The autumnal equinox happens Saturday

Today we’ll talk about what the autumnal equinox really is and why it affects everything so much on our planet. Kind of a refresher of what we learned in school, but we probably haven’t thought about it much lately. So we’ll talk about equinoxes, seasons, and – what’s an equator, and where is it exactly?

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Ballast water: complex and critical issue for ships and ecosystems

Today I’ll be answering a listener question about ballast water: what is it, how is it handled, and why it’s such a problem for world ecosystems despite ongoing efforts to make it safer.

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The dangers of being far out to sea in a vessel when something goes wrong

Today we’ll talk about an emergency at sea in the Ocean Globe Race, the round the world race that started just 10 days ago in the UK. A crew member on one of the sailboats suffered an injury that was so severe he needed to be rescued. The incident shows the limits of rescue at sea, and also the dangerous environment mariners take on when they go far offshore.

Image Caption: The crew of French OGR entrant Triana (66) FR assisted Stéphane Raguenes into the liferaft before being winched onboard the helicopter and flown to Madeira for medical attention. Credit: OGR 2023 / Margault Demasles

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A listener question, in light of our wave warning: what conditions cause sneaker waves?

Yesterday the National Weather Service in Portland issued a sneaker wave warning for Oregon and Washington beaches for Monday and Tuesday. That prompted a listener to ask: how do we know that sneaker waves are coming?

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The research vessel Atlantis, visiting the Port of Astoria, has a long and impressive history

Today we’ll feature an esteemed visitor at the Port of Astoria docks: the famous research vessel Atlantis, which has on board the also famous submersible Alvin. We’ll talk about what this high tech ship does and why she’s in our neighborhood.

Image of the Atlantis courtesy Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

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Ships come and go, as our weather see-saws its way toward fall and winter

More today about who’s coming and going on the river today. Meanwhile, our fall weather pattern continues to see-saw between summer and autumn, with gusty winds and bigger seas, and then – back to sunshine next week.

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A look at today’s ship schedule and marine weather, including the reasons for wind

Today an in-depth look at our daily ship schedule and marine weather: we’ve got a good complement of ships on the river today, and they are true to form for us here on the Columbia – mostly dry bulk carriers with a smattering of other kinds of vessels.

And a little about our autumny weather, which includes high pressure here and low pressure to the south. The perfect prescription for gusty northerly winds.

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Cruise ship aground in remote Arctic Greenland highlights risks of high-latitude travel

Right now a cruise ship sits aground in a remote fjord in a Greenland national park, days away from the nearest rescue vessel. So far the crew has been unable to refloat her with the rising tide. The situation so far is stable, but it brings up troubling issues of ships with lots of people on board, traveling where resources to help them are few and the consequences high if anything catastrophic goes wrong.

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Ocean Globe retro sailing race begins, as boats race from the UK to Cape Town

Another retro, low tech sailing race began on Sunday – it’s called the Ocean Globe Race. In this race, like the Golden Globe which started a year ago this month, sailboats will retrace the route of the old sailing Clipper ships.

On Sunday, 14 boats with about 12 crew on each left Southhampton, England, headed for their first stop, Cape Town, South Africa. It should take them about a month to get there.

The race could be dramatic, grueling and dangerous – based on past experience. Historically, lots of boats start, but few make it to the end.

The race is billed as a race for “everyman” because it’s much lower cost to participate than the average high tech yacht race. One boat called, “Maiden,” has an all-female crew.

They’ll be finding their way at sea with no fancy electronic gear, racing like it’s 1988. Sextants, paper charts and lots of adventure.

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Boatlift: a memorable and wonderful moment in the midst of disaster

Today, on September 11, we remember those lost on this day in 2001 in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.

Today we remember Operation Boatlift.

After the towers fell, hundreds of thousands of people were desperate to get off Manhattan Island. But they had nowhere to go, since bridges subways, and tunnels in and out of the city were closed, and the city was in chaos. Then the Coast Guard issued a call to “all available boats” to come and help. The response was immediate and astounding.

Within minutes, hundreds of tug boats, ferries, pleasure boats, vessels of all kinds, started streaming toward the bottom of Manhattan, from all over NY and adjoining harbors. Together, in a miraculous spur of the moment mobilzation of mariners wanting to help – they evacuated 500,00 people to safety.

If you’d like to watch the memorable short film quoted in this podcast, please watch Boatlift (link below). It’ll be among the best 11 minutes you’ll ever spend. Have a box of tissues nearby. If you’re anything like me, you’ll need it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg

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