Oct 19, 2008

I'm still here at Gibson Island and working on the boat some and sort of just enjoying the fall the rest of the time. There were a few spots of rust here and there on the deck that I needed to touch up so I've been working on those. Some were on the chainplates that are used to attach the standing rigging to the hull. Since they hold up the mast, I couldn't do all of them at the same time or the mast would fall down. So they need to be done is stages. After finishing the first stage, I took a couple of days off and went to Baltimore on Alegria with my friend Natalie and Christine, one of her friends. We were planning on staying at the City Docks in the inner harbor of Baltimore but when we got there we found that the Fells Point annual celebration was going on. It draws a huge crowd, last year they estimated 700,000 people, and there docks were pretty full. We finally got tucked in behind a set of pilings and were quite secure right in front of the Intercontinental Hotel. It was getting sort of late so we decided to stay pretty close to the boat and went up on Federal Hill for dinner. We ended up at a really good Thai restaurant and had a great meal. There was lots going on around the inner harbor and we sat around enjoying the evening. Alegria is a pretty boat and draws a lot of attention with lots of people stopping to talk about it. In the morning we walked back up Federal Hill for breakfast and then around the inner harbor for a while.

One place I really like is the American Visionary Museum. It is an art gallery with shows that change quite frequently. We didn't have time to go through the gallery but took a few pictures on the grounds. One "sculpture" I really like is the bird nest that is built around a small balcony. It's all forged stainless steel and I find it quite fascinating. The picture next to the nest is a gate that is also made of forged stainless steel. The next one is of a small rock sculpture and in the background is the world's largest whirligig, a wind driven kinetic sculpture.

I have been getting ready to head south again and doing some provisioning. There are still a few things I want to do before I leave but nothing really critical. I did buy a SPOT satellite personal tracker. It is a little unit with a GPS and a satellite phone. It has several modes of operation. One is a "911" function that when I push the button will determine my position and then transmit it to the GOES people who will contact the appropriate rescue personnel and send help. There is also a "Help" function that will send a preset message to any emails or text messaging phones that I have setup. Then the people who get the message will arrange for help. It is designed for when I need some help but am not in immediate danger. There is a "Check In" function that sends a message to the preset emails and phones that gives my position and says that I'm OK and just checking in. The last is a tracking function that sends my position to GOES every ten minutes and they post it on a web site that anyone can access if they have the URL. The URL is:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=05TtARmdo9GxOZzCzOmqhf0KLj9Kh9tkO

If you're interested, just cut and paste the above URL into the Address section of your browser. The data stays on the web site for 30 days before being deleted. I've used it a couple of times to make sure I know how to use it and it seems to work well although I did have one trip where it couldn't seem to find satellites.

One of the times I used the SPOT was last week when I went into Washington, DC, for a few days of site seeing. I had not been in Washington for over thirty years and Natalie offered to put me up at her place for a few days and even left her car here so I could drive in. Her condo is really nice. It is in an old Masonic Temple that has been converted to condos and is in a great location on Capital Hill only a few blocks from Union Station. The area has been mostly renovated and is full of beautiful townhomes. From her condo, you can see the Capital Bldg, the Washington Monument, Union Station and lots of buildings I don't know. I spent a few days doing all the tourist things and had a great time. The weather was nice and with the schools in session, the crowds weren't too bad. I spent most of my time around the Mall and the Smithsonian. I went through Union Station, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the American Indian Museum, the National Gallery of Art (two buildings), the US Botanical Gardens, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Castle and down to the river by the Capital Yacht Club. I also made it to the National Building Museum, the Marion Koshland Science Museum and the Japanese American Memorial. The last picture bellow is in the National Gallery of Art and is of something near and dear to my heart. It's by Frank Stella and is titled "La scienza della fiacca" or the "The science of laziness." I've been studying it for several years! Natalie took some time off and we went out to Dulles Airport to the new Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA. There is an incredible amount of things to do in Washington. We were in town for the last Presidential debate. Natalie is a member of the National Press Club and we went there for dinner and to watch the debate. Very interesting. For some reason I had expected the press to be more McCain supporters but they seemed to be very out numbered by Obama supporters.

I'll probably leave here about the end of Oct and start down the Chesapeake. Steve Applegate is planning on going as far as Norfolk. After that it's offshore going close to Bermuda and then south to St John. It's been a nice summer with the trip to Maine and the little excursions around here even though I did a LOT of work on the boat.

Oct 28, 2008

I'm still here at the boatyard. It has been considerably colder than normal for the last week and I'm tired of it. I did the prep work on some rust spots on the deck before it got to cold to paint. I'll finish up after I get to St John.

Last weekend I went to Annapolis with Natalie and her friend Wanda for the Lord Nelson Victory Tug rendezvous. There were nine other LNVTs there from as far away as Cape Cod and a few owners who flew in to attend the various events. It was pretty impressive to see seven of them lined up along "Ego Alley" in Annapolis. We got there a little late and there wasn't room for us in the line so we were across the channel from the rest of the group. Alegria in the backgound in the picture on the right. The wind was really strong and was blowing the water from the bay up the Severn River to Annapolis resulting in some mild flooding. Misc. events were planned including lunch at the Reserve Fleet Club, dinner at the Annapolis Yacht Club and a great discussion group with a diesel mechanic. In between there was time to see the other boats and we managed to squeeze in a tour of the Naval Academy. The group went across the Bay to one of the owner's home for a couple of days but Natalie needed to pull Alegria for winter storage so we headed back to Gibson Island on Sunday. Monday I went with her to take the boat across the bay to pull it for the winter. The weather had turned pretty nasty with the temp in the 50s and winds about 25 to 30 knots. We had talked about moving it on Tues but it was good that we didn't since it was much worse on Tues, a little colder and the winds gusting over 50 mph. The bay was as rough as I've ever seen it.