Boating & Sailing

Posted by Alan Sorum

The U.S. Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis issued a marine safety alert on 9 May 2008. The Agency is advising vessel owners to inspect the watertight integrity and placement of high water alarms on their boats.

This alert was prompted by information developed in the investigation of the Alaska Ranger sinking of 28 March 2008 that saw the deaths of five mariners. Coast Guard investigations have identified similar issues in relation to other sinking incidents.

The recommendation is that owners or operators establish an inspection program that ensures all watertight decks, bulkheads and doors are functioning properly. Failure of a watertight door can lead to progressive flooding of a vessel after an accident has occurred. The Coast Guard also believes crewmembers should familiar with the location of watertight doors and understand how to operate them.

Along with the inspection of watertight doors, the Agency would like vessel owners or operators the ensure high water bilge alarms are located as to provide the earliest warning to crew as possible. Alarms should be set low to the deck or bilge space at a central position.

The safety alert further urged vessel owners and operators to ensure high-level bilge alarms are arranged to provide the earliest warnings of the abnormal accumulation of water. These alarms should be set as low as possible to the deck or bilge-well along the center-most area of the bilge.

A complete copy of this marine safety alert is available online.

Posted by Alan Sorum

Problems related to use of ethanol blended gasoline have been highlighted here in the Boating and Sailing Section of Suite101. Now the law firm of Kabateck Brown Kellner, a business known for tackling consumer related issues, is suing a number of major oil industry companies for the damage caused to fiberglass fuel tank from ethanol blended fuel.

Ethanol has been linked to problems with fiberglass fuel tanks, phase separation of water in tanks, damage to fuel system components, and engine failures. ExxonMobil, Chevron, British Petroleum, Shell, Valero, Tesoro, ConocoPhillips, Tower Energy, PetroDiamond, and Big West are among the companies that manufactured and sold ethanol to boaters named in the law suit.

In a press release, Managing Partner Brian Kabateck says, "The price of gas is bad enough, but selling gasoline that dissolves gas tanks is a new low even for the oil companies. The oil companies know this fuel is corrosive, but they're keeping consumers in the dark to pump up their profits. The cost to the consumer is thousands of dollars in repairs." The law firm points out that ExxonMobil recorded a profit of $40.6 billion and Chevron $18.7 billion in 2007.

Ethyl alcohol has become a popular additive to gasoline. Oil companies used MTBE or methyl tert-butyl ether to boost octane and oxygenate fuel, but MTBE has been linked extensive groundwater contamination problems throughout the country. Boaters found out that adding ethanol blended gasoline to fuel tanks containing fuel blended with MTBE created problems. The ethyl alcohol used in ethanol is a powerful solvent and dissolved the resins used in some fiberglass fuel tanks.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California in Los Angeles. Kabateck Brown Kellner are seeking to represent all boat owners that filled their fiberglass fuel tanks with ethanol from a California retailer.

Posted by Alan Sorum

A new entry in environmentally friendly boat maintenance is the SodaBlast Systems boat hull cleaning method to remove bottom paint and marine growth without harming fiberglass gelcoats.

The SodaBlast Mobile Unit uses a blasting media made of non-toxic sodium bicarbonate or baking soda to strip and prepare boat hulls. The blast media is driven by air and is non-destructive to hull materials. The system is used to initially strip paint and marine growth. It can also be used to open blisters in fiberglass gelcoat and prepare them for repair. The manufacturer claims the process takes a tenth of the time required by conventional methods.

The equipment package is self-contained and is skid or trailer mounted. Storage tanks hold enough blast media for four hours of operation. A heavy-duty moisture separator is included to ensure uninterrupted use of the equipment.

While bottom paint removed from a vessel still needs to be properly handled and diposed of safely, this hull preparation system looks promising. More information is available from SodaBlast Systems webpage.

Posted by Alan Sorum

Recognized as Broward County's largest environmental effort, the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF) sponsors this annual event that will occur on Saturday, March 8 this year. During the 2007 event, more than 3,000 volunteers picked up some 67 tons of trash and marine derbis. Five new areas have been added this year pushing the total effort to 36 designated cleanup sites located within in the County.

Announcing the event, MIASF Director of Association Services Gordon Connell says, “We are excited to preserve and protect more of South Florida’s waterways by adding five locations to the list of cleanup sites for this year’s Waterway Cleanup. We believe this will allow us to spread the message of clean boating and environmental responsibility to a larger contingent of the community as well as help continue to increase the level of participation in the event."

Waterway Cleanup is just one example of ways boaters can contribute to clean boating. For information on participating in this year's event, see the Waterway Cleanup website.

Posted by Alan Sorum

In a statement issued on 8 February 2008, Department of Homeland Security Press Security Laura Keehner announced that DHS will implement an upgrade of the existing Loran navigation system to provide independent positioning, timing, and navigation information to complement the Global Positioning System (GPS). The new eLoran system will mitigate negative effects of a GPS outage and provide backup information to mariners and aviators. The system can be used in non-precision instrument approaches by aircraft, harbor approach procedures by mariners, and for mobile land navigation.

Loran-C historically delivered navigational accuracy down to 460 meters. Many have wondered about the fate of the existing Loran-C system and thought it was irrelevant with the adoption of GPS. Modernization of current Loran infrastructure will insure a stable future of the navigation system. Loran signals can often penetrate to receivers in topographical environments and terrain were GPS cannot function. Loran signals are less likely to be jammed or subject to interference. Receivers capable of using eLoran signals should be relatively inexpensive and could also be incorporated or co-located in GPS navigation receivers.

The U. S. Coast Guard has established an eLoran working group to establish augmentation of the new navigation technology.

Posted by Alan Sorum

US Sailing and Rolex Watch USA announced today that the 2007 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year have been selected. Members of US Sailing nominated candidates for the awards and a judging panel made up of sailing journalists evaluated them. Award winners will be honored and presented with an engraved Rolex watch at a special luncheon to be held at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan on 29 February 2009.



Jeff Linton - Rolex Yachtsman of the Year. Serving as helmsman in the Lightning class, Jeff and his team in 2007 won the Lightning World Championship in Athens, Greece, the Lightning Winter Championship in St. Petersburg, Florida, the South American Championship held in Bogota, Columbia, and the Florida District Championship. Linton also won in two other one-design events, the Flying Scot North American Championship and the Classic Moth National Championship.



Sally Barkow - Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. This is Barkow's second appearance as the top woman racer, she won the award in 2005 and has been a finalist for the last six years. Sally had a significant racing year winning the Rolex Miami OCR and Princess Sofia Trophy in the Yngling class, and in match racing to win the Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis and the Vitória Brasil Women’s Cup in Brazil. Barkow capped the year winning the US Sailing Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship (IWKC)

Posted by Alan Sorum

Wild Oats XI, a 98-foot super-maxi yacht owned by Bob Oatley, took line honors in the 2007 edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with Mark Richards at the helm. Wild Oats XI crossed the finish mark at 1024 local time in Hobart on 28 December 2007 making this the third win in a row for Oatley and his yacht. Elapsed time over the course was 1 day, 21 hours, and 24 minutes making the finish only three hours off the record time recorded by the Wild Oats XI in 2005. Mark Richards has skipped the yacht in all three victories. The last yacht to finish first three years in a row at Hobart was Morna owned by Claude Plowman in 1946 through 1948. The winning elapsed race time in 1948 was 4 days 5 hours and 1 minute in comparison.

The second place vessel was City Index Leopard, skippered by Mike Slade, which finished 27 minutes after Wild Oats XI's finish. City Index Leopard came within four miles of the Wild Oats XI, the pre-race favorite at the finish. Competitors reached speeds of 22 knots during the early hours of the race. Light winds experienced later in Bass Strait kept the yachts off a potential record pace.

Posted by Alan Sorum

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Mark V. Rosenker spoke with members of the Marine Retailers Association of America (MRAA) at their annual conference held in Las Vegas this week concerning changes by the marine industry and state governments to improve boating safety. Rosenker's message is that progress is being made to improve boating safety, but much more work is required reduce boating fatalities and accidents.

Personal Flotation Devices (PFD) - The focus of the Chairman's remarks was on improving the use of PFDs. The use of personal flotation devices has long been a priority of the NTSB and that mandatory wear of PFDs by children is a must. All of the state should undertake efforts to increase and enhance the use of lifejackets.

NTSB 2008 Most Wanted Safety Improvements List - State recreational boating safety was retained on the NTSB's 2008 Most Wanted Safety Improvements List. Specific recommendations to the states include lifejacket wear by children, boating safety education and operator licensing. Improvements in PFD wear can be tied to better boating safety education and Rosenker stressed the Agency's goal of encouraging new boating safety initiatives in six states, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Utah, North Carolina and Minnesota.

Speaking to the MRAA members, Rosenker recognized their support of boating safety, "For more than two and one half decades the National Transportation Safety Board has been pleased to work with the MRAA in advancing recreational boating safety on our Nation's waterways." He later encouraged the audience to "further improve boating safety for the rest of 2007 and into the new year 2008, so that we together can further reduce recreational boating fatalities, injuries, and accidents."

Chairman Rosenker's speech may be read at the NTSB website.

Posted by Alan Sorum

The Virginia Clean Marina Program managed by the Virginia Sea Grant College Program, part of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, has a new home on the web. This new website provides both marina operators and boaters with the most current and appropriate information available on operating marine facilities and vessels responsibility. Clean boating and control of marine debris are increasingly important concerns for boaters.

Links are provided to a number of regulatory and clean boating sites of interest to responsible operators.

Complete information is provided for marina operators interested in becoming certified as clean marinas under the Virginia program. The site does a good job of demonstrating the benefits of operating a clean marina and is a great resource for other states interested in adopting a similar program.

Marinas that participate in the Virginia Clean Marina Program are given recognition at the new website and users are provided with directions on how to locate a participating facility. Downloads are available to boaters on the best practices for dealing with sewage, petroleum, solid wastes, and vessel sewage.

Visit the Virginia Clean Marina Program site for further details.

Posted by Alan Sorum

The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program offers divers a unique opportunity to directly observe diverse marine ecosystems found throughout the United States. Ten of the thirteen national sites are considered by NOAA to be diver friendly and the Agency has recently released a printed diving guide and website meant to introduce divers to these opportunities.

NOAA offers tips on how to be a smart diver. Mastering buoyancy control, streamlining equipment, remaining below the canopy of kelp forests, respecting marine mammals and removing marine debris are offered as smart diving hints.

In a recent press release, Sanctuary Program Director Daniel Basta stated, “NOAA’s national marine sanctuaries have something to offer every diver, from the most experienced to the newly certified. We hope that all divers visiting our sanctuaries will want to join efforts to help preserve and protect these special places for future generations.”

Visit the NOAA Sanctuary Program website for more information and links to download the new sanctuary diving guide.