Sunday’s “Super-Blood Moon” Eclipse — Probably Not the End of the World

Posted on by September 25, 2015

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. Lunar eclipses are often called “blood moons.” Because the moon is also at this closest point to earth, the moon will also appear to be just slightly larger than normal, often referred to as a “super moon.” This will be the first “Super-Blood” moon since 1982. The next lunar eclipse and super moon together will not happen again until 2033.

The partial lunar eclipse is set to begin at 9:07 p.m. ET and will be visible to most people in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, according to EarthSky.org. (For a map of where the eclipse will be visible, click here.) The total lunar eclipse begins at 11:11 p.m. ET.

If you can’t get outside, NASA’s live stream will begin at 8 pm EDT from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama and will also feature a live look from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

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Massachusetts Man Yelling at a Fish (NSFW)

Posted on by September 24, 2015

The ocean sunfish or mola is found in most of the world’s oceans and is not unusual in Boston waters. Nevertheless, seeing one was obviously a shock to Michael Bergin and his friend Jason “Jay” Foster who came across one while fishing in Boston harbor. Bergin starts yelling, using colorful (Not Safe for Work) language, to express his amazement at what he identifies variously as a sea turtle, a baby whale, a flounder, a tuna and “Moby Dick.” The video is oddly amusing and has gone viral with roughly a million views so far. The Boston Globe suggests that Bergin is “basking like a sunfish in Internet fame.”

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Update: PortSide New York’s Norwegian Night of History & Bluegrass Now Free

Posted on by September 23, 2015

We recently posted about PortSide NewYork’s Norwegian Water Stories & a Night of Bluegrass, an event being held tomorrow, Thursday, September 24, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM at Atelier Roquette, 63 Commerce Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY 11231.  The event is now free. (Those who have purchased tickets will be given refunds.) As we posted previously, PortSide NewYork and the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen are hosting the NYC premier of the Norwegian bluegrass band, the Paradise Mountain Boys, as well as a multimedia presentation of Norwegian WaterStories. Sounds like a great. evening if you are in the area.  Click here to learn more.

Largest, if Not Prettiest, Sailing Yacht with Possibly the Worst Name

Posted on by September 23, 2015
Sailing Ship A on trials

Sailing Ship A on trials

In August we wrote about Dream Symphony, which, for a brief period, looked as if it would be the largest sailing sailing in the world at 463 feet (141m) long. Now a slightly larger sailing yacht at 147 meters has emerged from the Nobiskrug yard in Northern Germany. The yacht, built for Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, has three of the tallest freestanding carbon-fiber masts ever built, each over 100 meters tall and weighing 50 tonnes each.  When completed sometime this year, the yacht will have 8 decks and will feature a glass underwater observation area. The cost of the new yacht is estimated to be more than $400 million.

While the vessel may be the largest sailing yacht ever built, it is by no means the most attractive and may just possibly have the worst name. While under construction the code name used was White Pearl.  It appears that the actual name will be Sailing Yacht A.  Melnichenko’s current 394 foot long motor yacht was originally named simply A, but is now designated Motor Yacht A.  The name is said to be from the initials of its owner Andrey and his wife Aleksandra.

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Slavery at Sea — Shrimp, Pet Food, & Human Trafficking

Posted on by September 22, 2015

thaislaveMyint Naing, a Burmese man, recently made it home 22 years after being taken aboard a Thai fishing trawler, where he worked as little more than a slave. In the last six months an estimated 2,000 enslaved fishermen have been freed from captivity from Thai-Indonesian fishing ventures.

The trawlers fished for low value fish, often called “trash fish” that are used as feed stock for aquaculture, such as pond-raised shrimp. The trash fish are also used in pet foods.

As reported by the New York Times: Every year, thousands of migrant workers like Myint are tricked or sold into the seafood industry’s gritty underworld. It’s a brutal trade that has operated for decades as an open secret in Southeast Asia’s waters, where unscrupulous companies rely on slaves to supply fish to major supermarkets and stores worldwide.

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PortSide NewYork’s Norwegian Water Stories & a Night of Bluegrass

Posted on by September 20, 2015

paradisemountainboysThis is one of those great “only in New York” events. Next Thursday, PortSide NewYork and the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen are hosting the NYC premier of the Norwegian bluegrass band, the Paradise Mountain Boys, as well as a multimedia presentation of Norwegian WaterStories.

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JPK Dominates Fastnet — the New Generation of Performance Crusiers

Posted on by September 19, 2015
jpk1080

JPK 10.80 Photo: Jean-Marie Liot

JPK Composites, a boat builder from Brittany, is helping to redefine performance cruising sailboats. In 2013, the father and son team of Pascal and Alexis Loison won the biannual Fastnet Race on corrected time, sailing their 33′ Night and Day, a JPK 10.10 double-handed in a fleet of of 336 starters in the 611-mile race. It was the first time in 88 years that the race had been won by a double-handed crew. They were not, however, the only JPK 10.10s in the race.  Crews sailing JPK 10.10s also placed second, eight, ninth, tenth and eleventh.

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Nordlys — the Oldest/Newest Sailing Cargo Vessel in the World

Posted on by September 18, 2015

nordlysThe coastal cargo ketch Nordlys is making ready to sail. She is either the newest sailing cargo venture or the oldest sailing cargo ship depending on how you look at it. Built in 1873 in the Isle of Wight, this 141 year old fishing ketch is the oldest sailing cargo ship in the world, while also being the newest addition to the Fairtransport sailing cargo fleet. Nordlys – meaning “Northern Lights,” will move up to 30 tonnes of cargo around Europe, the UK and Scandinavia.

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Sea Shanty Sessions 20th Anniversary Celebration at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor

Posted on by September 17, 2015

shantysessionIn the summer of 1995, a group of lovers of the music of the sea got together on the deck of the windjammer Peking at the South Street Seaport Museum on the East River in New York to sing sea shanties.  Now 20 years later, many of the same singers along with a whole new crew will be celebrating the anniversary of that shanty sing this Sunday between 2PM and 5PM at their new home at the the Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island.  If you are anywhere near New York harbor, it should be a special afternoon. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend, but will be there in spirit. From the Noble Maritime press release:

Sponsored by the Folk Music Society of New York, whose members organize monthly sessions at the Noble Maritime Collection, the singing begins at 2 PM and continues until 5 PM.  The museum is open by donation, and visitors are welcome to come and listen or sing along with the group.

Liverpudlian Hughie Jones, founder of the group The Spinners, will join the session this month.  He was present at the first sea chantey session held aboard the Peking at South Street Seaport Museum in the summer of 1995.

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Pinky, the Albino Dolphin of the Calcasieu

Posted on by September 16, 2015

pinkyd1For several years we have followed; virtually, if not literally; the travels of Migaloo, an albino humpback whale that has migrated off Australia’s Queensland’s coast since at least 1991. In August we posted about a new young albino humpback which some are calling “son of Migaloo.”  Migaloo is an aboriginal term meaning “white fellow.”

Now, an albino dolphin, nicknamed “Pinky,” has been attracting attention in Calcasieu Lake, Louisiana. Scientists believe that Pinky is an albino because of her distinctive red eyes and blood vessels, which show through her pale skin.  First spotted in 2007 in the Calcasieu River by charter boat captain Erik Rue, Pinky has been seen mating this year and there is speculation that she may be pregnant. If, so the odds that her offspring will be also be albino are quite slim.

While not being nearly as well known as Migaloo, Pinky does have her own Facebook page.

Peacemaker & Coronet — Of Cults & Yachts

Posted on by September 16, 2015

peacemakerFor the past fifteen years, the three masted barquentine motorsailer Peacemaker has been owned by the Twelve Tribes, a religious community, often referred to as a cult. The 158′ Class A “tall ship” served as floating ambassador for the fundamentalist group, which has 50 or so communities in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Peacemaker is now for sale for around $3 million. (Please, do not contact us. We have no involvement in the vessel. )

Originally named Avany, the ship was built by the Maccarini shipyard in southern Brazil using traditional methods and tropical ironwood, and was launched in 1989. In 2000, the ship was purchased by the Twelve Tribes and rigged as a barquentine. The refit vessel set sail for the first time in the spring of 2007, under the name Peacemaker.

Coronet 1885

Coronet 1885

The broker for Northrop and Johnson, the group handling the sale, is based in Newport, Rhode Island. Also in Newport, the classic 131-foot schooner Coronet is now being restored at the International Yacht Restoration School,  IYRS.  Coronet also has a long history of ownership by a religious cult.

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Maidentrip — A Documentary of Laura Dekker’s Epic Voyage

Posted on by September 14, 2015

I recently watched Maidentrip, a wonderful, award winning documentary by Jillian Schlesinger about 14 year old Laura Dekker‘s almost two year solo circumnavigation on her Jeaneau Gin Fizz ketch, Guppy.  It is a fascinating tale about young sailor’s coming of age as she sails around the world alone. The trailer:

Maidentrip Official Trailer – Laura Dekker – Dir. Jillian Schlesinger

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The Amazing and Painful Portuguese Man o’ War — An Organism or a Colony?

Posted on by September 14, 2015

pmanowarI have a definite love-hate relationship with Portuguese Man o’ War. They are beautiful, delicate, exotic and extremely painful. I still remember being stung twice as a child over a half century ago. What I only came to understand recently is that Portuguese Man o’ War are really strange. Portuguese Man o’ War are not jellyfish. They are a members of the very weird siphonophore class of marine animals that does not quite manage to fit into the scientific categories for either individual animals or a colony of animals living together, like, for example, coral.

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Dorade’s “Return to Blue Water” Campaign a Rousing Success

Posted on by September 12, 2015

When Matt Brooks and his wife Pam Rorke Levy bought the 52ft yawl Dorade in 2010, they decided to attempt to repeat all of the races the S&S designed yacht had won in the 1930s, including the Transpac, Rolex Fastnet and the Transatlantic Race. The campaign was initially referred to as “Matt’s Crazy Idea,” but subsequently dubbed, the “Return to Blue Water” campaign.  They have now reached their goal with the sailing of the 2015 Fastnet.  They have also demonstrated that the 85 year old classic can still win races and break records.

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