Invisible Gold 4

Here are the previous posts I’ve done on the wind farm southeast of Block Island.  I took the photo below on June 27, as blades to spin the turbines arrived in Narragansett Bay.

Rod Smith took the rest of these photos in late July and early August.

It shows Brave Tern as it prepared to sail out to the farm, deploy its sea legs . .  aka spuds  . .

and put the caps atop the columns onto the bases.

 

For the specs on Brave Tern, you can check them out here,

or here,

or

here.

 

And check out the froth from her stern!

To keep up with construction off Block Island, check out the Deepwater Water site.  Or for even more updates, friend them on FB.

Many thanks to Rod Smith for all these photos except the first one.

I hope to get out that way in October.

Go West 1

By 1330 Tuesday, we docked at West Point, the first non-red pushpin in yesterday’s map.   Working backward, we saw Tappan Zee II at the TZ, as we did

the Left Coast Lifter.

Off the Palisades, we saw Sarah D;

in Wallabout Bay, C. Angelo;

at the southern end of Narragansett Bay, Dace Reinauer; and

and Suomigracht with Cape Wind turbine blades,

and soon after departing Warren, we saw Buckley McAllister.

 

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who is posting these without any alterations.  We saw much more as well.  Cheers.

Gazela Returns to Philly

To see an excellent Flickr foto of Gazela by Gregg M, click here.  And for an account plus video of Gazela‘s trip to New Bedford earlier this summer, click here. For my earlier pics of Gazela in Atlantic Basin Red Hook, click here.

As Gazela sailed back to Philly between daybreak last Wednesday and late afternoon Thursday, I was fortunate to be a very “green” member of the crew, my first time sailing on a barquentine.  Other vessels passed and overtook us, and I’m including those fotos here in hopes that anyone aboard these other vessels who photographed us might be willing to share those shots of Gazela.  Please do.

Gazela departs through the Narrows under a drizzle;  precipitation had been off and on for three days, delaying departure by 48 hours.  (For pics, doubleclick enlarges.)

From midships, looking aft . . . notice the crew wearing foulies.

Tanker British Serenity overtakes us outside the Narrows.  By sunset, 10 hours later, we’d motorsailed off Atlantic City, surfing swells and getting soaked with on & off drizzle.

Skies clear overnight, giving us a just-past-full moon.   I stand a midnight–6 am watch from Cape May and up Delaware Bay.  This is sunrise.

After breakfast, I nap for an hour until a lurch awakens me.  “Must be someone’s wake,” I imagine, grab my camera, and go on deck.  I believe it was Amberjack, also headed up the Bay.

Astern, two vessels are catching up to us:  broad on the port beam were EPA-Bold and Vane Brothers Brandywine.

For info on what Bold is doing in Delaware Bay and its schedule for the rest of 2010, click here.

If you have Thursday morning fotos of Gazela, please get in touch.  I have additional Bold shots.

Doubleskin 141 looks formidable as it passes and

soon leaves us astern just

southeast of the PSEG power plants.  By the way, light was unfavorable to get fotos of the five wind turbines in Atlantic City.

Amsterdam-registered Suomigracht passes us.  For more Suomigracht shots, click here and here.

Austin Reinauer was anchored just south of the C & D Canal.

Near the Delaware Pennsylvania line, we cross paths with Aframax tanker Amalthea, which may or may not

have delivered Venezuelan crude.

Gazela was built in Setubal, Portugal;  as such, which language might you expect here?  A primary wood used is angelique.

A trip that begins in rain might end like this:  honey colored sunshine after a trip well done, this member of the crew a little less green.

If you were on any of the vessels above and have pics of Gazela, please get in touch.

All fotos here by Will Van Dorp.

Many thanks to the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild and wonderful crew for the opportunity to sail.  If you are interested in volunteering, click here.  Gazela expects to be back up through the sixth boro once more this fall.