Rules of the road on the water

Just like there are rules of how we behave on the road in our cars, there are rules about how to behave when you are in a boat. Today we talk about how to handle if it you meet another vessel when you are traveling on the water.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

A look at the staggering amount of ocean plastic, and a new treaty that may help

Our oceans are accumulating a staggering amount of plastic, at a pace that shows no signs of slowing. Now a new UN treaty aims to address this growing problem, for the health and welfare of all nations.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Cruise ship heads to Portland drydock

Today we’ll see a cruise ship in the river, but she’s not carrying passengers. This time this ship is headed for the shipyard. We’ll talk about what shipyards do, and why Portland’s Swan Island yard is specially equipped to handle big ships like this one.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Today’s ships, and a bit about the things we don’t see

We’ll take a look at who’s arriving and departing on the river today, and talk a little about the upriver portion of the chain of commerce that folks on the lower river don’t always see.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Cars on the Columbia

Today we’ll talk about those odd-looking car ships we see on the river, and about new brands of cars coming into the Port of Portland.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

The odd and sometimes humorous history of the Beaufort Wind Scale

The Beaufort Wind Scale is that table of wind speeds which gives us assessments of wind intensity based on a scale from 0-12, according to what we see happening around us on land and sea. It was created in the early 1800s, and is still used today. It evolved from earlier, vaguer scales that weren’t defined clearly. Today we take a look at the evolution of the Beaufort Scale. Some of its iterations were really helpful to mariners, and some were just, well, charmingly silly.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

The legendary Sargasso Sea and why it was so feared by sailors

The Sargasso Sea has been in the news this week, because of drifting seaweed that could reach the US. But during the age of wind, mariners on sailing ships feared the Sargasso, because ships often became becalmed there and crews perished from starvation and lack of drinking water.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

It’s the first day of spring! Or is it?

Today is the first day of astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere. But for meterologists, spring has been in session since the 1st of March.. We’ll talk about why there are two springs, two falls, two summers, etc.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

There’s a new “biggest container ship in the world” – what does that mean?

Today we talk about the latest “biggest container ship in the world,” the MSC Irina. She can carry more than 24,000 containers – that’s a lot. But is she the biggest ship? We’ll talk about how “bigness” is defined in the world of shipping.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

News on ocean salmon seasons for southern Oregon coast

This week ODFW announced that the spring commercial chinook salmon fishing seasons south of Cape Falcon would be cancelled this year. And the recreational fishery is closed for part of that area of the coast. More to come on summer and fall seasons, which have yet to be decided.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More