Articles by Steve Carr

Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Battling rough seas and eluding pirates on the Indian Ocean

On a perfect day for racing in Capetown, South Africa, Telefonica tightened its stranglehold on first place by winning the in-port race. But the real winners were the three boats that had made it to the starting line after withdrawing from the first leg because of equipment failures. The following day, all six of the boats began Leg 2, a 5,000-mile slog to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Hundreds of spectator boats came out to watch that country’s boat, Abu...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr; 1/12/12

40,000 Miles of Heartbreak and Thrills

The Volvo Ocean Race is back on the water

The machines are scary sharp, the crews wear bright and sexy clothing and the thrills and spills will keep you coming back for your fear-factor fix. That’s sailing we’re talking about, not Grand Prix auto racing. While we await Christmas and winter, one of the biggest shows in the world is playing out. So take a break from holiday madness for a turn on the water. Follow the racers round the world at www.volvooceanrace.com...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr; 12/8/11

Know Your Racing

The Volvo Ocean Race isn’t the only high-profile sailing event

The Volvo Ocean Race is an around-the-world marathon showcasing 70-foot high-tech sailing machines. Precise rules govern boat and sail design, making each boat similar. It takes the racers nine months to sail the globe, with extended stops in eight ports. The boats are sponsored by syndicates that hire the world’s finest sailors to ride these carbon-fiber, sail-powered rockets. It costs about $100 million to play that game. The winner gets a silver chalice that can easily hold a couple...

Article - Boating; by Steve Carr; 12/8/11

We Live Atop Lost Cities and Civilizations

Pig Point is our newest Lost Town — and our oldest link to history

Anne Arundel County’s newest Lost Town is Pig Point, a prehistoric Indian village near Jug Bay on the Patuxent River. Archaeologist Jane Cox and her Lost Towns Project colleagues realized they were on to something pretty wild as soon as they started excavating the long-forgotten site. Digging down through the layers of several fire pits, they encountered trash going back almost 10,000 years. That makes this one of the region’s oldest uncovered sites. ...

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr; 9/1/11

The Severn River Association’s First Century

It takes many years to save a river

It seems odd, but the Severn River Association is the oldest group in the United States dedicated to the preservation of a river. You’d figure that honor would fall to some group affiliated with John Muir. On April 29, 1911, 32 wealthy white men from Baltimore who owned summer homes along the Severn River got together and started the Severn River Association. Their primary mission was to stock the river with fish, prevent watermen from poaching and upgrade Ritchie...

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr; 5/12/11

This Week’s Creature Feature: Reach the Beach

Turtles, like people, benefited from William Donald Schaefer’s beach-bound determination.

Back in 2001, I joined the Severn River Association in arguing a tidal wetlands case before the Board of Public Works. We were trying to convince the regulators that a living shoreline would be better than a rock revetment on one of the last remaining natural shorelines along the Severn. To make our case, we came armed with school children and turtles. The school children, freshly scrubbed from the Samuel Ogle Science Magnet School, explained the importance of beach habitat...

Article - Creature Feature; by Steve Carr; 4/28/11

Fear the Turtle

Riparian rights have wronged a number of Bay critters

Turning a big ship around takes time, a lot of time. Right after World War II, many people living along the waters of the Chesapeake Bay began building bulkheads to prevent their shorelines from washing away. The state even encouraged this by offering homeowners free loans to harden their shorelines. A smiling fellow named Leonard Casanova showed up on our doorstep one summer day way back in the early 70s and announced that he was from the Department of...

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr; 4/21/11

Who Will Stop the Rain?

As it stands, God is responsible for anything beyond two inches of stormwater runoff

Every time it rains hard around Annapolis, all hell breaks loose. Mud goes streaming into a creek or streams. Citizen watchdogs start barking. They call the mayor’s office and complain that dirt is running off this or that property, usually a development site. State law requires developers to control the first inch of rain that falls on their property during a 24-hour period. Expensive control measures are required so that no sediment leaves the site. ...

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr; 3/31/11

20 Questions about the Bay’s New Cleanup Plan

With these plain English answers, you’ll know as much as the experts (Of course nobody knows if it will work)

There have been a lot of headlines lately about how we’re finally going to start cleaning up Chesapeake Bay. Most feature the non-word TMDL. Q What is this TMDL thing that everyone keeps talking about? A TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Load. It’s a fancy phrase for measuring and establishing limits on what’s polluting the Bay, specifically nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment. The primary sources of nitrogen and phosphorous are sewage treatment plants, farms and stormwater...

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr; 1/6/11

Beating a Path Through Open Space

What do we save and what do we sacrifice?

Saving the Last Farm on the Magothy, my November 4 column, brought lots of interesting mail that sent me down a broader path through the Preservation Woods. Lucy Illif, who owns one of the few remaining farms in Arnold, reminded me that the Jordan Property next to Ritchie Highway has just been rezoned commercial and that the whole area is being swallowed up by houses and shopping malls. “Will our farm now be the last one in Arnold?” she wondered. This opened up an old wound for me....

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr; 11/25/10