Tretakoff Musings

The Golden Gate Ferry has finally taken a new boat. The Napa , formerly Seattle's Snohomish , arrived in port this week from it's North Pacific journey. The great story about this is that the boats were purchased for $2 million a piece...after failing to sell on eBay. Yes, eBay. The boats are in need of serious retrofit, as is most of GGF's fleet. each of these will cost about $10 million to retrofit, but GGF can't wait. They are pressing the Napa into service next month, allowing the much beleagured Del Norte to head in for a retrofit, coming back by the end of the year. In the meantime, the Napa will operate with her old Seattle colors, and without much accommodation for the ever-growing bike population. I did speak to the head of the ferry service, and he seemed to think they could weld some bike hooks on the back, so stay tuned... Of course, the Napa DID go full bow underwater, causing her ceiling to cave in ...but that won't matter...right? Should be a ragged ...

What fascinates me about this trike that was on this morning's ferry is the clearance between the ground and the chain: maybe 1"? One good SF pothole will do a number on that. Still, he rides in comfort!

With the Olympics looming large, there's been a lot of discussion on my daily ferry commute about the rise of China in the international stage, and, of course, the debate if the USA has already gone past it's nadir as the pre-eminent international power. In other words, has the USA already begun its decline, like the great empires before it? Many factors lead to this possibility, primarily the lack of investment in a manufacturing base: when a society becomes so wealthy that they find it less expensive to send work to another country, or to employ illegal aliens, no matter how trivial or important the work, I maintain that it is officially on the decline. As part of this exercise, we look at key indicators that might represent the telltale signs of when the USA "jumped the shark." For the Roman empire, it might have been the gladiatorial games and vomitoriums; the British empire saw the East India Company become it's de facto ambassador to the world. What might th...

Trick or treat! My normal high speed ferry in to work this morning had mechanical issues, so it was replaced by the Marin . The Marin , one of the older (and slower) Spaulding ferries, but the Marin is special: it underwent a multimillion dollar renovation to take this 1970's relic to a state of the art ship. Primarily, it was renovated to accommodate the tourist traffic on the San Francisco to Sausalito run, but, on occasion, it is pressed into service for Larkspur. Impressions: - The staff is completely bewildered. Although the Marin was specifically renovated to handle over 70 bikes (as are common in the Sausalito run) with dedicated bike racks belowdecks, the staff directed commuters with bikes to the aft, outside (with no racks) "to spare you from having to carry the bike downstairs." - The seating configurations are fascinating. The bow seats, both belowdecks and on the main deck, have La-Z-Boy seats with combination armrests and trays. Nice touch! - One of the mor...