July 2024

BEYOND THE HORIZON

YACHT WORLD

            Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon and Blue Horizon, and among the world’s richest men, owns the toys one would expect of a man to whom money is meaningless. His three jets ran about $50 million which is mere chump change for him. It is his yacht that attracts a modest level of attention. His $500 million 417’ KORU (Māori for “new beginnings”) modestly boasts 2 swimming pools, a hot tub, a cinema, lounges, two dining rooms, and offices. It takes a crew of 36 to handle his needs aboard. 

            Jeff considers this his yacht, and yachts are for fun. He needs an auxiliary ship, ABEONA, a 250’ supply boat that carries his necessities such as jet skis, speed boats (Plural), a dinghy, a helicopter, and a plane hangar. She carries a crew of 45. Her AIS places her in Greece as of this writing.

            Jeff’s expenses for the two boats run an estimated $25 million per year. His port fees run about $16,000 per week.  Surprisingly, Mr. Bezos has yet to invite me for a voyage.

KORU

ABEONA

Silent Yachts launched a 3-deck solar-powered luxury yacht run on huge lithium-ion batteries that can store up to 350 kw that is more than capable to motor the vessel and sustain all the electronics aboard. She has a desalinization plant that can produce 950 gallons of pure water daily at a mere 14 kWh. Their ship is the first solar-powered boat to cross the Atlantic. 

COAST GUARD

            Politicians are superb comedians. If you ever listen to one and not laugh, you are really not paying attention. Neither party nor position matters, they all are hilarious. Commandant Linda Fagan testified before a Congressional Sub-Committee on some topic that remains unknown. (Sitting in the gallery during the early 1970’s, A Southern Senator stated that if he believed in reincarnation he would like to come back as a Congressional Sub-Committee because they never, ever die. He then proceeded to mention entities left over from World War II that no longer had any function but still hired and paid staff members for doing absolutely nothing.)

            Anyway, Admiral Fagan was hammered for not doing more to protect off-shore drilling sites, not doing enough to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, and being behind in commissioning a new icebreaker. Politely, she endured the punishing verbal assault without mentioning that Congress has not provided any additional money for the additional desires of Congress. 

            The 689’ freighter, MICHIPICOTEN, hard-hit something underwater in Lake Superior and started to list to 15 degrees as water poured into the hull. The Coast Guard responded and assisted in righting the vessel to a 5-degree list and took half of the 22-person crew offboard. The ship continued to a nearby port.

            4,800 pounds of cocaine did not reach the American market because the Royal Dutch Navy and U.S. Coast Guard followed a suspect ship from Venezuela until it reached Florida waters. They requested that the ship stop and allow inspection; however, the cargo ship immediately headed off to the Caribbean Sea. Again, when ordered to stop, the ship did not, and a firefight ensued. Three crew members jumped overboard but were never found. The value of the cache was estimated at $63 million.

            A rescue crew from USCG Port Canaveral responded to an EPIRB signal from a stranded 36’ cutter ironically named SMELLS LIKE FISH floating without power about 23 miles offshore. The response team towed her back to Florida. The Coast Guard commended the use of the EPIRB which gave them spot-on location data. 

WHITE FLEET

            Mario Salcedo has taken cruise vacations to an entirely new level. He has continuously spent 23 years living aboard cruise liners, especially on Royal Caribbean liners which he prefers.  While spending 52 weeks a year on board a ship may seem extraordinary, he responds that his lifestyle is cheaper than trying to live in a major city. He has a doctor at his beck and call, great food, and an opportunity to meet lots of people.

He lives in the smallest and least expensive of interior cabins. He also is miserly with his spending. Nevertheless, his annual expenses run about $82,000 per year. Compare that with Assisted Living Residences. 

Mario Salcedo

            A  man fell overboard from the MSC ERUBIA which unto itself is a common occurrence and hardly noteworthy; however, the Norwegian Police are treating this as a suspicious death and are very quiet about the investigation. The incident, the second in three months for this area, took place at the King of Fjords in Norway.

            In a remarkably head-shaking episode, an 18-year-old boy was going on a Caribbean cruise with his parents who were celebrating the boy’s birthday. The parents were ashore somewhere among the islands playing tourist, buying paraphernalia, and bargaining with the locals for trinkets when the boy informed them, they needed to get back to the ship. They proceeded to ignore him despite horns from the cruise liner. The unheeded boy ran back and boarded the ship while his parents continued their bartering. Of course, the ship left as scheduled without the parents who were forced to buy airplane tickets to the next ship’s stop.

            The parents reproached the son for not insisting that the ship inconvenience the other 3,900 passengers by waiting for them, as if the captain would have held up the itinerary. Clearly, this couple is of such importance that the ship should have awaited them. Humility is so overrated. 

GRAY FLEET

            China continues to harass ships in the South China Sea including the deliberate attempt to block humanitarian aid to a sick Philippine military man. A Philippine Coast Guard ship was sent to Thomas Shoal to evacuate the man when Chinese warships and small craft surrounded the ship.  Struggling to reach the man, the Pilipino rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB), was intentionally rammed and both sides drew and aimed weapons. The video of the incident is disturbing, intentional, and aggressive. 

            The U.S. Navy joined 20 other NATO countries in Baltic Sea exercises in anti-submarine warfare, mine clearing, gunnery, and amphibious landings. For the first time, Sweden joined Finland and the Baltic nations in the operations. Sweden has been constantly bothered by Russian ships harassing their merchant fleet and constant swarms of surveillance ships. Finland, which has over 800 miles abutting Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia consider themselves extremely vulnerable to Russian attack. They all breathe easier now that they are full members of NATO. In the past, they dangerously walked a diplomatic tightrope of neutrality fearing invasion by the Big; however, the war with Ukraine quickly turned them to NATO membership fully and totally supported by their populations.

NATO Baltic Sea operations. 

            The Navy announced another fired commanding officer for “loss of confidence in her (his) ability to lead the crew”, the usual public statement when someone loses their command. Capt. Michel Brandt was relieved as C.O. of the USS SOMERSET (LPD-25) an amphibious Transport Dock that was operating within Expeditionary Strike Group 7. The ship experienced maintenance problems and was unable to participate in planned exercises. 

            The relief of Co’s has been a common occurrence over the last few years and raises questions about the training and abilities of officers. Naval Officers tend to spend over half of their contract time ashore doing administrative duties and not at sea gaining experience in running crews and ships.

            An editorial “HATS OFF” to the members of the Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association, of which I am a member. These super spies are invariably overlooked and under-appreciated as they gather, translate, and analyze encrypted data. They don’t receive medals for breaking important codes or developing new security software, nor are they even able to share their successes with their family. These men and women are brilliant, gifted, and diligent in often boring tasks. For many years they had the innocuous rating of Communications Technicians (CT) allowing most people to think they had something to do with telephones.

For several years, my fellow CTs who were aboard the USS PUEBLO (AGER-2) were not allowed to wear the POW medal. If you ever came across a CT with a Purple Heart ribbon, they were probably aboard the PUEBLO or the USS LIBERTY (AGER-5) (although some might have earned one while snooping around in Vietnam).  Bravo Zulu, my friends. 

Russia is showing off its muscle in the Atlantic and Caribbean by sending four warships to Cuba to participate in a series of naval exercises along the East Coast of the United States. Russia maintains that the ships will not come within a thousand miles of the U.S., this marks the first real military practice in the region since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963. 

The ships include the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Gorchakov and attack submarine KARZAN, both are advanced technologically weaponized ships carrying anti-ship, anti-aircraft, and long-range missiles. They fired several missiles in a test mode. Of course, the U.S. and some NATO allies increased their presence in the Western Atlantic as a response.

Russian Submarine K-561 KARZAN

The Navy announced that U.S. Navy ships are in more danger and involved with more warfare than in several decades. One of the biggest war zones is the Red Sea where Houthi Rebels, supported by Iran, continue to unleash attacks on merchant and warships within reach.

MV VERBENA, a Paulaun-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, and Polish-operated bulk carrier hauling a load of wood, was hit with an anti-ship ballistic missile causing damage and setting the ship afire. The USS PHILIPPINE SEA  (CG-58) launched helicopters to evacuate the wounded. The VERBENA crew continued to fight the fires for 72 hours before abandoning the ship and allowing her to sink. 

Meanwhile, the MV TUTOR was hit by a boat drone. The U.S. Navy reported that merchant shipping in the Red Sea is down about 90%.

Mv VERBENA

ENVIRONMENT

NOAA classifies sea pollution into two categories: non-point source and point source. The former comes from farm runoffs, septic tanks, vehicle fuel, and livestock. Point Source pollution includes oil spills, faulty water treatment, and industrial waste.

EPA states that non-point source pollution is also urban waste such as grease, oils, and residential toxic chemicals. They also point to agricultural problems such as excess fertilizer, insecticides, pesticides, and fungicides. Abandoned mines and eroding stream banks fall into this category. These all can be modified or eliminated. 

EPA suggests keeping street gutters clear of animal feces (use poop bags for your dog, please),  leaves, and debris. Urban failures to properly dispose of oils, anti-freeze, grease, brake fluid, paint, and household cleaners and chemicals create significant problems when they run into the streams. They sternly point to the agricultural community for pollution emanating from manure and agricultural chemicals. 

EDITORIAL

Except for my Navy tour, I have lived my entire life in the Midwest agricultural center of the U.S., and I have worked with farmers ranging from small acreages to mammoth factory farms. ReganCrest farms milk over 1,000 cows twice a day, and they milk the top 20% of cows three times a day. Their feed storage unit is bigger than a football field, and they haul hay with huge skid loaders. This is big-time farming, and it is big-time manure. They are very, very careful with their by-products, and tend to be exemplary in controlling pollution. However, my distant cousins are unlike a goodly portion of farmers who do not take kindly to suggestions, rules, mandates, laws, regulations, and directives on best agricultural practices. Protected by Farm Bureau, Ag Pharma, the Iowa legislature, and two farmer U.S. Senators, they will pretty much do as they please. 

Iowa is the #1 contributor to the Louisiana Dead Zone. When I was a child, I vividly remember the rich, black topsoil of our farms. It smelled wonderfully and you could grow anything in it. Iowa’s topsoil is in Louisiana. Our fields are tan and brown, but with a ton of chemicals, we can increase our corn production, and that is all that matters to most of our population. 

Ironically, Iowa is becoming an urban state. 1 in 4 Iowans live in the metropolitan economic zone of Des Moines. The I-380 corridor of Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City accounts for another 20%. Toss in Sioux City, the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities, Dubuque, and Council Bluffs and you have a majority of our population. And yet, farm pollution is among the highest in the nation. I do not understand. 

            I hate to say this, but it costs money to run this blog. The domain name, hosting fees, and sundry other “stuff” runs about $1,000 per year.  The cost is meaningless compared to the enjoyment I find in writing this; nevertheless, I could use a slight donation to keep the IRS off my transom for all the write-offs I use. I need to show some semblance of income. If you kind readers would drop a buck or two my way, I would appreciate it. Or you can recommend that your friends buy the WORLD’S WORST SAILOR on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Doc Regan

1626 Maplewood Dr. NE

Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.

            Evidently, I am not the only bad sailor. 

Beyond the Horizon