Archive for

Looking back……..

Well, it’s almost March!  Early season boating activities are underway. CCYC enjoyed a great wine tasting at Vin 909 in Eastport last Saturday, and there was a good turnout at the SOS Happy Hour on Thursday.

Plans and conversations are focused on re-comminssioning – who will be first in this milder than usual Spring?  Valinor is almost ready now – just a couple maintenance items then flush and treat the fresh water system and crank the engine! With any luck, and if weather holds, we’ll be sailing by the Ides of March…………

Meanwhile, here are some pixs from the 2011 season:

First raft of the season at the SOS Shakedown cruise.

Making time  along the C&D Canal at the beginning of the DelMarVa cruise……… with company ……….

Off shore heading down the Maryland coast

Ingram Bay coming home                                                                                                                     

Last raft of the 2011 season …

Just a few weeks away from the first 2012 on-the-water cruise !

Spring IS coming

Looking back over the past winter here in the Chesapeake Bay region, I wonder why any of us bothered to winterize our boats.  Bay water temperatures never dropped below about 39F, and I don’t recall that sub-freezing temps ever persisted for more than some overnight hours – certainly not long enough to create on-board freezing issues.

Nothing like the experience from 2010 –

One cold winter

While winter is not yet over, we are on the upswing. Days are getting longer giving us more sun time, and encouraging thoughts of getting back on the water. Valinor will get de-winterized in the next couple weeks. Some friends who went south for the winter are heading north, and all the usual Spring signs around the homestead are ahead of schedule. The local red-tailed hawk pair is setting up housekeeping, birds are increasingly vocal about the morning, and crocuses have pushed up though the litter debris.

Early signs .....

So, first warm day or two will provide the final push to flush and clean the fresh water system, find out why the poor pressure on the hot water side (and repair), change engine fluids and filters, and crank the engine. All this followed by a thorough Spring cleaning of the cabin and deck, re-mounting on-deck safety equipment and dingy outboard.

Then the very first sail of the season, and the beginning of a busy cruising calendar!

Climate change strategy available for review and comment

edited from DOI press release……

In 2010, Congress called for a national, government-wide strategy to address impacts of changing climate, and directed the President’s Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior to develop it. CEQ and Interior brought together a partnership of federal, state and tribal fish and wildlife conservation agencies to draft the strategy. More than 100 researchers and resource managers from across the country contributed to the draft document.

That draft titled “National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy” is available for public review and comment through March 5, 2012. It can be found on the web at www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov

The strategy creates a framework for unified action to safeguard fish, wildlife and plants, as well as the important benefits and services the natural world provides, including jobs, food, clean water, clean air, building materials, storm protection, and recreation.

Department of Interior Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes noted: “The impacts of climate change are already here and those who manage our landscapes are already dealing with them. The reality is that rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, loss of sea ice and changing precipitation patterns – trends scientists have definitively connected to climate change – are already affecting the species we care about, the services we value, and the places we call home. A national strategy will help us prepare and adapt.”

Author Comment:  Coastal areas are especially vulnerable to changes that can affect recreational boaters, marinas and other shore-based services. It is incumbent upon the boating community to pay attention to this report, and be sure that it addresses those interests.

The draft Strategy is available for review and comment. The 45-day public comment period is from January 20 to March 5.