foggy day on VHF

Yesterday morning, ice slowed down all the ferries approaching World Financial Ferry Terminal.
This morning: it was all ice and fog.

Little Lady crossing before Jay Michael pushing a crane barge.

On VHF radio: “(Name of tug), 14, can I get a visibility report? thank you.”

Voices, they were all speaking:

“I can see buoy 3 and 5, but not much beyond that.’

“Can you see them?”

“Yeah, you might want to look out, the Evergreen is right behind me.”

Little Lady and Captain Log communicate as they pass each other in complete greyness.

“There’s ice in Morris Canal.”

The buoys have been pushed around by ice and are off-station.

Voices from ferries whose names I rarely hear uttered on 13, calling out today where the fog has collected extremely heavily: around Liberty and Ellis Islands.

“Miss New York, leaving Liberty Channel to Ellis Island.”

“Miss New Jersey, I see you. See you on the one.”

“Miss Freedom…” “did you leave the dock yet?” “yes, I’m in front of the Statue:” “Roger that.”

“Miss New Jersey, departing the battery wall for the Statue.”

“Miss Freedom, I’m south of the clock, where are you?”

“Leaving Morris Canal…south of you.”

“Ok…”

“I’m at the WR buoy (red buoy marking a wreck at the mouth of the Morris Canal) and I can’t see the Clock!”

 Circleline Brooklyn

I hope these passengers got sightseeing boat tickets for half-price.

Voices from the Kills:

“you waiting? what time did they say?”

“yeah, we’re waiting.”

“…leaving the Kills, docking at Hess Bayonne”

Voices from the anchorage:

“you heading over to Stapleton?”

“no, Governor’s, the jersey side.”

“Oh, ok,”

“…got a visual on you, one whistle…one whistle…”
“Yeah, Cap, I don’t have you on radar yet, but see you on the one.”

Voices from everywhere, mingling:

“…I’m coming off the range” “sorry, I thought you were taking the greens…”

“I don’t know what’s going on here.’

“…We’re going to make a hard right…”

Traffic calling individual tugs, requesting that they switch to 14.

At one point, the skies cleared and the radio fell silent. But it did not last long.

At night, the silhouette of CGC Sturgeon Bay passes southbound back to her berth in Bayonne, NJ; she’s has cleared the way for self-loading cargo ship Flintersky (flag: Netherland) to go up to Albany.

Fog, thick thick.

Warm, moist, balmy air,

Icy waters. Recipe for thick grey pea soup. Sneert!

waxing moon

The moon rose set tonight brilliantly silver, big, and thin.

I once learned a good trick which I still use to remember the difference between a waxing and waning moon.

However, it is in German.

The curve of the waxing moon fits into the cursive ‘z’ of zunehmen. Nehmen means to ‘take,’ zu means to oneself, so the moon is taking to oneself; it is augmenting, increasing. It will soon be Full.

The curve of the waning moon fits into the rounded part of the ‘a’ of abnehmen, which means to diminish, decline. (It’s not pretty, but think of ‘abscess’ and how good it is for that to diminish.) The moon will soon fade to New.

Waxing Cresent…Waxing Gibbous…Waning Gibbous…Waning Crescent
(this work has been released into the public domain by its author, Tomruen.)

Danke to my bud, Ray of Zurigo, for this tip, on that clear night in the Ticino so many moons ago.

cgc bainbridge island, southbound

USCGC Bainbridge Island (WPB-1343)

Built: Bollinger Machine Shop and Shipyard, Lockport, LA
Commissioned: September 20th, 1991
Class and type: Island Class
Displacement: 154 tons
Length: 110 ft (33.5 m)
Beam: 21 ft (6.4 m)
crew: 2 Officers, 1 CPO, 13 crew
homeport: Sandy Hook, NJ

more stats here. But, what are they serving for lunch?

waterways reskilling

Waterways reskilling! Tomorrow, Saturday, at SUNY New Paltz.

You can read about the origins of Transition here. Tomorrow’s agenda:

A Transition Reskilling turns back the clock to reclaim technologies that have immediate relevance  and are key to the carbon neutral future of the Mid-Atlantic region: 1) Sail-freight, which is resurging as people build and rebuild wooden ships for the transport of goods along coastal and inland waters of the Hudson Valley, 2) Small and micro-scale, direct hydropower generation, 3) Port & dock restoration, design and management,  4) Future fisheries,  5) Boat-building and waterwheel restoration. 

Piers 88, 90, 92 and 94: Passenger Ship Terminal, deliveries of all food stuffs, wines and beers from upriver can be unloaded directly onto cruise ships; please do not attempt to unload during bunkering.
Pier 84: due to National Security Concerns, there will be no docking near the aircraft carrier permitted; no exceptions, TWIC cards or no. Do not leave your compost here.

Pier 66: beer and wine go here! Recharge your phones at the waterwheel.

Pier 59, 60, 61: Chelsea Piers, please deliver all cargo for the harbor passenger vessels by the carousel on pier 62. For the private yachts, please arrange transfers near the golf club at pier 59. Brewery pick also at 59.

Pier 57: Marine Aviation Terminal. Please mind the fish and bivalve remediation sites (where the old pilings are) and boat launch.

Pier 40: sports field, grain mill and trapeze school. Bring your grains to be ground by the community mill. More wooden boat launches. Compost here.

Pier 25, 26: kayaks, historic ships, giant yokohama collection, dog park, restaurant.