Pros vs. Amateurs

[nobucks]

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I did a six mile paddle on Sunday, including paddling past an 800 foot ore boat. Thought you might like to see the difference. BTW, the water temp was 34*F and the air temp was 60*F. I dressed for immersion and I was disgustingly sweaty when I pulled the kayak out of the water.

The ore boat is the 806 foot Charles M. Beeghly:

 

[JEM]

I didn't see any "oars" sticking out of it. They must have been on a break.

 

[a Bald Cypress]

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I always thought the difference between pros and amaturs was about $50.00. not 783 feet. :lol:

 

[Kayak Jack]

Here's another size comparison for you guys. I've seen this loading facility. Go to the first picture. Those little, square things up on top of the long, brown thing are railroad cars.

You can see this large dock from several miles away. And only as you get near, does the immensity of it begin to dawn on you. They run two trains out on top of that large dock, and dump one to the left, the other to the right, down into holds of the ship.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was about 75% larger than this one.

 

[nobucks]

In the comparison picture, she's about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile away from me.

I think the Fitz was about 729 feet long. There was a 1000 footer in yesterday, the Mesabi Miner, stretched almost the full length of the ore dock.

Last Summer we paddled along the length of the ore dock, close enough that you could hit it with your paddle. You definitely get a feel for how big the dock is and how small a kayak is.

 

[Tor]

bloody amazing what you can build out of ply these days... :lol:

 

[nobucks]

Here's another shot from earlier in the day to give you a better perspective:

I think that would be a little too big to do in plywood/fiberglass. My parents live in Corpus Christi, TX, and up until a couple of years ago, some of the world's largest fiberglass boats were stationed near there. They're fiberglass minesweepers, ships, really, not boats. I think they've moved up near Louisiana now.

Here's a link to the largest fiberglass yachts. Some of the yachts listed are aluminum. They list the construction at the end of each listing.