Here’s a photo I took in New Orleans. I think it’s a good one for this challenge (Motion) from the Daily Post. I loved watching this couple dance and listen to the band play in the street. New Orleans is really great for this kind of thing. 🙂
It’s not really blurry, but I hope you can get the idea of motion anyway. The couple was really dancing up a storm (swing, jitterbug, etc.), the musicians were all tapping their toes and swaying to the music and everyone was having a great time.
I didn’t think to buy a CD from this band, I wish I remembered their name. But I did get one from another one that was playing further up the street. Here’s a post I did about that one. Check it out, the music’s worth a listen. 😉
Here’s a sunrise for the Daily Posts Weekly Photography Challenge. This week, the challenge is to show a photo “taken in the early morning light”. Be an “early bird“.
I’m most definitely NOT an early bird! Last time I can remember really enjoying early morning was as a kid getting up for Saturday morning cartoons. 🙂
I was always a night owl. I used to stay up ’til 2-3 in the morning. I used to go out partying a lot. Or, I might stay at home reading a good book. Sometimes I just couldn’t put it down ’til I finished.
I’ve cut back a lot on keeping those kinds of hours now a days. Mostly because I have too much to do now. Things that have to be taken care of during normal business hours (9-5). Now I try to get to sleep by midnight (and it really isn’t too hard to do anymore). 😉
I only see the sunrise when I’m working the midnight to noon watch like I am now. I haven’t seen many good sunrises (or sunsets) this trip yet. Since we made arrival off Congo, it has been overcast. It clouded up a few days before we got here and hasn’t cleared up yet.
I took this photo while I was working on the tuna boat a couple of years ago. We were coming into the lagoon at Tarawa. The sunrise was just stunning. I had to run and get my camera.
This is one of my all time favorite ‘sun’ pictures. I keep one of my others as my header.
Here’s my entry for the Daily Posts Weekly Photo Challenge: Afloat. I have LOTs of good pictures for this one. I’ve spent most of my life at sea. I’ve already posted a few photos, here are some of my latest ‘home’ afloat.
These photos are from my latest ship, the Ocean Rig Apollo. I’m actually aboard right now. We’re delivering the ship from the shipyard in Korea to it’s first job offshore Congo. I joined the ship with the rest of the crew onboard right now in Mauritius about 3 weeks ago.
These are some pictures from our voyage. The first one is our departure from Port Louis, Mauritius, the ‘cliffs’ are the coastline of South Africa, after we passed Cape Town (I was asleep for that so missed getting any pictures from there).
Here’s my entry for the Daily Posts Weekly Photo Challenge: Afloat. I have LOTs of good pictures for this one. Here are some pictures of the kinds of ships I see daily while I’m at work.
supply boats
3- odd number of boats
DSV Global Orion
Yeah, they’re all afloat, tho I sure don’t know how a couple of them manage it. 😉
Here’s my entry for the Daily Posts Weekly Photo Challenge: Afloat. I have LOTs of good pictures for this one. Here are a few sea creatures to start off with. 😉
I saw this challenge from Sue over at her ‘A Word in Your Ear’ blog. The word of the week is: arid. I don’t have many photos that would fit this weeks word, since I spend most of my time at sea. But I did happen to have a couple on my computer.
I took these last summer, we hadn’t had any rain for a while and everything was drying up. I was on the way back home from Galveston. I always like to drive the beach road, especially when I’m not in a hurry. It’s a nice drive, right along the beach with some pretty scenery and some good places to stop and enjoy the day. 🙂
Normally, I wouldn’t have kept these pictures, they’re too blurred. They work great for this challenge tho. 😉
I took them at the ‘festival’ going on next door to our hotel in Mauritius. The belly dancer was very good. I never did get a decent picture of her while she was dancing. I was lucky, I saw her later and she posed for me. 🙂
I chose these photos for 2 reasons. The paper origami boats are themselves ephemeral, and I took the pictures earlier this evening in Port Louis, Mauritius.
Why does that make it ephemeral? Because I only got here yesterday afternoon after a looooooong flight (too tired to go out). Today I spent all day in a ‘workshop’ with the rest of my new crewmates. Tomorrow morning (early), we will be leaving to join the ship. So my time in Mauritius sped by and was very short-lived.
It looks very beautiful (I’ll post more pictures later). I hope I can come back again someday. 🙂
Here’s my entry for the Day 18: Edge assignment. I think it’s ‘edgy’ in more ways than one. 😉
I took it at the Houston Museum of Art. It’s in the tunnel between the 2 parts of the museum. It changes colors (slowly) and it’s really neat to watch when people are going through it.
I haven’t seen anyone fall off the edge yet, but I checked it out and you wouldn’t fall very far. 😉
I’ve always loved this song. Maybe because I always loved the ocean and everything in it. I also love to SCUBA dive and thanks to Cousteau for that!! I’ve been lucky to always live near the ocean and even to work on the water. 🙂
John Denver wrote this song as a tribute to Jacques Cousteau and his expedition ship “Calypso”. I think he did a good job (I wish the youtube video was better!).
I remember watching Jacques Cousteau on TV when I was a kid. I loved seeing his voyages on the Calypso.
I thought about this song when I saw the post on the Old Salt Blog the other day about the sad situation the Calypso is in now.
I hope someone will come to her rescue.
In the meantime, here are the lyrics to the song (in case you want to sing along).
“Calypso”
To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean, to ride on the crest of the wild raging storm. To work in the service of life and the living, in search of the answers to questions unknown. To be part of the movement and part of the growing, part of beginning to understand. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Like the dolphin who guides you, you bring us beside you to light up the darkness and show us the way. For though we are strangers in your silent world, to live on the land we must learn from the sea. To be true as the tide and free as a wind swell, joyful and loving in letting it be. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well. Aye, Calypso, the place’s you’ve been to, the things that you’ve shown us, the stories you tell. Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit, the men who have served you so long and so well.
Here’s an interesting link to Jessica’s blog where she gives a very good rundown on Jacques Cousteau and his Calypso (along with some diving to whet your whistle). And another one on Cousteau. Check ’em out! 🙂
I haven’t been able to get out to get many new pictures lately, so I’m looking through some old ones for the Photography 101 Challenge: Moment.
The idea is to ‘”capture a fleeting moment and experiment with blur and movement”.
I did try this last time they ran this challenge, but I found some different pictures this time. I took these at the Brazoria County Fair a couple of years ago. I don’t think these turned out as good as the earlier ones I just posted. It was SO hard to get a good shot of the cowboys once they came out of the gate on those bulls!
I’m thinking of going to the Houston Rodeo tomorrow tho, so maybe I’ll be able to get some better ones this time. I really love going to the rodeo. I’m lucky to be home for this one. I’m in Houston tonight anyway, so might as well do something here in the morning before I go home. It’ll be either the rodeo or the zoo. 🙂
I haven’t been able to get out to get many new pictures lately, so I’m looking through some old ones for the Photography 101 Challenge: Moment.
The idea is to ‘”capture a fleeting moment and experiment with blur and movement”.
I did try this last time they ran this challenge, but I found some different pictures this time. I took these at the Brazoria County Fair a couple of years ago. I think they get the idea across, don’t you? 😉
I thought I’d try to do this Photography 101 project again, since I wasn’t able to spend much time on it last time and missed a few assignments. Here is my post from last time.
I thought I would have more time this go ’round.
It doesn’t look like I will, but while I’m home, I’ll try to participate. Here’s my entry for the ‘architecture’ challenge. I’m trying to find some good ones I can make black and white.
Here are a couple of shots I took a few years ago when I was in Argentina for vacation. I really loved it there. I wish I could have spent months there instead of only couple of weeks. These photos are both from Buenos Aires. The first one is looking down the neat old spiral staircase I found at my first B&B. The bottom one is looking up into the skylight of a market
I think they both show some great ‘bones’. I have some other good photos of architecture from that trip, but most of them look better in color. I don’t usually think in black and white.
Do you think that might help to get better photos?
PS- the ‘featured image’ is also from Buenos Aires. I took it while I was wandering around down near the river one day. I don’t have any idea what the building is.
After 2 LONG days of traveling, I made it home! Ahhhhh. I can finally sleep.
I did that yesterday. I got home. I passed out. I slept for 12 hours straight. 🙂
Last night I stayed up too late, so I only slept about 8 hours. Today is the big St Patricks’ Day Parade down at the beach and I don’t want to miss it.
The weather here has been rainy for the last 2 weeks, but this morning it looks gorgeous. A beautiful day for the beach. 🙂
Last year it was raining, but the parade went on anyway. This year looks like it will turn out much better. If anyone wants to come, the parade starts at 1300 (1 pm). 🙂
I’ll be taking lots of pictures. Here are a few from last year…
Here’s an entry for the Word A Week Challenge from Sue over on her A Word in Your Ear Blog . The word of the week is: intricate. I had these pictures on my blog already, I think they are a nice example of ‘intricate’. I had already done a post about these very intricate designs made from sea shells. They call them Sailors Valentines. 🙂
This is a classic song from the maritime industry. Gordon Lightfoot wrote and performed it and it was a big hit back in the 60’s. It’s about the sinking of the ‘Laker’ SS Edmund Fitzgerald in a winter storm almost 40 years ago (November 1975).
She was the pride of the Lakes fleet and it was such a tragedy when she went down. Lost with all hands aboard. It almost makes me cry sometimes when I pay attention to what he’s saying. We can never forget the power of the sea.
This is a sad song, but it’s also a good one. What do you think?
I’ve been trying for a few years to get started in a second (or 3rd) career as a writer/photographer. I’ve been reading International Living magazine for a long time now (decades). I usually glance over the ads, but eventually I was tempted to sign on for their travel writing course.
I did it and over the years since, I’ve taken a few other courses through IL and what is now called GEP (Great Escape Publishing). I started this blog at the Boston workshop they put on back in August 2013. I figured the blog would be a good way to get my work out to the public without having to go through an editor. I was getting so frustrated at having my photos rejected and I couldn’t even understand what they were telling me when they told me WHY they rejected them.
All along the way, I’ve still been trying to come up with something that I could sell to someone. I do enjoy writing and photography, but I am also really looking for some way to earn an income without having to be out on a ship so much of the time. I really want to find a way to travel more and spend more time doing the things I want to do instead of what other people want me to be doing. 😉
I have somehow managed to have a couple of articles published online (here, here, and here), but that came about only because someone happened to see my blog and liked what I had written on here. I had never been able to get up the nerve to actually send in a formal query to a real magazine editor.
Until last trip home. I FINALLY got around to sending in an article to International Living! I had high hopes. I was really anxious too. I had written a short article (they say short is much better to start with), but I had written it about Singapore. Singapore is not one of the countries IL usually features. I thought they might like it since it was about how to eat cheap there. They DO like articles about how to save money. 🙂
I’m still waiting to hear back from them. I HOPE they willl let me know something one way or another. In the meantime, I’ve been working on trying again to get my photographs accepted on some of the stock photo sites. I’m happy to say, I’ve managed to get some accepted!
I still don’t really understand why they accept some and they refuse others. I do understand what they’re telling me now, I just don’t SEE what they’re telling me about in the photos I’ve sent. So far, my acceptance level is 40% at Bigstock, 0% at Canstock and Fotolia. I’m getting better, at first my acceptance level was only 26%. 🙂
Here are 2 of the photos I submitted. Can you tell which ones they accepted? The first one is of a temple on a lake in Bali, Indonesia. The second one is of the beach in Cancun, Mexico.
Jimmy Buffett is one of my all time favorite singer-songwriters. I grew up on the beach in Florida and his songs really captured the essence of the beach lifestyle. I loved his music then. I love it even more now, since it reminds me so much of all the things I miss so much. I can picture this ‘one particular harbor’ easily in my mind. Here’s another Song of the Sea…
One particular harbour By: jimmy buffett, bobby holcomb 1983 Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
I know I don’t get there often enough But God knows I surely try It’s a magic kind of medicine That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone Ships out on the sea But now times are rough And I got too much stuff Can’t explain likes of me
Chorus: But there’s this one particular harbour So far but yet so near Where I see the days as they fade away And finally disappear
But now I think about the good times Down in the caribbean sunshine In my younger days I was so bad Laughin’ about all the fun we had
I seen enough to feel the world spin Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins Listen to the drummers and the night sounds Listen to the singers make the world go ’round
(pan solo)
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Lakes below the mountain Flow into the sea Like oils applied to canvas They permeate through me
And there’s that one particular harbour Sheltered from the wind Where the children play on the shore each day And all are safe within
Most mysterious calling harbour So far but yet so near I can see the day when my hair’s full gray And I finally disappear
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura (ua pau te maitai no te fenua) E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei Ia ora te natura (ua pau te maitai no te fenua) E mea arofa teie ao nei, hey now, hey now, hey now
Ia ora te natura E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ua pau te maitai no te fenua [bounty of the land is exhausted] Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie [but there’s still abundance in the sea] Ua pau te maitai no te fenua Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie
While I was home last time I went to see what the local painting class was all about. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, but haven’t done it because it lasts for 4 weeks and I’ve never been home to be able to start and finish the whole class in one hitch at home.
Since I was home a little longer than usual (and had to pass up the trip to Panama I was hoping to take due to paperwork issues), I called the lady who runs the class to ask if maybe I could take 1-2 classes each time I’m in town.
She was very nice and told me that would be fine, and invited me to come in to the next class just to see if I thought it would work for me.
I showed up late and just watched for a while. I met everyone there and wandered around to see what they were all working on. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. They all had their own projects to work on. Everything was very informal. The instruction is for either pastels or oil painting. I’m really more interested in watercolor or acrylic, but I figure it will still help me a lot to learn the techniques and most of those should transfer over to whatever medium I choose to work with.
The class meets weekly at the Brazosport Center for Arts & Sciences. After the painting class was over I spent a little time looking around the facilities. I’d been there before, but not for years. There’s a museum, a planetarium and a theatre. They also have a gallery where they feature art by members of the local art league. They had some really nice paintings in there, some beautiful portraits and some seascapes with birds I really liked.
I went through the museum again. They’ve really added a lot since last time I was there. They’ve always had a fantastic shell collection. It’s one of the largest in the country. They have some pretty good fossils. I noticed the megalodon jaws, (they were giant prehistoric sharks!) the minute I walked in the door. They’re hard to miss since they’re about 6 ft accross and at least that tall!
They have a really nice collection of moths and butterflies. I tried to take pictures, but I just couldn’t get any good ones with the way the light reflected off the glass. I did get some good ones of the ‘Sailor’s Valentines’. Since Valentines Day is coming up soon, I thought I’d post about them. Here’s a picture I took of one.
The Sailor’s Valentine is typically a box covered with shells formed into some sort of ‘romantic’ theme. They were supposedly by sailors who would pick up shells in their far off travels and then make these pretty little boxes to present to their loved ones when they got home. It was a pretty big thing back in the 1800’s. They fell out of style but are making a comeback now. The ones I saw at the museum are alll made by locals (not sailors) recently, as hobbies.
They just seem like a lot of work to me. I guess the sailors must have had a hell of a lot more leisure time back in the old days!! Then again, their hitches usually lasted for years rather then the month or so most of us (American) sailors have to stay out for now. The crews from other countries aren’t nearly so fortunate as we are. Some I know of have to stay for a minimum of 2 years(!!) before they’re allowed to go home. 🙁
Here’s a picture of my favorite one from the exhibit. It’s not so ‘romantic’ and could be for anything. I really like the flamingo. 🙂
I was reading an email this morning about education. It was really more about the disadvantages of “public” schools (government schools).
This video was in the email. I don’t usually listen to rap music. I’ve never heard of this guy, Dave. Or his Boyinaband. I did check it out today. Just because I finally have some spare time at home and because of the recommendation in the email from TDV.
I think Dave makes a LOT of good points! No, I don’t think school should completely eliminate ALL the classics. But I DO think they spend a lot of time on things that nobody is EVER going to use.
OK, if you’re going to be an engineer or scientist, (or math teacher) then I’m sure you’ll be using quadratic equations. For pretty much everybody else, you’ll be fine if you ace geometry (or even just basic arithmetic) and skip algebra completely.
Same goes for all the other subjects: Science, English, History, Civics, etc.
Why don’t we just give all our kids a great background in those basic subjects. Up to about 4th grade, say. They OUGHT to be able to ace it by then. And if they’re some of the few that can’t, then DON’T let them hold back the ones that can do the work! Put the slow ones in a special remedial class and stop with all the political correctness that is ruining everything for everybody! Get some discipline back in the classrooms so the kids that want to learn, can learn. Concentrate on giving ALL of them a good foundation: “readin’, writin’, ‘rithmatic!” Spend the rest of the time up til High School building on those foundations with more intensive studies.
Then, after that, let the kids and their parents chose a more applicable education. Surely by High School, all involved ought to have a good idea of what they want to do with their lives. Let them opt out of todays’ standard “college prep” and take something more practical if they want to (technical or trade track).
I agree with the premise that kids are naturally curious and WILL learn what interests them. If you show them how a subject will be relevant to them, then they’re a lot more likely to take an interest.
In my own personal experience, I was very lucky to have the chance to leave the ‘public’ school system before it totally destroyed my chance of a good education. I was one of those students who always aced the tests, etc. I made straight A’s without even trying. By the time I got to High School, I had already started skipping school. Just because it was SO DAMNED BORING!
I decided I had much better things to do with my time than to take Algebra yet again! I had been taking that class (earning straight A’s) since 4th grade! No one could/would explain to me why I should waste even more of my time in that class. Nor could they say why there were no options!
People seem to think that the ONLY place you can learn something is in ‘school’. I disagree!! I’ve learned a hell of a lot more on my own, then I ever did in school.
Looked to me then (and it looks to me now), like we have a one track system. Dumb down the smart kids (and the middle of the road kids). Let the slow kids set the pace of the class. IMHO, that is a road to disaster! And just look at how bad the results are compared to a century ago! Here’s a link to an 8th grade exam from 1912. Could YOU pass it?
(I can’t. I have 2 degrees- one of them is in math).
BUT; if kids could pass it then, they COULD be taught to pass it NOW.
Now we graduate kids from High School that can’t even READ! Or do even BASIC math! I know, because I used to tutor a hell of a lot of them when they got into college. And WHY are they even allowed into college if they can’t ALREADY read, write and do math???
We really need to stop spending so much time, money and other resources on making sure (or trying to) that everybody can go to college. Somehow we’ve managed to make a college degree a ‘necessity’.
MAYBE if we got back to where a high school diploma actually meant something, like a graduate really knew how to read, basic math, basic all around education and HOW TO THINK, then a business would once again be able to trust that the person they’re interviewing for a job could learn the skills to do the job without needing a complete education after they got hired! Maybe then you wouldn’t ‘need’ a college degree to get a ‘good job’.
After all, one of the main reasons we send kids to school is so that they can ‘get a job’. Hopefully, a job that will allow them a decent standard of living. A “good job”. I don’t see why we should FORCE kids to stay in school if that’s all they’re looking for.
The other reason we send kids to school is to give them a real education. To learn how to live their lives. I think we are failing BADLY in this task. I think we should teach these lessons from the earliest opportunity and all the way up through High School.
Yes! Like Dave says; teach them about money, currency, and where it comes from! Teach them about finances, about how the stock markets work, about banking, about budgeting, about debt and interest, about how to balance a checkbook, about how to run a household.
Teach them about how to shop for groceries, about nutrition and healthy eating, about how to cook. Teach them how to grow a garden. Teach them about their bodies and how to stay healthy (and how NOT to become parents!), and how to raise a family IF you want to.
Teach them about the society they live in (and the worldwide situation), about how they are part of the community, about their rights and responsibilities. About politics and voting and corruption and how the system REALLY works! About history and how all this came about.
Teach them about the rest of the world: Geography, world events and how they relate to history and how it affects them, now. Languages, to help them get by in a changing world. Natural science and environmental studies, so they can understand how the environment they live in affects them and is (or is not) effected by them. Throw some travel in the mix, it’s a GREAT way to teach many different subjects!
Teach them about science (and math), basic principles and how it is relevant to them!
Most important, teach them how to THINK!!
NOT just how to regurgitate facts, or to pass the next test. Teach them how to go about learning about a subject. Teach them how to find the information they need to solve a problem or to answer any questions they may have. How to use logic and how to get past all the advertising and propaganda we all have to deal with constantly.
I think learning HOW to learn is the most important thing we can teach. But I don’t see much of that going on in schools anymore. 🙁
Listen to the lyrics to the song above, do you agree or disagree with Dave?
I saw this challenge from Sue over at her ‘A Word in Your Ear’ blog. The word of the week is: mural. I have a few photos of murals. Actually some of mine are a little different, most people think of murals as paintings on a wall. I have some of those, but I also have some murals made in different mediums than just paint. This one is one of my favorites.
My photo doesn’t do it justice. This mural is just STUNNING. I took this a couple of years ago when I was at the Maritime Education and Training conference at Texas A&M University in Galveston (Texas). There is more to it than just the part I could get in this picture. It’s HUGE.
It’s actually a mosaic, made of millions of little ceramic tiles. The artist Dixie Friend Gay made it. I’m not sure how long it took. There’s a better picture of how it all looks in this link. And another one to more about her art.
I think her mosaics are just incredible. I wonder that her work isn’t more well known. I think it deserves to be. What do you think?
I saw this challenge from Sue over at her ‘A Word in Your Ear’ blog. The word of the week is: mural. I thought I should get into this one. I have a few photos of those. Actually some are a little different, but this one is one of my favorites.
I stumbled upon the “Where’s My Backpack?” blog and Travel Theme: Doorways challenge while I was checking my reader today. I figured I’d join in…
Those first couple (of neighbors, sitting in their doorways) were from Thailand, up in the hills North of Chiang Mai. The next bunch are from Aberdeen, Scotland. I had to go take the course for Freefall Lifeboat before they would let me go out on my new job.
And I just had to throw something nautical in the mix. 🙂 This is a photo of the interior of the boat we were practicing with all week.
I took these at various times while working offshore over the last couple of years. The first one is a double rainbow in the background, with a supply boat in the foreground. The last one has part of the helideck that I wish I could have kept out of the shot, but I couldn’t get to a good spot to take the picture without it in there somewhere.
Here is one of my rainbow pictures. I took this one a couple of years ago, when I was working on the tuna boat. We sometimes went in to Tarawa (Kiribati/Gilbert Islands) to unload. We would tie up to a reefer ship in the anchorage off Betio (the main town on the atoll) and have a couple of days to get ashore there.
For such a small place, in the middle of nowhere, Tarawa had some interesting history. Some of the biggest battles of WWII were fought over these islands. There are still a lot of military ruins/wrecks/artifacts from when the Americans were fighting the Japanese there (Battle of Tarawa).
I’m not really into military history or how wars are fought, but I do understand the strategy of having those island ‘stepping stones’ for the US during WWII. The US still keeps an eye on things there. When I was there once, I met up with a US ship doing some ‘PR’ work throughout the Pacific Islands. A group of military people were cleaning up the war memorial and sent a medical team to help out the locals.
At this point in time, Tarawa has gone back to it’s sleepy small town ways. I really enjoyed myself there. The people were friendly and a lot of fun. A couple of years after I stopped working over there, I read a book “Sex Lives of Cannibals” by J. Maarten Troost. I highly recommend it. I laughed SO hard. Yes, it really IS like that there. 🙂
I went to the Sail La Vie meetup last week hoping to sign up to go sailing on Saturday. I haven’t had the time to go out for quite a while and was really looking forward to taking a leisurely cruise around the bay.
I was really disappointed when I found out that they didn’t have enough people signed up to charter a boat for the group. Luckily, one of the members had a boat entered in the upcoming Icicle Race and offered a spot onboard to me and the 2 others who had been looking to go out on Saturday.
I had never been in a race and was a little apprehensive about it all. I wasn’t really enthused about the idea of rushing around, tweaking the sails for every tiny little advantage we could get out of the boat. I’m MUCH more into just relaxing and enjoying a day on the water. Listening to the soft sound of the waves passing by and the calls of the seagulls following for scraps as we drink some wine and dispose of our uneaten chips. 🙂
I think we must have got lucky. The wind was very light to start, only about 4-6 kts and then for a while it dropped off to nothing. The whole fleet was becalmed. I’ve never been in that situation, a couple of dozen boats all drifting together, so close you could reach across to share a beer.
The wind picked up a little bit just as we were coming up to the first mark. We slid around on the inside of a big bunch of boats and managed to skip ahead of the crowd. It was pretty exciting there for a few minutes. 😉
The crowd thinned out as we made for the next mark, but as we closed in on it, the boats bunched up again. Everyone was trying to cut it as close as possible. We heard a loud bang and CRUNCH ahead of us and watched as a couple of boats tried to get their fenders in place, but it was too late. I’m not sure how much damage was done, but ANY work done on a boat is expensive!
We made that turn on the inside of another big bunch of boats and then made for the finish line. The wind was shifting so we had to tack a few times. It was a challenge to try and figure out how far to go on a tack before coming back to the course for the finish line. I think we made some time up with good estimates on that part of the race too.
As we were coming in to the finish line (between markers 1-2 to Kemah), we were cut off by another boat. They cut right in front of our bow and I don’t know how we managed not to have a collision. I don’t know what they were thinking on that boat, but as we were yelling at them, they called back to us that WE were supposed to stay out of their way. Huh????
Overtaking vessel is ALWAYS the give way vessel!
After that last shot of adrenaline, we took in the jib and headed back in to the marina. We made it home in one piece, without any damage, and I think we did pretty damn good! Capt Vic said we did better then ever before (in this race) and I know we still had a pretty big bunch of boats still out there behind us when we hit the finish line. 🙂
