CB5

This is Oswego to Port Colborne, by way of Rochester . . . actually Charlotte on the Genesee.   The whale-watch headed Grande Caribe.  No . . . the Great Lakes have no whales. At the port is Robert S. Pierson, a river-class bulker.

I repeat a variation of this image.  The Erie canal flows under the arched bridge and the Genesee . . . under the longer, flatter bridge.

We take a pilot right outside Port Weller, the Ontario end of the Welland Canal, and then

enter upbound.

 

Nassau-flagged Victory II met us between locks 7 and 8.

From right to left here, that’s Pierson  again, a sailing vessel, and Capt. Henry Jackman.

Now more on that sailing vessel . . . schooner Empire Sandy.  You have to read this link:  she started her life as a tugboat!

HMCS Oriole is a 1921 ketch, whose origins hearken back to both Toronto and Neponset, MA.

 

Capt. Henry Jackman waits in Port Colborne as does

Baie St Paul. Jackman was built in the Collingwood Shipyards, whereas St Paul comes from Jiangsu China.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

aka Bud Lite Hotel

Rumor has it that there’s an event in town this weekend . . . and this is temporary housing that’s been made available . . . .  Pete Genovese of the Star-Ledger got an invite to a racy party, but somehow tugster’s invite got lost in the mail?  Bravo, Pete.

Oh well . . .  these fotos of the two 146,000 ton identical ships in the same place at the same time are special enough.  Many thanks to Phil Little for these.  And as of this writing, Breakaway

has already left nearly 24 hours ago.

Getaway leaves after the weekend.  Click here for some views behind the scenes of this nearly-4000 passenger vessel.

Again . .  thanks much Phil for these views.  Maybe next time there’s a big water-borne bash in town we’ll get invites too.

NYC Tugboat Race 2013 b

The race may last for less than 10 minutes for (most) boats, but each participant spends hours before and after.  Here, using the power of thousands of conceptual horses and one very real donkey, all four vessels in Miller contingent make their way upriver.

At Pier 66, crew on deck and crew below start them up.

Lady B (read her interesting history here and here, the latter explaining that the “B” stands for either “Benazir” or Bhutto.”

For boats that arrive on the scene early, Red Hook may have come straight from a job delivering bunker to Norwegian Breakaway, there’s time for what might look like lollygagging, and

(in these next two shots from William Hyman) saluting the spectators or just

being seen.  Does Seagus have another name?

But it’s also getting acquainted time.

Some regulars didn’t show, and other vessels arrived that I’d never seen before.

I had to look up South River Rescue Squad attending the Great North River race . . .

Somewhere in the attractively dressed race day crew on Jake-boat Resolute are two of the principals of tugboatinformation.com . . .  hi Birk and Craig, as well as the force majeure aka Rod behind Narragansett Bay Shipping.

This kayaker stays well out of the stream.

The white bowstriped vessel–Lt. Michael P. Murphy– in the distance won the prize for persistence, finishing the course in a historic half an hour . . . spending most of that time doing a mid-race-course onboard repair.

Despite forecasts of storms–and rain north of the GW Bridge–the only lightning I saw was here and

thunder from the crowds on the piers.  That’s the intrepid bowsprite showing us her drawing/painting arm.

Spectators took advantage of any platform.

More soon.   Thanks to William Hyman for his fotos, especially the one of an exuberant W. O. Decker, which I featured hard at work using Seth Tane fotos from over 30 years ago here.  Click here for John Huntington’s superb fotos from a wet place in the race . . ..

Again, my hat’s off to all who must work on Labor Day, including my son, who always works holidays for the higher hourly rate.  And if you’re inclined, read what Paul Krugman has to say about Labor Day.

Max Breakaway

In May six years ago, I posted these fotos of a relatively new NCL vessel called Norwegian Spirit.  Yesterday morning at 0615 . . . l’amiga caught this view of sunrise looking over toward Jersey City.

It’s Breakaway‘s inaugural entry into the city . . .  Here’s an article about some of the related welcoming events.

Here’s the full monty, and about twelve hours later, here she

exits as captured by John Watson from his cliff over on Staten Island.

Thanks to l’amiga and John Watson for these fotos.  Here’s an article about building this vessel;  this series on building her goes all the way back to 2011.  Anyone explain why it’s called Breakaway?

I’ll try to catch her entering the Narrows one of these days.