A Fine Cut of the Jib

Until this year, the Newport- Bermuda sailing race was not on my radar. It is sailed every 2 years from Rhode Island, and my Alma mater usually sends a boat crewed by midshipmen. This was not enough to pique my interest in the past, yet Somehow, it came to a special place of prominence in my mind. One factor is that Orsted, a major Danish renewable energy company, has become a major sponsor of this race. Offshore wind has been creating many good career opportunities for American mariners, and the proximity to the coastline allows for better work-life balance than traditional deep sea shipping. Another key factor: Friends and their family have been boosting the hype on social media. The parents are old enough to have time to sail, and the kids old enough to have knowledge gained through experience on the water. According to race announcers, this year brings quite a few novices to the race. Relative youth is an advantage: As the starting line emcee put it on Friday. Don’t be older than the length of your boat. That is, older folks should ride in the relative comfort of a larger sailboat. See the contenders' current positions here at: https://cf.yb.tl/nb2024 PS, I'm following Assarain IV.

Monkeypox?

The spread of Monkeypox has not reached epidemic proportions, and hopefully never will. But what came to my attention was how it spread: close quarters and skin-to-skin contact. Monkeypox has spread around hot-to-trot nightclubs in urban centers, but has stayed out of locker rooms and mainstream environments...so far. In college, I worked on the waterfront with the offshore sailing team. They would come back from overnight trips, where they slept arm to arm and had the same bilge-water sloshing around their feet. Close proximity, without intimateness. I trust that nautical leaders will implement recommendations for awareness and prevention, so we can nip this virus in the bud.

Right to Work: Debate Then and Now

Press rooms in heavily-unionized New York and California have a narrative about right-to-work laws. They say these laws were passed by Southern states in the Jim Crow era to ensure a supply of low-wage African-American labor. Union leaders join in, calling Right-to-Work a right to work for less (SIU).

What the argument comes down to is a debate on whether the Closed Shop should be allowed. In a Closed Shop, employers are bound by union contract to only hire members. In contrast, in an Open Shop, employers may control the hiring process. A Right-to-Work state prohibits the Closed Shop.

Right-to-Work laws emerged shortly after World War Two, from Texas to Virginia. These laws would later be passed in the Mountain West. In the North, union loyalty remained strong among blue-collar Whites. African-Americans fought to join unions, which controlled hiring on lucrative, blue-collar middle-class jobs. Many of these involved contracts for immense public-works projects of the era. 

However, until the 1960’s, the Federal government tended to view labor unions as private associations exempt from due process. This held true even if the union held Closed Shop privileges. In some cases, racial discrimination was written into union by-laws; in others, nepotism ensured that sons and nephews of members filled the entry ranks.    Immense pressure by African-American groups upon City Halls, with sympathy from upscale Whites, wedged a token opening for minorities to join labor unions as equals. Furthermore, the Eisenhower administration considered using proposed national Right-to-Work legislation to right a civil wrong. In the South, unionization of railroad employers often led to a loss of skilled jobs for African-Americans, according to then-contemporary Herbert Hill.

Right-to-Work need not be the death sentence of labor unions. Unions which provide value to members, and to employers, will always be in demand. At OSG, a major ship-owning company (pre-2013), Licensed Deck Officers voted to disband its collective bargaining agreement. This was a move discouraged by the company, as the union representing the company’s mates provided surge labor, training, medical services, and a retirement plan. The company couldn’t imagine life without its labor unions. For disclosure, I am a proud, dues-paying union member.

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Note: Janus vs. AFSCME concerns a different issue. This decision has been criticized as one enabling “freeloaders” to collect the benefits of membership without paying dues.

References:

“Labor Unions and the Negro”, Herbert Hill. Circa July 1959. Found on commentarymagazine.com

“Why Are Anti-Union Laws Called “Right To Work”?, Brian Palmer, Slate. 12/12/2012.

Greta Thunberg's Expedition

Greta Thunberg, 16, made Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Good for her, and I mean it. While Time Magazine and most people, from Brazil to Israel, are focusing on her climate-change advocacy, I’m honing in on her recent maritime accomplishment.

Scandinavians have a good relationship with the oceans. Since Leif Eriksson and his Vikings made a transatlantic voyage, citizens of the Baltic Sea have dominated and improved the maritime arts. Norwegian-born Andrew Furuseth (1854-1938) spearheaded legislation for the benefit of American merchant mariners. Scandinavian merchant ship officers and crew were a common sight in ports around the world. Britain, France, and America had colonies and overseas territories as natural customers for their merchant fleets; Baltic ships sailed not for empire, but for trade. In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean onboard Kon-Tiki, a primitive raft.  Scandinavian mariners have disappeared in the past quarter-century, displaced by ship’s crews from the Philippines and India.

This summer, Greta Thunberg and her father sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a solar-equipped sailboat. Modern navigation and life safety equipment made her voyage less perilous than her Swedish ancestors. Nevertheless, it is an uncommon feat, which puts her in the realm of modern explorers.  

In the age of low-cost jet travel, crossing the Atlantic Ocean by sea has become a lost art. During the “Atlantic cruising season”, the summer months of placid waves, Cunard Lines alone sails the once-renowned Southampton, UK to New York City route. As late as the 1960’s, a variety of passenger ships crossed the Atlantic, year-round: Pounding through Winter North Atlantic’s 40-foot waves is the exact definition of “buyer beware”, a trip for brave and hearty souls to endure. By sailing for the Mediterranean instead of the North Sea, I have not done a true Winter North Atlantic run. The experience, however, is what put “hair on the chest” of classmates who made container-ship runs to Belgium in the middle of winter.   

Scandinavians Built the Modern Maritime Industry

The Danish conglomerate AP Moller Maersk dominates sectors of shipping ranging from the offshore oil industry to massive container ships. This portfolio includes some American-crewed vessels under its subsidiary Maersk Lines Limited.  Kongsberg, based in Norway, builds training simulators for aspiring ship’s masters and harbor pilots. Norway’s Bergen Marine has built ship’s diesel engines since World War Two, decades before American shipbuilders transitioned from steam to diesel propulsion. Swedish company GAC, a ship husbandry firm, negotiates with beady-eyed port officials around the world on behalf of ship-owners. Germany’s Fassmer builds modern enclosed lifeboats: SS El Faro, an American steamship lost in 2015, did not have this lifesaving equipment. The International Maritime Organization, which has in essence propagated maritime safety regulations since 1913, is based in London. Not quite Scandinavia, but near the North Sea.

Relax, It’s Only a Christmas Party

A five hour flight on Alaska Airlines, and a four hour train ride, felt like a mere minute for me as I closed the books on 2019. I had spent plenty of Autumn evenings and weekends pursuing a list of home renovation projects, and had paperwork to follow up on.

During the sailing days, I had little time or physical presence to carry out handy tasks at home. So I paid contractors and handy people to take care of things in my stead. This earned me a little ridicule onboard the ship, with comments like: “what would you do if the toilet leaked on the ship?”. The implication being that ‘real men’ are inherently able tradesmen.

Now in a shore-based assignment, I assumed that time would be the most abundant asset. I no longer worked overtime and weekends, so I would “pay myself” on the weekends by doing handy jobs on my own. What I did not appreciate is that community roots form on land, and so do social obligations.The fiercely libertarian and independent deep-sea Mariner or hunter-gatherer survivalist makes up just a small fraction of society. The rest rely on each other.

This year, retailer groups bemoaned the short holiday shopping season, as it was already December when Thanksgiving weekend was over. It was Sunday, December 1 when the college co-eds piled on and off the southbound train from Washington,DC to various Virginia universities. I am a bit out of touch with holiday consumerism. I spent the last few Decembers and Christmases with bags packed, ready to go join a ship overseas. I moved bags of midnight snacks, not big-screen TVs. But I do feel the time crunch in the density of ‘holiday’ parties in early December: Civic League, alumni network, work parties ranging from work center, to department, and command level. On a government supply ship, there might be one Christmas party, especially if the ship has a home port. On a working container ship, with crew amalgamated from across the country and the world, good riddance with sentiment- “you’re there to work”.

To those of us in the leisurely class: throw back, relax, enjoy the season, count the blessings.

Check your (Internet) privilege

...the reason you haven't seen a post in weeks.

A few years back, I pulled into the invisible outskirts of Port Arthur, TX on a coal-carrying bulk ship called MV Mary Ann Hudson. The ship was 35 years young, and needless to say, had no internet connection. I had my first IPhone with me, but it wouldn't turn on. I asked fellow crewmembers for advice, but none had fancy high tech phones like mine. I took the phone to the local Verizon store, and they showed me the answer- I just had to hold the power buttons longer. Apple doesn't put out print user's manuals- they assume their customers have internet privilege.

Two years later, I was at a Capitol Hill brief with the USMMA's Board of Visitors. One topic was how to save the humanities curriculum. One member of Congress asked if students could do digital courses at sea. Rep. Grimm from Staten Island had the best expression when he learned that Internet service at sea is unpredictable, but largely non-existent.

Today, many businesses have "improved" their websites with data- heavy features like pictures and automatic reload. Too much for a simple satellite connection to handle. As they attempt to get more business, they get less of mine. Simple is better in my world.

We've gotten to the point where Internet has become a necessity. To complete the backside things professionals needto do on their own time, like license updates, requires Internet and a printer. I finally figured out how to get what I need some- go to a hip new place known as a shared workspace.

Homeward Bound

When May rolled around, I had been on the ship for 8 months and there was a lot of inside knowledge to turn over to my replacement, and very little time. Like an essay, though, it was completed in time. On the top of my concerns was the weather. My ship was anchored an hour out of Chinhae, Korea, and on my last workday I had been delayed half a day while conducting ship's business ashore. As I was closing out affairs with the ship's master, I asked if I should leave before morning, forgoing a good night sleep, because of the waves. He assured me that the weather would be alright. Which it was.

I had a last hurrah on Texas Street in Pusan, and visited Haeundae Beach (seeing is believing). It was Cinco de Mayo, and my original itinerary would've landed me in Norfolk before closing time the same day, 37 hours after midnight in Korea, due to the international date line. Instead, I flew on May 6th, and my first flight sent me to Tokyo. I had enough time to clear customs and go to the town of Narita for lunch. The next flight was 11 hours to Detroit. Many people bemoan long flights, but I didn't mind having the time to myself, and only to myself. In the air, I watched several movies, including "Brooklyn", "The Finest Hours", and a documentary of gentrification in San Francisco. I was curious about this pulsing change that is radiating from San Francisco. It's tech, but it's more than just tech.

Although I flew out of the US to meet ships, once to Israel and twice to Korea, I also haven't entered the US by airplane since 2007. I wondered what the experience would be. Detroit airport, in flyover country, is now an international airline hub for Delta Airlines. I suppose that it was decided by big data. Was Customs and Border Protection on top of their game?  Four widebody flights had arrived in one hour, and contributed to some customs delays in the otherwise well-designed and partially automated international arrival area. 
Slipping easily across borders today, enabled in the name of free trade, reminded me of the time between the gilded age of railroads and the outbreak of World War One, those with means to travel in Europe did so easily and without passports.

My flight from Detroit to Norfolk was delayed for a technical issue. I was surprised, because I always had my engine plant ready ten minutes before departure. Never a minute late. Then again it was me and twenty others to assist in the engineering department, versus a cockpit crew of two. I slept little on the long flight, but wasn't in bad shape, though. I got home at 10pm local time, and woke up for lunch. No jet lag, really.

Leading Up To Vacation

It's been nearly 3 weeks since I last posted. A lot has gone on. It sounds cliched, but when you consider the time it takes to prepare for a 6,000 mile odessey by auto, taking the trip, and recovering from it, I'll say my current internet presence is a wonderful addition to the world scheme.
July 3 was my last day prior to vacation with my regular co-workers. Work had just gotten harder and I didn't want to rub it in , so I just gently mentioned "wedding and reunion" prior to signing out. I was also gentle on the managers, who were sorting out staffing matters. (It's great to work somewhere that you're basically essential).
July 4 was dedicated to sailing (that's another blog post to be written)...and to God. It's Sunday, after all. The Mass had a patriotic tint that was most appaernt in the recessional hymn, "God of our Fathers". Sailing is a good workout, I'll tell you. I still had time for tradition; hot dogs, watermellon and fireworks. Like I've attended every Palm Sunday mass since I was born, I've faithfully attened each National Mall July 4 Firework display since 1993 in some form or another (That was the 17th).
My main priority on July 5 was to complete the DODMERB ROTC/Service Academy physical, a necessary and important step for the aspiring midshipman. Make a good impression: As the Naval Academy mantra goes, "to be late is to be forgotten". Being on-time was not an issue with light traffic and an ample allowance of time to travel on my part. Since I was going on such a long trip, I decided to pull a day's work so I wouldn't forget what work is. I was assigned to a neighborhood pool of mine; little brother is based there and was more than eager to see me; he called 3 times in 70 minutes.