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.
I will apologize from the start on the title of this post, for those of you wondering what will follow take your mind out of the gutter. This past Saturday I accompanied Mike out into the harbor on his sailboat. On the surface this subject hardly appears to be exciting enough to deserve it’s own blog post. However when you put a Fishing Charter Captain on board who has the same tolerance for sailboats as he does for being smacked in the face with a brick it makes for an interesting day. The weather was perfect and Mike was patient with those of us who had no idea what we were doing. I must admit it is rather enjoyable to be on the water with no engine noise and working as a group in order to sail the boat. A few high points of the day included Steve loosing one of the valuable tin mugs from his collection, all of us scrambling to hold on when the boat tipped in the wind, Betty Ann’s lunch which is always perfect, and Paul attempting to get Mike to cut off any other sailboat we saw. At the end of the day when we were sitting at the dock and having a beer laughing about the day, Mike asked Paul what he though of his day under sail. Paul looked around to make sure no one was around to hear what was about to come out of his mouth and said “you know, it was not that bad”. I will leave you with this, the amount of days we have left to be on the water this year are slowly leaving us, take advantage of them all on whatever boat is around sail or power.
How many power boaters does it take to furl a sail?
It’s one of the weekends we look most forward to, as well as one of the weekends we look least forward to. We look most forward to this weekend because it is one of the three weekends we all hang out at the dock or in the harbor for the whole weekend and we are with friends. This weekend was no exception and this weekend was perfect weather. We look least forward to this weekend because it means that the summer is winding down (even though I try to keep the boat in the water until mid Oct) there are only a few weekends left.
Friday Donna and I took her niece and their parents for a fun boat ride in Boston Harbor – it was a great way to start the weekend.
On Saturday Donna and I did one of our most favorite things – we anchored out at Peddock Island and just relaxed for a few hours. Then Paul from Reel Pursuit wanted to have some photos of his boat taken so he brought his boat
out into the harbor and we met up with him and Donna took about 300 pictures with the new camera – here is a great shot of Paul’s boat.
After we took our photos, Paul, Betty, Donna and I along with Steve all went to dinner. We wanted to get some good rest because Sunday was our big Labor Day party. This weekend, we decided to forgo all of the hot dogs, hamburgers and sausages and try something a bit more creative than a simple ‘meat fest’. The thing we tried this weekend was that each boat was to pick a country they wanted to represent. Then, they needed to bring to the party a food an beverage from that country. We had a diverse set of countries selected, Germany, USA (ha – Donna and I took the easy way out), Spain, BVI (British Virgin Islands – yeah, the Pussers Rum killed me), Italy, and Cuba. We had a blast. Some people even decided to dress up for the occasion. I made this fun Animoto video from some of the pictures - I hope you enjoy it. (If the movie below doesn’t play, select the hyperlink above.)
Well, only a few more weekends left of this years boating season. I think Donna and I are back on ‘boating schedule’. We put about 100 hours on the boat so far this year and it has really been a fun summer.
Stay tuned for some updates for the last few weekends and pray for an Indian Summer.
The rumor of possible hurricane seas and winds didn’t keep us off the dock on Friday. Paul, Frank and myself took off at
5am (which I am not sure why, the fish aren’t even up yet) to try again to catch the illusive tuna. I also have to say I have never felt it that hot or humid that early since when I was in boot camp for the Navy at Great Lakes, Ill. Wow! We motored out on the ‘About Time’ (Franks boat) to Stellwagen Bank to see if
we could christen his boat with a tuna. It was dark when we took off (as you can tell by the ‘fancy’ photo. I always wanted to try to get this affect, but honestly, this was an accident) and we also watched the sun rise through the fog and it was pretty cool.
We headed to the Bank and as we headed south it really looked like we were headed into the eye of the storm. As we were making our way south along the edge of the bank, in the fog, we saw two tons of fish – whale (which is small for a whale) jump completely out of the water. In all my days on the ocean, I have never see this. Then we saw the larger whales again do things I have never seen before. They started slapping the surface of the water with their large fin. We were trying to understand what they were doing. We thought they were startling the bait fish so they could eat. This would be a good sign because tuna also eat bait. As we were looking for the fish and the bait that the tuna eat, we were struggling. We were tracking no bait fish on the chart. It was crazy to watch these whales breech and slap the water. It was amazing. We fished for another three hours without seeing anything except this whale, behaving exactly like the whale we saw that morning. Then, out of nowhere, and me without my video camera on, the whale came all the way out of the water, just like you see on National Geographic. It was awesome. My dad always said, you’ll only see this a couple of times in life, if ever. He was right, since I have been on the water from age 15, I have never seen this.
Well, the hurricane will be keeping us on the dock for the rest of this weekend, then the next two weekends we will be back to the water and one of these weekends is our fabulous Labor Day weekend meat fest. Then I head to Germany for work for 10 days so I’ll miss a great weekend of boating in early September. I already can’t wait to get back.
We shall see and are anxious to check it out.
