Sunday, November 28, 2010

More Tough Turkeys -

Well, I was joking in my last post about Brooklyn turkeys being tough, but apparently the ones you REALLY don't want to mess with are the Staten Island variety!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Suggestion: Escape from Black Friday!


Just one of the many, many, many appropriate Black Friday escape routes that are out there - just follow the blazes!

Busy today, so I thought I would swipe my own current Facebook status for a blog post!

Looking forward to Thanksgiving - and maybe even more to our annual Escape from Black Friday! After a day of overindulgence, there's nothing better than skipping the madness at the malls & heading to a park for a good long hike, or the shore for a paddle or a sail. I highly recommend it - seriously, is the money you're going to save really worth the stress? Escape from Black Friday - try it, you'll like it!

Monday, November 22, 2010

New York Harbor Lighted Boat Parade - This Saturday

Hey, I KNEW there was an upcoming event I wanted to post about!

This coming Saturday, the one right after Thanksgiving, head to the waterfront (or buy a ticket to get right on board) for the annual Holiday Lighted Boat Parade! Full details here. Thanks to Captain Sarah at Classic Harbor Lines for the heads-up!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Soundbounder Checks Out Hauled-Out Clearwater

Swamped swamped swamped here at work, but just couldn't resist tossing up a quick post with a link to Soundbounder. Matthew is up in CT & when he heard that the sloop Clearwater was being hauled out in Norwalk, he made a trip to check out her bottom.

Wait, that doesn't sound right...

BTW, Matthew's photos remind me of a T.C. Boyle novel that people who are interested in the Hudson River Valley might really enjoy - World's End. I was actually first attracted to it by the name - there are a lot of great names along the Hudson (Crum's Elbow - Anthony's Nose - Storm King - Breakneck Ridge - wonderful, eh?) and World's End is one of my favorites - it's also one of the most beautiful spots on the Hudson, where the river bends sharply at West Point. Loved the story - actually it's more like 2, the novel is set in 2 separate centuries - you see storylines getting kicked off among the 17th century Dutch & Indian inhabitants of the area, and how their Woodstock-era descendants play out the historical legacies of their forefathers. Wish I had a little more time to tell you about it, but I'm reminded of it because it does feature a sloop that's built by a local folksinger who wants to bring people's attention to the environmental crisis that's threatening the Hudson.

All resemblances to actual folksingers & sloops, living or living, are, I'm sure, entirely intentional.

ps - welcome back, Dennis G. Moonstruck!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Just in on NYCKayaker - How to Vote for a New Boathouse

This just in on one of my favorite local paddling email lists, nyckayaker. Good luck, Dewey & company - always exciting to have a potential new boathouse in the works! I've actually been meaning to post about these guys for months now & I'm glad to pass this along:

How To Vote for a New Boathouse on Newtown Creek

The City Parks Foundation is now soliciting "community support" for proposals for the 7 million in Environmental Benefit Project (EBP) funds they received from the EC as compensation to the community affected by delays and violations in the Construction (still ongoing) of the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant.

The Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks & Planning, in coordination with the North Brooklyn Boat Club (and 40 other local organizations) has proposed the Greenpoint Boathouse and Environmental Education Center. It would refurbish the (currently broken and off-limits) bulkhead and renovate the (currently empty) ground floor space of the GMDC (Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center) building on the Newtown Creek, right where Manhattan Avenue starts. For more information about the proposal, check out: NorthBrooklynBoatClub.Org.

To vote for this terrific project, here's how the CPF explains how to do it:

"You will be able to express your preferences about which projects you would like funded in one of two ways. If you attended one of the three public meetings on the project (and were therefore added to our e-mail list by October 26th), you will be able to communicate your preferences via e-mail. More information about the process will be sent to you within a few weeks.

Others may go to one of two locations to express your preferences:

On Wednesday, December 1st, from 3pm to 8pm, we will be at Queens Library (Court Square) at 25-01 Jackson Avenue

On Thursday, December 2nd, from 3pm to 8pm, we will be at PS34 in Brooklyn, at 131 Norman Avenue (near McGuinness Boulevard)

City Parks Foundation staff will be at both locations to answer questions about the projects and the process. You may only vote once."

And thanks for your support!


Dewey Thompson
North Brooklyn Boat Club
www.northbrooklynboatclub.org

claymation plus one

Well, it turns out that the crazy cast of characters was actually short one - there's a little pink heart girl who inadvertently got left out in the editing process. She's back in now & the official final cut can be seen here!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

And speaking of admiring boats...

Hey guys...


Wat'cha watchin'?


Ooooohhhh!


It was a particularly rewarding workday for the Sebago Sailing Committee today - it's not just every day that a boat is resurrected!

This 420 has been on the grounds for several years after being donated by a club member a few years back. Unfortunately, for various reasons (primarily lack of knowledge about how to use the boat combined with plenty of boats that people DID know how to use), she's languished on her trailer gathering grime ever since them. A couple of us who have sail-curious family or significant others have looked at her with a lot of interest but none of us really had the time, energy, or skill to spearhead the process of getting her back into working order.

Well, among the numerous sailors who've joined the club this year are a couple of gentleman who have actually sailed these - and so today, they brought her back to life!

It turned out not to be all that difficult, either - listening to the guys talk, there are some structural repairs that need to be done before the boat can be put to regular use - but all the pieces were there & by the early afternoon, they'd gotten her fully rigged & deemed her ready for a trial spin on the Paerdegat - and there she is!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Mystery Boat Update - DoryMan solved it!

Hiya! Crazy week at work here but I DID want to toss out a quick lunchtime post here mentioning that DoryMan did, in the end, manage to get a positive identification for that boat I was admiring in Cape Cod. The guy has more contacts!

ID & a link to some photos under sail were towards the end of the comments in the "Perspective" post.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

NYICFF - "The Audition!" (featuring my seal along with a whole CREW of crazy characters!)


The end result of a fantastically fun evening at Barry Rosenthal Studio, where a bunch of grown-ups gathered last Thursday to "play with clay, drink cocktails, and make a movie!" The event was a benefit for one of my favorite not-for-profits, the New York International Children's Film Festival (a search of this blog will find raves about Sita Sings the Blues and The Secret of Kells -- in fact at this point perhaps I should give in and add "Animation" to my tag category, there's enough to earn it now, I think), the animation was done under the guidance of filmmakers Andy & Carolyn London of London Squared, and the characters came straight out of our imaginations! A fabulous evening doing something I've always always ALWAYS wanted to try. I AM going to do a Frogma post about it but the Finished Product came out today and I just couldn't wait to show this off! Watch for my seal!

Monday, November 08, 2010

Any landing you walk away from may be good one...

but I think most people prefer the kind that doesn't make them pee their foulies first. Holy smokes, does that look scary!

Thank you Control Geek for that link!

Saturday, November 06, 2010

CIBBOWS Veteran's Day Charity 5K

Had a great time with Sebago clubmates Phil, Steve, Tony & a lot of other old friends at the CIBBOWS Veteran's Day Swim today!

Friday, November 05, 2010

Day In The Life of a Seal























wait 'til you see the movie he was in!

Friday evening note: And while I wait with bated breath for the final cut of the collaborative short (very short) film in which Mr. Seal here appeared, here's another wonderful sample of stop-motion animation, courtesy of My2Fish. Loved the dancing mermaid's purses!

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Perspective!


Hi! Sorry I have been a little quiet on the skutsje/non-skutsje discussion - I actually didn't think it was one but I thought TQ probably had a picture that would settle the matter better. The Wikipedia article describes skutsjen as beginning at 12 meters, and I also ended up with the impression that although some of them get some serious makeovers, a good skutsje will always retain something of the spirit of a good, solid workboat.

I think that it was very hard to tell the size of the boat in Tuesday's picture - it's actually a small sailboat that was built for purely recreational purposes. Here's the picture I thought would help. The kayak is 16 feet long, or about 4.9 meters. I suspect that the most serious cargo this little leeboard yawl ever carried was something in the picnic dinner & champagne line!

Do we all at least agree she's pretty? :D

quick update before I run off to claymation workshop - I emailed Jane & John, who run the Life At an Angle site that my friend Anonymous (he really is a friend of mine, too) had said was one of the best sites on Dutch sailing barges around, asking them if they'd come over & give their opinion - well, I just checked email, they'd taken a look & here was their response:

>
>Hi Bonnie, thanks for your email, we've had a look at your photographs
>and we are 100% sure that the little boat with the lea boards is not a
>skutsje. The bow and stern shapes are entirely different to a skutsje.
>
>It looks as though it's a purpose built sailing boat which may have been
>built for shallow water so the builder put lea boards on instead of a
>keel? It looks similar to a Cornish shrimper?
>
>Hope this helps
>
>All the best
>
>Jane and John

Must run now, but Tillerman, you should have put down a wager on this one! The resemblance is due to the boatbuilding equivalent of convergent evolution - boats designed to address the same issues sometimes end up looking similar.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Cape Cod, Day 4 - What Is It? Plus Extra Credit if you Tell Me Where I Got This Idea!


I'd planned to run through a few more days of Cape Cod fun tonight, but I totally screwed up my day by waking up and deciding that things were enough under control at work that I didn't really have to go vote at 7 am. Ha ha ha. The work expanded during the day, as it is sometimes wont to do, so now I have to get up early to finish what I left unfinished in order to get to my polling place on time tonight. Oh well, at least we don't get Paladino. Ick. So, not so much time to blog tonight as I had hoped for.

However, I was doing a little blog-surfing last night & I ran across a blog that had a lovely sailing photo contest, and in the midst of their entries there a photo of an unusual-looking small sailboat that the blogger had seen in Cape Cod that he or she was curious enough to post & ask if anyone coud say what it was (turned out to be a Friendship Sloop). Well, by pure coincidence I also had a photo of an unusual-looking small sailboat that TQ & I had admired in Cape Cod, during our stormy-day paddle up the quiet, sheltered reaches of the Mashpee River. I thought "What a great idea for a short post!", and here I have a night where the post needs must be short, so - here she is! Isn't she striking? TQ noticed that it's almost like a giant sailing canoe, what with the leeboards & the shape of the bow. Must be gorgeous under sail. Anyways, if anyone knows anything about what kind of boat this is, I'd love to hear about it, just leave the info in the comments & I'll bring it up here to share as soon as I see it.

And seriously, if anyone can tell me what blog I got this idea from, that would be very nice too - I would love to link but I cannot for the life of me remember the blog's name!

Wednesday morning note - Sincere thanks to Tillerman for identifying my mystery blog - it was Boat de Jour, and here was HIS mystery sailboat! BTW it was either really late or I was really blown away by the sailing photo contest because I managed to totally not notice the name of the blogger, Captain Puffy Pants. I would not have had ANY problem remembering THAT name, since Captain Puffy Pants happened to be the author of one of my favorite entries EVER in a Proper Course Writing Challenge - Setting the Record Straight or Capt. Puffy Pants Eats Crow, written for Tillerman's November '09 Love and Sailing challenge. There were a some great entries for that one -- It's A Rock was another particular favorite of mine -- but Capt. Puffy Pants's entry proved to be the all-around, hands-down favorite & I enjoyed it very much.

Monday, November 01, 2010

Cannons and a little more New Bedford-Fairhaven Harbor

OK, Dan wants cannons, and there were a few more New Bedford-Fairhaven Harbor points of interest, so I'll post a few more pictures from Day 1.

I think Dave & Dan called this "Steel Island". Apparently a long time ago, a local scrap company bought them & parked them there. They're still sort of taking care of them - at least enought to pump out the water & keep them from sinking -



maybe they're trying to grow their own Robert Smithson?

2005 recreation of Robert Smithson's "Floating Island" - this was a rather odd & fun thing to see being towed around Manhattan!

They have a genuine antique swing-bridge run by genuine antique swing-bridge-operators...no, I'm kidding, the operators are not antique, but we did hear some funny stories about the importance of swing bridge operator/boater diplomacy, and even funnier stories about failures in swing bridge operator/boater diplomacy (guess who's got the upper hand in those? muahahahaaaa!)
They have two nice little lighthouses -
and some Sunday afternoon Laser racing -
And I was very impressed by the New Bedford fishing fleet. Don't think I've ever seen a working fishing fleet anywhere near that size (I'm sure there are larger ones but not anywhere I've visited). Forgot to ask Dan whether they all go out at the same time but it must be an impressive sight if they do.






And when the sun comes out at the end of the day, you can see why they call it Fairhaven. Look how nice.

Oh, yes, and about those cannons - they have some of those too, at Fort Phoenix, one of 2 Revolutionary War-era forts that stand at the mouth of the harbor.

Dan, did you want this cannon (the one we posed with) -

or this one, the John Paul Jones cannon, the only original Revolutionary War-era cannon left in the fort? The larger ones were installed around the Civil War, but this one was one that was captured from the British in the Bahamas during the revolution; the British captured the fort in 1778 & the rest were smashed but this one survived more or less intact.
You can read more about the fort's history here.

There. Dan, did I miss anything important?


:D

And I think that with that I'm going to call it a night - internet connection keeps cutting out on me, and anyways I want to try to go vote before work so I can work late if I need to. Vacation is wonderful, but the week before or the week after? Bleah!