Beam Reach

One of the grandest gestures we humans in Western Washington can make for endangered orcas and salmon is to finally remove the Elwha dams.  The result would be a wonderful experiment in salmon restoration, as well as sediment dynamics.
I remember thinking that the removal was just a couple years away when I lived in Port […]

It was just announced that the oldest southern resident killer whale is believed to have died this year. Lummi (K-7) lived to be about 98 years old and was last seen by Brad Hansen of NOAA/NWFSC on December 23rd. As the Center for Whale Research has surveyed all of K pod multiple times […]

I just read a story about a band that tours and amplifies under bicycle power alone. The technology they use could jump start an idea spawned during dinnertime discussions during past Beam Reach programs: mounting two bikes on the foredeck for power generation and exercise during the sea component. A nice twist would […]

Thanks to Lindsay Delp (081) who just sent me a Discovery Channel article about the fluid mechanical efficiency of cetacean fins and flukes. It turns out (ha!) that wind turbines can be made more efficient by roughening the leading edge of the blades. The idea was inspired by studying the bumpy fins of […]

It is disconcerting to me that J pod did not re-visit the west side of San Juan Island during the first two-week research cruise of the spring Beam Reach program. I joined the ship last Thursday fully expecting our fish tagging exercise to be interrupted by the returning southern residents. There was even […]

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Row boats have graced the docks of the Friday Harbor Labs for many decades. To me, they have always offered a heart-warming counterpoint to the academic intensity of the Labs. After a day spent inside studying the oceans’ creatures with pipettes, microscopes, and computers, the row boat fleet beckons to the […]

I think a tradition was born last Friday, July 28. Sailing, learning, and fun were had by all at our “open boat” event. Captain Todd Shuster gave tours and sails on his recently re-powered catamaran. Now the west coast’s only biodiesel-electric charter sailing vessel. We listened to an underwater hydrophone (wow, […]

Authored by: Captain Todd Shuster and Dr. Scott Veirs
A new type of boat will study the orcas and their environment this fall. The Gato Verde is a 13-meter (42-foot) sailing catamaran that recently became the first biodiesel-electric charter vessel on the West Coast. Last winter, dual 27-horsepower diesel engines were replaced with two electric motors, […]