Foiling Maxi-Trimarans Race Head to Head for Jules Verne Trophy

Posted on by November 27, 2020

Early Wednesday, two 100′ long foiling maxi-trimarans, Sodebo and Maxi Edmond de Rothschild/Gitana 17 set out to race around the globe to attempt to win the Jules Verne Trophy. Sailing within hours of each other, Sodebo crossed the starting line, which lies between the Créac’h lighthouse (Ouessant) and the Lizard in south-west England, at 0255 (CET). An hour and a half later, Edmond de Rothschild, followed.

Technically, the two tris are not racing each other. Each is racing the clock. The Jules Verne Trophy is awarded to the challenger who breaks the previous Jules Verne record of the round the world voyage under sail. The current record of 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds was set by Francis Joyon sailing IDEC Sport in 2017.

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Thanksgiving Repost — Whaling Ships, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary’s Lamb & a Liberty Ship

Posted on by November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving for those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel.  (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) Here is a repost of a story I think is well worth retelling. 

Thanksgiving is one of the central creation myths of the founding of the United States. The story is based on an account of a one time feast of thanksgiving in the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts in 1621 during a period of atypically good relations with local tribes. Thanksgiving only became a national holiday in 1863.  Before the celebration spread across the country, Thanksgiving was most popular in New England. On 19th-century American whale ships, which sailed from New England ports, they celebrated only the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving may have been the most popular. On Norfolk Island in the Pacific, they also celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

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VB-10,000 “Golden Arches” Making Progress in First Cut in Golden Ray

Posted on by November 25, 2020

After being delayed by hurricanes, the pandemic, and a broken link in the cutting chain, the heavy-lift catamaran VB-10,000, nicknamed the “Golden Arches” is now making good progress on the first cut to slice the stricken car carrier, Golden Ray into sections that can be loaded onto a barge and hauled away to scrap.

In September of 2019, the car carrier Golden Ray lost stability and partially capsized as it departed the Port of Brunswick, GA, carrying about 4,200 vehicles. The ships and its cargo were declared a total loss. The VB-10,000 is now cutting the 660-foot long ship into sections by hoisting a heavy chain to rip through the ship’s hull.

Specialized Lift Ship Cuts Through Capsized Car Carrier Golden Ray

Sea the City Introducing Hot Tub Boat Tours to New York Harbor

Posted on by November 24, 2020

Photo: Will Van Dorp

Will Van Dorp, host of the Tugster blog, recently saw an odd craft on the Hudson River, heading up into the Morris Canal Big Basin toward Liberty Landing Marina. It appeared to be a catamaran with a rather blocky deckhouse aft and two raised hatches forward. On closer examination, the hatches with their raised coamings turned out to be two large hot tubs. Yes, hot tubs.

Sea the City, a New York harbor jet ski tour company, has broadened its menu of services to include a “hot tub boat tour” which they describe on their website as “a unique and luxurious way to enjoy NY Harbor. Bring your favorite wine or beer and get ready for the most instagramable moment of your life. You will sit in a beautiful, commercial spa while taking in amazing views of the Hudson River and Lady Liberty.”

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Vendee Globe — Alex Thomson Slows Down to Make Repairs

Posted on by November 23, 2020

Communication technology these days is an absolute marvel.  Alex Thomson, who led the fleet for most of the first two weeks of the Vendee Globe race, is now slowing down to make repairs to the damaged longitudinal structure in the bow of his IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss. Fortunately, he has the tools and material aboard to make the repair and an entire team of designers, engineers, and boatbuilders advising him by video while he does it.

Remarkably, Thomson made a video, now posted on YouTube, allowing us to virtually crawl up into the bow, to take a look at the cracked carbon fiber girders, as the boat sails on in the South Atlantic. Fortunately, Alex discovered the damage and will have an opportunity to make repairs before sailing into the really nasty conditions in the Southern Ocean.  

Onboard Update: Repairs Under Way

Glasgow’s Tall Ship Glenlee

Posted on by November 22, 2020

This seems appropriate for an overcast Sunday in late November – a lovely drone video from a few years ago of the restored steel-hulled three-masted bark Glenlee on the River Clyde.

Built name in 1896, the Glenlee sailed for 23 years carrying bulk cargoes around the globe. In 1922, she became a sail training ship in the Spanish Navy.  Since 1993, Glenlee has been a museum ship at the Riverside Museum on Pointhouse Quay, Glasgow, Scotland.

Glenlee

Electric Narco-Sub Seized in Riverbank Boatyard in Columbia

Posted on by November 21, 2020

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that 32 percent of all maritime cocaine smuggled between Latin America and the United States arrives in narco-submarines. Narco-subs come in many shapes and sizes. Most are not submarines at all, but rather semisubmersibles, making them difficult to spot by eye or radar. Recently, the Columbian Navy, assisted by the U.S. DEA and local law enforcement agencies, raided a boatyard near the Cucurrupí River in the Chocó area of Colombia and found a very unusual electric narco-sub.

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Modern Commuter Ferry Pioneer Arthur Imperatore Dies at 95

Posted on by November 20, 2020

Arthur E. Imperatore Sr., an entrepreneur who built a successful New York City commuter ferry system, died Nov. 18 at the age of 95.

Imperatore founded NY Waterway in 1986 in Weehawken, NJ with a single route across the Hudson River to Pier 78 in New York. Once derided as “Arthur’s Folly,” he built the operation into an integrated ferry and bus service that has carried close to 300 million passengers. The success of NY Waterway helped to inspire a rebirth of commuter ferry services in New York harbor. The service also prompted the redevelopment of former railroad and industrial land in Weehawken, Edgewater, and other cities and towns on the west side of the Hudson River.

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Pride’s Capt. Jan Miles and “Coffee with the Captain”

Posted on by November 23, 2020

We have been remiss in not posting about “Coffee with the Captain,” the wonderful Facebook video blog hosted by the highly respected schooner skipper Captain Jan Miles of the Pride of Baltimore II.  The series began last April and is wonderfully entertaining as well as informative — discussing schooners, sailing, and the general strangeness of sailing during a pandemic. The most recent episode featured a Zoom chat between Captain Miles, the Pride‘s Chief Mate Jeff Crosby, and Captain Katelinn Shaw of the schooner Adventuress.

In the next episode, streaming live this Saturday, November 21st at 9 AM ET, Captain Miles will be sitting down for some socially distanced coffee with Captain Daniel Moreland of the Picton Castle. The two Captains have known each other for 40+ years, have been shipmates (they sailed together in Ernestina) and have each commanded their own vessels while sailing in company in a fleet of tall ships. Captain Moreland was a captain of the original Pride of Baltimore many years ago. It should make for a fascinating discussion.  Continue reading →

Fisherman’s Friends — Pandemic Movie Review

Posted on by November 18, 2020

I am tempted to begin by saying that I watched the movie “Fisherman’s Friends,” so that you don’t have to. Perhaps a better introduction would be to paraphrase Abe Lincon. “If this is the sort of movie you, you may like this movie.”  To be fair, I am not a fan of rom-coms and why making a romantic comedy about a real-life group of shanty-singers in Cornwall was a good idea is still a mystery to me. 

If you are not familiar with the actual story of the Fisherman’s Friends, they are a group of shanty singers, including some actual fishermen, from Port Isaac, Cornwall. They are described as the original “buoy band.”

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Cruise Lines Ready to Restart with Trial Cruises, First Attempt Sees Shipboard Outbreak

Posted on by November 17, 2020

Would you volunteer to go on a cruise ship again? Apparently, tens of thousands are eager to do so. One of the first trial cruises in the Caribbean did not go well.

The Center for Disease Control (CDCC) lifted its “No-Sail” order on cruise lines calling on US ports as of the end of last month. This does not mean, however, a return to business as usual. The CDCs is providing a “framework for conditional sailing” that requires cruise lines to run “simulated voyages” designed “to replicate real-world onboard conditions of cruising if they want to get permission to recommence regularly scheduled sailings.

CNN reports that the CDC framework also requires simulated cruise voyages to meet a series of requirements — including that passengers are informed in writing “that they are participating in a simulation of unproven and untested health and safety protocols” and, as mentioned earlier, “that sailing during a pandemic is an inherently risky activity.”

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The Pig War of 1859

Posted on by November 16, 2020

If you are fond of obscure and slightly absurd history, the Pig War of 1859 is the war for you. It involved a territorial dispute between the United States and Great Britain over the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest. On the American side, 461 soldiers armed with 14 cannons on San Juan Island faced over 2,140 British sailors, soldiers and marines on five British warships mounting 70 guns. Famous or soon-to-be-famous army officers, naval captains, an admiral, and even the German Emperor would play a role in the conflict which lasted over 12 years. When it was all finally over, the only casualty was a pig.

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Spanish Navy To Build New Rescue Ship for Submarines, Planes & Shipwrecks

Posted on by November 15, 2020

Spain’s new S-80 submarines, under construction, will be able to operate at depths of at least 350 meters. If one gets into trouble, however, the Spanish Navy’s only ship set up for rescue and recovery can only hold its position in depths of around 80 meters.  To remedy this, El Pais reports that the Spanish Navy is building a Military Action Ship for Underwater Intervention, (whose acronym in Spanish is BAM IS.) 

The €192 million BAM IS, including equipment, will feature dynamic positioning, side-scan radar, two hyperbaric chambers, two remotely-operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), two underwater communication systems, emergency supply systems and a helipad to evacuate the injured and receive supplies. It is based on the Meteoro-class offshore patrol vessel design the Spanish navy already operates, but will have a higher tonnage (5,000 tons compared to 2,670) and double decks.

In addition to its capabilities as a submarine rescue ship, it will also be outfitted for multiple tasks. Continue reading →

Tristan da Cunha Creates Largest Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic

Posted on by November 14, 2020

Rockhopper penguins on Tristan da Cuhna, Photo: Andy Schofield/Pew Charitable Trust via AP

Tristan Da Cuhna is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. The government of the island is now creating the fourth largest completely protected marine area in the world and the largest in the Atlantic. Fishing and other “extractive activities” will be banned from 627,247 square kilometers (242,181 square miles) of ocean around Tristan da Cunha and the archipelago’s three other major islands.

The Associated Press reports that the sanctuary will be the biggest “no-take zone” in the Atlantic Ocean and the fourth biggest anywhere in the world, protecting fish that live in the waters and tens of millions of seabirds that feed on them, the territory said. The isolated area, roughly equidistant between South Africa and Argentina, supports 85% of the endangered northern rockhopper penguins, 11 species of whales and dolphins, and most of the world’s sub-Antarctic fur seals, according to the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project.

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Vendee Globe Race 2020-2021 : Largest Fleet, More Female Skippers, and a Competing Couple

Posted on by November 13, 2020

The 2020-2021 Vendee Globe Race set off last Sunday from Les Sables-d’Olonne, France. The 24,000 nautical miles race, sailed every four years, is billed as the world’s greatest singlehanded, non-stop, yacht race. Notwithstanding the impact of the global pandemic, this year’s race is notable for attracting the largest fleet in the history of the race. There are also more woman skippers than ever before, and even one couple sailing in competition with each other and the rest of the fleet.

Fleet Size and Makeup

Thirty-three IMOCA 60 (“Open 60”) sailing yachts crossed the starting line, the largest fleet in the history of the race which began in 1989 when 13 boats participating. 

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Oak Trees, Wine, Whiskey, & the French Navy

Posted on by November 12, 2020

Oak trees in Colbert’s forest

We recently posted about Constitution Grove, a 50,000-acre private forest maintained by the US Navy, in part to provide white oak trees used in maintaining the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. The forest is part of the Naval Support Activity Crane, 35 miles southwest of Bloomington, Indiana. 

The United States is by no means the only country to set aside forests for ship construction and repair. Indeed, Constitution Grove is relatively new and largely ceremonial.  The grove was only dedicated on May 8, 1976. By contrast, French Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered the planting of oak groves to supply the needs of the future French navy way back in 1607. Planting continued up and through the Napoleonic era.

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On Armistice Day, the German Sailors’ Mutinies That Brought Down the Kaiser

Posted on by November 11, 2020

Crew on SMS Hegoland were among the first to mutiny in 1918.

In the US, today is Veteran’s Day, when we honor those who have served in the military.  It coincides with Armistice Day, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended World War I, on the 11th hour of the 11th day, of the 11th month of 1918, when the guns finally fell silent after four years of bloody conflict.

Today is a good time to recall the mutiny of the German High Seas Fleet, which played a significant role in the abdication of the Kaiser and in finally ending the war. Here is a revised repost from a few years ago about the naval mutinies of late 1918.

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First Black Female Naval Academy Brigade Commander and First Navy Fighter Pilot

Posted on by November 10, 2020

Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber & Lieutenant Madeline Swegle

Two recent firsts in the US Navy. Congratulations to Midshipman 1st Class Sydney Barber who has been awarded the position of brigade commander next semester at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. Brigade commander is the highest leadership position within the student body. Barber is the first Black female midshipman to serve in the position and the 16th woman to be selected for brigade commander in the 44 years women have been attending the academy. 

Barber, of Lake Forest, Illinois, is a mechanical engineering major and aspires to commission as a Marine Corps ground officer, according to the Navy press release.

Also, our belated congratulations to Lieutenant Madeline Swegle, who made history as the U.S. Navy’s first Black female tactical fighter pilot. She received her wings of gold at the end of July.

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The Weird, Harmless & Occasionally Very Dangerous Ocean Sunfish

Posted on by November 10, 2020

Ocean sunfish are weird. One scientist who specializes in the fish described them as “looking like a mistake.”  They are the heaviest bony fish in the ocean, weighing between 545–2,205 lb.

They look like a flattened silver disk. In English, they are called sunfish because they can often be found near the surface apparently sunbathing. Their Latin name is mola, meaning millstone for their heavy disk-like shape. They are also called moon-fish for the same reason. In German, they are called Schwimmender Kopf, or “swimming head” as some think they look like a fish head with fins.

Lacking a true tail, they swim by waving their ventral and dorsal fins. With their fins extended, they are frequently as tall as they are long. They also have no swim bladder to control buoyancy so they often float near the surface. Their dorsal fin protruding from the water can be mistaken for a shark fin.  

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Constitution Grove — the Navy’s White Oak Forest on a High Tech Base

Posted on by November 9, 2020

The Royal Navy Admiral Collingwood would famously slip a handful of acorns into his pockets before taking a walk in the woods near his home. He would press an acorn into the soil whenever he saw a good place for an oak tree to grow. He wanted to make sure that the Navy would never lack oak trees to build the fighting ships upon which the country’s safety depended. 

The US Navy has gone one step further. At a high tech facility in Indiana, hundreds of miles from the sea, the navy maintains “Constitution Grove“, a private 50,000-acre white oak forest dedicated to supplying timber to maintain the one remaining commissioned wooden sailing ship in the US Navy, the USS Constitution. The sailing frigate was built of primarily white oak in 1797.

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