OP
Ontario Diver
Guest
I copied this from the Kingston Whig-Standard web site (http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/) From this weekend's edition (Nov 11/01)
Full speed ahead for scuba site
Frank Armstrong
We got it.
Kingston has successfully bid for a decommissioned warship - which will be scuttled in Lake Ontario, transforming the Limestone City into the world's top freshwater scuba-diving destination.
"We expect to have the bill of sale in the next day or two," Candice Christmas, director of tourism marketing partnerships for the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, told The Whig-Standard.
Christmas is a member of Waterfront Alliance Kingston, a nonprofit organization that has been trying to bring a decommissioned naval ship here for the last four years.
The group received a letter from Crown Assets on Wednesday saying that its $135,000 bid for HMCS Gatineau, a 110-metre Restigouche class escort destroyer, was successful.
The process has had more than its share of nailbiting moments.
The group lost its original bid for HMCS Nipigon, an Athabasca class escort destroyer with ties to Kingston, to Rimouski, Que., which bid $180,000. Another bid followed for HMCS Gatineau, and Kingston was again out-bid.
SOLE BIDDER
But the city's two competitors failed to prove they had the money or financing to pay for the ship and a rebid was called - and Kingston was the sole bidder.
The Department of National Defence will keep Gatineau in Halifax harbour over the winter. It will head to Kingston on April 19.
Next week, a group of Kingston delegates will head to Halifax to perform inventories on the ship "because there are marauders down there who like to take things off the ships," Christmas said.
It's believed the scrap - generators, propellers, hatches and other equipment - will fetch up to $170,000. That's more than enough to pay the $120,000 it will cost to tow Gatineau here.
The voyage up the St. Lawrence River is expected to take nine days.
Christmas believes the trip will attract international media attention and her group plans to take advantage.
It's hoping to secure exclusive sponsorship from a national media outlet, which would document Gatineau's voyage to Kingston.
A party would begin in Kingston upon the ship's departure from Halifax and continue until the vessel arrived. Other celebrations could take place in communities along the tow route.
Gatineau won't be scuttled until Victoria Day weekend in 2003, and will serve as a tourist attraction until then.
Waterfront Alliance Kingston is setting up a Web site to help find servicemen who served on Gatineau in hopes of getting them to act as tour guides.
Christmas said the ship might be rented out for events and any items of interest found aboard will be donated to local museums for special exhibits.
The group will only make money from Gatineau while it is above water. Once the ship is scuttled and on the lake bed, it will belong to the province and no one will be charging money to board it.
Two sinking sites are being considered: one between Wolfe and Howe Island and another near Simcoe Island, just off Nine Mile Point.
The site off Howe Island is around 30 metres deep. With the ship about 25 metres tall, first-time divers will have the unusual experience of being able to visit a wreck.
Although dozens of shipwrecks lie off Kingston, the city began marketing itself as a scuba destination only three years ago. Since then, it has rapidly developed a reputation as a world-class diving area.
The waters are fairly cool here, but the fresh water helps preserve shipwrecks while providing fish habitat.
The water is also remarkably clear, thanks to the zebra mussels.
THRIVING CITY
The same is true of Tobermory, at the tip of the Bruce Penninsula on Georgian Bay, but it does not have a thriving city nearby.
"Tobermory has some great wrecks, but there will be nothing in the world like this," said Ross Cameron, who is chairman of CORK, Kingston's annual Olympic-class sailing races.
There are warships sunk in at least 11 other sites around the world, but they don't have huge populations all around them, he said.
"We're within an eight-hour drive of 60 million people."
Based upon studies of the economic benefits of the introduction of man-made reefs to other areas, it's believed Gatineau will have a big effect on the tourism industry in Kingston, bringing an additional 170 full -time jobs and $6 million annually. In Perth, Australia, where a warship was sunk, the number of dive tourism visits soared from 2,000 to 10,000 in one year.
Divers are the sort of tourist Kingston wants. It's generally recognized that they tend to play hard, eat big, party hard and spend a lot more than the average tourist.
Now that Kingston's ownership of Gatineau is official, Waterfront Alliance Kingston will begin campaigning for the sponsorships they need to pay the ship's $135,000 price tag and other costs.
They're targeting regional and national companies as main sponsors. For $100,000, that organization would get a 20-metre-high version of their company banner draped over the side of the ship.
They're also looking for three sponsors to donate about $50,000 which would fund a number of events next summer, and 10 others to donate $15,000 each.
Local businesses who want to contribute smaller amounts, or equipment and other services or products, will also be welcomed.
Full speed ahead for scuba site
Frank Armstrong
We got it.
Kingston has successfully bid for a decommissioned warship - which will be scuttled in Lake Ontario, transforming the Limestone City into the world's top freshwater scuba-diving destination.
"We expect to have the bill of sale in the next day or two," Candice Christmas, director of tourism marketing partnerships for the Kingston Economic Development Corporation, told The Whig-Standard.
Christmas is a member of Waterfront Alliance Kingston, a nonprofit organization that has been trying to bring a decommissioned naval ship here for the last four years.
The group received a letter from Crown Assets on Wednesday saying that its $135,000 bid for HMCS Gatineau, a 110-metre Restigouche class escort destroyer, was successful.
The process has had more than its share of nailbiting moments.
The group lost its original bid for HMCS Nipigon, an Athabasca class escort destroyer with ties to Kingston, to Rimouski, Que., which bid $180,000. Another bid followed for HMCS Gatineau, and Kingston was again out-bid.
SOLE BIDDER
But the city's two competitors failed to prove they had the money or financing to pay for the ship and a rebid was called - and Kingston was the sole bidder.
The Department of National Defence will keep Gatineau in Halifax harbour over the winter. It will head to Kingston on April 19.
Next week, a group of Kingston delegates will head to Halifax to perform inventories on the ship "because there are marauders down there who like to take things off the ships," Christmas said.
It's believed the scrap - generators, propellers, hatches and other equipment - will fetch up to $170,000. That's more than enough to pay the $120,000 it will cost to tow Gatineau here.
The voyage up the St. Lawrence River is expected to take nine days.
Christmas believes the trip will attract international media attention and her group plans to take advantage.
It's hoping to secure exclusive sponsorship from a national media outlet, which would document Gatineau's voyage to Kingston.
A party would begin in Kingston upon the ship's departure from Halifax and continue until the vessel arrived. Other celebrations could take place in communities along the tow route.
Gatineau won't be scuttled until Victoria Day weekend in 2003, and will serve as a tourist attraction until then.
Waterfront Alliance Kingston is setting up a Web site to help find servicemen who served on Gatineau in hopes of getting them to act as tour guides.
Christmas said the ship might be rented out for events and any items of interest found aboard will be donated to local museums for special exhibits.
The group will only make money from Gatineau while it is above water. Once the ship is scuttled and on the lake bed, it will belong to the province and no one will be charging money to board it.
Two sinking sites are being considered: one between Wolfe and Howe Island and another near Simcoe Island, just off Nine Mile Point.
The site off Howe Island is around 30 metres deep. With the ship about 25 metres tall, first-time divers will have the unusual experience of being able to visit a wreck.
Although dozens of shipwrecks lie off Kingston, the city began marketing itself as a scuba destination only three years ago. Since then, it has rapidly developed a reputation as a world-class diving area.
The waters are fairly cool here, but the fresh water helps preserve shipwrecks while providing fish habitat.
The water is also remarkably clear, thanks to the zebra mussels.
THRIVING CITY
The same is true of Tobermory, at the tip of the Bruce Penninsula on Georgian Bay, but it does not have a thriving city nearby.
"Tobermory has some great wrecks, but there will be nothing in the world like this," said Ross Cameron, who is chairman of CORK, Kingston's annual Olympic-class sailing races.
There are warships sunk in at least 11 other sites around the world, but they don't have huge populations all around them, he said.
"We're within an eight-hour drive of 60 million people."
Based upon studies of the economic benefits of the introduction of man-made reefs to other areas, it's believed Gatineau will have a big effect on the tourism industry in Kingston, bringing an additional 170 full -time jobs and $6 million annually. In Perth, Australia, where a warship was sunk, the number of dive tourism visits soared from 2,000 to 10,000 in one year.
Divers are the sort of tourist Kingston wants. It's generally recognized that they tend to play hard, eat big, party hard and spend a lot more than the average tourist.
Now that Kingston's ownership of Gatineau is official, Waterfront Alliance Kingston will begin campaigning for the sponsorships they need to pay the ship's $135,000 price tag and other costs.
They're targeting regional and national companies as main sponsors. For $100,000, that organization would get a 20-metre-high version of their company banner draped over the side of the ship.
They're also looking for three sponsors to donate about $50,000 which would fund a number of events next summer, and 10 others to donate $15,000 each.
Local businesses who want to contribute smaller amounts, or equipment and other services or products, will also be welcomed.
