In the Water, On the Way: On Thursday, the first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes freighter built on the Great Lakes in nearly 40 years was successfully "launched," with the completed hull fully floating in water for the first time. Interlake Steamship Company and Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding hosted the launch of the Mark W. Barker in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The company posted a 30-minute video of the ceremony on the boat and the Interlake Maritime Services team posed with the new vessel. The 639-foot River-class, self-unloading bulk carrier is still under construction, but expected to go into service by spring 2022. “We are dedicating this historic launch of our new ship to the men and women who have been building these Great Lakes vessels on our freshwater shores for more than 100 years,” said James R. Barker, chairman of the family-owned Interlake Steamship Company. "We honor all of the skilled professionals who have worked countless hours, day in and day out, year after year, behind the scenes constructing these tremendous bulk carriers. Their workmanship and talent are welded into every seam of these vessels that go to sail long productive lives on the Lakes, safely carrying mariners and the raw materials that are the building blocks of America.” The Barker, named for the company's current president, will transport raw materials such as salt, iron ore and stone to support manufacturing throughout the Great Lakes. Another nice video from December 2020 shows the parts of the Barker coming together for the over-the-winter work. The shipbuilder, Fincantieri, according to its information, is one of the world's largest shipbuilding groups and has built more than 7,000 vessels in over 230 years of maritime history. Its U.S. subsidiary, Fincantieri Marine Group, has three shipyards – Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and Fincantieri ACE Marine – on the Great Lakes.
Fortifying the Lakewalk: Duluth photographer Paul Scinocca shot some video footage this week to answer the questions he's been getting about "What's going on with the tug-barge?" The answer, says Paul, is "re-enforcing the shorelines along our Lakewalk to ensure it does not get destroyed again when the next gales hit us."
Good Business: Our sister publication will honor regional entrepreneurs nominated by you for its first annual BusinessNorth Entrepreneur Awards. Categories include Small Business of the Year; Young Entrepreneur of the Year (under 40) and Noteworthy Start-Up. Nominations must be in by Nov. 10 and nominees must be based in Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin. Winners will be announced in the December BusinessNorth. The Nomination Form can be found online. Here are category details: • Small Business of the Year. Nominees must have been in business for at least 3 years, be independently owned, and demonstrate one or more of the following: Revenue growth and/or job growth; innovative products or services; exemplary customer service; encouraging and providing professional staff development; community volunteering. • Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Nominees must serve as a majority owner and operate or bear principal responsibility for operating a small business with a three-year track record, and who will not have reached the age of 40 by November 10, 2021. Judges will review the staying power of the established business, including but not limited to growth in employees and sales, response to adversity and problem-solving. • Noteworthy Start-Up. Less than two years old, nominees should demonstrate significant traction with product-market fit, measured by revenue, revenue growth, partnerships, significant customers, funding, and product and/or service developed. The nominees should have a strong local presence, which may include membership in community groups or associations, volunteer activities, and/or representing the start-up community in the news or at panels. The start-up should demonstrate an ability to raise capital, having raised debt or equity financing in the last 18 months.
Well-Earned Fame: Thunder Bay native Robbi Weldon earned a spot in the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame, only the second paracyclist to do so. The announcement posted by the Hall of Fame describes Robbi's amazing career. She currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, and is seen here, on left, with her pilot Lyne Bissette at the 2012 London Paralympics. Click on the whiz-by bike image to see a 2012 video of Robbi explaining how she got involved in paracycling. Following is the full Hall of Fame announcement:
"The Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame is excited to welcome four-time dual Paralympian and Paralympic medallist, Robbi Weldon, whose distinguished career is nothing shy of spectacular.
"Ever since she was a child growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Robbi was immersed in sports, jumping on a ski hill at the early age of 3, which would later propel her to the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games. Her love for racing was obviously not just limited to snow sports. In 2010, she attended a Western Canada Development Camp, where she discovered a talent and passion for cycling.
"Within that same year, she would become a World Champion at the Para-cycling Road World Championships in the tandem road race, followed by a consecutive rainbow jersey in 2011 in the time trial. Later that year, Robbi would also sweep all four cycling events at the 2011 Parapan American Games alongside her pilot Lyne Bessette and the duo went on to be named Canada’s flag bearers for the closing ceremony.
"Riding on this momentum, she went on to compete at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where she and Lyne stood on the tallest step of the podium after winning the women’s road race.
"After three highly successful years, Robbi and her then pilot, Emilie Roy, suffered a serious crash after being struck by a car during a training camp in 2013, resulting in a broken collarbone, vertebrae and shoulder blade. What could have seemingly been career-ending injuries didn’t deter her from hopping back on her bike. She went on to win silver in the time trial at the 2015 Parapan American Games, before earning her spot on the Paralympic team and heading to her fourth Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
"Despite the ups and downs of competing with a visual impairment, her motivation remained her children saying, “My children have benefited greatly from my lifestyle of physical activity and being healthy … meeting para-athletes that are competing at an elite level and are so inspirational." Robbi certainly accomplished the goal of inspiring her children, family, friends and the entire sport community through her various accomplishments, determination and dedication over the course of her career.
"It is with great pleasure and honour that we welcome Robbi Weldon into the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame."
Definitely Trick, Not Treat: Lee Radzak, recently retired "keeper" of Split Rock Lighthouse, today posted some family photos from Oct. 31, 1991, with this note: "I suppose young people are getting tired of hearing about the Halloween blizzard 30 years ago. It was a doozy, but we lived through the 36 inches of snow that fell in two days at Split Rock Lighthouse so early in the season. It was a long winter." With apologies to young people, we're throwing out a few statistics from that memorable storm. Named the 1991 Halloween Blizzard, it even has its own Wikipedia page and, sadly, generated the storm that wrecked the Andrea Gail fishing vessel off the East Coast, killing its six-member crew, as memorialized in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm. In our Big Lake neck of the woods, the snowy thunderstorm dropped 36.9 inches of the white stuff on Duluth. According to the National Weather Service station in Duluth (which posted this winter boat shot), "During the height of trick-or-treating – the storm began as rain, then changed quickly to freezing rain and before the evening was over, it was snowing. It continued to snow for two more days, with final totals of 36.5 inches at the Duluth Airport and 45 inches in Superior. A large
area of more than 20 inches of snow covered most of the northwest quarter of Wisconsin from Bayfield to River Falls and near the eastern half of Minnesota. At times the snow fell at a rate of two inches per hour and was accompanied by thunder and lightning. In addition, winds gusting to 40 mph created huge snowdrifts and zero visibility." While the weather looks mild for this year's trick-or-treaters, the NWS in Duluth did post a note today confirming a tornado Oct. 10 in Cook County, Minn. (the path and destruction shown in this graphic). Point is - don't ignore those advisories and warnings … and snow isn't the weirdest thing we get in October! In a couple of weeks, you can ask Lee about how his family fared at Split Rock if you ask that question when he does a virtual talk about his memoir, The View from Split Rock, as part of the Gales of November program by the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association, Nov. 11-13. Watch the LSMMA website for links and topics next week.
The Last Word: Feeling piqued about any word or phrase you think is overused, wrongly used or just useless? Have we got a way for you to vent and vote. Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., sent out a reminder this week that it is once again accumulating nominations for its annual tongue-in-cheek "Banished Words List." You've got one more month – until Nov. 30 – to submit entries of words or terms that deserve banishment in 2022. Log onto the Banished Words website to submit your pet word peeve by 8 a.m. EST Nov. 30. We're not sure how well the list works to eradicate words we'd rather not hear – after all, among those banished this year were "COVID-19" and "social distancing" – but think of your nomination as a wish list for better times.
Photo & graphic credits: Fincantieri Marine Group; BusinessNorth; Phillip MacCallum/Canadian Paralympic Committee; Lee Radzak; National Weather Service; Lake Superior State University