One Last Cherry Blossom Post!

Honest! Then it's back to boats! I swear! Actually I had about as boaty a weekend as I think I could imagine having without actually leaving the dock. Tons of fun, learned a few things, was entertained by a few things, repaired a few things, planted a few things, and did a teensy spot of plotting - just no actual on-water time. Super gusty, there were practically combers rolling down the Paerdegat. I coulda gotten out my surfski & actually surfed. Things had actually settled down a bit by the time the Laser regatta prep meeting was over, and I did actually reconsider my reconsideration of pulling out the ski. We'd had a lot of rain this week & when I walked down to the (fabulous new) dock to scope things out, I noticed that the water had this sort of opaque light-green tone & distinctive reek that's a pretty surefire clue that the holding station at the end of the basin got overwhelmed & stopped holding. Inauspicious circumstances for the first run of the season in a boat that soaks your okole for you. Might try to sneak in a quick spin after the Laser regatta next week.

Well, I got kinda sidetracked from the Final Cherry Blossom Post of 2009 didn't I? As long as I'm digressing -

Check Out The DOCK! Is it not fabulous and new? It's U-shaped, I'm standing at the end of one of the arms of the U. We're gonna be able to launch a 10-person tour simultaneously. The ramp is at least twice as wide as the old one, and much longer, so it won't require Sherpa genes to get your boat up the ramp on your own at low water anymore (er, um, not that you should be paddling on your own or anything like that).

OK, now back to my last Cherry Blossom post. I know I got a little obsessed on that last week - that was partly because we had a much harder work week than I'd expected last week, plus I had to go to a City of Water Day planning meeting on Tuesday, so I was partly just being lazy & slapping up videos. But I was also just really excited that I made it, I've been living in Brooklyn for a long time & although I do go see the cherry blossoms almost every Spring, I've never managed to make it to the festival. I've always either had a conflict, or forgot about it until the week after it happened, or both. I think my list of Things I've Really Wanted To Go See While I'm Living In NYC But Never Managed To is down to:

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade (June 20th this year, I'll be missing it again, although I should mention that went to something on Saturday that I think might be an acceptable substitute - less crowded, too!)
The Coney Island New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim (unlikely to happen, that's one TQ doesn't think sounds as interesting as I do & as long as our New Year's Day date is a paddle, I'll compromise on that one)
The Working Harbor Committee's Hidden Harbor Tour.

I'd like to have another go at the annual tugboat races, since stupid kayak-storage politics, run afoul of quite unexpectedly & while still in a woozy state of recovery from a bad bad flu that day (the only reason I wasn't working on the Adirondack that day - I wasn't fit to sail yet), managed to dump some serious rain on my tugboat parade the one time I did make it.

This year I FINALLY got to the Sakura Matsuri festival, though, and I was really happy about that! I promise that after today I'll resume my more typical topics, though, I think I've satisfied my yen (ha ha) to recount the fun of the day with a full Flickr gallery!

One more video too. Ever hear a koto ensemble? Pretty neat sound, although captured by a digital camera that's not designed to do justice to something like this. I hadn't actually planned to go hear this one. I was going to go see the wisteria colonnade up by the Eastern Parkway, which would be beautiful this time of year (even the wisteria spilling into the subway cut from somebody's backyard on my way to work is breathtaking this time of year), then return to the tent for the folk dancing & stay for the Samurai Sword Soul performance & the grand finale Kimono Fashion Show. Well, I headed for the the wisteria but I never made it there because there was this amazing sound pouring out of the tent & I just got drawn in. Recorded it until I literally couldn't hold up my camera any more. Maybe you had to be there - but here's what I can share.