Wind line on Elliott Bay, w/ navigation hazard

There was a very clear wind line on Elliott Bay at mid-day. A brisk northerly was blowing farther out on the water, but because the area of the bay east of the grain terminal (Pier 86) is protected by Queen Anne hill, the waters near Pier 66 were dead calm. The dividing line between rippled and calm water is easy to see in the above photograph.

Later, while observing activity on Elliott Bay, we heard a tug report the presence of a navigation hazard to Seattle Traffic (VHF Channel 14). A piling was floating vertically in the water, with only a couple of feet visible above the surface.  In the photograph below, the hazard is visible just off the port bow of Goodtime II, an Argosy tour boat that was conducting man-overboard drills off Pier 66.

Kiel Express Arrives

The Hapag-Lloyd container ship M/V Kiel Express arrived in Elliott Bay this afternoon. The Kiel Express has a capacity of 4,626 TEU's (twenty-foot equivalent units), or about 2,300 normal (40-foot) size shipping containers. The ship was delivered in 1991.

In a somewhat unusual display of inter-company cooperation, the ship was escorted to its berth by one Foss tug and one Crowley tug.

Vessel Cooperation

Today, we were monitoring Channel 14 as the Washington state ferry, M/V Hyak, departed Pier 52 for Bremerton. Shortly after departure, the ferry hailed the captain of M/V Fortune Daisy, a 40,000 T bulk carrier that was passing across the ferry lanes to a berth at Pier 86, the Port of Seattle grain terminal, and asked the captain to switch to Channel 13, the frequency designated by the FCC for bridge-to-bridge communications.

The ferry captain confirmed the Fortune Daisy's course and suggested that the vessels pass starboard-to-starboard, or green-to-green. The Fortune Daisy's captain acknowledged the Hyak and agreed.

This type of communication between vessels happens constantly on Elliott Bay and serves to remind us of the care exercised by captains of large vessels transiting these waters.

In the above photo, the vessels can be seen in the distance, passing as agreed (starboard-to-starboard). The vessel in the foreground is M/V Goodtime II, a tour boat operated by Argosy Cruises.

Elliott Bay Open-Water Disposal Site

Under Washington law, the disposal of dredged materials from rivers, harbors, and shipping lanes in Puget Sound is managed and monitored by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the US Environmental Projection Agency, and the Washington Department of Ecology. The DNR monitoring program is funded solely by disposal fees paid by dredging operators who use the open water disposal sites.

Today, we observed the Star Marine tug, Redwood City, escorting a bottom-dump hopper barge (or scow) depositing a load of dredged materials at the Elliott Bay disposal site. These scows are fitted with bottom opening doors and are designed specifically to deliver bulk material to open-water disposal sites. In the sequence shown below, the scow appears to break along its center-line as the materials are released at the Elliott Bay site.

Orca Blue Visits Bell Harbor Marina

The weather in Seattle has been beautiful for the past couple of days -- so beautiful, in fact, that a good friend and I ventured out on Tuesday for a round of golf at Washington National GC in Auburn. The temperature at tee-off was a brisk 38 degrees, but the course was reasonably dry and in very good shape for this time of year. Our goal is to play at least once each month during the off-season, and so far, we've been able to play in each of November, December and January. With lowland snow in the forecast for the Seattle area early next week, we may not get another chance this month.

A beautiful Northwest Trawler 45 entered Bell Harbor Marina today. According to boatinfoworld.com, this Northwest 45, the Orca Blue, was delivered in 2008 and is owned by Larry and Linda Hansen of Sammamish, WA. The Orca Blue is powered by a single John Deere PowerTech marine diesel engine. See http://pdf.nauticexpo.com/pdf/john-deere/marine-powersource-vol-1-2009-recreational/21509-13958-_22.html.

There's a well-written, detailed account of Orca Blue's 2-1/2 month cruise to Glacier Bay, Alaska in 2009 in a blog post by Peter Whiting, the co-developer of the Northwest Trawlers.

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.