Harbormaster Notes
701 North Point Drive
Winthrop Harbor, IL 60096
Phone (847) 746-2845
Fax (847) 746-3431
National Marina Day
Venetian Festival
August 9, 2008
The boat parade theme
for this year is
"Let's Celebrate a Holiday"
Decorate your vessel to reflect the theme of this year's boat parade.
The possibilities will be endless!
Each participant is a guaranteed winner. Prizes will be awarded by a panel
of independent judges.
Get together with your friends, family, or dock neighbors and plan your
entry.
Applications will be available in your Slipholder Packet or the Marina
Office.
THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL MARINA RESIDENTS
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2008 VENETIAN PARADE AWARD WINNERS
FIRST PLACE, POWER -
"Christmas/Deliver Hope" by Daddy's Mistress II FIRST PLACE, SAIL -"Mardi Gras" by Southern Cross
SECOND PLACE, POWER -
Cinco de Mayo" by Party Girl SECOND PLACE, SAIL -"Cinco de Mayo" by Betti
HONORABLE MENTION (in no particular order) -
"4th of July" by Lady K
"Mardi Gras" by Liberty
"Halloween" by Big Boat, Little Dinghy
"Halloween" by Liberty
"Halloween - Thriller" by Cash Flow
"Mardi Gras" by What Next!
"Halloween" by Moorea
"St. Lucia Festival of Lights" by Cheers III
"Veteran's Day" by The Edge
"4th of July" by Mixed Blessings
"4th of July" by Passtime
"President's Day" by Petoskey
"St. Patrick's Day" by Threesome
"4th of July" by Grapplenhook
Next year, North Point Marina will celebrate it's 20th anniversary. Plans are underway to make our National Marina Day - Venetian Festival even bigger and better!
New Buoyage
North Point Marina is installing new buoyage in the outer navigation channels. Please click on the link below for a detailed illustration of the buoys and map.New Buoyage
Dredging Update
All of the EPA-required bottom bore testing was completed on Friday, July 11, 2008. The samples are currently being analyzed by the contracted laboratory and dredging will commence once we're notified that the test samples are satisfactory.
The dredgers are aware of our schedule and will do their best to get here in a timely fashion once they are given the go-ahead.
The good news is that there has been little new "sand creep" into the marina since spring soundings!
BZZ-ZAP!
As most of you know , the docks are held in place by galvanized steel, telescoping, spud piles. Since the docks float and water levels fluctuate, the spud piles are in up and down motion daily. Some spud piles are level with the dock surface and others protrude upward anywhere from a few inches to a couple of feet. There are about 75 spuds per dock and they look like hollow pipes attached to the head dock at various intervals.
Since just about every slip well has one, they sometimes become a "hitching post" for power cords, hoses, cable TV wires, etc. When the docks rise due to lake surge, any power cords wrapped around the spuds can be either damaged or completely severed between the spud sections creating a dangerous rupture in the power cord transferring electricity into the water. In that millisecond that it takes for the pedestal breaker to shut off the power, someone in contact with the water or a pedestrian leaning on the spud might . . . . .
Please don't wrap power cords around the spud piles or allow them to drape into the water. Our maintenance staff has had to remove some damaged power cords with pry bar equipment! We won't even address the cost of replacing power cords and vessel electrical equipment.
FUEL PRICES
Excessively high fuel prices have encouraged us to do more walking, bicycling, and motor scooter riding. You'll also notice that marina staff frequently use electric vehicles to go about their assignments. All of these small vehicles and pedestrians require extra auto driver vigilance. Let's all look out for one another and take to heart traffic rules and signage.
MARINA CRITTERS
What may have cinched your decision to become a North Point boater is the fact that we're gracefully laid out on 140 acres of barely molested forest, field and marsh. Our real estate is carefully monitored by the Lake County Forest Preserve (Spring Bluff) and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (the marina and grounds). The Marina staff may not plant any plant material without having it approved by various state regulators. The intent, of course, is to preserve the natural flora and fauna. There's no problem regulating the flora, it's the fauna that can cause boater grief.
Discounting fish and not even considering the ubiquitous seagull, we serve as home to deer, muskrat, coyote, fox, mink, and raccoon families as well as countless bug and spider hordes. We also serve as sustenance providers to several of them. It's common to hear from boaters that some of these critters spend more time on the docks than they do! Raccoons have been seen ghosting around the docks at night, occupying vacant boats, and rifling through garbage bags in search of a meal. A boater on "H" dock spotted a coyote sniffing around his boat-mounted BBQ grill. After the larger animals are done scrounging, they are sometimes followed by a cleanup detail of smaller rodents and seagulls. Finally, the lower end of the food chain gets a chance and we find ants and flies on the docks happily occupying a greasy spot on the decking.
The common theme running through this is FOOD. The critters will go where we feed them either intentionally or otherwise. Take my word for it, there are no animals living on the docks when the marina is unoccupied! A semi-reliable food source and a nice dry place to sleep are all they seek. Remove the opportunity-remove the critters!
Please bag your garbage and use the dumpsters located in the turnaround dropoff areas near the heads of the docks. Never leave any garbage, bagged or otherwise, on the docks overnight nor any leftovers lying around when you retire for the evening. When you leave your boat after the weekend, make sure that you empty all waste containers that might contain edibles and dispose of the garbage ashore. We love all our harbor critters, we just don't want to socialize with them!