Pair 'sails along' in dream jobs

"A LONG way from home two Darling Downs women are sailing along in their dream jobs.

While their friends chose to head to university Anita Davis, from Chinchilla and Crystal Lacey, from Meringandan, chose the magically scenic Whitsunday Islands as an office when they finished school.

Miss Davis is now a hostess on the refurbished prize-winning yacht, the Maxi Ragamuffin and Miss Lacey is a dive instructor.

Miss Lacey, a former Toowoomba State High School student, takes pride in being one of the youngest dive instructors in the world.

She believes there are only four other 18-year-old dive instructors.

Miss Lacey always wanted to work with marine animals."

Economy sinks, boating booms Tasmania News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

"WHEN the going gets tough, Tasmanians go boating.

While other retail sectors are slowing because of the global financial crisis, the retail boat business is still booming.

On December 31 last year, there were 26,571 registered recreational boats in Tasmania and almost 50,000 people, or one in 10 Tasmanians, held a licence to operate those boats.

'Sales have not backed off at all. We were flat out on Tuesday with customers coming in looking at new boats,' a Hobart boat dealer said."

Economy sinks, boating booms Tasmania News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

"WHEN the going gets tough, Tasmanians go boating.

While other retail sectors are slowing because of the global financial crisis, the retail boat business is still booming.

On December 31 last year, there were 26,571 registered recreational boats in Tasmania and almost 50,000 people, or one in 10 Tasmanians, held a licence to operate those boats.

'Sales have not backed off at all. We were flat out on Tuesday with customers coming in looking at new boats,' a Hobart boat dealer said."

Local News | Construction at Ballard Locks to slow boat traffic | Seattle Times Newspaper

"Boat traffic in both directions through the Ballard Locks will be slowed by construction work for three to four days, starting 7 a.m. Monday.

The large channel on the west end of the locks will be restricted in width due to a large crane barge doing reconstruction work on the north bank.

There will be room for vessels to pass, said locks-operations manager Dave Carpenter, but barges may need an additional tugboat to navigate the narrower passage.

Vessels and boaters should ensure they have any additional handling equipment and crew before entering the lock.

The large crane barge will stay in place overnight during the work period."

Ship ahoy as wooden boat festival sets sail

"Tasmania's wooden boat festival has opened with a parade of sail up the River Derwent.

During the four-day festival 600 boats will be on display on the water and around Hobart's docks.

Among those on the water will be the tall ships Young Endeavour, Enterprize, Windeward Bound and the Sydney ship James Craig which once called Tasmania home."

Sail-World.com : Transpacific Yacht Race Organisers announce new trophy

"Organizers of the 2,225 mile Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu have announced a new perpetual trophy for competitors in the Open Division.

The newly established Open Division was created for those monohulls which utilize waivers under the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) for movable ballast and/or the use of powered sail handling gear. These entries will be eligible for a new shortest elapsed time trophy which is currently under development by TPYC. This perpetual award is intended to be a trophy that emphasizes the high-tech, unlimited, modern world of yacht racing - truly created for those yacht owners that push the edge of design, development, and performance."

Reduce CO2 emissions or watch our marine life suffer - Carbon Offsets Daily

"The surface ocean currently absorbs about one-fourth of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere from human activities, namely from fossil-fuel combustion, deforestation, and cement production. As this CO2 dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid, increasing ocean acidity. Since industrialization began in the 18th century, surface-ocean acidity has increased by 30%.

This increase is now threatening the survival of coral reefs, shellfish and other marine organisms, the group claims. In fact, they issued a dire warning that if policymakers fail to make changes then by 2050 “ocean acidification may render most regions chemically inhospitable to coral reefs.”"

Google Earth dives into the oceans - Los Angeles Times

"Google Earth is one of the Internet search company's most popular products. The software has been downloaded to half a billion computers.

The oceans project was inadvertently launched by a remark from renowned marine scientist Sylvia Earle to John Hanke, who helped create Google Earth. She loved the program, but she told Hanke that it had left out two-thirds of the planet.

'She turned to me with an evil grin and said: 'Why don't you rename it Google Dirt?' That kind of got under my skin,' Hanke recalled. 'She was right. We had been blind to the ocean.'"

NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative

"The oceans of earth are crucial to the quality of life on land. Yet they are mysterious, dangerous, and unexplored. Our mission is to launch a new era of human discovery in our oceans by providing electrical power and high speed internet connectivity throughout large portions of the global ocean. This novel solution will allow land-based scientists, engineers, educators and public to remotely interact with erupting volcanoes, migrating fish, major earthquakes, huge storms, powerful currents, massive blooms of microscopic life, and subtle climatic variability as if those humans were actually in the ocean environment."

Legendary British warship 'found'

"Ahead of the expected announcement at a news conference in London on Monday, Odyssey Marine Exploration's CEO Greg Stemm said the firm was negotiating with Britain over collaborating on the project.

'This is a big one, just because of the history,' Mr Stemm was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

'Very rarely do you solve an age-old mystery like this.'

Mr Stemm declined to reveal the exact location of the warship's remains.

'We found this more than 50 miles (80km) from where anybody would have thought it went down,' he said.

HMS Victory has been described by some maritime experts as 'the finest ship in the world' at its time.

It sank with more than 1,100 seamen aboard, including Admiral Sir John Balchen, in a fierce storm off the Channel Islands.

The ship's exact location has since remained a mystery, despite numerous attempts by salvagers to find it.

The vessel had 100 brass cannons and reportedly some 100,000 gold coins on board."