New Town Dock

Much vigorous discussion this morning at The Bean concerning Chris Fulcher's proposal to exchange some public rights of way for a nearly-completed pier.

I have a lot of thoughts, mostly having to do with the historical background of how we got where we are. My thoughts relate to esoteric considerations of right of way law, dedication and acceptance procedures, what happens when a right of way is abandoned and how long is "in perpetuity." The latter period is very long, indeed.

Therefore, negotiators on behalf of the town's public assets need to be careful and take a long view.

I have posted some initial thoughts here and will elaborate as time goes by.

Navigation Aids

This morning over coffee at The Bean the conversation turned to navigation. One discussant, currently taking a boating course, grumbled about being trained to use nautical charts. "All we need is GPS," he observed. Another discussant related a grounding due to lack of a paper chart on board. I offered the view that GPS is very accurate, but I wouldn't go out on my boat without a paper chart. Nor would I drive anywhere without a paper map.

And I wouldn't use a chart without orienting north up.

It now turns out that GPS may be dulling the ability of humans to picture landmarks, routes and directions in their mind's eye. Today's New York Times summarizes recent scientific analysis in an article, "Is GPS All in Our Head?"

It turns out I was right to worry about relying too much on high tech navigation devices, especially GPS.

Save your paper charts and keep them up to date.

Bring back light houses.

Protect endangered visual navigation markers.

Town Of Oriental Sale Of Property?

I've been puzzling over the mayor's special message of two weeks ago:

"The Town of Oriental is exploring the possibilities of sale or exchange of property in the vicinity of the west end terminus of South Avenue and Avenue A.  No action was taken by the Town Board of Commissioners at the special meeting held on Friday, January 13, 2012.  In the event the Town receives an offer, such offer will be a public record available for inspection.  Such offer would be taken up at a subsequent public meeting."

As of Friday, the mystery has been removed.

What had been puzzling is that the town owns no property in the vicinity of the west end terminus of South Avenue and Avenue A. The town only owns, on behalf of the public, the public rights of way in that vicinity.

Furthermore, a town can't sell such a public right of way, because some other party owns the underlying property rights. The only option available to the town if it no longer wishes to maintain custody of a dedicated and accepted right of way is to abandon it. If the town abandons a right of way, ownership reverts to the party that owns the underlying "dirt." Determining the party who owns the underlying "dirt" can be complicated in the older part of town.

We now know that Mr. Chris Fulcher wants to trade some of his existing property leading to Oriental Harbor for the terminus of South Avenue and for Avenue A. The proposal might or might not be a good deal for the town.

There are two questions for the board to examine:
1. Will the property to be "donated" to the town equal or exceed the value to the town and to the public of the existing right of way providing public access to the harbor?;
2. Can the proposed exchange be negotiated in a way that avoids at least one and probably two or more legal obstacles?

A Grounding At Sea Can Ruin Your Whole Day

I just received a link to a video and narration of the Costa Concordia's track as she ran aground in Italy. I don't think the captain will be able to get out of this one. The track is derived from the ship's AIS transmissions, which include GPS coordinates.

Did he run aground on an uncharted rock? Not exactly.

Worth watching, but not for the faint of heart.

http://gcaptain.com/gcaptains-john-konrad-narrates-the-final-maneuvers-of-the-costa-concordia-video/?37941

December 7, 2005

We got a late start from Patuxent River Naval Air Station Marina on December 7, 2005.

We had sold our apartment and moved aboard our boat, a Pearson 390. Destination: Caribbean. First stop: Norfolk.

The weather was ok, but not as fine as we had hoped, and a cold front was on the way. Ice storm cold.

We left after one o'clock (1300), first refueling across the river at Solomons. By sunset, the wind picked up and the temperature was dropping. We kept on under power. The waves grew, and steering was a bit of a challenge with the sea directly astern. By midnight, we were surfing down the leeward side of ever-growing waves.

We could see the lights of Norfolk in the distance. The closer we got to Norfolk, the more confusing the lights became. By 0200 we were in Norfolk ship channel, dodging container ships, barges under tow and Navy warships. We kept on down the channel, entering the Elizabeth River about 0245. Finally, about 0330 we spotted the Navy hospital at Portsmouth, Virginia and worked our way in to an anchorage.

Woke up about 0900, had breakfast and got ready to weigh anchor. The engine started up and ran smoothly. I put it in gear and nothing happened. I finally thought to open the hatch over the engine and watch what happened when I put the boat in gear. No shaft rotation. Shot transmission.

Had the boat towed to a nearby marina and spent the rest of that day and much of the next locating a rebuilt transmission. Wouldn't arrive until the following week. Boat was cold (though we did avoid the ice storm). We decided to rent a car and tour coastal North Carolina while waiting for the transmission.

Just at dusk the evening of December 9th, we reached the edge of Oriental. Saw flashing blue lights ahead. Cautious, we asked a passerby what it was. "Oh, the Spirit of Christmas Parade."

We parked near Hodges and Midyette and watched the parade from the corner of Hodges and Broad. later sampled hot cider, cookies and such like as we strolled around town. Decided to spend the night. Got up on the 10th and were directed to The Bean for coffee and bagels. Met some colorful locals. Liked what we saw.

Went back to Portsmouth to finish having the boat repaired. Sea trials along the way. Finally reached Oriental by boat December 22. By December 27 we were looking at real estate.

We have not yet sailed any further south.

Annual Migration

Sat on the porch of the Village Gallery yesterday afternoon overlooking Oriental harbor. A steady stream of boats, some sporting Canadian ensigns, but all with northern hailing ports, entered the harbor for the night.

The annual migration of those seeking warmer climes has begun.

Welcome to Oriental.

A New Town Dock

Last Thursday's agenda meeting of Oriental's Board of Commissioners revealed that Tuesday's meeting will discuss building an additional Town Dock at the end of South Avenue.

This parcel, to which the town won the rights in a case decided by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 2009, gives the public direct access to the harbor. One appropriate use of the parcel is to build a simple pier extending about 100 feet from shore, for use by transient vessels.

A recurring complaint in some circles is that Oriental isn't sufficiently friendly to business. Otherwise, some contend, we would have more businesses and they wouldn't keep failing.

I wonder how many businesses a population of 875 (latest census) can support. Even the "greater Oriental" population of 2,000 can't support many. We are at the end of the highway.

On the other hand, from 14,000 to 20,000 (estimates vary) boats cruising the East Coast via the ICW each year pass less than two miles away. That represents more than 40,000 potential customers. The best thing we can do for Oriental businesses is to attract more boats to stop here. That would be good for every business.

Last Thursday, one commissioner opposed additional free dockage, on the grounds it may compete with nearby commercial marinas.

This misses the point. Cruising sailors select where to stop based on the reputation a town has as a hospitable place. Availability of transient docks and free anchorage space is among the factors affecting this reputation. The goal is to improve Oriental's brand. The better the brand, the more boats stop. The more boats that stop, the more will come back. Some even stay.
As I contended almost two years ago, the question of what to do about South Avenue is about the future, not the past.

Those of you who support the new town dock project and the effort for Oriental to become even more welcoming and hospitable to cruising sailors, please come to the meeting of the Town Board at 7:00 pm Tuesday, May 3 at Town Hall. And bring other supporters.

The important competition is between Oriental and other towns along the waterway.

Effluent Issues

Whenever cruising sailors get together, the conversation eventually touches on holding tanks and pumpouts.

Last week an old friend and his wife stopped by on the way north from cruising in Florida. They were accompanied by two other couples and their boats returning to the Patuxent River. The inevitable subject came up. They complained that there are very few pumpout stations available for transient vessels in North Carolina waters.

This is a serious problem for cruising sailors.

It may also represent an opportunity.

Our friends were confident that cruising boats would drop into Oriental if they knew there was a readily available municipal pumpout facility.

17,000 boats go up and down the ICW every year.

A lot of potential visitors to Oriental and customers for our businesses.

South Avenue Fence

I have been asked several times lately, "when is the fence coming down?"

I modestly point out that I have no inside knowledge anymore. But I have recently learned that the Town of Oriental has given Mr. Lacy Henry a deadline for him to remove the fence.

As some of you may recall, Judge Kenneth Crow signed the Judgment that "the Town of Oriental is the owner of the South Avenue Terminus" on February 5th, 2010. The Superior Court Judgment completed action on a decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued July 7, 2009.

Most of the delay resulted from unsuccessful efforts by Mr. Henry to persuade the Court of Appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court to review the unanimous decision of a Court of Appeals panel.

Now the Town needs to get moving. The street end leading down to the water needs to be cleaned up and made presentable.

More urgently, we need a plan on how best to use this public asset.

I have some ideas, which I will be sharing with my readers.

North Carolina's ICW: Neglected Economic Engine

What would you think of an infrastructure project that reduces petroleum imports, reduces congestion on I-95 and 17 without expensive and disruptive construction, and brings sustainable jobs to thirteen counties in Eastern North Carolina? How could that be done? Improve and expand the North Carolina portion of the Atlantic Section of the Intracoastal Waterway as an integral part of the North Carolina and national transportation system.

Advantages:

• Water transport of cargo is the most fuel efficient and lowest cost method. A gallon of fuel moves a ton of cargo eight times as far on water as on land;
• Water transport is by far the least costly and safest of all transportation modes and has the lowest environmental impact;
• A single barge carries as much cargo as 58 trucks; typical tows are from four to fifteen barges – a single tug and fifteen barge tow replaces 870 trucks;
• USDOT projects truck traffic on I-95 will double by 2030 increasing an average of 10,000 trucks per day, equivalent to a dozen fifteen barge tows;
• Increased ICW traffic would offer the opportunity for steel barge and tug construction and maintenance, barge cleaning and storage operations and related economic development opportunities in Eastern North Carolina.

Problems:

• Decades of neglect of the ICW, lack of funding for maintenance dredging, postponed modernization projects, lack of official advocacy by the State of North Carolina;
• Failure to view the ICW as part of an integrated transportation system: the State agency that interfaces with US Corps of Engineers is Fish and Wildlife, not DOT;
• Failure to involve counties and regional councils of government (COGs): the only NC commission with ICW responsibility is the Morehead City Navigation and Pilotage Commission, with responsibility as far as Aurora, but whose membership is required to be from Carteret County (ICW transits 13 counties);
• Shortage of intermodal transshipment facilities at railheads and ocean ports;
• Failure to adapt highway asset management strategies to waterway infrastructure analysis

Recommendations:

• Create a North Carolina ICW Commission with membership from each of the 13 bordering counties, regional COGs and rural transportation planning organizations (RPOs) to develop a comprehensive, coordinated plan for water transport, integrated with land transportation planning and economic development planning;
• Investigate opportunities for intermodal transshipment facilities at Washington, New Bern, Morehead City, Jacksonville, Wilmington, Southport and other locations along the ICW with rail and truck facilities;
• Charge NCDOT with task of ICW transportation planning;
• Assign a cabinet level official to interface with US Army Corps of Engineers

For more information, consult the following:

Waterways Council, Inc., (WCI), the national public policy organization that advocates for a properly funded and well-maintained system of inland waterways and ports.
Bluewater Charts & Books Newsletter -Following the Intracoastal Folly: What is happening to keep the waterway running
NC State Ports Authority - 21stCentury Transportation Intermodal Committee - February 21, 2008 Report

North Carolina Coastal Federation
US Army Corps of Engineers: Inland Navigation - Value to the Nation
North Carolina Beach, Inlet & Waterway Association

LOng RAnge Navigation (LORAN)

We just learned that the Coast Guard will cease transmitting LORAN-C signals at midnight zulu February 8, 2010. This will bring to an end almost seventy years of development and operation by the US of a very valuable hyperbolic radio navigation system.

I personally never owned a LORAN-C set. I used LORAN-C in the navy, but never liked it. Maybe I disliked it because the set I used was a klunky converter to a LORAN-A set.

I liked LORAN-A. I was introduced to LORAN-A operation on a WWII-vintage DAS-3 LORAN-A receiver, during midshipman training cruise on USS Macon the summer of 1957. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but it gave the operator a lot of control. I used a DAS-4, a slightly improved model, on USS Cabildo and USS Higbee.

The system was intended to provide a fix by plotting time differences from two pairs of stations arranged as a chain, with the master station between two slave stations. The geometry of the arrangement would cause lines of position to cross each other at an angle that resulted in an acceptable fix. A single LORAN line could also be crossed with a sun line. That often came in handy.

LOng RAnge was a bit of a misnomer. The system was designed to use a ground wave radio path, and the maximum distance the signal would reach was about 900 miles during the day and maybe 1600 miles at night. That wasn't enough to reach across the wide Pacific.

A skilled operator could use the system over greater distances by measuring the time difference of sky waves - as long as they were one-hop waves off the E-layer of the ionosphere. If you were really skilled, when operating in the Western Pacific, it was often possible to match the ground wave of a master station with the sky wave of a slave station, apply a time difference correction from a special table, and plot an accurate line of position.

A key skill requirement was the ability to distinguish a sky wave from a ground wave. That took a bit of time and patience. Sky waves were less stable than ground waves, but they could appear fairly stable for a short period. If the operator inadvertently matched a ground wave with a sky wave, the resulting time difference could plot very far away from the ship's actual location. I believe that is what happened when USS Frank Knox ran aground on Pratas Reef in the South China Sea in 1965.

I never trusted LORAN-C because there were too many automatic features. I wanted to see the actual wave form to see what I was dealing with. And I preferred to plot the line of position myself on a piece of paper.