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Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #1741
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    If you're like me and enjoy the culture of tugboats and their operation, I'd suggest visiting TIGER BEETLE's home and reading his fine description of spending a day on a SF Bay tug. https://tbeetle.wordpress.com/

    Beetle's ride on the tug AHBRA FRANCO is pretty darned enlightening. Imagine a 104 foot tug being able to pull up to 90 tons using two, rotatable, 9 foot propellers powered by 6,000 horsepower pulling on 4" diameter spectra rope. In my dreams.

    Well written and photographed, Rob!

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    Last edited by sleddog; 11-07-2016 at 09:00 AM.

  2. #1742
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    It is truly a discouraging thought to review the species extinction going on before our eyes, with little hope of changing future decline before it's too late.

    Just recently, with only 3 individuals remaining, the Irawaddy dolphin of the Mekong River in Laos has been declared "functionally extinct. Name:  Irawaddy dolphin.jpg
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    Gill nets are the predominate culprit, and taking a lethal toll. Closer to home, but with similar results, gill nets have reduced the critically endangered Vaquita dolphin in the northern Sea of Cortez to barely sustainable numbers of less than 60 individuals. The Vaquita dolphin is now considered the most endangered marine mammal in the world.

    You would never know it, because they are not seen in the Northern Hemisphere (and rarely south of the Equator), but the giant Amsterdam Albatross has less than 25 breeding pairs left. The Amsterdam Albatross nests only on remote Amsterdam Island, in the southern Indian Ocean. With a 9 foot wing span, the Amsterdam Albatross spends most of its life soaring above the ocean wave. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXl3Mm8bqyY

  3. #1743
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    Not something you want to snag your anchor on: Seems a Canadian diver for sea cucumbers on the Inside Passage of N. British Columbia, near Pitt Island, has possibly discovered a Mark IV "Fat Man" nuclear weapon jettisoned from a U.S. Navy B-36 bomber in distress in 1950. The B-36, having lost 3 of 6 engines due to icing, ultimately crashed into a mountain side, but not before 12 of 17 crew successfully parachuted to safety. Due to Cold War paranoia, an information/disinformation lid was put in place, and the missing bomb was apparently never located. Until now.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37875697

    "Finders, keepers?" "Salvage rights?"

    A somewhat related case locally is winding through Federal Courts as two Moss Landing fishermen want $13,000 for return of a wayward government science buoy they snagged in their gear on Monterey Bay and towed to shore.

    rhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/03/2-men-take-us-govt-ocean-science-buoy-now-want-to-sell-it-back-for-13000/

    Once upon a time I was sailing WILDFLOWER out the Straits of Juan de Fuca, southbound for Santa Cruz. Near Neah Bay I came upon what looked like a 20 foot torpedo, floating vertically, half awash.

    The Coast Guard asked me to stand by the object until they got there. Which I did. When they arrived, I was told "Thanks. You can leave now." I never found out where the torpedo came from, or what happened after the CG showed.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-08-2016 at 03:02 PM.

  4. #1744
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    Fortunately for the Irawaddy dolphin, the Mekong river group is not the only population of the species. According to the WWF there are three freshwater populations. There are several "estuarine" populations. The sad part is that the other twofreshwater populations are down to around 30-50 animals, which is not enough to maintain genetic diversity..

    Anyway, that's just depressing.
    Last edited by AlanH; 11-10-2016 at 02:12 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  5. #1745
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    Quote Originally Posted by AlanH View Post
    which is not enough to maintain genetic diversity...
    No danger of SSS friends going extinct. Plenty of SSS genetic diversity in recent Baja Ha Ha. Here is a reunion at Turtle Bay: Lou Freeman, Phil MacFarlane, Sherry Smith, JoAnn MacFarlane.

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    We can make a Re-Union of our own: Hope to see All-Comers tomorrow at Tree Time, Ayala Cove, Angel Island. Ask me if you need a bottle opener.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-11-2016 at 09:22 AM.

  6. #1746
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    A convivial group of ~20 Singlehanded TransPac vets and supporters gathered Sunday under a large pine at Angel Island's Ayala Cove. Perfect weather and yummy pupus, and I think everyone attending got caught up to date. Represented were TORTUGA, ALTHEA, CATO, FROLIC, CHEYENNE, 1/2 of TIGER BEETLE, NINA, VENTUS, LIBRA, RED SKY, OWL, BLUE MOON, WILDFLOWER, and DOMINO. (apologies for those I've misplaced.)

    We also welcomed 2016 SHTP Winner and new SSS Commodore Dave Herrigel, SSS Treasurer Kristen Soetebier, and past and future SHTP Race Chair Brian Boschma. According to your leaders, the herding of cats has already begun....

    As Scoop Nisker use to say, "If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-16-2016 at 04:27 PM.

  7. #1747
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    Much of the steel used in early Trans-Continental railroad construction was from the German Krupp Company. What does this have to do with shipwrecks? Similar Krupp steel played a major part in the scuttling of 52 German naval ships interned at Scapa Flow, in Northern Scotland, at the end of WW I. These ships were the heart of the German Navy High Seas fleet, including battleships, cruisers, and U-boats, and the remaining German crew aboard the ships secretly set their plan in motion to sink every ship at the same time, 11:20 AM on June 21, 1919, so the ships did not fall into Allied hands. It's a pretty intriguing story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttl..._in_Scapa_Flow

    The Battle Cruiser HINDENBURG was the last to go down.

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    Krupp was producing high quality stainless steel, the best in the World, and the German warships had a lot in their construction. At one time these ships were considered the largest concentrated source of pure stainless, and salvaging of the scuttled naval ships continues to this day.

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    Why the search for pure stainless steel? Apparently, since the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons since WWII, Cobalt 60 contamination is everywhere. Any smelting of new stainless steel introduces trace radioactive isotopes into the material. Since the contamination is at the atomic level there's no effective filtration. Pretty hard to find "non-atmospheric" atmosphere. But stainless made before the bomb, and submerged, has been protected from radiation, thus the value of the metal in the German warships sunk at Scapa Flow.

    Most of the ships at Scapa Flow have been salvaged. There may only be 7 or so left out of the 50 plus that were scuttled. However, the demand for pure stainless in science and medicine is great enough to inspire the salvaging of other pre WW II ships, including at least two battleships of the US Navy. Many obsolete ships were either scuttled or used for target practice, so their locations are known fairly accurately.

    I have a good sailing friend who, 30 years ago, developed a giant cell bone tumor in his left femur Three operations and 30 years later, with the tumor gone, he still has a big blob of epoxy anchored by a stainless rod in his leg. Paul likes to think there's a possibility that the rod is Krupp's stainless from a German battle cruiser.

    As for my still healing foot reconstruction, it's titanium, not that exotic stuff like epoxy and pure stainless steel.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-15-2016 at 03:02 PM.

  8. #1748
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    As for my still healing foot reconstruction, it's titanium, not that exotic stuff like epoxy and pure stainless steel.
    Okay, I'll bite.
    Skip, how's your foot? Can you sail again? What is your rehab like? Let's see some up to date photos of that gruesome surgery.

  9. #1749
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    Check out VRIL
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    20' sprit? check. Vertical bow? check. Square top and loose foot main? check. VRIL, a 50 footer, was designed and built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1876, by George L. Watson. Watson's VRIL was a milestone in racing yacht design, the first boat to have all its ballast in an external lead keel.
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    Last edited by sleddog; 11-15-2016 at 09:29 PM.

  10. #1750
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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
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    Is that bent keel a visual metaphor of your toe?

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