Kingston waterfront news for 2007

The CFB KINGSTON DOLPHIN SCUBA CLUB remains very active with diving throughout the winter.

Yesterday, for example, members dove off the Kingston Yacht Club during the day and then practiced in the KMCSC pool in the evening.

The Dolphins regularly post accounts and photos on their blog, and they occasionally update their photo gallery on Flickr which has, among other things, a photoset of members ice diving in Kingston Harbour last February.

Incidentally, though it's a military club, it's membership is open to all Kingston residents. A yearly associate membership costs $65.00 for civilians, $45.00 if you're between 14 and 21.

The CFB Kingston Dolphin Scuba Club is one of the truly great things about the Kingston waterfront. Active year-round, its members always seem to be collaborating with others on the waterfront, and they have been systematically sharing what they do, see, and find.

Someone created a Google KITEBOARDING KINGSTON - RIDING MAP. Big Sandy Bay is mis-identified, but the rest is great.

For example:

PUC Dock

Kingston's most popular summer launch site, good from east through west on the south side of the compass, best in SW winds...but it really comes to life in a true west once the swell gets bigger and cleans up a bit. Best catagorized as "bump and jump" with a nice little carvatorium on the inside at the pipe.

Though this is a very accessible launch it is an intermediate level spot at least. There is a slight current, and limited landing spots downwind. Jump off the dock to launch, but make sure you make it in before the last little beach upwind of the hospital! If you miss that your best bet is to ride it out and come in WAAAAY downwind at the base of Fort Henry. Not a bad planned downwinder for those on the early stages of the learning curve. Bring a quarter and call a cab from the pay phone at the entrance to the fort to get back to the PUC docks.

Wild.

Related: Here's a Google Earth File of Lake Ontario Windsurf Spots compiled by Evan Wamsley.

APPROVAL OF 2008 CITY MARINA FEES is also on Council's agenda for Tuesday evening. It's on page 38 of the report if the link doesn't bring you directly there.

THE LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH AHOY RENTALS LTD. is on Council's agenda for Tuesday evening.

It appears that the timber frame exhibit shelter for the Phoebe is to be placed near where Ahoy Rentals is currently, so Ahoy will move southwest somewhat, with a new structure to be built there.

Ahoy will be licensed to rent out a maximum of twenty kayaks, six canoes, six sail boats (12'-16') and twelve bicycles, whereas under the former agreement eight kayaks, four canoes, eight sail boats, two windsurfers and an unspecified number of bicycles were rented from the site.

Here's the Phoebe restoration project home page and the Ahoy Rentals home page.

$220,000 FOR MARINA REPAIRS IN 2008 in a Whig story today. It's all about who should ultimately pay.

But the city's deputy mayor said Kingston has to accept the fact that it is not a waterfront city.

Deputy Mayor Bill Glover said the city has ignored waterfront development and a full range of services for citizens and boaters to enjoy.

Read the whole thing.

THE SNOWBIRDS AIRSHOW is coming back to Kingston on Wednesday June 18th 2008.

MetalCraft Marine's fireboats were FRONT-PAGE NEWS IN THE MIAMI-HERALD on Friday.

Also, MetalCraft Marine's news page is quite active, and you can subscribe to its RSS feed .

The latest GREAT LAKES ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY STUDY has just been released, and it's fascinating reading.

The 128-page PDF is full of interesting discussion and schematics on the economic importance of the Seaway, environmental considerations, infrastructure, and various aspects and challenges of keeping the Seaway in operation.

In Kingston it's easy to forget about the Seaway because its shipping channel passes South of Wolfe Island, so we don't see it on a daily basis. The Seaway is just 8 1/2 miles, as the crow files, from City Hall.

Yesterday CKWS-TV News reported this:

CLEAN RIDEAU

The Rideau waterway has scored high marks in a just-released survey on water quality.

Environment Canada compiled samples from rivers across the country. And it gives the Rideau a 75 out of 100.

Memo to CKWS-TV News: That's not what the report says.

You can find the 67-page report here: Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators -- released Dec 6 2007.

Assuming that CKWS-TV News is accurate about the rideau scoring "75 out of 100", then qualifying that as "high marks" is drastically overstating the findings of the report.

If you read the report, which CKWS-TV News evidently didn't do, here is how the Water Qualitry Index (WQI) is interpreted:

Therefore, the proper conclusion is that the Water Quality Index (WQI) for Rideau waterway is fair.

Here's the distribution of "scores" for the 359 waterways tested by Environment Canada in this report. The Rideau Waterway is close to average at best.

HMCS TERRA NOVA, a 366-foot Canadian Restigouche-class destroyer escort, is to be scuttled to create an artificial reef for diving near Gananoque.

The target-time for that is late 2009.

The claim that "the sunken ship will attract some 10,000 recreational scuba divers to the region in the first year" seems implausible.

Update A meeting account from Chris of the CFB Dolphins SCUBA Club. The scuttling is planned to be just off Browns Bay Provincial Park, near Mallorytown on the 1000 Islands Parkway. That's about 60 km from Kingston.

THE ADMIRAL'S WALK APPLICATION FOR DRAFT PLAN OF SUBDIVISION is included in the documents for this week's City of Kingston Planning Committee meeting.

Therein is a lousy-quality scan of a "concept site plan", shown below; click the image to go to the source document.

The new theme appears to be, "maximum marina". How such a facility might work in practice, given the extremely limited shoreside space, certainly isn't clear.

A notable oddity: the diagram appears dated July 2006, which is surprising since we've not been shown anything remotely resembling this before.

Related:

• September 3, 2007: No details whatsoever about a marina in the 62-page zoning bylaw ammendment document. Given that omission, you'd be forgiven the sentiment that the developer hasn't exactly being forthright with respect to our waterfront.
• May 16th 2007 in The Whig Standard: Buildings planned for waterfront; Developer proposes $160-million project for pier on Elevator Bay
• July 17th 2007 Planning Committee: The public hearing report (24-page.PDF) on the proposed towers on Elevator Bay.
• May 16, 2007 K7 news item about our Elevator Bay Development public information meeting photo set on Flickr.

Have you noticed how Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, dominates Google search result pages?

For example, consider these Google search results:

• Google " Kingston, Ontario", and Wikipedia ranks as the first entry after the City of Kingston's website, and ahead of all the websites belonging to Queen's, Fort Henry, CFB Kingston, KEDCO, all the hotels, all real-estate brokers, the Chamber of Commerce, all the other directories, everthing.
• Googling Queens University returns Wikipedia as the first Canadian non-Queen's entry.
• Googling Royal Military College: Wikipedia ranks second behind the RMC website.
• Wolfe Island returns Wikipedia in fifth spot, but still ahead of 312,995 others.

Like it or not, Google considers Wikipedia as authoritative. When someone wants a general overview of something notable, Wikipedia is as good a place as any to start.

It is therefore in our interest to ensure that Wikipedia articles about notable things in our midst exist, are rich and accurate, are properly categorized and linked, and thereafter are watched in perpetuity.

Our waterfront is woefully underrepresented in Wikipedia. That needs to change.

So pick a notable piece of your physical environment and see to documenting it in Wikipedia. It won't cost you a dime, and it will get viewed far more, and be trusted far more, than almost anything else you can do on the web, at any price.

KEDCO'S KINGSTON ONTARIO WATERFRONT WEBSITE IS EVOLVING.

Here's the current home page.

Note the adult and two kids, in a what appears to be a 15-foot canoe, mid-Harbour at dusk in imminent weather. Seriously, how improbable is that? How wise is that?

International-14 class sailboats haven't actively sailed here for quite some time. The boat pictured here is Toronto-based, shown in no-wind, flat calm conditions.

Underwater here isn't blue, it's green or, if anything, it's dark green.

Adding just one more link-button to that web page looks very expensive. Guess how many files you'd need to touch to add another little box to the left of the canoe.

Is the KEDCO "blue belt" website like another website KEDCO isn't able to maintain?

Update Saturday Dec 1st: Inter Kingston Web Design has taken the website offline. Evidently the "blue-belt" website project, as currently conceived, has some serious content, presentation, and governance issues.

A GLANCE AT LAKE ONTARIO WATER LEVELS tells us that sometime on Thursday November 22nd levels measured at Kingston dipped below chart datum.

Currently we're a full 2-feet below last year's levels.

Here is a historical graph of Great Lakes' water levels dating back to 1918. Here's the same data in tabular form. The last time Lake Ontario was below datum was in 1965, though we've been very close to chart-datum twice in the past 8-years.

THE MARINE MUSEUM LEASE ISSUE IS APPARENTLY RESOLVED. Finally.

The WOLFE ISLAND WIND PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW REPORT is online.

There are several very interesting attachments to the report. Among them:

• Simulation of Wake Effect Distances which includes the positioning of our traditional regatta circles. It'll be interesting to see the racing effect on wind in the boat channel, South of Simcoe Island. Before the wind project, given the tactical choice, this was typically the preferred route in and out of the harbour.
• The Submarine Cable Preferred Route lands in Sand Bay, which is good news for one of our best wave sailing Spots in Kingston Harbour.
• Watercourses Requiring Permanent Vehicle Crossings.
• Distribution of Raptors, Owls and Snow Buntings, 2005.
• Several updated visual impact assessments, like this predicted view from Fort Henry:

Nathan Baron: ONE LAST LAP.

THE FINAL OF THE WFN 2008 BASS TOUR, THE CANADIAN OPEN, IS COMING TO KINGSTON, September 19-21 2008. There is $1,000,000 in prize money up for grabs.

Here's a press release with the fishing tournament's prize structure.

The lead-up events are in Georgina (Jul 4-6), Sarnia (Jul 25-27), Port Colborne (Aug 22-24), and Gravenhurst in the Muskokas (Sep 5-7), before the final in Kingston September 19-21.

Unlike the Poker Run, which occurs on an August weekend that would be sold-out in any event, this event is in mid-fall, when our waterfront facilities and accommodations in town have lots of excess capacity. Smart!

WFN.TV is a slick operation, and entering the event is not cheap. A professional angler, competing only in Kingston, must pay a $3,500 entry fee, while amateur anglers are in for $850 apiece.

If you're in, register here.

COMET 17P/HOLMES, which recently brightened from magnitude 17 to magnitude 2.5 in just a few hours, is an easy sighting with binoculars, or with the naked-eye from darker viewing sites.

After sunset, look for it in the north-east sky, one and a half palm-widths up from bright star Capella. It is currently the third brightest "star" in the constellation of Perseus. It's visible all night.

Comet Holmes was first discovered in 1892 and has an orbital period of 6.9 years. It's interesting that Holmes reached perihelion in early May, and is currently on its way away from the Sun. It's distance from the Earth is at its minimum now, at 1.62 AU, so this is likely as good as it will get. Here's an interactive orbit diagram from NASA.

Marine Museum: STILL IN LIMBO, from CKWS-TV news.

Update: Here's the situation as described by the Marine Museum.

20TH ANNIVERSARY OPEN HOUSE PHOTOS from MetalCraft Marine are now online.

The BMCM CARL BRASHEAR, Newport News' new Firestorm 30 fireboat from MetalCraft Marine, is now in service on the waters of Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.

Recall that this was the vessel that mysteriously sank at the dock overnight at the Leeward Municipal Marina on March 21st, 2007.

Here's the marine surveyor's assessment of what happened that night.

Interesting: OPG ONTARIO LENNOX 2 OIL/GAS UNIT BACK IN SERVICE from Reuters UK.

BEACH REPORT 2007 is a 36-page PDF just released by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

Seven of the Kingston-area beaches are covered in the report:

• Richardson Beach (they call it "Murney Tower")
• Grass Creek
• Rotary Park, (incorrectly identified as part of "Collins Bay Marina")
• Lemoine Beach
• Arrowhead Beach
• Crerar Beach
• Everitt Beach
• Lake Ontario Park (they call it "Lake Ontario Municipal Beach")

Oddly Big Sandy Bay, one of Lake Ontrario's most beautiful beaches, isn't included.

Many of the observations arise from the abject neglect by our municipality for our beaches.

That's not the only beach-related thing that's neglected by the City.

On August 24th we were pleased to report that FINALLY WE HAVE AN ONLINE BEACH REPORT.

But our fears were well-founded: as it turns out, that online beach report is just another web page the City is unable to properly maintain. There has been no update in the two months since August 24th when the information was first posted.

NATHAN BARON has been working hard towards his goal of qualifying and sailing in next year's solo Transat 650 race. He's often out in Kingston Harbour practicing, and he recently completed a Toronto Training Run.

He's also documenting his journey with over 120 photos so far in this Flickr photoset.

Nathan plans an "Open Boat" event on October 21st from 1-3pm at KYC where people can come down to see the boat up-close and get a taste of what life aboard a mini is like.

MEET THE CITY'S NEW FIREBOAT, formerly known as the CCGC Bittern: Good article today in The Whig about the refit project, which was done here in Kingston at MetalCraft Marine.

You can see the vessel at today's MetalCraft Marine Open House which runs from 1-4 pm.

Here are before and after photos:

Update: Here's a transcript of CKWS-TV's report.

Check out the SEPTEMBER 2007 NEWSLETTER of the City's Ravensview Water Pollution Control project, which is enormous.

It doesn't contain much information, but the photos give you a sense of the project's scale.

METALCRAFT MARINE IS CELEBRATING 20-YEARS of building high-tech vessels here on the Kingston Waterfront.

They are hosting an open house on Friday, October 5th, between 1 and 4 pm.

They'll have tours of their operations, and show glimpses of projects they have on-the-go.

Pass the word.

MIKE KALIN OF KINGSTON won the 40-boat Laser class at the 3-day CORK Fall Regatta which wrapped-up today.

Update: With a 10th place overall and top youth finish, Robert Davis of Kingston qualifies to represent Canada at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, July 10-19th 2008, in Aarhus, Denmark.

Robert finished 14th at this summer's Youth Worlds here in Kingston.

Update: Read CYA head coach Ken Dool's regatta report.

ACCESS DENIED. The management of Fort Henry, which is heavily taxpayer-subsidized, decided during Summer 2007 to declare dozens of acres on Kingston's waterfront out-of-bounds.

We've collectively lost and ruined most of Kingston's Waterfront just like this: one step at a time.

A SCAN FROM THE PAST: You are looking at a small-sized scan of the navigation chart created for the 1976 Olympic Sailing events (or Yachting as it was then known).

Olympic sailing was hosted in Kingston and it remains, 31 years later, the pinnacle of Kingston's impressive regatta history.

Click to see:

• medium (500 x 447 pixels),

• large (1024 x 915 pixels), and

• original (5969 x 5333 pixels) sizes of this chart.

The chart shows several very interesting things:

• The sailing events were held way out in Lake Ontario, southwest of Simcoe Island. The racing area was a full 5-miles from P.O.H., and Course Charlie, used for Tornado class catamarans, was another 5-miles beyond that.

• The racing area was bounded by 52 orange spar buoys.

• Within the racing area, near its southern edge, there was something called Bedford Tower which isn't there anymore. Whatever it was, there was a 300m exclusion zone around it.

• Note the detailed bathymetry of Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, and the layout of the site for the Olympic event.

• Also see how, prior to the 1984 expansion of Confederation Basin, Kingston Harbour was dotted with many spar buoys leading to the Lasalle Causeway along Carruthers Shoal. Old-time dinghy sailors will remember these well, as they served as ideal boathandling practice marks.

Thanks to David Page, KYC archivist, who supplied the chart used to create these digital versions.

A TIMBER FRAME EXHIBIT SHELTER FOR THE PHOEBE is a project that was approved by Council last week.

It will be located behind the Pump House Steam Museum on Ontario Street, and build by local students with some financial assistance from the City.

Here's the Whig Standard Story from September 20th.

See also the Phoebe restauration project website and the Friends of The Phoebe website.

PAST SEWAGE OVERFLOW REPORTS have been understated, according to this Whig-Standard article by Jennifer Pritchett.

The City of Kingston has installed new monitors on its sewers that has revealed the municipality spews millions more litres of untreated sewage into area waterways each year than previously documented.

Read the whole thing.

For what it's now worth, here's a link to the Bypass Log For The City of Kingston.

THE IOM CLASS EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA was hosted by KYC this weekend. It was a 42-race event involving 17 competitors from Ontario, Quebec, and northeast USA.

Due to the concurrent World Championships in France, participant numbers were such that they made just one fleet for all competitors.

Check out this 40-second YouTube video showing the start of race 42.

Make no mistake: radio controlled sailboat racing is serious stuff. See the See Kingston Yacht Club Radio Controlled Racing page for local information and, on a national level, see the The Canadian Radio Yachting Association website.

BLUE WOODS MARINA IS FOR SALE. Blue Woods is on the north shore of Collins Bay.

ALWAYS WORTHY OF NOTE, especially now that the big breezes of autumn are evidently with us. The Kingston Boardsailing Association has a great clickable chart of Wave Sailing Spots In the Kingston Harbour with brief descriptions.

.

For example:

Snake Shoal Break

6-8ft; Straight onshore conditions and nice long rides straight downwind. Jumps on either tack. This shallow shoal is good even in the early season high water. At low water, I wouldn't try to sail straight across this shoal. Instead, ride the surf down either side.

In case you're wondering: yes, we are in low-water conditions with levels a full 5-inches below average for this time of year, about 15-inches above chart datum.

Photo: Geoff Webster

THE GREENPEACE VESSEL ARCTIC SUNRISE is in Kingston for the next few days. The former ice breaker is traveling along the St. Lawrence River between Quebec City and Toronto. They are promoting alternatives to coal and nuclear energy, and highlighting the indiscriminate logging of the Boreal Forest.

There is a public open ship tour planned for Saturday. Word is she will be moored at the P.U.C. dock, at the foot of Beverly Street.

On the Agenda of the September 6th Planning Committee meeting there's a 62-PAGE ZONING BY-LAW AMENDMENT DOCUMENT for the Admirals Walk project proposed for Cataraqui Bay (AKA Elevator Bay).

There are several issues therein, including parking which appears inadequate for what's proposed.

There's mention of a possible marina, but they apparently don't know which side of the pier, west or east, any future marina will be placed.

One point is crystal clear: there will be no off-season vessel storage on the site -- there simply isn't space -- which means that any marina there risks being a money-loser.

Note that a marina is clearly shown on The Forrest Group's website and the yachting theme is central to the project's advertising so far. All this apparently doesn't add-up.

There are also questions about what the developer can and cannot do with the water lot.

Read the whole thing.

Related:

• May 16th 2007 in The Whig Standard: Buildings planned for waterfront; Developer proposes $160-million project for pier on Elevator Bay
• July 17th 2007 Planning Committee: The public hearing report (24-page.PDF) on the proposed towers on Elevator Bay.
• May 16, 2007 K7 news item about our Elevator Bay Development public information meeting photo set on Flickr.

The CFB KINGSTON DOLPHIN SCUBA CLUB is a great example of how many local organizations could better interact with their members and the public at large: by blogging.

Consider these accounts of three recent dive excursions, all posted yesterday.

• Night Dive at the Pump House
• Wolfe Island Winter Dock
• Morton Street Wharf this afternoon

Makes you want to do a lot more diving, doesn't it?

Consider too the cost of all this: zero dollars, just three paragraphs in total.

NOT SINCE APRIL 19th have we seen this:

CITY PURCHASES LAND adjacent to Grass Creek Park.

That's good, but the announcement is prefixed with:

...in accordance with municipal policies for developing and sustaining public access to the City's waterfront.

... which is baloney, also here, citing two much closer and pertinent counterexamples from just last week alone.

Also, looking at the photo, there's really not much new waterfront there. So the whole waterfront angle to this story appears a little overblown.

Update: A report from the August 24th edition of the Whig Standard, which leads with:

Kingston has taken one more step toward securing the public use of its waterfront by purchasing 45 acres of riverside property on the city's far east side.

FINALLY WE HAVE AN ONLINE BEACH REPORT.

It's on the City of Kingston website, under "Residents", then "Recreation". At the moment apparently two beaches, Lake Ontario Park and Rotary Park, are posted.

The information is not date-stamped, so you'll have no idea of information freshness. Let's hope this isn't another web page the city has no time to maintain.

CORK BLOGGING: Here are links to competitors, volunteers, and spectators blogging about CORK. This beats the Kingston Whig Standard, which has had almost zero coverage so far, and the CORK website, which has a "News" link with no recent news to be found there.

• Andrew Campbell, who recently won a gold medal for the USA in the Laser class at the Pan-Am Games: Monday Morning Tactician: 13 August 2007 about the importance of long-view weather checking before a competition like CORK.
• John Pearce, a US Olympic sailing hopeful (he placed 4th at US Laser Nationals), posted an item titled Training Camp in Kingston on Wednesday.
• Jenny, a CORK volunteer, posted an item titled CORK Sailing yesterday. It sounds like Jenny would love to do more actual sailing. Reading downward, she also volunteered for the Kingston Triathlon. Jenny's evidently a giver.
• Monika's Adventures has an August 11th post titled CORK, Canadian Olympic Regatta Kingston. Monica also had a recent post titled International Sailing in Kingston about volunteering for the ISAF Youth World Championships in July.

THE LACK OF SHORELINE FISHING SPOTS is the subject of an interesting front-page story in today's Whig. It highlights a big problem with the waterfront in the City of Kingston: accessibility.

We've got:

• town docks we can't walk,
• birds-only breakwalls,
• several ramps with little or no parking for trailers,
• apparently numbskulls are in charge at Fort Henry and,
• according to the article, angler-hostile desk-flying bureaucrats at all levels.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Time for a management shakeup at Fort Henry?

Fort Henry officials are cracking down on pedestrian traffic on the perimeter of the property, which has become a popular spot for dog-walkers and picnickers.

Two new topics are now prominently linked on the home page:

THE HIGHWAY TRAVELLER'S HOME PAGE seeks to brief Highway 401 travelers, who might otherwise bypass Kingston, about economical and time-efficient options involving Kingston's waterfront.

THE RESIDENT'S HOME PAGE seeks to brief most Kingston residents who, on balance, don't participate in their waterfront as much as they could.

Like all topics here, these topics are subject to incremental improvement, so suggestions and contributions are welcome.

THE SHARK NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS is a 35-boat competition.

Update: Winners are David O'Sullivan, David Foy, and Jamie Foy of Ottawa's Britannia Yacht Club. Top Kingston boat is Peter VanRossem, Gord Greer, and Peter VanRossem Jr in fourth position. Results here.

A UNESCO VIBE at tonight's Sunset Ceremony at Fort Henry, from The Toronto Star.

WELL OVER 800 PEOPLE took advantage of boat rides on Saturday and Sunday during the Kingston Discover Boating Event. See also the related article in today's Whig-Standard.

NEW MOORING FIELD on the South side of Kingston Harbour, just off the The Island Grill on Wolfe Island, just East of the Wolfe Island Ferry dock.

A total of 10 moorings, available free for now, though the plan is to eventually charge overnight, monthly, or yearly rates.

Outer moorings have a depth of 14 feet, shallowing to 7ft for the inner ones. No reservations are currently required.

See also our Island Grill topic, and the Anchoring topic, still a work in progress, is updated to reflect these new moorings.

NATHAN BARON'S MINI TRANSAT SLOOP arrived in Kingston yesterday and was launched at Collins Bay Marina. Lots of photos on Flickr.

Nathan hopes to compete in the 2009 Mini Transat race between France and South America.

July 27 2007 UPDATE: Front-page story in The Whig-Standard.

It's been a while since we've featured the THE LATEST GREAT LAKES WATER LEVELS FORECAST by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Lake Ontario levels are about six inches below normal for this time of year, so beware.

There are still SOME AVAILABLE SAILING CAMP SPOTS in August at the Kingston Yacht Club Sailing School and at the Collins Bay Yacht Club Sailing School. Pass the word.

TUESDAY'S COUNCIL AGENDA includes an additional $60,000 operating grant to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.

See also Exhibit 'A' - Marine Museum of the Great Lakes 2007 Business Plan which is interesting, and underscores that the Museum needs your support too.

THE FINAL DAY OF RACING AT THE VOLVO YOUTH SAILING ISAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS saw just one race as planned. Winds were very shifty from the Nortwest that, at times when competitors were on water, gusted to thirty knots and above. Results here.

THE 2007 VOLVO YOUTH SAILING ISAF WORLD CHAMPIONS

Boys One Person Dinghy: Laser (Pavlos Kontides, Cyprus)
Girls One Person Dinghy: Laser Radial (Gabrielle King, AUS)
Boys Two Person Dinghy: 29er (Henrik Sogaard, Soren Kristensen, DEN)
Girls Two Person Dinghy: 29er (Emily Dellenbaugh, Briana Provancha, USA)
Boys Windsurfer (Pierre Le Coq, FRA)
Girls Windsurfer (Laura Linares, ITA)
Open Multihull: Hobie Cat 16 Race Spinnaker (Richard Glover, Andrew Glover, GBR)

Our List Of Major Regattas In Kingston has been updated with these seven new world champions.

PHOTOS OF THE FAIR JEANNE FIRE from the Clayton Fire Department. The vessel shown responding in the photos is one built by MetalCraft Marine of Kingston.

A DAY ON THE LIGHT-SIDE: Here's what iWindsurf.com recorded for wind on Day 4 of the ISAF Volvo Youth Worlds.

If you are in VHF radio range of Kingston Harbour, and are able to listen-in, here are the channels for Volvo Youth Worlds regatta.

• Orange course (VHF 10): Skiffs and Cats.
• Blue course (VHF 72): Boards
• Yellow course (VHF 69): Lasers

Results here.

Highlight of Day 4: A bullet and a 2nd for Isabella Bertold of Canada in Girls Laser Radial who sits in 5th with three more races to sail.

Canada is tied for 13th overall for the Volvo Trophy which, at the top, is a 3-way race betweem Australia, Denmark, and New Zeland. Looking down from there, the UK is 6th and the USA is 7th.

There are three interesting waterfront-related items on the CITY'S PLANNING COMMITTEE AGENDA for Thursday, July 19 2007.

• A 106 page PDF on an Ontario Municipal Board Appeal of the Cataraqui West development along Collins Creek.
• The public hearing report (24-page.PDF) on the proposed towers on Elevator Bay. More on the proposed Elevatror Bay development here.
• More details, Draft Plan of Subdivision and Draft Plan of Condominium, (38-page.PDF) on the Stirling Bridge Company's proposed development on the North side of John Counter Boulevard along the Great Cataraqui River. More on the Stirling Bridge Company's proposed development here.

Lots of interesting diagrams in all three of these documents.

A reminder: THE CFB KINGSTON DOLPHIN SCUBA CLUB BLOG regularly covers another great aspect of Kingston's waterfront, its underwater world. The Dolphin SCUBA Club is active all year 'round (link to photos on Flickr), which is amazing.

AFTER RACING DAY TWO AT THE ISAF YOUTH WORLDS, we can start to say the regatta's eventual winners will have really earned it.

Winds started West and fair but it picked up and backed suddenly around 11:30am and, by first guns at noon it was snorting. It mostly built from there.

Yellow Course was set at 245 degrees, and that never changed. By session's end around 2:30pm, with gusts close to 30 at times and with carnage looming, they called it a day. Another good call.

Results here. Best Canadian after Day 2 is David Hayes of Toronto, currently in a podium position in Boys Windsurfer thanks to a bullet in the last race today.

RACING DAY ONE AT THE ISAF YOUTH WORLDS was cloudy with shifty, diminishing and, eventually, backing breezes to below 180 degrees.

There was a notable discrepancy between the planned and actual location of the Yellow Course (Hobie Cat and 29er classes).

Results here.

IT WAS AN UNUSUAL DAY WIND-WISE for the Volvo Youth Worlds practice races, which were supposed to happen on three race circles in early afternoon.

A heck of a cell went through just before 9am, and it looked to be a fair day after that. But a sequence cells passed through around mid-day, and the wind built dramatically throughout the afternoon.

It turned into a classic Kingston buster, with the wind sensor at Kingston Yacht Club recording gusts to 40 knots. The competitors were on water for a short while, blasting around, but the practice races never happened. Good call.

Here is the trace of average wind from the Kingston Yacht Club. Anybody know why the pre-9am squall shows distinctively on the iWindsurf.com sensor, but not the Kingston Yacht Club sensor? Both sensors are mounted at the end of the pier of the Kingston Yacht Club. Maybe the squall was so brief there that it doesn't factor when averaged?

There's a NEW ALL-PURPOSE JUNIOR SQUADRON SHED at Kingston Yacht Club close to being complete. It will be used as a workshop for boat repairs on KYC's impressive dinghy fleet, sail storage, and can also serve as an activity room when the weather's poor.

Last year KYC renovated the boathouses on the East side of the property, along Simcoe Street.

It's good to see visible signs of upgrades on the waterfront.

THE KINGSTON DISCOVER BOATING EVENT returns to Confederation Basin Marina, Saturday and Sunday July 28th and 29th between 10am and 5pm.

Free boat rides for all who wish to give boating a try.

This event is courtesy of many volunteer boat owners and several of our local marinas: Collins Bay Marina, Ed Huck Marine (of Rockport), Kingston Marina, Treasure Island Marina, River Rat Marine (in Landsdowne, ON) with space and dockage provided by the City of Kingston's Confederation Basin Marina.

Now GRASS CREEK PARK BEACH IS POSTED due to E. Coli.

METALCRAFT MARINE IS FRONT-PAGE NEWS in yesterday's Whig Standard.

"The truth of the matter is there is no one doing it better right now than MetalCraft"

That's saying something.

AT NEXT TUESDAY'S COUNCIL MEETING, City staff seeks to declare the property at 5 Brock Street as surplus, paving the way for its sale to the Hotel that surrounds it.

This is primo commonwealth property on the waterfront, adjacent to our downtown docks, and across the street from City Hall, Confederation Park, Confederation Basin, and historic Market Square.

Or is it, potentially, Starbucks'?

UP TO THE GILLS -- POLLUTION IN GREAT LAKES FISH is a 15-page report by Environmental Defence released on July 5th, 2007.

In short:

• Toxic chemicals in Great Lakes fish are alarmingly high and becoming more serious over time.
• Lake Ontario is the worst of all the Great Lakes.
• Toxins that once only surfaced in big fish are making their way down the food chain, to smaller fish.

Here's Recommendation 1 (of 8 in total) which is interesting:

RECOMMENDATION 1: In order to provide a more realistic representation of the state of fish contamination in the Great Lakes and improve fish advisories as an indicator of Great Lakes health, provincial, state and national partners in the U.S. and Canada must develop and maintain a publicly accessible record of information on the current status, evolution and historical levels of chemical contamination of fish in the Great Lakes, including information on the toxicity levels in and around the Great Lakes basin.

In other words: That's not happening now.

RESULTS FROM THE 505 Canadians, Kingston's first notable sailing regatta of 2007, are finally up. Winners were Americans Tyler Moore and Jessie Falsone.

More: Kingston's regatta history is updated.

GEOFF WEBSTER has been photographing sailing in Kingston, including CORK, for over 25 years.

He's just self-published a booklet of 50 photos, taken from over 80,000+ in his collection, titled SAIL KINGSTON -- Fresh Water Sailing Capital Of The World.

He also has collections of photos from CORKs-past available on DVD, and these may be purchased by contacting Geoff at

Geoff Webster
Photographer
613-354-3569
PhotoOne@ihorizons.net

LAW-ENFORCEMENT THEATRE Wednesday night at Collins Bay Marina as the OPP Marine Unit books a sailor from a group of several yachts from Rochester NY traveling together.

The individual was in small tender, simply going from C-Dock to A-Dock, from one docked yacht to another, while impaired.

Word around the marina is there was no party going on, sleeping boaters on "C" and "A" docks heard nothing unusual, and the guy apparently wasn't lippy with the cops.

There are, of course, two ways to view this.

But there are lessons here:

• Should you be operating a vessel while impaired? No.
• Is the Kingston OPP Marine Unit over-zealous? Apparently so. But then again, nobody witnessed the arrest, and few of us can list hauling corpses out of the water among our duties, so it's hard to say.
• What might this incident cost in American tourism terms? That's incalculable.

  Moreover: How does this story come to find its way onto CKWS-TV News?

You decide. It's all about choices people make, on both sides of the badge.

THE PROVINCE PROVIDES $80,000 FOR THE ISAF VOLVO YOUTH WORLDS REGATTA, just two weeks before the start of the event, which is cutting it pretty close.

Now ROTARY PARK BEACH IS POSTED CLOSED due to high E. coli levels (again from The Whig Standard, and not the Health Unit website).

Last year, Rotary Park Beach was closed in late July, which at the time was Kingston's first beach closure in 14 years. That closure forced the nearby Collins Bay Yacht Club to stop in-water instruction until the beach re-opened.

What the heck is polluting our west-end beaches?

LAKE ONTARIO PARK BEACH is closed due to high E. coli levels (from The Whig Standard).

The Health Unit website? Lame.

We have more on Kingston's rock and sand beaches

Don't miss the 80-page special section titled "UNLOCKING THE RIDEAU" in today's Whig Standard.

You can also download a 13 Mb, 80-page.PDF version of the insert and watch slide-show packages on The Whig-Standard Website.

In a word: WOW. It's a keeper. Go out and buy a print version of today's Whig.

DAY DOCK CHARGES in effect during July and August at Confederation Basin. It's $3 for the first two hours and $1 per hour after that, for a maximum of $8 per day.

No mention of this yet on the City's Marinas or Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin web pages.

THE RIDEAU CANAL BECOMES CANADA'S NEWEST WORLD HERITAGE SITE

MetalCraft Marine on FOX News: NEW MILWAUKEE FIRE BOAT PUT INTO SERVICE EARLY.

OLYMPIC CAIRN HOME AT LAST!.

NOTHING ABOUT BEACHES ON THE HEALTH UNIT WEBSITE.

But their website claims they inspect beaches. Just don't assume they make results available or anything.

The Whig today has a beach safety news story and, apparently, the local beach safety story is good for now. Perhaps one must phone? Better call during business hours, Monday through Friday, because otherwise they are closed.

THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING GREAT LAKE, from USA Today.

HERE ARE PHOTOS OF THE ALEXANDER HENRY ON THE MOVE taken this morning, on the divenutz Flickr page.

Work started shortly before 5:30am, and the whole event passed smoothly with absolutely no excitement. By 7am, the ship was securely moored in the dry dock and work was beginning to draw the caisson back across its entrance.

See also preparation coverage in The Whig.

A NEW 65-TON CRANE FOR COLLINS BAY MARINA.

Wow.

OPEN GATE: Mike Hill, of the most excellent CFB Kingston Dolphin Scuba Club blog, reports:

Here's a rare view of the Henry looking North and towards the dry dock she is likely to make her home later this week.

The missing object - the barrier caisson - moved aside earlier today to allow the move to take place.

The shot was taken in early evening from a returning dive charter...

Today in the Whig: REPORT ON THE BLOCK D PARK PUBLIC MEETING which was sparsely attended.

UPDATE:: THE FIRST PROPOSED DESIGN is now posted on the City Website.

ALEXANDER HENRY ALLOWED TO MOVE. The permission process took way too long.

Updated: The move into the dry dock now looks to probably happen FRIDAY June 15th starting at 5:00 AM. Call the Museum at (613) 542-2261 to offer help.

Background here.

FINALLY BETTER IMAGES OF KINGSTON IN GOOGLE MAPS AND GOOGLE EARTH!

It's not the closest zoom-level available, but close. So far it only covers between the airport to the West, CFB Kingston to the East, Marysville to the South, but it goes all the way North to the sourthern-edge of Frontenac Park.

The imagery appears to be from a weekend morning in summer of 2004.

BLOCK "D" PARK OPEN HOUSE WILL ADDRESS DOWNTOWN WATERFRONT PARK.

The City of Kingston is holding a public open house as part of a process to develop a plan for the waterfront park on downtown's Block D. The meeting is being held Tuesday, June 12, at 6:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the second floor of Kingston City Hall, 216 Ontario St. Plan exhibits, presentations and break-out groups are on the agenda. After the meeting the plans will also be accessible on the City of Kingston website and comments can be submitted via . For more information about the public meeting, contact Kristine Hebert, Planner, Culture and Recreation, at telephone: 613-546-4291, ext. 1256.

NOW PUSHBACK against the Wolfe Island Wind Project, via CKWS-TV.

It's one thing to have issues that just can't be mitigated, like the Big Sandy Bay Wetland, for example. But it's quite another to whitewash them, which is being implied.

$175,000 to move the Alexander Henry forward a few yards, from the Marine Museum Wharf to the Marine Museum Drydock.

Mostly, it's deferred maintenance.

UPDATE: More details here

THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT REPORT for the Wolfe Island Wind Project is now online.

It looks like the cable will land in Sand Bay on the Kingston side, and won't be going through Paterson Park Shoal as many had feared.

Paterson Park Shoal is one of our prime windsurfing wave sailing spots.

THE THREE RACING AREAS AT THE VOLVO YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS will be named Orange, Blue, and Yellow.

Orange corresponds roughly to Course Alpha, Blue to Course Echo, and Yellow to Course Charlie, our more traditional names for these zones.

Here's a diagram of their approximate sizes and locations:

COUNCILLOR BILL GLOVER EVIDENTLY "GETS" IT, as you can read in today's Whig Standard. It's an edited transcript of Councillor Glover's remarks at the recent Marine Museum AGM.

Read the whole thing. Time is of the essence. Some people, it seems, need to put up or get out of the way. And soon.

Worth noting: THE KINGSTON DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL is coming up, on Saturday, June 9th, 2007.

TOURISM INDUSTRY, BUSINESS WOULD BENEFIT FROM BETTER DOCK, says Maurice Smith in a letter in today's Whig.

Click for more details on the repairs required to Kingston's only downtown dock having water for bigger vessels.

The KINGSTON BOARDSAILING ASSOCIATION AGM is tonight, 7:30 PM, at the Kingston Yacht Club.

SUPERIOR RECEDES TO LOWEST LEVEL IN 80 YEARS, from Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

BYM SAILING & SPORTS: Volvo Youth Worlds another chapter for Kingston sailing history. BYM is based in San Francisco.

Kingston really has an impressive sailing history; it's an international sporting events tradition to match or surpass any other city or town in Canada.

INTERESTING FINDINGS UNDERWATER at Brule Road, as reported by the CFB Kingston Dolphin Scuba Club.

ELEVATOR BAY DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING PHOTO SET on Flickr.

Here are photos of the panels that were on display at the start of the meeting.

Click the thumbnails to see larger versions. For really large detailed photos, click the "All Sizes" link you'll find there.

TICK POPULATION RISING, and these suckers can give you Lyme Disease. Report by Ian Elliot in today's Whig.

Previously: LYME DISEASE TICS HAVE ARRIVED from August 19, 2006.

ELEVATOR BAY PROJECT DETAILS today in The Whig in a report by Jordan Press.

The first public information meeting is tonight between 6 and 9 pm at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club.

There are several waterfront items on TUESDAY'S COUNCIL AGENDA:

Under "Delegations", Marianne Davis, Executive Director of the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship (July 12-21) will speak to Council.

Under "Reports":

• Marine Museum Purchase Status Report. See also today's other K7 news item for details because it's a doozie.
• Front-end financing of the construction of seawall improvements at Block D whereby the costs of repairing and constructing a seawall around the perimeter of Block D adjacent to the City owned lands will be paid by Homestead Land Holdings Limited and LAJJC Inc. and reimbursed by the City no later than December 31, 2008.
• License agreement renewal with Frontenac Condominium Corporation No. 20 for the seawall in Kingston Marina.

Previously (March 20, 2007): List of waterfront items in the 2007-08 municipal capital budget

A MARINE MUSEUM PURCHASE STATUS REPORT will be presented at Tuesday's Council meeting. The recommendation asks for $195,000 in funding for engineering investigations into the west wharf, east wharf and drydock structures.

There's much more in the report, including this ballpark estimate:

In the next 2 to 10 years, it is estimated that over $6,000,000 must be spent on remedial works to reinstate the following marine structures back to a serviceable condition:

• Complete rehabilitation of the west wharf
• Reconstruction of the upper section of wall around the perimeter of the drydock extension
• Rehabilitation of the east wharf
• Possible rehabilitation of the limestone block section of the drydock.

This estimated cost does not include contingency, contract administration, inspection, environmental, etc., which could easily exceed an additional $2,500,000. None of these costs, totaling an estimated $8.5 million are budgeted in the City's ten year capital plan.

NOT MAKING THIS UP: Read the caption below this photo which appeared on page 60 of the Saturday Kingston Whig Standard, The Ticket section, in a travel article about sailing in Spain.

"A Chinese team and the U.S. BMW Oracle narrowly miss capsizing off the coast of Valencia, Spain"

Can you imagine this caption on that photo appearing in a daily paper based in Annapolis MD, La Rochelle France, Sardinia Italy, or Sydney Australia?

One possible lesson:

Do not underestimate the massive amount of education required about waterfront and waterfront activities (like sailing) in this town.

Normal intelligent people can still be almost totally clueless about waterfront in general, and sailing in particular.

If you are reading this and you don't sail, then maybe it's not obvious. What we see in the photo are two normal America's Cup boats crossing as they sail upwind in light to medium breeze. They are nowhere near capsizing.

The VOLVO YOUTH WORLDS ENTRY SUMMARY shows 227 competitors and 81 coaches from 52 countries. The visiting countries with the largest teams are:

• Brazil 13
• Denmark 13
• France 13
• Great Britian 13
• Germany 13
• Italy 13
• New Zealand 13
• Australia 12
• Singapore 12
• United States 12

MARINE MUSEUM: The latest on the Sir Alexander Henry, and a shore-dive nearby.

Finally, SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE IMPERIAL WAREHOUSE. The threat of demolition certainly seems diminished.

Here's our Imperial Warehouse wiki topic and our new Flickr collection of Imperial Warehouse photos, some dating back to 1924.

The Forrest Group of Toronto has planned an ELEVATOR BAY DEVELOPMENT OPEN HOUSE in the Dining Room at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club from 6pm to 9pm on May 16, 2007. The room will be open at 5:30pm and the presentation will commence at 6pm.

THE MARINE MUSEUM'S ALEXANDER HENRY is the subject of a CKWS-TV news report today.

It seems that the Federal Government is, as usual, bumbling and uncoopertive.

Seeing as boats are being launched across the region, THE LATEST GREAT LAKES WATER LEVELS FORECAST by the US Army Corps of Engineers predicts plenty of water. Currently we're above last season's max.

CANADIANS WIN HYERES!, via Montreal Sailing, a very good blog.

FLICKR HAS BEEN GEO-TAGGING and the results so far are great.

2,297 photos of K7 already, of over 15 million worldwide. Viewable as either "Most recent" or "Most interesting", or scroll them.

THE FRIGATE HMCS HALIFAX will be paying a call to Kingston this week as part of its Great Lakes Tour. She's expected Wednesday April 25th, departing Thursday.

While in Kingston, visits of the frigate are by invitation only, whereas all the other ports of call are open to all visitors. This is no doubt because, unlike the other ports of call, Kingston doesn't have an adequate dock for her.

HMCS Halifax is 442ft 10in (134.2 m) long overall, and draws 15ft 4in (4.9 m), and she carries 234 officers and crew.

ONTARIO CLEAN MARINE AND BOATER ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS ARE SCRAPPED.

MARINE MUSEUM TO BE DISCUSSED IN CAMERA at the next Council meeting.

Well worth reading each spring: SHOCKING NEWS ABOUT COLD WATER.

- nine elite marines, water survival instructors, capsized in 36 degree water wearing sweatsuits and no PFDs. None of them survived the attempted 100 yard swim to shore.

- sixteen (16) Danish fishermen jumped into the icy waters of the North Sea when their trawler sank in a storm. They were in the water for a 2 - 3 hours before being rescued. They walked across the deck of the rescue vessel and went down into the galley to warm up. Each and every one collapsed and died in the galley.

- an average adult person has a 50/50 chance of surviving a 50 yard swim in 50F water.

- a 50 year old person in 50F water has a 50/50 chance of surviving for 50 minutes.

Read the whole thing.

The water temperature in Kingston Harbour is currently about 37F.

WHAT'S BEHIND AND UNDER THESE UGLY BUILDINGS?

Should someone be made to answer for these?

Here's the project that put them there.

Also, click the various images and diagrams for larger versions.

If you read the public documents, there's apparently no reference to the ugly bunkers.

Interesting: Here is how the major pipes connect. Our sewers and our waterfront are inexorably linked.

5 SCOTS, 1000 ISLANDS is about cruising these parts in 19' Flying Scot sailboats. From the June 2005 issue of Sailing magazine.

Update: Here's another: Out Among the Islands by Sailing Canoe

ONTARIO HANSARD: Great Lakes Shoreline Right of Passage Act.

One year ago, April 10 2006, COLLINS BAY MARINA WAS LAUNCHING BOATS.

This year there's still ice in Collins Bay.

Click for the latest web cam photos from Collins Bay Marina.

We need more waterfront web cams like this.

EELS IN SERIOUS DECLINE from the Saturday Globe.

THE 18-PASSENGER GEORGIAN CLIPPER is the subject of a short piece in the Sunday Chicago Tribune. The company plans 20 sailings this season, all of them based in Kingston.

But it's a reminder that Kingston lacks sufficient deep-water docking to accommodate this sort of business on a larger scale. Moreover what little we have is disintegrating.

The Wolfe Island WIND PROJECT INFORMATION DISPLAY PANELS have been posted.

Here are direct links to the most intersting panels:

• How Will Sailing be Affected?
  
• Visual Simulation - from Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Kingston
  
• Visual Simulation - from Shoal Tower, Kingston
  
• Visual Simulation - on Wolfe Island 1
  
• Visual Simulation - on Wolfe Island 2
  
• Visual Simulation - from Victoria Street Park, Wolfe Island
  
• Visual Simulation - from Simcoe Island
  
• Turbine Lighting
  

COULD BE A GOOD TOPIC: Sailing And The Wolfe Island Wind Project.

Feel free to edit the page, and add your insights into it.

TWO TAKEAWAYS FROM THE WIND PROJECT OPEN HOUSE:

Firstly, for swimmers and windsurfers, it looks like they will be drilling at an angle from the shore outwards, and not trenching through the shoal at Paterson Park. That's good.

Secondly, those wind turbines are huge!. The rotors sweep a circle 93m in diameter, and the highest rotor point is 123m minimum, which of course will be visible from some distance.

NEW .COM AND .CA WEB ADDRESSES FOR K7: K7Waterfront.com and K7Waterfront.ca.

Now you don't need to remember the .org part of the K7Waterfront web address because .com and .ca work too.

REMINDER: THE PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE for The Wolfe Island Wind Project is this Wednesday, March 28, 2007 between 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Ambassador Conference Resort, 1550 Princess Street, Kingston.

In short, current plans lay the 237 kV cable right through one of Kingston's best lakefront swimming holes. Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.

Patterson Park, shelf and shoals

Photo: KMAPS

A good thing: Kingston Yacht Club is running a BOAT LOAN PROGRAM.

The KYC Junior Sailing program has a limited number of boats for racing-level kids who do not have their own boat.

Do you have a Laser gathering dust in your garage, or hiding under your deck? Do you have an Optimist that your kids no longer use? If so, and if you would be willing to loan, charter or otherwise make it available to our Junior Sailing kids, then please contact Chris Walmsley at lts@kingstonyachtclub.com.

This sounds like something worth supporting.

A brand new 30-foot MetalCraft Marine fireboat SINKS AT THE DOCK in Newport News, VA.

Monday March 26 2007 update: VANDALISM IS SUSPECTED.

There are WATERFRONT ITEMS IN THE 2007-08 MUNICIPAL CAPITAL BUDGET which should be approved tonight.

• Under Culture and Rec
  • $30,000 for a Beaches Study
  • $30,000 for Beaches Imprementation
  • $50,000 for Cycling and Pathways Implementation
  • $30,000 for the Lake Ontario Park Master Plan
• Under Marinas
  • $80,000 for Confederation Basin-Power upgrade on E and F docks. E-F docks are on your immediate right, jutting towards the Ramada, as you walk onto the main dock.
  • $50,000 for POH Break Wall floating extenston
  • $40,000 for POH Accessibility Upgrades
  • $30,000 for POH, for the facings of D and E docks. D and E docks are the two closest to the grassy playground area.
  • $10,000 POH launch ramp upgrades
  • $40,000 for Confederation Basin-Marinas Business Case Study (?!)
• Under Planning and Development
  • $75,000 for a Waterfront Strategy
• Under Properties
  • $105,000 for various at the Marine Museum (roof, chimney)

MINIMUS SAILING TEAM FUNDRAISER on Tuesday April 3 at 1900, at the Kingston Yacht Club in the Partridge room. Tickets are $10 at the door. Donations towards the Nathan Baron's Mini Transat campaign will be greatly appreciated. The speaker is Brian Hancock, veteran of three Whitbreads, maxi catamarans, and Open 50's among other things.

Following days of conflicting reports, it's now official: OIL FROM MONDAY MORNING'S DERAILMENT LEAKS INTO CATARAQUI CREEK.

No change yet to most of the pages fetched by those menu items.

We can only speculate why 180 pixels across the top of page is wasted on whitespace, logos and images.

It seems they are still presenting radar imagery according to their internal worldview. Hands-up if you know where Franktown is located.

The proposed NORMAN ROGERS AIRPORT MASTER PLAN calls for approach lights, presumably mounted on towers, through Collins Bay Marina, across Collins Bay, over Bath Road, the rail tracks, and into the neighborhood along the flight path.

Yesterday The Whig Standard published this Notice of Application and Hearing for the underwater cable (see diagrams) that will link the Wolfe Island wind project with the mainland. People have until March 16th to make presentations of concerns on the matter, and until April 5th to send letters.

A notable point of contention is the plan to pass a 230 kV power cable through one of the best swimming spots on the Kingston side, on the mostly smooth flat rock off Paterson Park.

Could this please be done in a sensible and respectful manner, to minimize the possibility of flaking and erosion of the layered limestone bottom, both short and long term? Can we please pick the best place and best way to come ashore, one which might be just a few dozen metres one way or another, in recognition that people of all ages should be swimming barefoot there, say, for the next few centuries of summers?

Everyone concerned about this popular swimming/windsurfing area off the point near Paterson Park should send their comments to the Ontario Energy Board before April 5. You can send an email outlining why you think cable routing should absolutely respect people's continued long term bare-footed recreational use of the smooth flat-rock reef to boardsec@oeb.gov.on.ca. Be sure to include the file reference number EB-2007-0034 in the subject of your email.

Also City Councillor: Dorothy Hector
E-mail: dhector@cityofkingston.ca
Home Phone: 613-634-1732

Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.

Paterson Park, shelf and shoals

Photo: KMAPS

More generally, see an interactive map of Kingston's waterfront parks.

THE LATEST GREAT LAKES WATER LEVELS FORECAST by the US Army Corps of Engineers shows that Lake Ontario water levels have dropped dramatically in the past month. Last month's levels forecast predicted little change through Spring. That's no longer the case.

Here's the BRIGANTINE "ST. LAWRENCE II" SCHEDULE FOR SUMMER 2007. See too the list of donated things they need, like a T.V. and VCR for classroom work, used laser printer, and other useful stuff you may have gathering dust.

NATHAN BARON'S MINIMUS SAILING TEAM WEBSITE IS UP. Read also CKWS-TV's coverage of the campaign launch last Wednesday night.

THERE'S INCREASING CONCERN FOR PATERSON PARK SHOAL, one of the best spots for swimming along the Kingston waterfront, and an exquisite sailboarding wave break.

The Wolfe Island Wind Project currently proposes to run its ~230kV cable in a trench through there.

Considering the underwater portion of the cable is already 7,500m long, surely doing a Smart Thing is possible.

Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.

Big waves off Paterson Park

Photo: Dave Mody

Paterson Park, shelf and shoals

Photo: KMAPS

SENATOR HUGH SEGAL IS MOVING THE MARINE MUSEUM FILE FORWARD, according to The Whig today.

Also in the same edition: THE IMPENDING IMPERIAL WAREHOUSE DEMOLITION. For more background and some great historical photos, see our Imperial Warehouse wiki topic

THE SNOWBIRDS AIRSHOW SAFETY ZONE IN KINGSTON HARBOUR has an interesting shape and orientation. The next airshow is scheduled for Wednesday June 27 2007 at 5:30 PM.

NATHAN BARON IS GOING FOR IT. At KYC on Wednesday evening, February 28th, Nathan Baron will be announcing and speaking about his upcoming campaign for the 2009 Mini Transat, a single-handed race from France to Brazil.

THE SNOWBIRDS AIRSHOW is coming back to Kingston on Wednesday June 27th, for a 45-minute show at 5:30 p.m.

"Snowbirds"

Photo: Robin Dawes

Buried in the 2007 City budget, THE IMPERIAL WAREHOUSE, a 100-year old limestone building on the City waterfront, is apparently to be torn down.

The city has let this heritage building go to the dogs for a long time.

KINGSTON'S RAW SEWAGE DUMPING INCREASED IN 2006, up 11% over 2005, in fact.

ICE, ICE, BABY and other photographs of surging ice in Kingston Harbour.

Update: Wow!.

Right now, when levels are normally at their lowest, levels are at last year's maximum.

More in the Water Levels topic.

A REMINDER: The Friends of the Phoebe's mid-winter special event is Sunday from 2.00 to 4.30 PM in the Kingston Public Library, Johnston Street.

KINGSTON'S 2007 VOLVO YOUTH SAILING ISAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP REGATTA WEBSITE is slowly evolving.

The Notice of Race is now online. Expect Section 12 to generate considerable flak from team leaders, coaches and parents.

Which doesn't appear to square with Section 15:

LEVELS ARE SERIOUSLY ABOVE NORMAL IN LAKE ONTARIO. About 17" above normal, in fact, which is huge. Surprised? Normally Lake Ontario is at its lowest right now. But right now we're very close to last year's high water mark in August.

Conversely the big lakes upstream -- Lakes Michigan, and Huron and Superior -- are still at way below average levels.

MARINE MUSEUM WATCH: AN ARTICLE AND AN EDITORIAL in today's Whig Standard. Also, here's a link to tonight's Council motion in support of the Marine Museum.

Today, finally, THE WHIG COVERS THE MARINE MUSEUM ISSUE.

Typical Whig, the online version of the story doesn't provide the URL for the petition. It's here at ipetitions.com.

AN ONLINE PETITION is set up in support of Kingston's Marine Museum of the Great Lakes which is being evicted by the City of Kingston.

More info about the operations of the CANADA BORDER SERVICES AGENCY OFFICE IN KINGSTON has been added to our topic on Customs.

It's interesting that Treasure Island Marina, which is just 6 NM East of downtown Kingston, and all points further East are under the jurisdiction of the much larger Landsdowne (Thousand Islands Bridge) CBSA office, which is about 30 NM from downtown Kingston.

DAVID MORE SPEAKS OUT about apparent shenanigans at the City of Kingston involving the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes.

It seems that by November 2007, The Marine Museum has to vacate its premises and dispose of the icebreaker Alexander Henry. And nobody is saying why. Read the whole thing.

Sunday February 4, 2007, from 2.00 to 4.30 PM in the Kingston Public Library, Johnston Street. Admission $5.00 in support of the Friends of the Phoebe building fund for tickets phone 546-4154 or at the door.

In the Wilson Room: Live music, exhibits, meet old and new friends in a welcoming environment

In the Boucher Room: Cruise the Thames between Oxford and Windsor with well known photographer and raconteur Bob Fleming

In the Foyer: Enjoy the spectacular silent auction. There are special tables with tools, gift certificates, antiques, jewelry, practical household items, toys and much, much more; a true smorgasbord. While you do the bidding, munch on some delectable refreshments

See also the Friends of the Phoebe web site

The Phoebe in 1982.