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Rudderham's Captain's Comments
Boat show began with a splash and
finished with success
The boat show started with a splash, and finished
with a success. The wakeboard pool had a major malfunction and
about 100,000 gallons of water cascaded down the aisles of the show.
After removing wet carpet and drying the floors, a
few boats were damaged but there were no injuries. The show got back
to normal late Thursday. I talked with many visitors and exhibitors
who all thought it was a great show. Some said it was the best in
the past five years. Exhibitors said a lot of boats were sold, which
shows maybe our economy might be changing. We shall see.
Missed resolution
My January column had New Year’s resolutions for
boaters, but I find in review that I missed an important one. Keep
our waters and shores clean. In other words, dispose of your trash
properly, in a garbage bag that goes ashore with you to be disposed
of properly and not overboard to pollute our waters and litter our
shores.
Many of you might remember several years back an
advertisement against littering. It showed a native American viewing
a littered shore with tears going down his face. One native American
proverb states “We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.”
Another says, “We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we
borrow it from our children.” Keep these proverbs in mind and
practice clean boating. Maybe the next lake shore clean-up will be
less than the year before.
Hydra-Spyder
You may remember from years ago a car you could drive
down a boat ramp and use it as a boat. Here comes the next version,
only this one is definitely more powerful and performance oriented.
The Hydra-Spyder is powered by a Corvette LS-2 6.0 liter V-8 rated
at 400 hp and has a five-speed manual transmission. The hull part
has 5052 alloy aluminum plate for lower hull construction. The upper
body is light weight fiberglass. A Berkley Marine jet with power
trim package provides the marine part of the package.
The vehicle contains positive flotation foam approved
by the U.S. Coast Guard for amphibious vehicles. The Spyder seats
four people and can easily tow a water-skier. Base price is $155.000
with an impressive list of extras.
They also manufacture the Hydra-Terra commercial tour
vehicles and motor coach models. They look strong and impressive.
For more info call 1 888 926-6563 or visit
www.hydraspyder.com.
Help against pirates
We have all read about the Somali pirates taking
ships and boats for huge ransoms and sometimes killing the victims.
Now a new device has been introduced to help prevent this from
happening. It’s a non-lethal laser produced by Photonic Security
Systems. The laser weapon is engineered to keep pirates away. Shine
the SMV 100 Laser at potential intruders and block their eyesight
from up to 500 meters away. The weapon has an oscillating laser beam
that paints a 10 foot wide target area. The pirates cannot look
directly into the laser, which makes it difficult for them to fire
weapons at you with any accuracy. It also tells them they have been
spotted and that you will take evasive measures. There is also a
remote version which can be operated from the helm.
The custom built unit is priced at $30,000. More
info:
www.photonicsecuritysystems.com. I wonder if we could use this
on illegal immigrants crossing the border?
Going to buy a used boat?
So you’ve been to the boat show but didn’t buy a new
boat. Maybe a used one fits your pocketbook better. In this economy
there are many used boats for sale, but be very cautious. Boats are
the first to be neglected in a bad economy. Maintenance that should
be performed never gets done. That is why you always hear me saying
check the maintenance log, and have a survey.
This holds true if you are buying the boat from an
individual or a dealer. Remember your bank or insurance company will
probably require a survey anyway. So the best thing to do is take a
sea trial and if you are satisfied then get a survey. It will save
you money in the long run.
Also you might want to schedule you and your crew for
the USCG Auxiliary boating classes. Chances are you will save 10
percent on insurance of the boat you purchase. They also will
inspect your boat and give you a sticker.
Costa Concordia
The cruise ship disaster that occurred off the
Italian coast near the island of Giglio on the Tuscan Coast leaves a
lot of questions. Most cruise ships, especially the more modern
ones, are equipped with loads of sophisticated electronics, probably
required by the insurance companies. One of the units is forward and
side scanning sonar which has an alarm system that warns of
impending danger. I’m sure you have seen systems like this
advertised in boating magazines.
Every time a new story comes out in the newspaper
it’s different why the captain allowed the ship to be off course, a
course the ship had run on many previous cruises. The only time
cruise ships change their usual course is for bad weather or comfort
of the passengers. My question is, “Who turned the sonar alarms off,
or ignored them?”
There had to be many other ships officers on the
bridge that had to realize the danger of changing course which would
lead to a grounding on a reef that was documented by charts. Even
though it appears the captain went daffy for whatever reason,
certainly one of the other officers should have taken action to
prevent this tragedy. Even many people on shore thought the ship
would hit the reef.
So there is more blame to be shared, not just for the
captain, who is far from innocent, but for those other officers on
the bridge. Stay tuned, this story isn’t over.
Laura Decker finishes trek
Our 16-year-old circumnavigator has decided to end
her trip on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. If you remember,
this was one of her stops on the first part of her venture. Believe
it or not but her father was issued a summons in the Netherlands to
appear because they thought the youngster was not giving her school
studies full attention. Since she was born on a boat off the shore
of New Zealand, she’s thinking of becoming a citizen of that
country. If you read her blogs, she could probably teach the school
teachers a thing or two.
Laura arrived in St. Maarten on January 21, one year
and one day after she started her venture. Her parents greeted her
as she entered the Port of Phillipsburg. Her last leg from Cape
Town, South Africa took 41 days. She covered more than 27,000
nautical miles with stops in the Canary Islands, Panama, the
Galapagos Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Bora Bora, Australia, South Africa
and finally St. Maarten. Guinness Book of World Records and the
World Sailing Speed Record Council will not recognize her as the
youngest world circumnavigator. They want to discourage dangerous
attempts by younger people. Well I for one congratulate her and I
hope she writes a book.
Practice safe boating and I’ll see you on the water.
Mike Rudderham is a veteran marine
surveyor with more than 40 years experience in the marine industry.
mike@lakesidenews.com
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