From Ocean Navigator #119 January/February 2002 The call of the sea can reach far inland to unlikely places. Like to a boatyard on the shore of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York. That's where a $1.1 million wooden schooner is nearing completion. She's a reincarnation of John Alden's ocean-racing Malabar X, a victim of Hurricane Bob and the ravages of time. Doug Hazlitt, a seventh-generation grape grower on the family vineyard overlooking Seneca Lake, bought the hulk in 1997. He hoped to fix her up and put her to work in his Seneca Day Sails charter business he had started…

When New York Yacht Club Commodore John Stevens ordered the building of America, he could hardly have imagined the remarkable legacy his dream racer would have. In 1851 Stevens asked designer George Steers for a schooner of about 170 tons that could win a 60-mile race )bout the Isle of Wight. Steers designed a very clean two-masted schooner with an LOA of 94 feet, a beam of 22.5 feet, and a draft of 11.5 feet. The stoical old salts of the Royal Yacht Squadron must have needed extra starch for those famous stiff upper lips as they painfully watched Stevens'…

What is the most responsible way to effectively deal with sewage generated from commercial and yacht traffic? Since the Clean Water Act was introduced in 1972, it has been illegal to dump raw sewage into the oceans. Yet many vessel operators flout the law, stating that shore-side pump-outs are inadequate or non-existent. However, some operators, either out of fear of being caught or a genuine environmental conscience, use holding tanks or employ a shipboard treatment system like a marine sanitation device (MSD). Several state and local governments around the U.S. have implemented "no-discharge" areas, however, which effectively prohibit the use…

The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., is a maritime treasure, its exhibitions on nautical arcana, art and artifacts is vast and well catalogued. The museum also supports research and exploration efforts. Most recently, Mariners' has offered a $750 research grant for nautical research, whether a doctoral thesis, monograph or scholarly presentation. The museum reports that the subject matter need not be too specific, potential subjects, for example, being lifeboats, life saving, safety at sea and the U.S. Coast Guard. Applications are accepted each year from January through May -- May 15 this year -- and are reviewed by the…

Their Fathers' Work - Casting Nets with the World's Fishermen by William McCloskey Their Fathers' Work documents 30 years of experience in the world's fishing industry from the perspective of the fisherman. McCloskey, whose personal interest has always brought him down to the docks, worked on fishing boats around the world and brought his varied and raw accounts together in this book.Crabbing in Alaska, long-lining on the Grand Banks, or seining for sardines off Chile's bold shore, the author describes the fishing life, long hours and back-numbing labor. It is as hard a life as it ever was, according to…

The 145-foot West Coast training schooner Californianwas sheared of its topmasts in May after a navigational error resulted in the vessel passing under a low bridge. Californian, which is operated by the Nautical Heritage Society in San Clemente, Calif., as a training vessel for school groups and private charters, was being piloted under the Benicia Bridge upriver from San Francisco Bay when the incident occurred. "Both topmasts hit the bridge, and when that happened the flying jib stay sprung the jibboom and bowsprit upward," said Steve Christman, founder and president of the Society. "It was the result of someone not…