New boat, same old job

I switched boats a few months back. I'm on the Sarah Ann now. I had went over here to fill in for a couple of weks and forgot what it was like to be on a boat that had some room, and that had enough height of eye to actually see over and around the tow. so here I am. It's a good deal in all respects except one: The schedule is three weeks instead of two. To put it mildly, I HATE IT!! I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal, but the extra week is a killer. On an offshore boat, it makes perfect sense. You never know where you're crew changing, and three and three gives the boat time to get somewhere, and gives you some time to get to and from the boat between hitches. It also cuts down on travel expenses over the year. On a harbor boat though I find it exhausting. We're pretty busy on this boat, running up and down and back and forth all over the harbor. It can get a little stressful, what with all the other traffic, and the radios going all the time. After a few days, your can get just wore out. It doesn't seem to be so bad this trip, we've gotten a litle down time since we got on last Tuesday - so I'm not trying to say it's all gloom and doom - but still, it's a little much.

Other than that, it's great, there's plenty of room over here, compared to the Brian Nicholas, and the crew is great. And the boat is an absolute dream to run, real manouverable, good visibility, it's really nice.

I quit smoking last week, and I seem to be sleeping a little better, so that's helping with the fatigue level this trip too. I'm missing the smokes a little, like when I first get up, but just because I feel like I need a smoke doesn't mean I have to have one. And really, just because I feel like a want to smoke, doesn't really mean I want to smoke either. It occured to me earlier tonight that the discomfort of withdrawal is probably less than the discomfort of being a pack and a half a day smoker, what with all the wheezing and coughing and shortness of breath and whatnot. So with that in mind, I'm going to keep going. today will be nine days smoke free, and other than the cravings that come and go, I feel really great. I'm using the patch to deal with the cravings a little bit, although they are still there. This way, what I'm mostly dealing with over the next couple of months is getting away from the ritual of the smoke: the lighting, and puffing, and all of that; Also, the triggers too: Eating, drinking coffee, waking up, getting ready for bed, driving, hanging out with friends..............All of that. It isn't easy, I'm not going to lie, but I feel awesome, I can already breathe much better. ~ AL

Inbound Newtown creek

Shifting scows at Long Island City scrap dock

Outbound Newtown Creek with two loaded scrappies

New Year Resolution

This was a few summers back, we took the Chesapeake 1000 up to Maine to lift this tug into the water. Washburn and Doughty had a fire and their railway was destroyed, so this was the solution for keeping the work on schedule while they were also working at rebuilding the yard.

The tug is the Laura K Moran. We were told that the boat weighs 500 tons, so the crane is working at only half capacity here - mighty impressive.

As for New Years resolutions, I don't usually make them. I am going to try to develop a routine for writing more though. It shouldn't be too difficult to sit down for a few minutes every couple of days and get some thoughts out there. The big news in my world these days is that I have quit smoking. Yup, started working on it over the holidays and today is my first day without a cigarette! I threw out a half a pack, my lighter, ashtrays, matches, rolling machine, all my paraphernalia. I'm gonna be using the patch for a little bit to help with the physical part of the addiction. That will make it a little bit easier to deal with the mental part - the triggers and associations between smoking and everyday things like smoking with coffee, or driving, or after meals, etc......That's all for now, see ya in a few days. I'm working on a few posts about how I got into this kind of work, and where I came from - that sort of thing.