What is this?

What is this?

Or rather, what was it?

Dead sea creature found on the beach of Mount Hope Bay when taking my three biggest grandkids for a walk this morning. These kids love finding dead stuff!

It isn't a quiz. I don't know the right answer.

Surely one of my readers does.

The Seeger Bridge

Pete Seeger, the famous folk singer and environmental activist, died this week.

Not many people know that Pete was also famous because of a bridge. Here is a picture of his banjo bridge…

The Seeger bridge

The "bridge" of Pete's banjo is somewhat unusual.

(For those unfamiliar with instruments like the banjo, the bridge is a piece of wood that sits on top of the head and transmits the vibrations from the strings that rest on top if it to the head and the rest of the banjo.)

The bridge on a banjo is usually a straight piece of wood, with 3 contact points, like this…

But the Seeger bridge has "outriggers" like this…

As I understand it, the point about the Seeger bridge is to excite a larger area near the center of the head than is possible with conventional style banjo bridges.



Now there is a proposal to name another bridge after Pete Seeger.

There is an old bridge called the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River north of New York City.

But the current Tappan Zee Bridge was built in the Korean War and was only designed to last 50 years. It carries much more traffic than it was designed for and it is crumbling. It has been called "one of the most decrepit and potentially dangerous bridges" in the US. Anything from further corrosion to a minor earthquake or a maritime accident could bring it tumbling down.

So the good people in New York State are building a brand new bridge across the Tappan Zee.

As you probably know, for almost the last 50 years of his life Pete was active in promoting action to clean up the Hudson River through the the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization, dealing with everything from PCB contamination of the river caused by industrial manufacturing, to pesticide runoff, to harbor dredge spoil disposal.

Everyone who enjoys water sports on the Hudson owes Pete Seeger a huge debt of thanks.

And now we can thank him, posthumously, in a very special way.

Let's name the new Tappan Zee Bridge after Peter Seeger. What could be more appropriate?

The current Tappan Zee Bridge is really called the Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge.

Do you really want the new bridge to be called the Governor Andrew Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge? Or would you prefer the Governor Elliot Spitzer Tappan Zee Bridge?

It should be the Seeger Bridge.

The Seeger Bridge?

If you agree, then please go and sign the online petition at

https://www.change.org/petitions/gov-cuomo-name-the-new-tappan-zee-bridge-for-pete-seeger

Peter Seeger deserves to be commemorated by something more significant than a banjo bridge.

Dead Polar Bear

The climate is changing.

Sea ice in the Arctic is at record low levels.

Polar bears feed mainly on seals and need sea ice to capture their prey.

Because of the retreating sea ice, this bear had to go searching for food far from his normal habitat.

And he starved to death.

Full story here.

Largest Glacier Calving Ever Filmed

The History of Climate Change Negotiations in 83 Seconds

What do you think about the controversial topic of climate change?

I Can See Massachusetts From My Backside

From my back garden in certain spots I can just see Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts, four miles away at the north end of Mount Hope Bay.

Brayton Point produces more carbon dioxide than any other source in New England and New York - almost 5.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2010 and 2011. Brayton Point also tops the EPA list of the largest emitters of chemicals in Massachusetts in 2010,  with more than 1 millions pounds of chemicals.

The two 497-foot-tall cooling towers have the capacity to pump more than an Olympic-size swimming pool worth of water each minute, and the concrete in both towers is enough to pave a sidewalk 250 miles long. They are the tallest buildings in Massachusetts outside Boston.

I live in Rhode Island.

But I can see Massachusetts from my backside.

A Nice Day Out In Newport

Tillerwoman and I headed down to Newport yesterday. Not sure where to go we headed down to Fort Adams, home of the famous Laser Fleet 413. This is where I go Laser frostbiting in the winter, but I was curious to see what it was like at Fort Adams in the summer.

There seemed to be a lot of people with the same idea as us. There must have been thousands of cars heading into Fort Adams so we parked in a field and headed down to the fort to see what was going on. There were a lot of tents around the fort and even inside it. We wandered into one tent and saw some folk taking pictures of a bottomless silver ewer.

What was all that about? Why the fascination with a bottomless silver ewer? I mean, the thing is bottomless so you can't even drink margaritas out of it. Perhaps it was some bottomless silver ewer vendor from Newport promoting his wares? Anyway, since getting advice from Baydog to always carry my iPhone with me, even in the toilet, I snapped a photo of it too.

I was pleased to see that the folks at Fort Adams are very environmentally conscious. They were very keen on recycling and there were stations all over the place where you could fill your reusable water bottles with drinking water FOR FREE!

Tillerwoman and I wandered inside the fort and were pleasantly surprised to see that there were more tents there selling various Rhode Island culinary delights. One of them was run by one of our favorite Rhode Island restaurants, the Matunuck Oyster Bar. So we just had to share a dozen Matunuck oysters. Crisp and briny with a sweet finish. Mmmm!

In search of more sustenance we discovered that Tallulah's Tacos had a stand in the fort too. Tallulah's on Thames is renowned as one of Newport's finest restaurants. They recently launched a new venture, a Taco Truck selling Mexican style tacos and burritos using ingredients from local Rhode Island farmers. So we bought a couple of burritos and headed out of the fort and down to the shoreline of the East Passage of Narragansett Bay to enjoy a quiet picnic.

Wow! It seemed like a lot of other people had had the same idea. There were crowds of people lining the shoreline, enjoying the weather, doing a bit of sunbathing, just hanging out.

Although it seemed that some of them didn't understand English very well. Never mind. America is a nation of immigrants.

As I enjoyed my burrito, I noticed that a lot of the folk in the crowd had cameras and were pointing then across the water to Jamestown. I wonder what they were shooting? Anyway, as this blog seems to have morphed into a photography tips blog this month I thought I would snap a couple of shots of the photographers with their fancy cameras for your viewing pleasure.

After a while some guys in catamarans came out and sailed around a bit and did some sort of informal racing on a ridiculously short course. I mean, we run longer races in Fleet 413. I was pleased to see that these guys could take time off from their day jobs to come and play at sailboat racing on a Thursday afternoon. They clearly had their priorities right.

I was also pleased to see that all these recreational cat sailors were wearing helmets. They must have read the famous sailing blogger Yarg's post about Hard Hats.

So, after a pleasant couple of hours watching the cat sailors having fun, Tillerwoman and I went home and watered our garden and had a chicken salad for dinner and watched the sunset.

Life is good.

What's that you say?

You thought this was a sailing blog? Whatever gave you that idea?

You wanted pictures of cool boats?

OK. OK. I like boats too.

Here is a picture of a really cool boat I saw in Newport yesterday. Enjoy!!

Beauty and the Beast

Several people commented on yesterday's post, remarking on the beautiful view we enjoy of Mount Hope Bay from the Tillercottage. "You are truly blessed to sail on those waters," said one.

We are blessed.

And the camera does not lie.

Or does it?

Our view of Mount Hope Bay is indeed scenic and beautiful. We see the northernmost tip of Portsmouth and the eastern slopes of Bristol and Warren, all picturesque Rhode Island towns.

But if you sail on Mount Hope Bay, you will see something that is not quite so picturesque dominating the northern end of the bay.

A couple of weekends ago, three of the Tiller Extensions (my grandchildren) were staying with us. One misty morning the two eldest ones, Emily and Aidan, wanted to walk with me down to the beach in front of our house.

We walked down a steep private road. Along a grassy track that is sometimes overgrown. Over some rocks. We walked a short way along a disused railway track. The rails and sleepers are still there. "Why don't the trains run here any more, Granddad?" Then we had to clamber down some more steep rocks to the beach. (Some kindly old Laser sailor fixed some ropes there a few years ago to help with the climb, down and up.)

I looked up towards the north end of Mount Hope Bay and snapped the photo above.

As you can see, the beach is rocky. Many of those rocks in the picture are covered at high tide. Even if I could get my Laser down to the beach (which I can't), even if I kept my Laser on the beach (which I don't), this would not be a great place to launch a Laser.

The kids went searching for sea-shells and tiny crabs.

Wait.

What's that monstrosity you can see through the mists in the picture?

That is Brayton Point Power Station. Wherever you sail on Mount Hope Bay it dominates the view. Thankfully it is almost totally hidden by trees from where the Tillercottage is situated.

It's frigging huge. Just to give you a sense of scale, the power station is almost 4 miles from where I took the photo. Those cooling towers are 500 feet tall. They are 70 feet taller than Providence’s tallest skyscraper.

Brayton Point Power Station produces more carbon dioxide than any other source in New England and New York — almost 5.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2010 and 2011, almost entirely carbon dioxide, with smaller amounts of nitrous oxide and methane. The power station burns coal, natural gas and oil - but mainly coal.

Mount Hope Bay does have beautiful views.

If you don't look to the north.

We residents of Rhode Island have a name for that ugly area at the northern end of our bay.

We call it "Massachusetts."

Killer Shrimp Invade UK

According to the BBC my native country England is under attack from an invasion of killer shrimp. The evil creature, officially known as Dikerogammarus Villosus, is described by the Environment Agency as being 'particularly vicious and destructive'. Apparently the nasty little buggers bite and shred their victims to death but often leave them uneaten.

The alien invader hordes were recently spotted in Grafham Water, a popular sailing lake in eastern England, but this did not deter 248 courageous Laser sailors from showing up last weekend at Grafham for the Laser Inland Championships. For these intrepid souls, racing in a Laser regatta is even worth the risk of being bitten and shredded to death.



So what is to be done? How can Britain fight back against the alien invaders? Where is a latter day Churchill to inspire the country to action with a speech vowing, "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"?



That David Cameron bloke who is now Prime Minister seems a pleasant enough chap but I don't think he has the temperament to lead the nation against the onslaught of Dikerogammarus Villosus.

But, if it's any help Mr. Cameron, I did find this recipe online for Killer Shrimp Soup.

The Moment When It All Went Wrong

I Love Barney Frank

I have written before about the proposal by an outfit called Weaver's Cove to build a liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) in Mount Hope Bay, My Bay. There has been much local opposition to the project. All sorts of objection have been raised, ranging from the dangers of LNG explosions, the possibility of terrorist attacks, the disruption to recreational boating during the passage of LNG tankers through Narragansett Bay, environmental impact, etc. etc.

It has been hard to sort out the real facts of the case. I do feel that the opponents of the Weaver's Cove project have occasionally been somewhat shrill in their complaints. There was one claim for example that little kiddie Optimist sailors on the bay would be threatened at gunpoint by military contractors who will be protecting the LNG tankers (presumably from 7-year-old suicide bombers in Optimists.) On the other hand, since the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico this summer I have become much more skeptical of the claims by Big Energy (Weaver's Cove is owned by Hess) that "we know what we're doing, it's all perfectly safe, you don't need to worry, accidents never happen."

On balance I would prefer it if they don't build the LNG terminal at all or, if they really have to do it, they choose an off-shore site well away from population centers. (The proposed site is very close to the city of Fall River which is at the head of Mount Hope Bay.)

The latest maneuver in the battle is from Congressman Barney Frank (whose congressional district includes Fall River.) According to this article...

Congressmen Barney Frank and James McGovern Thursday announced they will be including an amendment in the House appropriations bill for the Department of Energy stating that “no funds made available by the act may be used to take any action to authorize the construction of any liquefied natural gas terminal or its infrastructure to be located within five miles of the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, or to authorize vessels carrying liquefied natural gas to serve such terminal.”

The congressmen said the move would effectively block the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from spending any money to deliberate the proposed project, including the approval of the off-shore berthing site designed for Mount Hope Bay. Frank said the bill has bi-partisan support, including the backing of Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown, and described the action as veto proof.

I love it. Everyone howls when members of congress include earmarks and pork in appropriation bills to route federal funds to pet projects in their districts. But this is "negative pork." Instead of saying, "Spend money on my district," Barney is saying, "Don't you dare spend federal money on this project in my district."

I'm sure this isn't the end of the story. Hess has shown remarkable persistence in pushing this project in spite of all the local opposition. But for now...

I love Barney Frank.

Have They No Grandchildren?

I make no apology for posting again this picture of my three grandchildren... Emily 4, Aidan 2, and Owen 0 (well actually 1 month and 2 days.) It's a scary thought that, unlike most of my generation, they should all live to see the second half of the 21st century, and given future advances in medical care they probably have a fighting chance to celebrate the turn of the 22nd century.

Scary?

Yes scary, because of the current predictions of what the world's climate will be like when they are in their 40's... never mind their 90's. There's an excellent article on the NY Times website today by Thomas Friedman We're Gonna Be Sorry in which he castigates Democrats and Republicans alike for, once again, failing to take any action "to pass an energy/climate bill that would begin to cap greenhouse gases that cause global warming and promote renewable energy that could diminish our addiction to oil."

As he says, "We’ve basically decided to keep pumping greenhouse gases into Mother Nature’s operating system and take our chances that the results will be benign — even though a vast majority of scientists warn that this will not be so."

He follows up his criticism with some related news items about what is happening in China and Russia, comments from a utility CEO and a general, and ends with a quote from the contrarian hedge fund manager Jeremy Grantham.

Conspiracy theorists claim to believe that global warming is a carefully constructed hoax driven by scientists desperate for ... what? Being needled by nonscientific newspaper reports, by blogs and by right-wing politicians and think tanks?

I have a much simpler but plausible ‘conspiracy theory’: the fossil energy companies, driven by the need to protect hundreds of billions of dollars of profits, encourage obfuscation of the inconvenient scientific results. I, for one, admire them for their P.R. skills, while wondering, as always:

"Have they no grandchildren?"

Visualizing the BP Oil Spill Disaster

Thanks to Bowsprite for directing us to Visualizing the BP Oil Spill Disaster, a site which enables us to appreciate the size of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico if it were in our home waters.

The graphic above shows how far the oil spill would extend if the Deepwater Horizon rig had been in the vicinity of Block Island.

Yikes!

Not only all of Narragansett Bay but all the coastline of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts including Cape Cod and the Islands would be affected, not to mention all of Long Island Sound and the south coast of Long Island. Basically everywhere I would ever sail.

This really brings home (literally) the enormity of this ecological disaster.

Anyone want to argue for more deep water offshore drilling in their own backyard?

Flat Wakes and Blessed Quiet

"My starting premise is the prediction that ten years from now, the recreational use of carbon based fuels on the water will be accorded the same level of social scorn and rejection that smoking now receives... just as we have come to resent smoking as an intrusion on our fundamental right to fresh air - so we are now empowered to newly aroused indignation over the loss of our original and fundamental right to flat wakes and blessed quiet on the water."

Not my words, but a quote from Garry Hoyt's new book Go For The Green.

Wow. Strong words. Do you think this is really going to happen?

Will the addicts of jet-skiing and water-skiing and the like be confined to small, unattractive areas of water designated for carbon hogs? Will we sailors think nothing of complaining to a power-boater about the health dangers to us of his "second-hand gasoline fumes"? Will socially responsible sailors forgo the use of auxiliary carbon-fuel based engines and actually learn to "sail" their yachts?

Of course, we have touched on this subject before. A couple of months ago I gave you 23 Reasons Why Putting an Engine in a Sailboat is the Worst Sailing Innovation Ever. And, a few weeks before, in $20 Gas and the Future of Sailing I reported on Christopher Steiner's prediction that, once the price of gasoline reaches $10 a gallon as it surely will one day soon, the "giant fleet of motorboats, speedboats, and ski boats that crowd our waters will be thinned to a tiny convoy. Sailboats, canoes, kayaks and rowboats will rule the waves."

The future is coming faster than you think. Personally I can't wait for the era of "flat wakes and blessed quiet" that Hoyt foretells...

However, in another report from the front in the war between real sailors and carbon hogs, I read some disturbing and sad news this week. I have written before of my delightful experiences at my first sailing club in the UK, Taplow Lake Sailing Club which is Where It All Started for me. I even wrote to my former club members a thank-you letter for inspiring in me a life-long love for sailing. As you can imagine I have a special affection for this club.

I didn't mention before that the sailing club at this lake shared its waters quite amicably with a group of water-skiers. The lake was way too small for sailing and water-skiing to take place at the same time, so the two clubs agreed to use the lake on different days. As I recall, when I was a member we sailed on alternate days each weekend, Saturday one week and Sunday the next and so on; and I assume the water-skiers used the other day each weekend.

However time moves on. The owners of the lake decided to increase the rent for use of the lake and the water-skiers negotiated a lease solely in their name. No big deal initially, because the sailors were still allowed to use the lake under a sub-lease on several days each week including all day Saturdays and afternoons on Sundays, and the sailing club continued to flourish.

However, when the sub-lease came up for renewal recently, the ski club (which apparently is changing its status into a for-profit business) decided it needed to use the lake at all prime times during spring, summer and autumn including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. This made it impossible to run a viable sailing club and Taplow Lake Sailing Club had to shut down at the end of last month.

Very sad.

On a brighter note, the former members of TLSC have all been invited to join a similar lake-based club only a mile or so away, with the added advantage that the new club has a bar!!!

So the carbon hogs won this particular battle. Or did they? Maybe they just created for themselves one of those "designated polluting areas", and eventually all the petrol and diesel addicts from other nearby waters will be forced to go and pursue their filthy habit on Taplow Lake, leaving the rest of the area's waterways free for sailors to enjoy Hoyt's "flat wakes and blessed quiet."

We can only hope.

Three Green Sailing Tips

I write a lot of utter nonsense on this blog. Occasionally I enjoy a good rant. Sometimes I argue one side of a case just for the fun of it; I could just as easily have argued the other side. My Dad was the same; he loved a good argument. One of my sons has the same trait. Of the three of us, my son is the only one to choose a profession where this talent may actually be useful; he's a lawyer.

So I don't really expect anyone to agree with what I write here. Which is why it was strange to open the April 2010 issue of Sailing World and discover that Jonathan McKee agrees with me. On three issues, no less! Very strange!

McKee has a column in Sailing World titled McKee's Minute. He says that, in some ways, sailing is inherently a very "green" activity, but that we also have an obligation to do what we can to reduce the environmental impact of our sport. He then makes six suggestions of how to achieve this. Three of them caught my eye because I have discussed them before on this blog in some of my random rants.

1. Leave the coach boat at home. Better yet, sell it.
   Yikes! I never thought I would hear that from one of the top racing sailors. Isn't this exactly what I was saying last year in Ban Mommy Boats NOW and a couple of years before in Mommy Boats?
   
   
2. Cut down on unnecessary packaging in your lunch.
   I guess I wasn't really focusing on the packaging issue when I wrote Uncrustables!, but it's another good reason not to serve such a processed vile-tasting creation for a regatta lunch.
   
   
3. Maximize your local sailing. Racing closer to home involves less driving and it's cheaper. When you do travel consider chartering.
   This is an issue that's been troubling me for some time. I covered it in $20 Gas and the Future of Sailing, An Inconvenient Truth and Anal-Retentive People Like Numbers. But it's shocking to hear that someone of McKee's stature is giving similar advice.
   

So Jonathan McKee agrees with me. This is troubling. I thought I was a maverick. I thought I was writing provocative stuff to stir up some controversy and argument. Now I find that one of the most accomplished racing sailors in the world agrees with me.

This is very strange.

I don't know what to do about it...

$20 Gas and the Future of Sailing

What is the future of sailing? Maybe economics and resource shortages will have a different impact than you might imagine...

I recently had the pleasure to read $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner. Of course, as an active racing sailor, I was reading the book not only with an eye to the many fundamental, even drastic, changes to our society and overall lifestyle that Steiner predicts but, more particularly, to how the rise in the price of oil, and everything derived from it, will affect our beloved sport of sailing.

The premises of the book are

• the demand for oil will continue to increase as the global middle class expands
• the oil that remains in the earth will become more and more expensive to locate and extract
• as a result the price of gasoline (and all other products derived from oil) will climb to levels we have never seen before.

Each chapter discusses the changes to be expected as gas goes through $6, $8, $10..... all the way to $20 per gallon. Steiner focuses mainly on the impact on American society; one could argue that many European countries are already well along the path to some of these higher prices, and the associated changes in their way of life.

So here's how the story goes...

Chapter $6: the end of the American SUV as we know it, fewer cars on the road, fewer accidents, less obesity, cleaner air, no school buses, reduced travel in youth sports...

Hmmm. So what does that mean for my sailing? I have been known to drive a 2000 mile round trip towing my boat to sail in a regatta. I expect those days will be over for many of us as gas becomes more and more expensive. Maybe we will all race much closer to home, in the same way that Steiner predicts that the current practice of long distance travel for elite school athletes will die out.

Chapter $8: the skies will empty, all but one of the major American "legacy" airlines will go out of business, it will cost $1000 to fly coast-to-coast and $2000 to fly to Europe, and resort destinations dependent on air travel... Disney World, Las Vegas, Jackson Hole and the rest... will be in major trouble.

Hmmm. There goes the international element of my sailing. No more jetting off to Australia or Europe to sail in Laser Masters Worlds, at least not for so many of us. And will some of my favorite sailing "resort" destinations such as Bitter End Yacht Club, Minorca Sailing etc. survive once the current era of cheap air travel is over? Looks like all of my sailing will be at local clubs and regattas which is not necessarily a bad thing, just different.

Chapter $10: major switch to plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

And in this chapter Steiner addresses directly a change in boating habits under the heading Extinction Will Come for Gasoline-Slurping Big Boy Toys. He predicts the end of snowmobiles, and more to the point jet skis. (Do I hear the sound of applause from my sailing friends?)

And get this next prediction: "The giant fleet of motorboats, speedboats, and ski boats that crowd our waters will be thinned to a tiny convoy. Sailboats, canoes, kayaks and rowboats will rule the waves." (I am sure I can hear you cheering now.)

Steiner goes on: "Many people will have their hobbies stolen from them by the rising price of gas. It will no longer be possible for a family to enjoy a powerboat in the summer... People will get along without their 400 horsepower pick-up truck that drags their 300 horsepower bass boat from lake to lake."

So what will happen to all the powerboaters and jetskiers? My personal guess is that many of them will still be drawn to spending their leisure time on the water. And they will find ways to do so without big gas-guzzling engines. They will fish from a rowing boat or a canoe. Those with a yen for speed will sail high performance dinghies or catamarans. Folk who seek spills and thrills will take up whitewater kayaking or surfing. Those who want to travel and explore will do so in day-sailers and small cruisers. The rise in the price of gas will guarantee the future health of sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, rowing... every water sport you can enjoy without an engine.

Quite by coincidence I noticed today that bonnie of frogma has been thinking along similar lines. In a comment to a post on O Dock she wrote..

I've heard that kayaking is weathering the economy pretty well.

Back when gas was twenty dollars a gallon (or whatever it was when it was at the worst), I was always saying that we should do a campaign for my kayak club by printing up flyers - "Tired of the the high price of gas? Come visit your neighbors at the Sebago Canoe Club!" - and then going out in the middle of the night & leaving a flyer on board each & every motorboat in the Paerdegat Basin.

So what do you think? Am I an hopeless optimist? Or is sailing really due for a major revival as the price of oil rises inexorably to the point where water sports that use engines will be priced out of reach of the average family?

I haven't got my mind around whether $20 gas will have other consequences for sailing. What will it do to the price of the raw materials used in boat-building for example? What other unforeseen consequences might there be?

Underwater Cabinet Meeting

What do you do if you are the leader of an island nation, most of it less than 5 feet above sea level, when you realize that there is a very real possibility that the whole nation will be underwater if the present pace of climate change keeps raising sea levels? If you are President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives you start preparing for the inevitable by holding a cabinet meeting underwater!

Ministers clad in wetsuits and shouldering oxygen tanks, will meet about 20ft underwater on 17 October. Here is a photo of some of the ministers preparing for the meeting...



I wonder if President Barack Obama or Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be following President Nasheed's lead?

Confessions of a Serial Polluter

I take it for granted that sailors are "for the sea" in the sense that we care about the waters in which we sail, and that we want to keep our oceans and coastal waters clean and free from pollution for our own benefit and for all the wildlife that live in those waters. So kudos to Scuttlebutt for bringing our attention this week to this list of ways to avoid Non Point Source pollution courtesy of an organization called Sailors for the Sea.

Aaarrggh. Another damned list.

The list reminded me at first of those irritating lists being circulated recently in the socio-networky-blogo-sphere such as the BBC's Top 100 Books or Top 100 Places You Must See Before You Die that always come with a request that you put X's against the items you have read/visited/whatevered and forward the list to your 25 best socio-networky-blogo-spherical "friends" so that they can do the same and so on and so on ad infinitum. I never take part in these latter day chain letter time wasters, but instead usually leave a snarky comment such as "How can you have a list of Top 100 Books without including Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People?"

Where was I? Where am I? Oh yes, the list of how to avoid creating NPS pollution and killing the oceans. This seems like a worthy cause so I thought I would see how I am doing with Sailors for the Sea's recommendations. The easiest way to do this seemed to be to group the items into categories according to how well I am doing.

2 items didn't apply to me. Of the rest I think I can claim that I am doing a good job on 8, making an effort but could probably do better on 3, and am a miserable failure on the remaining 7. Geeze, I never thought of washing my car on the lawn and I don't even know what a "bioswale" is!

Here's my list. How are you doing?

PS Please do not forward this list to your 25 best socio-networky-blogo-spherical "friends".

Doing a Good Job
• Dispose of household hazardous materials—antifreeze, paint, oil, etc.—properly, NEVER down the storm drain as the chemicals will end up in a water system.
• Compost your food. By keeping it out of the trash cycle—parts of which can inadvertently become caught up in runoff and end up in our ocean—you create earth-nourishing mulch
• Let mowed grass clippings remain on the lawn where they can serve as a source of nutrients and reduce the need for fertilizer, and reduce erosion that, in turn, slows runoff
• Collect fallen leaves and begin or add to a compost pile to create nutrient-rich mulch, reducing the need for fertilizer
• Situate sprinklers so the water lands only on the lawn, not the driveway, street, or sidewalk
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle in order to limit the amount of items entering our trash cycle
• Sweep sidewalks rather than hose them
• Keep your cars in tip-top shape, being especially mindful of oil and antifreeze leaks
  

Making an Effort but Could Do Better

• Avoid using pesticides and chemical fertilizers: favor instead organic compost, mulch or manure, which are free of pollutants
  
• If using fertilizer, test the soil’s pH to ensure proper use and amount. Never fertilize if rain is expected, as much of it will wash away into a storm drain rather than absorbing into the ground
• Use native plants for landscaping as these require less water and fewer pesticides
  
  Miserable Failure
  
• Switch to low-phosphate cleaning supplies
• Invest in bioswales that capture rainwater runoff before it enters the sewers, and improves water quality by filtering it
• Volunteer to label the storm drains in your neighborhood to inform your neighbors that storm drains flow directly to our lakes and rivers
• Keep storm drains free of litter, leaves, and other debris that can easily end up in our waters. Whenever possible, install screens over them
• Take expired medicines either to a pharmacy or hazardous waste source for proper disposal
• Wash your car on the lawn, so that the grass can filter some of the runoff phosphate, or, better yet, take your car to a commercial car wash that is set up to capture and recycle the water several times before sending it to the sewer system for treatment
• Join Sailors for the Sea and help us reduce NPS: http://sailorsforthesea.org/membership/index.html
  
  Not Applicable
  
• Schedule regular inspection of your septic system—every 3 to 5 years—to ensure proper operation and avoid leakage
• Always pick up after your dog

Rhode Island Beats Detroit

So while the Big Three automakers' CEOs were jetting off to Washington to ask for several billion dollars of our money, they were also fighting a rearguard action in the courts to stop my adopted home state of Rhode Island from seeking stricter standards on greenhouse emissions than those set by the federal government.

Rhode Island just won the case.

Yay. One more reason why I love this place.

Both Sides Now

Things I learned on sail #85 yesterday...

• When you don't sail for almost two weeks it takes a while to become familiar with the boat again. How can you forget something as basic as how to sail a Laser flat in 15 knots in a couple of weeks? Do you forget to walk in a straight line in that time? Do you forget how to ride a bike? Weird.
  
  
• It all comes back in a few minutes.
  
  
• It's interesting to sail upwind when you are sailing straight into the waves on one tack and straight across them on the other tack. The body movements to keep the boat balanced and moving well are so different.
  
  
• OK. It's not all that interesting really.
  
  
• Sailing alone on the Sakonnet River on a cold fall day with not another boat in sight for miles and miles in either direction is kind of awesome.
  
  
• And a bit scary too.
  
  
• With the water temperature in the 50's and the air temperature in the 40's it's quite comfortable to sail a Laser in a long wetsuit, spraytop and neoprene hiking boots. No need for the drysuit yet.
  
  
• But three finger gloves leave two fingers painfully cold. Ouch.
  
  
• The picture for 85 under # Days Laser Sailing in 2008 is kind of lame. Something to do with running your car on booze. But it turns out that bio-fuels like E85 can be even worse for the environment than fossil fuels. Who would have thunk it?
  
  
• But you're gonna love 86. Think twice 43.