What is it? Cruising and Liveaboard Stuff

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by sanssouci

1971 - Was there aboard a blue 40 sloop called YOHOHO. (Norman and Elaine), cruising and with construction management contract USTT. We stayed about 3 months, got our fill of plutonium 235 and glass balls.

G'Day again SS,

Well, you predate me a bit. I was first at Eniwetak in '73, and then a number of trips to Bikini starting in about '79 IIRC. Did you run into any of the crew from Lawrence Livermore Lab while you were there? Chap named Bill Robison was the head biologist and crew leader... lots of very interesting people doing an interesting job (environmental monitoring, sampling and cleanup, plus studying how to best make it habitable for the Bikinians). Fantastic diving... reefs and wrecks! And fishing... no one had fished the waters for about 40 years, so even I was successful!

Only one yacht visited during any of my visits, and he was from Kwajalein, so was sorta in under the radar. It would be very interesting to me to return.

Cheers,

Jim

[sanssouci]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Were these glass balls formed by the nuclear testing? Do you have pictures of them?

Formed by fishermen as glass floats w/ nets.

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I think the worst (best?) artifact added to Insatiable since we left is about 10 lbs of really stunning fossils that we picked up in New Caledonia. They are totally unsuited for life on a performance cruiser, but I can't bear to chuck them!

Cheers,

Jim

Have you ever visited Australia? Me thinks they will promptly confiscate them...

[sanssouci]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

G'Day again SS,

Well, you predate me a bit. I was first at Eniwetak in '73, and then a number of trips to Bikini starting in about '79 IIRC. Did you run into any of the crew from Lawrence Livermore Lab while you were there? Chap named Bill Robison was the head biologist and crew leader... lots of very interesting people doing an interesting job (environmental monitoring, sampling and cleanup, plus studying how to best make it habitable for the Bikinians). Fantastic diving... reefs and wrecks! And fishing... no one had fished the waters for about 40 years, so even I was successful!

Only one yacht visited during any of my visits, and he was from Kwajalein, so was sorta in under the radar. It would be very interesting to me to return.

Cheers,

Jim

We predated the Livermore Lab people, we were alone on Bikini. Do you have any health issues today? Never saw so many big Tiger sharks in my life. Coconut crabs were very hot. All public info now!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Wrong

Have you ever visited Australia? Me thinks they will promptly confiscate them...

Have I ever visited Oz??? Well, yeah, I have! And so have the fossils. One AQIS agent had a fit, but when I showed him that they were just fancy rocks he let them in. They've been in and out many times overall, sometimes in plain view, sometimes not. So have my wood carvings from the Sollies, and shell necklaces from various island groups, and stuff like that. Sometimes the quarantine weenies have a good look at them, but so far they have been passed... kinda miraculous now that I think about it!

Cheers,

Jim

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by sanssouci

We predated the Livermore Lab people, we were alone on Bikini. Do you have any health issues today? Never saw so many big Tiger sharks in my life. Coconut crabs were very hot. All public info now!

Well, you may have missed the LRL folks, but you didn't predate them in '71... they have been there regularly since the testing days (during which a different group of LRL folks were definitely there!

And no, for an old fart I'm pretty healthy, despite a career as a physicist at that lab. I was intimately involved in the sampling and rehab programs at both island groups, and actually know something about the hazard levels there. Suffice it to say that I had no worries about the radiation hazards, but the sharks were pretty scary at times. Didn't keep us out of the water,but we were a bit cautious!

Cheers,

Jim

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by sanssouci

Formed by fishermen as glass floats w/ nets.

Ohh those things are beautiful! You ever see what Dale Chihuly did with that idea? Gorgeous.

[mbianka]

I have a Rungu that I picked up in Kenya back in the 1980's. It's a club the Masai use to kill small animals. They throw it or use it as a club. I keep it by my bunk at night in case a small animal or a large one should come on board. Might also be useful for knocking out a fish that you land while trolling too.

[Hudson Force]

We hang our glass fishing floats on our mizzen shrouds......



We keep the red float to port and the green to starboard!

[pistarckle]

Hey Capt. Force ,
Do ya remember me , [ your brother ]. I have been without internet for a long while .
What happened to the old gang ?
Capt. Bob
Oh by the way , our sister Beulah , gets out of prison next week . She told her parole officer that she was gonna move in with you ! Nice of ya !

[barnakiel]

Plenty. We basically took the stuff we had and moved onboard.

Most useless must be our collection of soft toy animals: we took the ones we had at home ... then we adopted another dozen while traveling. ;-) I love them and I would not go without.

b.

[SmartMove]

A stuffed iguana. It was given to me by a plastic laminate manufacturers rep. He is made up of a patchwork of bright color, that I think represented some new line they were rolling out. He sat on top of my computer at work for years, it just didn't seem right to leave him behind. He now sits on top of a cupboard in a corner of our salon.

[Hudson Force]

Although, as I posted earlier, we moved aboard with everything we owned except a large set of dishes; we have added some items that are not functional equipment. Here's one.....

It's a "Forcula"! A brace for the long oar used by a gondolier that is wedged into the gunnel of a gondola. I guess it's technically boating equipment, but not really functional for us.

[Crimea Cruiser]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

Although, as I posted earlier, we moved aboard with everything we owned except a large set of dishes; we have added some items that are not functional equipment. Here's one.....

It's a "Forcula"! A brace for the long oar used by a gondolier that is wedged into the gunnel of a gondola. I guess it's technically boating equipment, but not really functional for us.

Could be very useful mounted on taffrail with a long oar. It is surprising how efficient they can be in moderately calm waters.