RAS

Sunday, October 07, 2007 13:02
USS Cole -- 48°58 N 5°13W

On a SW course of 240° the ship this morning was some 49nm N of the island off the coast of Brittany called "L'Ouessant" or "the westerly" [map]. It lies next to the busy shipping lanes used to take maritime traffic E onto the route to the Straits of Gibraltar as well as W out into the Atlantic. Where we're headed now, enroute to another RAS--replenishment at sea--appointment for fuel to take the ship on the remaining eight day journey to Norfolk. It's remarkable that the historically significant enterprise of sailing out of sight of land can, and has, become routine. Even for me. Despite the enormous number of things that have to be done rightly and constantly monitored to sail even a heavily armored warship across the sea, it is in fact much safer--much less likely to involve accident or injury--than driving to the supermarket.
...jb