NAUTICAL LOG

From Maritime New Zealand comes a PR that the MS Steve Irwin has been released from the search for the missing Norwegian yacht SY Berserk . The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) spoke with the vessel at 2100 NZDT on February 27, 2011 and officially ended their involvement in the search. In that communication RCCNZ expressed their " gratitude " for the five (5) days of searching which included 24 hours of air search. Of the five (5) persons on board four (4) were Norwegian and one (1) was British. Two (2) Norwegians were ashore and made their way to a McMurdo Sound Base and are now being flown to Christchurch, New Zealand, itself the scene of a recent devastating earthquake. So what happens now to the SSCS fleet since the Japanese whaling fleet is nearing Japan after a strange and confusing, at least to NAUTICAL LOG, season. During the season the SSCS fleet appeared to accomplish nothing worthwhile for the second year running. After the Japanese ended their seas...

With Spring on the horizon in many parts of the country and beautiful boating weather here in South Florida our thoughts turn to - boating! There are many pre-season boating checklists and NAUTICAL LOG is not going to repeat those again, just Google and print the checklists and use them otherwise they are useless to you. During our recent visit to the Miami Boat Show on Miami Beach, FL with Discover Boating we were reminded of several key points that we would like to bring to your attention. In our previous Post we discussed charts and who and how they are published in the United States. Similarly other countries have excellent Hydrographic Offices such as the UK Hydrographic Office publishing charts of the World as well as their local waters. Nearby both Canada, and Cuba have excellent sets of charts and publications and if going there get the proper clearances in accordance with your vessels Flag State obtain and use local charts. Canada by and large requires Canadian charts in Ca...

Lately there have been intemperate comments from several commenter's on all sides of the issues. As a result the NAUTICAL LOG Assessor has removed their content to indicate that they were not suitable for publication in this Blog. Also the comments should be about the subject matter of the Posts, NAUTICAL LOG while an activist Blog is not a forum for an interchange of opinions between individual commenter's. Indeed petulant remarks received after an Assessor's deletion confirm that the deletion was warranted in the first place. For the record NAUTICAL LOG does not like whaling in and of itself, we hold the violent anti-whaling tactics of the SSCS in the greatest contempt, and we absolutely abhor racial remarks and terminology. Comments containing any such terminology show only the incredible ignorance of the writer and are now being immediately deleted. If you cannot discuss an issue logically and in an educated manner do not comment on the NAUTICAL LOG Posts because yo...

From the McMurdo Sound Region comes very disturbing and sad news with regard to the SY Berserk. The lone helicopter available for aerial search the Nancy Burnet of the SSCS MS Steve Irwin has found a raft which is most likely from the missing yacht. A report from Paul Watson states, and NAUTICAL LOG quotes in part: "At 0957 NZT helicopter pilot Chris Aultman spotted an Avon 8-person liferaft in the sea at 76 degrees 40 minutes 43.2 seconds South latitude, 166 degrees 01 minute and 50.7 seconds East longitude". This position is 45 nautical miles North of the EPIRB distress position and appears consistent with the wind drift and current set. They go on to say that the raft was unoccupied, shore line and sea search turned up nothing further. A grid search has been conducted over the last 24 hours and it would seem the SY Berserk has been lost together with her crew. A full report with conclusions has been sent to RCCNZ as the raft found matches the description of the one r...

MS Professor Khromov Some photos from MS Steve Irwin which give an idea of the conditions in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Remember this vessel is not ice-strengthened or classed for ice navigation. The weight of ice on the decks like this changes the stability of the vessel which could put her in a very dangerous situation and quite quickly. The MS Steve Irwin is making a serious rescue effort in the best traditions of the sea - lets leave it at that. There is an additional vessel assisting in the search MS Professor Khromov of Heritage Expeditions. Heritage Expeditions is based in Christchurch, NZ which has been devastated by a 6.3 earthquake and numerous aftershocks. Good Watch.

UPDATE February 23, 2011, 1945 EST. The SSCS MS Steve Irwin has reported to NZRCC the finding of a liferaft empty of people or supplies. It is possible that this may be one of three liferafts lost overboard in the recent heavy weather by HMNZS Wellington (P55). Readers may recall that NAUTICAL LOG remarked that three raft capsules appeared to of a different make in the starboard side rack forward of the funnel/stack visible in the photo from Dunedin, NZ. There were no numbers or marks on the raft which seems rather strange if it is from a naval vessel, the Royal New Zealand Navy should clarify that as soon as possible. The raft is reported to be black which is also unusual as they are normally have an International Orange canopy. The MS Steve Irwin was able to recover the raft which may well help with its identification. As of yet there is no report of or from the SY Berserk however a helicopter search is underway. The New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) is asking ves...

So has whaling finally ended in The Southern Ocean, NAUTICAL LOG believes that it has. With the Japanese Whaling Fleet now headed northwards home to Japan followed by the Sea Shepherd vessels this strange 2010-2011 season has ended. While we have always been very much against whaling we have always been very much against the nautical thuggery of the SSCS Pirate Group. The NAUTICAL LOG criticism has been strong and at times downright rude to the pirate group as a whole and their cult leader in particular. But even we can admit that the end result of their campaigns has been the cessation of whale hunting, at least for now. Does this mean that the end justifies the means? This you will have to judge for yourselves. NAUTICAL LOG does not believe it does, these people will always be stained with the mark of violence on the High Seas wherever they go in the future. It will be very difficult for them to obtain seafarers papers and if they already hold them to renew them at the next five (...