my weblog - [editor@h2onotes.com]

Grand plans to invigorate Cleveland's dreary lakefront landed with a thud in a sliver of Ohio City this week.

The city's redevelopment vision for eight miles of lakefront, displayed at three public meetings, showed a hunk of favored green space - north of Detroit Avenue from West 29th to West 38th streets on the city's near West Side - lost to commercial development,

The possibility of losing some of the lake vistas and greenery at "Dogbone Park," so called because of its shape, drew indignation.

"That patch of green is a sacred place," said Joe Mazzola, executive director of the Ohio City Near West Development Corp. "People are investing in projects near there based on those vistas being maintained."    more...

With all the rough weather along the way, Rochester's high-speed ferry project has been anything but a breeze.

But ferry supporters would rather focus on what went right with the Spirit of Ontario — the successes, they say, that prove a Rochester-to-Toronto ferry is a viable business that will prosper here one day:

Canadian American Transportation Systems carried 140,000 passengers on its massive ferry in less than three months. Canadians rode the ship here and explored Rochester. The city rebuilt its port. And passengers raved about the experience.   more...

PORT HURON -- It would behoove Osama Bin Laden to stay away from this Michigan city when trying to infiltrate the United States.

The border town was one of three cities that unfurled the latest in terrorism-fighting technology Monday.

But critics have already labeled the $700 million program, which takes photos and fingerprints of some foreign visitors, a hornswaggle.

They say it will be too expensive, too shortsighted and too ineffective. The only people it will impede from crossing the border, critics said, are travelers and business people.    more...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Fallingwater it was not: From its wind-stripped shingles to an embarrassing overgrowth of weeds and bramble, the erstwhile beach house on Lake Michigan's shore did little to declare itself a creation of the architectural luminary Frank Lloyd Wright.

But that was no reason, say those who would preserve all of Wright's structures, to smash it into oblivion.

The 88-year-old beach house came tumbling down last week - the first Wright building to meet such a fate in more than 30 years - to make way for a four-bedroom home with a two-car garage. The last Wright structure to come down was Milwaukee's Arthur Munkwitz Apartments in 1973.   more...

Enwave Energy Corp., the company that is revolutionizing the way major downtown Toronto office buildings are heated and cooled, is about to take another giant step forward. It hopes to use the steam it generates for heating office buildings to create electricity as well.

Enwave's target is the co-generation of 40 megawatts of power by the end of the decade. Not only will it install steam-driven turbines at two of its three downtown heating plants but it also hopes to persuade major heating customers such as the Toronto-Dominion Centre to install small 100- to 300-kilowatt generators in their basements as well.   more...

The Ontario government has refused to sign draft agreements that seek to preserve the Great Lakes, insisting the proposed deals were not strong enough to protect water from being siphoned out.

As Canadian and U.S. negotiators were sitting down in Chicago yesterday, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay announced that the province would not sign the current drafts of the Great Lakes Charter Annex after they met with a cool reception with environmentalists and First Nations groups during public consultations over the past three months.   more...

``They hadn't torn the bills up. They were still whole,'' said Maj. Michael Martin of the St. Helena Parish sheriff's office.

St. Helena Parish deputies searched for the money for days until a lawyer, hoping to make a deal with prosecutors for a client, called and said the money had been discarded in the creek, Police Chief Ronald Harrell said.   more...

I noticed a Classifieds entry in the new Scow Slants (online only) for two Sitka spruce A boat spars. Obviously, these are not anywhere near state-of-the-art for an A scow now, since they probably weigh 150 pounds apiece, but are stellar examples of the sparbuilder's art. They were standard equipment on the new 1961 Johnson hulls, built for Bill Kellett and Clyde Buckstaff. Clyde's father, John D. Buckstaff had died in the previous year, hence the name for the new boat. I don't know what the 1961 boats sold for, but the 3 new ones built two years later were $6300. each, complete with Sitka spruce spars. That's sixty-three hundred dollars, not sixty-three thousand.

One spar was used on John D. for seven seasons, and was replaced with one of the new Proctor 'H' sections, 4" x 5.5", and Buckstaff's new aluminum spar was a single-spreader rig. The second was a joint spare spar, and never used.

As you can see, R.J. 'Regatta John' Bangs is the contact for these spars, he appears above in the cc: line. These would make spectacular flagpoles, although I would be tempted to take off what small amount of varnish is on them, use Gougeon epoxy over the entire spar, and finish off with marine spar varnish, so re-varnishing would only have to take place every 4 years or so. The total length of these spars is about 42 feet, including the deck bury.

They are lying Oshkosh. If anyone in Minneapolis wants one, we have a carbon spar being repaired right now at Windward Boatworks, and will have to make a deadhead trip to that part of the world before next June, with a big trailer, and could bring it up. What is their value? What's a flagpole worth?   more...

After a 15-month search by Yachting Monthly and The Maritime Trust to find a sponsor to help save Sir Francis Chichester's famous 53ft ketch, Gipsy Moth IV - currently rotting away in dry dock at Greenwich - a deal has finally been struck to start restoration work in November.

Ownership of the yacht - one of Britain's foremost maritime icons - will be transferred to the United Kingdom Sailing Academy (UKSA), based in Cowes, Isle of Wight, for £1, plus a gin and tonic. The academy has pledged to donate £40,000 to a restoration fund and The Maritime Trust, current custodians of the yacht, will contribute another £10,000 so that Camper & Nicholsons, the original builder, can begin work on the project in Gosport before Christmas. A private donor, Stephen Thomas, a director the Blue Water Round the World Rally, has donated an additional £15,000.  more...

A new website for the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) has been designed to streamline the application process for the school's full- and part-time students. IYRS's two-year program in classic-yacht restoration draws an international student body. Founded in 1993, Newport-based IYRS runs a two-year accredited program for full-time students in classic yacht restoration and a Continuing Education program with part-time courses in woodworking, systems installation, and boat building and restoration.   more...

Britain look almost certain to miss the 2007 America's Cup in Valencia after Peter Harrison, the founder and chairman of the GBR Challenge, decided yesterday to "suspend current operations" because of a funding crisis. Peter Harrison: his £20m pledge has not been matched With the deadline for entries just one month away, the 25-strong core of designers, managers and boat-builders were given notice periods of one to three months yesterday, cutting the campaign back to barest of bones just in case 11th-hour funding is secured. Time is fast running out for GBR to find a commercial backer to match the £20 million pledged by Harrison, who was adamant last night that he would not fund the challenge by himself.   more...

It was windy and it wasn't. That sums up the conditions at this year's North American Championship held in Jacksonville, Florida.

The beautiful Florida Yacht Club was the venue for the event. Reeling from damage caused by Hurricane Jeanne, the club was concerned about whether they could handle the event. The answer was a resounding yes. The club and regatta officials pulled it together to host a first class, memorable long weekend for the 48 teams who made the trip.

Hot and humid weather gave way to an approaching front Thursday night, leaving some to wonder where the Florida weather had gone. Friday dawned to predictions of winds from 25-40. After the rain showers swept through, the day cleared quickly and the breeze picked up. Fortunately for all, it settled in at 15 to 20, which made for delightful, if exhausting sailing.

The race committee ran three excellent races that day; one Olympic and two double triangles.

The 2004 Snipe North Americans concluded with current world champion, Augie Diaz, and crew, Lisa Griffith winning the competitive event.  Hal Gilreath and James Liebl finished up in second and Henry Filter and Lorie Stout were third.  Forty five crews came from across the U.S., Canada and Brazil to Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville, Fl.  Friday's sailing started out in 12-15 knots of a shifty westerly breeze.  The breeze built to 15-20 and the fleet enjoyed great reaching and planing in three races.  After the first day, Peter and Sheehan Commette led, w/ Gilreath/Leibl and Filter/Stout tied for second.  FYC served up a great cookout, sponsored by the Suddath Companies and Miller Brewing, as crews recovered from three hard fought races.      more...

Sail an A Boat Faster

by Buddy Melges

Set up: Winds 5 – 12 m.p.h.

1. Mast Rake – Hoist tape measure to black band then take to transom corner and measure 42’8".

2. Jib – Should be set on halyard ball to allow 2" of scope left when at maximum tension on luff control. Start high on clew board so jib leech will strike lower spreader 9" in from tip = good idea to place a tape at that point on spreader.

If the main now has too much back wind, lower one or two holes on clew board. If the ram is held aft at this time or the mast is held straight lower 1/3 = release ram control to allow mast to float. Now cleat ram in neutral position so that boom vang may be used and will not induce more low mast been unless desired and if so release ram and allow mast to move forward at deck line, this action will flatten lower 1/3 of main sail and also effect set to lower batten. If low batten (leech) is up, this is flaps down for pointing and slow speeds. The ram forward and outhaul will trip this batten and boat will accelerate.   more...

As you probably have heard, the IRC rating rule system has been gaining huge acceptance in the USA sailing scene with many of the major events now offering or completing converting their PHRF classes to IRC. Like PHRF, IRC is a simple rule with a single rating number based on time-on-time as opposed to the general time-on-distance rating. However, IRC is a rule administered by RORC which has kept its formulation secret in order to protect the class and rules. This new rating system as a leap forward and the US-IRC Management Committee is hosting seminars around the country to introduce, review and explain how this rating system works, how to get a certificate, etc. Here are a few scheduled seminars: