xmas

Christmas on board the Manukai-
Fake Xmas trees- check
Chirstmas Tunes- Check
Christmas movies-check
Xmas Lights- check
traditional christmas dinner- check
desserts-check
Work, work and more work- check
It maybe christmas but someones gotta drive the ship.
Shit, where do you think all the gifts you bought came from.

BAHH HUMBUG

Rat Guards

there are many odd things aboard ships that not many people would even think to notice nor would think of why they are there. many of which were put into use out of necessity. Like most things, improvises to any work environment come retroactively due to an accident, catasrophe or a mistake that could have been avoided had the personnel knew what they learned after the mistake. Back in the day, ships traveling from port to port would be there for days on end, even months or years on end depending on the cargo and task set forth by the proprietor of the ship. While the ships were at the dock for these prolonged stays, creatures would climb aboard the ships via the mooring lines and make themselves at home. Many of these creatures, including but not limited to were RATS. Diseased scavengers that would hitch a ride from one port to another against their will. Plauge and disease were spread and people were killed and lesons were learned the hard way. A rat from the England, winding up in the Indies with Rabies for instance was the beginning of the end. Rats could not swim to an island in the middle of the ocean, and if they were not there beofre the only way they could have got there was from a ship. From instances like these, countries and ship owners decided it was best to configure a contraption to prevent rats from leaving the ships in the next port of call. So once a rat was aboard, it was supoosed to die aboard. Thats where the "Rat Guard" came from and thats why everyship has a rat guard on each of the mooring lines it sends to the dock. TO PREVENT RATS FROM LEAVING THE SHIP... although these days its more likely to prevent Rats from getting aboard.

average day at sea

Many people are unaware of what a ship does before it actually gets to the
dock. Here is a quick attempt to shed some light. There are a crew of
sailors, usually 3 watchstanders and 3 day working able bodied seaman
responsible for preparing the decks. The watchstanders are coupled with a
navigation officer and are helmsman/lookouts while the day workers maintain
the vessels repairs and planned maintentance regiment. Prior to arrival in
port all 6 sailors get together on deck and layout the mooring lines for
which the boat ties up to the dock with. They then rig a pilot ladder off
the side of the ship, most likely on the leeward side(the non windy side) a
few feet off of the waterline so the piolt(the guy who has the local port
knowledge and conns the ship to the dock) can climb aboard from sea. The 6
sailors are split up to bow and stern teams. Traditionally, the 2nd mate and
dayworkers are tasked with tying up the bow while the 3rd mate and
watchstanders take care of the stern. Usually for docking and undocking a
tug boat is used to assist the ship in manuevering and it sends its own line
up to the sailors on either the port or starboard (left or right) quarter
(the back corner) of the ship based on what side of the ship is going be
touching the dock. Once the pilot is aboard and the tug is made fast(secured
to the ship) the teams on the bow and stern, once word from the captain is
given, send the lines to the dock. The lines are big and heavy, so a heaving
line, or a light weight line with a weight on the end is literally thrown to
the dock so a line handler can easily grab it and pull the bigger lines to
the bollards(horns) on the dock that the eye goes around. Every mooring line
has a eye about 3-4 ft long at the end of it. then the lines are made tight
by securing them to bits(horns) on the ship using a winch. Once all the
lines are tight the tugboat(s) are released and then the gangway ladder is
rigged so people can come and go from the ship. That's that. kind of, for
sake of simplicity.

More to come on the job of the pilot and other aspects of life aboard a
900ft conainter ship.

land disappearing

There are few feelings in the world if any at all that can compare with
watching land disappear into the horizon from a large ship at sea. It truly
is amazing that something so large, can be dwarfed so quickly my mother
earths beautiful blue ocean. Sky scrapers of the sea ever so swiftly become
nothing but a blip on a radar among the expanse of the ocean. Some may think
that getting a 900ft loaded steel hull to pitch and roll may be a difficult
task, well think again. Pacific storms penetrating off the aleutians have
the ability to shake these gargantuan vessels like a cheap hotels quarter
fed vibrating bed from the 70s. Never take the power of nature for granted,
always enjoy its beauty and respect the fact that shes gnarlier than you.

under way

A typical loading plan showing stowage positions for the containers.

One \ means still working while an X means completed that bay. Schematics like these are used by the mate on watch to ensure cargo loads and discharge are happening as planned.

It's important while making rounds on deck to keep a very watchful eye. 1 dead bird with a disease could be disastrous for crew health...

signing on the ship

the manukai is a us flagged jones act union ship. basically the shit. when a us crew ventures into foriegn waters the crew must present passports, physical fitness and sign foriegn articles stating amongst other things that there will be no pilferage, sabotage and illegal contraband smuggling.
8 am is the crew change. work starts immediately after. container stowage postions and times must be logged and mooring lines and gangway ladders must be tended all the while assuring the vessels security is being taken care of. there are 3 levels of maritime security... MARSEC 1, 2 and 3. 1 is normal 2 is sketchy and 3 is get the hell outta dodge cause some shit is about to go down. there are multiple size containers stowed on the ship ranging from 20 up to 55 feet. all goods must be accounted for and if the containers are filled with frozen or refrigerated goods, temperatures must be taken and that the refrigeration does not fail. there is a "reefer engineer" whos only job is to maintain those boxes.

more to come stay tuned.

24ft refrigerated container

blogging hiatus

from now until january 17th all posts will be from a 900ft container ship called the MANUKAI. this holiday season will be spent at sea with stops in honolulu, guam, xiamen, ningbo and shanghai china. follow the voyage here as attempts are made to profile life at sea.

happy holidays. 

shit, whens the pipe masters in memory of A.I. gonna resume? 

david mann chopper fest 2010 Ventura

heres some highlights from the show. there were tons of sick bikes. only snapped a few pics before the iphone died.

welcome to chopper fest

shapin synopsis

electric planer- $30
saw- inherited from grandpa (free)
2 hand planers- inherited from grandpa (free)
finger planer- $5
spoke shave and surform- $10
template fabric- $6
sanding screen- $2
Blemish blank- $53
sand paper and sanding block- scrap 2x4 and old sand paper from previous project (free)
total- $106.00
glassing-$200 @ studio 609 Board Craft, maybe a little steep but open on saturday
grand total- 306.00 + 3 partial days of creative fun-foam dust everywhere+riding your own shape= priceless

day 3. finale

 just took a 6 pack

off to the glasser.

day 2

new deadline monday morning. 3 days to complete. theres a lot of foam to plane... synopsis of the adventure following completion

the next shaper of the year?

shit. doubt it but the first hand shape is well under way. follow the journey

.

this weekend

rain or shine

greyson fletcher

christian fletcher

nathan fletcher

Happy Friday

low tide and brown sand

if we could all die like this

hidden perfection

yikes

what? no more stikas bru?

so whats the deal with  pro surfers drawing on sponsors logos instead of using stickers? 

is it the new offshore and hollow is onshore and crumbly trend? the first person of note to be drawing on logos was Dane. Now Jordys drawin on logos that can be seen from miles away, shit he's even trying to wear the same style hats and shirts as Dane. they say copying is the finest form of flattery but damn, at this rate jordy's gonna show up to the Pipe contest with a seagull and anchor tattoo. being unique is cool, its rad if thats actually you. if you gotta copy someone else's uniqueness than that is just weird. has anyone else noticed these similarities? is it a coincidence?

back to the drawing on of logos. are the team managers not sending the sticks out in enough quantity? are these athletes getting too many boards and not enough stickers? that would be understandable. what ever the reason may be; it was cool when it was unique now its like a song on the radio, played out. 

dane set the trend, now kellys doin it, jordys doin it, even julian wilson, mr pookah shell poster boy is drawing on quik logos. its an epidemic. its gotta take twice as long to draw a mountain and a wave or write O'NEILL than slap a big red square on the nose or whatever?  shit, not to mention look at the attention that huge advertisement brought Jordy's way... 

3 hotties from the Midwest! sick

how similar is jordys stick below?

Jordy ReynoldSmith

"how much for a sharpie and pookah necklace?" as told to the ABC store cashier

spray paint... clever

Traveling this holiday season?

This is what you can look forward to!!!

THANKS TSA!