I draw your attention to this particular video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPYodT4jl04

This video and it's companion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgt-yqqz7oM

Are 2 parts of a longer video showing a 200' tug on it's way to a rescue
of a big ship. The tug is based on the coast of France and the
conditions can only be described as severe. Watch the clips a couple of
times. As you do think about the motion of the tug, it's almost magical
in it's grace, speed and apparent imperviousness to salt water. Things
which may not be obvious.

The rudders and screws of the tug never come out of the water. The speed
appears to be about 15-20 knots. It seems to nearly float in a straight
line to it's destination. It's almost as if there were NO waves in it's
way. The lack of motion at the bow makes it all the more spectacular.
Turn off the sound and just watch the visual presentation.

What you see is boat handling that is just plain spectacular. Think
about it. There is hardly any porpoising. The bow stays so level that if
you were to describe it in mere words, it would not be believed.
Remember this is not a CGI (Computer generated image). There is a mortal
at the helm and throttles.

In order to get those results requires finesse. Let the bow fall off and
it will bury so far that the whole boat will slow down. Apply too much
power and get up too much momentum and the bow will not dig in enough,
slow down enough to meet the NEXT wave at just the right angle and with
just the right enough momentum to slice through the next one after that.
It's a ballet with a thousand tons of mass and several tens of thousands
of horsepower. Quite a show.

I would estimate that the waves are on the order 25+ feet. The helmsman
has the timing down so precisely that the boat simply slices one wave
after another in almost exactly the same way. No words can adequately
describe the results.

So, far I have been ignoring the effects of these waves over topping the
bow and slamming into the forward superstructure. In the early 1960's
the USCG was introducing the latest 44' and 52' motor lifeboats. These
boats had a top speed of 13 and 9 knots. I recall that the windows in
both series of boats got knocked out by waves  during testing and early
duty use. One of the boats had it's entire cabin house ripped loose and
offset some couple of inches. Obviously the boats were modified and
strengthened to cope with the problems discovered.

Given a similar boat scaled up or perhaps down, in size and power and
given waves of an appropriate scale the same thing could be duplicated
at almost any scale that the mind can imagine. And it would look similar.

This is not a simple, "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" method.

Mike

Capt. Mike Maurice
Beaverton Oregon(Near Portland)

Yes, but it is in French. {;*)) These 206 foot, 12,800hp tugs are in fact
Norwegian designed (Rolls Royce Marine) and Norwegian built for a French
company. There is also an expensive book of photos, but they are in French
as well.

Abeille Flandre's new and bigger sisters are 265 feet long with 16,000hp and
designed/built by the same Norwegian companies. These vessels can be seen
towing the MV Napoli onto a sandbar off The Lizard. The Napoli is the
container ship whose cargo is being "salvaged" by English coast dwellers.
Hope that they can register those BMW motorcycles!

Ron Rogers
en Anglais
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pierre" list@auroramagnetica.com
|
| Hi Mike,
| as you maybe know, the ship is "Abeille Flandre" an opensea French
| tugboat was based at Brest, France at the time of this video. The scene
| probably was close by Ouessant the south entry of the British Channel.
| There is an excellent book about these special tugs:
| http://tinyurl.com/3ymo2s
| Pierre