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New Boat 4 Sled

USNS GRASP 3.JPG

In response to Pork Chop Express's nice story on https://www.sfbaysss.org/forum/showthread.php?2869-2023-Corinthian-SIs-are-now-posted-on-jibeset, the USNS GRASP, currently visiting San Francisco at Pier 32 is an astonishing ship.

GRASP is the second ship of the newest auxiliary rescue and salvage class of vessels constructed for the US Navy. At 255 feet LOA, this rugged steel-hulled vessel, combined with speed and endurance, make GRASP well-suited for rescue and salvage operations throughout the world. The hull below the waterline is ice-strengthened.

In her hold, GRASP carries transportable cutting and welding equipment, hydraulic and electric power sources, and de-watering gear. GRASP has salvage and machine shops, and hull repair materials to effect temporary hull repairs on stranded or otherwise damaged ships.

Stranded vessels can be removed from a beach or reef by the use of GRASP's towing winch and propulsion. Additional retraction force can be applied to a stranded vessel through the use of up to six legs of beach gear, consisting of 6,000 pound STATO anchors, wire rope, chain, and salvage buoys.

In addition to the standard legs of beach gear, GRASP carries 4 spring buoys carried beneath the port and starboard bridge wings. Each spring buoy weighs 3100 pounds, is 10 feet long, 6 feet in diameter, and provides a buoyancy of 7½ tons, The spring buoys can be used with beach gear legs rigged from a stranded vessel when deep water is found seaward of the stranded vessel like on the back side of Red Rock during the 3BF.

GRASP's propulsion machinery provides a bollard pull (towing force at zero speed and full power) of 68 tons using a double-drum automatic towing winch. Each drum carries 3,000 feet of 2.25 inch-diameter, galvanized, wire-rope towing hawsers. The towing winch has automatic pay out strain adjustment, and can also be used with synthetic rope, ideal for towing the entire E-27, Wabbit, and Moore-24 fleets to the start line off GGYC.

GRASP has several diving systems to support different types of operations. Divers descend to depth on a stage that is lowered by one of two powered davits. The diving locker is equipped with a double-lock hyperbaric chamber for recompression after deep dives or for the treatment of divers suffering from the Bends. GRASP's diving system supports manned diving to depths of 190 feet on surfaced-supplied air. A mixed gas system can be used to enable the support of diving to a maximum depth of 300 feet. GRASP carries SCUBA equipment for dives that require greater mobility than is possible in tethered diving. Perfect for Rob on TIGER BEETLE.

In addition to her two main ground tackle anchors (6000 pound Navy standard stockless or 8000 pound balanced-fluke anchors) GRASP can use her a 7.5-ton capacity boom on her forward king post and a 40-ton capacity boom on her aft king post. As well, there is a heavy lift system that consists of large bow and stern rollers, deck machinery, and tackle that can lift up to 350 tons and/or the Richmond Yacht Club clubhouse.

GRASP has three manually operated fire-fighting nozzles that can deliver 1,000 gallons/minute. Good for celebrating RAINBOW's departure and return from the South Pacific.

If you need a pull, lift, dive recovery, fire suppression, Alcatraz reanchored, or race mark repositioned, GRASP is the ship for you.
 
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Delightful spin on what could've been just another dry description for middle schoolers on a field trip, Skip. Thank you.
 
Skip, thank you for bringing Margie's video to our attention. I really enjoyed it. That Margie: She has the most beautiful smile, does she not??!!
 
What a fabulous ship- built for rescue and recovery ! Judging by the number of boats on the beach in this pic- they have their work cut out for them. Is this down your way Sled ?
 
MillyB said:
What a fabulous ship- built for rescue and recovery ! Judging by the number of boats on the beach in this pic- they have their work cut out for them. Is this down your way Sled ?
Click to expand...

Hi Milly! No, the photo of USNS GRASP is taken at the entrance to San Diego Bay at the western tip of North Island Naval Air Station. I doubt the Navy would issue orders to clean up the boats on their beach, of which there appear to be several. as you point out.

That said, your remark about US Navy recovering boats brings to mind a little remembered 1981 salvage operation seaward of Monterey Harbor. A year earlier, the Shield's Class sloop BARBARA, #186, owned by the Naval Post Graduate School Sailing Association, sank in 80 feet of water, 3/4 mile off Del Monte Beach, while returning to Monterey Harbor during a vicious squall. (The Shields, built by ChrisCraft, had a design flaw in that their water-tight bulkheads did not reach fully upward to the underside of the deck.)

My father had a pronounced interest in recovering BARBARA if possible. It was his donation to NPGS in 1969 that had made it all possible, and BARBARA had been named in honor of his good friend Cornelius Shield's granddaughter.

Partly due to my father's Navy connections, the specially equipped Minesweeper U.S.S.PLUCK hove into Monterey Bay in 1981 to demonstrate its sonar to NPGS. PLUCK had recently been outfitted with a newly developed sonar and GPS system that was very accurate compared to older methods of mine location. The young Navy operators of this device claimed that not only could they find a beer can in 1500 ft of water - they could identify the brand of beer!

Sure enough, given the challenge, PLUCK's crew not only found BARBARA, but raised her from the bottom. While she was at it, PLUCK also located and raised a luxury yacht that had sunk nearby and was leaking fuel.

The Shields story came to a nostalgic climax in late December, 1984, at the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club, when a fully restored BARBARA was re-christened. BARBARA still sails out of Monterey, now with her bulkheads truly watertight.
 
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Two weeks ago, CHEYENNE, a beautiful and fast 47' sloop designed by Paul Whiting, was cruising the Hauraki Gulf, west of Auckland, New Zealand when her crew, Alan Blunt, and my next door neighbors Pitter and Dave Fox, recognized they were in the probable path of tropical cyclone Gabrielle approaching the North Island in a southeasterly direction from the Coral Sea and already a Cat.3. Below is Alan's account, with my own additions highlighted after interviewing the Foxes.
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Thanks for your concern. All OK. Pitter and Fox are returning to Capitola today with plenty of stories.
We sheltered in Port Fitzroy on Great Barrier Island, north of the Coromandal Peninsula. Very protected, especially from the east with a range of mountains, ie. the “Barrier”. It is quite deep, but lots of little coves with shallower water. We had plenty of time to prep and looked at few spots before deciding to shelter up a river mouth in the south of Port Fitzroy at Wairahi Cove. It was well protected from the East. It turned out that the wind mainly wrapped around a headland and blew from the South. Only one other boat and plenty of swing room with a good holding on a mud bottom in 20 feet.

As the wind increased we slowly let out more scope, finally ending up with 60 meters all chain out and 40 meters more to go if necessary, using a large diameter nylon snubber on the chain. Our biggest issue was CHEYENNE tends to sail around a lot, tacking back and forth, especially with that much chain out. We tried various ideas to reduce this, but nothing seemed to help. Always looking for new thoughts on this. (The roller furling jib was left rolled on the headstay and securely frapped with the spin halyard and spare jib halyard in opposite directions.)

We primarily lay to the south, but big gusts, 65-75 knots would roll over the hill from the east and hit us broadside on, laying Cheyenne on her side and dumping everything in the galley onto the sole. Time to hang on!

We're not sure exactly how hard it blew, as our anemometer was only reading into the 30’s in the big puffs. Still the recording function showed 48.7 knots. I think it was much higher than that, with 74 knots recorded close by. (It turned out the anemometer cups were filled with compacted mud from horizontal rain coming off the nearby hills.)

As the eye brushed over us the barometer dropped to 28.5" (966mb), a record low, and the wind dropped into the 20’s and stayed there for all of the 3rd night, giving us some rest. All this was in very heavy rain. Pitter does not sleep in those conditions, so we joked that she stood all the night watches and Fox and I shared the day watches. Of course she still had to cook on her off watches.

I would do regular deck inspections, especially for chafe at the bow and going forward was a challenge. The inflatable dinghy was well secured upside-down on the foredeck and is shaped kind of like the top of an airplane wing and was continually trying to take off. Will deflate it if there is ever a next time. We had two spare anchors, one at the bow and one at the stern, ready to deploy if necessary.

As the eye passed the wind clocked and we moved to Smokehouse Bay which is well protected from the west. . Only stayed one night. I've now been thru the eye of 2 cyclones this year, and the most notable thing is the noise, or lack of. You tend to shut out the wind howling but really notice the quiet when it stops. No damage, but the nut on the Windex loosened up. When Fox went aloft to tighten it the top third of the mast was covered in mud. Even after all that torrential rain.

We waited one more day for things to settle then got blown home to Keri Keri in the Bay of Islands in a stiff southerly. Great sail.

Cheers,
Alan
 
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Happy Birthday to Ants' father, Endel Uiga, at age 105, oldest living Estonian and WWII survivor in which 25% of Estonia's population was lost. Estonia was overrun by the Russians causing Endel to go into hiding..The Russians were then were pushed out by the Germans and Endel was faced with being conscripted or sent to a 'camp." Then Estonia was reoccupied by the Russians. How Endel and his wife, Ant's mother, survived, is an epic tale including being separated and then having a chance reunion. This resulted in Ants and his brother being born in Germany, and first crossing the Atlantic by ship to their new home in upper New York state in 1950, when Ants was 7 months and apparently the only passenger not to get seasick. In order for Endel and family to emigrate to the U.S. he had to profess being a gardener, even though Endel held a PHD in electrical engineering. It was Endel who figured out the best way to cut the new material, Styrofoam, into intricate shapes like Christmas ornaments was with a hot wire.

According to Ants, in the last 24 hours his father Endel has received 400 Birthday cards and wishes. Let this be #401. Congratulations Good Sir!
 
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Any word on if the Santa Cruz harbor is open? We are going to make a training run down to either Monterey or Santa Cruz and we wondering our options.
 
The blue spinnaker actress Jennifer Connelly calls the "Afterburner," to Tom Cruise in tonight's Academy Awards Best Picture and Best Visual Effects nominee and Oscar winner for Sound "Maverick, Top Gun"

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looks a little worse for wear on the spinnaker reach from Alcatraz to RYC in today's Big Daddy Regatta.

maverick2.jpg

I've seen Synthia repair much worse. Thanks to Jackie aboard SURPRISE! for the action photo.

Said Tom Cruise in a memorable line as he fumbled around on J-125 RUFLESS in "Maverick, Top Gun," "I don't sail boats, Penny, I land on them."
 
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This spinnaker blow up happened in front of us, and from our perspective, it almost looked like they wiped out on the Committee Boat- thankfully not ! I am eternally grateful to my dear friend and skipper, Cinde Lou Delmas, for taking the RYC Junior Sailors and giving them the opportunity to drive her beautiful boat ! Most of the ( 10 year olds) were too inhibited to take the helm on a breezy day, but there was one young girl who OWNED the helm ! Look out for her ! We also had someone's 5 1/2 year old kid sister, who gloried in the rain. These kids were awesome !
 
The front passed CBC about noon with 40+ knot gusts....Capt. Palmer wisely decided not to bring Matson ship LURLINE down the Alameda Estuary at that time and is safely anchored out awaiting a decrease in breeze that capsized several trucks on the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge.

Look what landed in the CBC frontyard from the Pacific Gyre. Can you spot the conjoined pair?

Glass Balls.jpg

I still have the 3" glass ball that floated into Forney's Cove on the west tip of Santa Cruz Island and came to rest aboard WILDFLOWER.
 
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Seriously, those glass balls just arrived!? Wow. All the way up the hill from the beach? Impressive wind, indeed.

I'd come up from Monterey to eat Macapuno but Highway 1 is closed. :-((

It's really foggy here. Hopefully it will clear up a bit and the wind will abate enough for the Monterey Peninsula YC to have its first buoy race tomorrow night. I don't have my PFD so I won't be begging a ride on a boat, but I am going over there to eat dinner and chat with the sailors before and maybe after the races. Will post here. In the meantime, hold on to your socks, Soggy Sled.
 
The sheer number of large logs and trees that recently appeared on Seabright State Beach, just east of the recently flooded San Lorenzo River, is notable. 40-80 foot logs not uncommon, several 6 feet in diameter. Possibly they are refugees from burn scars inland and uphill that sought lower elevation.

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Across the Bay, Jackie caught a nice shot of Shields Class sloop HARRIET, named after Sleddog's mother, out for Wednesday night racing. Mom always did like green.

Harriet .JPG

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Yesterday's intense low zipped up the Coast, passing CBC at mid-day with a pressure of 987.8 Mb and gusts > 50. Not everyday one gets to see a cloudless eye of a counter-clockwise swirling low pressure off the California coast. Wonder if Jackie got in the air. She was scheduled to fly to Wisconsin looking for a crew position on an ice-boat....

Speaking of not flying, the yellow Sausalito seaplane got it's float jammed under the dock. Then the tide went out. Ouch. https://vimeo.com/810527004
 
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