Appointment of new CPS Executive Director

Spring commissioning should include a look at everyday items that we often take for granted. Easily overlooked are inflatable PFD’s, but they shouldn’t be. These important safety items – which automatically or manually inflate with the tug of a pull cord – have been around over 25 years, but there are still quite a few misperceptions about these life saving devices and how they work. The BoatUS Foundation set out to debunk some of the myths:

Circumnavigator and cruising author Beth Leonard visits Vancouver Island this month for a series of presentations hosted by the Bluewater Cruising Association.

On Sunday, March 18, Leonard will present a seminar on Heavy Weather Sailing at Sidney North Saanich YC. The seminar runs from 1 to 5 pm, and cost is $40 for BCA members and $50 for the public.

A dramatic new Victoria Harbour marina to serve superyachts to 150’ has moved a major step closer to reality with approvals from Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries Oceans. When complete, Victoria International Marina will provide 29 moorage slips for yachts 65’ to 150’ in length on the north shore of Victoria Harbour, just outside the Inner Harbour. “The project has already received municipal and provincial approvals, and these federal approvals are significant milestones,” said Larry Halgren, who recently joined the marina project team.

Canadian Yachting has learned that Canadian boat builder Erich Bruckmann passed away on October 28, 2011.

Erich was born in Dusseldorf Germany in 1930. He left Germany as a young man in 1956 to start a new life with his devoted wife and first son Peter. Within a year of arriving in Canada Erich began what would be a lifelong career as a boat builder. 

We all hate seeing litter on our favourite beaches and shorelines. You can pitch in and do something about the mess during the annual Great Canadian Shore Cleanup September 15-23. Volunteers are invited to join this year’s 18th annual cleanup, sponsored by Vancouver Aquarium and World Wildlife Fund Canada. You can join an existing cleanup, or lead a new cleanup as site coordinator on a shoreline near you.

The aquarium has led cleanups since 1994, when volunteers swept a shoreline in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The program has operated nationally since 2002.