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GENERAL UPDATES
07 January 2010 US Coast Guard to terminate LORAN-C beginning February 8, 2010 SPECIAL NOTICE SUBJ: TERMINATION OF ALL U.S. LORAN-C SIGNALS 1. IAW THE 2010 DHS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, THE U.S. COAST GUARD WILL TERMINATE THE TRANSMISSION OF ALL U.S. LORAN-C SIGNALS EFFECTIVE 2000Z 08 FEB 2010. AT THAT TIME, THE U.S. LORAN-C SIGNAL WILL BE UNUSABLE AND PERMANENTLY DISCONTINUED. THIS TERMINATION DOES NOT AFFECT U.S. PARTICIPATION IN THE RUSSIAN-AMERICAN OR CANADIAN LORAN-C CHAINS. U.S. PARTICIPATION IN THESE CHAINS WILL CONTINUE TEMPORARILY IN ACCORDANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS The Coast Guard will publish in the Federal Register on January 7th, 2010 the decision to shut down the LORAN-C system. The Department of Homeland Security has determined that LORAN-C is not needed as a back-up to GPS. The Record of Decision by the Coast Guard that will be published in the Feceral Register can be found here. ........................................................................................................................ 16 November 2009 Great Bridge Lock Reopens Waterway Guide Photography 12:24 p.m. Nov. 16 - A post of the Norfolk Corps of Engineers Web site states that the Great Bridge Lock is now operational.
9:55 a.m. Nov 16th - Waterway Guide just spoke with the Operations Division of the Norfolk Corps of Engineers. The remaining problem is a electrical motor that must be replaced. The work is expected to be completed sometime today. A notice will be posted on the Norfolk District Web site when the work is completed.
At 6 p.m. Nov. 15, Waterway Guide spoke with Coast Guard Group Norfolk and was informed that the Great Bridge Lock was still closed, but expected to reopen Monday morning, Nov. 16. The time of the opening was not available, but the Coast Guard will broadcast the opening on VHF channels 16 and 22A. The reopening is expected to occur by mid-morning.
At 3 p.m. Nov. 14, Waterway Guide spoke with the bridge tender at Great Bridge and were informed that repiars to the lock are in progress and the lock may be operational Sunday afternoon but most likely on Monday the 16th.
We have just received news from Liz at Atlantic Yacht Basin in Chesapeake, VA, that the Great Bridge Lock (Mile 11.3) is currently closed, due to high water (a result of this week's noreaster/remnants of Tropical Storm Ida). We have been unable to reach the Great Bridge lock tender (757-547-3311) to ascertain when the lock may resume its normal schedule, but stay tuned to waterwayguide.com for details as they become available. Dismal Swamp Canal Remains Open, caution advised due to high water The Dismal Swamp route remains open, however water levels are high (but below flood) and there is a lot of debris in the canal. Waterway Guide has received several reports of vessels striking submerged logs. On cruiser reported between 15 and 20 hits. ........................................................................................................................ 04 October 2009 Signet S.A. purchases Nobeltec PORTLAND, OR, October 1, 2009-Signet S.A. today announced that a wholly-owned subsidiary has entered into an agreement with Jeppesen Marine, Inc. for the purchase of its Nobeltec division, a provider of marine navigation software products. Nobeltec will become part of Signet's portfolio, of which Furuno Electric Company is a significant shareholder, that includes the ownership of MaxSea & MapMedia among other marine navigation companies.
"We envision a bright future and partnership for MaxSea and Nobeltec and are excited about the innovations and technologies that will be forthcoming," said Brice Pryszo, founder and president of Signet. "Both Nobeltec and MaxSea have long, rich histories of technological innovations; we are truly thrilled to see what our partnership will bring to the marine navigation market."
Signet will continue to support existing Nobeltec products and anticipates introducing new product innovations in the near future. The Nobeltec products will continue to be compatible with Jeppesen Marine's Passporttm and MAX Protm brand of electronic chart data products.
"The sale of our Nobeltec software line reinforces our commitment to providing our original equipment manufacturer partners with the very best electronic charts and electronic charting technology, while they focus on navigation applications" says Greg Bowlin, Jeppesen senior vice president and chief strategy officer. "We are pleased that Nobeltec and its history of innovation will continue. We also expect this sale to strengthen the relationship between Jeppesen Marine and Signet."
Nobeltec will continue to be based in Portland, Oregon, globally distributing its product from that location.
Term of this sale are not being disclosed at this time. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in the fourth quarter.
For more information on Nobeltec, visit www.nobeltec.com. ........................................................................................................................ 16 September 2009 The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association reports on ICW funding The House and Senate have approved their version of the FY10 Energy & Water Development Bill. There are differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill which will need to be resolved in conference. The House bill akkocates $15.7 billion versus the Senate bill which allocates $12.3 billion. Georgia again receives the fewest dollars.
For additional details on the proposed budget and ongoing maintenace projects in the Jacksonville, Savannah and Charleston Districts, click here. ........................................................................................................................ 17 June 2009 NOAA REVISED REPRINT NAUTICAL CHARTS The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has commenced a new chart production program titled, "Revised Reprint Nautical Charts." This is an improved method to distribute up-to-date critical information on nautical charts. A Revised Reprint Nautical Chart incorporates all U.S. Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners (LNM) and all National Geospacial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Notice to Mariners (NM) issued since the current edition date. A Revised Reprint will be published when printed stock of the current edition is low. In the past when a chart was running out of stock more copies of the same chart would be printed. With the Revised Reprint all critical corrections are applied before the chart is printed. They are
similar to the NOAA's Print on Demand (POD) charts, but are lithographically printed according to traditional paper chart standards. Revised Reprints offer the convenience and added measure of safety of an already updated chart at time of purchase. The lower left corner of a Revised Reprint Nautical Chart will contain the Edition Number of the chart with the Edition Date, the words ‘Revised reprint' along with the dates of the NGA Notice to Mariners (abbreviated "NM") and the U.S. Coast Guard's Local Notice to Mariners ("LNM") available when the chart was sent to print." ........................................................................................................................ 08 June 2009 Garmin BlueChart g2 recall Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, announced today that the company is conducting a voluntary product safety recall of the 2009 version of its marine cartography data card known as BlueChart® g2 and g2 Vision. The affected data cards have been sold between April 8, 2009 and June 3, 2009. In certain waters, the data card provides inaccurate indications of the depth of the water. This creates a risk of boats going aground, which could result in damage to the boat and/or personal injury. While Garmin has only received reports of data cards giving inaccurate depth indications in the waters along the coast of Sweden and Denmark, out of an abundance of caution, Garmin has voluntarily chosen to globally recall all 2009 versions of the BlueChart g2 and g2 Vision cards. Garmin has notified relevant authorities about this issue and is working closely with them. No other products are affected by this recall. Affected products are the 2009 version of the BlueChart g2 in Garmin proprietary card format, BlueChart g2 in microSD/SD card format and BlueChart g2 Vision in microSD/SD card format. Customers are being advised not to use these data cards for navigation. Affected customers will be provided with a free replacement BlueChart or BlueChart g2 Vision v2008.5. When the 2009 version has been corrected Garmin intends to make it available free of charge to those customers. For more information on the recall and to determine if their cards are affected and eligible for a free replacement, go to www.garmin.com/bluechartrecall. ........................................................................................................................ 04 March 2009 NOAA to remove LORAN-C lattices from charts NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS) intends to eliminate LORAN-C lattices from future editions of NOS Paper Nautical Charts and Raster Navigational Charts starting in 2009. NOAA's Office of Coast Survey
(OCS) requests that all comments about this change be sent via OCS' inquiry page before April
24, 2009. Any other questions may be directed to the inquiry page or by calling NOAA's navigation inquiry hotline: 1-888-990-NOAA (6622). ........................................................................................................................ 02 January 2009 Replace that 121.5/243 MHz prior to Feb 1 - after that it won't work! Beginning February 1, 2009 older EPIRB's that transmit only an analog signal (121.5 or 243 MHz) will no longer be "heard" by search and rescue satellites. You need to ensure that your distress beacon is capable of transmitting a digital signal (406 MHz) in order for it to be recognized. The Coast Guard reports that the 406 MHz signal is 50 times more powerful than the 121.5, allowing better detection and providing a more accurate search area for rescue authorities.
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