For the next five days, we will be posting about the amazing legacy of the Herreshoff family on American yacht design and construction. Today we begin with the restoration of the yacht Doris, the first yacht built to the Universal … Continue reading
Rick Spilman
Drivers on Interstate 95 in Connecticut may have been surprised recently to see the 78-foot, wooden yacht Doris traveling by trailer down the highway, on her way to restoration and a new life. The 1905 built sloop is believed to be the … Continue reading
I will be out of the range of the internet for a few days, so I apologize if I am slower than usual responding to comments and emails. I will be in the Amazon Basin of Peru on the river boat, M/V … Continue reading
I happened to come across an absolutely magnificent video by Pierre Henkart. Beautiful video and editing of the Pride under sail as well as great shots of sail handling by the crew. Definitely worth the 5 minutes and 40 seconds to watch. … Continue reading
Hayley and Rob entertain belugas with a cello concert in Churchill Sound, Manitoba, Canada. Cello concert for belugas More video, after the page break. … Continue reading
This summer, the French 60′ foiling trimaran Hydroptere sailed 2215 nautical miles from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The winds were not favorable and the passage was not terribly fast at about 11 days, compared to the four day record set by the 110-foot … Continue reading
Maersk Line has posted a 3-minute time lapse of the M/V Adrian Maersk, 6,000 TEUs, passing through the newly expanded New Suez Canal. As reported in Maritime Executive: The New Suez Canal was inaugurated by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in a ceremony … Continue reading
In January 2014, we posted Saildrone Sails the Pacific, about a 19′ long by 7′ wide autonomous trimaran sailing drone capable of carrying an oceanographic sensor payload of 220 pounds. In October of 2013, Saildrone-1 set off from San Francisco and arrived 34 days … Continue reading
El Faro was often referred to in the media as a container ship. It is an easy mistake to make as the file photos showed her carrying stacks of containers on the main deck. El Faro, ex-Puerto Rico, ex-Northern Lights, was built … Continue reading
In a statement this morning, the US Coast Guard says that they believe that El Faro, which disappeared last Thursday while blacked out in the path of Category 4 Hurricane Joaquin, has sunk. Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor said that they are now focusing on … Continue reading
Update: From USCG Update 4 — Life jackets, life rings, containers and an oil sheen have been located by Coast Guard aircrews. The objects have not been confirmed to be from the El Faro at this time. Yesterday, the US Coast Guard … Continue reading
The US Coast Guard has resumed the search for the U.S. flagged ro/ro cargo ship, El Faro, with a crew of 33, still missing after losing power and communications in the path of Hurricane Joaquin. The 735-foot ship was bound … Continue reading
The bosun’s gear on the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry. A nice rig. My only concern would be managing the lanyards. Easy to catch on things while climbing about. From the Oliver Hazard Perry blog: Being a full time sailor aboard any Tall … Continue reading
The Clipper Round the World racer CVA24 LMAX Exchange has suffered an unexpected reversal of fortune. The LMAX Exchange crew handily won the first leg of the race from London to Rio, 100 miles ahead of its closest competitor. Now the boat … Continue reading
Will oysters help to clean up Chesapeake Bay and New York Harbor or will climate change take them out? The question came to mind recently when I read about the world’s largest man-made oyster reef recently finished on Harris Creek … Continue reading
We, residents of a blue marble of which 71% is covered by water, have long assumed that the rest of our solar system was relatively dry. It may be time to change that opinion. Yesterday, NASA announced strong evidence of … Continue reading
For several years, we have followed Shell Oil’s expensive, dangerous and almost farcical attempts to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea in the Alaska’s Arctic. Shell has faced protests, multiple groundings, technical failures, and citations for safety and pollution violations. Worst … Continue reading
For the last five years we have followed the construction of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships which were built in France under contract to Russia. If the wind named Mistral is said to “drive men and horses mad,” these ships … Continue reading
The QE2 may now be a dead ship. The MS Queen Elizabeth 2 was purchased back in 2008 for conversion to a luxury hotel in Dubai, but a worldwide recession ended those plans. Since then there are have been a variety … Continue reading
On Sunday, September 27th, sailors, as well as landsmen and women who happen to be looking up, will see a total lunar eclipse where the moon will turn a coppery red as it passes through the shadow of the earth. … Continue reading