Fall is here, and the topside repair business is accelerating in the Port of Port Angeles.
Polar Resolution, a crude oil tanker operated by Polar Tankers, spent a week at the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 1 North.
I understand that in addition to taking on bunkers and lube oil, personnel made enhancements to the vessel’s ballast tank filtration system.
The 854-foot ConocoÂPhillips ship got underway at 7 a.m. Friday for Prince William Sound, Alaska.
By 9 a.m., the 831-foot tanker Sierra, with an assist from the tugs Lindsey Foss and Pacific Star, moored to Terminal 1 North.
SeaRiver Maritime’s Sierra — longtime water-watchers remember her as the Kenai before her sale to ExxonMobil’s transportation subsidiary in the mid-2000s — is scheduled to remain at Terminal 1 until Wednesday.
Interesting side note: An online industry newsletter, TradeWinds, reported in August that SeaRiver confirmed that it is looking for a buyer for the 869-foot Sierra and a sister tanker, Kodiak, both double-hulled and built in the late 1970s.
Later this decade, water-watchers of the Strait of Juan de Fuca’s tanker traffic should see at least one new SeaRiver tanker now under construction in Philadelphia, TradeÂWinds reported.
That ship is due for delivery to SeaÂRiver Maritime in the first half of next year.
Barge repaired
The bunker barge used by Tesoro Petroleum for its refueling operations in Port Angeles Harbor was moored to Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3 from Tuesday until 6 p.m. Friday to allow personnel an opportunity to repair the barge’s onboard crane.
The base of the crane apparently needed to have a new set of bearings installed. The project curtailed Tesoro’s refueling operations in the harbor for the week.
Pilot boat refurbished
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled the pilot boat Puget Sound out of the water Monday.
Once she was washed and waxed, I understand that PropSpeed was applied to all of the vessel’s underwater components.
The Puget Sound and her sister vessel, Juan de Fuca, were built in 1999 by the Nordlund Boat Co. and are the only two pilot boats the Tacoma yacht-maker has built.
Each vessel is extremely well maintained.
Both vessels typically are hauled out of the water twice a year and undergo a thorough and rigorous maintenance regimen that contributes to the vessels’ durability, seaworthiness and longevity.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Platypus hauled out Reward, a 103-foot Burger whose owner recently purchased her in Vancouver, B.C., and has a laundry list of maintenance items and improvements he wants attended to.
I understand that the composite yacht may be in the Commander Building for two or three weeks.
First to swim Strait
In the middle of September, the PDN reported on three Bainbridge Island gentlemen in wetsuits who swam across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Freshwater Bay to Vancouver Island, a distance of about 12 miles.
On the north side of Ediz Hook, across from the boat launch, is a historical marker that commemorates the time and place where Bert Thomas, a 29-year-old logger and longshoreman from Tacoma and former Marine who fought in World War II, slipped into the chilly waters in the early evening hours of July 7, 1955 — without a wet suit — to begin his historic
18.3-mile swim from Port Angeles to Victoria.
In April 1955, the Victoria Times offered $1,000 Canadian to the first swimmer to maneuver the Strait.
Four men and three women accepted the challenge but were unsuccessful.
Four times — like all of his fellow challengers — Thomas tried swimming the Strait from Canada to the U.S. but gave up miles from shore.
For his fifth attempt, he changed his strategy and decided to try crossing in the opposite direction.
He timed his takeoff at 5:55 p.m. from Ediz Hook to coincide with a gentle evening ebb tide and put nearly 4 miles of water behind him in two hours.
A schooner scouted a mile ahead for friendly currents, and the pleasure boat King Bacardi stayed with him.
Once each hour, as Thomas rested, his handlers fed him orange juice through a plastic tube.
As the night wore on and he got closer to Vancouver Island, Victoria residents turned on their porch lights to act as beacons.
At daybreak, Thomas could see crowds gathering along the Victoria shoreline.
At 5:05 a.m. July 8, 11 hours and 10 minutes after the swim began, Thomas staggered out of the 48-degree water into the welcoming arms of his wife.
After a cup of hot coffee, he was whisked off to downtown Victoria for a municipal welcome — and the $1,000. He also got $2,500 in other prize money.
Thomas later swam the English Channel from France to England in 1958 in 19 hours, 28 minutes.
In 1969, three years before he died of a heart attack at age 46, he was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts. Items and questions involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears Sundays.