Update: Restoration of Ex-Presidential Yacht Sequoia to Begin Soon in Belfast, Maine

Posted on by August 13, 2022

Good news. The Bangor Daily News is reporting that the restoration of the ex-presidential yacht Sequoia will begin soon in Belfast, Maine.

We first posted about the saga of the ex-presidential yacht in 2016 when Delaware judge Sam Glasscock describes her then-current condition. “The Sequoia, an elderly and vulnerable wooden yacht, is sitting on an inadequate cradle on an undersized marine railway in a moribund boatyard on the western shore of the Chesapeake, deteriorating and, lately, home to raccoons.”

Three years later we posted again, about the 104′ long motor vessel being loaded aboard a barge to be transported to Maine for restoration.

Now, following the pandemic and supply chain issues, Todd French of French & Webb, a local custom boat building company described the progress in the restoration of the historic yacht to the Bangor Daily News. Continue reading →

Arctic Warming Four Times Faster Than the Rest of the World

Posted on by August 12, 2022

The rapid warming of the Arctic, a definitive sign of climate change, is occurring even faster than previously described. A new report by the Finnish Meteorological Institute concludes that the Arctic has warmed at about four times the global average rate over the last 43 years. Specifically, Arctic Circle — the area located above 66.5 degrees latitude — has warmed by more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1979.

The Scientific American also reports that a separate group of scientists presented research at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union last December with similar findings. And just in June, another study by a different research team also cited a four-times Arctic warming figure (Climatewire, July 11).

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The Mortar Wreck: Oldest Surviving UK Shipwreck Near Dorset Coast

Posted on by August 11, 2022

Over 750 years ago, a medieval ship loaded with a cargo of limestone, carved gravestones, and mortars for grinding, sank off the Dorset coast a mile away from the nearest harbor.  Now the so-called Mortar Wreck has been granted the highest level of protection on the advice of Historic England.

The 13th-century wreck, discovered in Poole Bay in Dorset, is the oldest known protected wreck in English waters where hull remains can be seen. Tree ring dating of the wreck indicates that the timbers used to construct the hull are from Irish oak trees, felled between 1242-1265, during the reign of King Henry III.

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Update: Wayward Beluga Whale in Seine Dies in Rescue Attempt

Posted on by August 10, 2022

Photo: Twitter / Préfet de l’Eure

Sad news. We recently posted about a wayward beluga whale that had been found swimming over 100 km up the River Seine in France. After the dangerously thin whale refused food, an attempt to rescue the whale was undertaken. Sadly, the beluga died in the attempt.

BBC reports that rescuers spent nearly six hours lifting the 800kg (1,763lb) whale from the river using a crane and nets.

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Orcas Continue to Attack Sailboats Off Portugal & Spain — First Boat Sunk in Attack

Posted on by August 9, 2022

In 2020 and 2021, orca whales started attacking sailboats and fishing boats cruising off the Iberian peninsula and in the Mediterranian near the Strait of Gibraltar. Pods of juvenile orcas rammed sailboats and often grabbed their rudders or keels. More than 50 rogue orca attacks were reported in 2020 and 2021. So far, scientists are at a loss to explain the behavior.

This year, the attacks have continued. Last week, there was a report of a sailboat being sunk in an attack by a pod of orcas, 11 km off the port of Sines, Portugal. Five crew members were rescued by a fishing vessel in the coordination of the Portuguese Navy. This was the first reported case of a boat being sunk by an orca attack in the Atlantic.

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Update: Video of Jeff Bezos’ Yacht With Masts Stepped

Posted on by August 8, 2022

Last week, we posted about how the 417-foot-long, three-masted sailing yacht built for billionaire Jeff Bezos was towed out of the Oceanco shipyard in Rotterdam under the cover of darkness and moved to a shipyard in Greenport. The three masts were moved separately by barge. The yacht had been the center of months of controversy after the shipyard wanted to dismantle the center span of a historic railroad bridge to allow the yacht to access the North Sea. The superyacht with her masts stepped has too great an air draft to safely fit beneath the Koningshaven Bridge, known locally as De Hef.

Here is a video by Dutch Yachting of the yacht with the three masts stepped. From the Dutch Yachting:

As you might know, Jeff Bezos’s controversial Y721 yacht arrived at Greenport in Rotterdam without her masts last Tuesday. The fore, main and mizzen mast of the 127m/ 417ft schooner were transported and stepped last week, so we took the opportunity to have a closer look at Holland’s largest yacht and the World’s largest sailing yacht by boat yesterday. Footage by The Nautical Lady & Dutch Yachting.

Jeff Bezos’s 127m/ 417ft Y721 with her masts set

Thanks to David Rye for contributing to this post.

Béluga Perdu — Fears for Wayward Beluga Whale Lost in River Seine

Posted on by August 7, 2022

Photo: Twitter / Préfet de l’Eure

Thousands of miles from its natural habitat, a wayward beluga whale has been found swimming 160 km up the River Seine between the French capital Paris and the city of Rouen in Normandy. The dangerously thin whale is refusing food amid fears it could starve to death. The beluga has been offered herring and a cocktail of vitamins to help bring it back to health by stimulating its appetite.

The all-white beluga normally live in Arctic and sub-Arctic oceans, although they are known to sometimes venture into more southern waters and can survive for a short while in freshwater.

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62 Yr Old Sailor Rescued, Trapped for 16 Hours in Capsized Sailboat Off Spanish Coast, After Loss of Keel

Posted on by August 5, 2022

It has happened again. While sailing in a qualifying race for the upcoming transatlantic solo sailing contest Route du Rhum, 62-year-old French sailor Laurent Camprubi found himself trapped inside his sailboat after it capsized. The keel on his boat, the Jeanne Solo Sailor, sheared off and the boat capsized 14 miles (22 kilometers) from the Sisargas Islands off Spain’s northwestern Galician coast.

Camprubi sent out a distress signal and, remarkably, was able to survive in a pocket of trapped air for 16 hours until he was rescued by a Spanish search and rescue team. 

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Update: Jeff Bezos’ Yacht Towed Out of Shipyard Under Cover of Darkness

Posted on by August 5, 2022

After months of controversy, the 417-foot-long, three-masted sailing yacht built for billionaire Jeff Bezos slipped out of the shipyard in Rotterdam under the cover of darkness.  At 3AM on Tuesday, the Oceanco shipyard towed the yacht to the Greenport shipyard. The yacht’s three masts were moved separately out of the shipyard by barge. The masts are expected to be stepped at the Greenport yard.

In February, we posted Billionaire Bezos’ Really Big Boat and the Rotterdam Railroad Bridge, about how the Oceanco shipyard wanted to dismantle the center span of a historic railroad bridge to allow the yacht to access the North Sea. The fully rigged superyacht apparently has too great an air draft to safely fit beneath the Koningshaven Bridge, known locally as De Hef, which has a clearance of 131 feet over the Nieuwe Maas River.

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Happy 232th Birthday US Coast Guard!

Posted on by August 4, 2022

Alexander Hamilton suggested in The Federalist Papers that “a few armed vessels, judiciously stationed at the entrances of our ports, might at a small expense be made useful sentinels of the laws.”

When Hamilton became the first Treasury Secretary of the newly formed United States, he lobbied for the acquisition of 10 revenue cutters to assist in the collection of duties and to catch smugglers. On August 4, 1790, 232 years ago today, President Washington signed a bill establishing the Revenue Cutter Service, the precursor to today’s United States Coast Guard. Alexander Hamilton is considered by many to be the father of the US Coast Guard. An updated repost.

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Hot Sand Causing 99% of Sea Turtles to be Born Female

Posted on by August 3, 2022

Climate change is threatening the future of sea turtles. Whereas the gender of most animals is determined at fertilization, the sex of most turtles, as well as alligators, and crocodiles is determined by the temperature of the developing eggs. The hotter the sand where the eggs are buried, the more female turtles are hatched. Recent heat waves have caused the sand on some beaches in Florida to get so hot that nearly every turtle born was female.

Reuters quotes Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon in the Florida Keys, saying, “The frightening thing is the last four summers in Florida have been the hottest summers on record.”

“Scientists that are studying sea turtle hatchlings and eggs have found no boy sea turtles, so only female sea turtles for the past four years,” Zirkelbach said, whose turtle center has operated since 1986.

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Great Lakes Schooner Denis Sullivan Laid-up, Voluntarily Gives Up COI, Maintenance Ongoing

Posted on by August 2, 2022

Last April, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal reported that the 137-foot Denis Sullivan — the world’s only replica of a 19th-century three-masted Great Lakes schooner — will remain docked at Discovery World again this year, according to museum President and CEO Bryan Wunar. And its future at the museum is being reevaluated as Discovery World begins the process of seeking ways to use and care for the ship.

In July, there were erroneous reports that the ship’s Certificate of Inspection (COI) was taken away by the Coast Guard. Recently, the Friends of the Denis Sullivan provided a clarification on their Facebook page:

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Hope for the Global Food Crisis as First Bulker Loaded With Grain Sails From Odesa

Posted on by August 1, 2022

The handysize bulk carrier Razoni was one of roughly 80 international vessels that have been stranded in Ukraine for more than six months by the ongoing Russian invasion. Now, the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel has sailed from the port of Odesa bound for Lebanon, loaded with 26,527 tonnes of corn, under a safe passage deal described as a glimmer of hope in a worsening global food crisis.

Reuters reports that the sailing was made possible after Turkey and the United Nations brokered a grain and fertilizer export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month – a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that has become a drawn-out war of attrition.

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DNA May Prove the Legend of the Wild Ponies of Assateague Island & the Spanish Galleon

Posted on by July 29, 2022

Two herds of wild ponies have lived for hundreds of years on Assateague Island, a 37-mile-long Atlantic barrier island that crosses the border between the states of Virginia and Maryland. The Virginia side of the island is just east of Chincoteague Island.

This week was the 97th Annual Chincoteague Island Pony Swim, where local wranglers, dubbed “Salt Water Cowboys,” swim the herd across to Chincoteague Island. Following a parade of the horses through the village, foals are auctioned off to help maintain the size of the herd at around 150, roughly the number of horses that the island can support. The remaining horses are then led back to Assateague Island.

Where did the ponies come from? Until recently, most historians and scientists have thought that the herd grew from horses left to graze by English settlers. Local folklore, however, told a different tale — that the ponies escaped from the wreck of a Spanish galleon. While the coast has seen many shipwrecks, there is no record of any such Spanish wreck carrying horses.

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Robot Dog Helps Christen NavyX’s “Maritime Sandbox” XV Patrick Blacket

Posted on by July 29, 2022

NavyX’s new maritime sandbox, XV Patrick Blacket, was christened today in Portsmouth, UK with the help of a robotic dog.

You might well ask, what is NavyX? What is a maritime sandbox? And what about the robotic dog?

Navy X

NavyX describes itself as “the Royal Navy’s Autonomy and Lethality Accelerator, which rapidly develops, tests, and trials cutting-edge equipment, with the aim of getting new technology off the drawing board and into the hands of our people on operations at a pace.”

NavyX has a new ship, the XV (Experimental Vessel) Patrick Blackett, that is described variously as a “maritime sandbox” and a “testbed ship,” intended to support trials of the latest tech and autonomous systems.
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UK to Phase Out Admiralty Paper Charts by 2026

Posted on by July 28, 2022

In 2019, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) announced that it was phasing out the production of traditional paper nautical charts over a five-year period. NOAA intends to focus on improving the fully electronic navigational charts (ENCs) that they provide.

Now, the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has announced it will stop producing Admiralty paper charts by late 2026 to likewise increase its focus on its digital navigation products and services. Admiralty charts are the most widely used paper charts globally.

Yachting Monthly reports that the UKHO will develop digital alternatives for sectors still using paper charts, in consultation with customers and stakeholders, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as well as other regulatory bodies, hydrographic offices, industry partners, and distributors.

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The Summer of the Shark, Jersey Shore 1916

Posted on by July 26, 2022

sharknj

Yesterday was the start of the Discovery Channel’s ever-popular Shark Week. Along the coast of Long Island, NY and the New Jersey Shore, we are well into what could be called “Shark Month” with multiple shark sightings.  Since the unofficial start of summer during Memorial Day weekend, beach officials have used drones, helicopters and beach closures to prevent a potentially deadly shark encounter after at least five people have suffered shark bites. Fortunately, none of the attacks have been life-threatening.

Given the shark activity on local beaches, it seems like a good time to look at the horrific shark attacks of one hundred and six years ago this month, when Americans, for the first time, learned to be afraid of sharks. An updated repost.

On the evening of July 1, 1916, Charles Vansant, 25, of Philadelphia was on vacation with his family at the beach-side resort town of Beach Haven on the New Jersey Shore. He decided to go for a swim before dinner. Shortly after he dove into the surf, he was attacked by a large shark and died of loss of blood.

Worse was yet to come. Five days later and 45 miles to the north in the resort town of Spring Lake, New Jersey, Charles Bruder, 27, a Swiss bell captain at a local hotel, was attacked and killed by a shark while swimming. The shark bit him in the abdomen and severed both his legs.

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US Navy Tests Upgraded 3D Printer at Sea on USS Essex

Posted on by July 25, 2022

The USS Essex, a Wasp-class Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD), recently loaded a new 15,000-pound 3D printer, just prior to departing to participate in the multinational Rim of the Pacific exercise underway at Hawaii and California. The amphibious assault ship will be the first to test the new 3D printer during underway conditions at sea.

Unlike previous 3D printers tested by the Navy that print objects using polymers or metal powders, the Xerox ElemX 3D printer uses aluminum wire to create parts and tools. 

Lt. Cmdr. Nicolas Batista, the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) officer aboard Essex stated that the new 3D printer is one of the fastest printers on the market, capable of fabricating and printing aluminum up to 10” by 10”. Many common components may be created on the ship to include heat sinks, housings, fuel adapters, bleed air valves, valve covers and more.

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Flying Catamaran Demonstrates Generating Hydrogen From Wind Power

Posted on by July 24, 2022

The 18′ foiling catamaran seen recently flying over the waves off the coast of Essex in the UK, was a small boat testing a very big concept. As it flew during the two-hour sea trial, the boat drove an underwater turbine that generated electricity which then used electrolysis to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen. 

During the test run, the generator filled a six-liter storage tank with clean, green hydrogen; the only by-product was oxygen, which was vented. The boat actually produced so much electricity that, if the tank had been bigger, it could have made 60 liters of hydrogen.

Drift Energy, the British startup behind the project, claims that the foiling sailboat is the first in the world to generate clean hydrogen using just the power of the wind while under sail. 

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Sailing on a Milky Sea — Sailboat & Satellites Confirm Sailors’ Glowing Ocean Lore

Posted on by July 22, 2022

Digital photography of the 2019 Java milky sea, captured by Ganesha’s crew, showing a view of (A) the ship’s prow and (B) a color-adjusted to human perception

For thousands of years, sailors have told of nighttime seas that mysteriously glowed a milky white or luminescent blue, stretching out to the horizon. Referred to as a “milky sea,” the tales date back at least to Greece and Roman times and may have provided inspiration for the “ocean of milk” from Hindu mythology.

As with so many sea stories, the challenge for scientists has been to document and study what sailors had observed far from land in remote stretches of the world’s oceans.

Now, scientists using light-sensing satellites have been able to track milky sea luminescence. And by happenstance, they now have sea level confirmation of their observations from a private sailing yacht that happened to find itself sailing in a glowing sea that coincided with the satellite observations. 

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