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Around the World of Sailing

18 September  2002

Finish Line

Linky Sailing News

America's Cup teams are preparing via intramural racing.  Here's a comparative look at the contenders.  Excellence is repeating as Robert Scheidt leads the Laser Worlds.  Maiden 2's record binge continues.

Water Level Update

Reference Point
Difference from Chart Datum +9
Difference from last month -3
Difference from last year +10
Difference from long term average for September -12
Difference from Record High -44
Difference from Record Low +19
Forecast for 13 October 2002 -2

Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lake Michigan and Huron.
For information on other lakes see:
http://huron.lre.usace.army.mil/levels/weekly.html

Rowing Reporter

The Rowing Reporter is a weekly column of commentary and
observations by Ike Stephenson, Marine Informationist. It
concentrates on the home waters of Around the World of
Sailing, Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.
****************

Great Lakes Water Quality

Recently the International Joint Commission released The
11th Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality. One
section looked at three items that help measure water
quality. These are drinking water, swimming safety, and
fish quality.

Great Lakes drinking water got the highest mark of the
three. The report stated, "Treated drinking water is safe
for human consumption; human activities do not result in
application of consumption restrictions." Makes the growth
of the bottled water all the more ironic in the Great Lakes
Region.

One of the goals is to improve the fish quality. The report
states the goal this way, "There shall be no restrictions on
the human consumption of fish in the waters of the Great
Lakes basin ecosystem." This has not yet been achieved.
They describe this area as mixed, improving saying "The
ecosystem component displays both good and degraded
features, but overall, conditions are improving toward an
acceptable state."

The final goal is, "No public bathing beaches closed as a
result of human activities or conversely, all beaches are
open and available for public swimming." This goal, too,
has not yet been met. The report describes this area as
mixed, "The state of the ecosystem component has some
features that are in good condition and some features that
are degraded, perhaps differing between lake basins."

The report then gives one mark of approval, another showing
improvement, and one less than positive result. This can be
construed as encouraging. However, juxtapose that with this
statement "The [Great Lakes Water Quality] Agreement is now
30 years old and even though progress has been made, it has
been slow. We see no evidence based on the nature and pace
of current activities that restoration will happen within
the next generation's life time," said Herb Gray, chair of
the IJC's Canadian Section.

************

J. Arthur Hunter's Journal

While light keeping I bought a pair of books which contain
the journals of J. Arthur Hunter who served at Lake
Michigan's Little Sable light early in the 20th century.
From time to time I will share some of Hunter's experience.

September 18th 1900 "I was to Mears for mail and supplies."

Even today the Big Sable Lighthouse maintains a PO Box in
Ludington. With limited vehicle access it's not likely a
mail carrier would want to walk a daily 3 mile round trip to
deliver mail!

Mears where Hunter visited is named after Charles Mears a
logger and politician. It is to the north of Silver Lake
and West of US 31.
*****************
Book Scout Look Out: The Pirate Round

Maine writer James L. Nelson is both a successful and
prolific writer of maritime fiction. His Revolution at Sea
series has reached 5 books. The book under review here. The
Pirate Round, is the third of his Brethren of the Coast
trilogy. Next up will be a pair of Civil War Naval novels
with a Confederate point of view.

In a novel you'll often find three kinds of writing: plot,
character and description. Different writers and novels
combine these elements to come up with their stories.

Nelson's The Pirate Round uses plot most heavily. I don't
believe a chapter passes without another twist of the plot.
Whether it's finding a sinking ship mid ocean, meeting an
old pirate rival thought dead or a downturn in marital
relations, the plot constantly changes, morphing almost at
random.

Readers all have different views of how the three above
mentioned elements are mixed. In this readers opinion the
plot element is too heavily used in the Pirate Round. In
fact there are so many plot elements that not all are given
proper scope. Shipwrecked sailors picked up from mid ocean
appear in a dramatic rescue scene and then go away.

It must be said that this is the third and last of Nelson's
trilogy. Perhaps he made sure to include all material and
snippets he had developed. After all, if they don't go in
the Pirate Round then where?

Again as it is the 3rd book perhaps Nelson felt he could
skimp on character development. Marlowe, Bickerstaff and
Marlowe's wife Elizabeth are on their 3rd outing and Nelson
may assume they are well enough off and so maybe excused for
not working this area too hard.

The one area that could have been delved into more is
descriptive writing. The settings such as London and
Madagascar are new to the series. We don't see enough of
them and what we do learn is often simplistic, even generic.

In the end what we have is a plot heavy book about pirates.
While it is not Nelson's best it's still a fast moving
watery action adventure that shouldn't take long to read.


A Coast Guard HH-65 Helicopter passes the dunes near Big Sable Light station.