Quarterdeck Post #3

Captains,

Our third podcast is about the Arctic. Ben Strong's recent participation in the Arctic Shipping Summit in Helsinki Finland prompted our discussion. Hope you enjoy it.

Look for our regular podcasts on the AMVER blog.

RADM W

Quarterdeck Podcast #2

Captains,

Our second podcast is posted on the AMVER Blog. This month Ben Strong and I discuss Piracy and other popular topics of interest from the Connecticut Maritime Association's Shipping 2011 conference.

I look forward to continuing my work with Ben Strong at AMVER. The AMVER Blog recently recorded 1 million hits.

RADM W

Quarterdeck Podcast

Captains,

I'm co-hosting a podcast called Quarterdeck, sponsored by AMVER. My partner is Ben Strong. We will create a new Quarterdeck episode each month. Hope you'll listen and comment.

RADM W

http://www.amver.com/podcast/quarterdeck-episode-1.mp3

New York waterways duties

Captains,

I visited several hard working New York Coast Guard units last week. Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) New York is located in Bayonne, NJ at the Bayonne Cruise Port and Ocean Terminal. ANT New York is responsible for maintaining nearly 600 aids and lighthouses in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The ANT's workhorses are two 49' BUSLs (upper right picture).

ANT New York is also homeport for cutters Katherine Walker (upper left), Hawser (lower left) and Penobscot Bay (lower right). CGC Katherine Walker is a 175' WLM responsible for over 300 floating aids in the tri-state area. CGC Hawser is a 65' WYTL and CGC Penobscot Bay is a 140' WTGB. Both have been very busy breaking ice in the Hudson River area.

RADM W

Offshore Wind Power

Captains

Offshore wind turbines are an economically viable producer of electricity. A recent Sustainable Business.com news article describes 2010 as a record year for offshore wind energy in Europe. While U.S. Energy and Interior Secretaries Chu and Salazar actively pursue the "Smart from the Start" offshore wind energy initiative to add megawatts to the Atlantic coast grid.

In Europe, 310 new offshore turbines were installed in 2010, a 51% increase which added 883 megawatts. The UK leads Europe and the world with a total installed wind generation capacity of 1341 megawatts. Europe's total wind generation capacity is enough to supply 2.9 million European households.

In the U.S., a 130 unit wind turbine project estimated to produce an average of 183 megawatts from a location just south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, was approved by the Department of Interior. Now the DOI's Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) is seeking public input for other suitable offshore wind farm locations. Secretary's Chu and Salazar will be in Norfolk Monday to explain their efforts to accelerate the responsible siting of offshore wind energy projects.

Traditional offshore activities include commercial navigation, fishing, military exercises, natural resource conservation, and recreation. The Coast Guard is very much aware of these activities and will participate fully in the vetting process for each new wind energy project. I recommend keeping a close eye on these processes and providing your opinions when applicable.

RADM W

JFK remembered

Captains,

Fifty years ago today J.F. Kennedy was inaugurated President of the United States. He had been a captain of PT 109 and always had a liking for the sea and its lore. Americans are constantly reminded of the challenge of doing what you can do for your country. However, a close examination of the speech given 50 years ago reveals a message much more seafarer-like. It's a message for citizens of the world, a message from the heart of a person who has seen the world from the global common of the sea and seeks freedom for all mankind.

RADM W

Washington DC, January 20, 1961......."In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.	24
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.	25
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.	26
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own." JFK

Atlantic, the book

Captains,

Others appear to enjoy this book as much as I do. Atlantic is really just one author's perspective on the Atlantic Ocean, but its a good one. Whether you enjoy its strength and feel, or its history and people, or its fragility and uncertain future, you'll find this is a book worth reading or hearing.

RADM W

'Atlantic': Simon Winchester's labor of love and nostalgia for a mighty ocean

A review of Simon Winchester's "Atlantic," a spellbinding epic of the Alantic Ocean — its surface, depths, both shores and everything in between.

By by David Laskin Special to The Seattle Times

Oh to be Simon Winchester! What other writer lands — and nimbly dispatches — such plum assignments? In his latest volume, the globe-spinning best-seller bestrides the mighty Atlantic to summon forth a history of its surface, depths, both shores and everything in between.