BOAT/U.S. Magazine articles from March 2000

BOAT/U.S. Magazine archives from March 2000

BEHIND THE BUOY.(better customer service will likely increase boat sales)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The 1990s were not, for the most part, a great decade for most boatbuilders and dealers. The massive baby boom generation and their penchant for recreating outdoors were supposed to propel the boating industry to new heights. Instead, the...

Jolly Joyce in More Rough Seas.(boat towed by Coast Guard twice in 1999)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Richard Stewart, whose forced rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard last summer off the coast of Maryland sparked national debate in the press and on the Internet, has returned to Florida after being rescued yet again, this time off Cape Fear, NC. But...

Hurricane Predictions On the Mark.(accuracy of meteorologist William Gray)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Forecasting a year in advance anything having to do with the weather is risky business, but hurricane prognosticator Dr. William Gray nearly hit a bull's eye in 1999. He had also warned that the late 1990s would be more active than any time...

Women's Sailing Award.(Bernadette Bernon receives Leadership in Women's Sailing Award)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The first recipient of the Leadership in Women's Sailing Award, Bernadette Bernon, center, received the trophy at Sail Expo in Atlantic City in January. Bernadette is the editor of Cruising World magazine and has sponsored numerous outreach...

Second-Home Tax Deduction Remains.(tax deductibility for boats as a second home)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Despite the election year rhetoric about "flat" taxes and eliminating mortgage deductions, the old rules are still in effect for boaters preparing their last income tax returns of the 20th century. The rules have not changed for boats used...

Safe Boating Week.(sponsored by National Safe Boating Council)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... National Safe Boating Week is set for May 20-26 this year and groups organizing special events, media messages and other outreach efforts may stick with the same theme: "Boat Smart from the Start -- Wear Your Life Jacket." Since about 70%...

Sportfishing Beyond 2000.(fishery management)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Are fishing seasons and bag limits keeping marine fish stocks healthy? Will fewer fish caught today really mean better fishing tomorrow? Does volunteer tagging help management? What will saltwater fishing look like 25 years from now? These...

Missouri Targets Two-Strokes.(efforts to ban two-stroke engines)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... A state Senate bill in Missouri aims to ban outright all marine two-stroke engines after June 1, 2005, with no provisions for "grandfathering" in existing engines still in use. Sen. Ronnie DePasco pre-filed the bill before the Senate convened...

High Rating for boatus.com.(Web site dedicated to boating is evaluated)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The BoatU.S. Web site's online store was recently awarded a top rating by BizRate.com, the online store customer satisfaction rating site for thousands of Internet retailers. The online store at www.boatus.com, received four-and-a-half out of a...

She Did It!(Toni Murden is the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... When her vessel, American Pearl, touched the dock in Guadeloupe last Dec. 3, Tori Murden achieved the dream that nearly cost her her life a year earlier. After 82 days at the oars, covering 3,000 miles of ocean, she became the first American...

MEMBER FORUM.
March 1, 2000... Furry Barometers Ebony and Shade, litter mates found in a dumpster at a Seaford, DE, animal hospital, now live aboard our 51-foot sailboat and assist in weather prediction. When Shade, a 16-pound gray/white tiger sleeps on his back, we...

DEVIANT READINGS(C).(boating)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Soon the first spring of the next thousand years will arrive on schedule, complete with warm winds and sumptuous sunshine. In anticipation of this momentous occasion, millions of boaters across the northern hemisphere have already begun the...

West Winds.(maritime novelist Patrick O'Brien)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... A few weeks ago, the novelist Patrick O'Brian died quite suddenly. His death came as a shock to me and, I'm sure, to thousands of his devoted readers. Over the past three decades, O'Brian published 20 linked novels about the Royal Navy in...

Fishing for the 'Perfect' Boat.(Warner Brothers buys boat to film 'The Perfect Storm')(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... It was, well, like something Out of a Hollywood movie. On a routine day at the dock in Ocean City, MD, last spring, BoatU.S. member Mike McCook was meeting the captain and crew of his commercial fishing boat, the Lady Grace. As he had done a...

You make the Call ... VHF or Cell Phone?(U.S. Coast Guard reccommends VHF radio for emergencies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... It seems like everyone on the water is using a cell phone to call for help. The U.S. Coast Guard even has a special number in most coastal areas -- [CG.sup.*], or [24.sup.*] -- you can punch in to reach them directly. But depending on a...

Spring Forward ... & Recycle.(recycling efforts by boat owners)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Spring cleaning means a lot of things. For boat owners, though, it's that special time of year when the shrink wrap is peeled from the hull, mildew is extinguished from the cabin and the leftover cans and bottles in the ice box are tossed. Most...

Amistad Reborn.(reproduction schooner built)
March 1, 2000... On March 25, the "freedom schooner" Amistad will slide down the ways at Connecticut's Mystic Seaport to begin a journey that could be every bit as history-making as its namesake's 1839 voyage into a landmark Supreme Court case. And with it will...

Breezing Through Belize.(boating)
March 1, 2000... Ask most boaters who have sailed from one end of the Caribbean to the other which side they prefer, and the answer is more than likely going to be the western side -- particularly the Bay Islands of Honduras, Guatemala's Rio Dulce, Mexico's...

Game Fish Controversy Takes Wing.(cormorants killed in New York to save bass fish)
March 1, 2000... The Double-Crested Cormorant Has a Voracious Appetite for Fish When wildlife biologists landed on Little Galloo Island in Lake Ontario in July 1998, they were unprepared for the carnage there. But dozens of spent shotgun shells quickly told...

A Decade of Grassroots Grants.(BoatU.S. Foundation for Boating Safety grant recipients)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Cinema advertising that promotes safe boating and on-line boat safety courses; free t-shirts handed out to kids wearing their life vests in Texas and New York; signs that tell boaters about the special care they need to take when navigating...

OIL & WATER A FINE MESS.
March 1, 2000... It's a moral and legal dilemma for everyone on the water these days. You're at the gas dock or at your slip and in the course of filling up the fuel tank, a splash or even a cup of fuel spills into the water. What do you do? Under federal...

Boating Leaders Endorse Consumer Pact.
March 1, 2000... Thanks to an unprecedented agreement forged by BoatU.S., the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and the Marine Retailers Association of America (MRAA), settling thorny repair disputes involving boats, engines and marine services...

Rough Riders.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Two crewmates from the BoatU.S. Marine Center in Holmdel, NJ, had a wild ride and then some as they competed in the 360-mile Marblehead to Halifax Race last summer. Kurt Hansen and Robert Gandy, who work in the electronics department, raced...

The End of an Epic.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Best-selling author Patrick O'Brian lived as quietly in real life as his colorful 18th century characters lived large in the fiction he wrote, the epic Aubrey-Maturin series. O'Brian died Jan. 2 in Dublin, Ireland, while researching his 21st...

Canal Cruise 2000.(New York event)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... BoatU.S. members Coleen King and her husband remember the "best time of our boating lives" when they joined in last year's canal cruise and bike trek along the historic New York State Canal System. Best of all, they and others will have the...

Calling All Trojans.(boat owner association being created)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... All Trojan boat owners interested in sharing information tips and even social events should get in touch with BoatU.S. member John Hunter of New Jersey. He is tackling the formidable task of organizing a Trojan Boat Owners Association.

Scouting Abroad.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Five American Sea Scouts, led by National Commodore Jimmie Homburg and four of her scout leaders, teamed up with six British scouts on a week-long canal boat cruise outside of Birmingham, England. The group navigated the...

Feline Frenzy.(competition to name new Meow Mix cat food)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... A boat that looks like Garfield the cat? We've seen our share of nautical promotions over the years but none so shamelessly silly as the Meow Mix cat "impersonator" contest. The goal is to come up with a nautical jingle for their new seafood...