"The time has come to retire a sailor." After more than 35 years in the National Weather Service, our favorite weather man and conference speaker, Joe Sienkiewicz, retired from NOAA. We had the pleasure of attending his retirement ceremony on Friday and it was incredible to hear the stories of his career, mainly revolving around his passion for meteorology and love of the ocean. If you ever attended one of Joe’s packed sessions at our annual conference, you know he loves his job! Joe retired as the Chief of the Ocean Applications Branch of the US NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center. His professional interests include the use of satellite derived information to improve weather forecasts, explosively developing storms, and the application of weather information in marine operations. As one speaker said, "Joe's legacy lives on in every forecast". We wish Joe fair winds and following seas! Thank you for keeping our sailors safe out on the ocean. ❤️ NOAA NWS Ocean Prediction Center Joe Sienkiewicz (fb)

Let's get ready to rumble!!!! We are less than one month out from the kick off to the TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Great Lakes Series. This will be the ninth time we've visited the Great Lakes since 2001. The Official Host Ports include: Brockville TALL SHIPS Festival, ON: June 20 - 22 Toronto Waterfront Festival, presented by Redpath: June 28 - 29 Festival of Sail Lake Superior, Duluth MN: July 10 - 13 Sail Detroit, MI: August 7 - 10 Tall Ships® Midland, ON: August 15 - 17 Tall Ships Erie, PA: August 21 - 24 And check out our Outport Program which includes: Port Washington, WI: July 24 - 27 Destination Sturgeon Bay, WI: August 1 - 3 Alpena, MI: August 15 - 17 Three new ships will be participating this year: the newly restored SSV Ernestina-Morrissey, the Boston-based LIBERTY CLIPPER, & the Canadian ketch CIRCE OF TORONTO. They will join, among others, ABBEY ROAD, ALLIANCE, APPLEDORE IV, CHARLEY, ECO MARIS< Empire Sandy, FAIR JEANNE, Inland Seas, JILASI, LETTIE G HOWARD, PLAYFAIR, Pride of Baltimore II, St. LAWRENCE II, Sail When And If, & ZEETO, as they journey through the Lakes. (fb)