Surfski Knowledge Base

Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
05/02/10 #8339

Peter Marcus’s face and the force of his paddling have been missing at our last couple local races, because he’s been in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the unprecedented oil spill response effort. I talked to him today and got a bit of an update on his day-to-day life and the scene in general out there.

It sounds like the scale of the response effort can’t be overstated. Apparently it’s tier after tier of contractors and sub-contractors and subs-of-subs… and on and on. Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of waiting around because of truly gnarly weather including heavy onshore winds and, in Peter’s words: “…more rain in two days than Bellingham sees in half a year.”

Meanwhile, the 3 leaks, 4000-5000 feet below the surface, are gushing about 200,000 gallons/day of oil into the Gulf as ROV crews (un-manned submarine robots) try to get some welds or some sort of containment repair in place. With the ongoing leakage, it won’t be long until the volume of oil exceeds the Valdez spill, (though it’s a much lighter product and has different – although still very ugly – implications).

As for Peter’s pre-Ski to Sea training and way of life right now, his days have him reporting to work pre-6 a.m. and getting back to the sack at about 10 p.m. So needless to say he’s not spending a lot of time working out. Shockingly, his employer hadn’t flown in a Surfski or even an Erg for him to train on.

According to the latest national news (http://bit.ly/c72Tre) it’s possible it’ll be another 90 days before the leak can even be capped. Peter said it may be a long summer of rotations out to the Gulf every few weeks.

Peter, I think I speak for everyone when I say that, while we’d rather have you paddling and racing here in the NW with us, we’re glad and grateful that people of your caliber are on-site doing everything you can do to mitigate that situation. We’re pulling for you guys and gals, bro, and the ocean and shoreline you’re fighting for!!! Stay safe!

Brandon