Join us for the first Inland Seas Great Lakes Seminar of the Fall 2009 series. Jeff Alexander, author of Pandora's Locks: the Opening of the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway, will speak at Inland Seas Education Center Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00 pm. This seminar is free and open to the public.
Invasive species are the biggest threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem to date. Alexander chronicles the implications of invasive species since the opening of the Welland Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Threats and challenges to water quality, public health, power generation, fisheries, recreation, shorelines and wetlands, marine life, birds, mammals, and more are part of the chronicle.
Jeff Alexander is an award winning author and former environmental journalist. He covered Great Lakes issues for the past 20 years for several Michigan newspapers, most recently for The Muskegon Chronicle. He currently works for the
National Wildlife Federation.
How she looks with sails, booms and topmasts removed.
Allen up the foremast taking off blocks.
Captains Remy Champt and Allen Wolfe this morning as work continues on de-rigging the schooner Inland Seas.
Our new AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponder installed in the captain's cabin. This unit sends and receives position information of commercial ships in the area.
Our array of antennas on the lazy board: From left to right: GPS for pilot house display, GPS for AIS, LORAN C, weather sensors, GPS for outside chart plotter, VHF for AIS transmit and receive. The yellow opject in the foreground is our EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon).
If the ship is made of steel and weighs 45 tons, how can it float?
We were wet, and cold, and wind-blown. But smiling. Thanks Kalkaska Middle School Blazers for another great fall Schoolship season with your three classes! -- Capt. Tom
A NW wind gives us a good close reach toward Omena Bay.
OK, the main sheet mechanical advantage is 7:1.
This morning began with ice on the deck and dock. Fortunately the sun came up and melted it all before our students (Kalkaska MS) arrived. We picked up lots of Chara in the trawl but unfortunately no fish. We had a good variety of fish yesterday (rock bass, small mouth bass, white sucker, round goby), but nothing today. However the weather was wonderful with light winds and sun...much better than last Monday and Tuesday's gales. 
