NAUTICAL LOG

The AC72 Incidents: A well known and highly respected maritime Blog asked the question last week - "Is the AC72 the Boat That Could Sink the Americas 's Cup?".   By the by it is more correct to call it the America Cup since it was renamed after the schooner America. From the perspective of NAUTICAL LOG the America Cup was sunk decades ago due to what a former AC skipper, with whom members of our family sailed in Australia, described as "plastic boats " and indeed we have come to believe his description was correct.  This latest concern for the America Cup competition is the result of the tragic death of British sailor Andrew Simpson an Olympian sailing for the Swedish Artemis Racing AC72 in San Fransisco Bay, CA.  This is the second  similar incident the first being the capsize of the Oracle AC72 boat last October Wait a minute, a Swedish contender for the America Cup once one of yachting's most cherished competitions, how on earth did that come...

There  are two conference coming up in London on the evolution of Man.  These are sponsored by the Royal Marsten School and are titled " Human Evolution Past, Present, and Future - Anthropological, Medical, and Nutritional Considerations ".  One is on the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis and the second will hold the first conference up for ridicule.  So what is new here - actually not very much.  It is all rather typical of the behaviour of these brilliant scientists in the disciplines of biology, geneticists and paleoanthropology.  Doing some research one of these scientists will develop a theory and do one of several things.  Stick with it come 'hell or high water' regardless of other scientific research, perhaps much more in depth than his own.  Or he may join with other scientists to try and actually find out the truth of the matter.  Or he may spent a lifetime decrying every effort to find that truth constantly ridiculing other researc...

Now that the acts of terrorism in Boston have been solved - up to a point anyway - the legal arguments have started.  All the talking heads on TV are expounding their opinions on what should be done.  None of them of course are directly involved in the investigation and build their pontificating on " sources " which in the case of one TV Network last week turned out to be entirely wrong.  In fact that error by the Network and its " source " may, from one point of view, have been a contributing factor leading to the death of a police officer and the serious wounding of another.  The language used by these talking heads is " legalese " or the selection of and playing with words based on legal maneuvering to build a case. In 'My Blog List' we have a link to the website of a local Miami maritime lawyer.  Some readers find his continued, very petty on many occasions, Posts most annoying reporting every negative trivial item from cruise...

Carnival Group HQ Office, Doral, FL.   It seems that the cruise industry is the source of quite a few Posts lately on a variety of maritime and travel Blogs.  The so called " largest cruise line in the world " as it calls itself is actually an amalgamation of cruise lines acquired by Carnival Group by various business tactics.  While each of its 'brands' as they now call passenger ship companies, as in the retail trade, are operated separately under the umbrella of the Carnival Group.  The Carnival Group is headquartered in Doral a suburb of Miami, FL.  Of their various 'brands' the Carnival Cruise Line is the most notorious and has been from the outset.  Exaggerated vessel design with multi-coloured flashing lights, loud music, heavy drinking and other not so legal stimulants in full use on board - the Party Ships as advertised.  During the years there have been complaints lodged by other vessels with the USCG Marine Safety Office about these li...

NLIN #6 - 2013. The following M-Notices are now available electronically at www.dft.gov.uk/mca MIN 453 (M+F) Navigation: Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) - Availability During Increased Sunspot Activity. MIN 456 (M) Codes of Practice - Authorisation of Certifying Authorities. MGN 407 (M+F) Procedure for Testing of Fire Protection for use with Composite and Wooden Constructions. MGN 467 (M) Maritime Passenger Rights: Role of National Enforcement Body. If you have any problems call 023 8032 9391 for assistance. Good Watch

The under construction Quantum of the Seas.  The 91 metre arm of  " The North Star ".    Metacentric height , centre of gravity and centre of buoyancy of a vessel At NA UTICAL LOG as we return to our nautical Posts we were shocked to learn - well it was more surprised as the cruise lines are failing to shock the nautical world anymore.  What did we learn? It was that they will not be building any more ships for cruising.  Oh! they will be building vessels but unfortunately for those who work and travel in them they will NOT be ships. Perhaps to clarify that statement we should define the parameters of ship and vessel.  In the nautical world they may be described as; Ship: A vessel of considerable size for deep-water navigation. Vessel: A floating entity for use on water. Taking those definitions into consideration we saw on Tuesday April 16, 2013 the public introduction of the ultimate floating entity, a contraption owne...

Cardinal F.J. Errázuriz Ossa of Chile. Logo of the Schönstatt Movement. Logo of the Society of Jesus known as Jesuits.   As a Jesuit Pope Francis is well capable of multi-tasking.  While busy doing the populism routine in the Vatican and Rome he has also been moving against the deplorable behaviour and corruption in the Vatican Curia, which is the governing body of the Roman Catholic Church. He has now appointed a group of Cardinals from around the World covering each Continent to address the Pastor Bonus.  The " Pastor Bonus" is the constitution that governs the operation of Vatican Curia the current edition of which is itself a revision from the 1990's. The group of Cardinals selected are interesting because only one is a member of the present Curia, Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican City State governorate which is in a sense the Mayor of Vatican City.  Of the others, our family being partly Chilean, the Cardinal ...