Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

In December I was part of a six-person panel which looked at all the "new" products that were going to be shown at the 50th anniversary Toronto International Boat Show. At boat shows the word "new" is used loosely. In North America most marine companies debut products at the Miami Boat Show, so, for trade fairs being held after Miami (The Toronto show runs in January 08) new becomes new-to-Toronto, or, first-showing-Canada. We choose the ten best products. I wrote a story and press release about our panel's picks. The story appeared in the showguide (cover at left) and I have seen it also in the January/February issue of Boating Business. I believe a coupla other magazines used varients of the story as well. Since the content of the story is only germane to the show, which ends Sunday, I haven't bothered to post the story. If you want to see it (can't imagine while) drop me a note and I will forward it to you.

Every year for the past five years I have written travel stories for the annual 2008 Marinas and Destination Guide - Boating Ontario. Late last year I updated last year's story for the annual guide. That small format magazine came out in January and made its debut at the annual Toronto International Boat Show. HEAD: Lake Huron and Area DECK: Catch the sun on a sandy beach. Cruise and fish the open water. Lake Huron is ready to thrill with every visit. By Stephen Weir What was once called La Mer Douce (the fresh water sea) by early French explorers and later, Lac des Hurons (The Lake of the Huron Indians), by the First Nations people, is a vast on-water playground where excitement is king. The second largest Great Lake with a surface area spanning 23, 010 square miles, approximately the size of West Virgina, Lake Huron is considered the third largest lake in world (if the saline Caspian Sea is included) and boasts a shoreline spanning 6,157 kilometers. While the west coast of the

In September I wrote a couple press releases for Holmes Communication to be used as long-lead stories in boating magazines. Boats and Places, a magazine started by Ted Rankine and now owned by Brian Minton, used my piece as the basis of a two-page article in their January 2008 issue. What follows is the original piece that I wrote. 2008 -- Golden Anniversary for Canada’s biggest boating event Toronto International Boat Show launched 50 years ago This January 11th the Toronto International Boat Show will be celebrating its 50th anniversary by doing what it does best -- opening the hatches on the Direct Energy Centre and inviting the public to come on board and see the fleet of 2008. The nine-day Toronto International Boat Show is turning fifty; it is a major exhibition milestone but more importantly, it is a time for celebration for the show, the boating industry and the Canadian economy. The world’s biggest indoor harbour! Exciting wakeboard boats, rooftop aluminum fishing boats,

On the last Sunday of 2007, the Toronto Sun ran a feature that I wrote about diving aboard the Wind Dancer in the waters of Grenada. The story is about diving, but, it is about ghosts too. I have received a couple of emails about the cover photo that the Sun published. It shows asmall eel with tiny yellow cleaning fish perched on its head. Unfortunately, someone at the Sun thought the cleaning fish was actually the eel's mouth and as a result the photograph was run upside down. The Sun gets about a million readers on Sunday and so far only three people have noticed. I have reprinted the cover and the original photograph above. A Scuba Vacation Aboard The Wind Dancer A ghost of a chance for eerie underwater sightings in warm Grenadian waters By Stephen Weir June 19, 2007 Not counting mermaid sightings, underwater ghost encounters are hard to come by. On land, specters rattle chains, throw pottery and hide car keys (at least mine do), But underwater? Well, at least in Gre

Grenada Sidebar: Useful Information All Canadian citizens require a valid passport and return (or onward) ticket is required to enter any of the three islands of Grenada, (Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique). However, proof of citizenship bearing a photograph is acceptable from Canadian, British, and U.S. citizens, if accompanied with a copy of a birth certificate. Travellers are charged a $20 Cdn departure tax at its internatonal airport. The official currency of Grenada is Eastern Carribean Dollar Air Canada, SkyService and Zoom Airlines have weekly flights to Grenada from Toronto and Montreal. Caribean Airlines services Grenada from Toronto. MS Wind Dancer www.peterhughes.com 305-669-9391 Phone 800-932-6237 Toll Free Grenada Tourism www.grenadagrenadines.com 439 University Ave. Suite 920 Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Y8 Tel: (416) 595-1339 Fax: (416) 595-8278 Grenada Scuba Diving Association www.grenadascubadivingassociation.com/ president@grenadascubadivingassociation.com Tilley

author Stephen Weir in his Tilley hat aboard the Wind Dancer CANADIAN OUTFITTER STOP AIRPORTS FROM CHARGING WEIGHT SURCHARGE By Stephen Weir The new realities of international travel have made carrying scuba gear difficult and sometimes expensive. Luckily travel clothing manufacturers have helped take the weight off flying with scuba equipment. Not only are airport authorities now red flagging dive equipment (dive regulators look “funny” on the X-ray screens) airlines are, seemingly in tandem, strictly enforcing weight restrictions. Flying to Barbados I was restricted to two pieces of checked luggage. Transferring to a small regional airplane to reach Grenada I met more onerous rules - the two bags couldn’t have a combined weight of more than 23 kilos. Trouble is – my scuba and camera gear weighs in at 22 kilos. If I take clothes, shaving kit, books and IPod my bags set the airline cash re

The December 1st Saturday Star ran a feature story and lengthy sidebar that I wrote about Curtain Wall windows for high-end Toronto high-rise condos. Both the feature and the sidebar article is available for reading on the Star's website . BUILDING TECHNOLOGY Curtain rising on glass walls High-profile projects are trading concrete walls for massive windows thanks to curtain-wall' technology http://www.thestar.com/living/article/280592 Dec 01, 2007 04:30 AM Stephen Weir Special to the Star Is the curtain set to come down on the traditional, aluminum-framed condo window? Is a new industrial style about to eliminate condominium owners' two biggest pains in the glass – moisture and mould? Toronto is about to find out as several highrise project designers have decided that ultra-expensive curtain wall glass is the chic way to let light in and keep water out. Windows come in many tints, shapes and sizes but almost all are installed using what builders call a window wall system:

This article appeared in Diver Magazine. No, I didn't get a by-line. sigh. (And I am the travel editor). Here is the orginal story, it was edited before appearing in the November issue of Diver. Art to inspire people to respect the planet Bateman retrospective takes aim at industrial fishing By Stephen Weir 11 September 2007 World-famous wildlife artist figures that the most important work he has painted isn’t a soaring eagle or a majestic lion, but rather it is a painting that shows a dead albatross and a drowned dolphin caught in a drift net. The canvas, entitled Driftnet, is the showcase work in a new traveling Bateman exhibition that will visit five cities in Canada and the United States over the next year and a half. “ The scene is painted inside a drift net. There is a dead Pacific White-sided dolphin and a dead Lysan Albatross,” explained Robert Bateman at the opening of his exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection near Toronto last month. “ It is a comm

Writing for Diver Magazine's Website I have been helping add content to Diver Magazine's website (divermag.com). There is a real person power shortage at Diver's headquarters. They are down an employee or two and keeping the website going appears to be a catch as catch can assignment. Most of the material I have written for the site never has been posted. For some reason there is a problem posting photographs on the site. During September I wrote to the Georgia Aquarium and conducted an email interview about two new whale sharks they had been given by an aquarium in Taiwan. The story, picture and interview have been lanquishing in my growing file of not-yet published stories. So, before the factoids raised by the Georgia Aquarium are stale dated, I have decided to run the story and photo on this web page. Whale Sharks and the Aquarium Keeper Early this summer the Georgia Aquarium welcomed two new live whale sharks to their Ocean Voyager exhibit. The whale sharks, both m

Green roofs take root on city buildings More than 100 in the GTA have adapted the pioneer practice for the eco-conscious present Sep 29, 2007 04:30 AM Stephen Weir Special to the Star http://www.thestar.com/article/260983 The drive to develop environmentally friendly, energy-efficient condominiums has given new meaning to sod-turning ceremonies. More than 100 commercial and condo buildings in the Greater Toronto Area have unveiled "green roofs" – a 21st-century take on the sod-roof homes that were popular in pioneer days. Condominium roofs, patios and decks covered in flowers, shrubbery and slow-growing plants are sprouting up all over, so much so that the International Home Show (running from this Friday until Oct. 8) at the International Centre has set up a Green Home Theatre with four daily seminars on eco-building issues, including the living roof. "Toronto has stepped into an era where the protection of the environment and sustainability are major focuses of our

Artist's conception of underwater hotel Canadian astronaut sits at a picnic table behind the Ontario Science Centre and talks about water and the future of man. SOMEWHERE ... BEYOND THE LAKE The Toronto Star published a speculative article that I wrote about underwater condos in its 5 kilo Saturday September 8th edition. I am having trouble with my mac posting an automatic link. Until I get that solved, you can use the following to see the article. http://www.thestar.com/living/article/253235 The Toronto Star edited the story for bad grammer, length and photo selection. Some sections of the story were removed and most of the pictures I supplied were not used. The Star used a file photo and a few pictures from one of the underwater resorts. Below is the orginal story and some of the photographs I took for the piece. The Star version of my story reads better, is tighter and the layout is eye catching, however, you might find it

THE UNEDITED VERSION OF STEPHEN WEIR'S STORY SOMEWHERE ... BEYOND THE LAKE Dennis Chamberland in a minisub Lloyd Godson wading in the water on Toronto's Ryerson University campus - photo by sweir Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to me Wet Bars are a given in condo of the future By Stephen Weir Three decades from now the most sought-after view in the city of Toronto may well be the wreck of the Sligo. Seen through the pressurized window of an underwater condo, the stark wooden ribs of the 19th century schooner reach upwards towards the surface of Lake Ontario. To highlight the historic remains, the condo association could place lights around the bones of the Sligo so that at night residents can watch freshwater salmon schooling around this underwater landmark. The Sligo is one of three visually dramatic shipwrecks that rest on the bottom of Lake Ontario, close to Toronto’s shoreline. Now only visited by scuba divers, breakthroughs in both building and air cleansing technolog

Artist's conception of Ventbase Alpha - Ken Brown Mondolithic Side Bar # 2 The pressures of living in a futuristic condo Living underwater, under pressure, can hurt. According to Phil Nuyyten, the owner of Vancouver based Nuytco Research Ltd. (and the publisher of Diver Magazine) the secret to living below the surface is to make sure that the air pressure inside a sunken condo is always at “one atmosphere”, the same ambient air pressure that you experience standing on land in Toronto. “ We can’t go mountain climbing without clothes and we can't go in the ocean without breathable air. We – mankind – are designed to live in a primordial swamp and we can’t stray too far from that narrow band, be it up or down,” explained Phil Nuytten. “ If the human body is breathing air and exposed to pressures beyond one atmosphere there are major physiological changes in the body. For example at depth pressure forces nitrogen out of your blood stream and saturates the body’s tissues.” Before

Artist conception of Dennis Chamberland's underwater habitat "Lions at the Gate" SIDEBAR OF STORY SIDEBAR WHICH APPEARED IN THE SATURDAY STAR BUT IS NOT ON THE PAPER'S WEBSITE. THIS IS AN UNEDITED VERSION OF THE PIECE BOTTOMS UP ON LAKE ONTARIO OWNERSHIP By Stephen Weir The layer of scum and muck that covers the bottom of Toronto’s harbour is thick, but, not as deep as the red tape a builder would have to wade through to construct an underwater condominium. Who owns the lakebed? Who controls the water and who would issue building permits are three important questions that don’t have definitive answers. “By and large the city ends at the waterfront,” said Gary Wright, the city of Toronto’s Director of Community Planning. “ There are a few cases, notably in Etobicoke where landowners have Riparian land rights (land owner is entitled to use the water on or bordering his property), but we wouldn’t be in a position to issue building permits.” Even though the city does

Two years ago I wrote two stories about houseboating in Arizona. One of the stories was travel related and ran in the Toronto Sun and a few other Sun Media papers. Another story, about the business of building House Boats, ran in Boating Industry Canada. that story has now been posted on Boating Industry Canada's website. www.boatingindustry.ca/news/news.asp?ArticleID=523

Boating Business ran a business feature in July 2007. The story was difficult to write because the people that I wanted to talk to were a continent away. The story began at a press conference at the Toronto Boat Show in February. It was a well attended conference since they were serving Italian wine and cheese. I got there after both were gone ... and most of the people I wanted to interview. In May I visited Italy and saw a number of Italian boat yards, came back to Canada and with the help of Kim Graham and associates, got in touch, via email and phone, with the people who makes things float in Italy. Boating Business has not posted the story. They did edit some of what I wrote, so, what follows is slightly different from what you will see if you buy a copy of the magazine (available at leading bookstores in Canada). As well, this Blog doesn't lend itself to magazine style layout for pictures and graphic images. Italian Trade Commission Romin’ Canada to increase business an

My most recent article appeared in the Toronto Star last Saturday. The story was about how condo developers depend on scale models of their proposed buildings to motivate buyers. The story talks about how most new condo owners purchase their units after seeing a model for only a few minutes and then wait years for the building to actually be built.