When my brother got married on Upper Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks, guests took a pontoon boat to Chapel Island for the ceremony. But on the west coast of Florida, the chapel comes to you!
On February 19, Dockwise Yacht Transport completed its first shipment of pleasure yachts to Jebel Ali, Dubai. The boats were delivered aboard the BBC Chartering ship Lady Gloria, in plenty of time for the Dubai International Boat Show. Dockwise parterned with BBC Chartering and Logistics—which has 140 vessels in operation worldwide—last October in order to expand its global shipping options.
On a recent trip down to Palm Beach, my cousin Brian invited me to his marina club for the day. While sharing similarities to the yacht clubs in the northeast that I'm more familiar with, I was intrigued about the differences.
On Sunday, January 13, President George W. Bush will be a guest on ESPN2’s Offshore Adventures. The president joined hosts Chris and Melissa Fischer for a day of fishing for striped bass on Chesapeake Bay. The show also followed the president’s signing of an executive order to build up stocks of striped bass and red drum in federal waters.The episode shows a side of the president rarely seen—unscripted and casual—and discussions focused on subjects dear to both Bush and the Fischers: conservation, sustainable fisheries, family and fishing.As it turns out, Melissa Fischer was the only one to raise a fish on the outing. See, even the Commander-in-Chief, can have a bad day on the hook.
The Fischers joined the president for two hours of fishing off St. Michael’s, Maryland. Although security was tight on the Bay and required several weeks planning logistics, rare candid access was allowed at the president’s request.
Sustainable fishing was a central subject.
A catalyst behind the meeting was Offshore Adventures’ recently unveiled plan to embark on the greatest global oceanic expedition in history—a seven-year trip around the earth aboard a 126-foot mothership.
The goals of the trip are to assess the state of the worlds’ oceans, educate people around the world on proper fisheries management, discover the most remote fisheries on earth, and record it for television history. Throughout the journey, marine scientist will be involved to study and assess ocean ecosystems and fisheries.
The city of Savannah, Georgia, rang in the holiday season on November 24 with its annual Boat Parade of Lights. Fortunately my visit to the city happened to coincide with the event. More than 50 boats participated in the parade, which required entrants to donate toys to children in need. The parade was kicked off by the lighting of a Christmas tree, which was accompanied by music from the Savannah Pipe and Drums Corps. Thousands of people braved the chilly night and lined the Riverwalk to watch the brightly decorated yachts and tug boats light up the waterway.
A 24-foot Mako with four passengers onboard capsized last week in the Ambrose Channel, the main shipping channel serving the ports of New York and New Jersey. Three of the boaters were tossed into the water after hitting the towline of a passing tugboat. The fourth was able to cling to the overturned vessel.
According to the London-based International Maritime Bureau, maritime piracy attacks rose 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007 from a year earlier, with Somalia and Nigeria showing the biggest increases.While Africa remains problematic, Southeast Asia's Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, has been relatively quiet, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report.
A total of 198 attacks on ships were reported between January and September this year, up from 174 in the same period in 2006, the IMB said.
It said a total of 15 vessels were hijacked, 63 crew kidnapped and three killed.
"If this current trend continues, it would appear that the decline in piracy attacks since 2004 has bottomed out," it warned.
Indonesia remained the world's worst piracy hotspot, with 37 attacks in the first nine months of 2007 - but this was an improvement from 40 in the same period a year earlier, the IMB said.
But attacks rose drastically in Somalia to 26 reported cases, up from only 8 a year earlier, it said. Nigeria also suffered 26 attacks so far this year, up from 9 previously, it added.
IMB director Pottengal Mukundan urged ships to stay as far as possible from the coasts of Somalia and Nigeria, which remained very dangerous with large numbers of violent kidnappings.
"The level of violence in high risk areas remain unacceptable. Pirates in Somalia are operating with impunity, seizing vessels hundreds of miles off the coast and holding the vessel and crew to ransom, making no attempt to hide their activity," he said.
Only four attacks were reported in the Malacca Strait this year, compared to 8 in the same period in 2006, thanks to increased cooperation between states straddling the waterway, the IMB said.
The National Safe Boating Council is asking for entries for its 2008 Boating Safety Sidekicks Contest "I'm a Safe Boater, Are You?"
BoatU.S. Marine Insurance recently reviewed its claim files and came up with a list of the most common mistakes made when winterizing a boat:1. Failure to winterize the engine: Freezing temperatures occur in all 50 states and while they are taken seriously up north, it’s the balmy states of California, Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia where boaters are most likely to have freeze-related damage to engine blocks. It routinely occurs to boats stored ashore here. Boats left in a slip are less susceptible to sudden freezing as the surrounding water retains heat longer than air.
2. Failure to drain water from sea strainer: If your winterizing plan calls for draining the engine, the seawater strainer must be winterized or residual water could freeze and rupture the watertight seal. Sometimes you won’t know it’s damaged until spring launching and water begins to trickle in.
3. Failure to close seacocks: For boats left in the water, leaving seacocks open over the winter is like going on extended vacation without locking the house. If a thru-hull cannot be closed the vessel must be stored ashore – the sole exception are cockpit drains. Heavy snow loads can also force your boat under, allowing water to enter thru-hulls normally well above the water line.
4. Clogged petcocks: Engine cooling system petcocks clogged by rust or other debris can prevent water from fully draining. If one is plugged, try using a coat hanger to clear the blockage or use the engine’s intake hose to flush anti-freeze through the system.
5. Leaving open boats in the water over winter: Boats with large open cockpits or low freeboard can easily be pushed underwater by the weight of accumulated ice and snow. Always store them ashore.
6. Using bimini covers as winter storage covers: A cover that protects the crew from the sun does a lousy job protecting the boat from freezing rain and snow. Unlike a bonafide winter cover, biminis tend to rip apart and age prematurely by the effects of winter weather.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world's largest living structure, covering over 130,000 square miles. Unfortunately climate change has become a major threat to the reef, creating environmental concerns like coral bleaching (when stress causes the organism to lose its color, eventually leading to the demise of the coral colony). Some scientists say the reef is in so much danger it could actually disappear within the next 20 years.
With summertime gas prices skyrocketing, here are BoatU.S.'s top ten tips for getting the most from a tank of gas.1. Leave the extra ‘junk’ home: Don’t load the boat up with weight you don’t need. Do a little spring cleaning—unused equipment that has been collecting mildew in the bottom of lockers for years should be taken home.
2. Water weight: At 8.33 pounds per gallon, why keep the water in the tank topped off if you’re only going out for the afternoon?
3. Tune her up: An engine tune-up is an excellent investment and should easily pay for itself over the summer.
4. Tune your prop: If your boat goes 30 mph with a like-new prop and only 27 mph with a prop that’s dinged and out of pitch, that’s a 10% loss in fuel economy, or, you’re wasting one out of every ten gallons you put in your tank.
5. Paint the boat’s bottom: When boating in salt or brackish waters a fouled bottom is like a dull knife. It takes a lot more fuel to push your boat through the water.
6. Keep the boat in trim: Using trim tabs or distributing weight evenly will help move your boat through the water with less effort – and less fuel.
7. Go with the flow: Consult tide tables and try to travel with the tide whenever possible.
8. Install a fuel flow meter: A fuel flow meter is like a heart monitor; when consumption starts to rise, it’s an early warning that something is amiss. A fuel flow meter also allows you to select a comfortable cruising speed that optimizes the amount of fuel being consumed. If you don’t want to spring for a fuel flow meter (about $300), you can calculate your fuel mileage by dividing distance traveled by gallons at fill-up. Using your logbook, you can then approximate fuel flow using average speeds and time underway.
9. For sailboats only: While their engines are miserly, a sailboat with a fouled bottom, prop, or poorly maintained engine can have marked effect on its fuel economy.
10. Get a discount: Many of the 870 BoatU.S. Cooperating Marinas around the country offer up to 10 cents off a gallon of gas. To get the discount all you have to do is to show your BoatU.S. membership card.
-Toothpicks: 814,000 
In order to promote boating safety this season, BoatU.S. is sponsoring a photo contest called "Get Hooked on Safety." Send in your best safe-fishing photos (that means with a PFD, of course) and you will be entered to win the Mustang inflatable LifeVest seen here, a $150 value. For more information, visit the contest's home page.
An exploration and salvage company based in Tampa, Florida, just hit the jackpot. Odyssey Marine Exploration uncovered a Colonial-period shipwreck containing more than 500,000 silver coins weighing over 17 tons. The coins are expected to fetch approximately $1,000 each when sold at auction. Not much is being disclosed about the location of the wreck for security reasons, but rumors place it off the coast of Cornwall in SW England.
All in all the concert raised $8,200 for the American Cancer Society and the Ian McWilliam Saints Fund, an organization created to help the family of the Raymarine sales manager who passed away last year. Kudos to the marine electronics industry for working together to benefit a good cause.
The suit alleges certain Caterpillar engines contain defective aftercoolers, which allow water to enter the engines and mix with fumes, resulting in severe corrosion and engine failure, sometimes involving the engine exploding, the newspaper reported.
Caterpillar denies the allegations.
"We have requested an appeal of the certification decision," company spokeswoman Anne Leanos said in a prepared statement Friday quoted in the article. "We will continue to defend the case vigorously."The Detroit News says that damages could exceed $100 million.
The main focus of the suit is the Caterpillar 3196, which the company has described as the ideal engine for yachts 40 to 60 feet long, according to the newspaper.
The suit was brought by Detroit businessman James Jaikins, who alleges that his Riviera 48 yacht contained two Caterpillar 3196 engines when a 2003 engine explosion and failure nearly stranded him between Florida and the Bahamas.
Jaikins says that when he started talking to other boat owners, he found his experience was not unique, alleging problems with the engines are the subject of widespread "dock talk" and are documented on Internet boat forums, the newspaper reported.
Jaikins’ attorney, Nathan Resnick, said the lawsuit was “a major consumer protection case—huge," according to the newspaper.
