Cougar Rendezvous

Washington State plays Oregon State tomorrow at the Clink (Century Link Field) in downtown Seattle, and seagoing Cougar fans have been arriving at Bell Harbor Marina for the past couple of days.

It's not difficult to find the boats that belong to Cougar fans. They're festooned with banners in the distinctive Cougar crimson and gray.

Here is a sampling of the Cougar armada in Bell Harbor Marina late this afternoon.

Elliott Bay Traffic Jam

On Saturday afternoon, October 8, we observed the Crowley tug, Hunter, as it was dispatched to assist the container ship, Arthur Maersk, arriving with cargo from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Followers of this blog will recall that Hunter has won the Class A Unlimited tugboat race at the Seattle Maritime Festival every year it has competed since 1995. See our Saturday, May 14 entry. Hunter is considered the fastest tugboat on the West Coast.

According to the AIS data sheet at MarineTraffic.com, the Arthur Maersk departed Shanghai for Seattle on September 30. It arrived in Elliott Bay at about 3:30 PM.

Normally, container vessels proceed directly to their berths in either the east or west waterway. But Saturday was not a normal day. Two vessels were departing the east waterway just as the Arthur Maersk arrived.

First, the MSC Fabienne, a 55,000 T cargo vessel owned and operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company, backed out of the east waterway with tug assist and departed for San Francisco.

Then, Zim Ningbo, a 91,000 T cargo vessel owned and operated by ZIM Integrated Shipping, made a similar stern-first departure from the east waterway, executing a counter-clockwise spin maneuver before departing Elliott Bay.

Finally, an hour after its arrival, the Arthur Maersk proceeded to its east waterway berth. During its hour or so wait, the ship drifted north of the ferry lanes awaiting clearance to enter the waterway. As it drifted, prevailing winds caused Arthur Maersk to slide gradually to the northwest, toward Pier 62-63 and the Seattle Aquarium. Acting at the direction of the ship's pilot, the Hunter and its companion tug, Chief, kept Arthur Maersk several hundred yards away.

Playing on the Pier

On Saturday, October 8, a group of urban design, landscape, and architecture students from UW's Department of Architecture created a temporary exhibition at Pier 62/63.

The exhibition displayed interactive sculptures that were intended to interpret Seattle’s waterfront and remind people that one of Seattle’s most extraordinary assets is the edge where the city meets the Sound. See http://uwarch-belog.com/index.php/2011/10/saturday-playing-on-the-pier/.

As waterfront exhibits go, we would rank this one near the bottom.  Late in the day, a newlywed couple was significantly more interested in taking a break from a post-wedding photoshoot than in exploring the students' handiwork.

M/V Polar Bear

On September 28 (a spectacular day in Seattle, by the way), M/Y Polar Bear entered Bell Harbor Marina.  

Polar Bear is a 102-foot super yacht launched earlier this year. She was built by Citadel Yachts, Tacoma, WA. See SuperYachtTimes.com for further information.

According to CharterWorld.com, Polar Bear was conceived and built for "an experienced U.S. yachtsman." We have been unable to determine the yachtsman's identity. Our only clue is that Polar Bear is registered in Grand Forks, ND. 

CharterWorld.com indicates that Polar Bear is powered by twin 685-hp Caterpillar C-18B diesel engines. She has a range in excess of 5,000 nautical miles. Her generous 28-foot beam accommodates about 3,000 square feet of interior living space.

When her owner and guests desire to leave the boat, Polar Bear offers three options -- a small dinghy, a larger inflatable equipped with a 115-hp Yamaha outboard, and a beautiful Robalo sportfishing boat with a 250-hp Yamaha outboard engine.

We see many nice boats go in and out of Bell Harbor Marina.  But none nicer than this.

Scuffy the Tugboat(s) visit Bell Harbor Marina

Are you old enough to remember the children's book, Scuffy the Tugboat? It was first published in 1946. Scuffy was a toy tugboat who wished for "bigger things" than sailing in the bathtub. A man and his son took Scuffy to a small brook in a pasture, and soon the current carried Scuffy away. At first Scuffy was pleased. But the brook became a stream, and then a small river, and finally a large river, and Scuffy was overwhelmed. Just as he was about to sail off onto the high seas, Scuffy was rescued by the man and his boy and returned to the bathtub, where Scuffy was content to stay for the remainder of his days.

Well, Scuffy the Tugboat sailed into Bell Harbor Marina this weekend -- or, more accurately, several Scuffies sailed into the marina. The occasion was the Lord Nelson Victory Tug Rendezvous, held August 26-28 at the marina.

Lord Nelson Victory Tugs were produced by Lord Nelson Yachts, Ltd., Seattle, Washington, and built in Taiwan. The tugs are no longer in production, with the last hull having been laid in August 1998. All were long-range motor yachts designed in the style of a tugboat. A total of 861 Victory Tugs in three models ranging in length from 37 to 49 feet were built. See http://www.lnvt.org/tug-history.

Most of the tugs in attendance at Bell Harbor were 37' models, but we also saw a couple of 49-footers, including Polar Mist, which was polished to perfection for the rendezvous.

If these photos don't satisfy your hunger for photos of Lord Nelson Victory Tugs, go to the LNVT Owner's Gallery at Picasa where you'll find 99 separate albums devoted exclusively to these attractive vessels.

Seafair

The Blue Angels visited Seattle this past weekend to celebrate Seafair, Seattle's annual summer festival. Although the squadron of six Boeing F/A-18 Hornets performed over Lake Washington rather than Elliott Bay, we caught several glimpses of the team as it took off from, and landed at, nearby Boeing Field.

During Seafair, we had a birds-eye view of the guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson, which was berthed at Pier 66.

The Sampson is an Arleigh Burke-class US Navy destroyer launched in Bath, Maine in 2006. She carries a crew of about 370 and is capable of speeds exceeding 30 knots.

Because of space constraints at Pier 66, where the Sampson was berthed, her bow projected a good distance into the entrance to Bell Harbor Marina, requiring private boats to exercise caution when entering and exiting the marina. US Coast Guard patrol boats provided escort and security during the Sampson's visit.

Despite its berthing at Pier 66, the Sampson set an anchor on the floor of Elliott Bay to secure its position. She weighed anchor only a few minutes before her departure at 8 AM Monday morning.

S/V Pallada

Yesterday, the Russian sailing vessel, Pallada, entered Elliott Bay. Pallada left Vladivostok on July 1 on a three-month trans-Pacific expedition. Immediately prior to its call in Seattle, Pallada visited Victoria, BC.

The Russian information agency, Rianovosti, reports that  Guinness World Records lists Pallada as the fastest sailing ship in the world, capable of speeds in excess of 18 knots. However, a search of the Guinness web site fails to support that claim. We could find no reference to Pallada on the site, but we did find a reference to the greatest distance covered under sail in 24 hours (766.8 nautical miles, or an average speed of 31.95 knots), leading us to believe that the agency may be stretching the truth when it comes to Pallada's capabilities.

Speed claims notwithstanding, Pallada is a beautiful sailing vessel and a welcome, if temporary, addition to the Elliott Bay waterfront.