Boating Advocate
Passes Away
AMASSIVE FIELD OF DEBRIS washed into the Pacific Ocean by the tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 is on track
to wash up on the North American West Coast
sometime in 2014. For a month after the tsunami,
NOAA satellites picked up the mass of building
materials, boats, trash, and anything else that
would float, but as the debris field became more
widespread it could no longer be seen on the satellites. University of Hawaii scientists developed
a computer model to predict the field’s position
based on ocean currents, but without being able
to see it, their model was untested.
In September, though, the Russian sail training ship Pallada set out to find the debris field
while on a trip to commemorate the 270th
anniversary of Russia’s colonization of Alaska.
The 300-foot, three-masted frigate, owned by a
university in Vladivostok, sighted scattered debris
along its course between the Midway Islands and
the coast of Japan, with the highest concentration
halfway between the two.
The Pallada picked up a 20-foot Japanese
fishing boat, according to Natalia Borodina, the
information and education mate aboard the ship,
who noted on September 21 that “we also sighted
a TV set, fridge, and a couple of home appliances,”
according to a University of Hawaii press release.
A week later, Borodina listed “wooden boards,
plastic bottles, buoys from fishing nets (small
and big ones), an object resembling a wash basin,
drums, boots, other wastes.”
According to the press release, the debris
will first make landfall this winter in the Midway
Islands, then continue on to Hawaii and the
West Coast of North America. NOAA and the
Environmental Protection Agency are monitor-
ing the debris for signs of radioactivity, which is
believed to be unlikely; the fishing boat tested
within normal radiation levels.
For those who can’t wait until 2014, berths
are still available on the 72-foot Sea Dragon,
setting sail in May under the auspices of the 5
Gyres Institute and the Algalita Marine Research
Foundation, a pair of environmental groups. The
ship is scheduled to depart the Marshall Islands for
Japan, then on to Hawaii. Scientists are hoping to
study the debris route and the rate at which it disperses, as well as any marine life that has found a
home in the trash. The price to join the expedition
is $13,500 from the Marshall Islands to Japan, and
$15,500 from Japan to Hawaii. — C.L.
TSUNAMI DEBRIS HEADED FOR THE U.S.
Scientists expect tsunami debris
to reach the West Coast in 2014
ACHAMPION of recreation- al boating in Congress, former Senator Malcolm
Wallop, died September 14, at
age 78, at his ranch near Big
Horn, Wyoming. Representing
his home state of Wyoming in
the Senate from 1977 to 1995,
Wallop is best known for help-
ing craft leg-
islation that
dramatically
increased
funding for
boating and
fishing grant
programs
in 1984. Formally titled the
Aquatic Resources Trust Fund,
it expanded excise taxes and
import duties on fishing tackle,
and added receipts from fed-
eral fuel taxes on gasoline used
in motorboats, to fund boating
and fishing programs in the
states.
Within two years, funding
increased six-fold, all paid for by
boaters and anglers. It became
known as the Wallop-Breaux
Trust Fund in honor of the senator and its House champion,
then-Representative John
Breaux (see www.BoatUS.com/
Magazine/2011/august/ tbl.asp).
With slight modifications, today
it’s the Sport Fish Restoration
and Boating Trust Fund, nicknamed the “Wallop-Breaux
Fund.” The States Organization
for Boating Access gave its
Outstanding Service Award to
Wallop in 1994. — R.L.
TIDEWATER: THE CHESAPEAKE BAY IN PHOTOGRAPHS
Stephen R. Brown
Many of the photos in Stephen Brown’s new book were taken aboard his trusty 32-foot Bristol sail-
boat L’escargot, allowing him to explore the nooks and crannies of the Chesapeake Bay with a boater’s
intimacy. L’escargot takes pride of place as the last photo in the book. The rest is devoted to the pho-
tojournalist’s beloved Bay and chronicles the 30-odd years he covered the various communities on
the nation’s largest estuary for national and international magazine assignments. He also recently
published DC Photo Book: An Insider’s View of Washington, DC. Both are available from the author’s
website, www.stephenbrownphoto.com — Ann Dermody
HOSTAGE: A Year At Gunpoint With Somali Gangsters
Paul and Rachel Chandler with Sara Edworthy (Mainstream Publishing)
Most of us return from cruising with a yarn or two of squally weather, and engine dramas. Paul and Rachel
Chandler were lucky to return at all. When they started a trip on their 38-foot boat Lynn Rival, after retiring in
2005, little did they realize they would inspire global headlines. Captured by Somali pirates in October 2009,
they endured more than a year of terror, threats, and intimidation. Their book, written by each in turn (they
spent much of the year separated), is the story of how they survived, but it’s also a tender account of their
devotion to each other, and ultimately a triumphant story of overcoming the odds. — A.D.
