The Ship Report

Today we’ll hear more from my interview with Heidi Brown, the Astoria woman who returned this summer from sailing in the Clipper Round the World Race. She spent almost a year at sea on a boat with a crew of about 20 people, going from port to port on separate legs of the race, during which some crew members departed and others joined, but Heidi stayed for the whole journey. 

Today we’ll hear about some of the more dangerous aspects of this kind of experience: namely, sailing in very high winds. It’s something most people will never do, and Heidi describes in vivid detail what it was like to be on deck working in hurricane force gusts.

The post Racing Around the World, Part 5: the terrifying experience of sailing in hurricane force winds appeared first on The Ship Report.

Astoria resident Heidi Brown sailed around the world for almost a year as part of the crew of a 70 foot yacht in the Clipper Round the World race. This week I’m talking with her about that experience. Today is Part 4.

The post Racing around the world: a chat with Heidi Brown, Part 4 appeared first on The Ship Report.

Astoria resident Heidi Brown sailed around the world for almost a year as part of the crew of a 70 foot yacht in the Clipper Round the World race. This week I’m talking with her about that experience. Today is Part 3.

The post Racing around the world: a chat with Heidi Brown, Part 3 appeared first on The Ship Report.

Astoria resident Heidi Brown sailed around the world for almost a year as part of the crew of a 70 foot yacht in the Clipper Round the World race. This week I’m talking with her about that experience. Today is Part 2.

The post Racing around the world: a chat with Heidi Brown, Part 2 appeared first on The Ship Report.

Astoria resident Heidi Brown joined the Clipper Round the World race last year, and sailed 40,000 miles around the globe on a 70 foot yacht with about 20 crewmates. This week on the Ship Report. I’ll share excerpts from an interview I did with her, talking about what this life-changing experience was like. Today in Part 1, we’ll learn a little about her, and why she found this race was so appealing.

The post Racing around the world: an interview with Heidi Brown, Part 1 appeared first on The Ship Report.

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 post Answering a listener question: What is dew point, and for that matter, relative humidity? appeared first on The Ship Report.

Our ship schedule continues to be robust, so let’s talk about it!

The post A look at today’s ship schedule appeared first on The Ship Report.

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

The post A busy day on the river – let’s look at who’s coming and going! appeared first on The Ship Report.

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 post The Ship Report’s roots in community radio: KMUN in Astoria appeared first on The Ship Report.

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

The post Boatlift: a heroic maritime response to 9/11 appeared first on The Ship Report.