http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-03/ff_seacowboys?currentPage=1

WELL worth the read. Basically -- a bunch of guys who run around refloating sunken or sinking ships and making $texas from the boat's insurers.

[Edited on March 14, 2008 at 11:02 AM. Reason : ]

3/14/2008 11:01:52 AM

neat.

3/14/2008 11:27:25 AM

^

3/14/2008 11:28:09 AM

^^

3/14/2008 11:30:40 AM

actually, i didnt read. i just watched that video.

3/14/2008 11:36:30 AM

^i read this a couple weeks ago when it was first published...it's really worth the read. and at the end you feel like you read a book but it only took 20 minutes!

3/14/2008 11:40:59 AM

LOTS OF WORDS.. but very good.

3/14/2008 11:51:31 AM

This thread is. . .



SUPERBOAT!

3/14/2008 11:57:24 AM

It was a cool story.

3/14/2008 12:29:33 PM

WOW!

That was a really cool story. It sucks that they had to crush all the cars though.

Just think, more than $10 Million dollars for about a weeks worth of work and 6 lifetimes of knowledge.

3/14/2008 3:37:38 PM

FANTASTIC read. Definatly one of the cooler things I have read in awhile.

3/14/2008 4:38:39 PM

That was awesome.

3/14/2008 5:34:23 PM

The History Channel should make that a series a la "Ice Road Truckers" and "Ax Men".

3/14/2008 5:40:51 PM

yea, badass story

3/14/2008 6:11:36 PM

badass.

3/14/2008 9:06:49 PM

I wish I could start over fresh and read that again for the first time.

3/14/2008 10:09:36 PM

Quote :

"Mayani is assigned to play pump monkey. Stender ties one rope around his buddy, a second rope around a pump, and then, using a rock-climbing belay device, lowers both down the face of deck nine. Mayani hugs the pump so that it doesn't get banged up on the way down. What happens to Mayani is another matter. "I'm no fucking pinball, motherfucker!" Mayani shouts as he slams against walls and cars. Stender likes the pinball reference and starts calling himself the pinball wizard. The shouting brings Habib rappelling down. He shines his headlamp on Mayani, who — still hugging the pump — is swinging back and forth in an attempt to build up enough momentum to hop over a column of cars. "What are you two doing?" he asks. "What the fuck it look like we're doing?" Mayani shouts. "Stealing cars?" "Listen, I don't want any damage," Habib says. "Not even a fingerprint." Mayani swings away from the cars with the pump and then back, picking up more speed than he expected. He smashes into the windshield of a CX-7 and clobbers the sideview mirror of another. "You're coming with me, bitch!" Mayani screams at the mirror and rips it clean off. Habib shakes his head. "Sorry!" Mayani shouts. "It was either me or the fucking mirror." "

hahahaha\

[Edited on March 14, 2008 at 11:06 PM. Reason : ]

3/14/2008 11:04:02 PM

Thanks to this story, I know know what one of my pinkies is valued at as far as insurance companies are concerned. $14,000.

Seems kinda low to me, but then I got to thinking, I really don't use them that much at all.

Wouldn't mind giving both of them up for $28k.

3/15/2008 6:10:08 PM

the story is an interesting premise, and the characters are fun. It's cool to think of the team as motley crew of experts in their own fields, kind of like the Ocean's 11 guys and other movies like that. But I would have preferred to read more about other ships they've saved and more info on how they actually did it, and the ending of saving the big ship was anti climactic.

3/15/2008 7:17:14 PM

i have a friend who's a tow boat captain.... they do the same kind of thing on a smaller scale... if some rich guy's yacht is sinking and they save it, they get % of the value of the boat.

3/16/2008 1:03:45 AM

That was an awesome story. Would make a pretty neat history channel/TLC movie as suggested above.

3/16/2008 10:23:32 AM

i think this is a great read for any engineering students at State who don't want to end up in corporate life

3/16/2008 1:26:24 PM

I would have business cards printed with "Failboat Engineer" as my job title

3/16/2008 5:14:53 PM