Around the World of Sailing
8 May 2002
Finish Line
Orange has become the 3rd catamaran to hold the Jules Verne
Trophy. Only the boat whose record she surpassed, Sport Elec,
was a trimaran.
Water Level Update
Weekly Water Level Update
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/atwos/2001/oc/1024/frw.htm
Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lake Michigan and Huron.
For information on other lakes see:
http://huron.lre.usace.army.mil/levels/weekly.html
Reference Point
Difference from Chart Datum +5
Difference from last month +6
Difference from last year +9
Difference from long term average for May -16
Difference from Record High -45
Difference from Record Low +16
Forecast for 3 June 2002 +4
Rowing Reporter
The Rowing Reporter is a weekly column of commentary and
observations by Ike Stephenson, Marine Informationist. It
concentrates on the home waters of Around the World of
Sailing, Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.
****************
Purple Cloud
Monday morning May 6th. A purple plume cloud
situated above the power plant at Muskegon Lake's east end.
The cloud makes a jog to the left as its altitude increases,
then moves back right.
Obviously the rising sun is coloring the cloud
purple. Do we have a case of red sky at dawn, sailors
be warned? Or perhaps were we seeing "A reddish sun has
water in his eye; before long you won't be dry, or a morning
red, makes the shepherd hang his head.?
Four hours later I was recording rain pelting down.
In this case weather folklore gave an accurate forecast.
The red sky is produced by sun shining through
dust. It can presage either dry or wet weather. In
Monday's case it was probably a case of dust being
pushed by a low pressure system which caused the rain.
Muskegon received .19 inches of rain Monday.
It was the 3rd time in May's first 6 days that rain fell.
***************
Sock Burning
Sailors have a lot of little traditions. Take
not leaving port on Friday one that obviously came
before the M-F 9-5 workweek!
Annapolis sailors have a unique custom. On
March 20th they gather and burn socks! This signals
a welcome to spring and that shoes only summer sailing
is not far off.
The tradition was founded by marine professional
Bob Turner. What started as his socks, a small fire and
a six pack has evolved into multiple firings of socks.
Another task to add to spring commissioning...Of course
many dogs perform this ritual year round sans fire.
**************
Sea Dog
How many of us have spent a month on a crippled
ship in the mid ocean alone? Even with the size of the
ATWOS/RR audience I'd venture to say the answer is 0.
Hok Get a 2 year old-terrier has survived such
an adventure. On March 13th the Insiko 1907 an tanker
suffered an engine room fire. The ship, crew and dog
drifted for 21 days. On April 2nd the surviving crew
were rescued by a cruise ship. Captain Chung Chin Po
could not bring Hok Get with.
On 5 April the Hawaii Human Society launched a
rescue looking for the tanker and it's remaining crew-
Hok Get. Through April 20th the search was not successful.
By April 20th a Coast Guard plane spotted the Insiko.
During this flight the air crew saw Hok-Get
running on the deck. They air dropped food to him including
pizza and granola bars. It appeared as if though water had
pooled on the deck which Hok-Get could have lapped up.
By April 26th the tug American Quest was with the
tanker. In addition to towing the still petroleum filled
tanker to shore, Hok-Get was rescued!
On making shore Hok Get was examined and found to
be in fine health. His one problem was worms.
The female dog was quite reticent after being taken
off the tanker and onto the tug. By the third night
Hok-Get was back to socializing.
Hok-Get will now have to go through a 120 day
quarantine period. Michael Kuo a friend of Captain Po will
care for the dog. The Captain hope to return to Hawaii to
pick up Hok-Get. Although maybe Hok-Get will take up
Hawaiian residence, the 'lads' at the Robin Masters esta
thrived didn't they?
Turns out that Hok-Get means "happiness, good
fortune- all that is good." Her experienced proved the
name. See a photo at
http://www.uscg.mil/d14/pics/LowRes2/pages/Hokget%20170.htm
Now onto the marine side of this story. As the
tanker was drifting and was not seen for some time it
appears as there was not an EPIRB or any type of homing
beacon allowed? It would seem that any ship with 60 gallons
of oil products should be able to be tracked extremely
closely.
***************
Garbage
Three recent items have put me in the mind of
writing about garbage.
One a recent report finds that Michigan leads
the Great Lakes states in production of garbage. 9.66
pounds of waste per person is produced. Full report at
http://www.mecprotects.org/greening.pdf
Item # 2 is a recent trip to the beach. In about
half an hour of time I picked up 2 pounds 6 ounces of
garbage. This after a winter when theoretically garbage
deposited on the beach should have been minimal. More
information at
http://www.cmc-ocean.org/cleanupbro/coord/US/coord.php3
Third is the fact that on boats 39 feet and up a
garbage information plaque must be displayed. Among the
regulations covered are that it is illegal to discharge
plastic anywhere on the globe and it is also illegal to
discharge any garbage in the Great Lakes. See
http://www.uscgboating.org/reg/reg_fr_equipReq_pollReg.asp
Stepping though the items the conclusion is that
we all need to work more on making less garbage when near
the water.
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