Langstone Cutters' annual winter row to from Lee-on-the-Solent to Cowes was enlivened by the wreck of the humungous car transporter Hoegh Osaka on Bramble Bank. Apparently she started listing as she steamed down Southampton Water and was deliberately beached to stop her turning turtle.
We didn't row any closer because it would have meant fighting the ebb tide all the way and it flows fast when it gets going. And anyway I had queasy recollections of the last time I got a too-close look at the Hoegh Osaka three years ago:
We had just rowed past her and were turning right up the River Test. I looked round to see she had slipped her lines and was already approaching at an alarming rate. A hundred hard and we were out of her way. Phew.
Coming back from Cowes yesterday we took care to avoid these guys. Even at this distance they look threatening:
I used to row out of the Alameda Estuary from the Jack London Acquatic Center. You had to row through the South side of the Port of Oakland and play bumper tag with the container ships and the tugs. Always exciting! Now I'm on a non-commercial bay but just around the corner is the Long Island Sound container/cargo route.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a seven man Basque trainera catch up with and row past one of those car transporters at Pasaia!
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