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Thats it. A co-workers, daughter's boyfriend is aboard the Decatur. We were trying to get aboard but he was on duty and couldn't visit. After looking at the Iowa lately, the Decatur is tiny.
Yes I got your email. I'll get a cd burned for you shortly.
Since someone mentioned sailboats, in size large. The summer of '94 I sailed this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordia_(ship) from San Francisco to Hilo Hi, to Victoria BC. Let me tell you, doing a sail maneuver at 3am 90 feet up a mast while the boat is rolling around is something you never forget. Since I wasn't afraid of heights, I got the job of working the clew for the Royal yard arm (the highest one on the foremast.) Sliding out the main cable that you stand on wasn't a big deal, it was the big step from the well supported and tight cable, to the flapping line (rope) that extended out to the clew. It wasn't easy to see in the dark either. During the day, it was something you think about, at night it was a possible step into oblivion (I was wearing a safety harness just in case.) I managed to not find out how well the safety harness worked. (I later found out when I was up the main mast sitting in a bosun's chair with nothing but a very large sail around me when the guy at the helm was paying more attention to me rather than where the boat was going, swung the bow around and the next thing I knew I was kicking off the mainsail 75 feet above the deck, nearly falling out of the chair. It was exciting to say the least.)
On the return trip we had to do an airlift off a tall ship, in pea soup fog 800 miles from shore. 0655 the morning watch went aloft to set a sail and one of the people failed to clip their safety harness as they climbed onto the crows nest, slipped and fell. She missed the roof of the galley, on the left side, and the pin rail to her right, landing feet first on the deck. 6 inches either direction she would have been dead. Still, she broke everything from the waist down. The Coast Gaurd was 8 hrs away, and we certainly didn't have the means to treat her on board. The USS Abraham Lincoln was not too far away (no idea where, we couldn't see anything on radar) Either an S3B Viking or an A6 Intruder verified our position (I heard it but couldn't see it in the fog) and shortly there after a SH60 Seahawk dropped a Navy Seal in the water next to us and assisted with the airlift off the stern. The trick here was the stretcher was lowered with a tether off the end of it (allowed to touch the water first to avoid static electricity shock) and we pulled the stretcher aboard as the SH60 moved aft to clear the masts and rigging (I'll say it, the pilot was a bad ass.) The injured person was loaded aboard the stretcher and lifted to the railing where the stretcher was lifted by the winch on the helo and fed out to keep it from swinging into the hull. After lifting the stretcher aboard, the seal was plucked out of the water and they flew off to our north. We ended up motoring the rest of the way to Victoria.
The Concordia was a bad luck boat, there were several serious accidents and at least one death (paint locker blew up and all that was left of a guy was his shoes). I'll admit, sailing the high seas has its dangers, especially when its mostly crewed by high school kids. Still, it was a fantastic learning experience. I'd do it again if I had the chance. (Anyone have a sailboat here in the Bay Area that needs a random crew member? I haven't been sailing since. )
Just a little update on this sea-going war veteran:
"Divers have begun cleaning the hull of the battleship Iowa, preparing the decommissioned warship for its new role as a floating museum at the Port of Los Angeles.
The 887-foot-long ship has been anchored about three miles offshore after its four-day tow from the San Francisco Bay ended Wednesday morning. It is scheduled to be pulled into port on June 9 and open to the public at Berth 87 on July 7."
Is that Seal Beach 2012, or somewhere in the Persian Gulf circa 1988? If the cars in the foreground weren't there, it might be hard to tell. Heck, crop the parking lot out of the shot and call it 1988. It really is an imposing silhouette to see Its a one of those, "Pick a fight, I dare you." scenes.
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