our Loopers, Bob Satterfield & Martha Alberti

January Monday Jan 13: Annual Business Meeting at the

Crosse House, 133 W Main St, Sun Prairie. Free Ca-tered light dinner to all in attendance. Program “Hemingway’s Boat: The Pilar” by P/D/C Dick Baker, AP Open to all members and guests. 1800-2100 hours.

January 24-26: Central Wisconsin Boat Show. Need Volunteers to staff a Booth to promote classes and USPS membership………...see page 13.

January 25-Feb 1: USPS National Conference in Jack-sonville, FL at the Hyatt Riverfront Hotel

February February 2-9, USPS National Cruise, departing from

Port Everglades out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Monday Feb 10: 1900-2100 hours. Monthly Bridge Meeting at the Monona Gardens Family Restaurant, 6501 Bridge Rd, Monona. Dinner off the menu at 1800. Open to all members.

March Monday Mar 10: 1900-2100 hours. Monthly Bridge

Meeting at the Monona Gardens Family Restaurant, 6501 Bridge Rd, Monona. Dinner off the menu at 1800. Open to all members.

Saturday Mar 22: 54th Annual Change of Watch: Election of 2014 Bridge, Dinner and Program at the Mariner’s Inn. 1730 Social Hour Begins, Dinner at 1830 with program to follow. More information can be found on full-page announcement that follows.

Mar 28-30: District 10 Spring Conference and Change of Watch at Holiday Inn in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.

The Crosse House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Crosse House is a historic home circa 1864 located at 133 W. Main Street in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Dr. Charles G. Crosse was instrumental in the development of Sun Prairie, and was the city's doctor. From the house, Dr. Crosse and his son Charles S. Crosse published the first newspaper in Sun Prairie, called The Countryman (now The Star), which documented the daily activity of the area. Dr. Crosse also helped to establish the first high school in Sun Prairie, and served as a State Legislator

The MSPS Holiday Benefit

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Social Hour 1230 and Dinner 1300 (1 pm)

Family Style Dinner of chicken and ham. This is the Squadron’s

annual Benefit for the Second Harvest Food Bank. All donation

amounts are accepted, but the minimum recommended amount is

$20 per person. All monies collected go to 2nd Harvest.

Please write the check to Second Harvest Food Bank or to

the Madison Sail & Power Squadron

RSVP: Julie Pahl-Washa at 608.846.8088

[email protected]

Calendar o f Events


The Legendary “P i lar” , E rnest Hemingway’s Boat

of the woman leader of the partisan bands in his 1940 novel of the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Hemingway regularly fished off the boat in the waters of Key West, Florida, Marquesas Keys, and the Gulf Stream off the Cuban coast. He made three trips with the boat to the Bimini islands wherein his fishing, drinking, and fighting exploits drew much attention and remain part of the history of the islands.

Several of Hemingway's books were influenced by time spent on the boat, most notably, The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream.

One of the world’s greatest authors, Ernest Hemingway, was also a devout boater. He owned a 38-foot (12 m) fishing boat named Pilar that he pur-chased in April 1934 from Wheeler Shipbuilding in Brooklyn, New York, for $7,495.

Pilar was a nickname that Hemingway had for his wife Pauline and the name

P/D/C Dick Baker, AP will be our featured speaker at the January 13th Business Meeting about Hemingway’s life and ex-ploits aboard his beloved, Pilar. Dick’s presentation will be based upon Paul Hendrickson’s biography, Hemingway’s Boat.

We are having a potluck party to welcome home Bob & Martha

From their Grand Loop Cruise On Friday, December 20

th at 6:00pm

Hosts: Kris & Fred

Please bring a dish to pass and your own drinks…. We hope everyone can make it….

T RSVP: Kris Stone at [email protected] or (608) 244-8622

Directions: Take Hwy 51 to the Hoepker Road stop light across from Madison Stone ….. Take a left or right (turning east) depending on which way you are coming. When you come to the first 4-way stop, you will see Kris’ Custom Sewing; it is the old Pumpkin Hollow School house on the hill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquesas_Keys

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimini

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands_in_the_Stream_(novel)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn,_New_York


The 2014 Change of Watch

will be a bit later than normal

to accommodate some of us

that are going on the 2014

National Cruise. The cruise

dates are 2-9 February, which

coincide with our traditional

first Saturday in February

event.

Moving the Change of Watch

to March will allow some of

our members that travel south

for part of the winter to attend

the annual dinner.

The Perry’s are a wonderful

couple from the St Paul Sail &

Power Squadron. You’ll want

to attend the 54th Annual

Change of Watch to get to

know them better.

Dale is currently working with

the incoming Bridge to set his

goals for the upcoming year. I

can assure you that Dale will

do a great job keeping District

10 as the leading source for

education and community

service in support of boating

safety in the Midwest.

Dale’s watch year theme of

Building for the next 100 years

is pictured below:

D/C Nominee Dale Per ry wi l l Conduct Change of Watch

The Annual Chr i s tmas T ree Sh ip Ar r ives in Chicago

2014 Change of Watch Returns to the Mar iner ’ s Inn

lies throughout Chicago.

The reenactment depicts the time of the Rouse Simmons, the original Christmas ship, that delivered fresh ever-greens and wreaths from Michigan to Chicago for more than 30 years through the early 1900’s.

The Rouse Simmons was lost with all hands between Kewaunee and Two Rivers, Wisconsin, during a violent storm on Nov. 23, 1912.

Chicago's boating commu-nity re-enacted the annual Rouse Simmons landing in Chicago on Saturday, De-cember 6, 2013. The land-ing is now portrayed by the US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (p12 photo).

Christmas trees are off-loaded from the Mackinaw by local youth volunteers, including USPS Sea Scouts, and loaded onto trucks for distribution to more than a thousand deserving fami-

The Mackinaw's crew this year will drop a wreath into the waters near its resting place found in 1971.

Volunteers have re-enacted the Rouse Simmons' landing for the past 14 years, accord-ing to the Coast Guard.

The Mackinaw, commissioned in 2006, has a crew of 60 and is among the Coast Guard’s most technologically ad-vanced cutters on the Great Lakes.

sold the Nibble Nook and bought Jack Burke’s Supper Club (now the Mariner’s Inn). Since that time, the von Rutenberg family has expand-ed the menu and the building several times. The Mariner’s Inn has truly become one of Madison’s landmark restau-rants.

The von Rutenbergs have since opened a casual restau-

rant on Lake Mendota, the Nau-Ti-Gal, on the channel past Skipper Buds. They also oper-ate Captain Bill’s on the Mid-

The von Rutenberg family has been linked to the Madison Sail and Power Squadron since Bill Sr. helped form the Squad-ron and served as Commander from 1966-1967.

Bill and Betty von Rutenberg restaurant business started with a small hamburger spot on East Washington Avenue just off the square in 1961. Five years later, Bill and Betty

District Commander Nominee, Dale Perry and Vivian Perry have accepted invitation to conduct Madison’s 2014 Change of Watch.

dleton side of Lake Mendota.

Bill, Jack, and Robert von Rutenberg now carry on the traditions of waterfront hospi-tality that their parents start-ed.

They also remain faithful to the mission of the United States Power Squadrons and once again provide a special location to host our Annual Change of Watch.

Watercolor by Lawrence Welegala of the Rouse Simmons Schooner in Chicago

http://christmasship.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=27


Madison Sail and Power Squadron 54th Annual

CHANGE OF WATCH Saturday March 22, 2014

The Mariner’s Inn Westport, WI

1730 Social Hour Begins 1830 Dinner with Program to Follow

$35.00/person

Menu Selection: Choice of Top Sirloin, Deep Fried Shrimp, or Chef's Vegetarian Includes Salad, Rolls, Beverage & Dessert

Special Guests: D/C Nominee Dale Perry, AP and Lt/C Vivian Perry

RSVP RSVP RSVP

Lt. Julie PahlLt. Julie PahlLt. Julie Pahl---Washa, PWasha, PWasha, P (608) 846(608) 846(608) 846---808880888088

[email protected]@[email protected]


Call for Volunteers

Madison Sail and Power Squadron Booth

Central Wisconsin Boat Show

Wisconsin Dells Center January 24-26, 2014

The Madison Sail & Power Squadron has been invited to be an Exhibitor. We have tentatively accepted the invitation; because the organizers have waived the $295 booth fee for providing a one-hour boating safety seminar. We can only accept this generous offer if we have enough volunteers to staff the booth over the

weekend. This is a great opportunity for us to share the benefits of United States Power Squadrons membership, so please contact us soon. Remember, volunteers get in for Free!

Friday, January 24 Noon – 8:00 pm

10:00pm – 12:00 Setup

12:00 - 4:00pm Booth Host


Volunteer 1

Volunteer 2

Saturday, January 25 10:00 am – 8:00 pm

10:00 am - 1:30pm Booth Host



Volunteer 1

Volunteer 2

Sunday, January 26 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

10:00 am - 1:00pm Booth Host


4:00 – 5:00pm Breakdown

Volunteer 1

Volunteer 2

Contact Cdr Carol Fritsch at 608.221.0988 or Stf/C Jim Pahl-Washa at 608.846.8088 to volunteer

Harbor Lights Editor

Stf/C Jim Pahl-Washa, JN

6929 Donnybill Rd

De Forest, WI 53532

Harbor Lights is published six times a year by the Madison Sail and Power Squadron. MSPS is a unit of the United States Power Squadrons®. USPS and MSPS are tax exempt non-

profit organizations under IRS Code Section 501 (C) (3).

Vote for your 2013 Photo of the Year at the Annual Business Meeting

2013 Harbor Lights Photo Contest

Photos will be on display at the January 2014 Busi-

ness Meeting at the Crosse House in Sun Prairie.

The 2013 Winner will be announced at

the March 22, 2014 Change of Watch Dinner

At the Mariner’s Inn

The Annual Christmas Tree Ship Arrives Dec 6, 2013 in Chicago

Image from bing.com

new harbor lightsharbor lights - madison sail and power...

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