MUSKEGON, MI – Cost savings on waterfront restoration on a dozen sites along Muskegon Lake’s south shore will allow for more environmental work to be done this summer.
The $10 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant will now pay for work along the Lakeshore Trail bike path below Lakeshore Drive. The work will be along the city of Muskegon-owned waterfront property from the Lakeshore Yacht Harbour on the east to the former Amoco tank farm property on the west.
The Muskegon City Commission unanimously approved the shoreline restoration work earlier this week. No city funds are needed for the project.
The work will improve the views along the bike path and provide a more natural shoreline environment for fish and wildlife, according to project manager Kathy Evans – an environmental planner for the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission. WMRDC is managing the grant that was obtained by the Great Lakes Commission.
The 2009 NOAA grant has restored a dozen sites along the lakeshore from private residences on Edgewater Street on the west end of the lake to the city’s Richard’s Park on the east end. Major work was done on the Grand Trunk dock property in the Lakeside Neighborhood and the Ryerson Creek area just northeast of downtown Muskegon.
The grant work will be done this construction season, Evans said. The lakeshore restoration project fund has less than $1 million left, she said. Those funds are being used by environmental engineers J.F. New to design the work below Lakeshore Drive. Project officials will put the restoration work out for bids in the coming weeks.
“The work will be done this summer,” Evans told city commissioners. “We understand that the bike path is there and we will do the work so as not to interrupt its use.”
Invasive plants, non-native trees, broken concrete and the waste wood buried along the shoreline from the Lumber Era will all be removed. The site will be replanted with native wetland plants, shrubs and trees, Evans said.
Property owners having sites improved with the NOAA funds agree to a conservation easement that keeps the shoreline natural. The city site below Lakeshore Drive will have areas not restored so that in the future the city can build fishing piers or walkways from the trail to the water’s edge, Evans said.
The goal of the Muskegon Lake restoration work is to improve the recreational use of the shoreline, improve the aesthetics and create a more natural habitat for fish and wildlife. In the long term, the environmental cleanup work is to ultimately remove Muskegon Lake from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “area of concern” list of contaminated areas.
The city owns 34.6 acres of land in a narrow strip between the base of the hill along Lakeshore Drive and the water’s edge. The Lakeshore Trail bike path follows the city property along with railroad tracks that once served the former Sappi paper mill facility to the west.
The city owns the contaminated former Amoco property immediately to the west, a site that continues to be cleaned of petroleum. The oil company property was purchased through the proceeds of the city’s sale of the Chase Hammond Golf Course, funds that built the Lakeshore Trail bike and pedestrian pathway, city officials said.
The NOAA lakeshore restoration grant already has provided the funds for an extensive cleanup of the shoreline of the Amoco property.
The city purchased two acres immediately east of the Amoco property in 1998 from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County for $18,000 as part of the bike path project. The remainder of the wetlands owned by the city has been in public hands for decades. City officials said they do know the history of how the city obtained the site.
Email: dalexan1@mlive.com
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Down To The Wire — Ryan DeVos Wins East Coast Championship
West Palm Beach, Fla. – Two more crazy races were conducted in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday leaving Ryan DeVos on Volpe with winning America’s Cup helmsman Ed Baird as tactician and crew of Scott Nixon, Sam Rogers, Mike Hill, Drew Weirda and Scott Martins as 2012 Melges 32 East Coast Champions. In second overall, Jason Carroll on Argo finished with equal points, yet lost the tiebreaker to DeVos. From Italy, Lanfranco Cirillo’s Fantastica remained in the hunt all day to finish third overall.
The 2012 East Coast Championship was graciously hosted by the Sailfish Club of Florida in conjunction with Rybovich Marina, consisting of eight races over three days.
Sunday marked the final showdown with only five points separating the overnight leaders. The first race was key as DeVos came on strong, loving the big 18-20 knots of breeze, most notably on the last downwind run to win. John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti led for most of the race, but was overtaken right at the line by DeVos. Mark Plaxton’s INTAC had a great race to finish third and Cirillo was fourth. Carroll, who was OCS at the start recovered well to take fifth.
The last race brought on rain showers and a building breeze. Big waves made for great planing conditions downwind. Plaxton took an early lead only to be overtaken by Alec Cutler on Hedgehog late in the game. Cutler found just the right groove in Race Two commanding the lead at the final top mark to extend for the win. DeVos was fast upwind, rounding second, chasing Cutler to the finish. They finished first and second, while Carroll grabbed third ahead of Kilroy in fourth and Cirillo in fifth.
MANY THANKS ALL AROUND This is the first time the fleet has ever raced in West Palm Beach and there are many individuals to thank. In particular, the IM32CA thanks the 16 teams that traveled from all over the world making it a successful event. Palm Beach conditions proved to be a challenging place to sail. The IM32CA is appreciative of PRO Hank Stuart, Deputy PRO Paul Gingras and his entire Sailfish Club of Florida Race Committee Members and support staff.
The 2012 Melges 32 East Coast Championship would not have been possible if it were not for the kindness and generosity of John Taylor and Bill Koch for the use of their boats for Race Committee duty, but also to Ninkasi Racing for providing the much needed complimentary beer apres racing each day. Thanks to Samba Pa Ti, Volpe and Delta Racing Teams for the use of their marks, equipment and ground tackle during the event. The staff at Rybovich Marina was incredible, most especially to the impeccable hospitality of Wayne Huizenga, Jr. and Anthony LaCavalla.
A very special thanks is extended to the Palm Beach Sailing Club for hosting the Friday night barbeque that was much enjoyed by all the teams.
TOP TEN RESULTS (FINAL, After eight races) 1.) Ryan DeVos, Volpe; 1-[14]-2-11-9-2-1-2 = 28 2.) Jason Carroll, Argo; 5-3-[14]-1-10-1-5-3 = 28 3.) Lanfranco Cirillo, Fantastica; 2-5-[16]-5-6-5-4-5 = 32 4.) Mark Plaxton, INTAC; 8-1-13-7.5/RDG-8-[14]-3-6 = 45.6 5.) Steve Rhyne, Mojo; 4-12-[13/ZFP]-7-1-3-[15]-10 = 50 6.) John Taylor, Ninkasi; 6-4-9/ZFP-5.5/RDG-3-[15]-10-12 = 51.3 7.) Alex Jackson, Leenabarca; 12-2-3-3-[14]-12-9-11 = 52 8.) Alec Cutler, Hedgehog; [16/ZFP]-13-12/ZFP-4-2-10-11-1 = 53 9.) Pieter Taselaar, Bliksem; 9-[17/RAF]-1-2-11-16-7-7 = 53 10.) Joel Ronning, Catapult; 7-6-15/ZFP-9.3/RDG-9.3/RDG-9.3/RDG-6-9 = 55.9
Preparations by this sportboat crew are relaxed, but the action is about to heat up among the 249 sailboats that will compete at Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week for the next three days. Photo Credit: Meredith Block/Charleston Race Week Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week runs April 19 – April 22 and is open to all monohull sailboats 20 to 80 feet in length. The event is owned and managed by Charleston Ocean Racing Association and is supported by its title sponsor, Sperry Top-Sider, as well as the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, Vineyard Vines, and Gosling’s Rum. Additional sponsors include The Town of Mt. Pleasant, Gill, Coral Reef Sailing Apparel, Newport Shipyard, North Sails, Marlow Ropes Ltd., South Carolina State Ports Authority, and Interlux/Awlgrip, along with West Marine, Pierside Boatworks, College of Charleston Community Sailing, Other Brother Entertainment, Orbis, Harken Yacht Equipment, B&G Simrad, Azalea Moving and Storage, Photoboat.com, Charleston Community Sailing, Sail Charleston, and Lewmar Navtec. For updates about the event, or additional information, log on to the regatta’s website www.charlestonraceweek.com or email info@charlestonraceweek.com
As promised this next instalment about penalties in Match Racing is taking one around the pin-end of the finish.
The rules prescribe that you are not allowed to taken penalty within the zone. But that is only for the zone of a rounding mark! The pin-end of the finish is not a rounding mark, it is a passing mark. Therefore penalties are allowed in that zone.
The big advantage of taking your penalty around that mark is that you can finish directly after having completed your penalty – even with little boat speed – by bearing away to the line. It is one manoeuvre that – if you’ve done your training – has been done a hundred times before.
The Blue boat with the outstanding penalty needs to be approximately 4 to 5 boat lengths ahead, to be able to complete the penalty and still finish first. She enters the zone clear ahead and Yellow must give mark-room in position 1. Blue luffs after passing the mark and makes sure that her spinnaker head is below the goose-neck. (Something that has to be done before passing head to wind, that’s when Blue is starting to take her penalty)
Passing head to wind she losses her mark-room under rule 18.2(b) and must keep clear under rule 21.2. As soon as Blue has reached a course 90 degrees from true wind the penalty is complete. (in position 6). She’s on port tack and Yellow is on starboard tack. So Blue is still keep clear boat. But because she now has an overlap with Yellow and is within the zone, rule 18 again switches on again. Blue is inside boat and Yellow must give her mark-room, under rule 18.2(a). Blue is already at the mark, so she’s entitled to sail her proper course. Which is to bear away and finish as soon as possible. Yellow must gybe or sail by the lee, to give Blue that room.
Boom?
There’s one other thing – besides getting the spinnaker down in time – that is your boom. With bigger boats the boom is almost at a ninety degree angle and really sticks out. In rounding the mark it happens that the boom sticks out so far, that the end is over the mark and over the line. Rule C7.2(d) however dictates that the boat must completely be on the course side, after having completed her penalty, before she can finish. Part of the boom may never be on the correct side. So she can’t finish.
If the RC gets a heads up from the umpires about the leading boat having an outstanding penalty, they watch – particularly that boom – so see if Blue ever manages to get completely to the course side, before crossing the line for the second time.
pril 11, 2012 11:27 AM
Registrations continue to arrive and the RFI queue has some very interesting boats requesting to participate. As we hit the 300 registered boat mark and close in on the entry deadline, you will not want to be left behind, as we have a great race planned for 2012. If you haven’t submitted your RFI, please do so as soon as you can. If you have received an invitation but haven’t accepted it yet, again, please take quick action to ensure your spot at the start line.
A quick reminder that The One-Design Section request deadline is in a couple of days- April 13, 2012. So if your fleet delegate has not sent your request in to our Chief Measurer, do so today.
Back by popular demand, the Yacht Club Challenge will be open to any club with at least five boats in the race (NOR 15.2). So who is in this year? Who will win it?
We will offer our ‘Adopt-a-Skipper’ program again this year. This program matches first timers with experienced skippers, giving you a chance to have someone who can answer your questions and give advice as you prepare for your first race. We encourage all first-time participants to take advantage of this free program, and we particularly encourage members of our cruising division to do so. If you’re interested, please contact the Race Coordinator at the e-mail below.
We have a full line-up of celebrations on the Chicago end and on the island. There will be plenty of activities for every member of your crew and family. Stay tuned for more information as these unfold.
I’m sure I will see many of you at the upcoming Safety at Sea Seminar coming up this Saturday (which is sold out) or at the Chris Bedford weather seminar on Sunday, which still has a few seats available (call CYC Front desk at 312-861-7777 to make a reservation, see the Mac Website for more details).
For questions, issues or concerns, contact racecoordinator@chicagoyachtclub.org
See you in Chicago very soon!
Lou Sandoval Chairman 104th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Veuve Clicquot
Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac prepares for il Mostro’s arrival
Chicago Yacht Club announces that it has received a request for invitation from the famous Volvo Ocean 70 Puma Ocean Racing boat il Mostro (Italian for ‘the monster’).
The 70-foot Goetz Custom Boats Volvo 70 was recently purchased by Chicago Yacht Club member Peter Thornton with the specific goal of bringing honors for the famous Royono Trophy back to Chicago Yacht Club.
The Royono trophy is awarded for the first monohull to cross the finish line. Mr. Thornton will retain the signature name for the boat ‘il Mostro’ and will berth her in a location yet to be determined in Chicago’s harbor system.
‘I purchased the boat with the goal of sharing the race with my family and friends with whom I race with,’ said Thornton.
