Random Tugs 87

I priviledge first appearances.  This is Arbara Ann’s first.  Her registry is Islip, and  . ..  her stern confirmed the missing “B” at the beginning of her name.  Launch date was 1981, loa is 24.’

Fox Boys . . . third time here I think.  1956 and 48′

Pushing barge Fire Island, it’s Thomas Dann, 1975 and 98′  Can I conclude it’s Fire Island area bound?

John P. Brown (2002) has appeared countless times before.

Jean Turecamo (1975, 107′) meets Herbert P. Brake.   You might have seen Jean

here almost five years ago, props and all.Penn No. 6 is long, 141′ launched in 1970.

Sea Lion (1980 and 64′) pushes some dock equipment.

Eastern Dawn ( 1978 and 52′)   wears flags on her knees.

Amy C. McAllister (1975 and 91′) used to be Christine E. McAllister.   In between she was called Jane A. Bouchard.

Close-up Barbara McAllister (1969 and 100′) exudes power.

And finally, this barge of dredge equipment is

moved along by Sea Wolf 1982 and 61′.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

NYC Tugboat Race 2011 b

Working Harbor Committee win an award for perpetuating this event and calling it race AND competition.  And at the expense of making this post almost as long as some of those cinema and music award shows, I’d like to add some aditional awards . . .

like for “best improvised bowsprit on a tugboat” . . . Ross Sea,  [doubleclick enlarges all fotos]

“most spirited better-late-than-never”   . . . The Bronx,   [more The Bronx soon]

“best press boat disguised as a tugboat”  again, The Bronx,

“best connection to the cliff at Weehawken”  Sea Wolf,

“best crew-to-crew face off . . .

 . . . over a series of two fotos”  to Pegasus and Ross Sea,

“most crew rallying on the foredeck” Maurania III.

Next we have many line handling awards.  First up, “best right-hand follow through form” to Quantico Creek,

“best send the whole coil at once” to Sea Wolf,

“best hand and leg follow through form”   also to Sea Wolf,

“best mascot with cute purple antennae” also to Sea Wolf . . .  might this BE THE sea WOLF?

“biggest line-thrower cheering section”  Maurania III,

“best facial expression”  to Susan Miller,

“best overall posture award”   Ross Sea,

and now a break from line-throwing awards . . . best photographer-aloft . . . Shipshooter on Ross Sea.

“best  ‘make-that-line-walk'”   . . . also Ross Sea,

“most earnest line thrower expression”   . . . Catherine C Miller,

“best ‘looks-like-that-was-overhand'”   Freddie K Miller,

“best ‘over-the-bollard-and . . .

…put-turns-on-the-quarterbitt'”  Pegasus,

“best and longest lariat twirling followed by the

longest throw”  Growler.  Note for next year . . . the Growler crew might decide to dress as rodeo folk, given that the 30-second lasso-demonstration prompted a comment from some unnamed person behind me . . . “Next year for Growler we should replace that bollard with a fiberglass cow.”  Great showmanship!!

“best winch-matching costume” the inimitable Jeff Schurr, frequent and erudite commenter on this blog.

“best Lab mascot” . . .  Peaches on Ross Sea,

“best mascot with a hat and pin”  Salty of The Bronx,

And “my favorite mascot and name,”  goes to the bantam fowl named Jack E. Sparrow . . . of the mighty Sea Wolf crew.

You’re all winners in my book . . .  Get in touch if you want higher-res version of your foto.

Finally and last but not least  . . . two technical awards  . ..  for “best dredger”  Maurania III, and

“best watercolor creation” . . .  Sea Wolf.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Backgrounds 2

That this green icon dominating our harbor  came as a gift to us from the people of France . . .  astounds me.    Here  Liberté greets Gramma Lee T and a Virgin Atlantic plane simultaneously.

She injects herself into the absolute calendar-beauty pose of Sassafras.

She gets Timothy L. Reinauer to turn his head.

She strains to capture Anthony L. Miller‘s attention.

She appears to catch a ride on DoubleSkin 303 bunker barge.

She manages to climb atop the old warehouse to direct Caribbean Princess’ s rotation off Red Hook.

On a misty late afternoon, she’s there when Sea Bear heads for the East River.

She uses her torch to mimic a starter’s pistol as Laura K passes.

She intrudes on my foto when I’m trying to focus on Houma.

This astounding gift from the people of France lives on and on.  All of which leads me to this . . .   wouldn’t  it be just super if people of another country decided to  . . . as did the people of France … make us a gift of a really tall observation tower?  Just think of all the great harbor shots to be taken from a 1500-foot tower along the KVK . . .   I’d just love it.  Somewhere, we must have grateful friends willing to do this, shouldn’t we?  Might the Emiratis give us a Burj of our own atop Todt Hill ?    Maybe the Chinese could gift us with an Occidental Pearl Tower on Bay Ridge?    We must have friends like the French people of a century and a half ago somewhere.

Fixin’ Cutter Head Teeth and More

Note:  doubleclick enlarges almost all fotos for the past year or so.

Cutter head, the helical jaws with scores of teeth that need intensive maintenance,

smoking heat and

light therapy to effect the endless gnawing away of

sixth boro bottom limits.  One team attends to the teeth while another

prepares the rig for chewing

elsewhere in

the Channel. I wonder when any of the Museums in other five boros will mount an exhibit of this effort, as the Boston

Museum of Science did 0f their herculean effort almost two decades ago.  Meanwhile, what has happened to the cutter head, you say?

Or the mighty Brazos and crew?

Why . . . busy, of course.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Vessels besides Florida include Sea Bear, Layla Renee, and Pearl River.

Whole Lotta Dredgin’ 5

I stopped at the KVK today just in time to watch an anchor move.  Crew on the “bent-leg” barge caught the hook in the eye of the anchor cable, and

then Sea Bear powered away, the barge submerging in the process.

The anchor got winched up and

the barge crew took the applause as the tug moved them

away to the next phase, which looked

a bit like jousting or clam raking with long handled tools.

The eye was caught and the yellow hook dropped

from the sky;  once attached, the anchor got

hauled up, and Florida could move to the next dredge sector.

All fotos this morning by Will Van Dorp.

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Random Tugs 59

Right in time for Columbus Day . . .a gallivant has beckoned.  Back soon …

and . . . Zhen He (1994 launched in China) came into the boro escorted by Gramma Lee T (unpictured ). . . but you’ve seen the venerable Gramma Lee T at least a hundred times here.   Click here to see the explorer Zhen(g) He’s mothership juxtaposed with Santa Maria.  Also, in the background off Zhen He‘s bow, that’s Sea Raven, who’s been docked at GMD for quite a while.  Zheng He discovered America, along with whole other bunches of mariners?

James Turecamo assists Pati R Moran and barge Charleston into the KVK.  James launched from Matton in Cohoes, NY  in 1969.  See the end of this post.

Comet pushes  Eva Leigh Cutler toward the Buttermilk, meeting Houma.  Comet launched in 1977 as Clarion, then became Gil Hebert, then Gulf Comet.

Marjorie B. McAllister, (ex-Exxon Ocean State, 1974) holds house and neck above it all.

Curtis Reinauer , launched in 1979 as Delaware, can be yours today for a mere $2.2 m . . ..  She’s the second vessel to work as Curtis Reinauer.

Specialist II was high and dry here a year back.

Ellen S. Bouchard … one of three Bouchards vessels launched at Halter Marine in Louisiana in 1982.

John Reinauer … also launched in Louisiana but in 1969 and has previously worked as Esso Crystal River and Exxon Crystal River.

McAllister Girls (ex-Challenger and Betty Jean Turecamo, 1969)  pushes a scow of harbor bottom.

Sea Wolf (1982, ex-Danny Paul)  moves an unusual load.

L W Caddell, locally built and 20 years old works out of its place of construction.

Referring back to the James Turecamo foto above, this is a view of Matton Shipyard in Cohoes as seen less than a month ago.  Beyond the barbed wire and buildings is the Hudson.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:  It’s catching me, slowly but powerfully, the tumblr graphicblog called “Adventures of the Blackgang” produced by Monkeyfist, who also does exquisite work with Maritime  Monday.  And now it’s on my blogroll.  Check it out, often.

Random Tugs 58

Keeping with tradition:  here’s #57.  Remember, doubleclick enlarges.

Unidentified kayaks foreground, and middleground from left to right: Layla Rene, Sea Bear, dredge Florida; and background, King Dorian (misspell of durian?).

Unidentified crew boat heading away and Barbara C approaching.

Kimberly Turecamo westbound.

Elk River westbound.

Pati R Moran headed to an anchorage.

W. O. Decker passes W O tanker called Sharon Sea.

Sarah Ann and unnamed blue sailboat painted almost DonJon blue.

McAllister Girls pushing dirt.

More of the kayakers taking Lucy Reinauer‘s stern, making helmsman a smidgeon nervous, I reckon.

Falcon and Houma tandem effort.

Unnamed Moran tug leading Caribbean Princess.

Carnival Glory foreground and some unidentified tugs in the distance.

Sorry about all the unidentified vessels today.  Maybe someone can help.

Meanwhile, some stories from the NYTimes this morning:  disputed waters between China and Japan AND Seamen’s Institute leaves Manhattan for Newark.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

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Pulling Teeth

Whatzdis!?

A weapon from Captain Nemo’s  Nautilus emerging from the depths to exact revenge?

Of course, if you read tugster regularly, you know about my fascination with the dredge machine called a cutter suction head.    Tug supporting the dental barge here is Sea Bear.  Note the condition of the teeth (over 50?) on the head and the green spares on deck behind the dental crew, who like the folks that work on human teeth, use

appropriate tools to assess the damage.

Reinforcements move in.  This cutter head has been chewing on some hard and fibrous–if tasty?– sixth boro bottom.

The replacement process

begins in earnest.

When needed, the crew puts the heat

where needed and then

applies blunt persuasion, reminding me of the dentist who once exerted himself so much to yank a molar from my head that he broke

a sweat.  An hour later, cutter head has a new set of beautiful green teeth, and Dr. Sea Bear

moves to the next patient.

Interesting work, guys.

All fotos by will Van Dorp, who’s happy to see so much dredging happening along the Kills.

Sixth Boro Close Ups 2

First:  If you haven’t already, check out Bonnie Frogma’s fantastic post on Olympia here.

Foggy, rainy weather shifts my focus to closer range, to detail, like the contents of this gargantuan bucket taking bottom real-estate out to sea;

the swirl of water over the bulbous point of a Romanian-built, newbie 900′ LOA container vessel;

a barge with orange-peel grab and clam-shell head moving

to the dig site along with Weeks 529 towed by Sea Wolf;

the neck of a Matton-built Mary Turecamo;

fairy-dust on the water lower left and Margaret Moran headed for work upper right;

and … finally … my favorite, the cutterhead on GLDD’s Florida surrounded by its own fairy-dust and shepherdessed by Layla Renee.

All rainy, foggy day fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Other People’s Fotos 1

A general thanks for people sending me fotos.  Blogging allows some stupendous collaborations.

Thanks to M. McMorrow for sending.  Notice the cruise ship, the Intrepid, several sizes and types of tugs, as well as the Concorde!  Unfortunately, the blimp–on its way to the tennis tournament–had just escaped from the foto.

Thanks to Stephen Sisler.  Any guesses who’s atop the wheelhouse?

Do you recall that Cornell struggled in a pushing contest with The Bronx?  (That’s “struggled” to restrain all forward movement.)  The next two fotos come compliments of Jim Levantino, who saw that struggle from The Bronx having the pleasure of getting buried

deep within Cornell‘s … er … whiskers.

Here’s my foto of the very same moment, as recorded from high atop the house.

Thanks to Elizabeth … it’s a blogger fotografing within the confines of Troy’s Federal Lock.

And going back to late August, thanks to Eric Graybill, crewman on Bold  (See 6th foto down.), who sent these fotos of  Gazela making

her way, motorsailing

up Delaware Bay.  Recognize anyone on deck Gazela?  Gazela will be returning through the sixth boro in mid-October on its way to the oysterfest.  Keep your eyes peeled; this blogger will await them at the Narrows or –near the “Gate”  in the East River.

All fotos as credited.  Only the fifth foto by Will Van Dorp.