Today is the first day of spring — when a recreational boater’s fancy turns to thoughts of summer days spent cruising on the water, evenings barbecuing the catch of the day and telling mighty fishy stories about the one that got away.
Spring is also when many boaters consider acquiring different equipment and gear, while others have a hankering to divest themselves of all the trappings of boat ownership.
Whatever the inclination, the Port Ludlow Marina’s Annual Boat Show & Marine Swap is likely to fit the bill.
The event will be held on Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dozens of privately owned boats will be offered for sale, some of which will be in the water and others will be sitting on trailers.
In any case, their respective owners will be standing by to answer questions.
Additionally, smaller boats — including kayaks and canoes — will be sitting on the hard looking for new homes.
A large tent will be set up with spaces available for rent to those wishing to sell or swap for the next “must have” piece of gear. The crew at the marina will also fire up the barbecue pit and serve hot dogs.
For more information or to rent a space, phone any staff member at the Port Ludlow Marina at 360-37-0513 or email Kori Ward at kward@portludlowresort.com.
Steel pilings
For the past week or so, a spud barge owned by Carlson Construction of Mount Vernon has been working in the boom grounds off the finger of land adjacent to the Port Angeles Boat Haven.
Jerry Demetriff, director of public works for the Port of Port Angeles, said the barge drove 18 steel piles in two rafting pockets to replace older wooden ones that suffered mightily from storm damage.
Sea Scout movement
Dennis Schosbek, who is employed in the maritime industry as a customer service representative for Westport Shipyard in Port Angeles, is working with a group of individuals to form a local Sea Scouting unit.
Sea Scouts is a division of the Boy Scouts of America and is a co-ed program offered to young men and women ages 14 through 20.
Its purpose is to teach life skills, promote better citizenship and to provide an opportunity for members to learn and develop maritime skills.
Sea Scout units are called “ships,’ and Dennis said that their unit has been assigned the number 1616, which will attach to the donated 22-foot Chrysler sailboat that will serve as the unit’s training vessel.
The Sea Scouts ship should be up and running within 60 days, and at that time they will begin accepting applications.
According to Dennis, one of the remaining details is the location of a shore-side training facility in which to meet.
Ever the optimist, Dennis is confident that within the maritime family of ventures and organizations a meeting place for aspiring mariners will become available.
Stay tuned.
Mountain of a task
The 841-foot tanker Sierra moored port side to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 1 North last week.
Formerly known as Kenai, the Sierra is operated by SeaRiver Maritime, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil.
According to Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff of Washington Marine Repair, the topside repair company on the waterfront, personnel replaced gaskets on a handful of valves in the engine room, weight-tested the stores crane and replaced the starboard anchor chain.
At the end of last December, the double-hull crude oil tanker lost her starboard anchor and roughly 1,200 feet of accompanying chain in the chilly waters of Prince William Sound.
During the first week of January, she came into Port Angeles where personnel from Washington Marine installed a borrowed anchor and chain while a new setup was ordered from a manufacturer in China.
Within the past couple of weeks, the replacement chain was delivered pier-side. It was laid out last week on the deck of a gravel barge that is owned by Island Tug and Barge of Seattle.
A forklift owned by the Port of Port Angeles was also placed on the barge.
The first step in swapping out the anchor and chain requires the anchor and chain aboard the ship to be removed.
Brian S, the tug readily associated with maneuvering Tesoro’s fuel barge in Port Angeles Harbor, was called upon to place the end of the barge up against the bow of the ship while simultaneously favoring the starboard side.
The barge and ship were then tethered together and the tug spent the next 10 hours or so holding the barge in place.
The anchor was then played out on the deck of the barge as was a sizable length of chain.
The forklift attached a length of beefy cable to the chain and dragged it to the opposing end of the barge.
This process continued until only the bitter end of the chain remained on the ship’s anchor windlass. At this point, a crane became a necessary part of the equation.
Jay Ketchum, who owns Affordable Crane of Sequim, used his newest acquisition — a Liebherr mobile crane that can lift up to 225 tons, has a 245-foot horizontal reach and vertical lift capability that exceeds 325 feet — to finish the task.
A cable was hooked on to the end of the chain, and the other end was attached to the crane’s rigging.
The bitter end of the chain was then lowered through the starboard hawse pipe onto the deck of the barge.
The bitter end of the new chain was attached in similar fashion to the crane’s rigging and the process was reversed.
The bitter end of the new chain was pulled up through the hawse pipe, wrapped onto the anchor windlass and the new chain was then slowly lowered into the ship’s chain locker until eventually the new anchor was properly nested.
In all, there were 14 shots of chain stowed in the chain locker.
A shot of chain is 15 fathoms, or 90 feet, so my grade school math tells me that the total amount of new chain taken aboard Sierra was 1,260 feet.
Harbor fueling
On Wednesday, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to BK Duke, a 623-foot bulk cargo ship that is due to make port in Salaverry, Peru, on April 1.
Then Saturday morning, Tesoro had its refueling barge alongside Sierra.
When refueling was complete she got under way for Valdez, Alaska.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
