ORMA News 2006

Aerial view of the Occoquan by Patrick J. Henderson, Aerial Photography, 703-339-7229

Hello and Happy Mothers' Day:

The Blessing of the Fleet held yesterday 13 May 2006 was a resounding success. The weather was glorious, conditions ideal, and our boating season kick-off was held in the finest traditions of the Yachting Community. It was an event to remember. ORMA's mission is to provide advocacy for boating safety, issues that affect the yachting community, and awareness of the need for vigilance on the water. The 2006 Blessing validated this mission in many ways. Please accept the special thanks of ORMA to all of the Committee members who gave their time and resources, to Prince William, Occoquan, Fairfax Yacht Clubs, and to the Potomac River Yacht Club Association for their generous support; to the Marinas and business owners of the Occoquan Region for their sponsorship; to Carlton and Debbie Phillips of Prince William Marina, whose steadfast and dedicated support of our Yachting Community has touched nearly every boater on the Occoquan in some manner; Captain Terry Hill, Jay Wenzel, George Allen, Rick Sorrenti; to our local US Coast Guard Auxiliary; to the Town of Occoquan; and to the Supervisors of Prince William and Fairfax Counties.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank especially and single-out the First Responders who shared their time and volunteerism to make our event special. This year we had more Fire & Rescue, U.S. Coast Guard (regular and auxiliary), and law enforcement personnel and vessels than any year in the history of the Occoquan Blessing of the Fleet. To all of you: Your dedication to public safety afloat and ashore, placing yourselves at-risk so that all of us may enjoy boating and everyday life, is both remarkable and deeply appreciated by us all. Please accept the gratitude of ORMA and the Yachting Community at-large for all you do.

Finally, the 2006 Occoquan River Blessing of the Fleet is being dedicated to the memory and accomplishments of Detective Vicky Armel.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.

May the coming boating season bring you all fair winds and following seas.

All the Best // Chris Webster

Presiding Coordinator

Occoquan River Maritime Association

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Hello all.

This is a thank you to all who assisted with the Blessing of the Fleet 2005. The event was marked by good weather, good coordination, deeper water, and more than a few smiles. My personal thanks to the US Coast Guard Auxiliary headed by Jay Wenzel, Captain and Mrs. Bob Frana of Days of Indulgence, Capt and Mrs. Rick Sorrenti of Sea Duck II, Carton Phillips from Prince William Marina, George Allen from Prince William Yacht Club, Captain Terry Hill, "Tim" from Tim's River Shore, the Town of Occoquan, and the host of volunteers and donors who made the event SAFE and fun. The Occoquan River is home to many boats and boaters. May all of you enjoy a safe, fun, fulfilling boating season.

Attached is the article from the Washington Post. God Bless // Cw

Seeking Divine Help For a Safe Season

Boats Line Up for Blessing on Occoquan

By Ian Shapira

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 15, 2005; Page C06

The VIP guests boarded the 71-foot yacht, Days of Indulgence, at Prince William Marina yesterday, slipped off their shoes to get comfortable, snacked on a platter of crudités and prepared to be blessed.

The sleek vessel led a parade of dozens of boats a few miles down the Occoquan River toward the Rev. Denise Bates, who was standing on a boat next to a pier on Belmont Bay, clutching a microphone and holding her right hand up high.

Marking the start of the boating season, Prince William County Fire and Rescue boats led the parade on the Occoquan River for the Blessing of the Fleet. (Photos By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)

The guests -- a mix of county and state politicians, the well-to-do and well-connected -- softened their chatter as they approached the minister, who was dressed mostly in pink.

"Gracious God," Bates began, "Send your blessing upon the vessel Days of Indulgence, her crew and all who travel aboard. Grant her safety upon the seas, peace in her harbor, and may she always enjoy your fair winds and following seas. Amen."

The Blessing of the Fleet, a rite that began centuries ago to bring luck and safe passage to fishermen and other seafarers, marks the official beginning of the boating season. Yacht clubs and other maritime associations sponsor similar blessings throughout the Washington area, particularly on the Chesapeake Bay.

Yesterday's blessing on the Occoquan was also a celebration of a recently completed dredging project, which helped make the river deeper and cleaner. The river, used by hundreds of power boaters and several companies carrying sand and gravel, was becoming so muddy and filled with silt that skippers often would run aground in waters they thought were deeper than they were.

Even during yesterday's festivities, which featured fire and rescue boats spraying water high into the air, Days of Indulgence and a commercial tugboat churned up some mud with their propellers.

But many watermen say the Occoquan's more pressing concern should be the influx of new skippers who are not well-versed in the rules of the water. Officials with the Occoquan River Maritime Association said the number of accidents on the river has increased in recent years.

"The most prevalent unsafe habit is operating the vessel under the influence of alcohol," said Chris Webster, the group's presiding coordinator. "There is a constant need for understanding what the rules are, who has the right of the way, what you do if you're running toward a vessel head-on."

In short, said Bob Anderson, who was scrubbing his boat, Absolut Paradise, for yesterday's event, the blessing is no joke.

"It can always help," Anderson said. "I was in a bad storm three years ago, off Point Lookout near Maryland. We were saying our prayers and a few other words -- words I've never heard my wife say."

Bates, associate pastor at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Woodbridge, extended her blessings to anyone who sailed past her yesterday, even people who seemed to have been unaware that the ceremony was taking place. Boaters honked horns, waved and yelled back "Thank you!"

Inserting the right name of the boat into the prayer was half the battle for the reverend. A Coast Guard official several feet down the shore radioed the name ahead to an aide standing beside her.

Any names the church would frown upon?

"Topless," she said. "We had that one in the morning."

Chris Webster
Presiding Coordinator
ORMA

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South County Chronicle Article

Thanks to Bob Wilcox for tipping us to this interesting article.

Environmental Assessment of Occoquan Dredging Released
By Dave Harned

In April, the Army Corps of Engineers released a decision document and environmental assessment for widening and deepening the 6 mile long navigation channel of the Occoquan River between the Potomac River and the Town of Occoquan. Originally constructed in 1908 as 6 feet deep and 150 feet wide, narrowing to 100 feet wide between Taylor's Point and Occoquan, increasing commercial and recreational traffic, in company with frequent groundings, have made it clear that the channel is too shallow.

In response to these problems, Congressman Davis of Virginia's 11th District sponsored appropriations to widen and deepen the channel as necessary to accommodate current commercial and recreational users.

The Baltimore District of the Corps of Engineers studied twelve different combinations of width, depth and dredged material disposal. These included six alternatives that would have used the dredged material to construct wetlands adjacent to Mason Neck State Park, along with breakwaters to prevent further erosion of nearby parkland. These alternatives were made feasible by the relatively benign chemical character of the dredged material.

Environmental consequences from any of the twelve alternatives were judged minor and of short duration while the improved channel would serve marine traffic for many more years.

The alternative selected for implementation is for a 9-foot deep channel of the same 150 foot width, also narrowing to 100 feet beyond Taylor's Point, with 31,200 cubic yards of dredged material to be disposed on land at the Prince William County landfill. The selection was made on the basis of the ratio of estimated project benefits to estimated project cost. The costlier approach of using the dredged material for wetlands adjacent to the State Park favored landfill disposal.

This plan is pending approval by the Corps of Engineers. It is estimated to cost about $2 million dollars based on 2003 figures. Of this 90% would be Federal appropriations and 5% each would be contributed by Fairfax and Prince William Counties.

The Corps intends to begin dredging work in October of this year and to finish in March of 2005.

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Potomac News Article

Hello All:
The Potomac News has published an article which adds the Occoquan dredging project, so near to us all, to a list of "pork" projects.

The article says that only 100 boaters would benefit. I have been contacted by Congressman Davis' office on this to highlight the need for voters to communicate their views on this issue.

I would like each of you to do two things:
1) forward this message to all who need to see it.
2) Write a letter to the editor of the Potomac News and tell the editors that the statistics are in error, that more than 2200 boats and as many as 10,000 voters are interested in the dredging. Tell them that the commerce of the Occoquan powers businesses, Yacht Clubs, Marinas, and restaurants to the tune of tens, if not hundreds of Millions of dollars which flow through the local economy, that the multiplier effect of that commerce generates a lot of tax revenue for Prince William County, and Fairfax County, and that the dredging is not a "pork" issue, it is an issue legitimized for several years by the navigation difficulties of the River, and the need to maintain a navigable channel.

This issue is important, and I recommend you consider the possibility that this small project will be cancelled without words and phone calls and letters.. This is a call to action.

For each Commodore of each Yacht Club, each business owner affected, every boater who ever ran aground in the Occoquan Channel, I recommend you write to the Potomac News and to Congressman Tom Davis' office affirming the need to keep the dredging of the Occoquan River on-track and funded. If the US can afford to pay for re-building another country and not maintain the one we live-in, we have a huge problem. Your words and action will help highlight the number of voters who care about the Occoquan River as a treasure to be preserved and maintained.

Read the ORMA response.

Thanks// Chris Webster
ORMA
703.449.2760 (w)
571.214.3196 (c)

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Econometrics of the Occoquan Dredging

There is an interesting statistic that I would like to share with all of you. The Salisbury Towing Company that operates the Capt Tom Tugs moves sand from the quarry in Maryland to the location just under the Rt One Bridge in Woodbridge, about once a day. We all know that. Did you ever wonder what would happen if they could not do that because the river was too shallow? We have come to learn that they move the equivalent of Twenty Thousand Truckloads of sand in a year with the barge and tug. This is a documented statistic. Imagine twenty thousand more dump trucks crossing the Wilson bridge, adding to the sprawl and crawl causing how many more minutes of delay for commuters and costing that much more for fuel etc. (that's about 350+ in a week's time, and add to that the cost of moving the material over land, which they say is ten times as much as by-water, and the economic impact of NOT having the Occoquan dredging project completed becomes a bit more clear and compelling. We are piecing together bits if information in order to tell the story in terms non-boaters can understand. If you wish to contribute facts or figures, please send them to us.

Chris W. Webster Coordinator, ORMA