Portsmouth Olympic Harbour

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

NOTICE FROM THE CITY about the expansion of the Point Pleasant water treatment plant.

A Public Information Centre will be held at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Press Lounge from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 30, 2008, to allow the public to meet the project team, discuss the study objectives and to receive comments and input.

See also What's behind and under these ugly buildings? from April 2007, and the Urban Area Water Supply Master Plan which is a comprehensive overview with many interesting charts and diagrams.

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:

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.

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
  

MORE MARINA SHENANEGANS IN THE CITY:

Here's a scanned copy of the 11-page City of Kingston Request For Information (RFI) No. CS-AM-2006-02 on the future of Confederation Basin and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour that describes itself as

"Partnering opportunity with the municipality in the provision of capital investment in marina infrastructure and delivery of marinas operations and marketing services"

Read the whole thing.

[Updated]: Click here to view the July 25th 2006 City of Kingston website announcement of the matter. Click here to see the interesting and detailed documents submitted to Council to approve this move in late March, 2006.

Various questions arise from all this:

• Why hasn't this document been widely circulated? It was advertised once in Kingston This Week. Pick-up only from the Midland St office. It was never publicly posted online by the City. Was a notice of this forwarded to, say, the Ontario Marina Operators Association? Were players from the wider marina industry approached? Why such a short leash?

• What is the linkage between this RFI and the Request For Proposals, which apparently would soon follow? Why the rush? The RFI packs onerous production requirements into a short time, and reserves all rights to plans and intellectual property conveyed by respondents. The period for questions, for example, has already expired, just three weeks into this.

• What's in place to protect taxpayers, protect access for boating residents and events, and for equitable treatment for other local waterfront-related interests, both commercial and public?

• Why does all this appear to not pass a basic stink-test? Last April, for example, the The Kingston Brewing Company was precipitously given the task of running #6 Clarence Street, which is now the marina office, in what was the restaurant nearest to Confederation Basin.

The City of Kingston has issued a Request for Information for potential partners to "provide capital investment in marina infrastructure" and to "deliver marinas operations and marketing services" for Confederation Basin and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.

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.

At issue before Council tonight, the City of Kingston proposes to rent an office at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour to Clifts Marine Sales of Toronto whose homepage already touts this as a done deal. Note the rent. We're guessing this is the thin edge of the wedge, and it's only a matter of time before they start renting docks and using POH as a major sales centre.

Surely we're not the only ones who missed the release of the December 2005 CORK Newsletter. Among the interesting items in the two pages are:

• The Trillium Foundation has provided over $50,000 towards the purchase of three new race support boats.
• Marianne Davis is CORK's new general manager.
• The City of Kingston has received a grant from the Government of Canada to refurbish Portsmouth Olympic Harbour which will include fixing-up the existing ramps, adding new ramps, and refurbishing docks.