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Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 3 ~ Feb. 10, 2012 ~ Boat Transportation Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012 Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 2 ~ Feb 3, 2012 ~ “Off Season”Last week’s thread had 26 posts, including the source for this week’s thread – boat transportation. I have helped clients ship vessels of all sizes and types all over North America and overseas. Except for two small scratches, every shipping project was successful, albeit harrowing on occasion. To help ensure your boat shipping efforts are successful, I will provide boat...

Ahoy, fellow FR boating lovers! (Boating = all boats and water-related activities; sailing, cruising, fishing, beach combing, flipflop wearing, key lime pie eating, surfing, SUPing – if it floats, tastes salty or is sand encrusted, it belongs here!) While politics are important, our country is great, and FR is amazing; boating is all about fun afloat! This post is the launch of a weekly FR thread about anything and everything boating. (Boating FReepers are either enjoying their boats or dreaming about boats while surfing on Free Republic.) Back story: my parents met in a boatyard, I grew up on boats,...

The dowager empress of China, Cixi, famously took the admiralty funds intended for building up an Imperial Admiralty and used them to construct a boat carved of marble on the shore of Kumming Lake for her amusement and the pleasure of her royal entourage. The embezzlement was condoned by the controller of the Admiralty, despite the disadvantage to the nation, because he owed his position to Cixi. Solyndra is Obama's equivalent of the Marble Boat. It represents, we think, what may be the largest in a series of enormous federal expenditures to Obama's friends and supporters for their benefit and...

This is how you do it:  nab the perps, tie 'em up, put them back on their own boat, then set the whole kit and kaboodle on fire and.... pooof, no more pirates. The video below shows Russian Navy commandos on a Somali pirate ship shortly after the pirates had captured a Russian oil tanker. A number of commands directed at the prisoners are heard from from an English-speaking Russian, i.e. when the commandos find a weapons stash ("WTF??!")- and "This is not a fishing boat!"The soldiers immediately freed their compatriots and the Russian oil tanker. They moved the pirates...

...When overtaken it was found to be at full throttle and on autopilot with no one in the wheelhouse (...) When questioned, passengers and crew affirmed alternately "we are all captains" and identified the captain as "Mr. Northstar," in reference to the Northstar autopilot unit. The captain has not yet identified him or herself (...) This single (to my knowledge unprecedented) set of deadly chicaneries, ending with the "secret captain" ruse, comprise – where to start? – a blanket violation of every written and unwritten Law of the Sea (...) Sadly, there's more... The Tahrir is towed back to port....

It might just be one of the oddest DWI cases in recent memory — a powerboat sliced right into a gazebo off the Toms River over the weekend. The boat's driver was charged with DWI, according to The Asbury Park Press. The 40-foot boat slammed into the gazebo outside of Ann and George Schuld's home in Berkeley Township, N.J., around 10:30 Saturday night. Ann is a popular local realtor. She and George were out dancing when it happened. Ann's cell phone lit up. "I thought someone had died," she told Berkeley Patch reporter Patricia A. Miller...

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A man is sitting in the Brevard County jail mostly because won't say who he is, or what he was doing when he beached a boat north of Port Canaveral. He's been given the name "John Doe" after he gave several name that couldn't be verified. The man also couldn't prove he owned the boat and wouldn't tell authorities where he was going.

September 24, 2010 One killed, one hurt in boating mishap â Vermont men thrown overboard during outing on Lake Champlain LOHR McKINSTRY Press-Republican Press-Republican Fri Sep 24, 2010, 03:28 AM EDT CROWN POINT — One man is dead and another seriously injured after a boating accident on Lake Champlain near Crown Point Thursday afternoon. Officials said one man died of injuries sustained when he was thrown from a bass fishing boat, which then ran over him.

It may not make for good conspiracy theory fodder, but a sunken Kennedy boat sure has a certain ring to it. River Maiden, a 59-foot steel boat registered to Max Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, sank into the north slip of Lake Michigan between Rainbow Beach and the Calumet River on June 12, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. It's still there.

Liveshot ‘swift-boated’ again! By Howie Carr | Sunday, July 25, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists Forget “Isabel” - Liveshot Kerry should rename his $7 million sloop “The Botched Joke.” You remember that was how he tried to explain away his nasty little dig at the military, back in 2006, saying that if kids don’t study hard, they’ll end up in Iraq. He said it was a botched joke. So I wonder how Liveshot is trying to explain this latest botched joke to his ancient gold-digging bride in her $9.2 million mansion on Brant Point in Nantucket. Lovey, they’re swift-boating me...

Talk about the big one that got away. Ryan Danoff was fishing with two friends about four miles off Hollywood beach Sunday when he spied what appeared to be a mast on the horizon. Funny thing: There was no boat underneath it. Danoff, a Fort Lauderdale fish farmer who's on the water at least three days a week, aimed his 31-foot center console Fishy Business at the mysterious upright and found himself eye to eye with a periscope. "It was crazy," he said. "If it was just myself out there I wouldn't believe what I saw." Danoff moved closer. "It...

Large Boat for sale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 2010-02-16, 1:17PM CST -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Due to the bad economy, I can no longer afford to fill up the diesel tanks on this thing and pay my crew. Therefore, I am forced to sell my 1977 Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. New paint and propellors. 22 knots max. Looking for around $2,000,000 or best offer. No pirates or scammers. •Location: North Atlantic •it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests PostingID: 1603624338

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened the 'Septet' of leading ministers Thursday evening to discuss preparations for the arrival of the 'Rachel Corrie', a Gaza-bound Irish ship on a mission to challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza. Several news outlets said that Netanyahu would suggest “creative ideas” for inspecting ships claiming to carry aid for Gaza. These ideas would reportedly involve the participation of United Nations crews in the inspection process. Inspections would take place in Ashdod harbor

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli public on live television at 8:00 p.m. Israel time, regarding the attempt by a terror-sympathizers' flotilla to break the blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. "This was no Love Boat,” he said. “This was a boat of hatred. It was a terror-supporting flotilla” "The state of Israel faces an international campaign of hypocrisy,” Netanyahu said. “This is not the first time. Two years ago, we operated against the missiles that Hamas fired against Israel. Hamas fired at civilians and hid behind civilians. The IDF operated against Hamas in an effort to avoid hitting innocent civilians....

With machine-guns in hand, Mexico's deadliest cartel is patrolling the waters of a Texas border lake. These pirates have already ambushed three, possibly four boats, operating with virtual impunity as they make off with cash and electronics. It's happening on Falcon Lake in Zapata, 200 yards from the Mexican border. KENS-TV's Christopher Heath has the latest on this story.

A boating crash in Orange County on Saturday evening sent one man to the hospital. Orange County sheriff's deputies said an 18-foot-long pontoon boat ran ashore and landed on top of a 54-year-old man who was working on a jet ski in his back yard on Lake Holden. Investigators said there was some sort of mechanical malfunction with the pontoon boat, which sent it out of control. The injured man was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center with chest injuries and a large gash to one leg. Deputies said the driver of the pontoon boat was friends with the victim....

How do you keep more than 6,300 people fed, housed and having the time of their life while floating in the middle of the ocean? The Oasis of the Seas -- the world's largest cruise ship -- aims to accomplish that feat nearly every week. Almost five times as large as the Titanic, it has a population during its seven-day Caribbean sailings that is larger than many American small towns -- more than 8,600 when it is fully booked and including staff. The Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship, which first set sail last December, is almost as long as five...

All the yacht admirers are eagerly awaiting the launch of the catamaran-style solar yacht by its builders – PlanetSolar. This novel concept of yacht involves utilization of solar power with the help of 500 square meters of solar panels. However, another unique part of this news is the interesting itinerary that the yacht is expected to make around the world following its release in Germany on February 25.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tough fishing boat captain Phil Harris, whose brave exploits in the wild waters off the Alaskan coast were captured on the popular television show "Deadliest Catch," has died, family members said. He was 53.

A retired Minneapolis police sergeant leaped onto a burning boat in a Florida harbor north of Fort Myers, picked up and moved one badly injured woman, and then another, onto other boats, then got off the distressed vessel seconds before it was rocked by the second of two explosions. Just as Harry Baltzer finished moving the two women from the blazing boat last Friday in an Englewood, Fla., gated community, he could sense that time was running short. "I put one foot on one bow, and I had my other foot on the other bow," said Baltzer, who turns 68...

LOCK HAVEN - Four months after two boats collided on the Susquehanna River, killing a young girl and injuring several others, one of the boat operators has been arrested on with multiple criminal charges, and charges are pending against one of his passengers. John Edward Englert II, 51, of 335 N. Water St., Mill Hall, was arraigned before Friday afternoon before Magisterial District Judge Joseph Sanders on 37 criminal offenses, ranging from homicide by watercraft while driving under the influence and other first-degree felonies to various summary offenses under Pennsylvania's boating laws. Sanders set bail at $750,000 and Englert was...

LOCK HAVEN - It's been almost four months since Valerie Teresa Heidt, 12, of Hublersburg, died in a fatal boat crash on the Susquehanna River and an intensive investigation began. This morning, Clinton County District Attorney Michael F. Salisbury said that probe is nearing an end and he will be meeting with officials today to discuss time tables and charging options. Salisbury said his office was contacted Tuesday by the private New Jersey firm conducting the crash reconstruction segment of the investigation and has been informed that the report is in the "final stages and should be received within the...

(LEAD) 11 N. Koreans defect to S. Korea through East Sea SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap)-- Eleven North Korean defected to South Korea through waters off the South's east coast on Thursday, a government source said. The source said the 11 North Koreans -- five men and six women -- expressed their willingness to seek asylum in the South after crossing the sea border in a ship around 6:30 p.m. and arriving in the South Korean port city of Jumunjin on the east coast. The Ministry of Defense is expected to announce details on their defection soon, according to the source.

This amazing image on Google Earth could be the elusive proof that the Loch Ness Monster exists. Sun reader Jason Cooke spotted "Nessie" while browsing the Web site's satellite photos. The shape seen on the surface of the 22-mile Scottish loch is 65ft long and appears to have an oval body, a tail and four legs or flippers. Some experts believe Nessie may be a Plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile with a shape like the Google image. "This is really intriguing. It needs further study," said researcher

Israel deports Gaza boat activists, including former US congresswoman, Nobel laureatePublished Monday July 6th, 2009 Matti Friedman, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM - Israel has deported a former U.S. congresswoman, a Nobel peace prize laureate and other activists who were arrested trying to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said Monday. The Israeli navy commandeered the boat last week as it tried to sail from Cyprus to Gaza. It was the latest in a series of trips by activists trying to bring attention to the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt on the territory after the Islamic...

Cynthia McKinney to Appear in Israeli Court After Gaza-Bound Boat Is SeizedFormer U.S. lawmaker Cynthia McKinney is due to appear in an Israeli court Sunday after she and 20 other activists were taken into custody this week when their relief boat was seized by an Israeli naval ship. FOXNews.com Saturday, July 04, 2009 Former U.S. lawmaker Cynthia McKinney is due to appear in an Israeli court Sunday after she and 20 other activists were taken into custody this week when their relief boat was seized by an Israeli naval ship. The 2008 Green Party presidential candidate says the group, "Free...

Several IDF navy boats intercepted, boarded and took control of a boat of pro-Arab activists trying to break Israeli sovereignty over coastal waters Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured, and an IDF spokesman told Israel National News that no shots were fired. It was the first time the IDF has boarded one of the boats since the pro-Arab “Free Gaza” movement began sending ships to Gaza last August.

USS Chinook provided assistance to an Iraqi fishing boat in the North Arabian Gulf after it experienced mechanical problems leaving it unable to operate at sea, June 22. Photo courtesy of U.S. Naval Forces, 5th Fleet Public Affairs. USS CHINOOK, At Sea — USS Chinook provided assistance to an Iraqi fishing boat in the North Arabian Gulf after it experienced mechanical problems at sea, June 22. U.S. and Iraqi Sailors aboard the Basra Oil Terminal, as part of Combined Task Force Iraqi Maritime, received a distress call from the fishing boat Kadem Alabbas approximately 50 miles from the Kuwaiti coast,...

One thing about Liveshot, he knows when to back a loser By Howie Carr | Friday, May 8, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists Sen. John Forbes Kerry has spent the week futilely trying to prop up two of his oldest, dearest friends - the Boston Globe and a convicted kiddie-porn pervert named Wade Sanders. You know about the Globe. Despite Kerry’s Senate hearings into the implosion of arrogant left-wing newspapers, El Globo continues to circle the drain. You’ve heard less about Wade Sanders, or nothing at all if you rely on the Globe. He’s a liberal and a pervert and...

This guy is a moron. Pretty funny though. Step one: Load up beer, 2-3 ice chests full. Pictures on site

ASYLUM-SEEKERS doused their boat in petrol before a dawn explosion that killed three people off the northwest Australian coast, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says. Mr Barnett said it was unclear how the flames ignited. "It is understood that the refugees on the boat spread petrol and that ignited causing the explosion," Mr Barnett said. Mr Barnett would not elaborate on the claim when questioned further. The Commander of Border Protection Command, Rear Admiral Allan du Toit, would not comment on the cause. “I really can’t speculate on the cause… I do emphasise that this is an ongoing incident," he...

THREE asylum seekers are dead, others missing and more than 40 injured after an explosion ripped through their boat today. Australian Navy personnel are also believed injured after the blast which occured as the boat carrying 49 asylum-seekers was being towed to Christmas Island. A West Australian Health spokeswoman said it was understood three people are dead, two are missing and 51 are injured. State Health co-ordinator Dr Andy Robertson said a number of casualties were expected at Truscott Airbase, near Kalumburu, where they would be met by medical teams from the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Broome and Derby Hospitals.

WA police have confirmed three people are dead and two are missing after a boat carrying 49 asylum seekers to Christmas Island exploded. WA Police Sergeant Greg Lambert confirmed the casualties, but it was unclear whether those killed were asylum seekers or navy personnel. ``It is believed an explosion has occurred in the engine compartment of a vessel,`` Sergeant Lambert said. ``It is believed that three people have been killed, two people are missing and others are injured, numbers are not yet known.'' The Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus is expected to release a statement and call a press conference...

SNIPPET: "Israeli naval patrol identifies Palestinian fishing boat moving towards Israel; boat, apparently unmanned, explodes as it nears coast; no injuries, damage reported. IDF sources believe incident was botched terror attack" SNIPPET: "A Palestinian fishing boat exploded as it neared the Israeli coast from the direction of Gaza. IDF sources estimated that the booby-trapped boat was activated by remote control and meant to explode near an Israeli Navy vessel or a coastal community. A naval patrol followed the boat for about an hour and spotted no people on board. As it was several hundred meters off the Gaza shore and...

04/13/2009 SNIPPET: "A home-made fire-bomb exploded at 3:25 a.m. at the KAPA Marines showcase, and the ensuing fire quickly spread throughout the two land plots where the company's pleasure craft are on display, totally destroying or causing extensive damage to more than 20 boats." SNIPPET: "Police bomb disposal experts are investigating the site, and have so far come up with two propane canisters."

HOUSTON -- One person was killed when a group of men tried to steal a boat while driving down a freeway, KPRC Local 2 reported. Houston police said three men in a car tried to steal a boat that a man was hauling with his pickup truck on Interstate 45 at about 1 a.m. Investigators said the men in the car opened fire on the man in the pickup truck. The man in the pickup truck returned fire, officials said. One of the men inside the car was killed. The driver of the car stopped at a gas station on...

Two days before NFL player Marquis Cooper took a doomed fishing trip with three friends in Florida Gulf Coast waters, a friend urged him to buy a life-saving device used to locate boats in distress. Cooper hadn't heard of the gadget, an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). And he didn't purchase one before his excursion on Saturday, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

As the Coast Guard ended its search for three missing football players whose boat tipped over in high Florida seas, the lone survivor said two of those lost gave up after hours in the frigid water and the third tried to swim to safety. South Florida player Nick Schuyler told investigators that all four of the friends on a fishing excursion were initially wearing life vests and clinging to the 21-foot boat belonging to Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper. But two to four hours after the boat capsized, one of the NFL players removed his life jacket and let...

The Coast Guard called off its search for three missing football players at sunset Tuesday. The news came after crews combed choppy waters off the Florida Gulf Coast for a third full day since NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and a third friend William Bleakley disappeared. Their fishing boat capsized in stormy seas Saturday evening. One of the four on the excursion, Nick Schuyler, survived.

UPDATE: A family member tells us that the Coast Guard has found a boat with one person clinging to the side. We will have the details posted here as we learn them. http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=101513&catid=8

I'm keeping things low key this weekend, my new meds make me groggy so I take pics between naps.

SNIPPET: "The fire was reported about 11:23 p.m. Thursday by someone who called 911 reporting flames coming from the covered slips at the Halls Crossing Marina, a remote part of Lake Powell on the Kane/San Juan County border. National Park Service firefighters from all over responded, some flying up from Page, Ariz., to help. Photographs provided to the Deseret News showed boats engulfed in flames and burned out hulls floatingon the water. There were more than 150 boats moored at the marina — firefighters saved about 130 of them." SNIPPET: "Anyone with information on the fire is asked to call...

Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night. Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai. The first shooting took place near the CST police station

Fishing Boat Sinks Off Alaska; 5 Killed, 2 Missing Thursday , October 23, 2008 ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Four crew members of a fishing boat were plucked alive from a life raft in frigid, stormy seas Wednesday, hours after their vessel was reported in distress, a Coast Guard spokesman says. Five crew members died, and two remained missing. A search continued for the remaining two crew members of the Katmai, a 93-foot fish processor based on Alaska's Kodiak island, Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read said. Read said two more deceased crew members were located Wednesday night by a fishing vessel...

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A married couple riding in a boat in the Intracoastal Waterway got an unexpected guest this morning when a dolphin leaped onto their boat and slid onto their laps. The woman, Barbara Howard of Mansfield, Ohio, was brought ashore at an Edgewater boat ramp and taken to Bert Fish Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition this afternoon, Coast Guard officials said. Her husband, Norman Howard, 64, also was hospitalized for some scrapes and bruises but has since been released. The incident occurred about 10:40 a.m. near the North Causeway in New Smyrna Beach,...

Nicosia, Cyprus - On Monday, a movement known as FreeGaza.org held a press conference in Nicosia, Cyprus, in which a group of 40 people from around the world announced that they would board two small boats to travel by sea to Gaza to "break the siege" that Israel has placed upon Gaza. There was no acknowledgement that in June of 2007, the Hamas regime took over Gaza and formalized a total state of war against Israel with the aim of liberating all of Palestine and using Gaza as a stepping stone to recoup any and all land ruled by the...

Al Gore has a new boat and even it is green. The boat is docked at Hurricane Marina on Center Hill Lake in Smithville, about 70 miles east of Nashville. While it doesn't have solar panels yet, a spokesperson at Gore's office told News 2 they are scheduled to be installed Wednesday. The boat is named Bio-Solar One and has been called the "Toyota Prius of boats"...

More than 350 illegal immigrants landed in Italy on Saturday, a day after the Government extended a state of emergency in an effort to combat the problem, Italy's Ansa news agency said. Four boats carrying a total of 227 people were either picked up off the island of Lampedusa or reached land by themselves. Two Nigerian children on one of the boats died during the crossing, Ansa said. The bodies of the two children were thrown into the sea, their father told the crew of an Italian coast guard launch that rescued the group. He said his two-year-old son began...

Baptisms, Boaters Clashing In Soddy-Daisy by Jim Ashley posted July 19, 2008 Churches in Soddy-Daisy that plan to perform baptisms at public boat ramps will now have to first contact City Hall. That was the decision of the Soddy-Daisy Commission during its meeting this week. The unanimous decision was made following a report by Commissioner Geno Shipley, who said that on the Fourth of July, a local church held baptism services at a public boat ramp for about 40 people. And while the services were taking place, an individual with a boat to launch became impatient and went ahead and...