Beach Party

I've posted a few times about the Sea Stallion of Glendalough, billed as the largest replica Viking ship ever built. First here, then here and finally here. As promised, the crew of the ship launched its planned invasion of Ireland a while ago. Unfortunately, the winds in the North Sea have been uncooperative, making sailing to Ireland impractical.

Port Elizabeth woke up to a magnificent African Sunshine Day. Sparkling water, light easterly breeze and warm sunshine. The last day of the Pre-Worlds and it looked like the weather gods had dished up a goodie. Most of the sailors piled the sunscreen on and took their sea sickness remedies, before leaving for the three last races.

My other resolution was to get my boat home and start working on it. In the above photo it’s the one on the right, its a San Juan 21 foot sailboat that is rigged and weighted for racing. However that will change as Samantha doesn’t like it “tipping.” I have accomplished the first step of actually getting it in my back yard (and I LOVE having it sitting there, I look at it every day!) What follows is my plans for “Fox” read if you wish…

Beautiful day of sailing today. We are happy with the way we ended the day - with only pros ahead of us.

And then we headed back to the water to board a boat for a nighttime tour of the Bosphorus. The boat had two levels, an open upper deck and a covered lower deck with tables and a kebap grill (not that any of us were hungry!). We sat on the upper deck, took a lot of pictures, chatted and laughed and got to know each other, and saw the sights of the Bosphorus. I think Kemal belonged to an organization which had chartered the cruise, because he seemed to know everyone - many people were more distant relatives - and some announcements were made which I didn’t understand. The Bosphorus by night - lights sparkling on either shore - we passed fancy clubs with flashing pinks and blues, mosques and palaces lit from below, old waterfront homes called yalıs, the grand bridges linking the two sides of the city… the wind picked up and blew our hair around our faces, and Kemal’s wife wrapped me in an extra sweater she’d brought. We went inside for a while to get away from the cold, but soon headed back outside to see more of the magical world passing by… It occurred to me again just how many things there are to see in this city. And people have been sailing this very route for hundreds - thousands - of years.

Well, end of another wonderful day in Valencia. We had a good 4hrs of sailing and I spent half the time in the mid section of the boat… the dreaded grinding area! It is certainly hard work! I was helping to “initiate” the new Chinese fella Wen Pei in the grinder position. Thierry is the teacher and I am the translator.

So the next day we took a trip on a sailing boat, your standard 30 foot (ish) yatch, again my new “more appropriate” clothing was an absolute god send, The Beagle Channel is certainly not the warmest place on earth thats for sure…! We sailed from early morning to early evening, looking and the scenery, and loads of wildlife including many Guillimots, Sea Lions and Fur Seals. We also stopped off on an island, and took a walk had a great lunch and even went swimming!! (Dry suit hire included in the price!!) That was a unique experiance, to say the least!

When I was fresh out of Uni I moved down to live with my then GF (now wife) cesca in Southampton and was forced to go out and get a job. I had no idea about work and ended up as a security guard. My (last) assignment was to guard a sailing mast worth a million quid down at the docks over night. On arrival to the hut by the mast I realised that it had:

Anyway, my wikipedia search informed me that The Phantom Tollbooth is NOT the source of the word “doldrums:”

Captain Dick Lanam sailed off into the sunset last night (Nov. 29th) on his final voyage. He suffered a major heart attack on Thanksgiving and has since been unconscious while on life support. He leaves behind family and friends who will always remember him in their own special way.

The 1st leg was always going to be hard as everyone gets used to the lifestyle of not sleeping for more than a couple of hours at a time, not washing, physical exhaustion and seasickness (fortunately I managed to escape that one). The rewards are huge and its such a unique and special experience. I have so much to learn about sailing but I have another 35 000 miles to work on my helming! I am stronger than I have ever been already and probably bigger than ever as am eating so much to keep energy levels up!There is a lot of laughter on board which bodes well. I have only managed to read 3 lines of my book which gives you some idea of how intense it all is! Its good to have a couple of nights on land to catch up on sleep before we are off again.

As the lancha (boat) left port on a sailing trip for a six hour tour, it started pouring - really pouring. This only lasted for about an hour. We stopped in Dolphin Bay for about 20 minutes to look at dolphins. It wasn’t exactly an eco-tour. Three boats roared around the dolphins in circles, forcing them to swim in circles, leaping from the water regularly. I and an Austrian guy next to me were appalled, but all the latinos on board were thrilled and screaming in glee. So much for the romantic image of sailing along with the sun shining and dolphins leaping along the ship playfully, making happy dolphin noises.

Yesterday I went out sailing for the very first time. My buddy Tim loves sailing, and he invited me, Chris (one of his co-workers), and Megan (Chris’s wife) to go sailing for the day. Tim had invited me a couple of times before, but I had prior engagements. I definitely wanted to take advantage of it this time, because I knew the weather was going to be nice and I really didn’t want to spend the day at home.

This was our "office" during our week long sailing adventure in the Grenadines in June 2005. We propped our notebook computer on the cockpit table, plugged the cable to the sailboat’s system using an extension cord and were able to work while enjoying beautiful tropical views such as this. We had to clearout at meal times since it was dining table where we sat.

I got the book Sailing Solo from a good friend for my birthday last year. For various reason I never got around to reading it until quite recently. My loss…

Another weekend of sailing on Horseshoe! Saturday’s wind wasn’t too great but I did get out and have fun. The wind was gusty again, but the temps were near 90 so anytime on the water was good! Nice big gusts on the east side of the lake were lots of fun.

In Vancouver, the recent crash of the ferry Queen of Oak Bay due to a missing cotter pin, which damaged nearly two dozen boats at Sewell’s Marina in Horseshoe Bay, is providing competition for the nautical headlines as the ferry begins sea trials coinciding with the arrival of about 18 Tall Ships sailing from Tacoma.

A great place for public boating classes including sailing is The Coast Guard Auxiliary.

The "Monsooning" of coffee first happened quite by accident in the deep of sailing ships - a shipload of coffee bound for Europe acquired a mellow yet unique taste en route, with the coffee beans 'swelling' due to the moisture in the air. A new kind of coffee was born - Monsooned Coffee.

Summer is here! It's been so nice out. I really want to go sailing bad, but I don't have a boat, so that would be a problem wouldn't it! I've though about building one vs. buying one, I still haven't descided yet. I'll probably start a whole new thread on this topic. I'm so into sail boats now, I think about it night and day. I have a friend who's supposed to take me out sometime this summer, I need to get in touch and remind him :)

The 2005 Rolex Trans-Atlantic Challenge sailing race is scheduled to start on Saturday at the mouth of the Hudson -- and end at the mouth of the Thames in England.

We took a great ride down the nile on a Feluca, it was very relaxing and peaceful, just listening to the water and the birds. We past banana and corcodile island, numerous little villages and fisherman, even had some nice mint tea. It was a very special feeling sailing down the nile, the sunset was golden and absolutely beautiful.

Me and my friend Dave. We had gone sailing for the weekend and were parked in the marina at Fire Island. We were on our way back to the boat with some provisions, but accidentally tossed our limes into the water. Here we are, saluting our limes lost at sea. Tanquerey & tonic kinda sucks without limes. Yes, we were humming Taps.

Outside of acquiring some fishing wisdom, we also had a lovely time at Peter and Lissey's, who are good friends of my Mom here. They usually take my Mom on multiple day sailing trips on their catamaran. Here you see the four of us at their house after a great dinner:

What can you say about this iPod Mini case. It’s waterproof and the 3mm thick plastic protects your iPod. Oh, it also looks pretty neat too. The baby brother to Eroch Studios LiliPod, it allows you to listen to your iPod mini during activities never previously possible - Skiing, Sailing, even lazing on the beach.

Last year, my senior class and I traveled down to the south of Thailand for our senior excursion, kayaking and snorkeling at some of the tourist islands in Pangna, Phuket, and Krabi. Below are pics of the islands and the Andaman Sea, taken just a few months before the tsunami hit.

Seattlest learned to sail at the Center for Wooden Boats' sailing school last summer, and en route to each lesson we tromped past the work-in-progress Pirate. Since we are plum ignorant about wooden boats, the Pirate inspired us to think things like, "Wow, uh, that one looks kinda un-done."

At the beginning of the 19th century, sail was supreme. The leading manufacturers of sailing ships were unassailable, their coffers overflowing with cash. Steamships were pathetic little river runners. At the end of the 19th century, steam reigned supreme, and not a single dominant player from the early part of the century made the transition. Their culture simply wouldn't allow it--they were sailing ship manufacturers, not steam ship builders.

I went sailing on “The Boate” yesterday in the San Francisco Bay, thanks to the wonderful and gracious Cap’n Eric Haller. MJ and Chris were also in attendance, and we shared in an amazingly great, beautiful, and exhausting 10 hour day.

Man, what a day. Just sitting here on Neal’s boat, Jacqueline, and waiting for him to get here. Should be a perfect day for sailing on Lanier, nice and warm with a decent breeze. Also nice to have a break in pace from the pressures of work.

Most thoughts people do not think of sailing as a high tech activity. I mean, look at it, you are using a principle that has been in effect since before the Egyptians were kings. You take a sheet and you hold it up and let the wind blow you around for a while. Well, That is not why people sail, and I know that the previous statement is an over simplification of the experience of sailing.

Sailing has come a long way from the time of sextants and other navigational devices. Even though people still use compasses I didn't see any of the officers of the Navy use a Sextant to find out where we were on this blue marble called Earth, when I was in the service. Within the last 10 years the government has allowed the private sector of the world to use their Global Positioning satellites. Thus allowing people to start tracking where they are and where others are, by using GPS, or Global Positioning Systems. There are as many different styles...