Oil Spill in SF bay
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We were thinking of going sailing on Sunday from the Alameda estuary to around Angel Island. Does anybody know if the water in those areas has been contaminated by the oil? thanks.
We were thinking of going sailing on Sunday from the Alameda estuary to around Angel Island. Does anybody know if the water in those areas has been contaminated by the oil? thanks.
Oil Spill info
Hi Chuck, I have been involved in several San Francisco Bay oil spills in the past, but (thank God or whomever) I am not there now. I will, however be back on 15 Nov. First, the tidal currents are fierce, as much as 5.5 knots. The Collision happened shortly after slack water and the start of the ebb, thus most of the oil headed out of the Bay toward coastal beaches. However, the bad news is that there are three very large marinas directly along the route to the Ocean; Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and Gas House Cove/San Francisco Municipal Marina. Booming Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 would be extremely difficult due to the mouth opening width. Gas House Cove is also wide open, but SF Municipal would be easy to boom, if they had booms (which they do not). Then, after the tide turned, oil came back into the Bay and was driven into other marinas. The push was to save marine mammals (Sea Lions and Harbor Seals) and many waterfowl. Pier 39 is home to several thousand California Sea Lions. See <http://cbs5.com/environment/local_story_313174100.html> for a story about the Berkeley Marina. Also <http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_313094308.html> On spills like this, the best defense for individual owners was to do nothing and stay off their boats, so the oil did not get on anymore of the bottoms and topsides than nature would do. People that boarded their boaats only managed to spread the oil further above and below the waterline. The boat cleanup methods used in previous spills (late 1960s - 2.3 MILLION gallons, 1976 - 120,000 gallons and the 1984 little Richmond spill - 22,000 gallons) was to wait until all of the marinas had been cleaned because boats could not be moved until the harbors were reported cleaned. Then private contractors hired by the polluters and their insurers did as much cleaning of the boat waterlines as possible. During that period in the Richmond spill, I went along and made a list of all of the boats that appeared to have oil damage. Those owners were given a list of yards to take their boat to have the topsides cleaned and waxed and the bottom paint cleaned, sanded and repainted near the waterline. Again, in the 1984 spill I went to three yards daily to check the boats that been hauled to assure that they were ready to be launched. It was one hell of a job, but in the 1984 and the 1960s spills, Chevron got right behind the project and did a good job. A bit of trivia about the 2.3 million gallon spill from the collision of the 'Chevron Colorado' and the 'Oregon Standard.' The masters (who were piloting) of the two ships were twins, Robert and Richard England. Both had previously lost Standard Oil ships to Japanese submarines during WWII! Jack Mackinnon, AMS.-SMS surveyjack@aol.com
Hi Chuck, I have been involved in several San Francisco Bay oil spills in the past, but (thank God or whomever) I am not there now. I will, however be back on 15 Nov. First, the tidal currents are fierce, as much as 5.5 knots. The Collision happened shortly after slack water and the start of the ebb, thus most of the oil headed out of the Bay toward coastal beaches. However, the bad news is that there are three very large marinas directly along the route to the Ocean; Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and Gas House Cove/San Francisco Municipal Marina. Booming Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 would be extremely difficult due to the mouth opening width. Gas House Cove is also wide open, but SF Municipal would be easy to boom, if they had booms (which they do not). Then, after the tide turned, oil came back into the Bay and was driven into other marinas. The push was to save marine mammals (Sea Lions and Harbor Seals) and many waterfowl. Pier 39 is home to several thousand California Sea Lions. See <http://cbs5.com/environment/local_story_313174100.html> for a story about the Berkeley Marina. Also <http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_313094308.html> On spills like this, the best defense for individual owners was to do nothing and stay off their boats, so the oil did not get on anymore of the bottoms and topsides than nature would do. People that boarded their boaats only managed to spread the oil further above and below the waterline. The boat cleanup methods used in previous spills (late 1960s - 2.3 MILLION gallons, 1976 - 120,000 gallons and the 1984 little Richmond spill - 22,000 gallons) was to wait until all of the marinas had been cleaned because boats could not be moved until the harbors were reported cleaned. Then private contractors hired by the polluters and their insurers did as much cleaning of the boat waterlines as possible. During that period in the Richmond spill, I went along and made a list of all of the boats that appeared to have oil damage. Those owners were given a list of yards to take their boat to have the topsides cleaned and waxed and the bottom paint cleaned, sanded and repainted near the waterline. Again, in the 1984 spill I went to three yards daily to check the boats that been hauled to assure that they were ready to be launched. It was one hell of a job, but in the 1984 and the 1960s spills, Chevron got right behind the project and did a good job. A bit of trivia about the 2.3 million gallon spill from the collision of the 'Chevron Colorado' and the 'Oregon Standard.' The masters (who were piloting) of the two ships were twins, Robert and Richard England. Both had previously lost Standard Oil ships to Japanese submarines during WWII! Jack Mackinnon, AMS.-SMS surveyjack@aol.com
Bay Conditions for the weekend
Latitude38 online has some information. See link. Bay Bridge, not Golden Gate. The ebb tide was running at 2.7 knots. I left Alameda last Sunday and am in Napa on the river now. I thought I was going back but don't want to sail through the oil blobs. Going to Rio Vista instead for a few days then back to Napa. Very difficult to clean off and the oil isn't just at the waterline so a good cleaning might require a haul. $$$
Latitude38 online has some information. See link. Bay Bridge, not Golden Gate. The ebb tide was running at 2.7 knots. I left Alameda last Sunday and am in Napa on the river now. I thought I was going back but don't want to sail through the oil blobs. Going to Rio Vista instead for a few days then back to Napa. Very difficult to clean off and the oil isn't just at the waterline so a good cleaning might require a haul. $$$
finally, a no-sailing weekend
This coming weekend will be the first weekend since Labor Day that we haven't untied the dock lines. We decided that a round of golf would do less harm to the exhaust elbow than all this damned bunker oil. Keep the head down, right?
This coming weekend will be the first weekend since Labor Day that we haven't untied the dock lines. We decided that a round of golf would do less harm to the exhaust elbow than all this damned bunker oil. Keep the head down, right?
So far clean at Grand Marina
Watch the news on TV or websites for the oil extent. Doesn't seem to be coming too far into the estuary, although they did move the ship back to the Port of Oakland tonight, don't know inner or outer. The Bay is essentially closed, Angel Island is closed, no ferries there. Berkeley Marina is closed. I picked this info up from watching the news on TV. Just don't go out this weekend. It's not worth it. Do some much needed work on yoru boat, so at least you get to be ON your boat.
Watch the news on TV or websites for the oil extent. Doesn't seem to be coming too far into the estuary, although they did move the ship back to the Port of Oakland tonight, don't know inner or outer. The Bay is essentially closed, Angel Island is closed, no ferries there. Berkeley Marina is closed. I picked this info up from watching the news on TV. Just don't go out this weekend. It's not worth it. Do some much needed work on yoru boat, so at least you get to be ON your boat.
SF Oil Spill update
We just got back tonight from three days at our boat in the estuary at Alameda Island. No one around our docks had experienced any direct problems with the aftereffects of the oil spill, except that a lot of folks stayed out of the central Bay this weekend. Our marina is about a mile South of the estuary entrance, not far from the bridge where the ship hit the piling, but fortunately on the right side of the outgoing tide when it happened. Saturday was a nice warm day for doing boat chores at the dock. About half of the scheduled weekend races were cancelled, just as a precaution, though the other half are going ahead. The skimmers have almost all be recalled as the Bay appears to be as clean as they can get it out on the open water. The cleanup work now has shifted to beaches, mostly outside the Golden gate as the tide swept a lot of the oil right out into the ocean. And the various governmental agencies all seem to be trying to figure out who else can be blamed, the ship's crew have clammed up and hired lawyers, and a lot of folks are mad at the Coast Guard for not telling folks in a timely manner how serous this was. Some details are posted at latutude38.com but not particularly timely. Interestingly, it turns out to be very expensive to have oil cleaned off a boat hull at a yard, which the magazine recommends. The information that seems to be missing so far is what your boat insurance company will or will not do, and whether or not there is a mechanism for filing a claim against the ship that hit the bridge. Sanders s/v Good News
We just got back tonight from three days at our boat in the estuary at Alameda Island. No one around our docks had experienced any direct problems with the aftereffects of the oil spill, except that a lot of folks stayed out of the central Bay this weekend. Our marina is about a mile South of the estuary entrance, not far from the bridge where the ship hit the piling, but fortunately on the right side of the outgoing tide when it happened. Saturday was a nice warm day for doing boat chores at the dock. About half of the scheduled weekend races were cancelled, just as a precaution, though the other half are going ahead. The skimmers have almost all be recalled as the Bay appears to be as clean as they can get it out on the open water. The cleanup work now has shifted to beaches, mostly outside the Golden gate as the tide swept a lot of the oil right out into the ocean. And the various governmental agencies all seem to be trying to figure out who else can be blamed, the ship's crew have clammed up and hired lawyers, and a lot of folks are mad at the Coast Guard for not telling folks in a timely manner how serous this was. Some details are posted at latutude38.com but not particularly timely. Interestingly, it turns out to be very expensive to have oil cleaned off a boat hull at a yard, which the magazine recommends. The information that seems to be missing so far is what your boat insurance company will or will not do, and whether or not there is a mechanism for filing a claim against the ship that hit the bridge. Sanders s/v Good News
The scandals involved
First one bit of information: A young family I know who live on a boat in the Berkeley marina had to leave their boat because their two young children were getting so sick from the fumes from the slick. They kept throwing up (couldn't hold any food down) and coughing. This raises the next point: Apparantly these freighters use the dirtiest and cheapest fuel possible - kind of like the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel. This is why it's so very toxic. I listened to parts of a hearing that three California legislators held a few days ago. Some of what was reported by witnesses was absolutely scanedlous. Because I was driving, I couldn't record all the hard facts, but apparantly some state agency that is supposed to safeguard the state waterways had requested to spend a chunk of their money on hiring additional staff and buying additional equipment for exactly such spills. Their request was denied, despite the fact that they had the money. This agency is funded by a five cents per gallon tax on all oil coming into ports on tankers. After the hiring request was denied, this agency then had excess money. The oil companies then used the fact of this surplus to campaign for a reduction of this tax. (They failed, however.) A witness from Bay Keepers reported on the disgraceful inaction on the part of the Coast Guard and other agencies. Some 30 hours after the accident, they reported a large slick in Raccoon Straits and were told that the equipment to deal with this slick was not available. Another issue is how the ship was handled. After the accident, it moved first to a location near Treasure Island and then steamed from there down towards the South Bay, trailing fuel all the way. When a ship is leaking fuel, the first thing it should do is remain stationery so that the fuel gets spread less. Incidentally, it seems that part of the problem is that the Coast Guard has been so focused on terrorism that they have more or less abandoned dealing with disasters such as what we just experienced. Finally, what I found very interesting was that I could hardly find a word about this hearing in the press the next day. All around, not a great confidence builder in the powers that be.
First one bit of information: A young family I know who live on a boat in the Berkeley marina had to leave their boat because their two young children were getting so sick from the fumes from the slick. They kept throwing up (couldn't hold any food down) and coughing. This raises the next point: Apparantly these freighters use the dirtiest and cheapest fuel possible - kind of like the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel. This is why it's so very toxic. I listened to parts of a hearing that three California legislators held a few days ago. Some of what was reported by witnesses was absolutely scanedlous. Because I was driving, I couldn't record all the hard facts, but apparantly some state agency that is supposed to safeguard the state waterways had requested to spend a chunk of their money on hiring additional staff and buying additional equipment for exactly such spills. Their request was denied, despite the fact that they had the money. This agency is funded by a five cents per gallon tax on all oil coming into ports on tankers. After the hiring request was denied, this agency then had excess money. The oil companies then used the fact of this surplus to campaign for a reduction of this tax. (They failed, however.) A witness from Bay Keepers reported on the disgraceful inaction on the part of the Coast Guard and other agencies. Some 30 hours after the accident, they reported a large slick in Raccoon Straits and were told that the equipment to deal with this slick was not available. Another issue is how the ship was handled. After the accident, it moved first to a location near Treasure Island and then steamed from there down towards the South Bay, trailing fuel all the way. When a ship is leaking fuel, the first thing it should do is remain stationery so that the fuel gets spread less. Incidentally, it seems that part of the problem is that the Coast Guard has been so focused on terrorism that they have more or less abandoned dealing with disasters such as what we just experienced. Finally, what I found very interesting was that I could hardly find a word about this hearing in the press the next day. All around, not a great confidence builder in the powers that be.
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