Seattle's Lake Union Seaplane Operating Area

Many years ago my wife and I took a ride over Seattle's Lake Union in a friend's open cockpit bi-plane, an authentic  replica of that flown in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It was a fun adventure, complete with leather helmet, big goggles, and flowing white scarf. As we started our landing approach on the lake I wondered just how Jim would find a clear piece of water. It was simple. From our 3-dimensional advantage there was lots of space, and we landed and taxied to the wharf with no difficulties. 

But times have now changed. Earlier this Summer, at Kenmore Air's request, a landing zone was established on the lake. This rectangle, 2300’ long and 200’ wide, is located in the mid- to southern area of the lake. It's marked by eight buoys and six floating signs. It has been needed usually 2:00 PM Friday to 7:00 PM Sunday. You can see this charted on the  USCG Local Notice to Mariners, Week 32/14 (You'll need to scroll way down to  Enclosure 7) 

Actually, this is not something really new. Provision for such has been part of the Seattle City code for years, but never really needed, until now.

Talking recently with John Gowey, Director of Operations for Kenmore Air Seaplanes, John explained that this is really a safety issue. While, for the most part the floatplane pilots have little problem with the commercial and recreational power and sail vessels, it is the greatly increased number of kayaks and paddle-boards now on the lake that present the issue. They move slowly and sometimes quite randomly, making it hard for pilots to judge a clear landing space.

Now that the Summer is drawing to a close, John has asked the USCG and City to discontinue the zone after this coming weekend, September 20-21, with the probability of reinstating it again next year. A hoped for improvement would be to have strobe lights on the buoys that can be activated by a pilot landing or taking off.

Not only does this all apply to the commercial float planes, such as Kenmore Air and Seattle Seaplanes, but also for private and itinerant planes, many of whom have to land on Lake Union to access Seattle's only US Customs Inspection station, at the seaplane base at the southwest end of Lake Union.

In the air and on the water, be safe!

The Incredible Navigation Powers of Birds!

And some of us get lost simply cruising the Salish Sea?

An excerpt from The Thing With Feathers by Noah Strycker, as posted by today's DelancyPlace:

"Just before World War II, a Welsh ornithologist, Ronald Lockley, captured two Manx shearwaters, a type of streamlined seabird, on Wales's Skokholm Island, and flew with them by airplane to Venice to try an experiment. On arrival, Lockley walked to the nearest Italian beach and released his two birds. He wondered whether he'd ever see them again.

"Fourteen days later, one of them turned up back in its burrow on Skokholm Island, not long after Lockley himself had returned to his home there. He was shocked. The black-and-white, football-sized seabird had traveled more than 930 miles, averaging at least 65 miles per day over mountainous terrain entirely unfamiliar to its kind. Manx shearwaters of this subspecies spend nearly their entire lives at sea, dine exclusively on fish and other marine creatures, and don't normally inhabit the Mediterranean region at all; they reach land only to nest on rugged islands like Skokholm along the fringes of the wild northern Atlantic. A water route from Venice to Skokholm would have required a circuitous 3,700-mile passage southeast around the tip of Italy, westward past Spain and through the Strait of Gibraltar, and northward past Portugal and France, but this bird had apparently taken a more direct flight. Upon release, instead of heading for the open Mediterranean, it oriented in the opposite direction and disappeared inland, toward the Italian Alps -- and, eventually, arrived home in Wales. Just as though it had a map and a compass. ...

"After the Venice test, he looked for an opportunity to send one even farther afield. A couple of birds packed by steamship to America did not survive the trip in good enough health to return, but when the American clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo visited Skokholm after the war ended, Lockley seized another chance. He convinced his friend to bring two shearwaters home on the plane, to be released in Boston. 

"Mazzeo's own journey began with an overnight sleeper train from Wales to London. His little carton containing the pair of shearwaters, he later reported, 'caused no little wonder and merriment to the people in the adjoining rooms, who could not understand the origin of the mewing and cackling sounds which came from my room in the late evening.' The next morning he took a long flight to the United States with the birds tucked under his seat -- a trip that would be nearly impossible in today's security age. Only one survived. Mazzeo was met by an airline employee, who escorted him in an official truck to the easternmost edge of Logan International Airport, where they carefully opened the carton and watched its remaining occupant stretch its wings, flutter into the air, and glide away toward Boston Harbor. When the shearwater reached the shore, it abruptly turned east and knifed toward the open Atlantic, where 3,200 miles of ocean separated it from home.

"Twelve days, twelve hours, and thirty-one minutes later, Lockley found the shearwater, number AX6587, back in its burrow on Skokholm Island. The seabird had averaged 250 miles per day over the trackless Atlantic for nearly two weeks straight. Mazzeo received a triumphant telegram addressed to Symphony Hall in Boston but didn't get the full story until Lockley worked out the details. When the bird showed up at Skokholm so soon, Lockley was convinced that something had gone wrong; he figured Mazzeo had preemptively freed his shearwater in London. In fact, the friendly clarinetist had mailed a letter from Boston immediately after releasing his charge, but the bird outpaced even the postal service. Only when Mazzeo's letter arrived in Wales, a day after the shearwater, did Lockley realize the incredible trip the bird had taken from America back to its nest in Europe. ...

"To be able to find their way home from an unfamiliar place, birds must carry a figurative map and compass in their brains. The map tells them where they are, and the compass tells them which direction to fly, even when they are released with no frame of reference to their loft.

"Researchers have gone to great lengths to confirm that pigeons don't merely memorize their outward trip. In one experiment, birds were transported in sealed containers filled with purified air, mounted on tilting turntables between coils that varied the magnetic field, and exposed to loud noises and flashes of light, so that, unlike a blindfolded person in the backseat of a taxi who might remember the twists and turns of the journey, they had no external cues. In another study, pigeons were anesthetized and unconscious during the outward trip. They still made it home, proving the existence of an intrinsic map and compass system."

The Bremerton Wood Boat Show

Here's a great opportunity for boat lovers, especially admirers of wood boats, to view some wonderful classics. And for those living on the Kitsap Peninsula, this is in your back yard (or your back harbor, if you will), for the Bremerton Wood Boat Show takes place next week Friday through Sunday, August 15th - 17th at the Bremerton Marina. The show is sponsored by the Pacific Northwest and Canadian fleets of the Classic Yacht Association.

It's a not to miss opportunity to see, and come aboard, great classic workmanship and beautiful restorations.

A disclosure, Mike (editor of this blog) and June Jackson are new members of the Classic Yacht Association. They are the steward/owners of Gem, a 26' Stimpson Dream Boat built in 1932.

New Rules for Big Older Vessels

If you're a classic boat aficionado with a boat built in 1974, or earlier, and your classic measures over 65 feet in length, then you had better pay attention to a new law, House Bill 2457, which took effect last month.

These new rules, initiated by the state Department of Natural Resources, and probably well supported by the U.S. Coast Guard, are a response to the issue of derelict vessels. According to the state's Derelict Vessel Removal Program figures published earlier this month in the Kitsap Sun, about $8.3 million has been spent removing hundreds of abandoned boats since 2003, with less than 1 percent of that cost being recovered from those boat owners.

So what's new? First of all, when you sell your boat your buyer will need to show proof of purchasing at least $300,000 in insurance coverage on the vessel. However, you are allowed to sell to a buyer who does not have this insurance, but beware. If, down the track your buyer didn't buy any coverage, or you didn't check (or can't prove checking) and your former boat becomes abandoned, a derelict or a "public hazard", then you, as well as your buyer, have a serious liability problem.

$300,000 coverage is not an unusual amount with most marine insurance policies, but simply getting any coverage is a challenge, especially with wooden boats, which leads to the second concern, the seaworthiness of the boat you hope to sell.

When you sell your big old boat, you need to provide your buyer with a marine survey report detailing the condition of the boat as well as it's estimated value. This could also be a U.S. Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection. If the report finds that the vessel is not seaworthy and that the anticipated cost of repairing is more than the value of  your boat, then your only option is to sell for scrap or else to a professional for restoring her.

Interestingly, existing owners are not, under the law, required to have insurance. However, your marina is required not only to be fully covered itself, but also to ensure that your vessel (unless you're only a guest) is properly insured. Most marinas are well on top of this, and have been for some years. I only know of one, in the Olympia area, where as recently as last October did not require tenants to prove that they had marine insurance.

While no doubt there are many commercial vessels that fall into this category, there are not so many recreational or private ones; the Classic Yacht Association's Pacific NW Fleet counts less than twenty on its roster. 

All in all this is good legislation, and prudent boat owners will see the necessity for it. If you're a boat owner in this category, or a marina operator, it would be well worth your while to check out the actual House Bill 2457.

Kitsap Sun photo is of the century-old tugboat Chickamauga which sank in Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island, October 2013. The vessel was not insured and with the state spending $55,000 to raise and remove her, and an unknown cost for clean up by the USCG for leakage and pollution.

Edmond's Waterfront Festival

Don't miss this great annual event, the Edmond's Waterfront Festival which runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 30th, 31st, and June 1st at the Port of Edmond's marina.

The festival hours are:

Friday, 3:00 - 10:00 PM

Saturday, 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Sunday, 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM

The Port has again invited the Pacific Northwest Fleet of the Classic Yacht Association to be their guest at the festival, and many of these classic vessels will be moored at the guest docks, just in front of Anthony's Home Port restaurant. The MV GEM, our 1932 26' Stimson Dreamboat, will be making her début appearance!

The CYA vessels will be available for boarding on Saturday and Sunday, the 31st and 1st.

Sponsored by the Edmond's Rotary Club, the event includes performers, rides, arts and crafts, as well as many vendors. Admission to these events is $3, with children 12 and under free. The proceeds go to support programs and services in South Snohomish and North King County areas.

Don't miss this fun and eye-candy event! See you at the Festival. See you aboard.

Mother's Day, Revisited

Sometime during the late 50's ors early 60's, my Canadian born mother, then living in California, applied for US citizenship. All went smoothly and she was well on her way until it came time to actually take the oath. As she heard it read, she balked, for the oath contained a clause that one would bear arms in defence of the country. Being a pacifist, she would go not further, and her citizenship efforts came to a halt. It was a few years later when this clause was removed, that the same judge contacted her, told her of the change,  offered to administer the oath of citizenship, and she became a citizen of the United States of America. 

The origin of Mother's Day actually started after the Civil War by women who had lost their sons in that war and as a protest of the carnage of war. In 1870 a Boston poet and suffragette, Julia Ward Howe, published a proclamation:

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking of carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us  to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom on a devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held in some place deemed more convent and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

This year, May 11th, 2014, marks the 100th anniversary of the official national designation of Mother's Day. So send your mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and mother-friends some love, and remember how all this started.

Although she died in 1983 at the age of 75,  I still remember my courageous mother, Ivy Christine Jackson!

Picture above of my parents is

 by a street photographer

in San Francisco, c. 1943

Velkommen Til The Port of Poulsbo

Cruise west across Puget Sound, through Port Madison and Agate Passage, or from the south up Port  Orchard, past the US Navy's underwater test facility (be sure to go very slow passing!), missing the tall concrete piling, you'll now be in Dog Fish Bay, known now as Liberty Bay. A cruise worth making!

Liberty Bay is a quiet, tranquil bay with three marinas. The first you come to is the Liberty Bay Marina, a private marina which is simply a wonderful, friendly and very well managed and maintained facility, one of the best I've seen anywhere on Puget Sound. We moored there for a few years until we sold our Richardson this past Fall.

Next in is the Poulsbo Yacht Club marina, and then comes the Port of Poulsbo and there it is, the City of Poulsbo. For many the port is the front porch (gangway?) to the City of Poulsbo. Lots of well kept guest docks, although 40' is their maximum slip size which means you have to stern-in if you're 47' as we were. Of course, with luck, you might snag an end tie at one of the two guest docks. The port recently lost a special election to expand the size of the its district to include areas of Liberty Bay beyond just the city limits, a move that would have increased the Port's taxing base. While there was opposition, strong outside the city limits, I can't help but think such an increase would actually have  benefited the whole area.

Those of us who live on the north end of Kitsap County are justly proud of our marinas, the Port of Kingston (subject of another posting) being another one. Poulsbo, with its authentic Scandinavian-with-a-maritime DNA is delightful. We've come to know many in the area: Hal and Helen Hoover, retired educators and much, much more, who have stories galore of the area; Jim Metteer, master boatwright and boat builder (whose workshop is a boater's dream), and Leigh Metteer, artist extraordinaire and organizer of the annual Arts in the Woods tour; to name but a few.

Sounding like a chamber of commerce pitch? Well, we simply like the place and thought it worth touting. Central Market, Sluy's Bakery, the many shops along Viking Ave, JJ's Fish House, all make it well worth a visit. So . . . . 

Velkommen til Poulsbo!

To get on the Port's mailing list email manager@portofpoulsbo.com

Olympics Games XXII Are Over

The XXII Olympic Games are now over, but certainly not history to the many athletes who competed in Sochi. Memories will go on for years and years.

For this blogger, it was distressing that results were counted by national accomplishments, as though the athletes were somehow cyphers adding to a country's accomplishments . . . that an athlete was not honored just because they won a gold, or a silver, or a bronze, or even didn't win a think but still bravely competed . . . that NBC chose to politicalize the games almost constantly commenting on the host country and Russia's president (thank you. Bob Costas).

Speaking of NBC . . . Meredith Vieira's and Matt Lauer's commentary was weak, even banal . . . admitting to not knowing who the Woirld Wide Web (www.) inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was . . . describing Madagascar as a country associated with a few animated movies . . . introducing Australia as a former penal colony . . . Costas' joking about a former despotic dictator, Idi Amin, to describe Uganda. Perhaps NBC's long-time sweetheart relationship with the US Olympic Committee needs revisiting?

But back to the games. Granted, some teams had to be identified as US, or Russian, or Dutch, or Swedish - - they were teams, but still made up of individual - team athletes. A disclaimer here, as one who has duel citizenship, it was nice to watch Canada win hockey! Athletes from more countries ever before won medals, broadning the games range.

But when a luge comes down the run as a medal winner, the announcer's cheer that "And the US wins another silver"; no, Matthew Antione won the silver! Let's get our values straight.

A week ago a friend emailed me, "We all would like to see Canada bring home gold, but that is not the main thing - it is the work that these athletes have put in to make it to this elite level and the way they conduct themselves, win or not win. There are no losers in the Olympic Games." 

Now the Sochi Olympics are history are history. They are in our memory. They were great. They were cool. They were hot.

And they belong to the athletes, those who won and those who did not win, alike!

Pollution ?

 

Come on now . . . .

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) being asked to make "Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Lake Union, and the Lake Washington Ship Canal 'no discharge zones', or areas where it is illegal to dump any sewage from boats of any size"? (Seattle Times, February 20, 2014)

Granted, there is a serious environmental issue with pollution of the waters in which many of us cruise, a lot of it from industrial and urban discharge. Yet a reading of this news item, as well as news coverage by KING-TV5 the day before, somehow suggests that pleasure boaters may be cavalierly dumping raw sewage a lot of the time.

Seem to me that the USCG already is pretty strict about marine toilets being set so as not to discharge overboard (that famous "Y - valve"). It's one of their "must see" items when doing a boarding inspection! Ditto the USCG Auxiliary free courtesy inspections. And what surveyor misses this with when crawling about our boats? Many marinas also check this - - I've had to explain my Lectrasan Type I MSD connected to an aft toilet. Plus, in many years of cruising the Salish Sea I've only encountered probably once or twice someone discharging raw sewage. In my own boating instruction program, I have a whole section devoted to Pollution Control, and I'm sure other instructors do, too.

I suppose that legally we're only restricted within two miles of the shoreline (remember, all the waters named in the Times article are "international", not "inland" waters). However, there are very few places  in Puget Sound where there is "open water", i.e more than two miles off any shoreline. OK, I could probably discharge midway between Edmonds and Kingston - - I've got a bit less than a nautical mile there.

I'm all in favor of the many agencies pushing for a a "no discharge zone". Pollution in the Sound is bad, And it gets more critical as development increases. As the stickers on the storm drains, some many miles from the Sound say, "Puget Sound starts here".

But please don't suggest that we boaters are the bad girls and guys, even if you're reporting on a critical concern that we, too, share.

The Annotated Two Years Before the Mast

Rod Scher has done it again, this time with his brilliant annotation of Richard Henry Dana's classic, Two Years Before the Mast. Scher earlier had annotated another classic, Captain Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World. Besides helping the reader make sense of many nautical terms - - some peculiar to the day and quite unknown even to today's sailor, both annotations include frequent "In the News" sidebars linking the story with news events of the day.

Reading TYBM reopened young Dana'a travel narrative for me and Scher follows his tale with critiques, compliments, tie-ins with today, and little known facts (at least to me) about the book and the milieu of Dana's time.

With the annotated version of Two Years Beafore the Mast, as well as the earlier Sailing Alone Around the World, Scher has done a remarkable job, making both stories come alive once again. As author Patricia Wood reviewed, these both are tales of "true adventure, humor and pathos that (have) given life once more by Scher's deft handling of the material."

So, get a your copy of TYBM from Amazon.com by simply clicking on the ad to the left of this posting, just above "My Blog Lists", or truck down to your closest Barnes and Noble. And why not get both classics while you're at it? There's a Slocum ad to the left, as well. Good reads as you ply the Salish Sea, or wish that you were.

In the interests of full disclosure, you'll find me listed in the acknowledgements as well as on the back cover reviews of both books, for which I don't get a single penny except for the author's undying gratitude and promises of a somewhat better life, at least I think that's what he said; cell connections from Lincoln NE being fuzzy at times.

And The Lakes Will Go Up 2 Feet

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials will begin Lake Washington's annual summer refill operations this February 15th.

Water managers are targeting a typical annual refill of the lake to 22 feet with an interim target of 21.90 feet by early May. Fill rates and target elevations vary through May based on conditions. Refill of the lake to 22 feet will help meet increased summer water use, providing water necessary for fish passage, navigation and salinity control.

Private and commercial maritime interests along Lake Washington Ship Canal and in Lakes Washington and Union should expect a gradual rise from the winter level of 20 feet until the final 22-foot target refill height is reached around June 1. Vessel owners should closely monitor lake elevations and adjust mooring lines as necessary.

The official lake level is measured at the Locks. Lake Washington levels may vary due to the natural gradient between the lake and the locks or wind that can push the lake levels up for short durations. Depending on conditions, the lake may remain at full pool through June and July.

Thanks to the Classic Yacht Association for this news.