One of the Most Stunning (and Painful) Experiences on the Planet: A Subzero Sea Smoke Arrival скачать в хорошем качестве

One of the Most Stunning (and Painful) Experiences on the Planet: A Subzero Sea Smoke Arrival

To properly experience this video you need to put your hands and feet in ice water the duration of the video, and then remember that it’s at least 40 degrees colder in this video! (just kidding, but just in case someone actually takes me seriously, don’t hurt yourself lol). While a ship arrival by itself is always spectacular, seeing a ship come through in sea smoke is truly an awe inspiring experience. I’ve traveled all over North America, been to a LOT of the most beautiful places, but still one of the most beautiful sights I’d say I’ve ever seen is this, and it happens right at home. If only it didn’t only happen in temperatures below zero! The air temperature was -11F, (or -23C) with wind chill temperatures around -35F (-37C). For those who have never experienced those temperatures, it’s less cold and more pain, especially if you’re out in it for extended period. Standard winter gear doesn’t usually cut it, after about 5-6 minutes your skin starts to feel like it’s burning even through heavy gloves and you can see and hear in a few places I swap hands on the camera to keep one inside my jacket to try and warm them up. And even when you get back into warmth it doesn’t go away, the it can take an hour or more for your body temperature to recover and stop feeling cold. Blankets or a hot drink can help there, but the burning sensation can last several hours beyond that, and there’s not a whole lot that can be done there, or can cause permanent damage if you’re out for too long! Heavier gear exists but anything capable of keeping you comfortable in this is going to be really expensive so most people grit through it and spend as little time outside as possible. But of course if you do that, then you miss this truly spectacular and what for most people is a once in a lifetime experience, even if it is a bit miserable! As mentioned above, sea smoke is only seen when temperatures drop around or below 0 degrees, and only when the water is significantly warmer than the air, above freezing, the same reaction that allows you to see your breath in cold temps. That can only happen in one of two circumstances: the temperature drops so fast from above freezing that the water doesn’t have time to cool down before those temps are reached, or the body of water is so large that the air temperature change doesn’t affect the water temperature. In this case, it was both, the temperature just a couple days before was nearly 40 degrees, above freezing and Lake Superior is around 350 miles wide and over 1,300ft deep, the Lake does not care much what temperature the air above is. It’s still a sight not often seen by many people though, especially in daylight! Eventually the surface water can cool and freeze, or the temperature often swings back to warmth, so there’s usually limited opportunities to see it each year. As for the ship itself, the CSL Laurentien is a pretty rare visitor on the Duluth side of the harbor, in fact this is only the second time I’ve seen her here! She is far more common in the Superior Entry on the other side of the harbor though, and that’s where she was headed until she unexpectedly diverted to the Canal to use the Duluth fuel dock. She refueled, then attempted to sail the front channel to Superior, but ran into thick ice. With Duluth’s icebreaker Spar out of town making a rare tour of Lake Michigan, she returned to the Canal and went to Superior via the Lake. She is loading iron ore for the Nanticoke Steel Mill in Ontario. She actually saluted twice, but the first salute, with her bow horn at 6:37 in the video failed completely, just letting out a quiet squeak that I’m not sure anyone else noticed. Then she tried her stern horns, which worked way better! Built in 1977 as the Louis R Desmarais, she was the fourth ship of her design to be constructed. She has a carrying capacity of roughly 37,700 tons. In 1979 she rescued the crew of a burning laker, Cartiercliffe Hall in Lake Superior off Copper Harbor. The other ship had been carrying corn from Duluth and the fire destroyed her superstructure but was rebuilt, ultimately sailing until 2009. In 1999 the Desmarais suffered an engine fire from a broken fuel line, but it was quickly extinguished without much damage. The ship was almost completely rebuilt in 2001, when her original cargo section (the entire ship forward of the pilothouse at the stern) was scrapped and replaced by a new one. The rebuild also came with a rename: CSL Laurentien. She had her engines replaced in 2014, and is a very active member of the Canadian Fleet. She is noteworthy for currently having the largest crew of any laker, 32 people call her home! Because of this she features several quality of life facilities not found on other lakers, and is fairly expensive to operate. Fortunately she seems to make up for that with a pretty busy schedule! Hope everyone enjoys and stays warm!