St. Lawrence Seaway

With a foreign flag and at 1,100 GT, would Blue Moon need a pilot on-board in that part of the Seaway even if it weren't on charter?

Yes

I can imagine those fees make sense for a large cargo ship, but I never thought it could cost that much for a private yacht! On this topic, I often see some cargo ships anchor for 1-2 days in the St- Lawrence...I assume they do not need a pilot while at anchor?

I think you're correct Rodger.

Yes it is expensive, but wholly on the Canadian side of things. The US Coast Guard does not require a STRICTLY private yacht to take a pilot in US waters. Thus, you are only required to use them on the Canadian side of the imaginary line.

I knew it was expensive, but I had no idea it was that expensive. I was curiuos why not many private yachts (perhaps even none), US or foreign-flagged, made the trip to Chicago for the America's Cup. Now I know why.

I wonder if the organizers realized that. Seems Pi****y to plan some thing that big and not have a fleet of fans,,,, or was that a plan...

BTW, I never understood the races on Lake Michigan. When you race, on a given day, at a given time, that's when the race begins, if the wind blows or not.
If anybody remembers, they did not start the races till the winds picked up.
So much for racing at a given time.

Every kind of race I'm aware of adjusts the time based on weather. You're in South Georgia, you see Nascar delayed by rain. I've seen regattas on the lake we lived on in NC cancelled because conditions were too bad.

There was no weather. To light air for them to show their stuff. Videos show lil boats sailing around.
Would have been a big waist of high tech for the foil boats to just get pushed around at hull displacement. Would have been still a winner..
Before the NYYC club lost the cup, there were light air days up there. My G Pop was on one of those ole grand racers years (YEARS) ago.

35 m is why you see a lot of 112' boats come through but very few 130's. The 130's were fine under the 500 ton rule.

Also, an issue because such a large percentage of large yachts are foreign flagged. $20,000 on a 130-150' US boat is a lot but in the overall costs of operating the boat it's really manageable, just annoying to most. But when you get to $60,000 and more, as the price keeps rising, then it's enough to make people choose to go elsewhere.

On top of the costs, you have the inconveniences, the scheduling, and everything else involved and as there is clearly a de-prioritization of pleasure boats, those issues increase.

That's weather. No wind is a weather condition.

Oh well, I'm done.
I'm a diesel pusher anyway.
All be safe and happy July 4.

Christensen 154' "Top Five"

Ocean Alexander 112' "Georgia"

Nordlund 89' "Sol Pursuit"

Cheoy Lee 150' "Qing"