#Exploring Mayan ruins, scaling a Chinese peak, swimming with sharks off Australia’s Ningaloo Coast — and kayaking Narragansett Bay.

#What do they all have in common? Selection to National Geographic’s (10) “Best Adventure Destinations for 2012.”

#“With 400 miles of coastline and 1,500 miles of rivers, Rhode Island is a paddler’s dream destination,” states the magazine. “But until a few years ago, there wasn’t much infrastructure for sea kayakers who wanted to launch day trips or multi-day expeditions. Then in 2007, a nonprofit organization called the Rhode Island Blueways Alliance began linking and mapping the paddling routes.”

#The new routes include the Pawtuxet River, which saw the dismantling of a 300-year-old dam last August. The river now flows freely into Narragansett Bay and this spring sea kayakers will be among the first to paddle into the river mouth from the bay (perhaps since the Native Americans did it).

#“The councils that oversee the state’s 16 major watersheds will be leading groups of paddlers on forays of the newly mapped routes throughout the spring and summer,” states the magazine.

#Check the Rhode Island Blueways Alliance website for schedules and maps at www.exploreri.org.

#HMS Bric-a-brac

#London’s Daily Mail newspaper asks: What do a sliver of a guitar played by Jimi Hendrix, a rolling pin, a discarded tennis racket, a Masai warrior’s club and a crate used to carry Britain’s wealth off to Canada during World War II have in common?

#Answer: They’ve all been used to create an incredible floating archive of memories woven into the very fabric of one special boat.

#NicknamedHMS Bric-a-brac, the boat’s hull and topsides is layered with thin bits and pieces from items odd, precious and historic. That layer is then coated with a clear protective covering of West System epoxy.

#More than 1,200 items have been donated to the project, funded by £500,000 grant from Arts Council England, that’s to be done in time for the upcoming Olympics.

#Items include a light cover from theHMS Ark Royal, a piece of track from the new Olympic velodrome and a walnut Rolls Royce dashboard. There are wood strips from the 500-year-old wreck of theMary Roseand one from theHMS Victory.

#Other parts include acoustic guitars, a violin, didgeridoo, tennis racket, hockey sticks, toy helicopter, children’s train track and a Victorian police truncheon.

#Read more at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088818.

#Award-winning canvas

#Corrado’s Canvas of Bristol has won the Award of Excellence from the International Achievement Awards, an organization focused on “recognizing specialty fabrics design excellence.”

#The challenging project involved construction of a forward bimini for a 50-foot Hawk off an existing radar arch that followed the contour of the windshield. The client wanted the bimini to match the windshield which required the use of an abrasion-resistant, crystal-clear polycarbonate sheet and it involved duplicating complex curves and entry requirements.

#“After more than 100 hours of design, fabrication and installation, the client is enjoying a custom enclosure that replicates the rendering he brought to us and meets the specifications he requested,” said Kevin Corrado.

#NEB invests in autoclave

#New England Boatworks in Portsmouth has purchased a new autoclave that will enable it to build and cure carbon fiber parts in-house rather than having such work done elsewhere.

#About 10 percent of the firm’s work requires use of an autoclave.

#“The purchase decision was based less upon customer demands than our desire to improve overall quality and have the convenience of an on-site autoclave,” sales manager Barry Steinberg told Plastics News.

#“We anticipate a 2- to 3-percent increase in employment,” he added.

#The autoclave’s inside dimensions are 4.5 by 16 feet.

#New England Boatworks’ current projects include a 72-foot-long IRC-class mini-maxi racer scheduled for an April launch.

#The business employs 115, including 25 in composites processing and boatbuilding.

#Picton Castleto visit

#ThePicton Castlewill join the growing fleet of ships coming to Newport for the Ocean State Tall Ships Festival, July 6-9.

#This year, the three-masted 179-foot sail training barque will cross the Atlantic following the routes of early explorers to ports in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and Spanish Main. Along the way, thePicton Castlewill stop at the Newport festival.

#The barque is registered in the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific, and its North American homeport is Lunenburg, Nova Scotia