Maritime A Pilot Boat, the Peacock

[Boojum]

This is the Peacock, a retired pilot boat, one for the bar pilots. It is replaced by the Astoria, a US$6,000,000 pilot boat moored in Warrenton. Risking their lives is what these guys do. They are paid handsomely. They earn it.

• ILCE-7M3
• FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS
• 47.0 mm
• ƒ/11
• 1/350 sec
• ISO 100

We are are a maritime town. We have the Columbia Bar (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Bar" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Bar</a>). The Bar can make grown men into pants wetters. It is scary and it is dangerous. The Peacock would deliver pilots to ships west of the Columbia Bar or pick them up there. (<a href="https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=112995" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=112995</a>) I pooh-poohed the bar up until I talked to fisherman who crossed it without pilots and local boaters. It's really dangerous. Here's a YT vid. There are more. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZCLKq1XVFg" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZCLKq1XVFg</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bfo3vqFvK0&t=253s" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bfo3vqFvK0&t=253s</a>

Yes, soccer balls on the sensor. I got my blower today and will tend to that ASAP. Thought I didn't catch it, didn't you? ;o)

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

A blue sky! Nice boat, the operation is much like our RNLI

 

[Boojum]

A blue sky! Nice boat, the operation is much like our RNLI

Kev, yes and no. This is purely piloting and privately held by the pilots as a legal entity. The guys who come out and rescue you when you are being blown onto the lee shore is our USCG, a federal agency beloved by all who work on the water. They all know someone or are someone who has been saved by "the Coasties." They work like your deservedly famous RNLI. They are also known as "the shallow water Navy" by the US Navy. The USCG refers to the Navy as "two hundred years of history and not one minute of progress." And we all know how Churchill referred to the Royal Navy, "Rum, sodomy and the lash."

If you want to know just how damned terrifying it is out there read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Edge...9a5d1&pd_rd_wg=ZL663&pd_rd_i=0312089244&psc=1

I know the author, Spike, and he is one helluva guy. His shot put record stood for decades at U of Oregon and was just recently broken. Spike is a great guy. The preface of the book will make you change your britches, and then the book gets rougher. King Crab was a lucrative racket and super dangerous. This book was the foundation of Deadliest Catch. If you can work crab pots for 72 hours straight in a wild storm at sea you can ship out.