New Buoys for Lake Ontario

The buoys are back in town | thetimesherald.com | The Times Herald

From Lake Ontario to Traverse Bay, Port Huron-based Coast Guard officials are responsible for installing navigational aides each spring.
Advertisement
click here Quantcast

That process has begun -- a sure sign warmer weather is on its way and boating activity on local waterways could pick up.

Lt. j. g. Chris Jasnoch, the navigational aides operation's manager for the Coast Guard cutter Hollyhock, said the crew puts in more than 100 navigational aids each spring between mid-March and mid-April.

It is quite a chore.

Each of the buoys must get inspected -- to ensure a quality hull and working light assemblies -- painted and put in the water.

Installing one buoy, which involves putting in a sinker, anchor and mooring, can take 45 minutes to an hour, Jasnoch said.

The buoys range in size from 5 to 8 feet in diameter to up to 26 feet tall. The largest buoy is 8-by-26 and weighs 12,000 pounds.

Most common, though, are buoys that are 6 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall.

Jasnoch said the crew started installing buoys Tuesday on Lake St. Clair and will continue throughout Hollyhock's zone until mid-April.

Technorati Tags: buoys, lake ontario, boating, spring