- IJC Web Dialogue on the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (Nov/05)
- Increasing Fuel Prices (Oct/05)
- Martha Stewart to paddle Pumpkin (Oct/05)
- Derek Hatfield prepares for 5-Oceans Solo Sailing Race (Sep/05)
- 3 Canadian sailors rescued in North Atlantic (Jan/05)
- U.S. to build Tsunami Warning System (Jan/05)
- Government tries to end NDI chart agreement (Jan/05)
- "Willie Nelson's Biodiesel" (Jan/05)
- Cruising boats survive Tsunami (Jan/05)
- Hamilton Port Authority is challenged (Jan/05)
Canadian Boating News News Archive
The boating community lost a good friend and the ultimate marine surveyor in the tragic passing of Jonathan A. Watson at his home in Gananoque, Ontario. Our sympathy goes out to his wife Carol and their children, Thea and Edmund.
IJC holds Web Dialogue on the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
Nov/05: The International Joint Commission invites Canadians to participate in an innovative web dialogue on the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to discuss issues of concern regarding the waters of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The Dialogue will be held from November 29 to December 2. (Extended to September 15, 2006 following the release of the Annexes to the report.) Participants can take part at any time during the four days by posing questions and reading and responding to the comments of others. Register for the discussion at http://www.webdialogues.net/ijc/greatlakes.
Increasing Fuel Prices
Oct/05: The average cost of regular unleaded gasoline in Canada was $1.096 per litre (Weekly pump prices by M.J. Ervin & Associates) - at highway pumps. It was 85 cents about a year ago. In mid-June the price was up to 90 cents, rising to $1 in September (11% increase). Retail gas price increases are not justified by crude oil increases, certainly not the average over the Labour Day weekend of $1.30. Recently, boaters reported $1.49/litre at a St. Lawrence marina - they throw in a free pumpout (for powerboats)! At a cruising speed of 26 mph, many 30 ft. (10 m) powerboats get as little as 1 mpg. That translates to 98.42 litres and $146.65 an hour, just to go 42 km. It may keep boaters closer to home! Check out our Pat's Converter, inclusing Canada/U.S. gas price conversions.
In the US central east coast, the average marina price of diesel was $3.04 USD per gallon ($.94CAD/l), a 41% up from $2.15/gal a year ago. Gasoline as high as $4 per gallon ($1.24CAD/litre) are hurting commercial boat operators. On US roads, average regular unleaded gas was $2.91/gal. ($.90CAD/litre). (US Fuel Prices)
Martha Stewart to paddle Pumpkin
Oct/05: Martha Stewart will attend the annual Pumpkin Festival in Windsor, N.S., on October 9, not to film the event, but to participate! The recently paroled domestic diva is scheduled to climb into a giant pumpkin and paddle her way across Lake Pesaquid in the town's "Pumpkin Regatta". Local residents are thrilled she's participating. For the past two years, Leo Swinimer, a grandfather, has rowed to victory in an enormous, hollowed-out pumpkin. Will Martha wear a designer PFD?!
Derek Hatfield prepares for 5-Oceans Solo Sailing Race
Sep/05: Derek is busy building a competitive 60-foot Class I Spirit of Canada to race again in the 5-Oceans Race in September 2006. Each of 5 legs of the race end with a stopover in Europe, South Africa, Austral-asia, Latin America & the USA. In the 2002-2003 "Around Alone" Single-handed Yacht Race, Derek was one of 9 international competitors to finish, nearly losing his life when the boat pitch-poled. Only 126 sailors have successfully sailed around the world alone.
www.spiritofcanada.net
Web-Cam
News archive Oct/04
Canadian Sailors rescued from North Atlantic
Jan/2005:
Corey Glynn, 41, and friends, John Rae, 44, and Peter Goodeve, 39, from Ottawa,
Ontario were plucked from a life-raft in the Atlantic Ocean 330 kilometres southeast
of Cape Hatteras, North Carolin by U.S. navy helicopters. They abandoned their
10.8 metre (36') sailboat, a sloop called the Jean Marie. They were sailing
from North Carolina to the Virgin Islands, a planned 9 to 11-day trip. The boat
lost its engine, causing batteries to die, which resulted in in navigational
equipment and electric bilge pumps failing to operate - hand pumping could not
keep up. They called for help on their satellite phone. The U.S. Coast Guard
sent a C-130 transport plane from Elizabeth City, N.C., and aircraft carrier
Theodore Roosevelt sent 2 Seahawk helicopters and a Hawkeye radar plane to coordinate
the rescue in darkness, 45-mph (72kt) winds and 15- to 20-foot (5-6m) seas.
More: The
Ottawa Citizen, HamptonRoads.com
U.S. Plans to build Tsunami Warning System
Jan/2005: Three weeks after an earthquake and tsunami killed more than 160,000 people in countries bordering the Indian Ocean, U.S. officials announced plans to set up a $37.5 million US deep-sea tsunami warning system designed to protect it's coasts over the next two years. The plan would expand the existing Pacific warning network and create a similar network for the Atlantic coast, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico by 2007. It involves a network of buoys attached to pressure recorders on the ocean floor to sense tidal waves. Seismic sensors maintained or monitored by Japan and the U.S. will to provide what warnings they can for the Indian Ocean until countries in the region can set up its own alert system.
Government tried to end NDI chart agreement
Jan/2005: Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) and Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) tried to terminate its agreement with Nautical Data International Inc. (NDI) after it had received many complaints. DFO signed a contract in 1993 that gave the company exclusive rights to distribute digital charts for Canada. Newfoundland Supreme Court rulings effectively secure the contract until 2008. (DGO news | NDI news)
Willie Nelson's Biodiesel
Jan/2005: Willie Nelson, the country music artist, formed a company called Willie Nelson's Biodiesel that is marketing clean-burning biodiesel fuel to truck stops. The fuel is made from vegetable oils, mainly soybeans, and can be burned without modification to diesel engines. Biodiesel gells in cold storage tanks, so it is not normally available in northern areas, but there's no real reason you couldn't make your own if you own a chip truck!
Biodiesel information Wired.com/news/technology
Cruising boats survive Tsunami
Jan/2005:
"ARAGORN weathers the tsunami with no loss of crew or gear." Thus begins a report from Thailand. (Photo by Lou Evans on GAULTINE III at Phi Phi Don, Thailand)
- Photos, yacht Agagorn
in Thailand
Tsunami news (Sail Magazine)
Boat reports (BoatingOZ, Australia)
Phuket Thailand (Yachting World)
Tsuami stories (Google Search)
Hamilton Port Authority challenged by boater
Jan/05: Randy Desnoyers has started a personal campaign against the seemingly total power of port authorities after being banned from Hamilton Port. He posted in the can.rec.boating newsgroup, published information on his web site, and contacted GAM magazine. An editorial in the Jan/Feb 2005 magazine GAM on Yachting featured port authorities with too much "authority". Randy's experience seems to be another in a string of incidents of Ports, transferred to local authorities by Transport Canada, banning anchored boats (Nova Scotia), building bridges over busy waterways (Toronto), and generally running ports in an arbitrary way without answering to the communities they presumably serve.
Feb 26/05: Hamilton Court, 45 Main Street, Hamilton, Ont. at 10:30am.
May 30/05: In Hamilton Court, the Crown withdrew the charge for trespass against Randy Desnoyers and failed to allow the charter challenge to proceed on the notice of trespass.
More: yachtware.net/hpa/hpa.htm
Letters to GAM from HPA and Randy Desnoyers
Email Randy Desnoyers: gigatec@execulink.com
Jul 4/06: Court battle between the Hamilton Port Authority and Randy Desnoyers (of Yachtware Canada) over rights of entry to port property was amicably resolved.
