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History and Hops – a Ship Report talk in Seaside on Thursday
Tomorrow I’ll be giving a talk at the Seaside Brewing Co. at 851 Broadway in Seaside at 6 pm. I’ll be talking about a 10-day Pacific Northwest voyage at sea that I took in 2010 on a gypsum carrier sailing out of Rainier on the Columbia, up to Puget Sound and south to San Francisco. It was a pretty lifechanging event. I hope you can join me there.
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As the days grow longer – a look at the equinox and what it means
Last Friday was the spring equinox, and it’s evident that days are indeed getting longer. Today we’ll take a look at how that all works and why the days get longer now and shorter later in the year. And when is the equinox anyway? Turns out it can change from year to year.
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“Don’t Let the Cat Out of the Bag” – a nautical talk about maritime lore and superstition
Today’s show is all about an upcoming talk at Astoria’s Columbia River Maritime Museum, featuring career mariner Jason “Boats” Linnett. He’ll be giving a talk at the museum on Friday, March 27th at 5:30 pm. The Museum is on Marine Drive on the waterfront at 17th Street.
Today we’ll talk with Julia Triezenberg, who handles adult education for the museum, and lecturer Jason “Boats” Linnett, about his maritime career and the topic of maritime expressions and superstitions, which permeate modern language and culture.
This podcast is a longer version of the show that aired on KMUN radio this morning. Enjoy learning more about these interesting people and what they do.
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The Mercy arrives Thursday morning
Note: I’m posting this the night before (Wednesday evening even though it’s Thursday’s podcast), so that early birds can have the info about seeing the Mercy pass by on the river Thursday morning.
Well, our much anticipated ship, the US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy, will cross the Columbia River Bar into the river early Thursday morning around 6 am, passing Astoria inbound around 7:30 am. She’s headed to the shipyard in Portland for maintenance and repairs.
Look for her at upriver locations as she travels. by using marinetraffic or vesselfinder to track her progress.
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A look at the US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy, arriving in the river Thursday morning
A look at the USNS Mercy, the US Navy hospital ship that is arriving on the Columbia early Thursday morning. She’s headed for the Swan Island shipyard in Portland for maintenance and repairs.
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USNS Mercy hospital ship comes to the Columbia this week
The US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is due to arrive on the Columbia later this week. She’s headed for Portland for maintenance at the Vigor Shipyard in Portland. Today we’ll talk a bit about this unusual ship, a floating hospital that can travel the oceans of the world. Her role is to support our military, and also fulfill humanitarian missions around the globe.
Mercy Columbia River ETA: Current info I have about her arrival shows her on the Columbia inbound Thursday morning about 7:30 am past Astoria. She’s already off the mouth of the Columbia River this morning. But it also looks like there may be a ship in the dry dock where she needs to go. I’ll keep tabs on her progress and post them on this page as I learn more.
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How ships make their way in the dark
Today I’ll answer a listener question about why ships seem to have so few lights on, on the exterior of the ship, when they are traveling at night.
There are two main reasons: preserving night vision for the crew on the bridge so they can see what’s out there, as much as possible, in diminished visibility.
Also, ships have designated, legally mandated running lights in a specific configuration that allows other vessels to know what they are looking at when they see it coming.
Even with all the modern tech on board (GPS, ECDIS, radar, etc.) these simple, time-tested tools for ship navigation remain vital.
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A look at weather and ships, as we shoulder another atmospheric river
A few basics about what happens at sea and on the river when the weather gets problematic for vessels. There can be delays – and when ships finally move again can depend on a complex mix of factors related to weather, sea state and tides.
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How do ships choose what speed to travel in the river?
This may seem like an obvious question (they slow down), but the answer is actually quite complex. Today we’ll talk about ship speed in enclosed environments, about things like current and tides, and about some more obscure aspects of the physics of water that heavily affect ships in rivers.
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Cold front could bring low land snow, gales
We’re looking at an unusual cold weather event through today, with cold air coming down from Alaska. That could bring inland snow, and maybe some light snow/flurries to the coast.
The marine weather forecast includes the potential for gale force winds.
Overall it will be a wet week – a good thing for mitigating drought and fire risk later in the year.
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