“The Coast Guard has signed the death warrant for the Columbia River lightship,” wrote Larry Barber at the end of 1979. Two congressmen had asked for “a reprieve,” he noted, after hearings in which fisherman and seafarers had voiced their objections. They urgently requested that the ship be “left on station alongside the new buoy… Continue reading Remembering the Lightship Columbia
Author: seamarsh
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse–is 150 Years Old
Cape Disappointment is Washington’s Oldest Lighthouse There was a small ceremony this winter at Cape Disappointment Lighthouse that marked its 150 years of service to mariners. Cape D was the first light on the entire west coast, and all the other major lights in Washington shining their beacon to mariners for well over 100 years.… Continue reading Cape Disappointment Lighthouse–is 150 Years Old
Cascade Yachts: Building Boats for the Long Run
Portlanders Built Fiberglass Keelboats in 1956 The sport of sailing never got any respect in Portland. But that’s understandable. It’s 100 miles upriver from the Columbia Bar then another 10 to the home of the Willamette (River) Sailing Club. Dodging barges on a narrow waterway with the downtown skyline for a backdrop-it’s an unlikely place… Continue reading Cascade Yachts: Building Boats for the Long Run
Colin Archer and the Viking Tradition
How a 150-Year Old Pilot Boat Became the World’s #1 Offshore Design Pride in the Norse seafaring tradition is kept alive in the Pacific Northwest by immigrants from the Nordic countries and is visible in many forms. In Seattle for example, we have the statue of Leif Ericson, the Viking chief who led the attempt… Continue reading Colin Archer and the Viking Tradition
Biking Chiloe Island – Off the Beaten Path
If you can find Chile on the map, then you must be aware of its outstanding physical feature. It is, of course, by a large margin, the longest, narrowest country in the world. So narrow, in fact, that it’s only a century ride from the coast to the foothills of the Andes–even a modestly fit… Continue reading Biking Chiloe Island – Off the Beaten Path
Chile – Top to Bottom
The Atacama Desert to Puerto Montt Chile, that amazingly long South American country, extends in a narrow band 2,700 miles down the Pacific coast of the continent, from 18 to 54 degrees of latitude. Its northern border is the Atacama Desert, the driest place in the world, its southern is Cape Horn, one of the… Continue reading Chile – Top to Bottom
1997: Cycling from the Snake River to the Willamette
The cycling business has profited immensely from encouraging us cyclists to think in terms of grams when it comes to bike parts. (Exactly how big is a gram anyway? Could you feel one if I dropped it in your hand?) However, a recent article in a bicycle trade paper suggests that shops should begin promoting… Continue reading 1997: Cycling from the Snake River to the Willamette
Scandinavian Canoe Stern Revived in the 20th Century
Colin Archer, the Westsail and More By the 1920s, the sport of yachting had seen several theories of design come and go. There was the narrow beam/long overhang style demanded by the International handicap rule, or the wildly contrasting types used by the earliest circumnavigators: Joshua Slocum’s Spray with its wide beam and shallow draft… Continue reading Scandinavian Canoe Stern Revived in the 20th Century
In the Wake of the Vikings
Re-Discovering the Viking Longship The Vikings! From the eighth century until the invasion of England in 1066, they voyaged along the coast of northern Europe and ventured up rivers to raid cities far inland. They were feared from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and all over the Mediterranean. Today we remember them most… Continue reading In the Wake of the Vikings
The Life and Designs of Bill Tripp
William Tripp was born in 1920 on Long Island where he was soon exposed to the world of boats by his father, a civil engineer. While still a boy, he sailed the family Star boat and everything else from frostbite dinghies to ocean racers. He was said to have begun drawing boats as a youth… Continue reading The Life and Designs of Bill Tripp