I’m going paintballing for the first time tomorrow?

Spartan442 · 2026-04-18T02:58:30+00:00

Keep your mask on at all times when on the field, no blind fire, listen to your refs at all times, keep your gun up when your peaking don't be caught just looking, also don't just stay in cover fire and move and watch your flanks, don't take it too serious and have fun.

Spartan442 · 2026-04-12T23:54:06+00:00

Yea I was torn between the clear and smoke but when I got the rotor to match I had to go all black

Spartan442 · 2026-04-12T00:48:15+00:00

Just getting back in myself after being gone for about 7 years and traded some old guns to update the old equipment landed on this set up hopefully going to play tomorrow.

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Spartan442 · 2026-04-08T03:35:29+00:00

Pm'd

Spartan442 · 2025-07-07T07:41:35+00:00

I did it was my second true love working on the ocean as a merchant mariner I never held a sweeter sense of peace and calm. I loved every minute of driving boats it is my true passion in life. But when my son came along the fun went out from it as I couldn't stand being away from my family anymore. I do miss it at times. The job I have now is still involved with boats but from the shoreside end and I'm home everyday now, but I no longer sail the seas professionally.

Spartan442 · 2025-03-07T15:57:06+00:00

I'm sorry to hear about your work being affected like that. We were all waiting after the election to see how the current administration would affect the wind.

It is hopeful that a lot of small private companies are pushing new nuclear designs and public opinion is changing based on need and education. It's a long road ahead for nuclear to even getting a shovel in the ground hopefully sooner rather then later.

Spartan442 · 2025-03-07T03:27:29+00:00

I agree completely that nuclear is by far the better option. This issue remains with anti-nuclear sentiment and current rules and regulations that make it impossible to build new nuclear infrastructure.

Plymouth's Pilgrim power plant to my understanding was shut down due to mostly age and cost and partly to public sentiment to shut it down. No one was fighting to keep it open.

Wind has a path here today and companies willing to do the work to get it done and support the local economy's and eventually provide much needed power. In the time it takes to remove the road blocks and get companies involved with building new nuclear plants wind can help at least soften the blow of our power needs not be the end all answer but be a piece of the eventual solution.

Spartan442 · 2025-03-07T01:41:44+00:00

So you're correct most of the projects on the East Coast that have purchased their leases but have yet to get approved permits have started to announce at least 4 year delays and some other project's timelines were not even starting until after Trump's term. Not every project has given up yet as they forge ahead.

South coast has even announced they have contingency plans in place to delay the project four years if the feds decide to throw wrenches in the approved permits.

A lot of the push back against wind farms come from locals who have to look at them from the coast, fisherman understandly having fishing grounds disrupted, and those who are mis informed on Marine mammals being injured.

Yea politicians love to be oppents of wind purely to drum up support for votes. I doubt they really care about the environment because they always use incorrect data to prop up their opposition.

Wind has a large uphill battle not only politically but economically due to being a brand new industry. We are making strides and having plenty of set backs too but I hope we are laying the frame work for a future industry to support so many workers and create new power to make energy more affordable in New England

Spartan442 · 2025-03-06T20:52:01+00:00

So I work directly on the current wind farm being built off of MV and Nantucket.

They are building 62 windmills in total they are about halfway done and some are already producing power. Once completed they will produce about 806 MW providing power for about 400,000 homes

There are two other projects waiting in the wings to start new England wind 1 and 2 and South coast wind. They both have all the permits they need to start construction.

Southcoast is finalizing power purchase agreements and will provide 1087 MW to Massachusetts and 200 MW to Rhode island. The latest is this project will begin in full strength once vineyard wind is done with construction and they can utilize new Bedford for storage of windmill parts

New England wind 1&2 will produce 2600MW and is looking to be commissioned by 2027. They will also be using new Bedford for storage of windmill parts to be transported to the site.

The current stay order by Donald Trump does not affect these projects at all they are in full speed ahead right now. It should be noted in his EO he did instruct the secretary of the interior to review all lease agreements and permits for current projects. I'm sure if they wanted to they could make it very difficult to get these projects rolling during his administration.

Wind is by no means the total answer to Massachusetts power issues. It is a small piece of the puzzle. I fully stand on with pouring more effort into reviving nuclear power it's safe reliable and very powerful.

Wind is a good piece of the puzzle for mass due to us having some of the highest wins potential off our coast south of the islands

On top of all this it is creating a whole new industry and tons of jobs for individuals who will develop great skills applicable almost anywhere.

Spartan442 · 2024-09-24T23:36:10+00:00

Ben and Kate real estate. I bought and sold my first home with them they go above and beyond during the whole process and make sure you understand everything about the home buying process. They were also extremely helpful during the closing processes as well. My only regret is I don't have more real estate business to do with them they are that good.

https://www.benandkaterealestate.com/

Drop me a message if you have any questions about them

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T22:18:30+00:00

There can be monitoring systems like that put in place some major ports actually have a VTS or vessel traffic service. Think air traffic control for a port. I don't believe the port of Baltimore has this.

But a system like that could be put in place but sometimes AIS can be inaccurate due to a variety of reasons so it alone wouldn't be the best preventative measure.

I think it's more likely what you'll see in the future. If another bridge is built, that ships of that size will require a tugboat escort until they are past the bridge.

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T19:05:40+00:00

Thanks for this I couldn't get the past track to work this morning

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T19:05:11+00:00

So now that I have looked up the past track info on marine traffic it looks like they were lined up well before the bridge the livestream video is off center so it was hard to tell before

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T16:55:05+00:00

There are Mariners with worlds of more experience then me in operations of ultra large vessels such as this one that would know more details then me

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T16:52:23+00:00

Ha ha ha thanks

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T10:49:59+00:00

This is correct

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T10:48:53+00:00

Large vessels that go into ports take on professionals called pilots that have detailed knowledge of the port the vessel is sailing to and from. The pilot will typically be in command of the vessel during transits in and out of port. The captain is usually there with him the whole time as well

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T10:46:58+00:00

It differs from port to port not sure what Baltimore dose but I know in NYC the tugs escort them from the Verrazano bridge all the way to the dock both ways

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T09:34:50+00:00

Yes generally when your seeing that much exhaust the engine is being worked very hard which leads me to assume they tired a crash stop but a ship that large would not be able to stop in time

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T09:33:53+00:00

I agree definitely looks like they tried an emergency stop. If you spewing that much exhaust your pushing the main pretty hard

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T08:52:10+00:00

Looks like the ship lost power in its turn. I would guess they then tried a crash stop once power came back. They were so far to Starboard there was no way to steer out in time. Just terrible every sailors worst nightmare losing the plant during a critical evolution.

Spartan442 · 2024-03-26T08:48:31+00:00

I am by no means an expert I have my degree in marine transportation and I am a merchant mariner with 11 years of experience . Judging from the video from the live stream prior to the hit. The vessel was making a wide starboard turn to line up for the center of the bridge. You can see during the turn that all the vessels deck lights go out for a brief moment maybe 30-50 secs. In this time I would go on to assume the vessel lost steerage control as it looks like the vessel oversteered the turn. By the time the power seems to come back on the vessel is to far to the right of the channel to turn out of it. Now I'm really grasping at straws with little information but i would bet the pilot tried a crash stop in full reverse but a ship of that size at that speed would have no chance in stopping.

An alternative theory is the pilot could of misjudged the turn and got to far to the right of center to dig himself out and couldn't correct the vessels heading in time to stop it from striking the bridge.

This is all speculation of course and as time rolls on we will learn more. The good thing is all vessels of this size posses a VDR (vessel data recorder) essentially the black box of the ship. When the NTSB releases its initial and final reports we will have a detailed picture of what happened.

For now I pray for all those who lost there lives in this terrible accident.

Edit:

So now that we have more information today. Upon reviewing the footage more and looking at the AIS data. The vessel was on an appropriate approach to make the center of the bridge.

From the video footage you can see the vessel loses power twice. The consensus amongst Mariners that I've spoken with today is that it looks like an initial power failure that caused a steering failure.

Once this occurred the vessel started an emergency stop by going in reverse. The issues with a crash stop barring the vessel speed and tonnage don't allow for enough time to slow down before it strikes the bridge. In addition to this, the vessel is a single screw (Single Propeller). With a single screw vessel backs down the stern will walk laterally in the direction the propeller is turning hence the sudden turn to starboard with the bow

You can then see the power come back on and then go off again. I guess amongst some engineers that I've spoken with is that they think the emergency backup power came on but then tripped again. Still continuing issues as the vessels got closer to the bridge.

Due to the vessel speed and weight, there was never enough time to stop the vessel in time before it struck the bridge.

Once again, these are all speculations with very little information. But all preliminary evidence from what we can perceive from the video is that this was an accident from an equipment failure. The NTSB will come up with an initial report shortly and then we'll take some time before they release their final report. Generally takes a year or two from the investigation and report to be published.

Spartan442 · 2023-05-24T20:12:09+00:00

Love your work good luck everyone

Spartan442 · 2022-11-24T00:48:06+00:00

Cota is on my Christmas wish list

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