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Thursday, February 6, 2020

Breaking the Breakwater


Hurricane Lorenzo aftermath.... Sailing Vessel Delos Ep.252

When SV Delos visited the Azores in July of 2019, they painted the name of their boat on the wall of the commercial pier. Hurricane Lorenzo hit arrived in October and the only portion of the wall left standing was where the crew of the Delos had painted the name of their boat. Spooky, man. The part about the pier and the paint takes about 8 minutes, after that they are off on another adventure.

I looked around for pictures of the destruction but I didn't find much of anything, but I did find this:

Trains at work in the quarry, west of Ponta Delgada, that supplied stone for the breakwater work. The image dates from the late 1960s.
If the rails look a little widely spaced, that's because they are. This is a broad gauge railroad. The space between the rails is 7 feet, much wider than the 4'8.5" gauge commonly used. 
The railway on São Miguel was used for the construction and subsequent maintenance of the breakwater that forms the south side of the harbour at Ponta Delgada. . . . The broad gauge was chosen  . . .  because it was considered better suited to carrying large blocks of stone from the quarry to the breakwater. 
Via Iaman

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