Posts published in “November-December 2024”
In Ancient times, if you became sick on a Roman galley, your medical plan allowed you to be thrown overboard, fortunately without any cost or co-pay to you. The Romans didn’t consider it “Socialism”! Yet here, in the good old USA, this simple effective plan…
Cruising the Northwest Passage in the high Arctic is something casual boaters cannot do on their own. For my Arctic experience, I went with the experts at Adventure Canada. For 17 days we explored 3255 miles of remote waterways in the high latitudes of the…
Longfin squid are graceful swimmers that seem to glide through the water with little effort. As they swim at a low speed, their fins move in a wave-like fashion, but when they accelerate, their fins flap up and down. They are also capable of jet…
Here is a marine problem to tease the brain. How do you lift a 133,500-ton cruise ship that is nearly as long as the Eiffel Tower is high? This modern cruise ship is over 1000 feet long and 158 feet wide and needed to be…
There are a few places along the New England shore in winter where the only sounds you’ll hear are the cry of gulls and the only footprints you’ll see are your own. One of these places is Watch Hill, Rhode Island in the off-season, the…
So much is going on right now I feel like I can’t keep up with it all. I love the Fall season but at the same time feel a bit of a crush to get things done. Leaves start falling, slowly at first and then…
Each month, an interesting aspect of the world’s oldest continuous maritime service will be highlighted. The men and women of the United States Coast Guard follow in the fine tradition of the brave mariners who have served before them. As sentinels and saviors of the…
What does “seaworthiness” mean? That seems like an easy question. We usually think of seaworthiness in terms of a vessel that’s well-designed and well-built. What might come to mind is a heavy deep-vee hull that could comfortably make the canyon run in three-foot seas, while…
If you’ve ever seen the reflection of the blue-rotating hailing light in the reflection of your windshield, you’ve felt the quickening in certain parts of your body – “Jeez, what did I do wrong??” The United States Coast Guard can and will board you at…