Pig LeMans Sailing Race

by | Feb 17, 2023 | Pastimes | 113 comments

 

Cal20 Pig beating windward.

 

Several weekends ago was a 20 hour LeMans style race of the CAL 20s.  This boat class is old (produced 1961-1975), short (20ft long), beamy (aka fat) and they don’t go as fast as modern planning boats so they have been known as “pigs’ for decades.  With the annual race season coming to a close, the woman running the fleet this year suggested that we mix it up and join forces with the annual BBQ Competition raising money for the Hawaii Youth Sailing Foundation.  So in honor of the famous 24 road race we did a 20 hour sail race of the Cal20’s inside Kanehoe Bay.

 

The LeMans road race starts with the drivers running to their cars, starting them and driving off.  Our race started with one of the six crew members swimming a lap in the pool and running to the boat to tag it before the crew could raise sails and head out.  The boats were manned by 1-3 people at a time and the crews switched off according to each boat’s schedule.  The course started at the bulkhead with a turning buoy a few yards offshore, went out the harbor and the north channel towards the middle of “K-Bay” to a floating marker, then towards the bottom of the bay to another marker and then back up the bay, through the south channel and up the marina to the bulkhead turning buoy to complete one lap.  The race was for the greatest number of completed laps by the designated end time with each lap taking roughly an hour.

 

Cal20s racing in the LeMans course area during daylight.

 

The north channel is bounded by coral and there are some sticks along the left side marking the edge of the channel.  Farther out are two private unlit green buoys.  The south channel is also bounded by even more coral and has red and green flashing buoys marking the entrance. After that the channel has unlit sticks on both sides and two range marks up by the bulkhead.  The two turn markers were 5 foot high three sided floats with some chem lights taped to them.  There were sufficient marks, but the return channel was going to be tricky because you were going to be tacking back and forth trying not to find the reefs. Luckily most of the crews had sailed these channels for years, but some crews were from elsewhere in the state and  not as full of local knowledge.

 

Onshore the BBQ contestants had their smokers and grills working as we prepped for the race and would be working them all night.  For everybody’s entertainment there was a projector and screen playing movies.  They went through “Wind”, “Captain Ron”, “What About Bob?”, “Jaws” and others.  Since almost everybody knew the lines,  was lubricated, or just punch drunk from a lack of sleep, there was much crowd participation.  The BBQ competitors were circulating after midnight handing out samples to the sailors waiting their turn on the water.  I asked one “Pit Master”about “burnt tips” and since he had some time in KC he knew what I was asking for.  When I got off the boat at around 0100hrs he had some ready for us.  He said he liked them but they were not popular in Hawaii so we were doing him a favor by eating them.  They had just the right amount of crunch so I enjoyed the altruism of helping him in his hour of need.

 

We switched out crews about every three hours, but every boat did their switches by their own schedule.  I wish I had a video of the procedure.  As the boats tacked their way up the harbor crews tried to identify their boat as the boats emerged from the darkness.  If a boat was going to do a swap when it rounded the buoy completing the lap, it then sailed parallel close to the bulkhead and kept on moving.  People jumped on and off the moving boat, the sails were adjusted and the boat headed back out into the night.  Of course there was a crowd watching the entire thing.  One person mistimed their step ashore and went into the drink to loud cheers.  After they made it out of the water a friend presented them with a beer in a cozzie that looked like a life vest.

 

Our boat and two others were dueling for first place.  From day and into the night we all arrived at the channel around the same time, had a tacking duel up to the turning mark by the bulkhead and then sailed downwind back into K-Bay.  Through laps, hours, and crew shifts we battled on.  The boats had to have navigation lights, but nothing said we had to make them easy to see at a distance. CAL20’s have no electrical system and legally all we needed was a flashlight to illuminate the sail to avoid collision so the red and green lights were small and low to the water and the white light to the rear was “forget”.  In the main part of the bay different boats set out on differing courses to try and maximize the wind so the boats would frequently be stretched well apart.  Once the sun set and darkness settled in it became a challenge to spot the other boats. We would basically be trying to see an eclipse of the lights ashore to spot each other until we were close to each other and the red/green navigation lights would appear. Each lap we spent much time not visible to each other.  But on every lap as we closed in on the flashing red and green buoys marking the start of the channel the other two boats would appear through the gloaming.  Then we would have a tacking duel between the coral reefs on the channel edges and up the harbor to round the mark, sound off with the boat name and head back into the dark.  By midnight the fleet had devolved into the lead three boats, two boats consistently 5-10 minutes back, a significant gap to the next four boats, and then three boats scattered and well back from each other.   When we were coming in the channel around 2330 hrs we heard urgent discussions and saw a white light aimed at the water but not moving anywhere.  As we passed the light we saw that a boat had found the reef at the edge of the channel and now had to work itself free.  (We asked if they needed help, but they said they were fine.) Later in the evening two crews that should have known better found the reefs as well.

 

The view around wasn’t much, but with a late rising moon the night sky was a treat.

 

At around 0100hrs my partner and I made the bulkhead turn in first place by about one boat length and swapped out with the next crew.  We had some BBQ burnt tips and went to rest on a couple of chairs.  At 0200ish the boat owner found us and told us the jib halyard had failed on our boat mid lap.  We were going to have to make a quick repair to keep the boat in the race.  We saw our two competitors sweep past the buoy, then several other boats, finally our cripple appeared with the jib on the deck and slowly making way.  When it reached the bulkhead we scrambled aboard and saw the jib halyard shackle had exploded. (Translation- The metal piece that held the top of the forward sail failed, so the sail fell to the deck but the halyard was still at the top of the mast.)  We sent our young strong male up the mask to retrieve the halyard and when he made it back down we placed a new shackle on, replaced the crew with a stronger pair, raised the sails and set them back out.  We were now back in 8th or 9th place.  My race partner and I went back to try and get some rest.  Sleep was sparse with the party, the grilling meat and chants along the bulkhead. We decided to apply the Scottish climbers’ well known method of avoiding a hangover- don’t stop drinking and don’t go to sleep.  Early in the morning the Southern Cross was visible before it went behind the mountains.  (Always a treat.)

 

The Southern Cross constellation.

 

At 0500ish we were ready to swap out, but when the boat came in with the two owners they said wanted one more lap and headed back out.  By now we were in well into the second pack in sixth place. The lead boat managed to open up a good gap on the second boat and was in a comfortable position by about 10 minutes.  I had some more BBQ venison sausage and an apple for breakfast in the dark. We swapped stories with other sailors waiting to get on their boats and waited to start the anchor leg of the race.  Finally our boat appeared and the crew was still in 6th but had worked us into a close 6th.  We ran alongside the boat, jumped on and headed out.  We blanketed the boats ahead of us jibe for jibe slowly gaining space as we worked out of the harbor. (AKA we kept close behind them while staying between the wind and them thereby taking their “power”.)  One thing to understand is that this CAL20 fleet has been racing against each other for decades.  I am a relative newcomer because I have been racing in this fleet for just under a decade.  We all know each other’s boat and each skipper’s strengths and weaknesses.    We figured with the two skippers ahead of us if we stayed aggressive we could pass these two boats in the remaining three hours.  The remaining night was turning into day around us as we “sped” on at 3-4 knots.  We continually kept working the other two boats up away from the mark by staying below them from the wind and using our right of way to make them move. Around the halfway point had gained a spot and headed south.  Around the south bay mark we closed to around 200 meters of the good crew and we tacked hard into toward the middle of the bay while they kept a southerly course. In the darkness we kept our sail trim by sound and feel. As our two boats closed into the mouth of the channel we saw that we had closed even more on them.  Mid channel the wind was taking them towards the coral and they tacked.  By the time we got to that spot the wind had shifted just enough that we could plow on with the coral just a few feet off our starboard side.  Entering the harbor we saw the third place boat heading out.  The crew right in front of us were trying to keep us back but we tacked a bit sharper and my helmsman was really good.  They beat us to the mark with us right on their stern.  Then we executed the turn inside them and were side by side heading out.

 

Our two boats kept battling but we were working the wind shifts better.  By the north mark we were in front by 50 meters or so.  Heading to the next mark we noticed the 3rd place boat was about 300 meters in front of us.  We rounded the south mark and tacked hard into the middle of the bay.  The third place boat stayed southerly and our close competitor followed us.  Finally they tacked, but we kept going.  The winds shifted in our favor and we rode it for another 300-400 meters, then tacked and headed for the green buoy on the left side of the channel.  By tacking before us the same wind shift that helped us, hurt them.  As we entered the channel they were far enough behind us that we had them for good.  Surprisingly our northerly route was so much better than the southern route that the 3rd place boat was close enough for us to target them.   Throughout the lap we stayed aggressive and kept to the northern line while they took the southern. By the time we were back to the channel we were right behind them. We shaved close by the left coral reef but the other boat had to tack to clear the right side coral then passed in front of us and tacked and we both “sped” toward the harbor.  We dueled up the harbor tack after tack on light winds.  About 100 yards from the finish the bow of a large power boat stuck out from its slip.  The 3rd place boat wasn’t clearing it so had to tack and they quickly tacked back.  We kept just up on the wind enough to barely clear the bow and kept going on.  But that was enough.  We turned the mark 4 seconds in front of them to close out the race back in 3rd place.

 

After putting the boat away I went home, showered and napped.  It was a fun event which, between the race and the BBQ competition, made enough money to gift a significant donation to the youth sailing association .

 

The sailing at night in Kanahoe Bay is beautiful, just stay off the coral.

 

[Editor’s Note: Ron’s Daily Stoic column will return next week.]

About The Author

dbleagle

dbleagle

I will say nothing without my lawyer present.

113 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    a beer in a cozzie that looked like a life vest

    You shiuld have gotten a picture of the beer life preserver!

  2. WTF

    Tat sounds really cool. Thanks for the write-up!

  3. Sean

    Burnt ends not popular there? Freaking weirdos!

    • UnCivilServant

      It’s Hawaii, they’re a little touched in the head.

    • Gender Traitor

      Ixnay on bringing up the izzapay. 🤫

  4. The Late P Brooks

    The LeMans road race starts with the drivers running to their cars, starting them and driving off.

    They haven’t done that for a long time, unfortunately. Some nonsense about safety.

  5. Sean

    That 2nd pic is great.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Burnt ends not popular there? Freaking weirdos!

    I imagine Hawaiian “BBQ” as Spam with ketchup.

    • kinnath

      childhood memories . . . . .

      • Timeloose

        My mom would make spaghetti with spam in tomato sauce. It was pretty dammed good. I continued to make it in college because it was cheap and tasty.

        Parental disclaimer:

        My mom is a great cook, but she worked opposite shifts form my dad and needed to make something quick that my dad would not mess up.

      • dbleagle

        Musubi is a go too first morning offshore breakfast. Tastes good, filling, and helps with dealing with any swells.

  7. mikey

    Thanks. A fun read.
    I grew up sailing on SF bay which I though was the best sailing in the world. Looks like Hawaii might be OK though.
    /envy

    • Spudalicious

      Same here. I would love to do some warm water sailing.

  8. JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

    Ah, I remember losing my lunch on a Cal 20 in SF Bay as a kid. Cold, wet and seasick. It was a real character builder.

    • UnCivilServant

      Did you ever find it again?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        The fish ate it.

    • WTF

      So, basically SugarFree Wednesdays.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Without the velcro.

  9. PieInTheSky

    Sailing is elitist, noninclusive and signals unchecked privilege. I am disappointed that this website covers such hateful things. Unsubscribed.

    • UnCivilServant

      Sailors throughout history have traditionally been from the bottom rung of society. By your reaction, you are erasing the proud histories of those poor folx, many of whom are from disadvantaged regions. You bigot!

      • PieInTheSky

        the bottom rung of society – cishet males hence privileged

      • UnCivilServant

        Did you just assume their gender and orientation?!

      • PieInTheSky

        and orientation – assuming not the British navy, yes

      • Ted S.

        Rum, sodomy, and the lash. I don’t think they were that het.

      • R C Dean

        “Gay until landfall” would be my guess.

      • dbleagle

        Just ask the skipper Columbo.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Having spent my teenage years at the yacht club, can confirm.

      • PieInTheSky

        did you properly oppress the servant girls?

  10. WTF

    OT: I guess this is in case you need to hunt T-Rex: Meet the .950 JDJ

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Unsubscribed.

    Your refund is in the mail.

    • UnCivilServant

      You’re not supposed to refund them unless they pay the $50 processing fee! That fee is coming out of your paycheck.

  12. Tundra

    They had just the right amount of crunch so I enjoyed the altruism of helping him in his hour of need.

    You’re a true humanitarian!

    Great write-up, dbleagle. Sounds like a fun adventure!

  13. LCDR_Fish

    On my way back to the East Coast from a couple weeks of inspections in CA. Forgot to get a picture – next time – but it’s pretty cool to see a massive tarmac with 15-20 hovercraft lined up on it. Got to ride out on one for a checkride too – pretty smooth (better than thr guys who went out earlier in the week).

    Thanks for the goldilocks link yesterday – will add him to my substack list.

    Anyone have the dates for thr Watterson run on Pearls Before Swine that was referenced yesterday? Thanks

  14. juris imprudent

    An excellent pinch-hit for the usual Fri noon fare!

  15. PieInTheSky

    can you hide a tiny motor in the boat and hope no one sees? people did that with bikes so I assume it can be done with boats.

    Also you should consider going vegan next time.

    • Nephilium

      Probably takes just a bit more power to move a boat through water than it does to make a bike roll a little faster on a road.

      • UnCivilServant

        “This little stick blender will push us past all the other boats!”

    • Michael Malaise

      Related: My old agency used to have a summer party at a pool and a boat race every year. The race was a relay down and back several laps in the pool. The boats were constructed by teams out of cardboard and duct tape. Our team (the one year I did it) used plastic zip ties to keep the sides together and covered them with duct tape—technically cheating. We also made cardboard paddles that fit over our hands and coated them with duct tape so they would not fall apart in the water.

      We blew everyone else out of the water. The following year, they outlawed hand-paddles like ours.

      They never found out about the zip ties.

  16. Ownbestenemy

    *kicks cat* Where is my rage reducing normal Friday….wait, excellent read! Thanks for the write-up to that adventure.

    • pistoffnick

      *picks up kitty*
      *glares at OBE with daggers*

  17. Brochettaward

    Firsting is the ultimate race for it takes place in the mind. The audience is inseminated with each flowing letter that makes up a First.

  18. DEG

    short (20ft long), beamy (aka fat)

    Thicc?

    I asked one “Pit Master”about “burnt tips” and since he had some time in KC he knew what I was asking for. When I got off the boat at around 0100hrs he had some ready for us. He said he liked them but they were not popular in Hawaii so we were doing him a favor by eating them. They had just the right amount of crunch so I enjoyed the altruism of helping him in his hour of need.

    🙂

    We decided to apply the Scottish climbers’ well known method of avoiding a hangover- don’t stop drinking and don’t go to sleep. Early in the morning the Southern Cross was visible before it went behind the mountains. (Always a treat.)

    🙂

    • kinnath

      We decided to apply the Scottish climbers’ well known method of avoiding a hangover

      I’ve seen similar advice for National Homebrew Conference. Don’t stop drinking. Manage on hangover on the way home.

      • Tundra

        Hardcore. Not sure that I could do that anymore.

  19. UnCivilServant

    Random question – what type of engineering degree would you expect a person have if they were working to analyze plans to make sure a building wouldn’t just fall down?

      • UnCivilServant

        A four-year degree in civil or architectural engineering

        A post-graduate degree (Master’s, Ph.D.) specializing in structural engineering

        The number of possibilities is why I asked.

    • pistoffnick

      Any mecha-nickel engineer should be able to do that. There is a sub-set called structural engineers who focus on that.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, we’re up to four different potential degrees.

    • The Hyperbole

      What type/size of a building. You wouldn’t *need* any degree to look at residential or up to maybe 4 story commercial buildings, just a good working knowledge of typical construction practices.

      • UnCivilServant

        In the story, the firm was dealing in big government/corporate contracts (office towers, stadia, etc)

    • Timeloose

      For government work….A CYA Engineer. Afterwards a Failure Analysis Engineer.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Structural?

    • UnCivilServant

      I want to see more quadrahull and quintahull designs out there.

    • dbleagle

      J Boats are very good boats and popular out here. I have been racing on a J24 for a decade plus, and a j80 for five years. We used to race interisland on a J30 but the owner sold it and purchased a One Design 35 a few years back. It is fast as heck but wet, and uncomfortable for any race over two days long.

      • Sensei

        I’ve seen the One Designs, but never been aboard one.

        I’ve heard they were fairly wet as well. I’ve always liked that word as it’s accurate and sailors all know what it means especially the rail meat.

      • dbleagle

        On our first ID35 race from Windward Oahu to Kauai the were “spirited” and we were running 19-23 knots downwind (occasionally reaching 27). We were overtaking the swells in front us and when we did a firehose of blue water ran the length soaking us. After a couple of hours people were shivering in the June heat. This went on for hours but we had to stand there along the rear lifeline and take it. Even sending one small person forward to ensure the water underneath was being pumped out made the boat tender. The thought of pitchpoling and losing the the rig (best case) or the boat (worst case) 50+ miles from land concentrated the mind of the helmsman and sail trimmers wonderfully. We reached the finish line in 7h and won the race, but most of the crew declined the opportunity to continuing to race with us.

      • dbleagle

        sailing translator: pitchpoling = reversing the bow and stern by bringing one vertically over the water to the opposite position.

      • juris imprudent

        Had friends who survived such an incident in the Magellan Straights. That was the end of their round the world adventure.

      • Sensei

        For my sailing season the down wind run was awful because it was hot as hell. You are running with the wind so essentially no breeze. And as you mentioned the boat pitchpoling also adds to the “chum” factor.

      • dbleagle

        People like the interisland races here because they are downwind and so usually comfortable. Fast, comfortable, and usually dry. The race from Maui to Oahu is considered one of the top 100 sails in the world because of the beauty.

        The work is getting enough crew to work the boat to windward to get from/back to your homeport. That glorious 100 miles downwind might be 120+ miles of beating to windward with all the pounding, water drenching, heeling, and associated work.

      • Sensei

        At least tacking you get a breeze in the summer!

        My races were never that long fortunately. And depending on the breeze that day worst case is you turn on the Iron Wind. However, in rough seas I’d take the stabilization of being under sail and a longer trip compared to being under power and rolling.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      I’ve crewed on a boat very similar to the J160.

      All things considered, I wouldn’t want to go much smaller when offshore (100 miles plus). Size matters.

      • Sensei

        Yup. Every inch counts… 😉

  21. Raven Nation

    Well, damn, did not realize the Southern Cross was visible from the northern hemisphere (should have know I guess).

  22. pistoffnick

    When I ran the boathouse at a YMCA Camp in Northern Minnesoda, we had some raucous regattas replete with war paint, pirate flags, and squirt guns or buckets.

    Some of the boats (Sunfish) had tip up rudders. As long as your boat didn’t touch theirs (disqualification), you could sneak up behind them and tip up their rudder.

    I have fond memories of a certain partially rotted wooden E-boat named White Lightning. Fucking Tara ****** t-boned it with a fiberglass Sunfish. It started sinking immediately. We got it to shore, stripped all the useable stuff off of it, then floated it out in the lake until it sunk and became fish habitat (that was encouraged by the DNR back then).

    • dbleagle

      A friend of mine races an E-Scow here. That boat is incredibly fast. During a race he often finishes a leg in front of the fleet, but he has to give us so much time we are competitive with it.

      • pistoffnick

        They are really fun with a spinnaker.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    News you can use

    American homes in flood zones are overvalued by hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change. Low-income homeowners in states controlled by Republicans are especially at risk of seeing their home values deflate as global warming accelerates.

    ——-

    The study, published by a group of academic, nonprofit, and government organizations that include the Environmental Defense Fund and the Federal Reserve, revealed that homes in flood zones are overvalued by as much as $237 billion.

    The researchers found that coastal property owners and homeowners in states that have inadequate or nonexistent flood disclosure laws, such as Florida, where there are no disclosure laws and homes are overvalued by $50 billion, were particularly vulnerable to overvaluation. They also found that a large share of overvalued homes are in areas that FEMA says aren’t currently at significant risk of flooding, a signal that flood maps need updating. The study’s authors told Grist that states need to gauge and clearly communicate flood risk to homeowners regardless of whether their home is located in one of the agency’s “special flood hazard areas,” where flood insurance is mandatory for most mortgages.

    Goddam Republikkkins. Always screwing the poors.

    • Sensei

      To be fair the Ponzi Scheme that is Federal Flood Insurance has broad bipartisan support.

    • UnCivilServant

      in the journal Nature Climate Change

      Thar’s yer problem.

    • Fatty Bolger

      lol. When narratives clash.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    The study “raises a lot of moral questions for policymakers about who will bear the costs of these climate impacts,” Gourevitch said. State and federal lawmakers may soon have to reckon with whether overvaluation is an individual burden or if it’s on the government to bail people out.

    Gosh, I wonder how “people” came to presume all their risks could/should be laid off on the government.

  25. Sensei

    I had a 10 year Intel NUC that was essentially unused that had its cheap ass SSD give up the ghost. It started out Win 7 migrated to Win 10 and I forced an unsupported upgrade to Win 11 which actually ran better on it than Win 10.

    I’ve flirted with version Linux versions for a long time mostly running it it VMs, but when the SSD croaked I decided to install Ubuntu as an experiment. Picked up an mSATA 128G drive that runs like a rocket compared to the last one for $18 and have been off to the races.

    I’m rather pleased how well it runs considering the age. It’s got 8G of memory and it’s plenty. Even with lots of browser tabs open I think you could get a way with 4G. Only downside is the built in GPU won’t do 3440 x 1440 so I’m stuck at 1080p on my widescreen monitor.

    I wouldn’t call it a plug and play install, but not worse than Win 11. Still wound up in terminal fixing a few things. But on a Win 11 you will be installing motherboard specific device drivers most likely so not that much different.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      The Ubuntu install experience is much better than a decade ago. That said, I recently lost an SSD and had to reinstall Ubuntu on my 12 year old desktop, and it wasn’t entirely clear how to configure the bootloader. The old bootloader (grub) appears to be disabled by default, but my gear was old enough to choke on the new one. Of course, the error message was cryptic. Eventually I worked it out, though.

      • Sensei

        The install process for me was plug and play. Burned an ISO to a USB thumb drive (via Win) put it in the NUC . Since the SSD was blank it booted it off and I was off to the races.

        After it partitioned and installed OS and boot loader it rebooted and told me to remove the USB. I did so and it booted right up. Default boot loader in my case was also grub.

      • R.J.

        I am about to do the same, I have a giant 15″ full keyboard Dell laptop with a bad hard drive. I have a few more things to remove to take it apart ad the I intend to replace the drive with a SSD and go Ubuntu. Gives computers a new lease on life and freedom from Microsoft.

  26. trshmnstr the terrible

    Very cool! The in-race repair sounds awesome!

    Hey dbleagle, my wife and I will be out your direction in late April. A family we’re close with is stationed at pearl, so we’re visiting them. Mostly we’re gonna be doing touristy stuff. Maybe we can grab lunch one day. You can reach me at trashy-glibs at disengage dot co

    • dbleagle

      I look forward to it! Are you staying at PH or down in Waikiki?

  27. Gender Traitor

    I’ve done all the gotta-do’s I can do right now before I leave for a week of vacation next week, including a draft of the minutes of Tedious Quarterly Meeting, and even got a little bit of a head start for month end! I’m gonna slack off for the rest the afternoon (even more than usual, that is.) 😁

  28. Sensei

    So I learned something about British English.

    You don’t need an article for “hospital”, but you do with “menopause”.

    So the police ended up clarifying that Nicola had issues with alcohol, and struggled with the menopause, a detail that seems creepily intrusive, if perhaps a misguided attempt at sympathetic context.

    The ghoulish online sleuths are shameful, but that’s no excuse for how the police have treated Nicola Bulley

    “She’s at hospital with issues from the menopause.”

    • R C Dean

      Or, its the Grauniad and their proofreaders (if any) messed it up. Again.

      • Ted S.

        Its what the Grauniad?

      • Sensei

        My Google-Fu suggest pejorative for The Guardian. I also had to check.

      • Ted S.

        That’s not what I meant. 🙂

      • The Gunslinger

        Its not?

    • Ted S.

      Not “in hospital”?

      • Sensei

        I was thinking more of a visit.

        In hospital = admitted.

        We need a Brit or Commonwealth opinion here.

      • Mojeaux

        I was thinking more of a visit.

        That occurred to me as I hit REPLY.

      • pistoffnick

        We need a Brit or Commonwealth opinion here.

        I miss Limey.

    • Mojeaux

      “In hospital.”

      Also, “maths.”

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Credible authoritative analysis, incoming


    The Biden administration said it has deployed federal medical experts to help assess what dangers remain at an Ohio village where a train carrying hazardous materials derailed this month – a ramp-up of federal support at the governor’s request as anxious residents point to signs of adverse effects.

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services to send teams to East Palestine, where the train derailed February 3 and sparked a dayslong blaze.

    “This request for medical experts includes, but is not limited to, physicians and behavioral health specialists,” DeWine wrote in a letter to the CDC. “Some community members have already seen physicians in the area but remain concerned about their condition and possible health effects – both short- and long-term.”

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday it will be sending a team to “assess the public health needs” at the site of the derailment.

    Finally, experts.

    • Sean

      Don’t drink the water.

    • dbleagle

      In the event of a war with Putin or Xi do not be surprised if trains leaving tracks with an explosive frequency all over the lower 48.

      Rail transport is absolutely dependent on highly integrated signals, clear tracks, and attentive maintenance.

      • Sean

        I’ve seen Hogan’s Heroes.

      • dbleagle

        In my former career I had a highly entertaining period of training with an American railroad. At the end of it the lead railroad worker looked us in the eye and said, “If any of this shit happens to one of my trains I’ll know exactly who I am coming after.” We believed him.

      • Sensei

        I’m never going to get work…

    • Tundra

      Two weeks late, but sure. Knock yourselves out.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    “I want the community to know that we hear you, we see you, and that we will get to the bottom of this,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said Thursday during a news conference. “We are testing for all volatile organic chemicals. We’re testing for everything. We’re testing for everything that was on that train. So, we feel comfortable that we are casting a net wide enough to present a picture that will protect the community.”

    Is there a remediation protocol for toxic gobbledygook?