Explore Historic to High-Tech ‘The Water is Great in New York State:
Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe’ Exhibit at 2016 Great New York State Fair

Contacts:

• NYS Parks Bureau of Marine Services: Ro Woodard, P: 518.408.1028
• New York Sea Grant: Dave White, E: dgw9@cornell.edu, P: 315.312.3042
• US Coast Guard Auxiliary: Gene Little, P: 607.345.0597
• Great Lakes Research Consortium: Dr. Greg Boyer, SUNY ESF, P: 315.470.6825
• NYSG/GLRC Publicist Kara Lynn Dunn, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315.465.7578

Photo: Courtesy of Time Warner Cable News of Central NY & Northern NY

Syracuse, NY, August 25, 2016 - A boat that looks more like a spaceship; a child-sized Coast Guard tugboat; a high-tech wind, water and weather-sensing buoy; an inflatable paddleboard; kayak paddles with new Safe ‘n Sight decals; a display of life jacket types, even one for the family dog; clean, safe, and environmentally-friendly boating tips . . .

All these features and more make The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe Exhibit assembled by the New York State Parks Bureau of Marine Services, New York Sea Grant, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and Great Lakes Research Consortium for the 2016 Great New York State Fair a must-visit attraction for boaters and families.

The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe exhibit tent will be in the miniature State Park at the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY, from August 25 through September 5, 2016. Learn more at nysfair.ny.gov.

More Info: The Players in NYSG's 2016 Great NYS Fair Exhibit


Photos: Courtesy of Time Warner Cable News of Central NY & Northern NY

A Boat that Looks More Like a Spaceship:

The New York Sea Grant 2016 Discover Clean and Safe Boating educational vessel is an historic 7-foot-round Circraft dating to the early 1970s; it is steered by leaning one’s weight forward and back, left and right. New York Sea Grant has equipped the aqua blue boat, provided by Burke’s Marina in Raquette Lake, with all the gear required and recommended for safe, environmentally-friendly and legal operation of a boat of any size on NY waters. The Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign is an award-winning partnership of New York Sea Grant, the Boating Industries Association of Upstate New York, and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. More Info: www.nyseagrant.org/marina.

Child-Sized Tugboat:

“Coastie,” the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary mascot shaped like a tugboat, will reside in the The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe Exhibit except when the 44-inch-long remote-controlled character travels out for seven evening appearances in the Great New York State Fair Parade, it can travel at a speed of 3.5 knots on level ground. The first Coastie was built in 2000 for its youth education mission. More info: http://a0541107.uscgaux.info/coastie.html.

High-Tech Wind, Water, Weather-Sensing Buoy:

A buoy on loan from the Great Lakes Research Consortium will transmit real-time data on air and water temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation level from the neighboring large permanent reflecting pool at the Fair to a read-out screen in The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe Exhibit tent. Larger buoys with similar technology are deployed as part of the Great Lakes Observing System in New York on Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, and selected inland lakes, including Onondaga and Skaneateles lakes. More Info: www.esf.edu/glrc/buoys.


Photo: Courtesy of Time Warner Cable News of Central NY & Northern NY

Inflatable Paddleboard and Kayak Paddles with Safe in Sight Decals:

With increasingly popularity in paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes, The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe Exhibit for the 2016 Great New York State Fair places an emphasis on safety for non-motorized vessel users. Safe ‘n Sight is a new NYS Parks Bureau of Marine Services educational outreach that encourages paddlers to place shiny reflective decals on their paddles to increase the visibility of their boats which sit close to the water surface. More Info: www.nysparks.com/recreation/boating.
 


New York State Parks Bureau of Marine Services Education Specialist Ro Woodard, left, and New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White highlight two components that will be in the The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe Exhibit at the 2016 Great New York State Fair. Woodard is holding a paddle with new Safe ‘n Sight decals; White is the Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign developer that features a new educational vessel each year. They are seen with the historic 7-foot-round boat that is the 2016 campaign boat. Photo: New York Sea Grant.


This buoy is transmitting real-time data on air and water temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation level from the pool at the miniature NYS Park at the 2016 Great New York State Fair to a read-out screen in The Water is Great in New York State: Boat and Paddle Clean and Safe Exhibit tent. Photo: New York Sea Grant.


New York State Parks Bureau of Marine Services Education Specialist Ro Woodard shows the new Safe ‘n Sight decals recommended to help keep paddleboard, canoe and kayak users safer on the water. Photo: Brian P. Whattam.



More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York, is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program (NSGCP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NSGCP engages this network of the nation’s top universities in conducting scientific research, education, training and extension projects designed to foster science-based decisions about the use and conservation of our aquatic resources. Through its statewide network of integrated services, NYSG has been promoting coastal vitality, environmental sustainability, and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources since 1971.

New York Sea Grant maintains Great Lakes offices at SUNY Buffalo, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark and at SUNY Oswego. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Manhattan, in the Hudson Valley through Cooperative Extension in Kingston and at Brooklyn College. 

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG also offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/coastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published several times a year.