Calvert Marine Museum Guild Completes Hybrid Crab Scrape
The Patuxent Small Craft Guild (PSCG) has finished the Carol Jeanne, a unique wooden Smith Island crab scrape-style boat.
The project began at the Calvert Marine Museum’s Small Craft Building in early 2016 as an effort to advance the concept of the classic Smith Island crab boat. The result is an electric-powered 20-foot open skiff made of marine plywood instead of the traditional planked construction in order to reduce the weight. In place of the traditional gas engine, she is powered by a Thoosa 7000-HT electric motor and 48-volt DC battery system.
Museum director Sherrod Sturrock added, “We are very fortunate here at the Calvert Marine Museum to have great volunteers. In addition to all the hours they put in, they bring their creativity, ingenuity, and they have so many new ideas. This boat is a perfect example.”
PSCG members gather in the Small Boat Building on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to maintain and preserve the museum’s historic watercraft collection and to share and teach wooden boatbuilding skills.
The Calvert Marine Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 410-326-2042; www.calvertmarine
museum.com
2017 Annapolis to Newport Race Goes with PHRF
Annapolis to Newport racers will sail under a course-specific interpretation of the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) rating system this summer in the 36th running of this venerable contest. This is the second time that PHRF has been used to determine
the winners.
A consortium of handicappers from the various PHRF regions will produce ratings based on each
boat’s potential to perform in the unique inshore/offshore conditions of the race.
According to principal race officer Bruce Bingman, “The whole idea is to provide each boat with the fairest rating possible. We feel that this process is the best way to do that.”
An early entry discount continues through January 15. The ratings are expected to be issued by April.
www.annapolisnewportrace.com.
Tom Turner joins Annapolis Yacht Sales as Powerboat Service Manager
Annapolis Yacht Sales Chief Operating Officer Chris Humphreys announced the hiring of powerboat industry veteran Tom Turner as the head of the firm’s powerboat service department.
“Tom is immensely experienced and holds customer service to the highest standard, which correlates
with our core values,” said Humphreys. “This new division, focused solely on Powerboat Service, allows AYS
to concentrate on the unique requirements of powerboats and our powerboat clients.”
Turner and the powerboat service team are based at the company’s Bay Bridge Marina location on Kent Island.
Clarks Landing Expands Sales Team
Diane Zimmerman and Drew Donald have joined the Clarks Landing boat sales team.
Zimmerman brings more than 25 years of luxury product sales
experience to the company. Donald has been in the boating industry for more than 30 years. Both are based at the company’s Kent Island location.
www.clarkeslandingmd.com
W&P Supports C.R.A.B.
Weems & Plath donated $1,000 of
the proceeds from the company’s annual tent sale to the Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (C.R.A.B.) organization for the purchase of an electric or propane engine for one of their boats. C.R.A.B. provides Chesapeake Bay sailing opportunities for those with physical or developmental challenges.
In a press release Peter Trogden said, “C.R.A.B. is making a real difference in the lives of folks who would never have an opportunity to sail otherwise. We are pleased to provide assistance to their cause.” www.crabsailing.com ; www.weems-plath.com
Fairwinds Adds Pontoons to the Fleet
JoAnna (daughter) and Larry Golberg (father) have added the Lexington Pontoon boat line to their Fairwinds dealership and the Freedom Boat Club fleet. The Lexington boats are built near Wilmington and the famed Cape Fear area of North Carolina, a region steeped in a tradition of durable and seaworthy saltwater boats. The Lexington pontoon and tri-toon boats are therefore designed and built to handle waves and resist the corrosive nature of salt. Lexington Boats is part of the larger LMG Group, which has manufacturing relationships with other notable boat builders such as Gunboat, J/Boats and the British yacht company Pearl.
Fairwinds has been in the marine services business in Annapolis since 1959. The Goldbergs acquired the business in 2013 and soon added the Freedom Boat Club. In November, JoAnna Goldberg was recognized as one of eight top marketers in the Freedom Boat Club franchise, which numbers 115 locations across North America.
Fairwinds will exhibit the Lexington boats at the Baltimore Boat Show.
www.fairwindsmarina.com
Annapolis Yacht Club Ranks Fifth Among Elite Clubs
Platinum Clubs of America, which represents the upper five percent of private clubs in the country, ranked AYC as the fifth best. St. Francis Yacht Club is ranked at the top followed by the San Diego YC, Grosse Point YC, and New York YC: Pretty fine company really, and not bad for a club that started as late as 1886 as a canoe club.
Virginia Pilots Choose Volvo IPS
The Virginia Pilots Association has a new C. Raymond Hunt Associates-designed boat under construction at Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Mass. The boat will run on a pair of 900hp Volvo D13 engines with IPS3 drives.
“The Tampa Bay Pilots Association had purchased a Gladding-Hearn Chesapeake Class pilot boat with IPS propulsion,” said Pilots Association chairman Frank Rabena. “We went down to Florida, and after sea-trialing their boat, the benefits were obvious.”
Bay pilots operate 365 days a year and must board ships in all conditions. Virginia pilots complete about 7,000 boardings a year.
According to Marcia Hull at Volvo Penta in Chesapeake, Va., “The IPS system provides 20 percent more speed, 30 percent lower fuel consumption, 15 percent more acceleration and 50 percent lower noise and vibration levels than traditional shaft installations.”
Midshore Pump-out Boat Report
Last spring, the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy acquired a 22-foot boat equipped with a Pump Kleen sewage removal system in order to provide holding tank pump-out services to Miles and Wye River yacht owners. The boat is the first of its kind on the Eastern Shore.
The riverkeeper coordinates transfer of the waste with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s (CBMM) dockside waste management facility, which then transfers the material to the updated wastewater treatment plant in St. Michaels.
Over the summer, the crew pumped more than 8,500 gallons from nearly 350 boats. Funding for this important environmental initiative came from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Midshore Riverkeeper donors. CBMM provides dockage
and support.
