Harbour Tugs OMNI RICHELIEU & JERRY G.

The ideal summer temperature for me is 'HOT! HOT! HOT!' However, for the most part it's 'NOT! NOT! NOT!' been that HOT at all with probably only two or three times when we've had a cluster of scorchers in the high 30's and 40's (Celsius that is, in Fahrenheit that's about 87 to 95). Actually it has been very pleasant. A lot like when we first moved to Ottawa in 1978. When we leased our first NEW car, an '79 Mercury Zephyr Villager station wagon with it's fake 'MACtac' wood-grain sides, we got all the bells and whistles on it except air conditioning because you didn't need it. It didn't really get that 'HOT!' back then and when it did, we just motored along with the wagon's standard cooling feature, 4WD100, or '4 windows down at 100 kilometres per hour'.

I guess I'm just a little rangy about the current not so 'HOT! HOT! HOT!' temps because I know in less than 6 months, most of the 'Great White North' will be covered in snow and ice, and the wind will be 'COLD! COLD! COLD!' just like when I snapped these two harbour tugs, OMNI RICHELIEU and JERRY G., mired in ice last February at Hamilton harbour near the proud Tribal-class destroyer, HMCS HAIDA, (http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-last-tribal-hmcs-haida-g63-dde215.html). 
When the 86' OMNI RICHELIEU was built in 1969 in Pictou, Nova Scotia, her name was PORT ALFRED II and she operated primarily in the upper Saguenay River for Alcan who had an aluminum smelter in La Baie des Ha! Ha! (No Joking, this time!). In a 1972, she was sold to Omnimar of Sorel and her name was changed to in OMNI RICHELIEU. When Groupe Ocean took over Omnimar in 1982, she continued to operate along the St. Lawrence, until more recently when the RICHELIEU and JERRY G., were assigned to offer various work boat services for the Ports of Hamilton, Toronto and Oshawa, all located on Lake Ontario. Meanwhile, the 91' JERRY G. was built in 1960 at and for Davie Shipbuilding of Lauzon, Quebec. In 1975 when Davie got out of the tug boat business, she was sold to McAllister Towing of Montreal which was eventually taken over by Groupe Ocean. Regardless of the season, both the OMNI RICHELIEU and JERRY G. have proven their worth in ship berthing, towing, firefighting and even breaking ice, ICE! YIKES!! Enough with the winter COLD & ICE talk! It's summer here and time enjoy it with an nice COLD beverage with a lot of ICE. CHEERS!!