HOLIDAY CLOSING Monday, September 1st

Happy Labor Day!

OneTouch Composite Winch Handles by Dax Labs are now in stock.

You might recall a February 2007 Chandlery review of the Lewmar OneTouch winch handle. The handles’inventor, Don Steiner, has come out with his own, updated, lighter weight version, the Dax OneTouch.

Steiner engineered the OneTouch and sold the license to Lewmar for the metal version, but his Dax OneTouch is made of 50 percent fiber-filled nylon, and all metal parts are high-grade aluminum or stainless. It also has a wider grab bar and higher operating arc than the Lewmar.

The great thing about the OneTouch’s innovative technology is that it eliminates the frustrations of using standard locking winch handles. The simple design uses a cam rod with two steel pins that retract into the octagon when the handle’s arm is squeezed, releasing the lock; they protract when the handle is released, engaging the lock. This means setting and removing the handle can be done with one hand, in one motion: Squeeze the bar and place it; squeeze the bar and remove it. Another benefit of the Dax OneTouch is the spinning grip. Dual sets of Grade 1 Delrin ball bearings allow fast and easy grinding. And at 10 inches, the handle offers plenty of purchase.

Changes to Colorado’s law on boating under the influence recently went into effect, decreasing the legal limit for blood alcohol content and expanding the reach of the law to operators of any waterborne vessel.

Previously, the BUI law applied only to operators of motorboats or sailboats whose BAC was .10 or above. Now, the limit for BAC is .08, making it consistent with the legal limit for motor vehicle operators on Colorado roadways.

The new BUI law applies to any water vessel powered by motor, paddle or oar, including jet skis, kayaks, canoes, sailboats and rafts.

“Drinking alcohol on the water can be just as dangerous as on land,” said Rick Storm, chief of law enforcement for Colorado State Parks, in a statement. “The impacts of alcohol are naturally accelerated by marine factors, such as sun, wind, motion and spray, increasing the risk of accidents, capsizing or falling overboard,” he added.

Penalties for a BUI conviction have not changed. A vessel operator found to be under the influence of alcohol, drugs or controlled substances faces a misdemeanor charge with penalties of five days to one year in prison, fines between $200 and $1,000, loss of privilege to operate a vessel for three months and up to 96 hours of community service.

Colorado is among 38 states that have adopted a BAC limit of .08 for boating.

Due to increased fuel costs, DHL has recently implemented a new policy on extended delivery zones.  Please click here for a list of affected zip codes.  Any orders shipped to these zip codes will be handed off to the USPS for delivery and could be delayed 3 or more business days. Delivery times to these zones are not guaranteed and not eligible for freight reimbursement due to time guarantee. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

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In what has to be the closest 11th hour scenario in the US recreational marine industry's history, President George W Bush signed the Clean Boating Act of 2008 into law. The president's signature prevents a "bureaucratic nightmare" for millions of US boaters as well as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It also represents a significant lobbying victory for the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and other boater groups that campaigned for the passage of the bill through both houses of Congress, all the way to the White House.

"The recreational marine industry and boaters throughout the US can now rest easy and go boating without a federal or state permit, heavy penalties and absurd legal jeopardy," said Scott Gudes, NMMA vice president of Government Relations, in a statement. "We applaud President Bush and Congress for their bipartisan efforts to reverse the unintended and potentially devastating consequences of an overbroad federal court decision."

In 2006, a US federal judge mandated that recreational boaters be included in a sweeping decision to issue permits for discharges from vessels using US waters, overturning a longstanding policy by the EPA to exempt recreational boaters from the same rules for commercial vessels and sewage treatment plants under the Clean Water Act.

The NMMA appealed the decision in federal court, but knew they were fighting against time. The EPA was set to implement the new permitting regulations for millions of US boaters by October 1, 2008.

The Clean Boating Act passed Congress in record time, especially during an election year. At one point, less than a month ago, some NMMA insiders seemed to be pessimistic about it being passed before the presidential election in November. They also worried that a new set of potentially onerous regulations would give boaters another reason to leave the sport.

This is welcome news for all recreational marine manufacturers across the country," said Thom Dammrich, NMMA president, in the statement. "We are thrilled that Congress and the President have prevented the bureaucratic nightmare that was set to become law.

A number of other boaters' groups like Boat/US also joined in the effort to back the Clean Boating Act. The association prompted its members to contact their Members of Congress to lobby for its passage. Articles about the EPA permitting scheme also began to appear regularly in mainstream US newspapers.

The real success of this campaign rests on the shoulders of this country's millions of recreational boaters and anglers. Without their loud collective voice, we would not have reached this momentous event.

Passage of this legislation is a testament to what is possible when our community joins forces and speaks with one voice before key decision-makers

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Due to increased fuel costs, DHL has recently implemented a new policy on extended delivery zones.  Any orders shipped to these zip codes will be handed off to the USPS for delivery and could be delayed 3 or more business days. Delivery times to these zones are not guaranteed and not eligible for freight reimbursement due to time guarantee. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

US Sailing, the national governing body for the sport of sailing, released a book, “Learn Sailing Right! Beginning Sailing.”

Written by the country's leading professional sailing instructors, the book helps beginning sailors gain confidence by using easy-to-understand text and graphics.

The book starts with a tour of a typical small sailboat, and explains the concepts of how sails harness the wind to move a boat through the water. The next step puts the sailor on board the boat and describes how to steer and adjust the sails to go in the right direction. The book wraps up with seamanship skills that make sailing safer and easier.

The foreword is written by renowned sailing commentator, historian and expert sailor Gary Jobson.

"For the first time aspirant sailing might seem intimidating, but thanks to Learn Sailing Right!, one can quickly understand the concepts thanks to simple diagrams and clear descriptions," Jobson writes. "This book gets right to the basics and serves as a practical guide and handy reference for the entire crew.”

The 64-page “Learn Sailing Right!” is now available online through the US Sailing store at http://store.ussailing.org. The cost of the book is $17.95 ($12.50 for US Sailing members).

An environmental group that coordinates beach cleanup programs Thursday joined the U.S. Coast Guard in the search for the source of household and street garbage washing up on Lake Michigan beaches.

The Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes called for volunteers to scour beaches along Michigan's western coastline. They were asked to collect debris and record any labels or other information that would help determine where it came from.

Garbage has shown up in recent weeks in scattered locations as far south as Saugatuck and as far north as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan's northwestern Lower Peninsula -- a roughly 200-mile zone.

The biggest amount was in the city of Manistee, where hundreds of pounds of junk washed up the night of July 13. A public beach was closed temporarily while the mess was hauled away.

Some items had printed addresses from the Milwaukee area. Ironically, a "No Dumping Allowed" sign from the Milwaukee County Park Commission was among the trash found in Manistee.

Even so, authorities with the federal government and both states said it's too early to point the finger at Wisconsin or anywhere else. Nor is it certain all the garbage came from the same place, said Lt. David French, spokesman for the Coast Guard's 9th District headquarters in Cleveland.

"We certainly don't want to rule anything out or in at this point," French said. "Our investigators are tracking down a lot of leads."

In Milwaukee, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Cecilia Gilbert said a local investigation hit a dead end.

The city sanitation department collects residential household waste, then hauls it to landfills that are not near the lakefront, she said. It does not license barges to carry garbage on the Great Lakes.

"It's really a very odd situation," Gilbert said. "I can't wait to see how this mystery is going to be solved myself."

Searchers also haven't found many tampons, condoms or other material that would point to sewage overflows as the likely culprit, said Jamie Cross, the Alliance for the Great Lakes' Adopt-a-Beach coordinator in Michigan.

Beach litter is nothing new around the Great Lakes. A number of organizations sponsor annual cleanups that collect huge amounts of trash, particularly cans, bottles, cigarette butts and food packaging. The Petoskey-based Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council is planning an Aug. 16 beach sweep for Cheboygan, Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim Counties.

But it's unusual for large volumes of refuse to drift ashore from faraway locations, French said.

Medical waste washed up on beaches in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan nearly two decades ago, making national headlines.

A few empty syringes, tongue depressors and similar items were among the recently discovered trash. But they weren't considered medical waste because they didn't contain bodily fluids or tissues, said Robert McCann, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Drifting garbage initially was spotted on normally immaculate Sleeping Bear Dunes beaches in mid-June, Cross said. Local Adopt-a-Beach teams trained in trash collection and recording water quality data quickly removed it.

People who find garbage on beaches can report it to the Coast Guard Investigative Service at 586-239-6759.

i need to see if anyone can help me with a problem i got. i got a new set of controls for my boat and cant figure out the wiring cause the colors schemes dont match up. any help will be glady taken and ty in advance

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Check out ACR's Summer Sale now until September 30th, 2008 and receive $50 cash back by purchasing an AquaFix or GlobalFix.

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In response to a federal court order, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a draft permit for millions of charter, commercial and recreational vessels for “normal operational discharges” that could open a Pandora’s box of compliance problems and unfairly subject charter boats and recreational boaters – including those who own canoes and kayaks - to potential nuisance lawsuits.

The permit requires boaters to comply with a set of worrisome national requirements as well as additional state requirements “to be determined.” Penalties carry up to a $32,500 daily fine for each violation.

The Clean Boating Act of 2008 - S. 2766 in the Senate and H.R. 5949 in the House of Representatives – will not exempt all charter boats “normal operational discharges” that has been in existence for the past 35 years.

The draft permit would allow the EPA, the US Coast Guard, a state authority or some private contractor to inspect a boat and take discharge samples. If requested, a boater would be required to provide such government officials with information to determine permit compliance.

“What may appear quite simple on the surface will be anything but in reality,” said Podlich. “What happens if a neighbor – who perhaps may not appreciate boats – decides that you use too much biodegradable soap to wash your boat, witnesses an accidentally spilled orange juice draining out of the scuppers, or sees you wipe algae off the scum line? Under the present draft permit guidelines, all of these instances may be deemed a violation of the Clean Water Act,” added Podlich. “Even topping off a fuel tank, which is recommended for winter storage of today’s ethanol-laden gasoline, could be considered a violation,” she added.

Also included in the draft EPA permit is the onerous requirement that every state must approve the federal permit before this September 30. Each state may add on its own regulations, potentially creating multiple requirements for boaters cruising between states. After the initial permit this fall, the EPA will then outline for the states how they can implement their own permit systems, which could result in additional state modifications of the permit requirements as well as fees for boaters.

You need to contact your federal legislators this week. They return to DC on July 7th and the bills above will go on the floor for a vote, tell them you want inspected and uninspected charter boats exempted.

Go to this site and look up the contact information, either fax or email them your requests.

ProMariner!

All prices are shown at the SALE PRICE

All of our distributors will be shutting down at or about 12 noon EST today.  We will get all tracking numbers out today. Orders after 12 noon today will not go out until Monday July 7 2008.

Be sure to check out our Close Outs new items are being added all the time.

We have added the Sunbrella product line at CLR Marine.

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency published the Clean Water Act proposal in the Federal Register. The proposal will impose new, complex requirements on recreational boaters to follow specific practices in operating their boats and managing their everyday, overboard water discharges.

Mandated by a court order in 2006 that focused exclusively on commercial vessel ballast water, the proposal includes draft permits that are a new regulation on American recreational boaters, demonstrating the need to pass the Clean Boating Act of 2008 as these new regulations will take effect Oct. 1, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

“Now more than ever, it is critical that we unite — as an industry and as boating enthusiasts — and compel Congress to pass the Clean Boating Act of 2008,” said the NMMA president Thom Dammrich in a statement. “Boaters everywhere must reach out to their state and local representatives and ask that they support this key piece of legislation.”

The Clean Boating Act of 2008 would fully and permanently restore a long-standing regulation that excludes recreational boaters and anglers from the federal and state permitting requirements.

There are two proposed general EPA permits: one for boats under 79 feet, and another for recreational boats 80 feet and above. This second permit, which also encompasses commercial ships, is even more complicated than the first and makes an arbitrary and unreasonable distinction among recreational boats based on footage in order to classify them as commercial boats, according to the NMMA.

“It’s complex and boaters will now have to follow requirements that are in the permit program,” Mathew Dunn, manager of natural resource and economic policy for the NMMA, told Soundings Trade Only. “The EPA says they’re going to just automatically cover recreational boats under 79 feet. But the permit program also requires boaters to take certain actions, to do management practices; they may have to meet water quality affluent standards for their discharges.

“So they may be automatically covered by the permit, but in order to comply, how is the agency going to educate and inform the nation’s 18 million boat operators what exactly they’re supposed to do to comply with this new mandate?,” Dunn added.

Also, he said, the EPA says it can do this nationwide, which has not been tried before and could be the subject of a future lawsuit. The proposal also allows individual states to implement their own boating permits, creating the potential for mass confusion.

The EPA’s proposal also would subject boaters to $32,500 per violation, per day in penalties.

“The more you dig into the details of this proposal, the more complex it becomes,” Dunn said. “This sort of uncertainty is not acceptable. If this is the best EPA can do, it just reiterates and reemphasizes the importance of passing the Clean Boating Act as soon as possible.”

Dunn said the bills have moved out of House and Senate committees and are waiting to be scheduled for a vote in both chambers of Congress.

The NMMA strongly encourages people who care about boating to attend these meetings and share their views on why they should not be exposed to the requirements and legal jeopardy this new permit program will entail. For specific dates and locations of these meetings, visit BoatBlue.org.

For information about the Clean Boating Act of 2008, visit BoatBlue.org or contact Dunn at (202) 737-9760; mdunn@nmma.org.

CHICAGO YACHT CLUB. Today, Chicago Yacht Club announced that ESPN Classic will air a one-hour documentary regarding the 100th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Lands' End Business Outfitters.    2008 marks the 100th running of 'the Mac,' the world's longest annual freshwater sailing distance race. This documentary will be presented by Rolex Watch USA, the Official Timekeeper of the 100th Race. This year, the Mac will start off Chicago's lakefront on July 19, 2008.

ESPN's Gary Jobson, a highly decorated racing sailor and the world's leading sailing television journalist, will produce the documentary. Jobson and his team of journalists will highlight the storied history of the Race. A special emphasis will cover the technological advancements over the decades. Coverage will include helicopter and sea level footage, with camerapersons joining several highly competitive crews during the Race itself. The documentary will also cover all of the pre-Race and post-Race events associated with this once in a lifetime event. In addition to Rolex, a number of other sponsors will be supporting this project, including North Sails, Gougeon Brothers, and Lands' End Business Outfitters.  The program will air worldwide on ESPN Classic twice in late 2008, with the first airing scheduled for Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

World Sailing Championship Comes to Chicago

(Chicago Yacht Club) Some of the best sailors from around the globe will compete in the 2008 International Etchells World Championship, held this year at Chicago Yacht Club’s Belmont Harbor Station. This prestigious event is rotated between continents annually and will run in Chicago from June 19- June 29, 2008. Sponsored by World Sport Chicago, the Etchells Worlds brings a spotlight on Chicago sailing, showcasing the Windy City as a powerhouse for the highest level of international sailing competition.

This regatta is sailed in the Etchells, a fast, stable 30 foot racing sloop that can be raced competitively and safely by three or four sailors. Her sail plan includes a main, jib, and spinnaker. Past Etchells World Champions include Jud Smith, 2006 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and 2006 Etchells World Champion, Dennis Connor, Dave Curtis, Vince Bruin and Ken Read. The International Etchells Class attracts many talented sailors including former Olympians and America’s Cup Veterans. Russel Couts, John Bertrand, Gary Jobson and Craig Healy all race their own Etchells.

To be eligible to race in the Etchells World Championship, each skipper must qualify in his or her home fleet. For the 2008 Worlds, the top 23% in each fleet are eligible to enter and race in the championship. There are more than 50 Etchells Fleets around the world, countries include Australia, Bermuda, England, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, Italy, France and the United States. Chicago Yacht Club has an extremely active Etchells Fleet (Etchells Fleet 11) that has been competing since 1973.

In June the excitement comes to Chicago. To learn more, please visit the event web site at www.etchellsworlds2008.com.

About The Chicago Yacht Club
The Chicago Yacht Club is one of the oldest and most respected yacht clubs in the world.Today, the club boasts a membership of nearly 1500 boating enthusiasts, and is one of the preeminent organizers of regattas, races and predicted-log events in the United States. The club offers an array of spectacular off-the-water amenities, including fine dining and full-service catering at both its Monroe and Belmont stations.