Author: Tollyclub

Start your weekend with these five items that caught our eye this week:

Clean Marinas Benefit the Environment & Marinas

Teeming beneath the docks and ship hulls of Washington marinas are some of the most sensitive and important resources in the state. By their very nature marinas can hover over shellfish larvae, juvenile fishes like salmon, and other essential and sensitive sea life that need healthy waters to thrive. It is also necessary for marinas to carry and use materials or perform maintenance tasks that could be harmful to these resources and surrounding water quality without the use of proper best management practices (BMP’s). That’s why in 2005, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance partnered with Envirostars and other state agencies and non-profits to launch the Clean Marina Washington program. This program is a free, incentive-based certification program in which marinas assess their operations and implement improvements to better protect the environment. To date, 81 marinas have been certified, which means one third of the marina’s in the state have stepped up to create a healthier environment for our aquatic ecosystems. READ MORE

Recreational Boating Association of Washington Purchases Historic Lakebay Marina to Preserve as Marine State Park

The Recreational Boating Association of Washington (RBAW) and its 501(c)(3), the RBAW Marine Parks Conservancy, announced that it has entered into a purchase-and-sale agreement for the historic Lakebay Marina on the Key Peninsula in Pierce County, with the goal of preserving it in perpetuity as a Marine State Park. READ MORE

New Year’s Eve icon’s forgotten ties to Northwest hydroplane racing

He was a fixture every New Year’s Eve, first on radio and then on TV, from 1929 to the 1970s, but bandleader Guy Lombardo also had a strong, very loud – and sometimes very fast – connection to Seattle. READ MORE

Not Your Father’s VHF

At the 2019 National Marine Electronics Association expo, Vesper Marine announced Cortex. It’s a modular system with a base unit, handsets and a mobile app. Cortex systems can start with just an M1 base unit, which provides AIS and monitoring capabilities. Adding an H1 or H1p handset enables VHF radio functionality. READ MORE

Woodworking tools – a DIY boat owner’s guide to getting a professional finish

It’s not difficult to achieve a professional finish using woodworking machines and there are bargains to be had every day on ebay and other buying and selling forums. But do you really need them, you might ask? READ MORE