Trade Only Today 

The annual Providence Boat Show returns to the Rhode Island Convention Center Jan. 3 to 6.

The show features 250 exhibitors, with more than 300 boats on display.

This year’s show features a Small Craft Sailing Center and a Focus on Fishing area. The CastingKids program, presented by the Rhode Island Bass Federation, is a competition for youths 7 to 14.

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Trade Only Today 

The San Diego Boat Show kicks off the New Year with more than 500 boats and the newest accessories Jan. 3 to 6 at the San Diego Convention Center and Marriott Marina.

The in-water display will showcase more than 100 boats. 

Highlights of the show include free sailboat rides and the Take Me Fishing Center.

The show is also participating in the Crocs Test Drive promotion. Interested attendees can provide their drivers’ licenses in exchange for use of the shoes during the show; they’ll have the option to buy the popular footwear before leaving the show.
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Trade Only Today 

Harleyville, S.C.-based Carolina Composites is relocating its manufacturing operations, but has nixed its plans to move to Georgia.

Carolina Composites, which makes Pioneer Boats, plans to invest $5 million in a Walterboro, S.C., plant, according to The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. The company plans to add 100 employees to its roster of 40 workers.

The company announced earlier this year a plan to relocate its operations to Claxton, Ga. It had planned to start production in January, according to the paper.

“The short of it is, we got them back into our neck of the woods,” Peter H. Arnoti, executive director of the Colleton County Economic Alliance, told the paper.

Pioneer Boats makes center-console bay, fishing and ski boats in lengths from 17 to 22 feet.

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US Sailing announced the short list of nominees for its coveted Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards.

Nominees for Yachtsman of the Year are: Ed Baird, Clay Bischoff; Andrew Campbell, Rick Doerr, Greg Fisher, Tomas Hornos, Pete Levesque, Jeff Linton, Colin Merrick and Dave Ullman.

Nominees for Yachtswoman of the Year are: Sally Barkow, Amanda Callahan, Emily Dellenbaugh, Liz Hall, Lisa Keith, Amy Linton, Karen Mitchell, Paige Railey and Anna Tunnicliffe.

The nominees will be reviewed by a panel of noted sailing journalists who discuss the merits of each nominee and vote to determine winners. The winners will be announced in January and honored on Feb. 29 during a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in New York City, where they will be presented with Rolex timepieces.

For more information on the accomplishments of each nominee this year, visit www.ussailing.org/awards/rolex.

By Bill Hoffman 

It’s a long way from a mullet boat in Pumicestone Passage to the bridge of 73.5 metre super motor yacht Laurel but it is a transition that David Clarke has taken in his stride.

The latest in a long line of Clarke mariners from Caloundra, he could have been forgiven for taking a moment to reflect on the size of that stride as he handed over charge of the $139 million vessel to a Brisbane Marine Pilot off Kawana yesterday for the last leg of a passage that has taken him across the Pacific.

Two things are certain. Thirty eight year-old David Clarke has probably one of the world’s best jobs, and he certainly has one of the world’s best bosses.

Not only did he ask David to help design the layout when he decided to upgrade from a 165 footer to the Laurel but he insisted it include a nursery, a lure to ensure David and his wife Jodie, the ship’s purser, did not feel the need to leave if they planned a family.

Now one-year-old Keira Morgan, born two years after the ship was commissioned, travels the world in style – the first engineer’s baby for company.

The Clarke family is secretive about just who that boss is, David’s father Les prepared only to say that the mystery man and his wife are delightful, down-to-earth and private.

But he was less inhibited about his son’s employers’ generosity.

The Laurel’s current voyage started in Maine, charted a course via Panama and the Galapagos Islands to Tahiti before heading to Fiji and now here.

It is with considerable pride that David says that there is now not an ocean left that his son hasn’t crossed as skipper.

It is certain that his mother Lorraine, father Les and grandfather Lloyd, who stood on Caloundra Headland yesterday to watch the Laurel steam by, would have been thinking much about family history.

David’s grand grandfather Evan first fished Pumicestone passage in 1915. Son Lloyd took over going on to be the first to commercially fish the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1954 from his vessel the Larry Cork.

The family had a slipway in Pumicestone Passage off Maloja Avenue serving a fleet of 40 trawlers that operated out of Caloundra before the stabilising of the Mooloolah River mouth.

David grew up helping out on his father’s charter vessel The Love Boat working the bar and waiting tables at weddings and parties.

The pair later headed up to the Torres Strait line fishing where he proved a capable first mate navigating while his father slept.

He worked his way up from driving a dive boat on Lizard Island to deckhand on international boat transfers, gathering sea hours and mariner tickets as he went.

David has carried the Prince of Bahrain, Sean Connery and Sidney Poitier as well as skippering the vessel used in Rush Hour Two with Jackie Chan.

It may be a world away from the Passage and the mullet runs by which family life was once measured.

But it’s a life not completely out of step with his parents who have traded their house for home on a converted pilot boat, now anchored in Cairns in readiness for a two-year navigation of Australia.

LAUREL SPECS

The Laurel, built by Delta in Seattle, when launched in 2005 was the biggest private yacht built in the United States in the past 75 years.

Designed by Donald Starkey, it has a steel hull and composite super structure.

It has a 250Kw bow thruster and 150 Kw stern thruster.

Overall length: 73m; displacement: 1,595,000kgs.

By Sandra Gonzales 

With invasive mussels infiltrating California’s waterways, proposals are under consideration to temporarily ban boats from Santa Clara County reservoirs or simply inspect each watercraft for the pests that wreak havoc on the environment.

Neither the Quagga or Zebra mussels have been found in county reservoirs yet, but local officials don’t want to take any chances. The proposals are a pre-emptive strike against the threat.

At issue, though, is what to do and who will pay for it. And, at the center of it all are two entities, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Santa Clara County.

Both have been in talks on how to develop an inspection process.

Under the water district proposal, the ban would last until the county can start a boat inspection program at all seven of its local reservoirs that allow boating.

“Now that we’re moving into the summer months, more people are out boating,” said water district spokeswoman Susan Siravo. The mussels usually spread on boats, she said, a concern because zebra mussels were recently found in San Bernardino County’s San Justo Reservoir.

The mussels cling to hard surfaces, such as boat bottoms, anchors and hulls, damaging boats and clogging water intake structures. Both species of mussel are non-native aquatic mollusks that disrupt the natural food chain and release toxins that affect other aquatic species. They range in size from microscopic to the magnitude of a fingernail.

“We know people like to go from one reservoir to another,” Siravo said. “There’s a real sense of urgency, since Zebra mussels have been found so close to our reservoirs.”

The possible ban will be discussed at the water district’s Tuesday board meeting, which will be open to the public.

But Santa Clara County officials say a temporary ban isn’t necessary and on Wednesday County Executive Pete Kutras called instead for an inspection of the boats to begin on Memorial Day weekend.

“The appropriate move to address the spread of Quagga and Zebra mussels is to immediately begin inspecting all boats launching in local reservoirs and to continue permitting active recreation,” Kutras said. “In the end, it’s their land and they can choose to ban boating, and I’m trying to be clear that they ought not to.”

The cost of the program is expected to be up to $700,000, and both agencies believe the other should pay for it. Kutras is proposing a $7 fee to help defray the costs of the program at Anderson Lake, Calero Reservoir and Coyote Lake.

Siravo said the financial responsibility rests with the county because the county handles the recreational aspect of the reservoirs and the water district doesn’t get any of the revenues.

But county officials pointed out that if the mussels spread here, they could damage water district equipment, and that the district has more financial resources to pay for it than the county. “We’re not doing this to facilitate recreation, we’re doing this to protect the infrastructure of the water system,” Kutras said.

Last year, 150,000 permits were issued for vessels to operate in the county’s reservoirs. Some boaters don’t like either idea.

“It’s a delicate subject. Personally, I think, most of these regulations are going to make the activity of boating much more difficult to participate in,” said Greg Smith, a boater who also works at West Marine in Saratoga. “These inspections are too strict, they’re not loose enough.”

www.mercurynews.com

In “An Undeserving Charity Case” (April 27), Chris Harvie writes, “From the outside the building looked like a Welsh Yacht Club”.

As Wales has quite a number of yacht clubs, could he be more specific, or is he just generalising and saying that all Welsh yacht clubs look the same and, if so, how?

Speaking from my experience I can say that they don’t look all the same, so I must conclude he is having a “dig” at the Welsh in a pathetic attempt to be controversial and liven up his somewhat boring article.

If he were to make similar generalisations with the black South African population he could be looking for another job, as recent events have shown. — J Jenkins, Cullinan

This job has baggageThe public and media need to maintain pressure on Acsa against the unacceptable “service” rendered at our airports. The British television series Back to the Floor was an eye-opener on how service can be greatly enhanced in poorly performing companies.

Chief executives had to spend a few weeks at floor level interacting with their clientele.

When they returned to their offices, invariably massive improvements were put in place after experiencing what customers were subjected to.

Perhaps Acsa CEO Monhla Hlahla should be required to spend six months as a baggage handler and do a stint at a customer service desk interacting with irate travellers.

We might just then see a glimmer of improvement going forward. — James Dartnell, Dowerglen

www.thetimes.com

By Jennifer Jackson 

PORT TOWNSEND — How do you declare that boating season is officially open?

You invite everyone in town who has access to a boat to join you on the water.

On Saturday, the Port Townsend Yacht Club invited the public not only to watch the opening day parade along the downtown waterfront, but also to participate in it.

Co-sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, the event drew everything from big yachts and sailboats to small rowboats.

“We wanted all boating enthusiasts to feel comfortable joining in this informal celebration of the boating season,” said Fred Bell, who, as the club’s fleet commander, organized the parade.

“We made a definite effort to expand this into a community event.”

Founded in 1947, the Port Townsend Yacht Club annually celebrates the opening day of boating season a week after the Seattle Yacht Club’s observance, Bell said.

The parade has been a tradition since the mid-1950s, but several years ago, members decided to widen participation.

This year, they invited the Coast Guard to participate.

The cutter Osprey, with 15 guests aboard, led the parade, which got off to a slightly late start because the ferry was delayed.

But once the ferry left the dock and was on its way, boats started lining up near the entry to the Port Townsend Boat Haven and followed the cutter along the waterfront.

Reaching the Northwest Martime Center dock, each boat or group of boats passed in review in front of Port Townsend Yacht Club Commodore Dave Weeding, exchanging a salute, a wave or other acknowledgment.

‘Hip hip hooray’
“Commodore, commodore, hip, hip, hooray!” shouted the crew aboard the Shoshanna, a powerboat owned by Sue and Carl Sidle, as they passed the dock.

The Coast Guard cutter was followed by members of the Rat Island Rowing and Sculling Club and the Tough as Nails women’s crew, which performed a “wave” by lying back in their seats.

The Sea Scouts and the Quimper Tars rowed longboats, while members of the Port Townsend High School Sailing Team were out in 15-foot Vanguards.

Larger sailboats included the Pleiades and Mycia, a 73-foot gaff-rigged schooner built in Port Townsend by the Maher family.

The Port Hadlock Yacht Club, the Point Wilson Power and Sail Squadron and the local Coast Guard Auxiliary also participated in the parade.

“This is truly ‘beautiful boating,’” said Stan Cummings, executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center, referring to the opening day theme.

Rob Sanderson, the Northwest Maritime Center’s waterfront programs manager, served as master of ceremonies from the center’s dock.

Father John Topel of St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Catholic Church offered a blessing of the boats and boaters, calling for safe voyages and reverence for the earth and sea.

Then Weeding officially announced that boating season was open, signaling to Vice-Commodore Harry Dudley, who shot off the cannon mounted on the bow of the boat that he and Zoe Ann Dudley, past commodore, own.

Before the parade began, Stan and Sigrid Cummings grilled hot dogs on the dock for spectators.

Earlier, about 100 yacht club members and guests attended an opening-day breakfast at the clubhouse in the Boat Haven.

Lt. Cmdr. Aaron Sterling, from Naval Magazine Indian Island, was one of the guests at the yacht club breakfast.

The ceremony opened with a flag ceremony conducted by members of the Sea Scout Ship Falcon.

At the breakfast, Weeding introduced guests, including Tim Caldwell, director of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, and past commodores.

The yacht club also printed its first opening day poster, “Beautiful Boating,” which features a photograph by Mitchell Osborne.

Limited-edition prints of the poster are available from Osborne, with part of the $85 price going to the Port Townsend Yacht Club’s scholarship fund. For more information, go to www.mitchellosborne.com.

Posters are available for $5 from the Port Townsend Yacht Club. The money also benefits the fund, which has awarded $27,000 in scholarships since it was founded in 1991.

The yacht club also promotes boating by supporting the Sea Scouts, the Northwest Maritime Center, and two schooners used for youth sailing, Martha, and Adventuress.

www.peninsuladailynews.com

By Patricia Hurtado

Yachting’s America’s Cup should proceed between Larry Ellison’s BMW-Oracle and defending champion Alinghi within 10 months, a New York state judge said.

The regatta should begin by March 12 off the coast of Valencia, Spain, or at another location chosen by Alinghi, so long as the challenger receives six months’ notice of the venue, said New York Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn in Manhattan.

Holding the competition in Valencia in March would violate competition rules, which state that the races can’t be staged in the northern hemisphere before May because of safety and weather concerns, said Lucien Masmejan, an attorney for Alinghi. There will therefore probably be another appeal, he said.

BMW-Oracle wanted to hold the competition in October, which Alinghi said wouldn’t give sufficient time to prepare.

The case began last year when BMW-Oracle claimed Alinghi didn’t have the sole right as the regatta’s 32nd winner to set competition terms.

Alinghi, which in July beat Team New Zealand to retain the trophy first awarded in 1851, is owned by billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli and sails under the Societe Nautique de Geneve yacht club. Ellison is the billionaire chief executive of Redwood City, California-based Oracle Corp., the world’s third-biggest software maker.

Not Frivolous:

In his decision, Cahn said the litigation “interrupted” the 10-month notice period set out in the rules.

“Because I do not deem this litigation, nor any of the motions, to have been frivolous, the appropriate date for the commencement of the 10-month period should be no earlier than the disposition of the last motion made,” Cahn said.

The judge also said that Alinghi and BMW-Oracle, based at the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco, can “make any arrangement satisfactory to both as to the dates, courses, number of trials, rules and sailing regulations.”

BMW-Oracle’s claim of breach of fiduciary duty against Alinghi should be dismissed, Cahn also said.

“We’re pleased that the court has advanced the process and required the defender to confirm the venue,” Golden Gate Yacht Club spokesman Tom Ehman said in a statement. “We will now be considering the order to determine our next steps.”

Further Appeal:

Alinghi is likely to extend the scope of a previous appeal — because of the conflict between the judge’s order and race rules — to argue that the regatta should be held after May 1, Masmejan said.

“It’s unlikely that it is the intention of Justice Cahn to force us to race in the southern hemisphere,” Masmejan said in a telephone interview. “I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to resolve that, in the sense that we’ll have our full, open choice” of venue.

Cahn sided with Ellison’s team in November, naming it the challenger over Club Nautico Espanol de Vela of Spain. Alinghi’s appeal of that decision is pending before a state appeals court in Manhattan.

As the challenger, BMW-Oracle can choose the type of boat the teams will use. It has said it will opt for large-scale, double-hulled yachts, which may hurt Alinghi’s ability to defend the title in March.

“It’s still a month-and-a-half too early,” Masmejan said.”It’s certainly easier to race in March than race in October.”

www.bloomerang.com

The ice is gone and the warm weather has arrived, which means summer is coming. And to get ready for the boating season there are a few preparations Marine Patrol is making to do just that.

“We do a bunch of different things,” said Sgt. Crystal McLain, at the Marine Patrol facility in Glendale.

The preparations begin with training the new recruits. This year there are 20 new officers coming into the Marine Patrol ranks, all of who are currently conducting on-the-water training.

The training entails everything from learning to dock a boat and other procedures to water rescues and boat stops. The idea is to prepare these recruits for anything and everything that can happen on the water.

McLain said by the time they are done with their training, all will be ready to hit the open water from Lake Winnipesaukee to the Seacoast.

The big push the department is undertaking across the state is the testing and inspection of commercial boats and those that operate them. Commercial boats cover a wide range of marine activities, which include marine construction, boat and fishing guides, and of course the commercial fishing.

McLain explained that this year the checks have taken on a slightly new approach. Because of the number of vessels across the state that need to undergo inspection and testing, the Marine Patrol is having operators bring their vessels to testing locations set up around the state instead of sending an officer out to them.

Here on Winnipesaukee the number of commercial operators is more than one might think.

“You never think about it until the numbers start coming in,” said McLain.

The other major preparation that differs from last year is the enactmentl of a boat speed limit this summer. McLain said the department is taking steps in order to be prepared.

While Motorcycle Week may act as the official start of the boating season, McLain said “there are quite a few boats out there.” The numbers of boats, whether they are fishermen, islanders, or construction companies, are pretty typical year to year though require a few patrols out on the Big Lake.

And for those recreational boaters venturing onto the recently thawed waters, safety on the big lake is key.

“Where there are not a lot of boats on the water, planning is essential,” said McLain.

First and foremost life jackets are a must, particularly with such a chilling water temperature, McLain explained. Other things, like checking the weather forecast, mapping out the trip, having an anchor, and bringing along a radio or cell phone are safety precautions recommended by Marine Patrol.

Marine Patrol officers will continue to prepare making sure markers are in the right places and everything is set of the season ahead.

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