community weblog - [ Other ]

Grosse Pointe Woods Boat Club Bridge Bash at Radlin's Marina on the Thames River in Canada Aug. 6-8 ... Mariners Boat Club physically challenged Clinton River Cruise aboard the Clinton Friendship Aug. 8 ... Water Warriors ride to benefit the Michigan Special Olympics return party from IHYC to Jack's Restaurant on the Nautical Mile to celebrate July 30 ... Start planning your trip to Alpena for the four-day Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival Oct. 7-10. This is one of the best on the Great Lakes. Call the Alpena area convention and visitors bureau at (800) 425-7362 for possible reservations ...   more...

The Boat Town USA Festival of Lights Parade is Aug. 7 at dusk on the Clinton River and ending at Metro Beach at the docks for all to see. The Anchor Bay Yachting Association is involved and will pay the entry fee of any member club in their organization. Given the amount of clubs belonging to ABYA, and the Venetian Festival Lighted boat parade being canceled this year, this could be one of the biggest and best yet. You will see the celebrity judges cruising the river before it starts, looking for the best decorated homes. This is Boat Town's biggest event.

Boat Town USA offers some very nice cash prizes for the winners and runner-ups. It is an open-theme format and will be judged heavily toward the use of lights and music.

For information on how to enter, call Bob Zook at (586) 779-2090.

In last week's boating column, the date for the mighty raft attempt at breaking the world's record for the most boats rafted together at one time was the rain date, Aug. 14. The attempt, without rain, will be held in Muscamoot Bay on Saturday, Aug. 7.

This is a family event and there is no charge, but you must register for the record attempt. Any donations collected will benefit the SOS Channel Lights and Michigan Special Olympics. For more information go to: www.lakestclairraft.com.

If you're on vacation or retired, the weekdays are uncongested, giving boaters a chance to witness a sunrise/sunset or cruise smooth waters to that perfect spot.

Here are a few events coming up that will appeal to most.

Somewhat unusual is the Ween-Gushk Celebration on Walpole Island Saturday and Sunday. Everyone is invited to witness a Native American dance competition which includes adult, teen and junior categories.  more...

Dave Brooks remembers wandering along the Black River with his brothers while hawking Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race programs.

His father, Walter Brooks, who was in charge of producing the programs for the Port Huron Power Squadron, recruited the now-44-year-old Fort Gratiot resident to sell the booklets. His grandfather, Keith Brooks, produced the programs before that.

The squadron continued to produce the programs, a sort of unintentional Port Huron history book, until 1981. Dave Brooks, the squadron's historian, has programs dating back to 1954 in the club's archives.

"Glancing through, it's interesting to see the progress and the changes," Brooks said.    more...

CHARLEVOIX -- Ferryboat services to Beaver and Mackinac islands met thedeadline to adopt strict new antiterrorism procedures, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Maritime Transportation Security Act, which President George W. Bush signed in November 2002, gave operators of vessels carrying more than 150 passengers until Jan. 1 to submit security plans to the Coast Guard.

Once approved, the plans had to be enacted by July 1, said Lt. Mark Locklear, chief of vessel inspections for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Sault Ste. Marie.

The new security measures affect an estimated 9,500 vessels, 3,200 port and docking facilities and 40 offshore oil and natural gas rigs in the United States, according to the federal Department of Homeland Security.   more...

They'll be editors of their high school yearbooks in the fall, but this weekend, two Port Huron students are journalists for the Times Herald.

Jacki Corsetti, 17, and Bryce Martin, 16, are the winners of Join the Crew, an internship contest sponsored by the newspaper to find a teen photographer and reporter to help cover events during this week's Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race festivities.

Jacki will be a senior at Port Huron Northern High School in the fall, while Bryce will be a senior at Port Huron High School. They beat out seven other finalists in the semifinals to win the competition.    more...

Some tourism experts see money rolling in. Cash-strapped upstate localities should look at water resources as a way of boosting revenue, they say.

One way to do that is to expand one traditional coastline industry — charter boat fishing, said Dave White, a program coordinator with New York Sea Grant in Oswego County.   more...

In the future, the results of tests to determine if the water at Illinois beaches contains unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria may take 24 minutes instead of 24 hours to obtain.

Accurate, existing testing methods employed by park districts in Glencoe, Wilmette and Winnetka take a full day to incubate and show the presence of bacteria.

But that waiting period is essentially an Achilles heel because a swimmer may have been exposed to unsafe bacteria levels and not have known it. A Sunday beach closing means Saturday's E. coli levels were too high and everyone agrees that closing the beach a day later does little, if any good.   more...

Mayor Jane Campbell's plan to transform Cleveland's lakefront sprang a leak Wednesday.

City Council delayed voting on a lease arrangement with the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority that would allow the city to turn Dock 32, just north of Cleveland Browns Stadium, into public space.

Council was swayed by pleas from shipping companies and the longshoremen's union that Campbell's much-ballyhooed lakefront plan would hurt maritime industries.

Council President Frank Jackson said council will consider the leases next month, after shipping leaders meet with officials from the city and Port Authority to seek a compromise.    more...

Archaeologists and historians have been joined by residents of a small Ontario town near Lake Huron as they try to excavate a 200-year-old ship wreck.

Unless a generous benefactor or sponsor can be found soon, workers will have to dismantle the break wall and let the ship go back into the water.

"It's probably the oldest ship wreck ever discovered on the Great Lakes," said archaeologist Ken Cassavoy.

People had been using the beach in Southampton for years without knowing the historical site lay underneath.   more...

Mission Point Resort, on Mackinac Island, is ready to receive the greatest of the Great Lakes sailors. The popular resort serves as headquarters for the famed Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race, which begins this weekend. This is the 80th running of the colorful regatta, which commences in Port Huron and finishes at the top of Lake Huron in the Straits of Mackinac.

In partnership between the Detroit-Bayview Yacht Club and Mission Point Resort, Mission Point will be the Mackinac Island headquarters for the event, and host the race officials and media. The festive awards reception following the race will also be held at Mission Point Resort.

The waters of the Great Lakes have been home for the exciting annual Port Huron to Mackinac Race since 1925. The race features more then 270 yachts and 3,000 sailors. Sailors will take to the lake on Saturday July 17 near Port Huron - about 4.5 miles north of the Blue Water Bridge on the United States side of the shipping channel - and conclude near Mission Point Resort at the Southeast corner of Mackinac Island in the Straits of Mackinac on Northern Lake Huron.   more...

City Council approved Monday night a 10-year, $8.9 million tax-incentive package with Great Lakes Companies Inc., which is proposing an $80 million Great Wolf Lodge Family Resort with an indoor water park and conference center.

With that in place, the city will try to obtain a $350,000 incentive package from the state - bringing the total to $9.25 million. Plus, the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which gets a portion of the bed tax that's collected from hotel stays, is also looking at a deal to encourage the development.    more...

Hamburg, GERMANY, July 2004 – In 1492, C. Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and this year, Hapag-Lloyd’s namesake cruise ship, C.Columbus, will take more than 1,200 passengers on three special bilingual cruises along the world’s largest body of fresh water– the Great Lakes. Touching on four states as well as two Canadian provinces, a cruise on the Great Lakes offers a diverse itinerary including a trip through the St. Lawrence Waterway system, an engineering wonder that ranks with the Panama and Suez Canals.   more...

Other  

 Email to a Friend