Mardi Gras 2

Ooops . . . I used the title “mardi gras” three years ago, so I’ll add “2” today, but it’s Fat Tuesday, and where is this eponym of a city synonymous for festivities of the day?

Why, the sixth boro  . .  that’s where, and headed out as quickly as possible.  But focus on her a moment;  containerships with center houses separated from the engine might be more common in the future.

Here’s how loaded she was when she arrived yesterday, as captured by John Watson.

She departed with possibly fewer containers showing, making this

mardi maigre  . . . skinny tuesday.

Not that only a few containers fit on the vessel.  CSAV Rio de Janiero is post-panamax, i.e., she won’t fit through the current Panama Canal.  To compare her dimensions with a container vessel recently featured here, she has the same beam as APL Indonesia but is 111′ longer and carries 1045 more TEUs.

Right now she’s bearing down on Baltimore, flying into a 25-knot wind.

Here she’s clears Sandy Hook.

Third foto thanks to John Watson.  All others come thanks to Jean Pierre Lailedaigle;  I hope to get Jean Pierre’s fotos more often  . . . .    CSAV Rio de Janiero was launched in 2009 as Medondra.

Unrelated:  Hats off to Rick Old Salt for this post on the crisis PortSide NewYork’s Mary Whalen.    A public meeting to discuss saving her will be held this coming Monday.  See info at the end of Rick’s post.  The folks at PortSideNewYork and Mary Whalen HAVE contributed much to sixth boro cultural programming the past few years, but “homelessness” has reduced their capacity to succeed.  Here’s a post I did on Mary Whalen back in 2008.

Bulker Queen

In the sixth boro Queens come and go, shipping and schlepping all sorts of cargo.

Here Miriam Moran and

Kimberly Turecamo escort

a Queen from Claremont Terminal to Port Newark.

This Queen carries bulk,

probably scrap metal, and hails from Viet Nam.

As she turns into the KVK, Tai Bai Hai, a very rusty bulker from Tianjian, China, escorted by Ron G and Resolute slips astern.

And still farther along, Vinalines Queen streams past GLDD dredge Florida.

The last three fotos comes compliments of John Watson;  all others by Will Van Dorp.

By the way, Alice is said to have slipped into Brooklyn last night, Mardi Gras, under cover of darkness, but I have had no visual contact.

Atchafalaya

or maybe I should call this “windy saturday 2,” because as I watched the merciless wind from a shelter on the “cliff,” Kyle Stubbs felt it from the water.  All fotos today come thanks to his efforts.  Merci merci.

And these first two fotos, perfectly complement (as in andouille to crawfish-boil)  Bowsprite’s recent Jumbolaya post here.    It’s the dredge Atchafalaya, named for the great Cajun river and region. (Treat yourself to the 7.5-minute video at that link:  great cuisine, music, accents, and swampscapes .)

Atchafalaya first splashed into the water way up in St. Paul MN in 1980, quite a journey from its namesake.

Recall how gusty Saturday was:  additional assist work is needed, as in yesterday’s foto of James Turecamo standing by Pati T. Moran.  Here Brendan Turecamo waits at Robbins Reef Light to

tie in.

Ditto here as Mary Gellatly assists Quantico Creek and Doubleskin 39, like a refusing-to-huddle mass under a dramatic sky.

Here decommissioned 65′ harbor tug Swivel shuttles between Governor’s Island and Lower Manhattan.

And finally, harbinger of fotos coming tomorrow, Spirit of America defies the winds as it heads for St. George.

Again, many thanks to Kyle Stubbs for sending along these fotos.

My parting question:  which company now operates Atchafalaya?  Or . . is that a Crowley “C” on the stack?

And with all these Cajun and pre-Mardi Gras  references, check out the blog of a local Brasilian Carnival expert here.   Laissez les bons temps rouler.     And for the young at heart, watch Robert J. Flaherty’s Louisana Story here, for authentic life in Atchafalaya Country.

Refurbishing Patty Nolan

For info on the Patty Nolan bikini contest, click the small foto below.

V-Day, Chinese New Year, and Mardi Gras @!@#@!! . . . within hours of each other …  makes this a special set of days.  Here’s my 2010 Mardi Gras post, quite different from 2009’s.   The vessel below is Patty Nolan, high and dry in Verplanck, New York.  I featured fotos of Patty at least twice before, notably here and here, the second one initially being a mystery tug foto taken by Jed.

Patty Nolan is the second tug owned by Capts Dave Williams and John Johnsen.  The first–Lewis F Boyer aka Tug Travis–floated from 1920 until 2001, when it was “reefed” off New Jersey.  Fotos of the sinking can be seen here.

Some history and specs:  built by Merritt-Chapman and Whitney in Superior, WI (a suburb of Duluth, MN) in 1931, Patty’s vitals are 41′ x 13′ x 6.’

Note the keel cooler.

Sweet lines await de-barnacling and re-painting by early March.

Power is provided by a 300-hp Cummins, circa 1954.

Controls on this 79-year-old hull have been upgraded, like this “joystick”  aka NFU and

remote control.

You might be wondering how this could be a “mardi-gras” post, for any reason other than I’ve returned from a multi-stop gallivant today, “monday before mardi gras.”  Here’s the tie:  note the “figurehead” more accurately “figure-figure”, yellow bikini-clad in the fotos below.

Once this bikini was neon-yellowishgreen.

Sunny months of braving the elements as well as shivering months of languishing in the cold wheelhouse bombarded by UV light have faded the color of the Hudson River’s only tugboat figurehead.

To put it plainly, upon consultation with Captains Dave and John as well as Dr. Elizabeth, we have concluded that Patty Nolan needs a new bikini. And I’m humbly asking for your help, sort of like the fund-raisers on NPR, PBS, and various & sundy political organizations. Here’s how you can help:

1. Send me, tugster, a foto of a bikini. It can be new or old, solid color or print (polka dot, tile, school or business logo), skimpy or ample, cloth or some other material, even contemporary or traditional.

2. I prefer that the foto sent in be on a model, any model. Given that Patty Nolan’s “figure-figure” lacks . . . a head, arms, and lower-half-legs, what COULD be depicted of the model could mimic Patty’s figurefigure. I realize I could be inviting all manner of tugster “hate mail” here, but we are an equal opportunity, gender-equality- and whole-person- promoting blog.

3. Fotos will be judged by tugster and Capts Dave and John. The winner will be announced on March 20, which just happens to be the spring equinox.

4. Prize: fame–”coin of the realm” in the blogging world–and signing rights on the bikini. Also, lunch with luminaries at the Peekskill Brewery.

All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.

Here’s a Mardi Gras film I’d like to see . . .

Best Mardi Gras on a waterblog . . .  that’s Horse’s Mouth!!