TIL of Biofouling, the accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals on surfaces such as ship and submarine hulls. Due to the increased drag this causes a ship, it can cost a vessel up to 40% more in fuel costs. The US Navy alone around $1 billion a year because of biofouling,

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1. > I have difficulty sometimes talking to people who don’t race sailboats. When I was a teenager, I crewed Larchmont to Nassau on a 58-foot sloop called Cantice. There was a little piece of kelp that was stuck to the hull, and even though it was little, you don’t want anything stuck to the hull. So, I take a boat hook on a pole and I stick it in the water and I try to get the kelp off, when seven guys start screaming at me, right? ‘Cause now the pole is causing more drag than the kelp was.

   — Bruno Gianelli

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