Lieutenant Commander Uday Kiran

I will stick with Chanti, and this Post is dedicated to you! You commanded (from now on, you never "ask"; your wish would be our command!) us to start a Sea Sands group as you (think you) are technologically challenged, though you can navigate a ship! I think effort involved in creating an e-group these days is delta x when compared to navigating a ship! To begin with, most of us can't even spell or pronounce your job title w/o help from spell check and voice dictionary! I can spell the first three letters using the golden rule "i before e except after c and when the sound is ay as in neighbor and weigh and when cie makes a 'she/sheh' sound". I get lost after that. Very good to know that you are in the business of keeping huge things in water afloat, and moving them.

Kumar, Anand's buddy (Anand is my brother-in-law), who used to work as a Chief Engineer on ships, gave Rama and me a tour of his ship (an oil tanker) when he was docked in Beaumont, Texas. These things are huge, w/no brakes! I guess you can turn the propellers the other way, but you really can't come to a screetching halt at a stop light (in your case, the dock). We had fun time with Kumar and his colleagues, and we are thankful for the experience.

I developed a lot of respect for moving things in water from one of my few experiences with Waverunners. Few years ago, our (then) company rented Large Marge Party Barge for company picnic on Lake Travis, along with a couple of waverunners and a speed boat. I got excited and enjoyed rough, bumpy, and thrilling ride for about an hour. When I was returning to the barge, I noticed that all my colleagues on the barge were waving at me. I felt really proud that so many folks were eager to see me back.

Then, I heard this air horn from behind. I turned my head and I saw a police boat (with flashing lights and everything) with cops asking me to stop. Apparently, I produced "wake" in a "no wake" zone (as people were swimming). My colleagues were merely trying to warn me of the cops and I didn't get it! Actually, I noticed the signs and I was riding very slowly but I guess it wasn't slow enough. Anyway, at that time, I realized the importance of friction and brakes.

Though I turned off the engine, it was windy and the thing wouldn't stop. Those were painful moments. So, I started the engine and turned to ride towards cops and that upset them more (more wake). So, I cut the engine off again. They had to come really close to me, hold my vehicle from moving, while they issued me ~ $250 ticket.

In addition to that, they made me take a Boating Safety Course. Luckily, as this happened when I was "officially" at work, our company took care of the ticket, boating license fee, and gave me time-off for taking the course. They even allowed me to ride these things the next year (God bless my boss)! I learned later on that many people get these tickets, and that made me feel a little better.

In the boating course, I learned some really interesting things about navigating in fog and at night, signaling system, and the route markers. I think they (the coast guard and others) did a wonderful job in developing this system for waterways. So, I think I can understand a little bit of the complexity of your job.

Just felt like taking this opportunity (i.e., responding to your e-mail) to memorialize my experience. It's funny that I laugh at the same event (in retrospect) while I was anxious when it was actually happening. This kind of experiences make us remember to take "things" seriously and not "ourselves", as Anand (my BIL) used to say.

PS: I took liberty and edited your picture, by increasing brightness and contrast.