Chesapeake Light Craft Expands Schedule of Popular Build-Your-Own-Boat Classes

Chesapeake Light Craft, the boat kit experts, will be running thirty of their popular Build-Your-Own-Boat classes in locations around the country in 2010. In CLC classes, talented professional instructors help students assemble their own boats.

Over the last 15 years, CLC boatbuilding classes have launched 900 boats and introduced more than a thousand students to the joys of boatbuilding. CLC has been hosting and teaching build-your-own-boat classes since 1994. In CLC classes, talented professional instructors help students assemble their own boat from start to finish. Most classes are 5-1/2 days---a perfect one-week vacation, with a boat to take home at the end, ready for finish work.

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RI artist making prints of classic American yachts

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Nathanael Greene Herreshoff was one of the world's pre-eminent boat builders at the turn of the 20th century, crafting innovative yachts that dominated the America's Cup sailing competition for decades.

Herreshoff, who died in 1938, generally designed boats by beginning with model hulls shaped from blocks of wood instead of first creating lines plans, two-dimensional architectural drawings that reveal the shape of the hull and can suggest a vessel's speed, performance and seaworthiness.

Now an artist and licensed captain, Will Sofrin, is filling in the gap.

Sofrin is using original design data of the boats owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create construction plans for two dozen of Herreshoff's most heralded yacht designs - even though the project rankles Herreshoff's grandson.

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John Vigor Blog: Cresting and capsizing

EVERY TIME I HEAR some sailor boasting about the alleged seaworthiness of his dear sailboat I wonder if he knows the difference between static and dynamic stability.

In other words, I wonder if he knows the difference between how stable his boat might be in calm water (static) and how unstable it might be at sea in big waves (dynamic).

It's an established fact that no amount of static testing will reveal how much more vulnerable a boat is to capsize when it is weaving its way through heavy swells.

Read the entire blog entry.

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Marine Service Management Course Scheduled for March 2010

Warren, RI-In response to feedback from the marine industry, the American Boat Builders & Repairers Association (ABBRA) has scheduled its popular Marine Service Management (MSM) program in March. The next MSM course is scheduled for March 28-31, 2010, at Roscioli Yachting Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ABBRA's expert instructors present MSM participants with pointers in such non-technical topics as human-resource development, financial controls, customer relations, codes and standards, marketing and sales, and more.

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New electric motor from Torqeedo sets standard for eco friendly propulsion

Combining integrated lithium batteries with unrivalled efficiency, the next generation of electric outboards has arrived. Torqeedo's new Travel models offer a lot of power and range at a small size and weight. The Travel 503 is equivalent to 1.5 hp, while the 1003 is comparable to 3 hp.

Both models possess more power than their predecessors, are tougher and are completely waterproof to IP67 standards. In addition, the 1003 offers a battery with 30% more capacity and an even higher level of efficiency than before. Unlike conventional systems, Torqeedo's lithium-manganese batteries enable a great amount of energy to be stored per pound of battery weight. At slow speed, the range of a Travel motor exceeds 12 nautical miles.

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America's Cup competitors rely on composites for sailboats

LA JOLLA, CALIF. (Feb. 2, 2:30 p.m. ET) -- Polymer matrix composites pervade the colossal multihull sailboats Alinghi 5 and USA 17, which are vying in the 33rd America's Cup races, slated Feb. 8, 10 and 12 off the shore of Valencia, Spain.

Defending team Alinghi flies the colors of the Societe Nautique de Geneve, while challenger BMW Oracle Racing with USA 17 represents the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco.

Phenomenal speeds are expected.

Boat measurements differ, but, in general terms, each has a waterline length of about 90 feet, a beam width of 90 feet and a mast height up to 190 feet.

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J/Boats To Be Recognized for Multiple National Awards

Newport, RI - J/Boats of Newport, RI, founded in 1977, was recently awarded recognition for its J/95 and J/97 sailboats by Cruising World and Sailing World Magazines and, for the first time in the history of these prestigious national awards, top honors by both magazines was awarded to the same boat, the J95.

The competition was against new models from around the country and around the world: 18 boats participated in the Cruising World program and 14 took part in Sailing World's.

The two models from J/Boats were not only designed and marketed by the Newport-based J/Boats, the J/95 is also being built in Rhode Island by C&C Fiberglass Components of Bristol with the involvement of five other companies in the State.

Representatives of the two magazines and the winners will hold a celebration of this coup for the Rhode Island boating industry at the C&C Fiberglass Components plant in Bristol on Thursday, February 4th at 10 AM.

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Newport spring show shelved for 2010

Newport Harbor Corp. will suspend the Newport (R.I.) Spring Boat Show this year to focus on the launch of a superyacht show in summer 2011.

"We really couldn't focus our energies on both. It's really not a bad time to suspend it. Things are looking a little bit better in the boating industry, but to give it a year off didn't seem like a bad idea at this time," show manager Nancy Piffard told Soundings Trade Only.

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Take Me Fishing debuts 3 new patches for Cub Scouts and Scouts

RBFF launched a Take Me Fishing Scouting Patch Program this month, offering three new boating and fishing patches for Cub Scouts and Scouts. The patches promote the merits of the sport and encourage scouts to plan and organize fishing trips using the resources found at TakeMeFishing.org.

"Because patches are an integral, exciting component in Scout subculture, we are certain that a program driven by a patch incentive and combined with the reach of Boys' Life and Scouting magazines, when merged with RBFF's resources, is the perfect formula for promoting fishing, boating and conservation," said Boys' Life & Scouting Publisher J. Warren Young.

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The building of a Fenwick Williams catboat: The Big Flip - January '10

After a few weeks off for winter break, the boatshop is humming once again. Unfortunately the once plentiful red cedar planking stock has run out, so there are still a few more planks to hang. But with more red cedar on the way, there's plenty of other work to be done.

In the picture you can see the sheer clamp almost fully installed. The sheer clamp is a structural piece of the boat that will strengthen the hull and help to define the shape of the hull at the sheer. On the catboat the sheer clamp is yellow cedar, an excellent choice because of it's clear, even grain. The sheer clamp helps define the shape of the hull, so while you want a strong wood, you also want a wood that will bend easily and evenly to create a nice fair sheer.

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