Great Lakes adds more small cruise ships

ajc.com

Here’s some great news for lovers of the Great Lakes: Two small, high-end cruise ships — one new, the other newly refurbished — will make their debut next summer on the fresh-water waves of lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior.

“It’ll be a great summer,” said Chris Conlin, owner of the Great Lakes Cruise Co., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based travel agency that specializes in Great Lakes cruises. “We have lots of choices that we haven’t had before.”

Among the options:

The Clelia II, an all-suite ship with room for 100 passengers, will sail seven-day itineraries between Toronto and Duluth, Minn., starting in late June. Ports of call include Niagara Falls, Ontario (via the Welland Canal); Mackinac Island, Mich.; Houghton, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; and Thunder Bay, Ontario. All sailings will offer educational themes, with speakers and seminars on topics from the lakes’ geology to the War of 1812. A golf theme is scheduled for late August; CBS News journalist Bill Geist is the guest lecturer on the inaugural sailing.

The ship, built in 1990 for Renaissance Cruises (which went bankrupt in 2001), was most recently used as a private yacht. Travel Dynamics International, a small, high-end cruise company based in New York, purchased the ship early this year.

Seven-day itineraries start at $5,595 and up per person.

The Pearl Mist, the still-under-construction inaugural ship from new company Pearl Seas Cruises, will feature 108 suites, all with private balconies. The ship will sail one 10-night and one 11-night cruise between Toronto and Chicago in June and July. Ports of call include Windsor, Ontario; Mackinac Island, Mich.; and Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Prices start at $5,605 for the 10-night sailing. more

Island ice reveals wreck

The Bulletin

Beneath the amazingly transparent ice of the skating rink on the lagoon toward the west end of Algonquin Island lie eternally entombed (except during spring, summer, and autumn of course!) the shivered timbers of one of the more unlikely marine residents of the Islands – the Baltic Belle.

As the story emerges from the delightful Island archives kept at 5 Ojibway Avenue by Albert the Archivist and his charming wife Emily, she was built in 1917 in Sweden as an ordinary, very seaworthy, two-masted, double-ended North Sea trawler, the Themus. Sometime just before World War II, she found her way into Finnish ownership, and in 1950 was acquired by a motley crew of young Estonian and Latvian exiles, including a young nurse who is seen in one picture which the Archivist’s source has seen, but does not possess, posing nude under the bowsprit as the figurehead. The group set sail for the New World, all the way across and down the Atlantic, around Cape Horn, to Valparaiso, Chile, where they settled. It must have been epic, there were still shark hooks in the manifest in 1958.

Around 1955-56, the captain took Themus out of Valparaiso, up through the Panama Canal, across the Gulf of Mexico, and into the Great Lakes, whence he and she eventually fetched up in the Toronto Islands lagoon where she is to this day. The captain of one of the Island ferries then acquired her, renaming her Baltic Belle, and in 1957 or 1958, reselling her to Ron and Alida Turner of Ward’s Island. She was at the time filthy, still loaded with bits of her original equipment including Nazi-era Kriegsmarine charts, but sound as a belle. Mr Turner undertook to restore her as an adventure craft. more

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Awards $250 Million Contract to SAIC

The Wall Street Journal

Company to Deliver Hydrographic Marine Surveying Services to Help Update Nautical Charts Used in Commercial Shipping

Science Applications International Corporation (SAI) today announced it has been awarded a contract by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Coast Survey (OCS) to provide hydrographic surveying services to support NOAA's nautical charting mission. The multiple-award, indefinite- delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a five-year period of performance and a ceiling value of $250 million for all awardees. Work will be performed as required in the navigable waters of Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, and other navigable waters of the U.S., including the east coast, Pacific, the Great Lakes and U.S. territories.

OCS provides navigational services and products to help ensure safe and efficient maritime commerce in and out of U.S. ports. Under this contract, SAIC will collect, process, analyze and report sonar, tidal, water level and other hydrographic survey data to be used in updating nautical charts and related tasks, such as mapping of debris on the ocean floor.

"SAIC has provided a broad range of coastal hydrographic survey services to NOAA since 1994 and we look forward to continuing this long-term working relationship," said John Fratamico, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager. "We are proud to be part of a program that helps ensure the safety of navigation for commercial shipping." more

Small Harbors Coalition wants money for dredging

The Bay City Times

While Wall Street is looking for a bailout, small harbors in Michigan are looking for a dig out.

Members of the Michigan Small Harbors Coalition met this week at the Doubletree hotel and conference center in downtown Bay City to discuss their own financial crisis: A lack of designated federal funding to improve decades-old infrastructure and clear silt from shallow harbors in the Great Lakes.

About 70 people attended, most from Michigan, adding a couple of signatures to a resolution now signed by 38 communities and four statewide organizations. The list includes Harrisville, East Tawas, Au Gres, Sebewaing, Caseville and Port Austin.

The problem is that dredging and infrastructure improvements made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are funded by earmarks, rather than an annual appropriation, said Chuck May, chair pro tem of the coalition.

Earmarks have been assailed as pork in this year's presidential campaign. May begs to differ.

"So many of our channels were put in 100 years ago and basically so many of them haven't had any attention since then," May said.

The coalition wants to see a budgeted line item for improvements and dredging in federally authorized harbors.

"The communities that these ports anchor include millions of people ... we're talking about people who deserve better than they're getting," said May, who lives on Portage Lake near Manistee. more

States sue EPA over water releases from ships

AP

Nine states sued the Bush administration Thursday over federal rules on water dumped from ships, claiming there is an illegal loophole that could hurt fisheries and contaminate drinking water.

The states contend that an administrative ruling could allow the transfer of polluted or contaminated water by ship from one body of water to another where it would do harm. For example, they claim salt water from the ocean could be dumped in the Great Lakes under the June federal decision.

Suing the EPA are New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington and the Canadian province of Manitoba. At issue is regulation of water discharges from ballast and other sources on vessels large and small.

State officials said that if the federal action is allowed to stand, ships and boats could carry sediment-laden water into clear drinking water reservoirs, water containing chemicals could foul sources for farm irrigation and warm water could be pumped into cold-water habitats, threatening trout. The states' action also targets invasive species contained in ballast that could destroy lakes and rivers.

Benjamin Grumbles, EPA assistant administrator for water, said Thursday that agency officials had yet to see a copy of the challenge. more

Tim Healy Wins 2008 J/24 North American Championship

Tim Healy won a closely fought 30th
Anniversary J24 North American Championship on Lake Minnetonka
sponsored by SMUCKER'S Uncrustables. John Mollicone finished second
with local sailor Chad Olness in third. Racing occurred in a wide
range of conditions with big shifts being the constant. This was the
30th Anniversary of the J24 fleet, returning to Fleet #1 on Lake
Minnetonka in Minnesota at the Wayzata Yacht Club.

The District Championship "U-Gotta Regatta" served as the North
American's pre-regatta on the Saturday and Sunday preceding the North
American's. Several teams took advantage of the two extra days of
sailing to maximize their sailing time and enjoy the hospitality of
Wayzata, which Sailing World magazine recently ranked as one of the
nation's top sailing communities. Farkas Litkey won the "farthest
traveled" award hands down with his entire team traveling from
Budapest, Hungary. They also managed a third in the U-Gotta Regatta.
Longtime class veteran Rolf Turnquist was second and Tim Healy won in
a precursor to the North American's event.

Unfortunately, after the U-Gotta Regatta several teams from the well
represented Texas contingent sent members home to prepare for
Hurricane Ike. After some scrambling, local sailors were able to fill
the empty slots and all boats were able to race the NA's.

DAY 1

Race Committee duty was not a fun job to have as racers moved onto the
lake. Everyone was greeted with a light and shifty breeze that was
just enough wind to sail but not enough to conduct a decent race.
Fortunately P.R.O. Blake Middleton made the tough decision and held
his ground against the antsy racers while keeping everyone drifting
around until after lunch.

Finally, the wind improved and the 2008 North American's began in
earnest. Two races were completed in the afternoon with Will Welles
showing strong results of a 3-1 in the 33 boat fleet. John Mollicone
(1-8) and Bill Fatiggi (8-2) finished 2nd and 3rd for the day. These
light air conditions could have favored the local racers, but Chad
Olness was the only local boat to break the top five for the day with
matching 5-5's.

The first mark rounding of race one was picture perfect. Fleet #1
founding boat #007 gave everything her 30 year old hull could manage
and rounded the first mark in first place with Sean Delaney at the
helm. Just behind was #007's original owner Rolf Turnquist and Fleet
#1's founding Fleet Captain John Gjerde sailing their current boat
#3577. You can't make this stuff up and the spectator fleet horns were
predictably deafening as the boats rounded the first weathermark
overlapped.

Turnquist once again had Olympic Gold Medalist Bill Allen helming for
him this week. Allen and Turnquist have been friends since high school
and sailed together in J24 #007 when they placed second at the 1977
MORC Nationals.

DAY 2

A perfect day to race with steel gray skies and 10-12 knot winds
allowed the fleet to get in three races on day two. There was just
enough wind for a few boats shy on crew weight to try blades, but
genoas were the rule of the day. Big shifts also ruled the day placing
course management tactics at a premium. The big wind shifts could
reward just as much as they could punish. John Molicone started off
race 5 with an OCS, but managed to pick his way through the fleet for
a 5th place finish. Tim Healy also had the shifts figured out and came
home with a 1-1-2 for the day placing him first overall going into the
evening festivities.

DAY 3

The steel gray skies of day two turned to rain for Day 3 with a medium
breeze in the teens helping to keep everyone busy and hopefully warm.
Again, the south winds of Lake Minnetonka brought wind shifts that
could punish as easily a reward. Along with the wind shifts came
regular velocity changes calling for plenty of string pulling to keep
the speed up. Tim Healy slyly referred to the day's conditions as
"super variable".

John Mollicone was the star of the day with a 2-1 moving him into
second overall and putting him in striking distance of an upset in the
final race on Day 4. Tim Healy locked in his qualification for the
2009 Worlds since he could finish no worse than 2nd overall going into
day 4.

DAY 4

Day four was a brutal day for the race committee and competitors alike
as the wind teased everyone before going on vacation. The early
morning breeze was shifty causing several delays and restarts. Finally
the racing got under way 30 minutes after it's scheduled start, but
instead of settling down the shifty breezes had simply been a
precursor to no breeze. A sunny section of sky would blow by and the
thermals picked the wind up off the water, a cloudy section would blow
by and let a few wisps of wind push the boats along in a seemingly
random order.

Predictably the top boats somehow managed to make it to the front of
the fleet with Bob Harden earning his win in a horizon job fashion.
Behind in another group on the horizon Chad Olness and Dave Breitner
took advantage of their local knowledge to secure second and third
after battling much of the long day overlapped at several mark
roundings. Olness' move from 5th up to 3rd on day 4 qualifies him for
the final slot at the J24 Worlds.

The real drama was occurring in the back of the fleet where Tim Healy
was left behind watching John Mollicone take off with hopes of a first
place finish that could propel him to an event win. Fortunately, at
least for Healy, Mollicone also drifted deep into the fleet with both
boats taking respective 18 and 9 drops for the day.

This is Healy's second North American Championship. Qualifiers for the
J24 Worlds at this regatta included Healy, Mollicone, and Olness.

Complete final results are available at
http://www.j24northamericans.com/pages/day4.html