Poulsbo Yacht Club @ Bell Harbor Marina

A number of boats from the Poulsbo Yacht Club (PYC) made Bell Harbor Marina their home away from home this past weekend. Many of the visitors were decorated for the holidays.

Most boats in the fleet arrived December 1 and departed yesterday, December 4.

In addition to the unnamed vessel shown above, we recognized a number of PYC boats from the same event a year ago, including Freedom, a 51-foot LOA Offshore, M&M's Forever, a similar Offshore with a slightly longer LOA, and Intermezzo, a 41-foot LOA American Tug.

For purposes of comparison, here's a photo of the same PYC group taken on December 4, 2010.

On Sunday morning, as the boats departed, Santa seemed to have his back turned as Frosty waved good-bye.

Super Cranes Arrive in Port of Seattle

Late in the afternoon on Monday, Nov 28, three massive quayside cranes arrived at the Port of Seattle aboard the heavy-load-carrier Zhen Hua 9. Later this week, the cranes will be rolled onto Terminal 18. According to a news release issued by the Port of Seattle, these super post-Panamax cranes will allow port facilities to handle the largest container ships in the world.  Three additional super cranes are scheduled for delivery in mid-2012. The cranes are 185 feet high and capable of reaching 200 feet out over the water.

The Zhen Hua 9 is designed specifically to transport container cranes. Built in 1982 to a length of 225 meters, the ship is part of a fleet of 26 special-purpose, ocean-going delivery vehicles owned and operated by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., which manufactures the super cranes. See http://www.zpmc.com/showroom/index.html.

KING-5 News has posted an excellent video summary of the impact the new cranes will have on the port's ability to handle the new class of super post-Panamax container ships expected to arrive in Seattle within the next couple of years. According to Wikipedia, the super post-Panamax ships are 22-24 containers in width, compared with 12-13 containers for Panamax ships and 18 containers for post-Panamax vessels.