Small Business of the Year

04/30/09
DePaul Diesel has won the Newport Chamber’s Small Business of the Year Award. This year’s awards breakfast will take place on Friday, May 8, 2009 at the Newport Harbor Hotel & Marina in Newport from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

image - Dennis Klodner / riy

Depaul was affected by the fire at NEB but just for a day. The business is 50ft from where the blaze occurred but luckily they were upwind and only lost power and phone service.

Dennis Klodner along with partner Jamie L Freitas operate the business located on Lagoon Road Portsmouth. In June DePaul Diesel will celebrate 30 years in business. Congratulations Dennis and Jamie! depauldiesel.com

New York Field Trip!

04/30/09
PUMA’s very own Ken Read, Jerry Kirby, Casey Smith and Shannon Falcone will be appearing on the TODAY Show today (NBC). The segment will air during the 1000 - 1100 time slot (1100-1200 in the Boston area).

watch it here

Cost of LNG fight crosses $2 million

04/30/09
Fall River - Following a transfer of $210,000 approved Tuesday night, the city will have paid more than $2 million in its fight against a proposed offshore liquefied natural gas terminal.

City Councilor Leo O. Pelletier continued to question how worthwhile the city’s costs for legal and related fees the past several years have been. He said city residents are shouldering an unfair share.

Pelletier maintained his belief Weaver’s Cove Energy and its international energy partner, Hess, would prevail.

“Are we fighting a losing battle?” Pelletier asked at Tuesday’s council meeting, citing developers’ assurances they’d build the project. Full story - www.heraldnews.com

71 Ports Want the Volvo Ocean Race to Visit Next Time.

04/30/09
Volvo Event Management UK (VEMUK), event organizer of the Volvo Ocean Race, has announced that 71 cities from 37 different countries have made formal expressions of interest to host one of 8 “Stopovers” in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12. more- yachtsponsorship.com

Special showing of Morning Light - URI

04/29/09
Don’t miss a special showing of Morning Light at URI, Sunday May 3rd, 4pm. The presentation will include an introduction to the Worlds Team, discussion with Morning Light stars Jesse Fielding and Robbie Kane, and a special viewing of the entire film. The film is no longer in theaters and is not yet out on DVD, so here is your chance to see it with the stars of the film.

The admission is $5 for student ID, $15 for the general public. All Proceeds will benefit the URI World Cup Racing Team and help send us to France. So come down, meet the team, support the team, and see one of the greatest sailing movies of this decade. If you want to get psyched about sailing this summer, there is no better way to do it.  more info

Volunteers needed to move muddy quahogs

04/29/09
Want to get dirty, work hard, and make a real contribution to saving the Salt Ponds? Join us on Tuesday, May 5th, to transplant quahogs from Narragansett Bay into spawner sanctuaries in Quononchontaug (Quonny) Pond and Ninigret Pond on the South County Coast.

This project is really inspiring, as we work closely with some terrific partners and dedicated staffers including RIDEM, The Nature Conservancy, and The Salt Ponds Coalition. These people love their work and they do it with extraordinary skill and professionalism. I volunteered on this mission last year and it was a good time with some great people. Details - Baykeeper-Blog

NEB - note to clients and friends

04/28/09
Dear Customer: Just a quick note to fill our customers in on some of the details of last Thursday’s Fire. New England Boatworks, Inc. had a very serious fire that broke out very early in the morning. We lost three of the buildings on the southern end of our property - engineering, stockroom and repair. This fire very quickly went from one building to a three buildings scenario. While this is tragic, we were extremely fortunate that no one was hurt and all of our boats remained safely tied at the docks out of harms’ way. Thanks to the quick actions of our security guard, Steve Lecuyer, we were able to contain the fire in a timely manner.

New England Boatworks would like to thank the Portsmouth Fire Department and all of the other fire and police departments for all of their help in containing the fire here at our facility in Portsmouth. The loss could have been much greater with out their dedicated efforts. We also send our best to all the injured firefighters and are very thankful that they have no sustained side effects.

With typical NEB spirit, we were back up and running the next day with 80 % of our work force going ahead with our spring schedule - sanding, painting, launching, etc. Today as we write this letter our work force is back at 100%. NEB is a strong company with approximately 100 employees who are dedicated to going forward. We intend to rebound from this stronger than ever!

New England Boatworks would also thank all of our customers, the boating and sailing communities who have offered their help, resources and best wishes to us in this situation!

Sincerely,
Steve, David and Tom
New England Boatworks, Inc.

Here’s the one schedule to save or print

04/28/09
Volvo Ocean Race Boston stopover schedule of events (pdf) vorbostonschedule1

Race Village Map - link

Oliver Hazard Perry headed to Harbour Court

04/28/09
NEWPORT, R.I.  After quietly spending the last six months in her winter berth at Bowen’s Wharf, Rhode Island’s Tall Ship Oliver Hazard Perry will be out on the town, Friday, May 8, when she travels across Newport Harbor to make a visit to the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court. That evening, an “All Hands on Deck” fund raising reception at the Clubhouse will allow guests to see the 132-foot hull up close and also participate in silent and live auctions to benefit the next stages of work on the vessel, a project overseen by the non-profit group Tall Ships Rhode Island (TSRI).

(more…)

Home Team

04/27/09
Ken Read and family looking happy he is back in New England. The Volvo Ocean race festivities will be ongoing until the start of the Boston to Galway Ireland leg, Saturday, May 16, 2009

Kenny and other local team members will be in Newport Friday with Sail Newport for a multimedia presentation at the Jane Pickens Theatre (see earlier post) for the most up to date information from Fan Pier in Boston check: facebook-Fan Pier

image Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

Webcam wildlife

04/27/09
Webcam #1 on the Hyatt Goat Island captured this image Sunday morning. We don’t usually get close ups like this but the view of Rose Island is typical. It will not be long before we can watch some fleet racing and fishing boats. There were a few out this weekend. The cams refresh every 5-15 seconds. Couple this information with our real time weather station and you can know before you go. The pictures and color seem to be getting a little better each day now that the sun is higher in the sky.

Shopping

04/27/09
Fan Pier Boston is open for business and the boats are in. PUMA may have finished 4th in leg six but they are dominating the Race Village. PUMA City is an 11,000 square-foot retail and event structure made from twenty-four, forty-foot long steel shipping containers, each weighing in at eleven tons. Built in China and designed to be a mobile retail and event unit, PUMA City was shipped to Boston via cargo ship. It definitely gives you the urge to buy something.

Volvo also has an impressive display of hardware including cut away station wagons, smart car simulators and excavators. Kids can ride around on Volvo scooters and dad can check out diesel engine systems. Ericsson’s pavilion was closed to the public for awhile last night for a reception but it looks pretty cool too.

There is an experience dome (inflatable movie theater) and pool for RC boat racing set up. The noticeable Rhode Influence are the big cans of Narragansett beer. You can park right next door to the venue and admission to the village is free. info

images - riy

Party Boats

04/26/09
riyachting.com has teamed up with the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association so you can know where the fish are and what’s being caught this summer. They have over 60 member boats from 18′ - 105′. The fleet does charters for fishing, diving, cruising, funerals at sea, whale watches and you name it. The action is right around the corner. Check them out at

www.rifishing.com

Official Launch - May 1st

04/26/09
Portsmouth RI. Earlier this month Hunt Yachts seatrialed their new Semi Custom 52 for a photo session with the helicopter and got this great shot. Friday May 1st, 3:30pm - 5:30pm they will officially unveil her for the public.

Hunt Yachts Headquarters
Melville Marine Complex
1909 Alden Landing
Portsmouth, RI

Registration Pace Strong for BI Race Week

04/25/09
Block Island, R.I., USA (April 23, 2009) -With less than two months before the first starting gun sounds at Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex, organizer Storm Trysail Club announced that over 125 boats have entered in advance of the June 1 deadline. Crediting Regatta Chairman Eric Kreuter’s (Riverside, Conn.) ingenious plan to “register early, pay later” for the early bump in registrants, On-the-Water Co-Chair Dick Neville (Annapolis, Md.) projects at least 14 class divisions based on the entry list, to date.  (more…)