Toward the end of May the whole gang was finally back at the Marina and the season was shaping up to be a great one.  The weather forecasts for the summer weekends were looking good and it is going to be a fun relaxing summer.  We launched the boat in April just before I was scheduled to take a trip to London (canceled due to a silly volcano in Iceland) and then to Tel-Aviv.  As many of you may know I have a new job this summer (with not nearly all the perks = time off – as I had last summer).  I am working for a company called Storwize - they do real-time data compression and I am with my good friend there Ed Walsh (the guy in the bottom left hand picture) who is our CEO.  I digress.  Needless to say I have been doing  a bit more working this summer than boating but I am sure the end of the summer will see some catching up.  Donna’s family from Peru is coming this summer and we are very excited to take them for some boat rides.

In the spirit of getting caught up, I’ll have a few short posts here just to get us back on track.  Stay tuned!

Captain Steve

Well, after a ‘late’ start – late being relative – the countdown clock said we would put the boat in the water on the 16^th but the weather was too poor.  However, the stars aligned (and a volcano went off) that canceled my trip to London so on Monday the 19^th the Donna Julie II was launched for the 2010 season.

The trip went well, and just like the day we left, the LNG tanker was leaving the harbor so we had to wait around for a while near Donna’s office (the Design Center) and then we made it into our slip.  I haven’t lost the parking touch.  We docked and we are now ready for the new season.

Next weekend I’ll be in Israel so I hope that the weather isn’t good enough for boating so I don’t miss anything.

More updates to come as it is the boating season again.

Captain Steve

So what has happened this winter?  Well, quite a lot.  Dan from East Coast Flightcraft and my buddy Brian and I all shared some season tickets to the Bruins.  Yeah, they had a crap season but it is still a nice get away for an evening.  Speaking of hockey, the US played some great hockey in the Winter Olympics this year in Vancouver but just couldn’t pull it out in the end.  Too bad, I love the Olympics, wish we could have repeated 1980.

Also, I got a new job.  I now work with the CEO from my old company at a company called Storwize.  I have never worked so hard in my career but I have to say, I have also never felt like I have been able to add so much value.  The company is great.  We do something very unique – Real-time, random access compression of data storage.  (Maybe not the most interesting topic for boaters, but a very cool technology.)  I started a new professional blog, The Storage Alchemist, The job has also brought me on my first trip to Israel (2 times) with a trip to the Gloan Heights for some wine, and I have been to London a couple of times as well, and not to mention all the travel around the US.  The boat will be a great place to unwind from the job when I get a break.

Donna’s Showroom at Venegas and Company is also EXPANDING!  That’s right, her new company is doing super well and she is growing.  You can also visit her Linked In and Facebook pages.  I am very proud of her.

Right after the 2009 season ended we took at trip to NH to visit Tony and Kathy for a send off for their daughter who joined the Navy.  Hope she is enjoying it now that she is passed bootcamp.  Also, CONGRATS to Tony and Kathy, they upgraded their boat this season.  I can’t wait to see it!

We got the blog listed on the home page for The Constitution Marina - I have to that Bruce from Save the Harbor, Save the Bay.  This year we are not only going to blog about what goes on during our fun times this summer, but we are also going to try to do a little more good and be a bit more informative about what is going on around the harbor.  I mean, we wouldn’t be having all this fun if we didn’t have the harbor to begin with right?  (I promise I won’t get ‘preachy’ – but I can’t vouch for Bruce who I have also made a contributor to the blog – Bruce, WELCOME!)  If your not big on traveling around a bunch of web sites you can always find Save the Harbor Save the Bay on Facebook and see what they are up to.

Just as a quick shameless plug, they are hosting a fund raiser on March 31, 2010 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston.  Take a quick look at the short video “Water Power” – It is two minutes and worth a watch.

As in true form I’ll give you an update on the Boston Boat Show of 2010.  It was great to see my old friends from East Coast Flightcraft (ECFC), but the overall show was not good this year.  I heard a rumor at the show that in 2009 4800 boats were repossessed in the US and now there are only 800 of these boats left.  The bad news, new boat sales are down and that makes me sad for guys like Dan at ECFC because they do such a great job with selling, service and support.  The good news, used boat prices are actually going up as the inventory goes back down, so if your looking to upgrade, get ready.

Lots of weather this winter and spring did a number to “D” dock.  My I am sure the dudes at the marina will have it all sorted by the time we bring the boats in for the summer.

Photo’s courtesy of Ryan who I am sure will be posting some great stories this summer as well.

And finally, you all have to check out the new Boston Fishing site.  Paul’s site is fresh and new and he is getting ready to have a great and prosperous fishing season.   Tell all your friends, book some corporate fishing, he has even stepped into the 20th century and even takes Paypal!  Way to go Paul, best of luck this summer and catch a ton of fish, especially tuna!

Okay gang, that is all for now.  Be prepared, I may update the face of Boston Boating Blog and I plan on doing a lot of updating, I have a new camera and video camera so there promises to be some multimedia this summer.

Can’t wait to see you on the water!

So the big delay in the blog was after the Labor Day party I took off to Germany for 2 weeks for work.  It was a great trip.  The middle weekend I ran into one of my college roommates I hadn’t seen in 18 years – since college.  He and his family are living in Munich.  Chris took me around Munich and gave me a great tour and we got caught up – it was great.

The other season, come to find out, that a bunch of us are passionate about is the hockey season.

This year my friend Brian and I have a few seats to a bunch of Bruins games.  Ryan is passionate about the B’s and on Halloween Tony, Kathy, Ryan, Paul, Betty, Frank, Dale and bunch of other folks got a box at the Bruins.  They had a blast.

We will be looking forward to the Boston Boat Show this year.  It is always fun to look at new toys.  Rumor has it that Kathy and Tony upgraded already We shall see and are anxious to check it out.

Tony and Kathy held a great party at their house in NH for their daughter who is entering the Navy.  It was great to see them, they have a great pad, and a bunch of folks from the marina showed up and we hung out and had some FANTASTIC food.

Other than that not much is going on. Donna and I frequent our favorite Korean / Japanese Restaurant in Newton called Apgujung.  Jim is the bar tender there and he is super friendly and has become a good friend.  He even helped us celebrate Labor Day at the Marina.  I highly recommend checking out the joint.  Jackie, the owner is a great guy, always makes you fell welcome and does some great experimentation w/ Sushi and other dishes.

Steve and I are also working on Paul’s new web site for Reel Pursuit.  I am psyched to do it and I hope it lives up to Paul’s expectations, we want to make it great.

Donna and I are also redoing our kitchen, well I should say Donna is redoing our kitchen and I am sure it is going to be AWESOME.  If you don’t know, Donna is a kitchen designer by trade – the best in Boston I may add and is the Owner Operator of Venegas and Company.  If you need a kitchen in and around New England, its worth a trip to the Boston Design Center and check it out.

The marina Christmas party is in a couple of weeks and that should be fun.  We have a bunch more hockey to see.  I am planning on having folks over to watch the Olympics this year.  Olympic hockey is always great.

Well, I am sure there will be lots more news between now and the Boat Show – which is usually the start of the Boating Blog for the season, however not sure there will be many updates between now and then.  So, Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday’s and Happy New Year to all.  May it be safe and I look forward to boating and blogging next season.

Captain Steve K

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

Okay, so I have gotten a lot of crap for not rounding out the end of our boating year. A lot of people have asked, “Where is the boat?”, “Did you take it out of the water?”… etc

The answer is yes, but not before one of the GREATEST boat rides ever of the summer. My sister, my wife and I made one last run to Stellwagon and let me tell you we saw some of the greatest marine life ever, including this HUGE Ocean Sunfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish). Here is Donna getting friendly with “Fred” as my sister affectionately named her / him / it…

As we got further out, we also saw a bunch of whales. In fact, my sister actually saw one jump out of the water and make the big splash while Donna and I were facing forward and missing the show. According to my sister anyway, the show was fantastic. We got pretty close to them as you can tell.
Donna also spotted a huge school of Tuna fish jumping which we weren’t as lucky to get so close too but it was amazing none the same.

We knew heading home that day, that we had one of the best days ever.

The next day Donna and I refueled the boat and headed North to Beverly where we would dock the boat one last time and our very good friends from East Coast Flight Craft would pick up the boat and store it for us over the winter.

Here is us getting ready to head North.

At least this is one guy I won’t miss this winter…

So that was our summer… It was OUTSTANDING. This winter we are really missing the boat.

Hence the title of this blog, Year End, Year Begin. What is it they say every “new year” “Out with the old, in with the new”? Well, you know what time it is? It is New England Boat Show time. That is right, January 12, to the 20th, the place where it all started a year ago is happening again.

My dad came up on Saturday and he and Donna and I walked around the show looking for that perfect vessel. We saw some interesting boats I will tell you.

Well, if you get a chance to make it to the show, maybe I will see you there. If not, I am sure I will see you in Boston Harbor – in April you can look for us, we can’t wait to get out there.

Oh, I also had a comment on one of my blogs from a guy in Florida who also owns a Cobalt. Thanks for the note. I will keep posting and hopefully people will keep reading.

Now it is time to sign up for my captains license…

Great conditions as you can see.

Air Temperature: 78 Degrees
Water Temperature: 51 Degrees – wish I had my suit.

Donna and I took the day off and did some power lounging on our power boat. We had a great day – again!

We took a ride up to Gloucester and saw some more of the sites in the harbor. We also say some big fishing trawlers heading out to drag the ocean.

We also saw various other sites while in Gloucester – a nice old wooden boat being restored, the lobsterman coming in with a flock of sea gulls and a good samaritan towing someone in.

As we headed back to Boston Donna drove. She is really getting the hang of this whole captain thing and I am really getting used to relaxing.

We took some time and floated out in the open ocean and saw the sites. The Environmental Police came out and said “hi”. Two trips two boardings. We have some safe waters here in Boston.

I figured out how to use the GPS to tell me which course to follow. I knew I would figure it out.

During our ride, we confirmed the new arrival of the Donna Julie II. We are very excited for that.

We pulled into our slip at around 6:30, and again, we did a good job parking. Now that I am used to it, I am going to throw everything off with a bigger boat. Oh well. Practice, practice, practice.

Another great day on the water.