Jack Chippendale, a master wooden boat builder, died on February 24th at the age of 87. Over his seventy year career, he is said to have built more than 4,000 boats, including boats which won 30 world and national sailing championships. He was appointed MBE in 2010.
Photo: Celina - Aleksi Lindström, Gelso M - Willem Oldenburg
There are no weekends off at sea and this has been a busy Saturday. Off Sicily, the 18,000 DWT Italian tanker Gelso M ran aground in a storm, with reports of engine room flooding. The crew of 19 was evacuated by helicopter without injury. The tanker was said to be in ballast and no pollution has been reported. Off Norway’s southwestern coast, near the town of Maaloeya, the container ship Celina also ran aground. The crew of 14 is reported to be unharmed, but a visible sheen has been reported on the water. Thanks to Phil Leon for passing along the news.
We posted recently about the “race” to dive to the deepest spot in the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, almost 36,000 feet below the surface. The first and last time that anyone ever ventured to the bottom of the trench was over fifty years ago. We posted, “Now three and possibly four teams are preparing to return to the depths of the Mariana Trench…. Hollywood director James Cameron is … understood to be preparing for a descent.”
Rumors of Cameron’s attempt have been confirmed. Reported to be making an attempt later this month, he may be the first to return to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Miles Under the Pacific, a Director Will Take On His Riskiest Project
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The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia were not the first iron-clad war ships, but they were the first to face each other in battle. One hundred and fifty years ago today, the two ironclads met in Hampton Roads, VA and fought each other to a draw. After hours of close range fighting, the CSS Virginia retired, having failed to break the Union blockade.
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The Florida Legislature has designated the schooner Western Union as the state’s official flagship. The schooner was built in 1939 and served for 35 years as as a cable vessel for the Western Union Telegraph Company, repairing and maintaining undersea telegraph cable throughout Key West, Cuba and the Caribbean. The 130′ long schooner is now a sailing museum, operating out of Key West, offering both dockside and sailing tours.
Pascal Vaudé wins Bouvet Guyane Solo Atlantic Rowing Race 2012 in record time
Pascal Vaudé has won the Bouvet Guyane Solo Atlantic Rowing Race and has set a new record of 37 days, 10 minutes and 26 seconds. This morning Julien Besson crossed the finish line taking second place just in front of Henri-George Hidair, in third. The Bouvet Guyane Solo Atlantic Rowing Race 2012 is a 2,600 mile race between between Senegal and Guyana. All solo rowers are competing in identical 8 meter long boats. Of the 23 rowers who began the race, 12 are still rowing while 8 have abandoned the attempt.
No need to shorten sail but putting down the GPS and dusting off the sextant might be a good idea as the largest solar storm in five years strikes the earth today. A massive cloud of charged particles moving at 4 million mph could disrupt satellite networks and GPS services, especially in northern areas. Power grids are also at risk. A strong solar storm in 1989 knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power. The upside to the storm is that it may result in even more colorful auroras than usual.
NASA | Massive Solar Flare gets HD Close Up
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I will admit to not knowing much about Oman. I know that it is a Sultanate. It exports oil. I can find it on the map on the south-east corner of the Arabian peninsula. One thing that I do know is that it has a rather remarkable sailing program.
The Omani national sail training ship Shabab Oman is highly thought of in the sail training community. Under the command of Captain Christopher Biggins, who died last year, Shabab Oman became well known as an extremely friendly ship, and as a result she won ‘The Cutty Sark Trophy’ a record four times, and its successor ‘The Sail Training International Friendship Trophy‘ another three times. Last year the Sultanate of Oman began providing funding for up to 100 tall ship sail trainees yearly, with a focus on young people who are who are financially disadvantaged or with a physical disability.
In more modern sailing, Omani men have been increasingly active in international competitions. As of October, the state sponsored Oman Sail enrolled 40 women in a sailing program. Omani women are now competing in international sailboat races and may soon be competing in Olympic sailing events.
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On Monday we posted about Sarah Hebert’s bold attempt to cross the Atlantic by windsurfer. She has been battling 3-to-5 metre swells and constant 25-knot winds. Now, suffering from extreme dizziness, diagnosed to be caused by anemia, she has suspended her attempt but vows to return to try again. Thanks for Buck for the update.
From 1655 to 1970, the Royal Navy issued daily rations of rum to their sailors. In the US Navy, alcohol was prohibited in 1913. Now almost 100 years later, the US Navy is going one step farther. Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy, has ordered the installation of breath-test machines on all ships and submarines, as well as on Marine Corps bases.
Navy to place breath-test machines on all its ships
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We recently posted about Matt Rutherford needing to be resupplied to continue his attempt to sail single-handed entirely around the Americas in the St. Brendan, a 27′ Albin Vega. Last week, Matt rendezvoused with a small boat, two miles off the coast of Recife, Brazil, which supplied him with a handheld VHF radio for communication, putty to fix a leak, two small solar panels to power his electronics, a hand crank for starting his engine, 15 gallons of diesel fuel, 20 gallons of drinking water, and some fresh food. With luck, these supplies should allow him to complete the last on the last 3,000 mile leg of remarkable voyage. Matt has now been sailing for 268 days and has logged 23,433 miles.
Thanks to Gillian Pommerehn for passing along photos of the resupply at sea. For more photos click here – Matt Rutherford Resupply. To follow Matt’s progress and/ to donate to support his efforts, go to Solo Around the Americas.
The headline writers have been having fun. The Daily Beast headline reads – Moon to Blame for Titanic Sinking? Reuters asks and answers its own question – “What sank the Titanic? Scientists point to the moon.” The Times of India gets alliterative – “Cosmic curse: Did the moon sink Titanic?” National Geographic introduces the “supermoon” but hedges their bet with a question mark – “Titanic Sunk by “Supermoon” and Celestial Alignment?” The Telegraph reverts to a simple declarative statement, “Titanic disaster blamed on Moon.” And on and on.
Did the moon sink the Titanic? The answer is no. And no one is actually claiming that it did, worldwide headlines notwithstanding.
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Lost Sailors from the USS Monitor - Samuel A. Lewis & Robert Williams?
When the revolutionary ironclad warship USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, NC during the Civil War, in December of 1862, 16 of her crew of 62 were lost. One hundred and forty years later, in August of 2002, when the turret of the ship was raised from the bottom, divers found the skeletons of two sailors. Despite DNA and other testing, all attempts to identify the two sailors were unsuccessful. Now using forensic reconstruction techniques, Eileen Barrow, an imaging specialist from Louisiana State University has literally given faces to dead. The reconstructed faces were revealed today. Lisa Stansbury, a genealogist working with NOAA, may have also put names to the reconstructed faces.
Names and Faces Suggested for Monitor Sailors
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Portside New York, based on the historic tanker Mary A. Whalen, has been putting on fantastic educational, cultural and and community programs and events on the Brooklyn waterfront front for the the last six years, without ever having a permanent berth. Now PortSide is in crisis. It needs to find a permanent, publicly accessible berth or else it is likely to be shut down and the Mary A. Whalen scrapped. Here is a short video that demonstrates what the New York waterfront would lose if we lost the PortSide New York & the tanker Mary A. Whalen.
Why PortSide NewYork should be saved
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Personal items owned by Lord Nelson, valued at £37,800, were stolen from a display case at Norwich Castle in a daylight robbery.
Plundered! £37,800 worth of Lord Nelson’s personal artefacts stolen from Norwich Castle
The items stolen, which have been on display at the museum because of Lord Nelson’s numerous links with the area, include a £25,000 mourning ring and a £10,000 saucer. The ring, believed to have been made between 1803 and 1806, is enamelled and bears the letters N and B. The box, dated 1805, the ring was kept in was also taken. The saucer was from an 1802 tea service which was part of the inventory at Lord Nelson’s home.
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