Here's the latest news from SEAS Monmouth
From Commodore Karen Ruckdeschel
SEAS Monthly Membership Meeting
Tuesday April 24, 8:00pm, Keyport Yacht Club
Joe Reynolds is an adjunct professor in the History/Anthropology department at Monmouth University where he teaches a course entitled, Global Environmental Problems. He is also a professional environmental educator and senior park naturalist for the Monmouth County Park System, vice-chair of the Monmouth County Environmental Council, and Co-Chair of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council. Joseph Reynolds will speak about Horseshoe Crabs, they will be coming out of the water around this time to spawn on local bay beaches. For the past 10 years, the Bayshore Watershed Council has been monitoring crab populations along Sandy Hook Bay and Raritan Bay. We are finding crab populations are slowly dwindling due to harvesting in New York State.

Prior to the meeting some members gather at 6:00pm at one of the local restaurants for dinner. We recommend Old Glory Restaurant at 84 Broad St.  Or you can arrive early at the Yacht Club and take advantage of the bar to socialize with other members.
Skipper Information Session
Prior to the General Meeting - Tuesday April 24, 7:00pm, Keyport Yacht Club
Every year we require that all skippers attend this session in order to receive the latest information about the rights, duties and obligations of being a skipper. Attendance is a prerequisite for being qualified as a skipper for the upcoming season at any level for any of our boats - small boats or keel boats. There will be new content this year, so look forward to an interesting session.

Preregistration is required. If you have not already done so, please send an email to: graham.blundell@gmail.com

The session will start promptly at 7pm in order to be finished in time for the regular general meeting at 8pm.
Boat Maintenance Work Sessions
Rhodes : Saturday April 21, 10:00am at Monmouth Sailing Center, 46 West St, Monmouth Beach
There's a lot of work to do. Some tasks will require skill sets pertaining to certain jobs; other tasks like cleaning and washing the boat, painting the bottom, etc., need a team applying some elbow grease. There is the possibility of other days before Saturday, including Wednesday April 18. Please contact Walt Anderson and let him know your availability. 

O'Day : Saturday April 21, 10:00am at Morgan Marine, 8000 Gondek Drive, Parlin, NJ .

After entering the marina, turn right, go just past the blue oil recycling station*, the O’Day is behind the recycling station in the 2 nd row back. *The oil recycling station is somewhat portable and has been known to be moved around by the marina, so this may not be a good landmark. But it is light blue, about 10’ x 10’ with a roof and almost looks like a tiki bar: if you see it on the right side of the main drag it has not moved lately and is close to the O’Day.
Thanks to Tom, George, Gary, and Yasar the O’Day hull was cleaned, polished, and waxed and the bottom is prepared for bottom paint. The following remaining items require no special skills – just come help (water and lunch wraps will be provided): 
  1. Paint the bottom
  2. Sand and refinish exterior wood trim
  3. Clean and wax exterior stainless
  4. Flush out antifreeze
  5. Replace water pump impeller
  6. Replace steel plug in cylinder head
  7. Grease rudder post and steering mechanism
  8. Re-bed mainsheet traveler bolts (requires 2 people – 1 inside cabin, 1 in cockpit)
We cannot paint the bottom or re-finish wood in rain, so the event is canceled if it is raining. Work parties will be scheduled until all of the work is completed. Watch the newsletters for future announcements.

Small Boats : Sunday April 22, 11:30am, 331 Pine Brook Road (backyard!), Manalapan, NJ 07726
The Small Boat Maintenance Day last weekend was a HUGE success!
If the weather holds, the remaining bottom painting will be completed
in the next few days. Most of the miscellaneous work was completed.

Before the boats can be towed to the launch ramp, they must be
placed back on their respective trailers!  So, a big crowd (12 or more)
is needed, for under an hour, this coming SUNDAY.  For those that
want to stay later, there is some fun, miscellaneous work to do.

We need a volunteer to step up as Safety Boat Maintenance Coordinator.

Coffee and doughnuts will be provided on Sunday.
Basic Sailing Instructor course

SEAS National is offering a Basic Sailing Instructor course to train existing sailors who have a passion to teach sailing. The requirement is to attend one classroom session and one water day session. The cost is $60 and is reimbursable by SEAS Monmouth, after participating in assisting with a basic sailing course. The classroom session will be Saturday 4/28 in Wayne, and the water session is Sat 6/9 at Monksville Reservoir. If we have enough students perhaps we could have the water session in our area with the day sailor sloops. Please contact Karen Ruckdeschel kruckdes@gmail.com  or Jeff Anderson  anderson.jeff.scott@gmail.com  if interested.

Don't delay - April 28 is right around the corner!
CPR Class & Certification, Saturday May 12, 9:30-2:00, Location TBA
SEAS encourages CPR certification. Our SEAS organization offers two year Red Cross certification for adults with defibrillator and first aid. The date is Saturday 5/12 at 9:30 - 2 pm. Location will be announced along with the fee (at cost to us) shortly. Please RSVP to kruckdes@verizon.net
New Mobile-Friendly SEAS Website is Now Live!

After much development and testing, the Technology Committee under the leadership of Ray Kimber has launched the new SEAS Monmouth website, which is now easier to view on your mobile phone than it was before. Ray has also asked me to direct your attention to the red button on the front page that takes you directly to the latest newsletter (what you're reading now). And if you have any problems with the website, there is a red button at the top of every page (other than the front page) that opens up an email directly to Ray. Use this to report problems, making sure that you describe what type of device you have, operating system, etc.
We need ideas for speakers and/or topics for our monthly meetings
If you know someone who can present a topic of interest to SEAS members, or if you attend a meeting somewhere else that has a presentation that you think would be relevant at a SEAS meeting, please let Joan Venezia know. If you are able to speak with the person about coming to a SEAS meeting that would be great, but if all you have is their name and contact information, with some background information about their topic and where you saw them, email it to Joan at joan.venezia@hotmail.com  and she'll take it from there!