Surfski Knowledge Base

Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
05/02/10 #8339

Peter Marcus’s face and the force of his paddling have been missing at our last couple local races, because he’s been in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the unprecedented oil spill response effort. I talked to him today and got a bit of an update on his day-to-day life and the scene in general out there.

It sounds like the scale of the response effort can’t be overstated. Apparently it’s tier after tier of contractors and sub-contractors and subs-of-subs… and on and on. Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of waiting around because of truly gnarly weather including heavy onshore winds and, in Peter’s words: “…more rain in two days than Bellingham sees in half a year.”

Meanwhile, the 3 leaks, 4000-5000 feet below the surface, are gushing about 200,000 gallons/day of oil into the Gulf as ROV crews (un-manned submarine robots) try to get some welds or some sort of containment repair in place. With the ongoing leakage, it won’t be long until the volume of oil exceeds the Valdez spill, (though it’s a much lighter product and has different – although still very ugly – implications).

As for Peter’s pre-Ski to Sea training and way of life right now, his days have him reporting to work pre-6 a.m. and getting back to the sack at about 10 p.m. So needless to say he’s not spending a lot of time working out. Shockingly, his employer hadn’t flown in a Surfski or even an Erg for him to train on.

According to the latest national news (http://bit.ly/c72Tre) it’s possible it’ll be another 90 days before the leak can even be capped. Peter said it may be a long summer of rotations out to the Gulf every few weeks.

Peter, I think I speak for everyone when I say that, while we’d rather have you paddling and racing here in the NW with us, we’re glad and grateful that people of your caliber are on-site doing everything you can do to mitigate that situation. We’re pulling for you guys and gals, bro, and the ocean and shoreline you’re fighting for!!! Stay safe!

Brandon

Gulf of Mexico…….Peter
Pmarcus
05/12/10 #8388

Hi All,

Sounds like racing season is going well……just got on the computer for the second time in almost four weeks and trying to catch up on the posts. As for the mess down here, not good. Right now as the world is concerned, out of sight, out of mind…as the well merrily pumps 210,000 gallons every 24 hours, the spiller is trying to put a small dome over the source to try and restrict flow, it reached the sea bottom today while two other rigs drilled in from each side of the initial site to try and relieve pressure to slow down the flow,not stop it….the product is starting to show on some beaches located near the Southern Mouth of the Missipppi and near Venice…..we have had pretty strong on shore winds the last three days which unfortunatley will drive product to the shore….in my area alone we have set over 150,000 linuar feet of protective boom around bayous and outer islands where a lot of different kinds of terns and sea birds are all nesting. A real bummer, especially as their eggs are about to hatch and they have to go out and fly out and feed the chicks……

my company is doing the best we can and have recovered about 100,000 barrels (each barrel is approx 45 gallons) of oily/water mix, probably about 15 to 25% of this is actual oil….the weather continues to play a “Darth Vader” role and keeps hampering us with rough seas to skim…….I have been grinding away at a staging sight where we bring equipment in to stage, like 113 vac trucks to help beach clean up, or thousands of feet of booms and then reconfigure amounts and personnel and send them to outer island sites to be deployed, one of about twelve such sites ranging from Pensacola to Texas…..day time temps have averaged about 85 to 95 with humidity, ugh! My Ski to Sea team is probably “not happy”…hope to be back paddling in the Sound this weekend but highly doubtful and as of now…..we are marooned down here until further notice.

Happy paddling….any paddlers not on a ski to sea team yet?? Call Clev at “Running Shoes.Com”

See ya, P

Re: Gulf of Mexico Info…….Update
Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
05/13/10 #8395

Peter,

Nice work, man. Keep up the clean-up, and we’ll handle everything back here for your Ski to Sea team. In fact, my neighbor – a REALLY nice guy (obviously) – has offered to do the kayak leg for RunningShoes.com. I’ve got him all outfitted, don’t worry, and we’ll get him out on the water here in the next few weeks. He’s got a totally gung-ho attitude: The first time he saw Heather get out of the van, and noticed the two skis on the roof rack, he says, “I always wondered if that was hard… but heck, if a GIRL can do it…!!!”

Yeah, we got you covered, man. Noooooo worries.

Brandon

Re: Gulf of Mexico Info…….Update
lori & beau whitehead
05/14/10 #8403

Peter, like Brandon said… we've got you covered…. When I complete the mountain bike leg & hand off to Brandon, I'll simply jump on my paddle board and finish the kayak leg for your team. Easy cheesy. I figure that will only put you guys about one hour behind us at the finish. No need to thank me, that's what friends are for.

But seriously, we all appreciate what you are doing down there we know you are making a difference.