Man builds trophy for international yacht race

1/2/09 02:09PM
By Rob Merwin

BRISTOL - Bristol resident and ships carpenter Jerome Mello has helped build a trophy that will be awarded to the winner of the 12-Meter World Class Championships in Newport this September. Mr. Mello fashioned a wooden base that supports a copper pewter cup, using pieces of wood from six 12-meter yachts of the Traditional Class. It will be called The Kennedy Cup, named after its sponsor, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

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International Yacht Restoration School to host marine career evening

An evening career information session on January 8 hosted by the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) will give individuals a chance to learn about training and career opportunities in the marine industry from area employers.

The session runs from 6 pm to 8 pm at the auditorium of the CCRI Newport Campus (One John H. Chafee Blvd.) and is geared to individuals who either have no experience in the field, individuals who have work background in the boating business, and to those such as electrical technicians, electricians, machine operators, and welders who want to learn how to transfer their skills to the marine industry.

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Boatbuilding course

The Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center will offer an eight-week boatbuilding course for adults Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6 to 9 p.m., Jan. 20 to March 12. Participants will construct a Shearwater, a classic double-ended 16-foot pulling boat, in the center's heated boat shop. Class size is limited to six. No previous experience is required. Cost is $650. Gift certificates are available. Call 978-281-0470 for more information.

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Waterford man jailed for stealing yacht supplies

MYSTIC, Conn. - A former employee of a Mystic company that makes specialty hardware for yachts has been sentenced to three months in prison for selling stolen parts online.

Authorities say 52-year-old Kenneth Whitman of Waterford also must pay $132,000 in restitution to Tylaska Marine Hardware.

He was sentenced Tuesday in New London Superior Court after pleading guilty to first-degree larceny.

Prosecutors say he stole 20 to 30 snap shackles, a type of fastener, every week for about six months and sold them at a deep discount online.

The company's owner says they had recalled all of the stolen shackles because they may not have been properly stress-tested. He also said they experienced a huge backlash from customers who saw the shackles sold for so much less online.

Whitman apologized to the company and Tylaska family in court, saying he accepts full responsibility for his actions.

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EPIRB changeover starts next month

Beginning next month, search-and-rescue satellites will no longer process the 121.5/243 MHz signal transmitted by older analog EPIRBs.

The Coast Guard is reminding mariners to replace these EPIRBs with the newer 406 MHz beacons by Feb. 1. The 406 MHz signal is 50 times more powerful than the 121.5, allowing better detection and providing a more accurate search area for rescue authorities, according to the Coast Guard.

Also, the number of false alerts with digital beacons reportedly is significantly lower than with analog units. Satellites are incapable of distinguishing between beacon and non-beacon sources using analog frequencies, resulting in only about one in five alerts coming from a beacon, according to the Coast Guard. False alert signals can come from ATMs, pizza ovens and stadium scoreboards.

EPIRB users can register their beacons in the U.S. 406 MHz Beacon Registration Database at www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov or by calling (888) 212-SAVE.

View the EPIRB related products available at Jamestown Distributors

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By LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune
Last update: December 30, 2008 - 11:32 PM

Suspended on blocks in winter dry dock, Lake Minnetonka's historic steamboat Minnehaha has been getting a going-over -- by wood scientists.

Four experts from the University of Minnesota Duluth and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Products Lab in Madison, Wis., recently were summoned to Excelsior to test the 1906 boat for invisible decay.

Using new nondestructive inspection methods, their goal was to check the condition of the Minnehaha without damaging the wood.

"We have to be smart about inspections and look for areas of early deterioration so they don't become a problem,'' said Brian Brashaw, director of the wood materials program at the Natural Resources Research Institute at the Duluth campus, who crawled under the lower deck to check the hull front to back. "When we are all done with the hull, then we are going to check the keel.''

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Maine boat builders to keep afloat with new joint production scheme

By Rich Hewitt, BDN Staff

BUCKSPORT, Maine - Two established Maine boat builders are forming a joint venture that could produce as many as 100 production boats a year if all goes according to plans.

Union River Boats in Bucksport and Lyman Morse of Thomaston hope to begin building the new design - 48-foot sailboats - for an undisclosed customer sometime next year.

The project will require a $1.25 million investment spread between the two companies, according to Belle Ryder, operations manager at Union River. The move comes during a slow time in the boat-building industry, a reflection of the national and global economic situation. But, Ryder said, their customer is confident that there is a market for the boats, and that the demand will grow to meet their projections.

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Newman and Gray steers a steady course

CRANBERRY ISLES - The current economic downturn is on the radar of many boatbuilders in Maine. On the island of Great Cranberry, venerable boatbuilders Newman and Gray, however, have yet to see the effects of the falling tide, due to a consistent current of customer service work.

"We feel fortunate to have the amount of work that we have right now. A lot of yards don't have much," said Ed Gray, owner of Newman and Gray Boatyard. "One of the reasons we still have the amount of work that we do is because of our relationship with our customers. The majority of our customers are long-term customers that been with us for many years, some as long a 20 years. Those relationships are what get us smoothly through the bad times," Mr. Gray said. "It really helps. Our storage business directly effects our service department because it gives us work maintaining the 60 boats that we store."

Read the rest of the story...

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BOSTON - As unseasonably warm temperatures are forecasted for the weekend, and with several Northeast sporting-goods retailers describing kayaks and paddlesport accessories as high on holiday gift lists, the Coast Guard is advising any paddlers who found kayaks under their Christmas tree to be cautious and fully aware of the danger of sudden cold-water immersion if they opt for a weekend launch.

The weekend weather forecast calls for overcast skies with periods of light rain and sunny breaks, and warm and windy days with a predicted climb to record-breaking mid-60 degree temperatures on Sunday.

Al Johnson, the recreational boating safety specialist for New England's First Coast Guard District, said that those conditions create a perfect disaster recipe for any paddler who fails to recognize the risk and isn't properly prepared if things go wrong.

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Maritime expansion

By Cassandra A. Fortin | Special to The Baltimore Sun
December 28, 2008

The Havre de Grace Maritime Museum was started in 1988 to help preserve the maritime traditions and history of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay area.

After more than a decade of sharing space with another organization, the museum moved in 2001 to its own building in Havre de Grace. Now, to accommodate the growing number of people who use the museum and its programs, improvements and additions are being made to that building.

"Our programs are growing substantially," said Ann Persson, curator and director of programs at the museum. "And when we built the building, we didn't complete our plans."

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