Are Floating Wind Turbines the Future of Green Energy? Americans and British Partner to Develop Technology

Posted on by April 24, 2012

Offshore energy, whether oil production or wind, seems to move in the same stages.  Early offshore drilling was in shallow water using jack-up rigs sitting on the bottom.  Now much of offshore oil production is from floating rigs, drilling in deep water.  Likewise, the first offshore wind turbines were mounted on pedestals fixed to the sea floor. Wind technology may be moving into deeper water. In September of 2009, we posted about Hywind, the first the first full-scale floating wind turbine in the North Sea off South-west Norway. Now the US and the UK have agreed to work together to develop floating wind turbines operating in waters as deep as 500 feet.   From the agreement announced yesterday:

In the UK, the Energy Technologies Institute is currently in the process of commissioning a £25m offshore wind floating system demonstrator….In the US, the Department of Energy have recently announced a $180m funding opportunity for up to four Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects in US waters – which potentially could include a floating wind demonstration.
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Mr. Muntz’s Marvelous Metal and the Cutty Sark

Posted on by April 23, 2012

Earlier today we posted about an article by Andrew Gilligan, the Telegraph‘s London Editor, in which he referred to the Cutty Sark restoration as “a clucking, Grade A, Bernard Matthews-class turkey.”

For a more positive perspective on the restoration one could turn to the article by the Guardian’s Steve Rose, The Cutty Sark: hoist the main sail!  which was mostly sunshine and roses, at least as compared to Mr. Gilligan’s comments.
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Is the Restored Cutty Sark a Clucking, Grade A Turkey?

Posted on by April 23, 2012

After a long commercial career, the 1869 composite clipper ship Cutty Sark became a museum ship in a drydock in Greenwich in 1954.  Then in May 21, 2007, a fire broke out that burned a significant portion of the ship.  After a 5 year £50 million restoration,  the newly refurbished ship will be opened by the Queen this Wednesday.

Not everyone is pleased with the restoration. Andrew Gilligan, the Telegraph‘s London Editor, recently wrote a scathing review calling the Cutty Sark restoration “a clucking, Grade A, Bernard Matthews-class turkey.”  (For non-Britons — Bernard Matthews Farms Ltd specialises in turkey farming.)

Mr. Gilligan has not been happy about the restoration for some time now.  In February of 2101, we posted about his concerns. See: Cutty Sark Restoration Turning into a Fiasco?
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Did the Swan Kill the Kayaker? Or was it the Lack of a Life Jacket?

Posted on by April 22, 2012

The first headlines read, “Swan Kills Kayaker,” and “Aggressive swan kills kayaker.”   Later versions were more moderate – “Swan attack contributed to man’s drowning death” and “Kayaker drowns after coming too close to swan” with “Chicago Kayaker Killed After Swan Attack” falling in the middle of the spectrum.  Even the BBC picked up the story – “Who, What, Why: How dangerous are swans?”  writing: “A man has drowned after being attacked by a swan, which knocked him out of his kayak and stopped him swimming to shore. So how dangerous are these graceful white birds?”
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No City for Old Tankers – Mary A. Whalen in the New York Times

Posted on by April 22, 2012

Photo: Emily Berl for The New York Times

There are over five hundred miles of waterfront in New York harbor. The Mary A. Whalen only needs around 200 feet of it to tie up, yet for the last six years, the historic tanker and PortSide New York, the non-profit educational organization based on the ship, have been without a permanent home.  The condition has reached a crisis. If a new home for the historic tanker is not found soon, she may she scrapped. The New York Times published a front page article this morning (front page on their web site, and the first page of the Metropolitan section in their print edition) on the struggle to find a home for the Mary A. Whalen.  Definately worth reading.

No City for Old Tankers
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Cunard Employee Admits to Molesting Children on Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth & Queen Victoria

Posted on by April 21, 2012

One of the pleasures of cruising with a family can be leaving children with the shipboard children’s program.  On Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 for example, the Cunard website boasts: “Younger members of the family will not want to leave The Play Zone filled with toys, games and activities. As the younger children delight in the soft play area and ball pool you can be certain that they are in the best of care with our certified Early Years staff.”

In what must be every parents nightmare, Paul Trotter, 34, a Cunard child care supervisor who worked on the Queen Mary II, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, has plead guilty to 24 counts of sex offences related to the molestation of 13 boys, committed between November 2007 and August 2011.  He reportedly filmed his molestation the boys, most of whom were younger than 13.  Cunard is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation.

Cunard cruise ship worker abused children in his care
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Costa Concordia Update: Titan Salvage Awarded Contract, More Bodies Identified, Tourism Suffers

Posted on by April 21, 2012

In February, Costa Lines invited ten companies to bid on salvaging the Costa Concordia (see our previous post.)   Today, the salvage contract was awarded to Titan Salvage and Micoperi.  Titan Salvage is a unit of Crowley Maritime Corporation and Micoperi is a Italian marine contractor specializing in underwater construction and engineering. The wreck of the Costa Concordia will be removed in one piece. The operation is expected to take roughly a year.

Titan-Micoperi to remove Costa Concordia in 12-month operation
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The Return of the Cutty Sark, Reopening April 26th

Posted on by April 21, 2012

Here is a cute trailer announcing the reopening of the composite clipper ship Cutty Sark in her drydock in Greenwich, UK.  The ship built in 1869, caught fire on May 21, 2007  and has undergone a full restoration. The ship is due to reopen on April 26th.

Cutty Sark Returns to Greenwich

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Murder on Kodiac Island. Alaska

Posted on by May 28, 2012

This sounds like the teaser from a thriller or murder mystery. Unfortunately, it is all too real.  Last Thursday, shortly after 7 AM, coworkers found the bodies of US Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Jim Hopkins and retired Boatswain Mate Chief Rich Belisle, working as a civilian contractor, at their stations at Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak on Kodiak Island, Alaska.  Both men had been shot dead. The station is a high security area, responsible for radio communications across the North Pacific and Bering Sea.

As the killings took place on federal property, the FBI has jurisdiction and is being assisted by military police, the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Alaska State Troopers.  Beyond ruling the deaths as homicides, the FBI has said very little about the case thus far.
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Trireme Olympias Stricken from London Olympics – Fears of Popularity and Bridge Jumpers

Posted on by April 20, 2012

Photo: Alexandra Guest

The image is wonderful to think about. At the start of the London Olympics, the trireme Olympias, with 170 of Britain’s finest rowers at the oars, was to proceed down the Thames bearing the Olympic flame.  But it is not to be.

As reported by the Financial Times: Martin Green, the head of ceremonies for London’s organizing committee (Locog), said there were “major concerns” from London’s transport and security agencies that the trireme would create overcrowding along the Thames as the flame passed by….There was also discussion about people throwing themselves off bridges,” he said.  

Olympic organisers ground ancient Greek warship
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Update: Princess Cruises Regrets Not Rescuing Fisherman, Blames Breakdown in Communication

Posted on by April 20, 2012

Princess Cruises said it deeply regrets that its ship the Star Princess passed by a fishing boat adrift in the Pacific Ocean and failing to rescue the dying men on board. The cruise line is blaming a “breakdown in communication,” claiming that the captain and the officer on watch were never contacted about the disabled fishing boat. Passengers on deck spotted the fishing boat in distress and relayed the information to a sales representative on the ship, who promised to pass the information onto the bridge. By the time the fishing boat was ultimately rescued several weeks later, two of the three fishermen aboard had died.

Did Cruise Ship, Star Princess, Ignore Drifting Boat in Distress Leaving Fishermen to Die?

Posted on by April 19, 2012

Photograph by passenger, Jeff Gilligan, of boat in distress

In February, we posted about the rescue of the three fishermen, drifting in the Pacific, by the cruise ship, Seaborne Odyssey. There are now reports of a similar story with a tragically different outcome.  Passengers aboard the cruise ship, Star Princess, are claiming that the ship ignored a drifting boat in distress in the Pacific off  the Galapagos, leaving two fisherman to die.
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Large Reward for Whistle-blowing Engineer on M/V Aquarosa

Posted on by April 19, 2012

When US Coast Guard inspectors came aboard the bulk carrier M/V Aquarosa in Baltimore in February of 2011, a junior engineer slipped them a note, which read, “I have sometheng to till you but secret.”  The engineer, Salvatore Lopez, from the Philippines, had collected evidence of the illegal dumping of oily waste and garbage into the ocean. Lopez had copies of the ship’s log as well as hundreds of photos shot with his cell phone of illegal activities.  With the information provided by Lopez, the Coast Guard inspectors were able to locate the “magic pipe” hidden in the engine room that allowed the ship’s operators to pollute undetected.

The owners and operators of the M/V Aquarosa were fined $1.85 million in federal court last January for their activities.  On Monday, a federal judge in Baltimore awarded Salvatore Lopez $462,500 for alerting the Coast Guard to the illegal dumping. Depending on the outcome of another portion of the case, Lopez could be awarded an additional $462,500.   Lopez, who had been supporting a wife and four children on $27,000 a year, has been unable to get work since he began helping the investigation.

Judge awards whistle-blower $462,500 in high-seas pollution case

Indonesian Barquentine Dewaruci and Equadorian Barque Guayas in OpSail 2012

Posted on by April 19, 2012

As we posted a few days ago, OpSail 2012 kicks off today in New Orleans.  In addition to the USCG Cutter Eagle, two lesser known tall ships will be participating —  Indonesian Navy’s steel three masted barquentine Dewaruci, and the Ecuadoran Navy’s steel three-masted barque Guayas, commissioned in 1997.  The video below is of the Dewaruci‘s port call in San Deigo in March. After the jump is a video of the Guayas arriving in New Orleans.

Indonesian Navy Ship Docks In San Diego

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Congratulations to Matt Rutherford on his 309 Day Solo Circumnavigation of the Americas !

Posted on by April 18, 2012

After a difficult last few days, Matt Rutherford sailed into Chesapeake Bay this morning at 10:42 AM, completing the first ever solo circumnavigation of the Americas, a voyage of 309 days and over 25,000 miles.  Matt’s plan is still to make his first landfall this Saturday the 21st of April at noon in Annapolis. All are invited to help welcome him home.

Sailor finishes 309-day trip at Bay bridge-tunnel
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