Although I've done it on one of our mutual Uncle Sam's vessels (which I would prefer not to repeat in this lifetime, thank you very much).
If one knew the outcome would be okay ... But riding the ships like that would be wonderful, I think. I'd love to have the opportunity to do it sometime.
Kinda makes one want to be on a Boomer.
But I gotta say there were no fenders hanging out.
I can assure you that it is not an opportunity one would choose to repeat.
I'll take your word for it, Rick. I've no desire, just fear, in experiencing something like that.
Be careful what you wish for.
Marin, great I would like to read your book. As a writer of sea tales let me recommend to you a book The Grey Seas Under by Farley Mowat. It might be hard to find as it written some time ago. It is about a deep sea salvage tug out of Halifax before and during WWII. Bill
But I would love to experience it if I felt I could physically deal with it and that the vessel would come through it.
I think if that were the case, (knowing the outcome) doesn't that degrade the experience?
We didn't have to ride the world's fastest roller coaster when we were in Abu Dhabi the other month, and a big part of me didn't want to. But we did figuring it would be stupid to be there and pass up the opportunity. And it was trip and a half, particularly the launch. I will probably never have the opportunity to do it again but I am really glad I had the experience at least once.
But I would love to experience it if I felt I could physically deal with it and that the vessel would come through it.
I think if that were the case, (knowing the outcome) doesn't that degrade the experience?
Having had the "opportunity" to spend a week being blown back toward California while on a 125,000 ton loaded tanker enroute from PWS toward Tsingtao, China, I can assure you that it is not an opportunity one would choose to repeat.
We ran into a typhoon just east of the dateline that turned into constant winds over 80knots with gusts over 100. The seas were between 80 and 100 feet and all we could do was maintain steerage and hope for the best as we were blown back over 120 miles to the southeast. We lost most of the antennae including our sat dome from the force of rolling and the wind. Part of the house was stove in from boarding waves and we lost 6 or 7 liferafts that were blown off their mounts and sailed like kites until the painters broke. Rails and ladders on deck were bent and cargo pipes were broken.
You have no idea of what waves that large look like from the trough even from a wheelhouse almost 100 feet from the waterline. To see the tops of them ripped off by the wind was a unique vision. The silence of the lee in the troughs was unexpected and made the howl at the crests that much more frightening.
You could watch the hull bend and twist like it was made of cheap plastic. At the end of it, we were barely functional from fear, lack of food and lack of sleep due to the motion and the noise of wind, water, and all the debris sliding around the deck above. Just trying to move was exhausting. No one spoke, no one smiled.
Be careful what you wish for.
Oh, I'm sure it's scary and awesome and all those other words like that at the same time. But I would love to experience it if I felt I could physically deal with it and that the vessel would come through it.
We didn't have to ride the world's fastest roller coaster when we were in Abu Dhabi the other month, and a big part of me didn't want to. But we did figuring it would be stupid to be there and pass up the opportunity. And it was trip and a half, particularly the launch. I will probably never have the opportunity to do it again but I am really glad I had the experience at least once.
I feel the same way about watching those ship in the big seas. What an amazing thing to experience in one's life. Even if I only got to see and experience it once, it would be a major addition to my "experience catalog."
The book I am currently writing takes place on a PT boat during WWII. While I have interviewed dozens of PT vets in the course of learning enough about the boats and being on them to write about it, I will obviously never have the experience of doing it in person. I'm a big believer in experiencing everything one possibly and practically can over the course of one's life. Riding a ship in big seas like that would be one of those amazing moments I would be forever grateful to have experienced in person instead of just watching a video about it.
Greetings; These are not new, but gives you a view from the wheel house. To put in perspective. Selkirk on the clam sea is without balast or fully loaded to the plimsoll mark. The views at sea are however. Are we ready for this? and, can our vessels sustain pressure.
Newton's law of boating: What goes down must come back up?
I've sunk the bow of some smaller craft before, even to the point of having blue water on the windshield. And it's all come back up and dried out. Fun? Maybe not at the time, but now it's a hoot to talk about.
why not buy a pt? I see one come up for sale every once in awhile in the central ca. delta and bay area. Of course most of them need work. I'm sure there are some around up your way as well
There are no WWII PTs left outside of the tiny handful that are in museums like Battleship Cove in Fall River, Mass. There is only one restored WWII PT, a Higgins, that runs using the original Packard engines, and that's the boat in Portland. My wife and i were invited out on that one several years ago.
Most all of the WWII PTs were stripped and burned at the close of the war. A few found their way via surplus sales into private hands and were converted to pleasure cruisers. In all these cases they were re-engined, some with a pair of gas engines, some with a pair of diesels.
There have been other craft since the war that were called PTs from companies like Vosper in England. The "PT" in the TV series McHale's Navy was a thinly disguised Vosper, for example. These later boats were generally twin engined.