Scandal-Plagued German Sail Training Ship Gorch Fock Back in the Water

Posted on by March 23, 2021

The German Navy sail training ship Gorch Fock is finally back in the water after a lengthy repair/rebuilding, plagued by scandal and extraordinary cost overruns. Delivered in 1958, she is a near-sister vessel of the original ship of the same name commissioned in 1933. The ship is often referred to unofficially as the Gorch Fock II to distinguish her from her older sister ship.

Depending on who you ask the training ship is either the “pride of the German Navy” or an ongoing embarrassment. The Berlin Spectator took the later view when it noted that “replacing the second ‘o’ in ‘Gorch Fock’ with a ‘u’ will show what many Germans think of the scandals surrounding the vessel.”

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Vineyard Wind & South Fork Wind Projects Receive Regulatory Green Lights

Posted on by March 22, 2021

Two offshore wind energy projects off the US Northeast coast have received new approvals from regulators.

Vineyard Wind

Vineyard Wind, an 800 megawatt (MW) wind farm to be built 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, was advised that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had completed its environmental review. The Final Environmental Impact Statement is the second to last step in the federal permitting process for the project. The Interior Department could greenlight the project as early as April.

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Norway’s $325 Million Stadt Ship Tunnel Gets Go-Ahead

Posted on by March 21, 2021

An update to a post from 2017: Norway’s Stad Peninsula divides the Norwegian Sea to the north and the North Sea to the south. The seas, winds, currents, and weather are extremely dangerous for any ship attempting to round the peninsula. Now, Norway intends to bore through the rocky shores to cut a passageway to create a short-cut for ocean-going ships. The tunnel, the world’s  first for ocean-going ships, will be 1,700 meters long by 37 meters high and 26.5 meters wide. The tunnel is expected to cost at least 2.7bn kroner ($325m). A tunnel through the Stadt peninsula was first proposed in 1870.

After years of planning, the Norwegian Coastal Administration has confirmed that it has received the go-ahead to start working on the Stad Ship Tunnel.

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George Bass, Father of Underwater Archaeology, Dies at 88

Posted on by March 20, 2021

George Bass died earlier this month at the age of 88. He was an American archaeologist, often referred to as the “father of underwater archeology”. He co-directed the first expedition to entirely excavate an ancient shipwreck at Cape Gelidonya in 1960 and founded the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in 1972.

As noted by the New York Times, Professor Bass led or co-directed archaeological efforts around the world, including in the United States, but he focused on the coast of Turkey — for thousands of years a maritime trade route for a succession of civilizations, from the ancient Canaanites to the early Byzantine Empire.

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Royal Navy Training Under Sail Again on TS Tenacious

Posted on by March 19, 2021

The Royal Navy has announced that for the first time in decades, its sailors are learning the art of seafaring on a traditional tall ship.

Over four months junior sailors are crewing TS Tenacious – giving them a unique insight into the days of sail and the chance to pick up key leadership skills.

The square-rigger is running in and out of Portsmouth with Royal Navy sailors performing tasks and duties Nelson would recognize: from heaving and hauling lines to set the sails, to watchkeeping and steering.

The use of the Jubilee Sailing Trust’s Tenacious is helping to plug the gap left by the closure of the Navy’s command and leadership school in the Brecon Beacons due to the pandemic.

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Update: Golden Ray Salvage Drags On, 3rd Block Removed

Posted on by March 18, 2021

Last November, salvors began cutting up the Golden Ray and predicted that the job would be completed by the New Year.  Now, five months later, the job is less than half-finished and the new target for completion looks more like June 2021.  

In September 2019, the car carrier Golden Ray lost stability and partially capsized as it departed the Port of Brunswick, GA, carrying about 4,200 vehicles. It was declared a constructive total loss. Plans were made to cut the 660′ long ship into eight blocks that would be each carried by barge to a scrapyard.

Originally, the goal was to salvage the ship prior to the start of hurricane season in June 2020. That slipped to September and then October, delayed both by the pandemic and by hurricanes. Ultimately, the cutting began in the beginning of November.

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Team New Zealand Wins America’s Cup Again

Posted on by March 17, 2021

Team New Zealand has won the America’s Cup again, defeating Luna Rossa, seven races to three, in the waters off Aukland, New Zealand. The victory was the second in a row for a syndicate representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, and the fourth win in the finals since 1995 for a team from New Zealand.

In the America’s Cup of twenty years ago, New Zealand had a 5-0 win over Luna Rossa. This round of races started out closely matched with the first six races ending in three victories for each team. This week, however, New Zealand triumphed in light and flukey winds, racking up more four victories to retain the cup.

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Cannons and Anchor from HMS Rose Believed Found in Savannah River

Posted on by March 16, 2021

While preparing to dredge the shipping channel in the Savannah River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may have found artifacts from HMS Rose, a 20-gun Royal Navy frigate, dating from the American  Revolutionary War. Archaeologists with the Corps of Engineers discovered an anchor, a section of timber, and three cannons believed to date from the 1700s.

The Rose was scuttled in the river in September 1779, blocking the channel, to prevent the French fleet from aiding American soldiers attempting to capture the city of Savannah. The British held the city until July 11, 1782, when they withdrew on their own accord. After the end of the war, the wreck of the Rose was removed to reopen the channel to navigation.

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Albatross, Amazing Flyers, Not So Great at Landing

Posted on by March 15, 2021

Yesterday we posted about Wisdom, an albatross who is at least 70 years old, who recently hatched another chick, making it the oldest breeding bird in recorded history. In a comment on the post, Irwin Bryan pointed out a video that has gone viral of an albatross making a less than perfect landing at the Otago’s Royal Albatross Centre nature reserve in New Zealand, which seems like a perfect post for a Monday.

Albatross fails landing attempt at nature reserve

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Wisdom, World’s Oldest Breeding Bird at 70, Hatches a New Chick

Posted on by March 14, 2021

Photo: John Klavitter/U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A Laysan albatross named Wisdom, first identified and banded on Midway Atoll in 1956, has hatched a chick at the age of at least 70. Wisdom, who returns each fall to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, outlived most of her mates, and raised over 40 chicks. The typical albatross life span is generally estimated to be 40-50 years.

The  United States Geological Survey (USGS) has tracked Wisdom since she was first tagged, and has estimated that Wisdom has flown over 3,000,000 miles (4,800,000 km) since 1956 (approximately 120 times the circumference of the Earth). To accommodate her longevity, the USGS has replaced her tag a total of six times. She and her chick survived the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that killed an estimated 2,000 adult Laysan and black-footed albatrosses, and a much larger number of chicks, at the refuge.

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Polish Adventurer, Aleksander Doba, Who Kayaked Across the Atlantic Three Times, Dies at 74

Posted on by March 13, 2021

Aleksander Doba died late last month at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at the age of 74. He will be best remembered as an irrepressible, record-setting kayaker who paddled across the Atlantic three times while in his 60s and 70s.

Born in 1946, in Swarzęd, Poland, near the city of Poznań, Doba got into kayaking relatively late, at 34.

And it wasn’t until he was 65, in 2010, that he would embark on the first in a series of three journeys across the Atlantic Ocean, earning Doba, a retired engineer, the nickname the “pensioner adventurer”.

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Documentary: 12 Metres — An Enduring Legacy

Posted on by March 11, 2021

The America’s Cup races in Aukland restart again tomorrow. The defender and challenger will be sailing AC75 class boats — keel-less, flying, foiling wonders of carbon fiber, packed with hydraulics, cutting-edge electronics, and powered by soft wing sails, capable of speeds of over 50 knots.

Here is a short documentary of America’s Cup racers of another era — the beautiful 12 metre class boats. Filmed during the 2019 12mR World Championship in Newport R.I., highlights include racing footage and competitor interviews paired with the experienced insights of the 12MYC’s Station Steward Gary Jobson who also wrote and narrated this documentary.

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America’s Cup 36, Day 1 — Team New Zealand & Luna Rossa Tie 1-1

Posted on by March 10, 2021

On the first day of the final races in Aukland, NZ, of the 36th sailing of the America’s Cup, the defender Emirates Team New Zealand and the challenger Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, each won one race, ending the day in a tie. Team New Zealand won the first race by a margin of 31 seconds, while Luna Rossa won the second narrowly with a lead of only seven seconds. The best of 13 race series starts again on Friday. Short video highlights of both races are beyond the page break.

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On International Women’s Day +1, Honoring Admiral “Amazing Grace” Hopper

Posted on by March 9, 2021

One day after the observance of International Women’s Day, there is still time to remember and honor Admiral Grace Hopper. Grace Hopper was a pioneering computer scientist and a United States Navy Rear Admiral. Hopper received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale. She was nicknamed “Amazing Grace” and is often referred to as the “mother of computing.”

In October of 2020, the U.S. Naval Academy officially opened Hopper Hall, the academy’s new center for cybersecurity studies, named in her honor.  The cybersecurity facility is the first building named after a woman at the three main service academies.

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Kitefin Shark, World’s Largest Bioluminescent Vertebrate, Photographed Off New Zealand

Posted on by March 8, 2021

Researchers have photographed a large bioluminescent shark in deep water off New Zealand. The kitefin shark was a known species of ocean predator but was only recently discovered to be able to glow in the darkness of its deep-ocean environment. The kitefin shark, which can grow to 180cm, is now the largest-known luminous vertebrate in the world, on land or sea.

The researchers also identified two smaller species of shark — the blackbelly lanternshark, and the southern lanternshark that are also bioluminescent.

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Good Ship Fata Morgana Hovering Above the Horizon

Posted on by March 7, 2021

David Morris was taking a walk along the coast near Falmouth, Cornwall, in the UK, when he saw what looked to be a large tanker hovering in the air above the horizon. He documented what he witnessed with several photographs.  Apparently, Mr. Morris saw a “superior mirage” also known as a Fata Morgana. 

The BBC quotes meteorologist David Braine said the “superior mirage” occurred because of “special atmospheric conditions that bend light”.

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9th Vendee Globe Ends: Ari Huusela Crosses the Finish Line

Posted on by March 6, 2021

The 9th sailing of the Vendee Globe Race is over. After 116 days at sea, Ari Huusela sailing Stark has crossed the finish line at Les Sables d’Olonne. While he was the last sailor to complete the race at 25th place, in terms of bragging rights, he is also the first Finnish sailor to finish the race. 

In a larger sense, anyone who succeeds in completing the single-handed non-stop round-the-world race is indeed a winner. As Lydia Mullan writes in Sail Magazine, “In a race this difficult, making it to the finish is a victory in its own right. Though the last skipper to cross the line, Huusela will finish in 25th place of 33 and ahead of giants like Alex Thomson, Sam Davies, and Fabrice Amedeo who were unable to complete the course.”

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The Shipbreaking Paradox — Persistent Need, Toxic Problem

Posted on by March 5, 2021

Marco Polo on the beach at Alang

Every year, on average, close to 1,000 ships are sold for scrap, or in more current language, to be recycled.  Over the past year during the pandemic, there has been a particular surge in the number of older cruise being sent to shipbreaking yards. Many of these cruise ships have been sent to Turkish shipbreakers.  

The BBC reported recently of two UK cruise ships sent instead to Alang, India for scrapping. The problem is that ships sent to scrap yards are considered to be hazardous waste and it is illegal to send them to developing countries from the UK. UK and EU regulations require that ships being recycled be sent to approved shipbreaking facilities that meet environmental and worker safety rules. As of this November, the approved list contains 43 yards, including 34 yards in Europe, 8 yards in Turkey, and 1 yard in the USA.  

There are currently no approved ship recycling yards on the EU list in Asia, where over 90% of the world’s ships are scrapped. Continue reading →

Sailing the Schooner Denis Sullivan — A Proud Heritage and Uncertain Future

Posted on by March 4, 2021

A short and lovely video from two years ago about sailing from Milwaukee on the three-masted, wooden schooner Denis Sullivan. Like so many other vessels, the schooner’s 2020 sailing season was canceled due to the pandemic and sadly, her future is uncertain.

Tighe – Primetime Edition of Sunday Morning – Denis Sullivan from Jessica Tighe on Vimeo.