I was on the oldest Coast Guard cutter from 1978 to 1980 and we mostly did foreign fishery patrols in the Bering Sea. I never heard of a fantail firefly. We did do some fantail jumping in heavy seas that seemed a bit dangerous. You wait until the fantail reached the crest of a wave and jump, then the fantail would drop into the trough and you would be left hanging in the air. I always worried that when I came back down that there would be no ship there to catch my fall - only friged cold water.
