Today’s show is about situational awareness, the skill of paying attention to what’s happening around you even when your tendency might be to daydream. It’s a factor in maritime accidents, and avoiding them, and is just part of the challenging work that mariners do. We’ll talk about how maritime accidents can happen. And how mariners think ahead to avoid problems, in a work environment where tremendous forces are at play.

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More today on the Beaufort Wind Scale… after yesterday’s podcast was cut off because of radio broadcast difficulties, I decided to redo the show so that listeners would be sure to hear about this historic, fun and useful scale that is still widely used today.

In my research for this episode, I ended up finding out even more about the Beaufort Wind Scale than I knew before. So, this Ship Report comes with a tongue-in-cheek advisory: it may be for serious geeks only. Here is probably more than you ever wanted to know about the Wind Scale to End All Wind Scales… ♥

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This legendary scale for determining wind speed by looking at what’s happening around you was developed in the 1880s by an Irish military officer named Francis Beaufort. It’s still used today by sailors on land and at sea to tell how hard the wind is blowing by the visible effects wind has on things like the sea state, trees and structures on land. Part one of a two part podcast on the famous Beaufort Wind Scale.

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One consequence of the cessation of cruises during the pandemic is that idle cruise ships are deterorating from lack of use. And more and more of them are simply being scrapped by companies who no longer want to pay to maintain them.

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There are new rules afoot for commercial and recreational fishing on the mainstem Columbia River, slated to take effect next year. The new rules reverse some changes made seven years ago when commercial fishers were banned from the mainstem of the river. And commercial fishermen are now entitled to a larger share of the total allowed catch for the season.

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There are basically two general types of bulk carriers we see on the Columbia: geared and gearless. Today we talk about what that means.

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There will soon be a sailing car carrier (RO-RO: roll on- roll off vessel) on the high seas, built in Sweden.

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We’re over our heads in wildfire smoke locally and that’s making for some foggy/smoky days on the river. Ships are noisier than usual, to keep themselves and their fellow travelers in other vessels safe from collisions. Let’s look at common ship horn signals you’re likely to hear on the river – a lot – this week.

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