Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots – Part 2

Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots – Part 2

Today we continue listening to excerpts from an interview I did recently with Len Tumbarello, executive director of the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots, the public body that oversees operations for the Columbia River Bar and River Pilot organizations, as well as maritime pilots in Coos Bar and Newport.

Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots, Part 1

Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots, Part 1

I’ll be away this week for a little time off, and I’ll be featuring excerpts this week on the show from a recent interview I did with Len Tumbarello, executive director of the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots.

We’ll be taking a look at this vital organization and talking about a subset of the maritime industry that passes by our doors daily here on the Columbia River, but which most of us know little about – the specialized profession of being a maritime pilot, and how that profession is regulated by the state, for safety and commerce.

Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots, Part 1

A look at the forecast: more snow?

Well, we had a tiny “snowpocalyps” in Astoria Monday and Tuesday, and by that I mean short periods of intense snow that were really cool and pretty (for those of us who love snow) but disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived.

Will there be more? We’ll take a look at the forecast for the rest of the week.

And some ships…

The bulbous bow: an odd-looking, but very efficient, ship design feature

The bulbous bow: an odd-looking, but very efficient, ship design feature

There’s a unusual-looking ship design feature that’s on pretty much all the ships that arrive here on the Columbia. When a ship is loaded, it’s out of sight below the waterline, but on ships that are waiting for cargo, like in anchorages, you can sometimes see it.

It’s called the bulbous bow. It looks like a round or cylindrical protuberance sticking out in front of the ship at the front, below the waterline. Strange looking, yes, but it actually reduces drag, and improves ship efficiency and speed.