LIFE AT SEA

05/04/2026

Christening of the SS United States performed by Lucile Connally in June 23, 1951.

13/03/2026

Lighthouse in the Heart of the Storm ⛈️🗼

29/10/2025

The fastest Ocean Liner in the world.

This historic photo captures the SS United States during her record-breaking maiden voyage in July 1952. Departing New York on July 3, she set sail to claim the prestigious Blue Riband, awarded for the fastest transatlantic crossing. On her first day at sea, she averaged 34.11 knots, already outpacing the Queen Mary’s previous record. Despite fog on the second day, she covered an impressive 801 miles at 35.6 knots, setting a new benchmark for the longest distance traveled in a single day by a passenger liner. On July 7, the SS United States completed the voyage in just three days, ten hours, and forty minutes. She shattered the Queen Mary’s 1938 record by over ten hours, securing her place as the fastest ocean liner ever built, a title she proudly retains to this day.

28/10/2025

I have done long distance deliveries for decades, running 40-50 foot sail vessels, on average. To this day I still use the magic number, 5 knots, to calculate passage times. I can do all the calculations one might factor into that long distance passage equation. However, decades, and thousands of miles later, 5 knots keeps popping up as a reasonable estimate. That's what the data says , over all those years.

02/10/2025

02/10/2025

The Great Lakes 33 was born in the 1980s and was built in Canada by Ontario Yachts.

The Great Lakes 33 bears many similarities with the sedan-style Grand Banks 32. Both boats had semi-displacement hulls with full keels and reliable single diesel engines, high flared bows and freeboards for open water conditions, wide side decks with deep bulwarks for safe fore-and-aft movement, spacious deckhouses, large cockpits and modest-sized flying bridges to keep the center of gravity low for better seakeeping.

Down below, both had a single owner’s cabin with an enclosed head. Two steps up, a single main cabin had a helm, a small bench seat, a galley and a convertible dinette. But there were two distinct differences between the Canadian 33 and its 32-foot-long Asian brethren: the Great Lakes 33 limited the use of teak by using white panels for the overhead and interior sides, which made her brightly lit, practical to maintain and kept the cost down. It also helped lower the weight of the boat. The Great Lakes 33 tipped the scales at a svelte 11,000 pounds while the Grand Banks 32 weighed in at a hefty 17,000 pounds.

07/09/2025

The Titanic was very small compared to modern cruise ships.

07/09/2025

USS Abraham Lincoln Tower

07/09/2025

Tacking diagram – alternating port and starboard tacks to beat windward.