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Coast Guard Advises Labeling Paddlecraft, Free Labels Are Available

Posted on by Anne Bryant
Orange reflective sticker with space for your information from the US Coast GuardU.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Operation Paddle Smart

The free sticker available from the U.S. Coast Guard looks like this.

In the recent Atlantic Coastal Kayaker, they shared a couple of important advisories from the U.S. Coast Guard regarding free labels and what happens if they find a small boat unlabeled and unmanned. Here’s what the USCG says:

The Coast Guard urges paddlecraft owners to properly secure and label their vessels. Coast Guard crews treat every unmanned-adrift vessel as a search and rescue case and immediately launch a search for potential mariners in distress.

“Every unmanned-adrift vessel is treated as a potential distress situation, which takes up valuable time, resources and manpower,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Brook Serbu of the 13th District Command Center, Seattle, Washington. “When the craft is properly labeled, the situation can often be quickly resolved with a phone call to the vessel owner, which minimizes personnel fatigue and negative impacts on crew readiness.”

Helicopter and boat crews individually search an average of two hours per response and a similar amount of time is spent by other government agency personnel. Additionally, Coast Guard command center and 911 center personnel spend an additional four hours investigating the incident.

Coast Guard officials encourage all paddlecraft owners to label their vessels using a permanent or waterproof marker covered with clear, waterproof tape for increased durability. You can also check with a local outdoor recreation retailer or Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla to obtain a Paddle Smart Identification Sticker. At the very least, the label should include the name of the vessel’s owner, a number to reach them. and a secondary point of contact. In the event that the vessel is adrift, crews can use that information to contact the owner and avoid launching an unnecessary search. If the owner of a vessel is unable to be located after a reasonable amount of time, Coast Guard crews are forced to destroy the vessel or turn it over to the state for disposal.

Mariners who encounter unmanned-adrift vessels or other hazards to navigation are encouraged to contact their local Coast Guard District Command Center or via VHF-FM Channel 16.

And later in that report: “The Coast Guard offers free ‘If Found’ decals to mark gear or you write directly on it,” said a Coast Guard spokesperson, Sector Honolulu. “The information on the sticker can allow responders to determine if someone is in distress more quickly and help us get your gear back to you.”

The stickers can be obtained for free at local harbormasters, through the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and at select marine retail and supply stores. Similarly, if you lose kayaks, surfboard or safety equipment such as lifejackets, please report it to the Coast Guard to help our search and rescue specialists deconflict possible distress reports. The self-adhesive labels are retroreflective and highly visible at night in the light of a flashlight. If someone finds your strayed gear, you might get it back and, by calling the phone numbers you list, the Coast Guard will know not to go looking for you and your boat.

Bushcraft/Canoeist TSCA Dauphin Island Rendezvous

Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) Rendezvous on Dauphin Island, Alabama. Specifics for the day sails and overnight camping will be decided based on participants and weather forecasts leading up to the dates. The Dauphin Island Campground near the ferry landing will be home base for the event. A boat ramp with parking is available near the campground.

This is the first rendezvous for our new chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. RSVP via Facebook, the link is in this listing.

OkoumeFest 2018

Chesapeake Light Craft will present its 20th annual small boat rendezvous, OkoumeFest, on Friday and Saturday, May 18-19, 2018.

“Okoume” is the plantation-grown African hardwood used in tens of thousands of CLC’s build-your-own-boat kits. OkoumeFest features an open house with technical seminars on Friday at the CLC plant in Annapolis, and on Saturday an on-the-water rendezvous at Matapeake State Park on Kent Island. This event is RAIN OR SHINE. Please note that if thunderstorms are detected nearby we’ll bring the boats off the water.

The Friday seminars are informative and fun, but the highlight of OkoumeFest always comes on Saturday, when we bring virtually everything in our shop over to the beach at Matapeake for our friends to paddle, row, sail, and generally put through their paces. We also encourage fellow boatbuilders to bring their homebuilt watercraft to show and compete for best-in-show honors and various awards.

OkoumeFest is also a special chance to try some of the boats, such as PocketShip, that they can’t usually take on the road with them. You’ll also be able to try out new designs, such as the Jimmy Skiff II, Tenderly XP, and the Waterlust Sailing Canoe. Attendance is free on both days this year, but please RSVP so that CLC can plan for the hordes.

Friday [schedule] features an open house at the CLC factory with shop tours, boatbuilding seminars with experts, and a cookout. Everything in the CLC store will be discounted, including boat kits.

On Saturday [schedule] the event moves to Matapeake State Park on Kent Island, where nearly 60 CLC boats will line the beach. They welcome you to try out boats all day long, or bring your own to show off.

Sights from the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival XXXIV

Posted on by Anne Bryant

by Anne Bryant

After a full, nutty day at the Annapolis Sailboat Show, I headed over to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, Maryland, for the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival. I pulled into the entrance, lined with a tent city full of small boat enthusiasts; I felt right away that compared with the bustle of Annapolis, the change of energy suited my needs.

Here are some photos from my visit there. It was Sunday, the day after the big race and regatta, and so things were packing up, slowing down, and moving on due to a lightly threatening forecast.

Our Fearless Editor, Chris Cunningham, has traveled to this gathering in the past, and we plan to re-establish our connection with this fantastic gathering in 2018. A workshop? A beer social? We’re not sure yet, but get excited.

 

 

I also happened by the relaunching and re-christening of BELLE, a Herreshoff 12 1/2-inspired small sailing boat designed and built by Daniel Gonneau. With her more open layout inboard and with no internal ballast, she’s quite different from the design of her keelboat cousin, but no less gorgeous. Her new owner first saw her in the Calendar of Wooden Boats and thought she’d be just the boat for him. When she came up for sale, it was a dream come true for him.

 

Canadian Winner of World’s Best Teacher Promotes Kayaking With $1M Prize

Posted on by Anne Bryant

Maggie MacDonnell, a teacher in Salluit, Canada, who recently won a $1 million prize for her contributions to education, and, in particular, to the Inuit community there, is channeling that fortune into connecting the rest of the world with kayaking and other aspects of Inuit culture. Her hope is to turn eyes to the ailing communities of the Arctic Circle and to instill pride in the people back in Salluit. She’s also provided funds for her students and other community members to travel to Nova Scotia to learn how to kayak.

Her students praise her for the trust she’s fostered with them in her project-based educational approach. Many of them have a difficult home life and her aim is to have an impact on reversing the high suicide rates found in her school district.

Below are two videos, one is about the student kayaking program, and the other is a beautiful short film about her approach to teaching. Read more about the kayaking program that she’s launched on the Thames here.