The Ship Report

The Ship Report, Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Astoria resident Heidi Brown recently sailed 40,000 miles in the Clipper Round the World Race. This week I talk with her about it. Today is Part 2.

The Ship Report, Monday, September 21, 2026

Astoria resident Heidi Brown recently returned from participating in the Clipper Round the World Race, sailing for almost a year on a 70 foot yacht, with about 20 people she'd never met before the race. This week we'll talk with her about that experience. Today is Part 1.

The Ship Report, Thursday, September 17, 2026

A listener asked me about what dew point is, and in the process of checking into it, I also learned about relative humidity.

These two terms, which appear in most weather reports, have to do with water vapor in the air and are actually quite important measurements for people in some professions to know.

The Ship Report, Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Our ship schedule continues to be robust, so let's take a look.

The Ship Report, Tuesday, September 15, 2026

After months of relatively small ship schedules, this week we're seeing an abundance of ships. Let's take a look!

The Ship Report, Monday, September 14, 2026

As KMUN begins its fall pledge drive tomorrow, a little about how the Ship Report started there, and why I'm so grateful for this community station in Astoria, Oregon.

The Ship Report, Thursday, September 10, 2026

Today we remember a tragic day in US history: September 11, 2001, when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington DC. A third hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, commandeered by heroic passengers, who took the plan down rather than let it complete its terrible mission, which was to hit the US Capitol Building.

In the midst of terrible chaos and destruction, an amazing rescue mission unfolded in NY Harbor: Boatlift, organized by the Coast Guard.

They called all available boats in the waters of metropolitan NY and New Jersey to help evacuate people stranded after the towers fell. What resulted was a supreme act of spontaneous mariner heroism, as boat after boat converged on the southern end of Manhattan, to help evacuate hundreds of thousands of survivors from the island.

In the midst of tragedy, our mariners showed us the best we can be.

Link to the film Boatlift: https://youtu.be/MDOrzF7B2Kg?si=Wa5CQ4oJMw_baJDX

Image: USACE NY, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Caption: Patrol Boat Hocking heads toward lower Manhattan on 9/11 to provide assistance following the attacks on the World Trade Center. PB Hocking was one of many U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessels from various Districts that were on the waters of the New York and New Jersey Harbor that day helping to ferry evacuees from lower Manhattan and bringing in emergency responders on return trips. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers file photo)

The Ship Report, Wednesday, September 9, 2026

The Pacific Collector, a US military missile defense tracking ship, will head outbound from Portland Wednesday around 9 am, passing Astoria around 3.

She's one of a pair of ships with a similar mission: to gather data about missile defense testing. She's unusual looking in that she has large radar arrays on deck that look like huge golf balls.

The Ship Report, Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Sixteen sailboats left Les Sables D'Olonne, France, over the weekend to compete in a unique race called the Golden Globe.

Participants sail solo in boats equipped only with technology available when the race was first run in 1968. That means no GPS, no satellite connectivity, no cell or sat phones. Sextant and compass to navigate, radio for communication, and a willingness to spend 8 months or more alone at sea.

They'll sail to the bottom of the world using the "Clipper Route" and if all goes well, pass south of all the fearsome capes of the world, including infamous Cape Horn. Then they'll said up the Atlantic and end the race in France where they started.

As in 2022, only one entrant is a woman. Last time, Kirsten Neuschafer of South Africa won the race, becoming only the second woman to enter and the first ever to win. This year, Norwegian Helga Marie (Mara) Løvenskiold Kveseth is now the third.

The Ship Report, Thursday, September 3, 2026

While I've talked about the need to understand and work with current on the river, it seems that some vessels go out there any old time and do well. Let's talk today about why that's the case. It has to do with vessel design, physics, friction and horsepower.