Jan 14, 2021
Beef Island airport – the only air gateway to BVI
You likely aren’t quite ready to travel yet, but we have our fingers crossed that we can all fly soon. If that turns out to be during winter charter season or around the BVI Spring Regatta, you might take the opportunity to what you’ve long wanted to, fly direct to Beef Island. The catch has been that there’s no non-stop way there from Canada, but if you can choose a private plane, you’re now in luck.

Standing by for departure, boaters
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) reopened its borders to international travelers on December 1, exclusive to arrivals at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island. With safety and socially-distanced travel top of mind, the BVI Tourist Board & Film Commission (BVITB&FC) has announced a partnership with evoJets, for private jet travel. While no commercial airlines have nonstop flights to Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, flying private is now a very convenient way to get to the destination.
In an effort to make private jet travel more readily accessible, the BVITB&FC has established a partnership with evoJets that offers $1,500 towards catering, ground, or flight cost on any portion of a trip booked from any evoJets gateway in the U.S. and Canada to the BVI, which will include some boat charter offerings.
Additionally, in its commitment to create a greener earth and help promote a more sustainable BVI, evoJets has committed matching dollars to the BVITB&FC’s Seeds of Love program, which launched in 2017 to replant trees lost in the as a result of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which massively impacted the Territory. For each trip booked to the BVI, the private jet company will contribute an additional $1,500 to Seeds of Love, which will plant 27 indigenous White Cedar trees with each generous donation.
For more information, visit www.bvitourism.com, www.seedsoflove.org and https://www.evojets.com/private-jet-charter-flights-to-british-islands/
By Andy Adams
The multi-generational island cottagers of Georgian Bay and serious fishermen are just two of the groups most attracted to the new Oakley Boats models.
Brad Oakley has been around the boat business his entire life and he said to me that he has long admired durable, seaworthy welded aluminum boats. His company WMW Vacuum Pumpout Systems in Waubaushene, Ontario on Georgian Bay, builds highly regarded vacuum pump-out systems and Oakley’s equipment is in so many marinas that he knows a lot of people in the business.
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By Katherine Stone
On a beautiful summer morning in July, I hopped aboard a new-owner delivery from the Outer Harbour Marina in Toronto to the Port Credit Harbour Marina in Mississauga, with the President of Navy Point Yacht Sales, Steve McPherson. I don’t know if I have ever referred to a boat as pretty, but this adjective fits the Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42 to a tee.
The transitions and communication from interior to exterior spaces are seamless and well-thought-out with functional ergonomics.
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Following the War of 1812, a battle that Canada narrowly won against the United States, the boundaries of Upper Canada were held and the British army realized that the St. Lawrence River was no longer safe as a supply route. A more defensible route was needed to bring supplies from Montreal to Kingston and on into other Great Lakes settlements.
This new, more secure route revealed itself through the travel and trade of the Indigenous peoples. Surveyors learned that one of the Indigenous trade routes began at the mouth of the Cataraqui River in Kingston (Canada’s first national capital) and connected a series of lakes and rivers all the way through to where the Rideau River meets the Ottawa River in the heart of Bytown (known today as Canada’s national capital: the City of Ottawa).
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Let’s start by clarifying what a crosscut sail is. The crosscut panel layout aligns the fill (short) edge of the sailcloth roll with the leech edge of the sail. Most of the sail load goes from clew to head up the leech. Secondary sail loads go from corner to corner along the foot and luff edge.
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I filled up last week at $1.90. Pundits are suggesting that prices will stay high throughout the summer. Radio and TV news have been flooded with ‘man on the street’ interviews that show the impact on the average driver. How will these prices affect the average boater this year? Will we see more hours spent on the docks and fewer on the water? Will fuel efficiency become a top-of –mind selling point? Will we see a shift toward electric marine engines?
Time will tell – but for the majority of us, we’ll need to weather the storm as best we can. There are a number of tips and tricks we can employ aboard to make the most of our boat’s fuel. BoatUS published an excellent article this week that I’ll break down...
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