Had some great days of sailing over the last week. On Sunday a bunch of lobbyists/legislators chartered Manitou and had some pretty badass catering from a place here called "The House." "The House" sent a dude with a mohawk and a sweet longhair punk boy with a Decemberists shirt over to set up, then they ended up leaving us an insane amount of appetizers: steak on bruschetta, seared tuna and mango on rice crackers, tons of different cheeses and crackers, and literally a boatload of ganache covered strawberries which I gorged myself on.
I've been supporting my hometown by drinking about 3 frappucinos per day, and now they don't even give me a boost. My tolerance to caffeine this week is scary. Maybe it'll just jack up my blood pressure instead?
Today a professional yacht racer who is also a lawyer for a boat manufacturer sailed with us today. Wes, Glen and I were all fascinated by him and his wife and really chatted them up. He's sailed in the Fastnet and Volvo's. Been around the world a few times. Wes said the dude was his new idol - a law degree from Duke and a hot wife who works as a "pit boss" with the spinnakers in the forepeak, even while pregnant. Wes has hooked up with a passenger who lives near Detroit, and they're already planning their holidays together. I know he'd like to convert her into a sailor.
boat pron
sailing with sonja and justin
just started volunteering here on thursdays. 1750's era british armed sloop replica
traverse city as seen looking aft from main mast spreaders
things are looking up...
S.Dilley just showed up out of the blue and got me outta bed this morning. I guess there'll be some drinking tonight...
just started volunteering here on thursdays. 1750's era british armed sloop replica
traverse city as seen looking aft from main mast spreaders
things are looking up...
S.Dilley just showed up out of the blue and got me outta bed this morning. I guess there'll be some drinking tonight...
Welcome
Last night I checked out a Beatles tribute band at the Cherry Festival. It was early Beatles. A promise of late Beatles' music was made but never happened because a storm kicked up and the show ended. All the Fudgies ran for the beer tent, which meant lots of room to drink beer in the rain on the fairgrounds. After our beers we left to ride bikes to Bubbas, and I found that the ship's bike had been stolen. Considering our tips were stolen last weekend, I'm thinking Cherry Festival is not the time to be leaving things unattended. Bubbas was closed and we were all soaked as we pedaled to 7-11 for miller high lifes and I rode the back of Justin's Worksman bicycle. I crashed with Sonja and Joanne at the place they're staying. Always nice to sleep in a bed. Sonja happened to be selling her bike so I just bought that one to replace the ship's bike.
I spent this morning aboard the replica of the armed sloop Welcome here in Traverse City. The plan was to sail, but Captain Joe of Welcome, who is also our weekend Captain on Manitou, nixed the sailing because of the slightly high winds and the general green-ness of the rig and crew. Probably a good idea seeing as how the morning was spent rigging lifts and halyards (how had they planned to sail without THOSE?). I taught a few people how to properly belay a line to a pin. It's weird going to a boat where everyone is basically self-taught in the arts of a 1750's sailor. I suspected the last thing this group of mostly 60-something men would want would be a young woman in a skirt and leopard print sunglasses coming out and telling them how to do things on their boat, so I tried to keep quiet. Ah who am I kidding I got into an argument aloft with a cute Scot named Rory when he tried to tell me that technically no square riggers have halyards - that there's only jeers and lifts. Jeers are pretty much the same as halyards, but i'd never call these lifts halyards because they run at such a sharp chafing angle over the fighting top that at most they should be tended until the yard is all the way up. Anyway Rory and I ended up getting along well and talked about working on merchant ships and stuff like that...
Anyway the magazine has arrived! 300 copies and time for me to start addressing them!
I spent this morning aboard the replica of the armed sloop Welcome here in Traverse City. The plan was to sail, but Captain Joe of Welcome, who is also our weekend Captain on Manitou, nixed the sailing because of the slightly high winds and the general green-ness of the rig and crew. Probably a good idea seeing as how the morning was spent rigging lifts and halyards (how had they planned to sail without THOSE?). I taught a few people how to properly belay a line to a pin. It's weird going to a boat where everyone is basically self-taught in the arts of a 1750's sailor. I suspected the last thing this group of mostly 60-something men would want would be a young woman in a skirt and leopard print sunglasses coming out and telling them how to do things on their boat, so I tried to keep quiet. Ah who am I kidding I got into an argument aloft with a cute Scot named Rory when he tried to tell me that technically no square riggers have halyards - that there's only jeers and lifts. Jeers are pretty much the same as halyards, but i'd never call these lifts halyards because they run at such a sharp chafing angle over the fighting top that at most they should be tended until the yard is all the way up. Anyway Rory and I ended up getting along well and talked about working on merchant ships and stuff like that...
Anyway the magazine has arrived! 300 copies and time for me to start addressing them!
FREEEDOMMMM
when i think of freedom in america today, i think of the important security measures being taken when i try to board a plane. i think of the armed coasties forcing the entire crew towards the bow while the vessel is searched after a 20 mile voyage across the straits of juan de fuca from vancouver island. for all this i say thank you, america, and happy birthday. lots of your people voted for dubya and many of those folks were out on grand traverse bay waiting for a fireworks show tonight... listening to pop country and playing with fireworks on the bows of their motor yachts. motor yachts like "happy daze" and cigarette boats like "Donzi," with bikini clad midwesterners yelping and blowing air horns.
but before all that my fourth of july first found me in a luxurious king size bed at the apartment where my friend sonja is staying. we woke up to an eddie murphy tbs marathon and made rice-a-roni and microwave perogies for breakfast (she's apartment-sitting for a boat-trash bachelor who's at sea currently). we then joined justin for coffee and later on met up at the yacht club for a sail on his boat, Salome. we put in some good sailing hours, listening to music and drinking the champagne of beers along with some dark and stormies. at the end of our sail justin sailed Salome within 3 boat lengths of the buoyed off swim area near the beach, amongst all the Donzi's, chachis and Happy Dazed motorboats anchored there and we pulled off a sweet tack in front of a few thousand folks on shore. he then sailed onto his mooring, whereupon we set off in his dingy "Bubbas" with a bottle of chardonnay, a bottle of pineapple flavored rum, and a bag of chips ahoy cookies. OH OH OH but before we left Salome, which is moored about 1/4 mile offshore of the yacht club, a sweet little amphicar drove up and chatted with us!
we actually followed the amphibious 1967 restored classic car to the downtown beach. we watched fireworks while floating just off the beach, loudly singing Lee Greenwoods all time favorite "Proud to be an American" and the classic theme song to "Team America." After all this we motored back to Salome and watched a bright orange moon rise in the east.
i'm too tired so tilt your head
jen took me to northbar, and i pieced together a pic of it
we had a wedding onboard last saturday
we had a wedding onboard last saturday
go heavy go with it
in seattle, next to ballard high school, i saw a bear/person standing on the corner. not trying to sell anything... just waiting to cross the street.
i got to hang out with my friend sasha at o'hare. i was super tired and bug-eyed. (we met in hawaii and spent a lot of time together there)
the other pic is of me hanging out at nanettes. my expression looks kinda dumb but that's just natural for me these days. slackjawed and brain dead.
i got to hang out with my friend sasha at o'hare. i was super tired and bug-eyed. (we met in hawaii and spent a lot of time together there)
the other pic is of me hanging out at nanettes. my expression looks kinda dumb but that's just natural for me these days. slackjawed and brain dead.
ENDGAME
tonight i watched a very enlightening documentary on PBS. it was called "Endgame" and it was all about the US strategies in Iraq so far.
According to the documentary, after the initial attack on Iraq in '03, everyone thought we'd be out of there by that September. All the bigwig generals left. Nobody made any plans for an insurgency, and for a few years everyone was just kind of trying to figure out what the hell to do. Rumsfeld and this inexperienced general believed in what they called leaving a "light footprint" in Iraq - basically keeping our troops on the base next to the burger king or sending them out in tanks - avoiding as much warfare as possible. Then there were issues like the fact that millions of bombs were being built in Fallujah, to be sent to Iraqi insurgents. So we blew Fallujah apart and went back to the base. The election held in Iraq was boycotted by Sunnis (half the population) thereby paving the way for a civil war once all the Shi'a voters voted in a Shi'a government. (why they boycotted wasn't stated) Then there was this idea to enforce the strategy of "Clear, Hold, and Build" which meant clear a small area of insurgents, hold it secure, and rebuild the area for the citizens. One general even carried this out successfully in the town of Tal Afar. Sounds awesome, right? Condoleeza really pushed for this strategy, and that pissed Rumsfeld off. So everyone's stoked about this new strategy, but the doc leaves you with the feeling that it's too late... the last time Bush had a chance to enact it he underminded Condi and everyone by trying to get the Iraqi's to do the "holding and rebuilding" and while it's true that the US no longer has the resources to clear hold and build all over Iraq, the Iraqi police/army have proven to be totally unreliable. So the Shrub got really into the idea and asked to send more troops (that 20 thou surge) but all the generals and officials on the doc said that's actually more of a dribble than a surge and who the hell knows what can be done now, and possibly the only "endgame" left is to just bail (like we did the first time). How messed up. Check out the doc at pbs.org. Yeah - those burnt bodies hanging from the bridge are real. Just like the people being shot. Weird how as American movie/news/tv viewers we can hardly tell the difference.
According to the documentary, after the initial attack on Iraq in '03, everyone thought we'd be out of there by that September. All the bigwig generals left. Nobody made any plans for an insurgency, and for a few years everyone was just kind of trying to figure out what the hell to do. Rumsfeld and this inexperienced general believed in what they called leaving a "light footprint" in Iraq - basically keeping our troops on the base next to the burger king or sending them out in tanks - avoiding as much warfare as possible. Then there were issues like the fact that millions of bombs were being built in Fallujah, to be sent to Iraqi insurgents. So we blew Fallujah apart and went back to the base. The election held in Iraq was boycotted by Sunnis (half the population) thereby paving the way for a civil war once all the Shi'a voters voted in a Shi'a government. (why they boycotted wasn't stated) Then there was this idea to enforce the strategy of "Clear, Hold, and Build" which meant clear a small area of insurgents, hold it secure, and rebuild the area for the citizens. One general even carried this out successfully in the town of Tal Afar. Sounds awesome, right? Condoleeza really pushed for this strategy, and that pissed Rumsfeld off. So everyone's stoked about this new strategy, but the doc leaves you with the feeling that it's too late... the last time Bush had a chance to enact it he underminded Condi and everyone by trying to get the Iraqi's to do the "holding and rebuilding" and while it's true that the US no longer has the resources to clear hold and build all over Iraq, the Iraqi police/army have proven to be totally unreliable. So the Shrub got really into the idea and asked to send more troops (that 20 thou surge) but all the generals and officials on the doc said that's actually more of a dribble than a surge and who the hell knows what can be done now, and possibly the only "endgame" left is to just bail (like we did the first time). How messed up. Check out the doc at pbs.org. Yeah - those burnt bodies hanging from the bridge are real. Just like the people being shot. Weird how as American movie/news/tv viewers we can hardly tell the difference.
the Way Back machine
i took a nap today, and have been messing around on the computer for hours into the early morn... messing around on flickr because in an effort to reduce my belongings, i took digital photos of old print photos before moving to michigan this year. then i posted those on flickr. the photos were old and cropped and worn and i threw most of them away, but what i wanted was a way to browse them sometimes, and just refresh whatever memory held there. so here's one of the photo/collages:
left to right, from top (all from 1993):
me in a KC-135 aerial refueler, looking at the south dakota badlands through the bubble where the proboscis thingy gets handled.
great shot of the huey we got to ride in during a field exercise in wisconsin.
jessica (friend, roommate) and i at a lake in boise. we got into a lot of trouble together.
view of my boots out of the open huey
mormon boy i fell for. turned out to be a big loser.
postcard from that wisconsin field exercise
2 shots of my friend heather - we liked to go on road trips together. this one was to see her family in oregon. the bottom right hand one is of same trip. we took that car on my first trip to salt lake city and slept in it. so cold!!!
friends josh(?) and steph barbecueing at strike dam. that was our favorite place to go jetskiing, skinny dipping, to rent pontoon boats or go camping. on the snake river. bottom left is overhead view of valley below the dam.
black and white is of my friend klint. we used to listen to clint black a LOT. especially that song that goes "ain't it funny how a melody... can bring back a memory... take you to another place in time... can even change your state of mind..."
jess drinking mad dog probably at castle rock in idaho. we climbed around, went camping, and i passed out. i don't remember the rest of that night, but other stuff happened or so i hear.
i don't remember who that guy is in that small pic.
last black and white is of me, taken by my then-HUSBAND, yes husband, LoL, Tim Bremser.
left to right, from top (all from 1993):
me in a KC-135 aerial refueler, looking at the south dakota badlands through the bubble where the proboscis thingy gets handled.
great shot of the huey we got to ride in during a field exercise in wisconsin.
jessica (friend, roommate) and i at a lake in boise. we got into a lot of trouble together.
view of my boots out of the open huey
mormon boy i fell for. turned out to be a big loser.
postcard from that wisconsin field exercise
2 shots of my friend heather - we liked to go on road trips together. this one was to see her family in oregon. the bottom right hand one is of same trip. we took that car on my first trip to salt lake city and slept in it. so cold!!!
friends josh(?) and steph barbecueing at strike dam. that was our favorite place to go jetskiing, skinny dipping, to rent pontoon boats or go camping. on the snake river. bottom left is overhead view of valley below the dam.
black and white is of my friend klint. we used to listen to clint black a LOT. especially that song that goes "ain't it funny how a melody... can bring back a memory... take you to another place in time... can even change your state of mind..."
jess drinking mad dog probably at castle rock in idaho. we climbed around, went camping, and i passed out. i don't remember the rest of that night, but other stuff happened or so i hear.
i don't remember who that guy is in that small pic.
last black and white is of me, taken by my then-HUSBAND, yes husband, LoL, Tim Bremser.
Icky Thump
So my little sister graduated from high school yesterday. The same high school I went to, in the same neighborhood where my dad and his family grew up, and where her mom has lived for 25 years. And yet her mom, our dad, and I all sat separately at the stadium. When she walked out I cried by myself up in the cheap seats, where only a handful of people were sitting. I guess it was out of happiness for her, and sadness over how important family is in her life and how pathetic this situation was. I didn't expect to cry so much at what should have been a really jovial event but she's the only person in my life that I've watched be a baby and grow up, with all the unnecessary drama she's had to either slog through or ignore, and how unfair it seems. I purposely have not had children over the fear of not being able to do with the idealistic yet still reasonable standards that I would want. But here is a kid that I've had to watch be raised with far less attention to what I deem to be real mental and physical health than how I might ever raise my own. Instead of being an ever present sister who might influence her upbringing, I usually lived far away, following my own whimsy. I might not agree with her her mother's style all the time, but I got her a card too, and thanked her for always being nearby and available to Katie, and I acknowledged that Katie wouldn't have been this successful without her, and as an aside I probably wouldn't have even made it through grade school without Katie's mom in my life. I haven't been close to her mother since she made my sister lie to my father about the man living with them. I haven't spoken with my father since he started yet another fight with my sister last Christmas. They would get in fights every few months, usually over her not paying enough attention to him. I finally got myself involved but while they can get over things quickly (my sister doesn't say how she really feels and just tries to ignore her anger) it takes a lot longer for my dad and I to get over arguments because when I'm fighting for what I think is a righteous cause, I hit really hard. I love my dad though and while he screws up as much as anyone else, I'll always love him and I just know we'll have our ups and downs.
I dried my eyes and drove over to my grandmas. I called to make sure my mom wasn't over there before I arrived - since we haven't spoken since she told Jarad that she regretted giving me a Christmas gift because what I gave her did not nearly match the price. Plus I'd told her once in confidence that I wasn't sure what was going to happen between Jarad and I, being apart all summer. She decided, after I'd left for Michigan, to hint to him that she was sad we were breaking up. Anyway it was way out of line. I don't know. There's not a lot of gray area in my book when it comes to anyone acting even slightly (undeservedly) cruel to me or anyone. I don't expect to be forgiven easily if I'm guilty of that, either.
Yeah it's dirty laundry day I guess. I had some chinese food on Saturday and my fortune said I was going to have an epiphany.
brb WHite stripes are on conan...
ok uh jack white is amazing.
So yeah my epiphany, or rather epiphanies:
I have no tolerance for hypocrites. Mostly I hear people saying they are making positive changes in their life, but really it's all talk. I guess that could be weakness too. I have a real problem with so called environmentalist/human rights types talking about how they're against all the bad shit without acknowledging their their gas powered cars and the hundreds of plastic things they own that were made in china, nor their middle class incomes being used to constantly more unnecessary shit simply because it's natural or environmentally friendly. When they don't even need a new hypoallergenic linen pillow stuffed with organic cedar chips in the first place. Please people don't even act the least bit like you're all that and aware unless you are really willing to make some sacrifices. There's my rant. As for me, I do my part to keep 6 year olds in china employed.
My other epiphany was that while I felt my reasons for standing up against Katie's mom and our dad was righteous, none of that mattered because it was her day and it would have been wonderful for her to see us all together and happy. I have to find more positive ways to get my points across and inspire change.
On that note I'll mention that my dad decided to hang out with my sister and I today, and everything was fine once they worked through a sensitive issue, and we had a great day together. Tonight I watched "the painted veil" with both my hollywood loves - Ed Norton and Liev Schreiber. Ed Norton will always win. Oh and I had the joy of being able to go to a regular grocery store for stuff like organic nectarines, kombucha in a bottle, organic oj, brown cow yogurt, and reeds extra ginger beer being sold in singles in the cold case. little things like this don't come easy in michigan.
I dried my eyes and drove over to my grandmas. I called to make sure my mom wasn't over there before I arrived - since we haven't spoken since she told Jarad that she regretted giving me a Christmas gift because what I gave her did not nearly match the price. Plus I'd told her once in confidence that I wasn't sure what was going to happen between Jarad and I, being apart all summer. She decided, after I'd left for Michigan, to hint to him that she was sad we were breaking up. Anyway it was way out of line. I don't know. There's not a lot of gray area in my book when it comes to anyone acting even slightly (undeservedly) cruel to me or anyone. I don't expect to be forgiven easily if I'm guilty of that, either.
Yeah it's dirty laundry day I guess. I had some chinese food on Saturday and my fortune said I was going to have an epiphany.
brb WHite stripes are on conan...
ok uh jack white is amazing.
So yeah my epiphany, or rather epiphanies:
I have no tolerance for hypocrites. Mostly I hear people saying they are making positive changes in their life, but really it's all talk. I guess that could be weakness too. I have a real problem with so called environmentalist/human rights types talking about how they're against all the bad shit without acknowledging their their gas powered cars and the hundreds of plastic things they own that were made in china, nor their middle class incomes being used to constantly more unnecessary shit simply because it's natural or environmentally friendly. When they don't even need a new hypoallergenic linen pillow stuffed with organic cedar chips in the first place. Please people don't even act the least bit like you're all that and aware unless you are really willing to make some sacrifices. There's my rant. As for me, I do my part to keep 6 year olds in china employed.
My other epiphany was that while I felt my reasons for standing up against Katie's mom and our dad was righteous, none of that mattered because it was her day and it would have been wonderful for her to see us all together and happy. I have to find more positive ways to get my points across and inspire change.
On that note I'll mention that my dad decided to hang out with my sister and I today, and everything was fine once they worked through a sensitive issue, and we had a great day together. Tonight I watched "the painted veil" with both my hollywood loves - Ed Norton and Liev Schreiber. Ed Norton will always win. Oh and I had the joy of being able to go to a regular grocery store for stuff like organic nectarines, kombucha in a bottle, organic oj, brown cow yogurt, and reeds extra ginger beer being sold in singles in the cold case. little things like this don't come easy in michigan.
Breaking Away
Had a good mellow day of sailing yesterday. Then a hectic morning trying to find the airport entrance in Traverse City... all made better by being able to hang with Andrew at SeaTac for a few hours at his gate (he was on his way to Chile). He showed me some great footage of massive glacial calving during his last trip aboard the icebreaker. The huge uprising of water is all that ice returning to the surface.
Hurray for Tu's Day
I got a wonderful surprise this week. Tuvalu called from Port Huron, Michigan, to tell me she wanted to bring her daughter up and spend the night aboard Manitou, go sailing, and spend one of my days off with me! I had not seen Tuvalu in a little over 3 years and had never met her and Micah's daughter, Matilda, so this was really exciting for me. Tu and Tilda showed up in time for our afternoon sail, met the crew and captain and went sailing! Woohoo! The organization that runs Highlander Sea does not allow any child under the age of 8 to sail aboard, so this was one of very few times that Tilda had been out sailing. I know that Micah wishes he could sail with his daughter, but he wasn't able to come up to Manitou this week. Tilda is an amazing 2 year old - she already eats with a fork, climbs companionways on her own. She learned to use the onboard head very quickly, and I even taught her to use my digital camera! Sometimes she says things in spanish or japanese so it takes a minute to decipher what she's saying. Tu and Micah are doing an incredible job of raising this little girl. They're far from rich but they're not compromising when it comes to their child, so Tu doesn't work any job that would leave Tilda without a parent present, they don't ever leave the baby in a stroller or playpen, nor do they set her in front of a television to watch anything other than "Keiki's Delivery Service." Which is where she gets her Japanese. They serve her the healthiest food they can find, and she only plays with wooden or tin toys. Tu commented that Dan Moreland of Picton Castle fell in love with Tilda during Tall Ships in the Great Lakes last year, and has already offered her a position on board once she turns 12.
Check out my recent pics, mostly of Tu & Tilda, on Flickr.com.
We went and visited some other traditional boats yesterday - the schooner Inland Seas, s/v Madeline, and the sloop Welcome. All three operate on Lake Michigan. We also went swimming after Tu bought Tilda a little canoe for her toy family. Then they took off and I was late for the yacht race. I made it to the boat though. The older guys on my crew have some interesting backgrounds. Thomas, the fireman, still holds an unlimited tonnage pilot's license for most of Lake Michigan and told me all kinds of crazy cargo ship stories from back in the day. And here I was thinking he wasn't all that because he wasn't too fast on the self tailing winch... turns out he just wasn't blessed with the high pressure learning situation that I was, down in the BVI spring regatta years back, with some British bitch yelling at me to go faster, looking at me with disgust and saying "What the fucking hell!?"
Upon crossing the finish line, I found my friends Sonja and Justin hanging out on the race committee boat. Back at the yacht club Justin bought us some dark and stormies, and we three ragtag yacht club party crashers enjoyed our drinks amongst the polo and khaki clad yachties.
Check out my recent pics, mostly of Tu & Tilda, on Flickr.com.
We went and visited some other traditional boats yesterday - the schooner Inland Seas, s/v Madeline, and the sloop Welcome. All three operate on Lake Michigan. We also went swimming after Tu bought Tilda a little canoe for her toy family. Then they took off and I was late for the yacht race. I made it to the boat though. The older guys on my crew have some interesting backgrounds. Thomas, the fireman, still holds an unlimited tonnage pilot's license for most of Lake Michigan and told me all kinds of crazy cargo ship stories from back in the day. And here I was thinking he wasn't all that because he wasn't too fast on the self tailing winch... turns out he just wasn't blessed with the high pressure learning situation that I was, down in the BVI spring regatta years back, with some British bitch yelling at me to go faster, looking at me with disgust and saying "What the fucking hell!?"
Upon crossing the finish line, I found my friends Sonja and Justin hanging out on the race committee boat. Back at the yacht club Justin bought us some dark and stormies, and we three ragtag yacht club party crashers enjoyed our drinks amongst the polo and khaki clad yachties.
week in review
I had wednesday and thursday off, and did practically nothing. I hung out with friends Sonja, Seth and Justin at Justin's apt on tuesday night. Seth and I talked boats and we're all boat trash so that was good. Thursday I went to get quotes from printers for the new issue of Jack Tar and was sorely disappointed to find out that 300 copies would cost over 800 dollars! Sheesh. Looking into other options now.
Glen and I have been watching Firefly every night because I found myself on a mall shopping spree thursday, buying dvd's at Target instead of paying the higher priced fee to actually SEE a movie at the theater. I bought all the Firefly episodes plus Super Troopers for the crew loft. The new crew Wes added to the library with Last of the Mohicans, Saving Private Ryan, and the classic Spaceballs. I also went to Victoria's secret and men let me tell you if you want to make any woman happy, go and buy one of the wireless cami tops with the built in bra. Check your girl's bra size before you go, obviously. It's expensive but totally awesome.
Today was an eventful workday. The 2nd sail was a charter for a Coastie wedding, so one of those top of the line Coastie choppers did some hovering after the ceremony and took pictures from the sky. Then out of the blue I look off the bow and the same chopper is flying straight at us at 170 miles per hour (really). They did 2 fly-bys within 20 feet of our shrouds, and at LEAST 20 feet lower than our trucks. Holy freakin cow I screamed a little! Apparently the guy getting married was the pilot's boss. Anyway the wedding was sweet and everyone was pretty jolly... their open bar and all. Then Seth and Justin joined us on the evening sail and hauled their asses off. Justin worked on a dutch boat in Bermuda once, and has his own sailboat. Seth has crewed aboard Shenandoah, Pride 2, Tole Mour, and some other windjammers. They helped haul everything and then Seth coiled down everything for us. It was great. At the end of the sail Justin helped furl while Seth drove. The relief captain, Captain Joe, even thanked me for bringing them onboard tonight. We were one man short so it really did help. Seth invited me over for a halibut bbq but I'm too tired for that. Too bad too because he's shipping out with NOAA any day now so who knows if I'll ever see the guy again. Well probably someday.
Anyway the days are long and hard but I have a lot of fun crewing with Glen and Wes and all the captains, and I even got to hang with friends on the evening sail, so that was good.
Oh yeah and at 2:25 am this morning I saw the most amazing moonrise over Grand Traverse Bay. First it looked like a forest fire was starting in the distance, but then the moon rose up and looked kinda like this, but not full.
Glen and I have been watching Firefly every night because I found myself on a mall shopping spree thursday, buying dvd's at Target instead of paying the higher priced fee to actually SEE a movie at the theater. I bought all the Firefly episodes plus Super Troopers for the crew loft. The new crew Wes added to the library with Last of the Mohicans, Saving Private Ryan, and the classic Spaceballs. I also went to Victoria's secret and men let me tell you if you want to make any woman happy, go and buy one of the wireless cami tops with the built in bra. Check your girl's bra size before you go, obviously. It's expensive but totally awesome.
Today was an eventful workday. The 2nd sail was a charter for a Coastie wedding, so one of those top of the line Coastie choppers did some hovering after the ceremony and took pictures from the sky. Then out of the blue I look off the bow and the same chopper is flying straight at us at 170 miles per hour (really). They did 2 fly-bys within 20 feet of our shrouds, and at LEAST 20 feet lower than our trucks. Holy freakin cow I screamed a little! Apparently the guy getting married was the pilot's boss. Anyway the wedding was sweet and everyone was pretty jolly... their open bar and all. Then Seth and Justin joined us on the evening sail and hauled their asses off. Justin worked on a dutch boat in Bermuda once, and has his own sailboat. Seth has crewed aboard Shenandoah, Pride 2, Tole Mour, and some other windjammers. They helped haul everything and then Seth coiled down everything for us. It was great. At the end of the sail Justin helped furl while Seth drove. The relief captain, Captain Joe, even thanked me for bringing them onboard tonight. We were one man short so it really did help. Seth invited me over for a halibut bbq but I'm too tired for that. Too bad too because he's shipping out with NOAA any day now so who knows if I'll ever see the guy again. Well probably someday.
Anyway the days are long and hard but I have a lot of fun crewing with Glen and Wes and all the captains, and I even got to hang with friends on the evening sail, so that was good.
Oh yeah and at 2:25 am this morning I saw the most amazing moonrise over Grand Traverse Bay. First it looked like a forest fire was starting in the distance, but then the moon rose up and looked kinda like this, but not full.
Summer begins in Michigan
We had fun last weekend. Some good sails on Saturday, with the help of photographer and chef Josh as volunteer crew. He took a bunch of pics of us on the boat. Later that night Capt Matt & I joined Sonja and Seth from the maritime academy to check out the Pirates 3. Better than 2, but not better than 1 (general consensus).
All of our sails were canceled on Sunday, so Glen and I organized the rigging loft and did little chores here and there. Then me, Glen, Kent, Matt, and the new crewmember Wes, went over to Josh's house in the country to enjoy the sauna he'd just built, some beers, fresh clams, steak, sausage, asparagus wrapped in bacon, salad... hmmm. It was all wonderful. Wes had only been off the plane an hour before we dragged him out there, but he obviously wasn't complaining.
tips on lake michigan
It's been a good week. I had tuesday off, and went out with the office goddess, Kathy, to a bar down the street. It's the only bar in town with a tiki bar outside on the lake - kinda reminded me of being at carlos 'n charlies on lake travis. not quite as cool, but good for around here. and get this - almost EVERY bar around here not only knows what Dark 'n Stormies are, but usually make them with Mount Gay rum, and if they don't make them with Mount Gay then it's GOSLINGS. it's freakin great. i've basically gotten drunk on mt. gay & ginger ale 3 nights this week. geez now that i think of it that's a lot of drinking...
well anyway hanging out with kathy is a blast. she knows everyone in town and she's just plain fun to talk to. her friend denise joined us and denise is hilarious too. it's a small town and they both have all these great stories about everyone. i've had it in my mind to learn a little more about yacht racing, and the yacht club is a short walk from our boat, so kathy went ahead and spoke with some people about getting me on a boat for wednesday night races. i had to work this last wed, but she still took me over to the yacht club after the race to meet folks and arrange a spot on a boat for the rest of the wednesdays this summer. i've asked for wednesdays and thursdays off all summer. i figure after wed night boat races i might hang out with the crews, so it'd be good to take thursdays off too.
so i was sitting there at the yacht club when i saw two kids about my age walk by towards the bar next door. i was pretty sure i recognized them from myspace, of all places. i'd been trying to network with local maritime folks and i felt certain that these were two of those people i'd found online. kathy and i were going over to the bar anyway, so i broke off and walked up to these two and straight out asked them if they were in fact "sonja and justin." they were slightly shocked and confused, which was funny... and i told them who i was and it was so great - justin stood up and gave me a huge bear hug and told me they'd been talking about me for days.. which made me laugh. they asked me to join them and we drank for hours. it was weird and fun.
i invited them out sailing, and sonja did come out the next day. she hauled her ass off, and thank god because the wind was blowing over thirty knots so tacking was a workout. she jumped right in there. she even helped put the boat away after the sail so the cook asked her to stay for dinner too. sonja's a great chick. she's going to school to be a ships engineer. last night the maritime academy boat pulled in so i joined her and some people from the academy at a bar downtown. it was like hanging out with mikey's navy friends back in hawaii again. these guys can drink. and dance - they dance all crazy and goofy and don't give a shit. the band at this bar was pretty sweet - they played a lot of sublime and 311 covers. i even DANCED. these guys wouldn't have had it any other way, though. OH and i met a guy among that group named seth who crewed with kelly landen back in 2000 aboard tole mour. in fact i'd probably met him back then because he also crewed with brian clampitt on tole, and kelly and damien took us out to that boat back when we all lived on oahu. he even knows adrian lipp, and used to work for the boat company! so we chatted it up about traditional boats. i biked back to the boat, drunk, at 2am. yeah it was bad to stay up that late with 3 sails happening the next day, but it was worth it.
we did our first all tourist sailing day today, and it went pretty well. i finished bending on the main topsail this morning, and it set OK except for some tack foulage. cap went up and fixed it up though. it's hard to believe, but this boat flies a main, fore, 3 headsails and one maintop with an average of 1 captain and 3 crew. we also run a "bar" where beer, wine and soda is sold. it's actually kind of cool because people are having a good time and just hanging out. all our pax were pretty decent today. helped haul too.
the best part of today was the $40 in tips per person (5 of us), which pretty much doubles my income for the day. suddenly it all seems a lot more tolerable.
well anyway hanging out with kathy is a blast. she knows everyone in town and she's just plain fun to talk to. her friend denise joined us and denise is hilarious too. it's a small town and they both have all these great stories about everyone. i've had it in my mind to learn a little more about yacht racing, and the yacht club is a short walk from our boat, so kathy went ahead and spoke with some people about getting me on a boat for wednesday night races. i had to work this last wed, but she still took me over to the yacht club after the race to meet folks and arrange a spot on a boat for the rest of the wednesdays this summer. i've asked for wednesdays and thursdays off all summer. i figure after wed night boat races i might hang out with the crews, so it'd be good to take thursdays off too.
so i was sitting there at the yacht club when i saw two kids about my age walk by towards the bar next door. i was pretty sure i recognized them from myspace, of all places. i'd been trying to network with local maritime folks and i felt certain that these were two of those people i'd found online. kathy and i were going over to the bar anyway, so i broke off and walked up to these two and straight out asked them if they were in fact "sonja and justin." they were slightly shocked and confused, which was funny... and i told them who i was and it was so great - justin stood up and gave me a huge bear hug and told me they'd been talking about me for days.. which made me laugh. they asked me to join them and we drank for hours. it was weird and fun.
i invited them out sailing, and sonja did come out the next day. she hauled her ass off, and thank god because the wind was blowing over thirty knots so tacking was a workout. she jumped right in there. she even helped put the boat away after the sail so the cook asked her to stay for dinner too. sonja's a great chick. she's going to school to be a ships engineer. last night the maritime academy boat pulled in so i joined her and some people from the academy at a bar downtown. it was like hanging out with mikey's navy friends back in hawaii again. these guys can drink. and dance - they dance all crazy and goofy and don't give a shit. the band at this bar was pretty sweet - they played a lot of sublime and 311 covers. i even DANCED. these guys wouldn't have had it any other way, though. OH and i met a guy among that group named seth who crewed with kelly landen back in 2000 aboard tole mour. in fact i'd probably met him back then because he also crewed with brian clampitt on tole, and kelly and damien took us out to that boat back when we all lived on oahu. he even knows adrian lipp, and used to work for the boat company! so we chatted it up about traditional boats. i biked back to the boat, drunk, at 2am. yeah it was bad to stay up that late with 3 sails happening the next day, but it was worth it.
we did our first all tourist sailing day today, and it went pretty well. i finished bending on the main topsail this morning, and it set OK except for some tack foulage. cap went up and fixed it up though. it's hard to believe, but this boat flies a main, fore, 3 headsails and one maintop with an average of 1 captain and 3 crew. we also run a "bar" where beer, wine and soda is sold. it's actually kind of cool because people are having a good time and just hanging out. all our pax were pretty decent today. helped haul too.
the best part of today was the $40 in tips per person (5 of us), which pretty much doubles my income for the day. suddenly it all seems a lot more tolerable.
The Lakeshore
Last weekend some local friends picked me up and took me out to Sleeping Bear Dunes Park, which is a big park along Lake Michigan with lots of little roads leading to different parts of the park. We went to an old asparagus farm with a few nice vacated, boarded up buildings and rolling fields, surrounded by groves of deciduous trees and bluffs that overlook Lake Michigan. There's also lots of wild leeks growing along the trails, and morel mushrooms - though I didn't see any of those. We then hit the beach in Empire, where the Asparagus Festival was held this weekend. Below are some photos from that day.
2 sheets almost to the wind
We SAILED this week. It was fun and of course I rediscovered my love for the whole shebang. Our 3.5 hr, twice daily "schoolships" are pretty labor intensive. There's only us 3 crew besides captain and cook, and the cook is very experienced on this boat and will come up to help with the heaviest hauling. If anyone reading this has worked on Denis Sullivan, you may know her (Wendy). She's so, so awesome. I may have mentioned that already... anyway, right after leaving the dock we set up the trawl net to round up the slimy science material, as this program is mostly science-based and not sailing/history focused. The work really starts when we haul up that net full of slime and zebra muscles (bare hands, mind you), which seems to have a pretty heavy drag on it all the while, after that we set the anchor and do maintenance for awhile (I've been re-seizing the headrig net) and then free-hauling up the anchor, which I'm definitely looking forward to NOT having to do all summer. I mean sheesh there was skim ice on the lake and hauling on a wet anchor rode is such a freakin joy with frozen water. Then we set the sails - we do get the kids to help hauling on everything except the headrig. We had hs seniors one day and we were in HEAVEN! Most of the 11 year olds are pretty soft. I give them all the typical Lady-style motivation: "I'VE SEEN FIRST GRADERS HAUL BETTER THAN THIS!" "TAKE ALL YOU CAN! GIVE NOTHING BACK!" and I think that amuses the adults.
We're not setting the topsail or flying jib yet, but this boat IS 114' overall, with a 21' beam, almost 100 ton and with only three of us doing the heaviest work, I'm muscling up pretty fast. I'm letting my hands callus up because doing the work with soft, lotioned hands is just too painful. Although yesterday they cracked and bled so that was bad. I was getting thinner until Wendy came. Now I'm just getting more and more muscular but with a nice layer of blubber to keep me warm. My face burnt pretty bad yesterday, what with the sun and wind for hours on end. It's sunny and windy, but my face is all that gets exposed because I still wear 4 or 5 layers on top, 2 pairs of pants and a balaclava most of the day.
Hmm what else... cowboying the main and fore is sketchy because he keeps them really high even when in the lifts. The headsails are a dream to furl. SO FAST. But the rigging of the sheets is totally fucked. Plus the jib is cut wrong so it has that vibrating luff going on. I got pretty pissed yesterday, having to handle both jib and staysl sheets while setting the sails in a heavy wind, especially since where they're made off outboard crosses and, and then making them off to the inboard pins they cross again. I don't know. You'd have to see this ridiculousness to believe it. I'm making too big a deal about it, but I'm not going to lose my g'damn hands just to save the sheets from flying away. At my suggestion we re-rigged them yesterday so they don't cross as much. It worked a little better. I would say that Lady's headsail sheet arrangement is very sensible. Bill's flying jib sheet pennants leave a little to be desired, but this boat's headsail sheets are plain silly. The cap would probably be annoyed with me if he read this. He keeps his boat in good shape and has earned the pride he feels when it comes to this boat's operation. There's just not enough time or money to be thrown at a few little things that would make a better sheet setup, jib cut, perfect varnish job in the salon, etc. He keeps quantity and quality in an efficient, if not always satisfying, balance.
One more thing - Joe Bartlett bought a web address for my zine!!! How freakin cool is that? It's now officially jacktar.org
Oh and last night I went to a yacht club party that they have up here at the beginning of every season. I met a guy who captains charters down in Tortola for a new charter company that's actually based up here, and some real partying 40-something women who promised an action filled summer of local fisherman bringing us tons of salmon, nightly campfires next to our dock, and they themselves hang out at the beach by our dock in bikinis and boas and come down to toss or catch our lines. What a show that will be.
We're not setting the topsail or flying jib yet, but this boat IS 114' overall, with a 21' beam, almost 100 ton and with only three of us doing the heaviest work, I'm muscling up pretty fast. I'm letting my hands callus up because doing the work with soft, lotioned hands is just too painful. Although yesterday they cracked and bled so that was bad. I was getting thinner until Wendy came. Now I'm just getting more and more muscular but with a nice layer of blubber to keep me warm. My face burnt pretty bad yesterday, what with the sun and wind for hours on end. It's sunny and windy, but my face is all that gets exposed because I still wear 4 or 5 layers on top, 2 pairs of pants and a balaclava most of the day.
Hmm what else... cowboying the main and fore is sketchy because he keeps them really high even when in the lifts. The headsails are a dream to furl. SO FAST. But the rigging of the sheets is totally fucked. Plus the jib is cut wrong so it has that vibrating luff going on. I got pretty pissed yesterday, having to handle both jib and staysl sheets while setting the sails in a heavy wind, especially since where they're made off outboard crosses and, and then making them off to the inboard pins they cross again. I don't know. You'd have to see this ridiculousness to believe it. I'm making too big a deal about it, but I'm not going to lose my g'damn hands just to save the sheets from flying away. At my suggestion we re-rigged them yesterday so they don't cross as much. It worked a little better. I would say that Lady's headsail sheet arrangement is very sensible. Bill's flying jib sheet pennants leave a little to be desired, but this boat's headsail sheets are plain silly. The cap would probably be annoyed with me if he read this. He keeps his boat in good shape and has earned the pride he feels when it comes to this boat's operation. There's just not enough time or money to be thrown at a few little things that would make a better sheet setup, jib cut, perfect varnish job in the salon, etc. He keeps quantity and quality in an efficient, if not always satisfying, balance.
One more thing - Joe Bartlett bought a web address for my zine!!! How freakin cool is that? It's now officially jacktar.org
Oh and last night I went to a yacht club party that they have up here at the beginning of every season. I met a guy who captains charters down in Tortola for a new charter company that's actually based up here, and some real partying 40-something women who promised an action filled summer of local fisherman bringing us tons of salmon, nightly campfires next to our dock, and they themselves hang out at the beach by our dock in bikinis and boas and come down to toss or catch our lines. What a show that will be.
foggy sail
went sailing today! well it was thick fog and barely a whisper of a breeze. i think we got up to 1kt under sail... but hey, we three crew plus the cook work pretty well together. Speaking of our cook Wendy, she's incredible. A very cool woman with plenty of experience on this boat, who loves to bake - we have fresh bread or sweets at every meal, and tons of great food.
this boat is covered in bugs. i sat aft on the main boom to "cowboy" that sail, and ended up practically cushioned by a bed of dead flies. Including a fat spider that crawled out of the folds. I LOVE SPIDERS!!!....NAAAAAAHT! There must be at least five living in every deadeye. what else... oh yeah i'm putting the headrig net back together... whatever that's callled. I'm not so up on my terminology lately.
site for that pic (not our boat)
