From the top of the town...climbing the wind turbine.

Oh, the cool stuff I get to do in this job.

But, oh, my aching bones.

Even before the wind turbines had been constructed in Fairhaven, I was begging the developer to let me climb to the top. I had been invited to the one in Charlestown during a media event and the plan had been to climb to the top of that one, which has a 50-meter tower. Fairhaven's are 80 meters.

Unfortunately, it was too windy in Charlestown that day, so they wouldn't let us climb up. They said the sway of the tower was more than six inches and so it was too dangerous. We could get motion sickness, too. I was okay with the decision.

Anyway, the WTs in Fairhaven went up and I kept reminding everyone how I wanted to climb. The event needs to be coordinated, the weather needs to cooperate, and the developer needs to get a bunch of extra workers around to help us with our gear, etc. It costs him money, no doubt about it. The turbine can't spin if we're all climbing up, and then he's paying all these extra people to hang around and baby sit us.

Anyway, he contacted me and said he was planning a day for the media and for town officials to climb to the top. The date for the climb was set for Friday, 8/24/12. Right, of course. After the hottest two months I'd ever seen. I hadn't ridden my bicycle in weeks!

Ugh....climbing those towers is no easy task.

Imagine: the metal ladder is about 2.5 feet away from the wall, you're all harnessed up with about 8 pounds of stuff, it's hot in there, and you have 262+ feet to climb, one ladder rung at a time.

(That's Heidi's yellow hard hat way down below, although I didn't know who it was at the time. She forgot to close the hatches on the way down so I couldn't tell if she was coming up or down. It makes a great picture, though.)

I started riding my bike right away, but I only got about four rides in before the big day.

No biggie. I climb mountains (well, not every week or anything), so I know how to keep going. I know about pacing myself and all that. I know how not to give up.

I had already talked to a bunch of people who had climbed these things. They all said the same thing: the first section is a piece of cake, the second section is harder, the third section is really hard, and at the fourth section, you just can't believe you'll make it.

After the first section, I thought I'd die.

I think they were taking bets on top that I wouldn't make it. Rob, one of the young'uns helping us get harnessed up and started on the ladder must've realized I was having a hard time. He came up to the second level (or was it the first) and gave us water. He just flew up and down that ladder, God bless his young and in-shape little soul.

He told me that if I got to a point where I decided it was too much, that I should just come down, that there was no shame in it. He didn't, however, say that he knew of anyone else who had, actually and for real, decided NOT to finish the trek.

No matter, I looked that boy in the eye and said (in my most lethal tone): I am going up.

I'm not sure, but I think he backed up just a tad. We were in the tower, though, not a whole lot of room to maneuver, so it was hard to tell. He absolutely looked skeptical, though, and a little worried. Guess he thought this old lady would have a heart attack or something. All I knew was: I was going up.

So, this is the mistake I made. I went up the first section too fast. I also didn't lean against the wall at all. I used my arms too much, too. I thought the first section would be easy, so I just climbed, one foot after the other, no break, like going up stairs.

Bad idea. The key to hiking is to find your pace. Same thing with this. I needed to find my pace.

I thought I'd die after the first section. I could barely push the metal hatch open. I stopped and wished I had water. It was very hot in there. I took out my little notebook and wrote: I'm having a really tough time, first section, the easiest...shit!

My arms felt like rubber, too. I decided that I just went too fast, so I went a lot slower on the second section. I still used my arms too much, though. I leaned against the wall a few times, too, and that helped. When I got to the second landing, Heidi was waiting for me. I think she was worried about me, too, but she was also resting. I told her my arms were killing me, and she said not to use my arms so much, that she was leaning her back against the wall and using her legs more.

Duh...that's what they meant about the wall, huh?

Meanwhile, Rob came up and gave us both water. He went back down twice and came up as I recall. Just like nothing. Oh, I felt sooooo old.

On the third section, I leaned my back against the wall, took my time, one step at a time, and...lo and behold, the third and fourth sections were EASIER for me, not worse, than the first two sections.

Go figure.

Frank was on his way down as I was on my way up. I told him I was already having a tough time and asked him if it was worth it. He said it was, and I was glad to hear it. Although, like I said, I was going up no matter what.

When I got up the fourth tower section (see below for specs), it was actually split into two sections. Not sure what that was about.

We weren't allowed to climb with our cameras, those had to go up separately, but I had taken a small digital that fit in my pocket (that was the rule...it had to fit inside a pocket). I took a few pictures inside, but not as many as I should have. I missed a few key points, but, ah well.

Anyway, when we reached the nacelle, which houses the generator, we had to scoot around by the space between the generator and the outside wall of the nacelle. It's only a couple of feet and there's a big gap between where the floor ends and the outside wall is. There are all kinds of gadgets around, and it's a bit of an obstacle course. I slipped. Yup. My foot slipped off the steel floor and I fell right into the hole, my leg smashing up against the steel. What a beauty of a black & blue mark I got from that.

I looked at Yang, the Chinese electrician who was at the top to help us, and asked him if anyone else had done that.

"No, you only," he said a little worried.

No big deal, just a bruise. Point me to the top!

(This is the generator that we had to kind of squeeze around.)

The next step was almost comical. I can't believe I didn't get a picture. It's hard to explain. The round generator has a few steps on the underside and up the side, then two handles above the head that we had to grab while our feet were still on the other rungs, making us lean backwards with our arms way up grabbing the handles on top with our feet on the side of the generator. Then, we had to push our butts back to sit on the edge of the next level. I swear if I was one inch shorter I wouldn't have been able to reach. I would've had to fly through the air.

Then we had to climb up another part of the generator that also had a rung to climb on (although I had to jump up to reach it). Then poke the head through the hatch and out into the air.

Pictured: Heidi and Sumul at the top of the turbine. The south turbine is behind them, and then West Island.

The big "claws" came into use then. We had been given a lesson on the ground on how they worked. At each stop along the way, we were supposed to hook the claw onto the ladder if we were unhooking ourselves to rest on the landings. So, by the time I got to the top, I was pretty good with the claws.

At the top, the idea was to hook the claws on the safety hooks first, then climb up, hook the claw to move along, etc.

Heidi and I actually switched places on top of the nacelle, passing each other 265+ feet in the air. Oh my heart.

At first it was a bit harrowing, but then I took a step and felt the no-skid surface beneath me. The nacelle top was very sturdy, with almost no give at all, and it was wider than I thought at first. Before long Heidi and I were walking around and taking pictures from every angle and just saying, "wow."

The day had no wind, which was good because it would've been very scary up there if the wind had been pushing at us. The other wind turbine, the south one, wasn't moving at all, so the wind had to be under 7 MPH.

The morning haze obscured the far view, which was a little disappointing. I was hoping to see the Falmouth wind turbines, which you can see from on the ground on West Island. But we couldn't see them that day. I also think the angle wasn't quite right.

The marsh that you see on the bike path is beautiful, no doubt, but from the top of the turbine it was spectacular. The Nasketucket River winds its way out to Little Bay through a green marsh, with the houses and farms of East Fairhaven straight up to the east. The wind turbine's blades were pointed north, so we had  unobstructed views east and west.

This is the picture I used for the cover of this week's Neighb News.

From the top, we could see the Wood School construction site, West Island, the water tower on Boston Hill Road, the farms in East Fairhaven.

It was incredible. Heidi and Sumul and I just kind of hung out taking pictures of each other and the scenery. Heidi's camera is much better suited to zooming in on things and she got some great shots. Visit us at www.Facebook.com/Neighbnews  to see more pictures.

Kasia also took some pictures for the Neighb News. Her camera can take panoramic shots and they are unbelievable. Not sure how well they'll look on Facebook, but on our website, you'll be able to donwload a PDF that has three of them on page 13.

Okay, so now we had to go down.

That was much easier. I just put my back against the wall and slid down. The clip got stuck a few times, though. That happened on the way up, too. That was a pain because a couple of times I thought I wouldn't be able to get it loose and I'd have to wait to be rescued...Rob...where are you? How embarrassing would that have been. Anyway, others had the same complaint. I think Ariel and I were especially peeved about it, though, because we were so tired. We did NOT need to be wasting extra energy on that stuff.

I also managed to bump into our town officials at the top of the WT, too. See Facebook for pictures.

Anyway, when I got to the ground I was sweaty and really beat, but very happy I had done it.

Sumul emailed that he heard I was "injured" and hoped I was okay. I told him the black & blue mark was nothing, but losing my Cedar of Lebanon pendant really hurt. The chain broke and the cedar is gone...gone...gone.

Ah well. Live and learn.

I'm hoping to go up again. Maybe after I've had a chance to ride the bicycle a bit. Maybe for the fall colors.

Like I said: the cool stuff I get to do in this job. It's one of the best things about it.

Until next time...stay tuned for more boat adventures, coming up soon.



WT Specs
The bottom section is 12.47 meters (40.9+ feet) and weighs 102,000 pounds; the second section is 16.785 meters (55+ feet) and weighs 100,000 pounds; the third section is 24.01 meters (78.7+ feet) and weighs 95,000 pounds; the top section is 24.135 meters (79+ feet) and weighs 60,000 pounds. The nacelle, at 135,00 pounds, houses the generator and is another 12 feet or so high.

The two Sinovel SL 1500/82 wind turbines in Fairhaven can produce 1.5 MW of electricity each. The towers are 80 meters high and the blades add an additional 41 meters for a total height of approximately 397 feet.