Catscan 2 March, 2005

From the Poop Deck
Seaworthy Ideas and Stuff
Paul Kurkowski

Ahoy mates. I hope the month of February has been kind to you all. Traditionally it’s the coldest month of the year. That’s when most of us, at least for a week, migrate to a warmer climate.

Speaking of climate, it appears that snowfall and the lack of it, is not the primary reason for dropping lake levels.

According to coastal engineer firm W. F. Baird Associates, the real reason is the St. Clair River.

Yep, hold on to your flip-flops. The real cause is development. The human alterations to River St. Clair has turned it into, possibly, the worlds largest drain. The shipping channel was dredged to 27 feet in 1960-62. The problem is at its worst in the area under and around the Blue Water Bridge extending all the way to the Black River. The channel, in this area, is 60 feet deep and the erosion is at its worst due to the influx of the higher volume of water. That is, “The Drain.” Normal sedimentation, which is the opposite of erosion, has been stopped by the construction of seawalls so we can keep our beaches and coastline. The riverbed sands and gravels, which also keep erosion in check, are being and have been mined away for construction materials.

We owe all this new knowledge to a group of 4,000 families known as the Georgian Bay Association. They paid $200,000 for a six-month study to give them some answers to the falling levels of Lakes Michigan and Huron.

On the bright side, Lakes Ontario, Erie and St. Clair will be at or near normal level this boating season. The reason: lots-o-snow and melt off. Typically, the level of Lake St. Clair is low this time of year but not this year. It is expected to continue to climb to its normal long-term average.

I hope to see you all, at The Ball.

That’s it for now.

Casting off all lines. Color me gone.

Paul Kurkowski “Space Hunter”

A Little Local Knowledge Goes a Long Way!

James Glasson

First Mate, Lady Godiva, Catalina 30 MrkII, 4917

What Floor Please?

You may be asking, “What the heck does an elevator ride have to do with sailing on San Francisco Bay?” I’ll get to that, but first I need to explain to you how we got into this position in the first place.

We’d traveled to San Francisco from Detroit for the Catalina 30 National Regatta in early October. This was our first time in San Francisco and our first sailing in a regatta on unfamiliar water.

Prior to the regatta start, we met some local racers at the host yacht club. It was of great interest to us when they started talking about “current relief” tactics. It was such an important part of being a successful racer on the Bay that the yacht club had even arranged for a local sail loft owner to come in and give a talk about it after dinner on the first night of the regatta. What we got on this trip was a crash course in hydrology and local strategy.

In our home waters on Lake St. Clair, it is not fair to say there is no current. Of course there is, but it is so small in the middle of the lake it is just not a major factor in our regular racing strategy. As the water flows down from Lake Huron into the relatively small Lake St. Clair and down to Lake Ontario, the biggest current we have to deal with is on or by the Detroit River. Seeing as we do not race on or by the river, we don’t usually talk about current and how to deal with it prior to a race and we never talk about tides. So here we are listening to a very knowledgeable local sailor talking about tide charts and currents who is telling us to stay off the elevator. What the heck is the elevator? We’re still talking about sailing right?

Without getting into a major lesson in hydrology; a topic on which I’m no expert, the basics are as follows. San Francisco Bay is fed by the Pacific Ocean as are other large bodies of water also connected to it (San Pablo Bays to the north and the South Bay are examples). As water flows into the central Bay via the straight under the Golden Gate Bridge (the “Gate”). It seeks to flow into the lower points of land, thus establishing a flood. A fully established flood has water flowing into the bay and surrounding low points at up to 4 knots in some areas.

Once the flood is completed, the water is said to be slack, or not moving, just prior to the ebb, when the water recedes from the Bay, out under the Gate and back to the ocean. Simple enough, right?

Editor’s note:

The following story, written by James Glasson, was submitted by club member Jack Gray. Jack and James participated in the 2004 C30 Nationals on San Francisco Bay. In the last issue we printed a story that lead up to the race. This article covers our club members as they compete in the regatta.

Continued on page 5

Will anyone dare to tell me that business is more entertaining than fooling around among boats? He must have never seen a boat, or never seen an office who says so...

- Robert Louis Stevenson