Jet RHIB

[jdonalds]

I stumbled on five seasons of Sea Patrol, an Australian TV series. The series is just so-so but it is something to have on my screen while I do photo scanning and editing.

In the second season the ship has two RHIBs; Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats. The boats are jet powered with what seems to be V8 engines.

You can find Sea Patrol on Hulu.

I hope everyone is surviving the cold/snow snap. We haven't been effected here in California but it has been cool (30 degrees in the early morning and 50 degrees peak). The good news is we are having some rain.

Lake Shasta is down 177 feet and still dropping. It hasn't been that low since 1977, and won't be full for a number of years even if we have above average rainfall.

 

[RightStuff]

Those boats are pretty cool to see, esp. knowing that they are jet powered as well. Our local fire dept. has one of those for river rescues and it has a Hamilton jet on it, they might be using the same on that show.

Lake Shasta is down 177 feet

That is just sooo hard to even fathom coming from a non-reservoir lake, amazing...

 

[Julian]

60 Minutes had a piece on water table and drought issues.....and references a new satellite (GRACE?) that is measuring water table changes from space....pretty cool stuff! Based on their images, California is in deep doodoo.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/depleting-the-water/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/earth/space-weighing-groundwater-lost-irrigation/

I loved the part with the water drilling guy.....he's loving his business!

 

[jdonalds]

Very interesting Julian. Thanks for posting the links. The 60 Minutes video was very informative.

We have cut back on our household water use. We even collect the cold water that comes out of the hot water tap while the hot water comes through the pipes from the garage to the shower at the opposite corner of the house. It takes two gallons before the tap changes from cold to hot. We collect the water in a bucket, then use it outside to water plants and trees.

We will have to seriously consider replacing our lawn with drought tolerant plants. I expect the price of water will increase significantly in the next few years which will make the decision to get rid of the lawn an economic necessity.

It's raining right now. I've switched the automatic water system for the lawns and gardens off until the rain passes.

The crazy thing is even with Lake Shasta down over 170' it is still a large lake with about 150 miles of shoreline. However there are no concrete ramps that go down that far. You have to launch off a dirt ramp and a 4 wheel drive tow vehicle is a necessity. Max depth of Shasta is 518 feet. If the water level ever drops below 330' the power generators will not be able to provide power.

 

[HidnNOS]

Wow!

 

[After You]

Its scary how dependent we are on our waterways!

 

[jdonalds]

Shasta Lake Nov 26, 2014. Snow capped Shasta Mountain in the distance. The lake is down 177+ feet today.

This is the area of Centimudi launch ramp, the deepest ramp in the lake, but the quite long paved ramp is well out of the water now. Only this dirt peninsula remains in the area for launching. As you can see fishers have launched as they do all year round. This is the deepest part of the lake. When the lake is full the water reaches to within inches of the top of the dam. All of the bare dirt would be below water. The little pool of water is about 500 feet from the end of the paved ramp which is back and to the left of this photo. Note the small island of dirt beginning to show where someone has planted a warning flag. The air temp was 61 degrees this afternoon. Not great boating conditions but warm enough to be tempting.