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NOAA Outlook: Warmer Spring, Some Flooding

Here is NOAA’s new weather forecast for the spring: Forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center — a division of the National Weather Service — predict above-average temperatures for most of the Continental U.S. and Alaska, as part of NOAA’s Spring Outlook released today for April through June. Meanwhile, NOAA’s National Water Center predicts a lower-than-average flood risk across the entire country, due in part to historically low winter snow cover across the Upper Great Plains and western U.S. “Climate change is affecting the timing, intensity and duration of weather events in the United States,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D.…

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Heading Offshore? Rent an EPIRB from BoatUS

There’s no doubt that an EPIRB could save your life if you have a problem while cruising offshore. But new ones are expensive. BoatUS now offers an affordable program where you can rent one for $65 a week, plus $25 for shipping. Read about it here: SPRINGFIELD, Va., March 25, 2024 – The majority of the nation’s nearly 12 million recreational boaters don’t often travel far offshore, beyond cellular or VHF range. But for those who only do on a rare occasion, having an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is important, allowing you to summon rescuers if there’s a…

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How To Use Nav Aid Sound Signals

Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips that could help you navigate safely in fog or reduced visibility:  Imagine you’re cruising on a fogbound coast in New England, the Great Lakes or the West Coast. You see a note on your chart that tells you that you can trigger a fog signal on a lighthouse nearby. Follow these three easy steps. Mariner Radio Activated Sound Signals (MRASS) gives the skipper more control over aids to navigation fog signals. If you see the chart abbreviation MRASS in the description of an aid, you can use your radio to trigger the sound…

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Great Lakes: Where Did All the Ice Go?

NOAA says there’s been a record low level of ice on the Great Lakes so far this winter. Here’s their report: NOAA researchers at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) report that they’ve seen a steady decrease in ice coverage across the Great Lakes, which has reached a historic low. Together, Great Lakes ice coverage was measured at 2.7 % on February 11, 2024. Coverage on each of the lakes was measured as follows: Lake Superior 1.7 % Lake Michigan 2.6 % Lake Huron 5.9 % Lake Erie 0.05 % Lake Ontario 1.7 % Lakes Erie and Ontario are…

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Floating Sauna Saves Sinking Tesla

Here’s a truly bizarre story we just saw on Boatblurb.com: One of the most unlikely maritime rescue operations just took place on an Oslo fjord. After a Tesla commuter inexplicably drove into the frigid waterway and began sinking, the captain of the floating sauna immediately came to their rescue, albeit at a meager pace and with the unlikeliest of rescue vessels. “One of the guests came running and alerted me that a car had fallen into the water. Then I went full throttle at the people who came climbing out of the car,” captain Nicholay Nordahl told Norwegian website VG.…

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How To Dock in Wind

Here’s some solid advice from Skipper Tips about how to dock when the wind its coming off  the dock. Read on, it works: Imagine that you need to dock your boat in a gusty off-the-dock wind. But that’s not all. You’ll have to squeeze between two big power yachts. What three steps will you use to make this docking challenge easier? Preparations ahead of time top my list for building sound seamanship skills before taking your boat into a marina (including your own). Rig fenders and lines on both sides of the boat. If the engine stops working or a…

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NOAA Saved 350 Lives in U.S. Last Year

Here’s some good news from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: NOAA’s satellites, known for their pivotal role in tracking weather and climate, were behind the rescue of 350 people from harrowing, life-threatening ordeals in the U.S. and its surrounding waters in 2023. NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are part of the global Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system, or COSPAS-SARSAT, which uses a network of U.S. and international spacecraft to detect and locate distress signals sent from 406MHz emergency beacons onboard aircraft, boats and handheld Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) anywhere in the world. Since its start in…

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How To Avoid a Collision

Crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, transiting Delaware Bay, heading into San Diego harbor, wherever you cruise, you’ll end up sharing the water with something larger than your vessel, including freighters or tankers that have very limited maneuverability. Consider that a ship cruising at 20 knots travels one nm every three minutes; you may be on a collision course sooner than you think. Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to track another vessel to avoid a collision, taking visual bearings. Even in an age of radar and AIS, you need to know how to do this…

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Fast Quiz: What 220,000 Boaters Don’t Know

Here’s a fast, fun, quiz from BoatUS. You probably know the answers, but if you miss one, you might want to take a refresher course before you start cruising this spring: ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 10, 2024 – The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water offers a range of online boating safety training courses — including 36 free state boating safety courses — that make boating safety education affordable and accessible. More than 220,000 boaters took one of these boating certification courses last year, which require students to correctly answer some questions at the conclusion of each course. Which…

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7-Point Diesel Engine Checklist

Here’s some basic, but important, advice from Skipper Tips about how to make sure that all is well once you start your boat’s diesel engine(s): You turn the key, push the diesel engine starter button and your engine starts just like you expect it to. But did you realize that you have seven quick checks to make that could spell the difference between a trouble-free day or a long, slow tow back to the marina dock? Follow these seven tips from marine diesel guru Peter Compton: 1. Watch for Exhaust Water. Look over the side. Make sure you have water…

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