Boatnerd Discussion Forum

00:45h EDT. Sunday Oct. 25/26
On an 89 deg. heading at 5.3 kts Ocean Tower is about 60 nm at sea. She has just passed abreast Santiago Astana. By morning they should be approximately abreast SanFrancisco Ixhuatan. Winds are calm tonight. Surface swells are low at .4m..The sky is cloudy and the temperature is 27C. A calm night on the Pacific two months until Christmas Eve! Capcha is finding issues! This post will not be likely to reach Boatnerd!

00:32h Saturday Oct. 24/26
Ocean Tower is making 7.7 kts tonight. She is running a 104 deg. heading south eastwards in rainy conditions. Temperatures in the region at night are 25-32 C with a humidex in the low -mid 30 deg. range. This region is extremely desolate so it is difficult to find relevant meteorological annd sea conditions info as there are few active weather stations that would add to my report. Also, it would be a tough situation if Ocean Tower ran into mechanical problems.

2338h .Thurs. Oct. 22’/26
In response to kGuest .questions….if this gets by Capcha and is posted…
1) Ocean Tower weather reporters told them that was where the calmest area to was located at that time.Thats why they were off shore so far. Gulf of California winds were blowing near 30 knots or more. Waves were 6 - 9 feet.
2)Crew would include captain, engineer, 2-3 able -bodied, maybe a navigator, maybe a cook. This company has not put anything much at all about these big tows n the www. I’m just going by stuff I’ve read and experienced. So crew is likely around 6-8.

Steamboater66 wrote: October 19, 2026, 11:22 am 1213h EDT. Mon. Oct. 19/26
Ocean Tower is on the move. Storms have eased in the Gulf of California. Now she has moved over 100 miles and is about 35 nm off the coast directly S of Cabo. They are making 3.1 kts on a SE heading. First progress since 3 days on holding position back NW of Cabo San Lucas.
Hope Capcha lets this through…first forward movement!

Why was Tower so far off the coast in bad weather - 35nm?

How many crew are aboard? Is the tug traveling alone?

1030h. Tues. Oct.20/26
Ocean Tower continues early today on her run down to the Panama Canal. She is on a heading of 110 and making 7.7 kts. All must be going well aboard after the storm hold up a week ago. She is over 200nm SE of Cabo San Lucas.

1229h EDT. Mon. Oct. 19/26
Ocean Tower weather has moderated in northern Gulf of CAlifornia. Winds this a.m. have dropped into the area of 10 kts. Seas are down into the 2m. area. They are moving forward again toward the Panama Canal.

1213h EDT. Mon. Oct. 19/26
Ocean Tower is on the move. Storms have eased in the Gulf of California. Now she has moved over 100 miles and is about 35 nm off the coast directly S of Cabo. They are making 3.1 kts on a SE heading. First progress since 3 days on holding position back NW of Cabo San Lucas.
Hope Capcha lets this through…first forward movement!

1030h EDT. Friday Oct. 16/26
Ocean s in a holding position off Cabo San Lucas waiting for storms to clear from the Gulf of California.

Steamboater, don't know what you're looking at weatherwise but it's incorrect. There are 2 weather systems, tropical storm Simon and hurricane Trudy blocking the way. And both are forecasted to move north and west toward where the Ocean Tower is presently. Just my 2 cents.....

00:08h Wed. Oct.14/26
Ocean Tower on her way back to home base Tampa from big crane delivery to Pearl Harbor seems to be “treading water” to the S and SW of Cabo San Lucas a little over 100 nm offshore. No forward progress toward Panama Canal evident. Have checked a variety of marine weather info sites for the region…nothing really untoward seems evident. I also posted about possible tech problems for the tug.
Any body on here know anything??? There’s also stuff about her being due in NY on October 14.??

Hurricane warning, Gulf of California. I'd stop too!!

1033h. Sunday, Oct.11/26
Ocean Tower has not moved since my last check on her late Saturday night, very early Sunday. They appear to be trying to maintain a position somewhat north of Cazbo San Lucas and about 20-30 miles off the Mexican coast.

0004h EDT. Sunday, Oct11/26
Ocean Tower has not made progress. She seems to have slowed and is making just barely 2 kts. The NW wind I think was around 6 kts at my Saturday late morning post has increased. It is blowing steadily 15 kts with gusts to 22 kts. Seas are running 2.3m. I sense that those winds have forced them to just try and hold the position they are at until the heavy gusting abates.

1142h EDT Sat. Oct. 10/26Ocean Tower
GuestOct. 7 has a good point. Ocean Tower was coming almost abreast Cabo SAN Lucas. Today she is making only 2.6 kts at this time and has not progressed much since Friday.
Checked weather at sea…wind steady at 6 kts. Wind is NW. Waves are just over 2m. It is sunny at 33C. So ….those are pretty fair conditions. Since on previous parts of this voyage, average speed of the tug would be 7- 7.5 kts and they’ve dropped a lot to 2.6 kts…I wonder if they may be having mechanical issues. They’ve put on a ton of mileage since Manitowoc!

Had been moving down the coast of Baja California and reversed course at 3.3 kts. I think it's because of the growing storm/likely typhoon off the central American coast. Don't want any part of that!

Ocean Tower on the move. Left earlier today and SW off Tijuana coastline, presumably heading to the Panama Canal and then Tampa?? 8.5 kts

2320h EDT Tues. Sept 29/26
Ocean Tower continues to hold her place moored in San Diego tonight.
Side note… Anyone who is following this thread steadily has seen me write of the capcha security thing and my frustration of post rejections for no seemingly solid reason.
It’s not ALL bad. I had 2 get through on the 28th I think it was. Thanks to those who’ve written in with comments and support. That was a mighty big test for Dann towing, the crews, and not least of all the tug’s durability; so in my book worth following and writing about.
Hope this one gets through security!

1019h EDT. Tues. Sept. 29/26
An afterthought to my previous post today…
Thanks to Luth and 2 other Guests for your supportive comments about my posts.
This morning typed my post then did the capcha security thing. Been having trouble submitting through that thing. First post today went smoothly through. Hope this one does too.

1012h EDT. Tues. Sept. 29/26
Ocean Tower is on her sixth day of return to SanDiego. We have to wonder what will be next for her. It won’t be easy to surpass the most recent voyage to Hawaii and back.

Good job reporting. Thanks much.