. . . although a more accurate title might be a RIB for all latitudes.  Guess what this is?  It has nothing to do with the Sedna comments I made yesterday.  These fotos were taken at 78 degrees north . . . Point Barrow is 71!!!  Yes, it is the time of year when our culture turns toward the far north, although a strongly fantastical version rather than this . ..  the real polar areas.

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Guess the 78th parallel location from this?

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Actually this post has its origin in the sixth boro.  That’s Mary Whalen in Red Hook over in the distance.  And closeup . . . it’s a 50′ RIB made by Rupert Marine.    Rupert Marine saw a “few seconds later”  foto I posted here (sixth foto)  and got in touch, sending along these fotos.

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Click here for more fotos from Portlongyear.no       and the place is

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Spitsbergen, where this Rupert 34 attempts to redefine line boat and mini-tug.  And yes . . . Costa Pacifica is a sister vessel of the infamous one.

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All fotos come thanks to Thomas Rönnberg, founder of Rupert Marine.   Thomas, Många tack!

Two recent appearances of pinnipeds on this blog were one from the Northwest Passage and the one from Fire Island, NY.