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What’s Happening In Your Parks – Charleston County Parks
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Harborwalk Marina, A CRUISERS NET SPONSORS, is only a boardwalk stroll away from Georgetown’s Historic District for history, entertainment, great food, and shopping. Harborwalk Marina is the third marina on your starboard side as you enter the protected waters of Georgetown.
Our thanks to Chris Carroll, Operations Manager for Harborwalk Marina, for this “good news” information!
Click Here To View the Cruisers Net South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Harborwalk Marina
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Harborwalk Marina
Harborwalk Marina, A CRUISERS NET SPONSORS, is only a boardwalk stroll away from Georgetown’s Historic District for history, entertainment, great food, and shopping. Harborwalk Marina is the third marina on your starboard side as you enter the protected waters of Georgetown. Our thanks to Chris Carroll for this “good news” article!
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Click Here To View the Cruisers Net South Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Harborwalk Marina
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Harborwalk Marina
I personally use Kanberra products on my boat
and can attest to their effectiveness.
From our friends at South Florida Sun Sentinel, if you are near Fort Lauderdale this weekend consider spending time at the Beachfront Grand Prix Festival.
Here’s what forecasters think the rest of 2025 hurricane season will look like
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an August update to its 2025 hurricane season outlook, slightly lowering its prediction for how many storms to expect.
However, the forecast still calls for this year to have an above-average season, and conditions are aligning for more tropical activity as we enter the peak hurricane period.
On Thursday, NOAA said it adjusted the range of named storms from 13 to 19 down to 13 to 18. There have been four named storms so far this year and no hurricanes.
It similarly adjusted the number of hurricanes down to five to nine overall, and lowered the low end of major hurricane numbers by one, to two to five.
The May forecast predicted there was a 60% chance of an above-normal hurricane season. That probability has been lowered to 50%.
Though numbers have been adjusted down, the season is entering its peak period and ocean and atmospheric conditions still favor an above-normal season, said the report.
The prediction of an above-average remainder of the season is based on a combination of factors, including warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Seas, and an active West African Monsoon.
There is neither an El Niño nor La Niña this summer. El Niños tend to increase wind shear over the Atlantic, which can topple hurricanes. La Niñas tend to reduce wind shear.
“Many of the factors we identified ahead of the season are still at play, and conditions are largely tracking along with our May predictions,” said Matt Rosencrans, lead hurricane season forecaster with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction, part of the National Weather Service.
Other factors that tend to accelerate hurricane likelihood from August through October include the dissipation of Saharan Dust. Large plumes of dry desert dust travel across the Atlantic in early summer, but tend to fade in August.
West African monsoons, which develop farther south on the continent, also begin traveling into the tropical Atlantic more frequently at this time of year. Those systems can develop into tropical cyclones.
NOAA emphasized that the outlook is not a landfall forecast since short-term weather patterns influence landfall quickly.
The hurricane season runs through November.
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What’s Happening In Your Parks – Charleston County Parks
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Cruisers Net is proud to be a member of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association, whose lobbying work is crucial to keeping the Waterway navigable and safe. Your membership dollars directly support their vital work. Please join and encourage your boating neighbors to do the same, regardless of their home port.
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Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe. $7 a month or $56 for the year, and you may cancel at any time.
When all else fails, try journalism. The owner of the rental company whose center-console was recently stolen and taken to Cuba has recovered his boat in the most ironic way possible. Jayme Nabors, a wheeler-dealer from the Florida Panhandle, mounted his own unauthorized trip to Havana with a boatload of buddies and then, with a little help from the U.S. Coast Guard, managed to convince Communist functionaries to free his little lost Panga panga. A panga is the ubiquitous Mexican workboat design, and Panga is a U.S. manufacturer that builds pangas for the American recreational market, including some center-console models. That includes the 26-footer rented for use in the Florida Keys and then taken to Cuba by Floyd Dean Devasier, 63, of Katy, Texas. The panga’s tracker showed the boat was en route to Havana right up until it went beyond cellphone range.
Using advanced law enforcement technology known as the telephone, U.S. Coast Guard officials notified Cuban Border Guards, with whom they have a longstanding working relationship, that Devasier was heading their way. The Cubans were waiting when he arrived. Shortly thereafter the dude was on a plane heading back to Florida where he was taken into custody by another set of cops and charged. Meanwhile, Nabors wanted his $70,000 boat back and had no idea how to make that happen, and, frankly, no one to ask, because no one had ever done something like that, or, if they had, they kept it to themselves. The elephant in the room—because this is GOP-driven policy—is the fact that American citizens cannot take their American boats to Cuba legally. According to Cuba expert William LeoGrande, the “Embargo” against Cuba is “the oldest and most comprehensive U.S. economic sanctions regime against any country in the world.” President Obama relaxed regulations enough in 2014 to allow American boaters (and cruise ships from American ports) to visit Cuba as long as everyone pretended they were there for some purpose other than tourism. In his first term, Trump turned the clock back on this policy, and President Biden never got around to reversing the reversal of the reversal. However, there is a process by which a U.S. boater can take a boat to Cuba. The trip must be approved by the Treasury, Commerce and State departments, capped off by receipt of Coast Guard form 3300 “permit to enter Cuban territorial waters.” Oh, and by the way, your applications will all be denied, per the U.S. President. Nabors conferred. He talked to the Coast Guard and other Homeland Security officials. He talked to the Sheriff’s Office in the Keys. He said he filled out all the forms and submitted all the necessary applications. And, then, Nabors waited patiently for answers from U.S. officialdom. No, he didn’t. Nabors gathered together seven business friends, partners, employees and adventurous spirits at his marina in Key West—he owns three Florida marinas—and got ready to thunder on down to Havana. A Cuban emigree from Tampa, whom nobody knew, showed up and managed to insinuate himself into this pack of Southern dudes and a gal. There were nine of them. They brought extra gasoline in case the Panga was on “e.” They brought spare parts and the tools to install them. If the Merc outboard wouldn’t go, they had the gear for a tow. Nabors confessed to some wishful thinking. “We were under the impression we could come and grab the boat without ever going through Cuban Customs,” he said. By the time the gang was ready to go, Nabors said he believed U.S. officialdom knew what they were up to, and they never tried to call a halt to it. “Everybody on our side knew exactly what we were doing and when we were going to leave,” he said. On July 22, the Mighty Nine boarded an Invicible 36 and slipped out of Key West and across the Florida Straits to execute “Operation Beach Weekend,” Beach Weekend being the name of Nabor’s marina business. Here, it should be mentioned that there is a YouTube video about the trip, and one of two podcasts on the subject has also been released. The podcast is called Nicotine & Jetfuel with Nabors and Brett Divine. Nabors felt that his marinas and his other “lifestyle brands” could get a boost from the exposure. The YouTube video captures the dual nature of the three-day expedition. Most of the video strings together moments of party behavior and one-liners by the guys. There are aso scenes showing the crew waiting around—in one, waiting on the boat for hours for word from Cuban officials, looking frazzled and, perhaps, needing a toilet.
The U.S. Coast Guard attache at the American Embassy in Havana was vacationing with his family in North Carolina. This officer, who would be a commander or lieutenant commander, flew back to Havana to assist in getting the boat released. Nabors said he brought as much documentation as he thought necessary to free the panga, but the Cubans had demanded more. Coordinating with support staff back in the states, Nabors got the additional paperwork sent to the embassy itself, where staff ensured it was all properly certified. Two days after their voyage had begun, but not until after more hours of paperwork inspection and searches of both boats, Cuban authorities released the panga to Nabor and his crew. “State sponsor of terrorism” aside, those Communists had showed zero tolerance for ordinary criminal behavior. Nabor seemed impressed that no one had hit him up for a payoff. Had American officials really given tacit approval to Nabor’s apparently unlawful recovery operation? He thinks so. “We went for it, and, thank the Lord, it worked out,” Nabors said. LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid. You’re currently a free subscriber to LOOSE CANNON. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. © 2025 |
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe. $7 a month or $56 for the year, and you may cancel at any time.
When all else fails, try journalism. As the editor of Ocean Navigator, which was always one of boating magazines worth reading, Timothy Queeney had a pretty good run. He left the magazine after it was sold in 2021 (and was shut down permanently earlier this year). Loose Cannon recently spoke to Queeney about his reinvention as an author with a first-book about to go on sale. Loose Cannon: Tim, Bravo on ROPE! In hindsight such an obvious topic. What made you decide to write this book? Tim Queeney: The inspiration to write ROPE came from… a rope. We always had sailboats when I was growing up and so there was plenty of line around my parents’ house. After my dad died some years ago, my mom suggested I take the milk crates of boat rope home with me to Maine. Over the next few years I used pieces of that rope for various tasks ashore and afloat. One day I grabbed a line from the crate for some purpose but it was knotted in an awkward place. I was about to loosen the knot when I stopped and realized that my dad’s fingers had tied it. It was a physical sign of him still here in the world. I hung that line, knot intact, on the wall and began to think about rope in a way I hadn’t before. After rooting around online I found no one had written a book about rope and its significance in human history. That seemed like a missing piece so I thought I might tell that story. L.C.: Two things: I’m surprised that some 18th century dude like Benjamin Franklin hadn’t already done his own version. And second, I can’t think of another topic that would be equivalent in its breadth and early origins. A History of Pointy Things, maybe? Is there any other book out there comparable to ROPE, old or new? Queeney: Yeah, Ben was pretty wide ranging in his interests but he apparently didn’t get around to rope. I would think a history of the wheel or something along those lines. L.C.: Ha! I just imagined the caveman riding a stone wheel from one of those old Johnny Hart comics. I marveled at the figures for rope on Age of Sail ships—miles of lines—and the many other eye-opening details. Once you had decided to do the book, did you really have to dig or were the details in plain sight just waiting for an author? Queeney: There was plenty of great material easily available. Much of the book that discusses the use of rope on sailing vessels, for example, is well known to anyone with an interest in maritime history. But for readers who aren’t so well versed, I attempted to keep that material as simple and accessible as possible. And I certainly discovered some aspects I was not familiar with. That’s a fun part of research, stumbling across things you hadn’t considered before. I also did some deep digging, which is also a little addictive for research heads like me. One thing leads to another and you realize you’ve gone many layers deep—and maybe a bit off track as well! I also did 33 interviews with various experts. Those were always illuminating and enjoyable and invariably led me to new aspects of the subject. As you know from your journalism experience, so often in an interview it’s when you’re chatting after the interview is “over” that some of the most interesting items emerge. L.C.: Could you address the concept of “rope” in the English language? The presence of so much cordage in our daily speech is surely an indicator of its importance as a technology. Queeney: The English word rope has a derivation that goes far back into ancient languages. It comes from the Middle English rop, from the Old English word rap. And that comes from the Germanic tree as the Proto-West Germanic raip, which, in turn, arises from the Proto-Germanic raipaz or raipa. Pushing even further back into Proto-Indo-European (which is a bit of linguists’ reconstruction as there is no direct record of Proto-Indo-European, but we’ll take their word for it!) we get roypnos. As for rope’s cultural significance, there are plenty of common sayings that point to how central rope has been to daily life: roped me in, rope it off, tied in knots, rope-a-dope, roped and branded, give him/her enough rope, at the end of my rope, throw me a rope, give me some slack, on the ropes, etc. L.C.: What is the thing you learned that surprised you the most? Queeney: There were plenty of revelations when it came time to look into the subject in detail. I was surprised that rope-making technology had progressed so far so early. The Cheops solar boat was found in a pit alongside the Great Pyramid in the 1950s. Along with the pieces of the deconstructed boat were coils of three-strand line that looked like it had been manufactured recently, but in fact was 4,500 years old! L.C.: If they’d found coils of dyneema, I suppose it would be proof that aliens built the pyramids. Hey, do you remember when we talked before this interview that my mother used to say “Go run up a rope” as a substitute for “Go eff yourself?” Your end-book scenario about hoisting payloads into space using a rigid graphene matrix instead of rockets would actually make running up a rope possible. What next for the former magazine editor turned author? Queeney: Next for me is, unsurprisingly, another book. I have a series of nonfiction book ideas lined up and am working on the next one. As a committed fan of ink and paper (and I guess electrons too when it comes to the ebook version), I will keep plugging away in the book world as long as they’ll have me. Coming soon: An excerpt from ROPE tells the tale of the USS Constitution’s slow speed kedging escape from a pursuing British fleet. LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
You’re currently a free subscriber to LOOSE CANNON. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. © 2025 |
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