Nominations sought for boating access award

BoatU.S. is seeking nominations for its third annual Recreational Boating Access Award.

The award recognizes individuals or groups who have succeeded in preserving or improving public waterway access. BoatU.S. says waterfront residential development, regulatory red tape, increased taxes, poor land-use planning and more restrictive zoning are some of the factors contributing to the decline of waterway access for recreational boats.

"The aim of this award is to recognize those advocates across the U.S. who are succeeding in reversing this trend and to share those efforts with others so that they may also be successful in improving boating access," BoatU.S. president Nancy Michelman said in a statement.

Judges will look at four criteria:

• challenges faced in retaining or increasing access in an area
• the direct impact or measurable results of the solution
• the level of success in increasing awareness of the importance of boating access to a community
• "repeatability," the ability to use the successful approach as a model for other areas

Examples of solutions could include creative public-private partnerships, changes in land-use planning or permitting processes, tax incentives, legislation or public ballots, publicity or public education. Eligible activities must have been undertaken in the last three years.

The deadline for applications is Oct. 1, and winners will be announced by Oct. 31. Previous entrants are asked not to reapply.

Click here for the full release.

Beach sweeper scoops up seaweed

The city of Newport, R.I., has a new weapon in its campaign to rid a beautiful beach of the reddish, smelly seaweed that has chronically plagued it. And it might even turn the seaweed from a bather’s nemesis into a farmer’s friend.

The steel machine, all nine tons of it, thunders down the beach and then charges into the shallow water meeting the crimson enemy head-on. Then it turns and motors along the water’s edge, scooping algae into a 10-foot-wide opening and lifting it on board.

Click here for a full report in the Providence Journal.

PWC crashes wooden tour boat with 50 aboard

Tourists taking a relaxing cruise from a Mediterranean resort were thrown into panic when a personal watercraft rider seeking to turn close and dowse some with spray crashed into the vessel, punching a hole in the wooden hull.

The boat rapidly began taking on water, leaving the captain to take drastic action.

Click here to read a report in The Daily Mail.

Hundreds attend Trawler Fest

Last month’s Trawler Fest, organized by PassageMaker magazine, drew 800 attendees for a weekend of educational seminars and activities.

Held June 26-28 in Greenport, N.Y., the event featured a small flotilla of trawlers and cruising motorboats, along with a display of boats from various exhibitors. One of the highlights of the event was a charity auction that raised more than $13,000 for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.

"Together with our generous exhibitors and attendees, we at Trawler Fest are delighted to support the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which gives back to those who bravely and selflessly serve our country," said Amy Pinter, events manager at PassageMaker, in a statement.

Seminars included Getting to Know Your Charging and Electrical Systems, with Steve D’Antonio; Great Loop Cruising, with Bob Duthie and Seven Steps to Successful Docking, with Katherine Redmond. Hands-on activities ranged from onboard technical demonstrations to a drill in an inflated Revere liferaft from Landfall Navigation.

Trawler Fest will be visiting other locales in the coming months. The event returns to Solomons, Md., Oct. 2-4, with PassageMaker University from Sept. 30 through Oct. 1. Trawler Fest moves to the Bahia Mar Beach Resort & Yachting Center in Fort Lauderdale Jan. 29 - 31, with PassageMaker University Jan. 27 and 28.

Click here for the full release.