Monday, January 4, 2010

Leale

Leale in choppy sea, LivornoLast Saturday, just before sunset, the tanker “Leale” (Loyal) is leaving port with a quite choppy sea.Leale in choppy sea, LivornoThe pilot is still on board and the “pilotina” is waiting for him.Leale in choppy sea, LivornoThe 112 meter tanker is pitching quite heavily against the waves.Leale in choppy sea, LivornoStill riding along, the pilot boat looks at times almost submerged...Leale in choppy sea, Livorno... or has to break away for a moment.Leale in choppy sea, LivornoAt last, just before the Vegliaia breakwater, the pilot is recovered.

35 comments:

Lois said...

What a dramatic series of pictures! Very nice.

Luis Gomez said...

Wonderful set of pictures. You can almost feel the strength of the water.

Julie said...

Golly VP, you have a boat on your blog!

I like your understanded "quite" choppy!

This is such a dramatic action series. Good stuff.

dianasfaria.com said...

great shots! I love the pink sky.

tapirgal said...

These are FANTASTIC! What a great series. You show the water, ship and activity so clearly. I also like it because on very rare occasions, I've been able to capture a pink sky behind the ships, and those pix are among my favorites. I note the ship is registered in Palermo. I don't think I've seen any here, but I'll keep looking. We usually have Panama and Monrovia.

James said...

Lots of drama and plenty of beautiful sky. I can't imagine trying to control the little boat.
Nice shots.

Gunn said...

Bravo! Very nice shots.. with beautiful sky too.
I feel the waves...

Dina said...

Such an exciting post!
The ship looks like it lost its side. :)
So huge compared to the brave little pilotina.
My first time on a ship (the "Enotria"), sailing from Italy to Haifa (my aliya), was when I learned there are pilots at sea. To guide us through the narrow Straits of Corinth. What a great week that was in 1968.

joo said...

Amazing series - I love the colour of the sky and the waves. The photo with gulls is my favourite and the previous one with the wave crashed - wow terrific!
By the way, the tree from my post was taken in Burnham in England:)
Have a nice week!

Regina said...

Beautiful series!

Kate said...

Look at those waves! Great series of photos to dramatize the weather. Love it!

Roberto S. said...

Amazing shots, VP!
I'm almost seasick just by watching them ;-)

Elaine Yim said...

How nice to be on this ship and sail into the sunset!

brattcat said...

These are jaw-dropping, VP. I'm reading Far Tortuga right now and these images truly enhance the experience of the book.

Kaori said...

pink sky and rough waters... so beautifully dramatic!

cieldequimper said...

VP? Where has the Ogon Oet gone to?
These are simply marvellous photos. I am about 15 km from the Atlantic and a horrible toothache is keeping me from the ocean on the search for an available dentist...
Thanks about the Wallace comment, my culture just does not reach that far.

elvira pajarola said...

....wow..AMAZING shots....one can actually feel the powerful sea...; Marvellous the big tanker....I see them once in a while further away in the sea.....!
FANTASTIC ADVENTURE...and where were you...?..
Have a Happy New Year and thanks so much for stepping in my Tuscany; I just loved it!!

Ciao elvira

Lowell said...

Powerful, VP! Scary! Fearsome! There is nothing like the force of the sea, and these shots capture it perfectly!

I also like the muted pastel colors; very nice!

Thank you, Trillian, for the nice welcome back.

Our best wishes to both of you for 2010!

Halcyon said...

The sea may be rough, but the sky is beautiful. Love that pinkish-orangey color. Wonderful series of shots here!

henny said...

Was it true? All you have said along with these photos? I like her name, "Leale" how is it pronounced?

Small City Scenes said...

Wow, exciting series. The 'pilotina' looks lost for sure. They are a brave bunch. The sea looks angry .
Excellent post. MB

Hilda said...

Looks and sounds too exciting for me. Quite scary, in fact.

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

Magnificent capture of a big wave in the first photo!
Taken together, the images would make a nice "flip book" of the big ship pitching up and down.
Three Rivers Daily Photo

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

WOW! Spectacular!!!!! SUPER!

stromsjo said...

And - as a side effect - just look at that sky changing from one shot to another. How much time elapsed between the first and the last click?

VP said...

@ Ciel - Ogon Oet get tired of being (justly) omitted and resigned.
Sorry for the toothache, it is known for its bad timing...
@ henny - It's a quite common procedure, only more spectacular with the wind. If you enlarge the last photo you can see the pilot walking on the 'pilotina' toward the cabin.

VP said...

@ Per - The sky was changing because the ship was also moving toward the setting sun. The first shot was taken at 16:41:21 the last at 16:44:36.
Sunset was after few minutes. I didn't post the trip back of the pilot boat, which was spectacular in its own way...

VP said...

@ elvira - I was on the seafront at the Bellana, between the “Scoglio della Regina” (Queen's Rock) and the Benetti Shipyard.

margaret said...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that sky!

stromsjo said...

Yep, your zoom made it look like a trip in time as well... Well done.

Andreea said...

I usually don't get seasick but the water looks really rough here, I wouldn't want to be riding these waves. I like the rippled sunset sky.

henny said...

I got it now :).

Unknown said...

The colours are simply fantastic!

Tash said...

Frightening - I bet the crew was scared! Excellent photos.
A Greek freighter Dominator sunk off the coast of Palos Verdes in 1961. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbjHUP6enCY

Unknown said...

The red ship really stands out in the water with that gorgeous sky in the background!