Containership set to be towed up the Columbia to Portland early Tuesday

Very early tomorrow morning an unusual occurrence will happen on the river: Tugs will tow a large containership upriver to Portland to have her rudder repaired. She’s been towed all the way from Seattle and will end up at Portland’s Swan Island shipyard. Getting her all the way here with tugs helping her steer is a delicate matter, made more complex by the mighty, winding Columbia. We’ll talk a little about the process.

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A look at a beloved Astoria vessel that was a gamechanger: the pilot boat Peacock

As hometown boats go, the Peacock is a star. She’s moored on land permanently outside the Columbia River Maritime Museum, but during her career as a pilot boat here on the Columbia and out in the ocean, she set a new standard for access to the river during bad weather, which revoutionized ship traffic here. Tip your hat to her as you drive by. She deserves it.

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How can we make beachgoing safer? And when do we speak up?

Many of us who live here in coastal Oregon and Washington are too familiar with the sad stories of people, often children, being pulled out to sea by rip currents and sneaker waves on area beaches.

But residents who try to warn visitors of the dangers often get a hostile response. What’s the average citizen’s responsibility here? And is there more we can do as beach communities to warn people of the dangers without scaring them away altogether, when tourism is an important part of the region’s livelihood?

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A return to the era of sailing ships? A new cargo ship embraces sail

There’s a new RO-RO cargo ship under construction in Turkey, in what may be the first modern cargo ship to embrace sail as its primaryu mode of propulsion. (A RO-RO ship is a ship can can carry vehicles – Roll on, Roll off…)

We’ll talk about what thie new build will be like, and how it compares to the magnificent clipper ships of old, which were pretty darn fast in their own right – fast enough to compete with today’s engine-powered vessels.

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What if first responders couldn’t save you?

Today we hear a sobering message from local Oregon Coast first responders who respond to incidents where beachgoers are swept away by sneaker waves on beaches and jetties: sometimes conditions are so bad they can’t save you.

With King Tides still an issue locally, and sneaker waves a threat year round, we hear today from the professionals who do their best for us during tragic emergencies on the water.

For more information about the interviews you heard on today’s show, see the Tillamook County Pioneer online (tillamookcountypioneer.net). The featured video on their website is called: Safe Storm Watching. Watch it here.

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A musical look at the bewildering world of sailboat jargon

Today, something light to cheer us up – we’ll hear a song from New England singer-songwriter Molly Conole, called “Sea Talk,” about her thrilling (but initially bewildering) introduction to the world of recreational sailing, and catboats in particular.

Photo: Molly and Mark hard at work in the recording studio. Photo courtesy Mark Alan Lovewell.

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Why cargo loading can be a life or death matter

One thing all of the ships we see on the Columbia have in common: they were all loaded properly at the dock for safe stability at sea. If this doesn’t happen, the consequences can be deadly.

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Whale washed up on Warrenton beach highlights ship dangers

A dead whale washed up on a beach in Warrenton, and experts attribute its death to a ship strike. We’ll talk about the risks ships pose for whales.

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Tragic incident shows the danger of waterways that rush to the sea

Today we’re talking about how overpowering our waterways can be here on the PNW coast, where danger lurks not just on the infamous Columbia River Bar, but anywhere there’s a waterway that meets the Pacific Ocean.

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The days are getting longer even if it doesn’t feel like it

Today, in the midst of rain, rain, rain, let’s talk about what’s up above the clouds: the sun, which is making its way into our days more and more as we head toward spring, even if we don’t notice it just yet. And a bit about the moon, that other celestial body we see now and then when the clouds part.

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