Lookit the balls on this Tugboat

I stumbled upon this photo sequence shot in 1979 of a goddamn tugboat pulling a maneuver surfers call a "duck dive" under a bridge and it made my day. I'm pretty sure it's real because it looks real--not all sketchy and photoshoppy (although, there are some pixels, which makes me suspicious). Plus, the website it came from is so low-quality that it's obvious it was thrown together by seamen who know less about computers than I do.

I've always had what I feel is a healthy skepticism about boats and nautical antics in general. Water (all of it, rivers, oceans, pools) is a powerful force of nature, and after watching The Perfect Storm I learned that it's not something to fuck with. Drowning would totally blow.

But after seeing the captain of this vessel pull the equivalent of a Sullenberger on some river in Alabama I think we just may have finally made water our bitch. It's nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Anywho, the keel of this whole post is pasted in a mast of photos yonder in the hold, and the best way to view it is starting at the burgee and working your way down to the deck. Avast, etc.