On July 3rd, Donna and I were headed out of the harbor for a wonderful boat ride. The sea was flat, it was really hot and I couldn’t wait to get off shore. It is usually about 10 to 15 degrees cooler off shore. As we were headed out of the harbor there was a great deal of chatter on the VHF radio, by the Coast Guard, about boats needing to go slow out by Deer Island and the South Channel. It seemed that a boat had run aground. Now this isn’t new – a lot of sail boats, not familiar with the area run aground – Donna and I have seen it a few times.
However, this time, as we came around the corner to head out to sea we saw the whale watching boat The Massachusetts.
The boat had run around and ripped open a gash in the hull with 170+ people on board. A number of people came over to the boat and helped all of the passengers off the boat. From what I understand there were only a few injuries and everyone made it off. Sea Tow also showed up and was able to keep the boat from completely sinking and help salvage the boat.
It is very bizarre that this happened. This is a very well marked channel and even buoys all around that show there are rocks everywhere. I also have to believe that a Capitan of a whale watching boat who has been doing this for a while would know this. I am looking forward to the story that comes out after this.
Besides seeing the boat almost sink, it was a very nice day to be on the water. It was cool off shore and very calm. We shut our engines down, floated for a while as I cleaned the boat top to bottom for our big day on the 4th with Donna’s Uncle and his friends.
On our way it it definitely looked like the Massachusetts was going to make it into dry dock and not to the bottom of the ocean.
It has been an interesting season at the marina so far. I believe I had mentioned that Tony and Kathy upgraded their boat at the end of last season. Now I am not sure I’d call them empty nesters but their girls are out of the house and they love the water. They spent the winter visiting their boat in NC and then brought the boat up to Boston this spring. It is beautiful as you can see on one of our trips to Peddock Island this spring. The boat is a Meridan and has a great deal of living space on it.
Additionally, not that I may have mentioned it, but our good friend Steve has also been telling us for YEARS he is going to upgrade his boat a Carver. He has had his eye on a Post for some time now.
Also, Frank, in About Time also wants to do an upgrade. We too are thinking about it. We are spending some much time on it in the summer that it just makes more sense to have a bit more living space on the boat.
Frank has had some bites on his boat and has also found a boat that he likes so that may happen.
Steve showed up at the Marina the other night in his new 46 Post – Congrats! and was able to sell his Carver. Also, Donna and I have been speaking with Dan (who we bought our first boat from) and he has a leftover 37 Colbalt that could be a good fit for Donna and I.
The next trick is – can we all still be near each other on E dock at the marina? Stay tuned to find out more!
I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time. In the vessel behind Donna and I is the Veranda. Bruce, on the Veranda, has been very kind to us over the years and has helped to get the Boston Boating Blog on to a number of web sites including The Constitution Marina site. Bruce is a member of Save the Harbor Save the Bay and it is a great cause in taking care of our harbor’s and bay’s around Massachusetts. They put on a number of great programs such as the Parade of Lights every year where boats decorate themselves and travel around the harbor and light it up – it is very beautiful. They also do a number of things for kids to get them active in the harbor and take them to some of Massachusetts Islands and do a good deal of sight seeing.
You can hear Bruce on NPR 90.9 WBUR every once in a while and they just did a piece on Boston Harbor. You can also see him in the Globe speaking about Save the Harbor quite often. Bruce is also quite the fisherman.
If your an avid boater and love the harbor – look into Save the Harbor Save the Bay – it is a great cause and can help preserve the harbor for you and your children.
I remember my mother telling me when I was much younger that if you truly had one good friend in your life that could consider yourself very lucky. That thought has stuck with me over the years and I must admit I have always thought I was lucky because I have several “true friends”. Now that being said I need to recap a bit on a this past Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. As always we had a great party, good food from Blue Ribbon Barbecue as well as a strange concoction created by Tony. We also played a bit of a prank on a local E dock Legend. I will not go into all the details except to say a well coordinated effort was made to have almost 15 people dressed like Steve when he returned from picking up food. It was an inside joke for those of us on E dock and I am sure that other people in the marina thought us a little strange dressed like each other. However for us it was our way of giving Steve a hard time and letting him know that for all of us were are very lucky since we all share him as a true friend. Steve you help all of us with whatever we need and we would be lost without you. From all of us let me just say thanks.
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!
On Saturday my good friend, whom I met while working for this new company Assaf, brought us to the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is in the middle
of Israel (north and south) and on the Israel, Syrian and Jordan boarder. We drove to Tiberias and along the shore of the Sea. A long time ago this Tiberias was a big vacation spot in Israel as it was on the water. However, over the last few decades the sea has evaporated leaving a lot of land between the hotels which were once on the Seas beaches. Now the big place to vacation in Israel is Elat.
As a part of this evaporation however a few young scientists were walking along the sea’s edge and found some wood sticking up out of
the mud. They began to dig and when they did they had found a treasure. As they dug in the middle of where the wood was sticking up, as they removed too much mud the sides of the wood would cave in. Also, as the wood began to dry out it would disintegrate. They brought a team of people in to look at what this structure may be and how to preserve it as they try to unmask it. A team of researches did a number of test on the wood as well as nails in the wood and came to the conclusion that this was a 2000 year old boat. (Now some people believe it is the boat that Jesus sailed on in the Sea of Galilee – me, well, I would need a bit more proof – but none the less – this was an awesome site to see a 2000 year old boat.)
After 10 years of careful digging, keeping the wood wet, spraying the boat down with foam so it would not disintegrate, and then floating the boat to land to be preserved it now rests in a museum in Israel. Pretty cool and I thank Assaf for bringing me to this place because he knew my passion for boats.
Later that day Assaf, in true form, brought us out to eat. Eating with Assaf is truly one of the best experiences I have ever had. We went to a Lebanese place and ordered enough food for an army. Our table was full of little dishes with tons of great food. We had a great day.
100' below the Red Sea
After sharing this experience with one of the original developers for Storwize, Shai, he told me that he does a lot of diving in Israel. Here is a photo of a boat he took while diving in the Red Sea. Shai provided me with a brief story of the boat:
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“(mosquito) Yatush – Wreck dive:
The origins of the name ‘Yatush’ (mosquito) is the type of boats working in the past in the Dead Sea. For some reason this name stuck to this boat although this is not a ‘Yatush’ type boat rather a ‘Netz’ (Bertram). The Israeli Navy bought it from the USA but turned out to be unfit for the Israeli Navy operations. As a result, a few years later, in 1986, the little boat was sunk at 30m and is now one of the popular wreck dive sites in Eilat.”
Thanks for sharing this Shai.
So far this has been my only boating experience in Israel but I am sure I will be back for more. On top of that, I am home now and it is a great weekend – time to head to the Donna Julie II.
As most of you know, who read this blog, there are times in the season when the weather just doesn’t cooperate and I post stuff about what I did that weekend, even if it isn’t boating related. Well this year there is another wrench in the works. I started a new job. The company is called Storwize. What is interesting about Storwize is that the R&D center is in Tel Aviv. Now I had never been to Israel nor worked with an Israeli company but I am finding this to be a wonderful experience. Since the beginning of the year I have been 3 times and I think for a total of 25+ or so days. (I only hope this doesn’t impact my summer boating.)
One thing I learned about the Israeli culture is that they work Sunday to Thursday. So Friday and Saturday are their weekends. This past Friday, Phil our Support manager, took me to Jerusalem. All I can say is wow. First, Phil was the best tour guide. He had studied up on all the things he felt we would want to know about and took us around. It was a magnificent trip. (Phil also became a dad this week – Congratulations.)
These photos don’t do the country justice. It really is beautiful over there. Behind me in the picture you can see the west wall of and where a lot of folks go to pray.
Also, I’d love to do some boating on the Mediterranean some time as well.
Well, after a ‘late’ start – late being relative – the countdown clock said we would put the boat in the water on the 16th 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 19th 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.
I just looked at the counter and noticed that there is less than a month until it is time to put the Donna Julie II back in the water for another season! (Actually I cannot tell a lie, I have received a number of emails from friends saying ‘the boating season is right around the corner’.)
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.
Okay, I am not a fan of folks that create blog posts that say – “Sorry I haven’t updated in a while…” so I am not going to apologize. Instead I’ll tell ya about what ‘we’ (the marina folk) have been up to as best I can and tell you we are all upset the season is over and we are all looking forward to the 2010 boating season. (If you don’t believe me, I was convinced by Ryan to find a ‘count down timer’ widget to put on the blog that is counting down the days until April 16 – the day after tax day – to put the boat back in the water – check it out.)
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.
We shall see and are anxious to check it out.
