Kalama seeks to address sand shortage with dredge spoils project

Kalama seeks to address sand shortage with dredge spoils project

To address a regional sand shortage, a critical element in concrete production, the Port of Kalama is hoping to get the go ahead for a project that would use sand dredged from the Columbia River instead of transporting sand in from elsewhere.

The river can be deceiving unless you look carefully

The river can be deceiving unless you look carefully

I was walking along the riverside in Astoria yesterday and it sure looked calm out there on the water. Upon closer inspection, there was a actually max ebb tide happening, and the water in the channel was rushing toward the sea. No wind though, and not much surface turbulence.

A reminder that the river can be deceving to the inexperienced: don’t ever forget that the mighty Columbia River is never a placid lake, no matter how many pretty reflections you can see in parts of the river’s surface.

Kalama seeks to address sand shortage with dredge spoils project

Solo racer Pip Hare’s amazing adventure

Today we’ll talk about the incredible journey of solo racing sailor Pip Hare. She was competing in the round the world Vendee Globe race in mid December, when her boat was severely damaged and lost its mast.

Instead of calling for rescue or abandoning the boat, Hare used broken parts and a small sail to create a small makeshift rig, and slowly sailed 700 miles to Melbourne, Australia.

Who’s on the river today?

A review of anchorages, and the kinds of ships that use them most on the Columbia

Today, I thought we could do an overview of anchorages on the river.  We see ships in anchorages up and down the river corridor. Why do ships stop there? What happens on board ships in the anchorage? Can ships just anchor anywhere? Why do some this anchor and others don’t?

We’ll talk about all this and more in today’s show.