Boating News:

• Queen City Yacht Club reaches the 120-year mark
• Toronto Brigantines offer special student discount
• Shards announce new 48-footer as next boat
• Florida anti-anchoring law overuled
• French shipping wine under sail
• Halifax Boat Show moves to Waterfront
• New Kindle2 e-reader now available
• Searoom Skipper voted Volunteer of the Year
• BoatUS features Docking Game on line
• Safety Board Recommends new towing procedures
• World Cruising Club (Toronto) Meetings
• Toronto Shellbacks 2008-09 meetings
• US Coast Guard proposes small vessel security cooperation

The latest news on eLoran and GPS

A couple of years ago the U.S. announced that they were not going continue to finance Loran-C and as stations needed maintenance, they would be decommissioned. GPS was able to do almost everything that Loran-C could do and GPS was world wide in scope. This resulted in strong complaints ... read the latest developments

Canadian Boat Licence
By September 2009, all operators of motorized recreational vessels in Canada must have their Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC) or a valid proof of operator competency. If you live in the Toronto area, contact your a href="http://www.torontopowersquadron.org/">local power squadron for a short course and examination. To locate a squadron anywhere in Canada, visit the national web site.

Marine Radio Licence
If you carry a VHF radio on your boat, you need a Restricted Operator Certificate ROC(M) in order to legally use it. Power Squadrons in Canada are the primary source for courses and examination. Use the links in the above paragraph for more details, or click here.

A flare for safety
Chandlery owner and boating safety expert Lori Mason, spends a great deal of her free time working with clubs and organizations to promote safety concepts, especially with regard to distress signalling - flares, in other words. Here she discusses the various types and their uses in detail.
Read the article

The truth about flares
In this second in a series of articles, Lori Mason delves into more information about flares: dating, obsolescence, disposal difficulties, law enforcement. Read the article and be sure your flare kit is legal and up-to-date.

Cold Water Boot Camp

Most of the water in Canada is cold year round. It’s cold water that is a major contributor to recreational drowning deaths year after year. Nine Boot Camp volunteers offered to ‘jump in with both feet’ and experience first hand what happens in 6 degree Celsius water.
 
On this site you can:

• Viiew: vdeo clips of boot campers’ immersions that will take you into the water with them.

• Join: Dr Gordon Giesbrecht, (Professor Popsicle) in the classroom to learn about his 1-10-1 formula for survival in cold water.

• Discover: information on Lifejackets...your first line of defense against cold water immersion.

• Learn: about the medical and physical data related to cold water accumulated by researchers, agencies and the Coast Guard from across the country
   
  http://www.coldwaterbootcamp.com/pages/home.html

Searoom Blog looks at PFD wear

Mention government legislation to a sailor and prepare yourself for a reaction - usually violent! Several organizations, Power Squadrons to Lifesaving, and Safe Boating, are promoting the concept of self-regulation - that is, be sensible and wear your PFD when conditions warrant. But there is also much discussion of mandatory wear legislation. We look at this and relate one organization's take on the topic. Add your comment - vote on the poll.  Read Tony's blog


Radio Station licences needed for U.S. and foreign visits

You might seriously consider applying for a maritime radio station licence for your boat. It's not necessary for Canadian pleasure craft in Canadian waters, but as soon as you cross the border into the USA, or into any foreign country without a reciprocal maritime radio operating agreement, it is a requirement. Read the full explanation by a Registered Marine Radio Examiner.
(Note: this file has since been updated to insert full details of licence costs). Radio Station licences

Sailng the South Coast of Newfoundland

We are pleased to present another series of unusual passage logs by Bonnie James and Jim Miller - this time a delivery of a beautiful Hinkley 59 from Fortune Bay, Newfoundland along the south coast of the island and across to Cape Breton. Great information and excellent pictures.
Read the story

Sailing the New England Coast

Bonnie James and Jim Miller follow on their Newfoundland cruise with a voyage down the New England Coast. Read the story

"How much does it cost to go cruising?"

One of the biggest concerns people have while planning an extended cruise is "What will it really cost to head off sailing?" Well, at the seminars Paul & Sheryl Shard give across North America, they are asked this question more than any other and so we asked them to look at the cost of cruising today and update the article they wrote for Searoom readers back in 1998.
Costs of Cruising

Follow the voyage of "Ocean Harmony"

John and Harmony Wills have been cruising on board their 42-foot sloop for the past 3 summers in the Mediterranean. They are now in the Caribbean, planning to spend a few seasons cruising the islands before moving the boat back to the West Coast of Canada where they live. This is the story of their adventures on their 42 foot yacht Ocean Harmony. She was built by Sweden Yachts in 2003.The website consists of a detailed logbook of their  travels as well as photo albums of the places visited. The Logs are updated as they cruise.

Visit the website

Marine e-books!

Tony Herrick of CRUISING CONNECTIONS has produced a number of marine ebooks of cruising guides, sailing and general boating (including some FREE ones). Ebooks are a very useful format for cruising sailors as they can download these cruising guides and sailing notes from any online PC anywhere in the world and be reading the ebooks in a matter of minutes.

Click Here to read about these e-books!

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