SailGP Woman’s Pathway Program — the New Female Faces of Foiling

Recently, the Washington Post featured a profile of CJ Perez, an 18-year-old female sailor who recently joined the US team of SailGP. SailGP is an international sailing competition using high-performance F50 foiling catamarans, where teams compete across a season of … Continue reading

Paddling Across America By Canoe Over 22 Months, 22 States, & On 22 Rivers

Last Tuesday, Neal Moore, 50, paddled his 16-foot red Old Town Penobscot canoe into New York harbor completing an epic 7,500-mile journey across America in over 22 months, traveling through 22 states, while paddling on 22 rivers.  For 675 days, … Continue reading

Navy Tests High Energy Laser on USS Portland in Gulf of Aden

In 2014, we posted about the deployment of a prototype 30-kilowatt-class Laser Weapon System (LAWS) on the USS Ponce, an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, for field testing in the Persian Gulf. Last week, the Navy announced that the amphibious transport … Continue reading

Update: Dept. of Transportation Issues Rules to Protect Cadets from Sexual Assaults at Sea

In early November, we posted that the United States Maritime Academy at King’s Point had paused Sea Year, a program that sent cadets to sea aboard commercial ships, after a female midshipman at the school shared an account in September of … Continue reading

16th Century Books with Rare Map of the World Sells at Auction for £365,000

The three-volume The Principall Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, written by Richard Hakluyt in 1599, and published bound as two books, were only expected to sell for between £3,000 and £5,000. Instead, they sold at an … Continue reading

Boaty McBoatface to Dive Under Thwaites Ice Shelf

Yesterday, we posted a grim post The Threat from Thwaites, Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier about the potential collapse of the glacier’s ice shelf within a few years resulting in a rise in global sea levels by several feet. While researching the … Continue reading

The Threat from Thwaites, Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier

At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union yesterday, scientists from The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) discussed the rapid retreat of Thwaites glacier and the implications that will have on our planet in the coming years. Thwaites, often referred … Continue reading

Norwegian Tall Ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl Visiting New York Next Week on One Ocean Circumnavigation

The Norwegian sail training ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl will be visiting New York harbor next week. The three-masted barque, built in 1914, will be docking at Brooklyn Bridge Park and will be available for tours from December 19 to 27, from … Continue reading

Clydebank Declaration for Green Shipping Corridors, Progress Toward Limiting Climate Change

While many were disappointed by the lack of major breakthroughs at COP26, the recent U.N. climate talks, significant progress was made in beginning to clean up shipping emissions on global trade routes. As reported by the Washington Post, the United … Continue reading

Florida’s Manatees Are Starving, Wildlife Officials to Begin Feeding Program

This year has been a catastrophe for Florida manatees. More than 1,000 manatees, about 15 percent of the state’s total population, have died, primarily of starvation, this year.  For nourishment, manatees rely mainly on sea grass, beds of which have … Continue reading

Captain of MV Vantage Wave Died at Sea. Six Months Later, His Body Was Still in the Freezer

On April 19, 2021, Captain Dan Sandu, 68, from Romania, master of the general cargo ship MV Vantage Wave, died at sea, apparently from cardiac arrest. The ship was on route from Paradip India to Guangzhou, China, with cargo of … Continue reading

Suiso Frontier, World’s First Liquefied Hydrogen Carrier Readies to Sail From Japanese Shipyard

Reuters is reporting that Suiso Frontier, the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier could leave Japan for Australia to pick up its first cargo of hydrogen late this month. The ship will carry 1,250 m3 of liquefied hydrogen cooled to –253°C, … Continue reading

Freight Expectations — 60 Minutes Looks at America’s Supply Chain Crunch

When things are going well, the international shipping supply chain is largely invisible and can be taken for granted by most of us.  These days things are not going well. The pandemic has triggered massive trade imbalances. Critical links in … Continue reading

MBARI Finds Mammoth Tusk on a Pacific Seamount

Interesting news from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). While exploring a seamount by ROV from aboard the R/V Western Flyer in 2019 the MBARI team spotted what looked like an elephant’s tusk. The seamount is located 300 kilometers … Continue reading

Coral Spawning on the Great Barrier Reef & Hope of Recovery From Climate Change

Divers and scientists recorded the massive spawning of coral in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef last week in a yearly show of life that signals hope that the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem can recover from climate change. “It’s a sign … Continue reading

Citizen Scientist Volunteers Survey Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Crowdsourcing has arrived on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Thousands of “citizen scientist” volunteers have spent the last 12 weeks participating in the Great Reef Census 2021. Volunteer teams of scientists, divers, tourists, and skippers have ventured to the far corners … Continue reading

U of Maine Prints World’s Largest 3D Printed Boat on World’s Largest 3D Printer

The University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center recently used its 3D printer to construct the world’s largest 3D-printed boat. In doing so, the university was awarded three Guinness World Records for the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, … Continue reading