Collins Bay Marina

FIVE-ANCHOR ECO-RATINGS have finally been awarded to both POH and Confed by the Ontario Marina Operators Association's Clean Marine Program.

The City of Kingston-operated marinas join Collins Bay Marina which received its 5-anchor rating in 2005, one of the first in Ontario to achieve it.

Other local eco-rated marinas include Kingston Marina, Treasure Island Marina, and Loyalist Cove Marina.

Local OMOA-member marinas that have no eco-rating at all include Rideau Marina and Blue Woods Marina.

MARINAS.COM has a very impressive database of aerial photographs of marinas all over the world, including many in the region. Have a look.

In Kingston

• Blue Woods Marina
• CFB Kingston Yacht Club
• Collins Bay Marina
• Cunningham Rd Marina
• Kingston Marina
• Music Marina
• Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
• Rideau Marina
• Royal Military College
• Treasure Island Marina
• Trident Yacht Club

In Gananoque

• Gananoque Municipal Marina
• Brennan Marine
• Clark's Marina
• Gananoque Inn
• Gordon Marine
• Hunt's Marina

In Bath

• Loyalist Cove Marina

LITO OCHOTORENA'S FLICKR PAGE has some good photos of yesterday's annual "Don't Rock the Boat" water safety event at Collins Bay Marina.

On K7's Flickr page you can find a photo of the event's man-overboard demonstration, as well as pictures of last weekend's visit by HMCS Kingston taken by Mike Hill and Geoff Webster.

HUB STEENBAKKERS DESIGNATED AS A CERTIFIED MARINA MANAGER.

From Boating Industry Canada:

The CMM designation is a professional qualification and certification program assuring marina customers, investors, bankers, insurers and the public that marina properties are professionally managed and run. The award follows his completion of the Advanced Marina Management course, providing training in site planning, marina-development skills, marina-operation techniques, business strategies, risks and liabilities and environmental policies. Hub becomes only the 4th person in Canada and the 212th person in the world to attain this certification since the programs inception in 1992.

Hub owns and operates Collins Bay Marina.

A CHALLENGE FROM COLLINS BAY MARINA in support of the International Water Levels Coalition (IWLC).

The IWLC is a citizens group that acts as a watchdog and advocate on water level issues to the International Joint Commission (IJC) and International St. Lawrence River Board of Control (ISLRBC).

The IWLC mission is tremendously important, but their membership, especially in Canada, is quite small. This year, Collins Bay Marina took steps to help expand that membership and strengthen their voice on our behalf.

The challenge is to other marinas and clubs to urge their members to support the IWLC.

We would like to challenge each marina, association, boating business and yacht club on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario to mount a similar membership drive for the IWLC. Aware citizens, active in making our needs known to government, are the only route we have to protecting our waters, our recreation and our businesses.

Read the challenge and sign-up to become a IWLC member (Cost: $10).

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'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.

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.

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.

A NEW 65-TON CRANE FOR COLLINS BAY MARINA.

Wow.

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.

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.

This 112-foot Westport luxury yacht recently spent a few hours at Collins Bay Marina. Next stop: Confederation Basin

Over at Collins Bay Marina they're already launching boats. "This is the earliest we have ever started the season!" says Hub Steenbakkers, owner of Collins Bay Marina. "It is starting off to be a great season!".

Here are two views from the controllable Collins Bay Marina web cam which you can take for a spin at www.CollinsBayMarina.com/WebCam.html.

At other locations:

• Rideau Marina should begin launch activities in the next week or two, and
• Kingston Yacht Club launch day is April 29th.
• At Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, this afternoon they were hoisting-in the finger docks which winter ashore.

CKWS-TV reports that Collins Bay Marina has achieved the Ontario Marina Operators Association's highest honours for environmental best practices.

Collins Bay Marina has other environmentally-related feathers itn its cap:

• Receipt of the OMOA's Robert Eaton Environmental Award “for excellence in environmental practices within the marine industry”.
• Presentation with the DuPont Canada Annual Ecology Award from the Cataraqui Conservation Foundation.
• Seminal work with the OMOA executive in establishing the Clean Marine Program that is now in place across the province.
• Education of boaters and the provision of incentives for participation in environmentally responsible measures and programs.
• The provision of specialized equipment and implementation of appropriate containment procedures to enable their boaters to work safely with potentially hazardous materials in the course of doing maintenance on their boats.