Boston Boating Blog

Stardate May 23, 24, 25 2009 – Memorial Day Weekend ’09

Ah, one of the greatest days of the boating summer, Memorial day.  It started out ‘hot as hell’ on Friday evening and Donna and I along with our friends Kathy and Tony took a ride ‘off shore’ about 3 miles to cool off.  It was at least 20 degrees cooler near Graves Light than it was in the harbor.  It was fantastic.  This was followed by first, a fantastic parking job, again, by me, and then a few beers and not enough food.

I should also point out the great friends boat people become.  I arrived at the boat on Friday to find my water pump not working – I am sure some sort of user error on my part.  That said, I had no shortage of people offering to help me fix / replace it and offering up tools and tape.  On Saturday I picked up a new water pump – it was too choppy to go for a ride anyway, and by Saturday afternoon, the pump was replace and Donna, her friend Megan, her daughter Isabella and her friend and I all went for a nice boat ride.

We ended up near Winthrop and notices a boater (small motor boat) in distress.  His engine wouldn’t start, so we gave him a tow back into Winthrop harbor and he was most thankful.  See, I knew those captain’s classes would come in handy and SeaTow missed out on a few bucks.

Sunday was the day.  The E Dock Cookfest.  Way too much meat, and way to much Jamakin’me Crazy – a drink concocted by our good friend Tony.  Jamakin’me Crazy quickly turned into Jamakin’me Sleepy for some and a few caught a quick nap.

It started to rain a bit, but just as fast as it started it stopped and we were grilling again.

Uncle Herbie and Jimmy D made it down again this year.  It is always great to have them down to the dock.  They are like family now.  They know everyone and everyone knows them.

We also had a slight mishap on Sunday.  Pre-beverage even, Ms. Donna Julie herself took a dip in the water.  As she stepped off the Donna Julie II she missed the dock and went right into the water.  She is a bit black and blue, and was a bit shaken up but she is fine now.

There was also a funny story (isn’t there always).  Our good friend Steve on Dive Inn has

his favorite tin mug that every holiday he breaks it out and drinks what ever bug juice we decide to have for that weekend.  Steve loves to brag about his tin cup and how special it is and cold it keeps his drinks.  Well at some point this year Kathy and Tony found this illusive tin cup and brought one back for each of us and we surprised Steve – guess he’s not so special any more.

Then came Monday.  We followed our friends Frank and Dale in About Time as they, and Paul & Betty Ann and Steve went fishing.  Donna and I went for a ride around the Boston Harbor Islands and floated in the sunshine and relaxed for a while.

Around noon we decided to head it and, what I thought, was call it a weekend.  I radioed Frank to see if they had caught anything and they had not and were heading in to.  We got back in to the marina and deiced to fire up the George Foreman grills one more time and have a late lunch and early dinner.  It was a great afternoon to wrap up a

perfect weekend.  Mike and Ryan sat around telling us about their ‘Top Ten Day’ and how they had a ‘Top Ten Day’ (see Ryan’s post).  Not sure we had a ‘Top Ten Day’  but each day was pretty fantastic.

As my dad always says, a bad day on the water is better than any good day at work.  A men to that!

Check out this quick video I made on Animoto (you have to check it out www.animoto.com) of the weekend.

Looking forward to the 4th of July.  Not to say that next weekend wont be as great!

Posted by Captain SteveK

* Another great post by Ryan!  Thanks man for making this blog special!

Many great conversation have developed while sitting around E Dock at Constitution Marina. This past Memorial day was no exception. This weekend we sat around discussing what we like to call “Top Ten Days”. For those of you who are not sure of the definition, it is simply put, one of the best ten days in your life. The fun part of this term is that those days can change as you experience new things or can stay based on the importance or significance of the day. It is also great to sit around with good friends and share those days like we did this past Monday. The best part is to look back at the ‘Top Ten Days’ and remember why they were great. I will not go into specific details of my last ‘Top Ten Day’ in order to protect certain individuals future political careers, however, what made this particular data a Top Ten Day is very simple. First, we were on a boat which is always a great start. Second, I was with some great friends who always make you laugh. Third, our Captain on Second Beach Kevin took us to a destination we had never been to before. Fourth, we met new people some we will never run into again while others will become friends for a long long time. Fifth, and perhaps the most important, at some point during the day, I think everyone on that boat at one point or another thought to him or herself, “There is no place I would rather be then here.” I will leave you all with this final thought, continue to look for your “Top Ten Days”, and when you need to, remember the ones you have had. I bet they will always make you smile.

Ryan Chmiel

There was no large flat screen TV or comfortable overstuffed chairs. We were not at one of the many spectacular sports bars that the city of Boston has. To be honest with you the weather was not even that great. To make things even worse in my initial description of the evening the Bruins lost in overtime. However watching a play-off hockey game on the back of my boat a few hundred yards from the Garden with four really good friends is tough to top. The marina can bring together people who would normally never know each other if not brought together through a love of boats and the water. So for me sitting on the back of the boat with some Canadian Beer and bags of chips and watching the game on a 19″ TV was perfect. Thanks for joining me that evening Paul, Sacco, Mike, and Steve I had a great time and look forward to many more.

Posted by Ryan Chmiel

Stardate May 2nd / 3rd 2009

After my trip to Fan Pier I took a ride over to our marina and the whole gang is back in town.

The black boat on the left is The Donna Julie II (ours) the one in the middle is About Time, Frank and Dale’s boat and the one on the right is Reel Pursuit – Betty Ann and Paul’s boat from Reel Pursuit Fishing Charters (and a link on the right hand side of my blog) and I encourage you, if your looking for a GREAT fishing charter to give Paul a call.  He and his first mate Scott (fisherman on the weekends and a local fire fighter during the week) will give you the best fishing trip in Boston Harbor.

And across from us, not shown in the above photo is Pipe Dream II, Tony and Kathy’s boat.  We are all very much looking forward to a very fun summer.

Stay tuned, there is much more to come, and check out some entries from some guest contributors to the blog.  Ryan Chmiel added a contribution just the other day.

Stay safe.

Posted by Captain SteveK

Stardate May 2nd / 3rd 2009

It’s like saying “if you can’t beat them, join them.”  For any of you who don’t know the clash between power boaters and sailboaters, well, lets just say, we all have to agree to disagree.  Last weekend we didn’t do much boating, between getting some rest and not really sure what the weather was going to do we did some work around the house and took Donna’s mom to a dance show on Sunday, Alvin Ailey, it was very good.  So on Saturday, I took a ride down to the Volvo Ocean Race Pavilion in Boston at Fan Pier.  I have to say I was amazed.

First, they had a number of venues there from each racing sponsor.  Puma, the American boat has a building built out of shipping containers and it was a party bar.  Ericsson has a building you can walk through and a section of the building they have a mock ‘inside of the hull’ of these sailing vessels so you can see how these guys live while at sea for a month.  The Chinese and Irish have a place to purchase racing gear and I hear on Wed May 13, the Irish are hosting a pretty big evening on Fan Peir with Irish step dancing and the works (I hope to catch that one).  There are rides for kids, there is food, the folks from Sam Adams are there (for the adults), Volvo has a large building there sharing the events of the race (and they have a lego Volvo, actual size) and a host of other events.  I was very impressed with all of the activities they have for folks, I HIGHLY encourage you to take a look, this is the last week they are in town before they take off to Galway Ireland on Saturday the 16th.

Additionally, they had all the boats out of the water and you could walk around these boats and see their shape (and some dings these boats get while sailing.)  They also had all of their masts laid out and were inspecting them as well.  These boats are made out of carbon fiber.  Nice and light but brittle, when they hit something, they tend to break.

These boats are truly works of art and the guys that sail them and their teams are are pretty special group of folks.  I don’t have much more to say about them other than thanks for making Boston a stop on your way around the world.  I gained a whole new respect for sailing (at least the way you guys sail) and hope you come back to our town again.  GO PUMA!

Posted by Captain SteveK

Captain’s Blog – Stardate 4/24 – 4/27 2009

Let me set it up for you – here was the outlook on the water for this weekend so lets just say we were very excited to be on the water this weekend.  The weather was to be summer like all weekend and it was.  First, we spent the evening on the boat on Friday getting ready for a nice weekend.  It was great to see everyone and we had Donna’s friend Catlin and her new boyfriend out for a lovely evening cruise.  It was great.  Seeing Boston Harbor in the evening from the water is beautiful.  We spent the night and then the next day Donna and I took a ride up to Danversport Yacht club to see the new Cobalt 37 (that is for sale by our friends at East Coast Flight Craft) in the water.  I was supposed to test drive it on Friday, however a few technical difficulties, as well as  time, didn’t give me the chance to take it for a spin.  That is okay, when it is time to upgrade, that will be the vessel.  Here is a shot of what she looks

like in the water.  It truly is a beautiful boat.  It was a great day for a ride too.  First things first, we needed to fuel up at our favorite fuel dock, Mystic Fuel (I mention them because they are really great – friendly and fair, good service and the place is very clean), so 125 gallons later (at $2.60 a gallon, and they aren’t taking my $.20/gallon discount card this year) we shoved off.  It was warm and it was nice to take a long ride from Boston to Danversport.  We even went though the bridge in Salem that needs to swing open.  The boat also ran fantastic.  We are starting the summer with 290 hours on the boat and we shall see what we get for time on the boat this summer.

Here is a photo of me, proud as the day is long on our journey.  After our trip north, we came back and hit another one of our favorite spots which is an inlet near Peddock Island in Boston Harbor.  We anchored and had some lunch and read some magazines.  Very relaxing.   That night we felt like we had sun stroke so we had dinner at the 99 restaurant in Charlestown and then hit Target for some snacks and supplies – like a nice movie to watch that evening.  I have to say we fell asleep right away.

The next morning we hung out with our friends at the marina for a bit – they are called out below and affectionately called, the “Cast of Characters” (see below).  There were a bunch of people saying that the boats from the Volvo Ocean Race would be coming in that day around noon.  Donna and I didn’t know what that was but after a few questions, we were told that some big sailing race boats were coming into the harbor.  Well, they didn’t make it at noon, but some friends of ours did.   We got a call from our friends Paul and Betty Ann (Paul runs Reel Pursuit Charter Fishing and is docked next to us) and they had come to the marina for a visit – as Paul’s boat isn’t in the water yet.  Donna and I picked up Paul and Betty Ann and we then ventured back into a nice leisurely trip around Boston Harbor and Spectacle Island.  On the way back, around 4PM we saw the Ericsson 4 Sailboat come into the

harbor near Deer Island Light, which marked the end of the journey to Boston for these guys after a month or so at sea.  It was pretty amazing, they had 2 ‘protector’ boats around them, 2 Coast Guard boats and the MA State Police.  Once the boat got into Boston Harbor near Logan Airport the Boston Fire Boat lit off it’s hoses and gave them a real parade through the harbor.  There must have been 30 other boat around them as you can see in the photos.

We then headed back to the marina to call it a weekend after a tremendous day on the water.  We got back and for the 3rd straight time, I have been able to easily dock the boat, I think I am finally getting the hang of it.  We cleaned the boat down and sure enough it became a cast of characters evening.  We started out having a couple of cocktails and before you knew it, 2, became 3, became 4 and we were laughing and having a grand old time.  We even laid out a secret plan to ‘Jack Rabbit’

people that miss behave at the marina this year – more on that later, but don’t get caught miss behaving.  The other strange thing was it went from 88 degrees while the sun was up to about 40 degrees, it was freezing and here you can see Mike and I bundled up, float coats and blanket.  It finally got too cold and the next day was a work day so we buttoned up the boat, said good bye to our friends and we are looking forward to perhaps a nice Thursday evening cruise and another fun weekend next weekend.  That is all for now.

Posted by Captain SteveK

The ‘Cast of Characters’ from E Dock

Stevie - Dive In - NICE!

Ryan - Life Less Ordinary

Mike - no name - Working hard!

There will be more photo’s of the cast of characters as the summer rolls along so stay tuned, and thanks for all your comments and feedback.

Captain’s Blog – Stardate April 19, 2009

(Late post) – After not heading to the boat all day on Saturday for fear of rain, Donna and I went down and spent the day at the boat and marina on Sunday.  We cleaned her up – spic and span and she is REALLY ready for a great season.  We also spent some time getting caught up with some of our pals; Steve from Dive In and Ryan from Life Less Ordinary.  We had some drinks, dinner and spent the night on the boat.  The new mattress pad worked out super well so I thank the folks at Portland Boat Mattress.  I watched Miracle (for the 40th time) and fell asleep.  We woke up to a cold Monday – Patriots day but we had a nice time walking around Boston and going to the IMAX at the aquarium.

This weekend is supposed to be ROCKEN… 75 to 90 degrees all weekend.  Time for some boating.  Also, all the folks from the slips around us will be in so I am sure there will be some fun times.  Donna and I are also going to take the 37′ Cobalt out for a drive, just for fun and to dream…

Catch up with me after the weekend for an update on what happened and follow CaptainSteveK on Twitter for real time updates.

Posted by Captain SteveK

Captain’s Blog – Stardate April 17, 2009

There it is, look at that weather post for yesterday.  Easily the best day of the season so far.  After a failed attempt last weekend – due to an torrential downpour, we postponed the boat launch until today.  I headed to the marina at 6:30 am, took a taxi to East Coast Flight Craft (where I have the boat serviced – and they do an outstanding job) where we would take the boat to Salem for an early launch on a high tide.

I happened to mention to Dale, great service guy at East Coast, that last year one of my trim tabs had stopped working, so in a jiffy, Dale did some troubleshooting and found the problem.  This put us behind schedule about 2 hours, but it was well worth it in the end.

We trailered the boat through Middelton and Danvers and launched the boat in Danvers.  Every thing went smooth.  Boat was waxed and looking sharp, it started right up when we put it in the water, I backed it off the trailer and was on my way at about 10:30.  It was warm, and sunny, and the water was nice a calm.  I brought the boat out the channel and after the no wake zone fired her up to about 2800 rpms and in no time flat was easily doing 30 knots.  I took the boat around to Presidents Row in Boston Harbor in about 45 min where I coasted in the rest of the way at about 10 knots and enjoyed being one of the only boats in the harbor.  I gave a call to Donna Julie, working in HER new showroom at Venegas and Company in the Boston Design Center.  I drove by the ICA, the New England Aquarium and the left side of the shoreline.  I put up all the ropes and fenders and called in to Constitutuion Marina on Channel 69 so see if my slip was ready to pull into.  It was, and with that I headed down the fairway and – all by myself, put the boat in to slip E 60.  I washed her down, powered her up, and covered her and we are now, officially ready to start the 2009 boating season.  Stay tuned for more updates and follow Captain SteveK on twitter for updates.

Posted by Captain SteveK