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Camaraderie through competition; seven US Coast Guard crews vie in Buoy Tender Olympics
- Natalie Buttner
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Annual event is the ‘seminal moment’ in week-long training visit
By Natalie Buttner
Juneau Independent
More than 250 crew members from seven U.S. Coast Guard cutters competed in the Coast Guard Buoy Tender Round-Up Olympics on Wednesday. The olympics are an energizing event within a week of networking and training for buoy tender crew hosted in Juneau.
Amid the cheers of his colleagues, Samuel Heilig used a small hammer to pound in the finishing touches on a rapidly cooling shackle pin. Once he finished, a judge locked the time for the team representing the USCGC Cypress, where Heilig serves as a damage controlman.
The “heat and beat” technique is used to permanently close shackles. Heilig said that onboard the Cypress, the crew uses the ‘heat and beat’ in buoy maintenance fairly often.
“Chain comes in 90-foot sections generally, so some of our moorings are way deeper than 90 feet. So we have to hook that chain together,” explained Craig Campomizzi, a senior chief boatswain’s mate aboard the USCGC Elderberry. “Well, how do you connect it? You make a chain link.”
First, the pin is heated with an oxy-acetylene torch.
“Then you're going to have two guys hit it with the sledges, try and get it as flat as possible, and then once you get it as flat as possible, that's where I came in with the smaller hammer,” Heilig explained.
The metal is forced into a mushroom shape, preventing the shackle from coming undone. In addition to racing for the best time, judges assess the quality of the shackle in factoring each buoy tender’s final score.
“I'm just trying to smooth out the shackle or the pin until it's nice and round and smooth, and then it should be good to go,” Heilig said.
The “heat and beat” is the finale of the olympics. Leading up to the event, the cutters participated in other events that tested their strength and skills including chain pull, line toss, tug of war, and boom spot.
“The boom spot is my favorite event because it's a technical skill that applies to our everyday job as we're working a ton,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Foust, commanding officer on the USCGC Fir. “It's not like the chain pull or the tug of war; It takes skill, patience, a little bit of everything.”
In the boom spot, competitors use the on-deck crane to maneuver a five-gallon bucket filled with water, swinging at the bottom of a three-foot tagline. Competitors are assessed on how fast they can move the bucket through an obstacle course, and how little water is lost. This event simulates moving buoys on deck.
“It takes a little bit of practice and finesse to be able to maneuver those buoys, keeping them at a certain level off the deck,” said Aaron Phillips, a competitor in the boom spot.
Buoy tenders Anthony Petit, Aspen, Cypress, Elderberry, Elm, Fir, and Henry Blake attended this year’s roundup.
“It's great networking,” Phillips said. “One of the big things is going around to the other platforms that we don't get to see, and just kind of get ideas from each one of the platforms: things that they do better, things that we'd like to do.”
According to Cmdr. Daniel Davis, the rest of this week’s roundup includes a plethora of training, including leadership and management training, and physical structure building. Ship cooks also received additional culinary training.
“The Buoy Tender Olympics are always the thing that gets people energized, and it's the seminal moment,” Davis said. “I suppose if you think of the training, it's exciting, but the emphasis of this whole week is on professional development training, bringing them things that they need to do their jobs better and be more resilient on the home front.”
• Contact Natalie Buttner at natalieb@juneauindependent.com.
