The RIght Tool for the Job

In a joint iinitiative, NOAA and the EPA  promote a voluntary incentive based program known as the Clean Marina Program. After developing environmentally sound programs for fuel and waste management, marinas may apply to become recognized as environmental stewards. Once recognized, they are more likely to avoid EPA fines, sustain improved water quality and habitat for wildlife and customers, plus,they gain rights to the official clean marina logo and complimentary marketing under the Clean Marina byline.  It appears the federally legislated Clean Water Act of 1972 and revision of 1978 needed an updated approach which requires less administration and more active engagement by those in strategic locations to source pollution.

With all this green attention, it is really surprising to see what still washes up. Honestly, it's such a sin; the mess actually stirs recollections of the anti-pollution PSA of the 1970's featuring the crying American Indian.

And just when I thought a net might be in order, the cavalry arrived to save the day. 

How did I miss this invention? It's the closest thing to a street sweeper you'll find on the water. This device has big arms in front that essentially sweep the debris off the water surface, then collects and stores it. I'm presuming there is an environmentally sound endpoint for all that rubbish too.
Not perfect, but there was much less visible pollution in the post-sweep vs the pre-sweep view to our stern.

BTW, Seven Seas Cruising Association, at SSCA.org, for the last 60 years has embodied he tradition of leaving a clean wake long before it was fashionable. Actively respecting others and the shared environment is a most cherished attribute of the organization which warmly welcomes active cruisers and armchair sailors alike.The annual dues are an excellent value (check out the site), but the members are priceless.  

A Successful Labor Day

Any hard working galley wench will recognize this beauty...

This raw water foot pump at the galley sink is the latest improvement for SeaSpan.
While I would never consider using this in the harbor here in Balto, I am sure in clear Caribbean waters, it will almost make doing dishes fun (right.)
We "labored" over the installation, but it is now 100% functional.
It is time tested as well, which is to say, we picked it up at a chandlery consigment shop.  Those of us who have classic plastic, read old fiberglass boats, visit such haunts when in new ports for spare parts and miscellany. During our stop in Oriental NC, our new friend Doug gave us a lift to the chandlery, where a treasure hunt yielded the pump, port and starboard running lights, and a hard to find downwind pole. All in great condition at competitive pricing. Doug was even kind enough to return us, the 13 foot pole and other finds back to our dock in his truck.  Aren't sailors wonderful?

Waning Summer

The days are gradually getting shorter.  The skies more cloudy, and the temperatures are cooling.  Summer has been fun, but it is waning in the mid-Atlantic states.  Time for us to think about what's next.

What's next is a lot of boat work in order to be ready to move on!  The next few entries in our blog are likely to show us head-down in a compartment or bilge space, a troubled or worried look on our faces.  Let us tell you, it has been a LONG LONG time since Elise and Jeff have worried about a coming winter. It has become, already, the start of a race against time! We won't panic until the geese start flying in vees overhead; when does that happen??  

Alas, it is still summer, and we are going to hang on to it as long as we can.  This weekend we enjoyed a sunset at the lake in Columbia

                                            Wilde Lake, Columbia

 Jeff made a trip with his sister-in-law, niece, and nephew to Hersheypark to celebrate nephew Elliot's 16th B-day in style with a posse of Elliot's friends.  I'd post a pic of Elliot and the boys, but we never saw them all day at the park!

Emily, 13, prepares to ride the Comet

CHICAGO

Jumped in Elise's little red roadster and took a little trip to Chicago a couple weeks ago to see Elise's sister Clare, and her husband, Bob.  They were throwing a big Saturday night party to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary and we were going to get to see their beautiful new (to them) Lakeview East home.  We had a great time and Clare and Bob couldn't have been better hosts -- they are great family!  Guests from Florida came, too, and we enjoyed getting to know Bob and Clare's newer and long-term friends a little better.  Thanks for including us!

One watches the people in Chicago on TV in the winter time; in a penguin huddle waiting for the "L," or some poor sap harpooned on the sidewalk by falling ice from above, pedestrians in danger of being blown into traffic by the whipping snowstorm.  Why do they live there by the millions?  The answer is summer!

Chicago seems to be a GIGANTIC small town.  Festivals, activities, school and the action draw the young to live there in great hordes.  Public transit is fantastic, arts and culture are world class, and it is quite scenic.  OK, we can see the vision now.  We'll visit in summer, may even get a place and stay for summer some time.

Imagine our surprise when we found the Pride of Baltimore II making a weekend port call at Chicago while we were there.

To Bermuda AND BACK in 5 days!!!

Norman and Sylvia Hazzard

The folks were married on August 12, 1961, so this month they've been married for 50 years.  We cruised to Bermuda together on an ocean liner and threw a big party. 

None of the 2300 passengers on that enormous ship were more grateful than the two of us to be able to turn off the lights, tuck into bed, and sleep for 8 hours uninterrupted as the ship made 160 miles good for Bermuda through the night!  A 500 mile day at sea; can you imagine??!!??  "Rough seas" made some feel ill as we crossed the Gulf Stream; Elise and I shared knowing smiles in public and giggles in private at the notion that we were experiencing rough seas.  Let's summize there were no lee cloths, no wetted table cloths, no spilled dinner wine, and no crawling on the cabin sole necessary.  We can now attest that 1000 foot long ships steaming at 22 kts shoulder 7 foot seas with aplomb. 

Dock Yard, Bermuda

Hamilton, Bermuda ferry landing

Horseshoe Beach, Bermuda

Looking southwest from Horseshoe Cove Beach

Evening in Victoria Park, Harmilton, Bermuda

New York Roots

New York is not just the Big Apple.  There is another part; upstate, agrarian, and bucolic.  That's the part Norman, my (Jeff's) dad, hails from.  A hidden gem nestled in the very southwest corner where the natives like to say they have 4 seasons  -- June, July, August, and winter! 

Farmland all over the country is reverting to forest and the family dairy farm is mostly a museum exhibit.  But also, the "plain people" (Amish and others) continue family farming and are buying up farmland in sizeable numbers. 

family barn (now sold)

Our family is still there, as is the land.  From my cousin Randy and Aunt Audrey's yard, you can see the family farm; the barn still stands across the road.  The house where my grandparents lived and died is within sight on the crest of the next hill.  On the knoll beyond that house is the house where my grandfather was born.  And over the next crest is the homestead of great great grandparents.  Returning there, to the Town of Busti, gives me a since of belonging, connection with our past.  And on that rare summer day, when the breeze blows clear from Canada across the lake, there is no better place to be. 

Norman and Randy run the tractor

Amish family at the village crossroads

So Long Irene

Earthquakes, Hurricanes...all in the same week? Yikes.
What are we doing here??

Thanks for the texts, calls and emails of concern. All seems essentially well at slip P58. Great. Now we can move on to "the list."  Anyone have experience replacing a mast boot?

Sorry for the quality of the video clip, it was still pretty breezy creating lots of motion on our floating dock Saturday morning.
I will never complain again about slogging to weather again; this poor guy had a tough day too.

Baltimore Renaissance

When Jeff moved away from here in April, 1987, the city was in perilous decline.  Jeff's brother, Frank, described it as being "in the big swirl" and little hope was held out for the city to be anything more than a larger version of Camden, NJ.  But, a miracle has taken hold since then.
 Honest-to-John literate taxpayers with real jobs and aspirations for the future have moved to town.  Canton, the "Harbor East" neighborhood, as it is chic-ly known now, is thriving.  Federal Hill, Locust Point, and the near south neighborhoods are quickly gaining ground, too.  Talk about a Lazarus of a city!  Baltimore still has 40,000 vacant rowhouses, and a serious drug and crime problem, but for the first time in 40 years, it has hope!  Down, but not out, Baltimore is making a comeback.
 Very nice to see from the cockpit of our boat.

Never too old to be parented

Dad cutting my hair after 7 weeks, here is the pile of hair he cut off my head.  It is better than ever to go home again, I think you appreciate it more when you are middle aged yourself than when you are a boomerang 20-something.  It's been great to sleep in air conditioning with a real bed and to get served meals as only your mom can make.  Hope the boat is ok on its own!

Think Baltimore, think red bricks!

We made it!  We arrived on July 3rd, Pete and Jeff sailing up the harbor for a grand entrance.  The city is celebrating the very patriotic story of Francis Scott Key writing the words of our national anthem while held captive on a British ship in the harbor.  Ft. McHenry stood sentry for the city and faught off the fierce bombardment, the American flag still streaming in the dawn's early light.  Just as we neared the fort, the staff fired off one of the cannon.  WOW!  The flames errupting from the gun and the noise you felt in the chest, along with the pall of smoke blowing downwind were very impressive.  No wonder the British were stopped short of Baltimore.  Ft. McHenry saved the largest port in the Americas, and the people never forgot it, resisting all attempts to use the land for anything else over these 200 years.  Pete said the cannon salute was for me, returning to my hometown after nearly 25 years.  Yeah, right...I don't think so.  The pictures are of the marine buoy marking the exact spot Key was during the battle, the fort still guarding the entrance to the harbor, SeaSpan at rest in her Baltimore slip, and the red brick rowhouses that start at the harbor and cover the city.  Baltimore is a BRICK city.  Nearly every building and some of the streets and sidewalks are made of red bricks.  Hundreds of millions of bricks; how cool is that??