SSS Tsunami 678

The last week has seen many improvements in the appearance and functionality of our power vessel, Tidal Wave. Mr. Sutton has been working hard to paint almost every surface on the boat. New deck paint, wall paint, interior, helm varnish, it's all being fixed up and it is looking awesome so far.

At Tuesday's meeting, the crew started work on a new sound system and stereo installation. We also Improved the chains that support the crew's bunks by using new chain, and eliminated un-needed chain on the bottom. The bunks function much better now, and we are working on getting all new mattresses/pads for them; something the crew has all been waiting for (We currently have 40-50 year old bunk pads that are deteriating and are damaged).

Today, the Skipper, Boatswain, and Engineer (Mr. Fogle) attached new rails to the stern of Tidal Wave. The welding, grinding, and cutting were worth it, to see a much better structure develop. The crew will no longer need to climb over those horrible bars to exit the stern, and there is even a new flagpole integrated into the rails for displaying colors while docked or moored.

The leadership of Tsunami is extremely pleased to see Tidal wave exit the construction fase and begin to be finished up and fine tuned. Keep up the good work, Tsunami Crew!

This spring, our older Cascade 29 sailboat was swapped for another Cascade 29 in the fleet that is in much better condition. It is the youngest Cascade 29 in the fleet this will be invaluable to our sailing program, as any maintnance needed will be minor, where our older sailboat had a rotting structure and inoperable hardware.

We have already been sailing a few times this summer, and the new sailboat is working great!

This weekend (July 24-26), five youth members and two adults traveled to Cathlamet to tow back a sailboat that was donated to the fleet. We departed Friday on Tidal Wave, and made it to Sand Island before docking for the night.

We got up early Saturday and travelled the rest of the distance to Cathlamet. We spent some time exploring the town and eating lunch. We departed the harbor around noon with sailboat in tow. We spent Saturday night at the St. Helens dock after hours of continuous travel. We made it back Sunday, early enough to clean up the sailboat and participate in the sail race that afternoon.

This trip was an excellent opportunity for the crew onboard. We all learned a lot about river navigation, especially at night. A system for managing shifts was also developed, which worked quite well.

Crew from Tsunami and several other units traveled to Government Island to practice using emergency flares and signals. Coast Guard volunteers rode on the reliant with the scouts to the East dock, where we tied up.

All the scouts had opportunities to fire and display floating/handheld smoke flares, hand flares, flare guns, and parachute flares. Launching the parachute flares could be described as launching an RPG from your hand.

After we all fired smoke flares at the same time, one of the Coast Guardsmen received a phone call from a dispatcher. Someone on the Washington shore had called 911 and reported a barge on fire in the river. Of course, this barge was the dock we were standing on.

The new cabin is on and the boat has a crew area with a galley and 9 bunks.  The Officers Ward Room has 2 bunks there as well.  There is still plenty of room to create other sleeping areas.

We are now working on interior lighting.

Mr. Fogle has worked very hard on the engine and we now can travel in excess of 12 knots.