Boston Boating Blog

Stardate August 16, 2009

I am one of the luckiest people around.  Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure of taking out what I would call my best friends on a trip to Stellwagen Bank to go see some whales.  These are friends of mine I have had for years and don’t get to see all that often.  They are ALL not only friends by mentors as well.  There is Ed, who was the CEO of my last company and sold it to the company I currently work for EMC. and Ed is local to Boston.  Next there is Bob who is the managing partner at Ridge LLC.  Bob has had every cool job on both coasts there is to have including working for Scott McNealy from Sun Microsytems and has some great stories.  There is John who is a brilliant engineer, partner at Ridge and sold his first company to Nortel for north of $5B, Bob and John are from Reno, NV (or Silicon Valley).  Then there is my friend Brian who is an investor, working for an investment firm and has such a great grasp of technology and business its staggering, another local friend.  Then my good friend Mike.  Mike is a business, technology and M&A guru, from NJ.  When we get together it is one story after another about technology, business, M&A everything and it is fun, exciting, intellectually stimulating and can even be heated at time.

This weekend they were all in Boston and we took a trip to Stellwagen to see some whales.  The trip out was fantastic. It was like a lake on the water all day.  I was a bit nervous as we got out there and floated around for a while we didn’t see any whales.  We made some lunch, had some great conversation and then, as always, Stellwagen didn’t disappoint as witnessed from this video from Ed’s camera and a couple of pictures.

You can see how flat calm the water was.  After we saw the whales we took off and headed back into Boston Harbor.  It was hot on the dock when we left, but being at sea we were at least 10 degrees cooler.  Also, at one point I checked the water temperature while we were out there and it was over 80 degrees.  That is super warm for the ocean.

We got back to the dock around 3:30 and decided to hang out and wait for our other good friend Tom (who went with us and took the great pictures of the sail boats earlier this year.  Tom joined us and we spent some more time, having a few cocktails, having some snacks and just having a great time.

Next weekend doesn’t look so great for boating due to the hurricane (Bill) coming through so perhaps I can get caught up on a bunch of stuff I need to do this summer, like mow my lawn for a change.

I want to say thank you to Ed, Bob, John, Brian, Mike and Tom for making the day a great day.  I want to thank Donna for letting me take off on such a great day and say I can’t want to hang out again, soon.

See you all on the water.  Captain SteveK

Stardate July 31 – August 4, 2009

Okay, I really hate bloggers that apologize for long delay’s between posts – I mean come on, I do have a day job.

So, two Saturday’s ago, friends of ours at the marina Dale, and Frank tell us that at our favorite hangout, the 2009 Aquapolooza (a large boat ‘raft up’ sponsored by SeaRay) is happening at Peddock.  Well, we steamed over to anchor up with the other 200 (that is right 200) other boats.  In the middle of the anchored boats was a very large party boat with 4 bands on board playing to their hearts content.  Everyone in the water was having a great time, even Donna. I got out our tube, blew it up and Donna was hanging out in the H20 having a beverage.  She then took a swim over to our friends boat and hung out.  Frank came and got me on the dingy.  Saturday was a lot of fun.

On Sunday we went home, did some errands and got ready for the next two days on the boat.  Sunday evening we cam back to the boat to sleep over (mainly because our air conditioner at home was on the fritz and we were getting some of the nicest days all summer.  We did what we do best, had a nice dinner, hung out and watched a movie on the boat and then went to sleep.

Monday was FANTASTIC.  We headed to Stellwagen Bank to see some whales.  People ask, why Stellwagen?  The ocean floor at Stellwagen goes from 200+ feet deep to about 90 feet deep.  Along the edge of the under water plateau, the water changes temperature and make it ripe for food to grow for smaller fish.  Big fish eat small fish as you go up the food chain so there are all types of fish on the bank.  (The picture on the left shows the ocean floor and the areas where fish gather.)

The trip out and back was great, the water was nice and calm but we only saw a few baby whales in the distance, nothing really spectacular.  We did follow a school of bait fish for a few minutes and Donna got on the bow of the boat and saw some tuna chasing them but that only lasted for a few minutes.  We floated around for about 2 hours, had some lunch and headed home.

The next day was super special.  We had yet to go to Spectacle Island, the island that evolved from dirt from the ‘Big Dig’ project in Boston.  We went with two of Donna’s favorite people, Uncle Herbie and Adele.  We had a blast.  We walked around the island, we walked in the water, we

took a little swim and we had some lunch.  Miss Adele was all to happy to eat Donna’s hot

dog for lunch.  After lunch we took a tour around the islands and then headed back to the marina so we could meet up with Donna’s colleague from work Meaghan and her friend and go for a little tour around the islands and just get out of the heat.  It was one of the first evening cruises we had taken all summer and it was wonderful.

The next day was ‘back to work’.  A total bummer but all in all we had a great time off.  It was very relaxing and I am very happy we are getting some good boating time in this summer.

See you on the water.

Captain SteveK

Meaghan tour

No Stardate for this post – just 3 simple things:

1) It is my wife’s and my 5th wedding anniversary so Happy Anniversary Donna Julie!
2) Our mooring permit finally came – its about time!
3) Check out the new photos of the boat in the “Boat Photos” tab.

More to come – Captain SteveK

Stardate July 25th 2009

It was a day for fishing, but little did I know we were fishing for charity.  Every year the Data Faber holds a charity fishing tournament out of East Boston Marina.  Some of the sponsors are Sperry Top Sider and Johnny’s Market.  There are raffles for big prizes such as Red Sox and Bruins tickets as well as drawings for prizes that have been donated.  It is a really fun time.

The event actually starts the night before at the marina in East Boston where we have a barb-b-que with hamburgers,

sausages and hot dogs, chips, potato salad and beer.  We review the rules for the next day, chat a bit and then go home to rest for the big day.  We traveled over the the marina in Frank’s boat, About Time.  It was a nice night to be on the water.

We took off at 6 am on Saturday.  The plan was to troll around for some stripers or blues but if there was no bite after an hour or so, we were headed east looking for the illusive tuna.

We found them.  Around 10:15 we saw tuna smashing all around us.  We trolled squid in a circle for the next 5 hours and saw jumpers all over.  We had a few that were jumping just a few feet off the side of the boat but nothing that day wanted our bait.  Paul, captain of Reel Pursuit, and the boat we fished on for the day, Steve, Frank, Scott and myself worked really hard to find and catch the tuna that day but it just wasn’t happening.

It was a great day though.  Reminded me of when I was a kid.  I’ve loved fishing for a long time.  From one of the first times I went fishing at home, to when my dad, his friend Jim and I used to go tuna fishing off of Bailey’s Island in Maine on the Close Enuff.  I would stand in the tower or on the bridge and look for tuna all day – just like I did on the Reel Pursuit.  Makes you feel close to mother nature.  Or the time I spent in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico fishing and call this small tuna.  It is so great to be on the water for the day.

We got back to the marina to see all the fish that had been caught that day in the striper category as well as the ‘blues’ category.  No one caught a blue fish so they gave out prizes for the top 6 blue fish entries.  The largest was a 48 1/2 inch striper – a big fish and then they got smaller from there.  (I’d have pictures but they were all on everyone’s boat on ice.)

After the weigh in, it was time to raffle off the prizes.  I had purchased 2 raffle tickets for the big prizes (which there were 3, Red Sox tickets, Bruins tickets and Gas for the boat).  I also purchased a bunch of tickets for the ‘grab’ table.  When the drawing started they drew for the Red Sox tickets first and I freakin won!  These tickets were so good, it was almost like you were playing first base.  I have to admit however, I was a bit bumbed because if you know me, I am a huge Bruins fan and what would be the chances that I would now win those.   So my strategy was, perhaps the winner of the Bruins tickets would be a bigger Sox fan and we could trade.  They drew the raffel for the gas and then the Bruins tickets and wouldn’t you know it, I won those too.  (Along with a $100 Sperry Top Sider gift certificate w/ each win).  Wow!  Can’t beat a day like that.  During the grab raffle I think Paul’s boat brought in another 10 prizes so all in all we had a fun day.

(Oh, just to mention – again, on a weekend – Boston’s finest showed up to give out mooring violations.  Why it takes three of them to walk around the marina to do that is still beyond me!)

Now in all seriousness I am going to issue a challenge.  This tournament is for charity and a good one at that.  This year they had 23 boats enter the tournament (which was up 10 boats from last year) and raised over $4,000.   Next year I want to help with this event and I would like 35 boats in the tournament.  The entry fee is reasonable – it is $125 for the boat and $45 to bring all your mates to the ‘Captains Meeting’ the night before and have some burgers, hot dogs and beer.  (Even if you don’t eat you have to go to the meeting to learn all the rules.)  So, enter your boat, if you own a charter, donate the 1/2 day and we will fill the boat and cover expenses but let me know – we can make the a fantasitc event and try to raise over $10,000 for next year!

Signing off – Captain SteveK

I am not sure exactly how we decided to take this trip or why we decided to.  We all know Boston is a very popular place for the 4th with the fireworks and the parties on E-Dock which are always are a blast.  However this year we decided to take the boat to Newport, RI for a few days.  Kevin and Kristen on Second Beach had already decided to go so I along with Mike, Annie and Lauren decided to take Life Less Ordinary on a 4 day adventure.  Some high points of the trip included staying at Kingman Yacht Center on a mooring.  This is a great place to stop with a great restaurant right on the property.  The staff was friendly and very helpfull with whatever we needed.  Kev and Kristen get the award for making the entire trip on one engine.  Buzzards Bay lived up to its reputation and slammed us for  hours on the leg into Newport on Saturday Morning.  We had a blast in Newport watching the fireworks, having a party on Second

Beach, hanging out on the lawn at Castle Hill and lobster donuts at the Moorings for lunch.  What makes getting away on a boat different then taking a car is that the voyage is just as enjoyable as the location you end up at.  It is true we could have drove a car and been in Newport in  two hours but we would never have had some funny stories and memory’s from that trip.  Annie, Mike, Lauren and myself will always laugh about funny word games to pass the time, Lauren throwing Annie in the ocean, my famous line “there everywhere” and the boat on the rocks at Castle Hill.  I will leave you with this final thought, when we were heading through the Canal and the weather was perfect and Mike and I were driving the boat and taking in the sights.  He said this and I think it sums up the trip perfectly “It is always better to be the guy on the boat then someone on the shore looking at the boats going by.”

Stardate July 19, 2009

Sunday was an exciting day.  It was the first day this summer when Adele, Donna’s niece was coming for a boat ride.  The rumor was she had been wearing her life jacket all week in preparation for her trip.  We had a ton of fun.  Adele, her mom and dad, Monica and Ryan, Donna and her mom, Gloria and I all took a 4 hour tour around Boston Harbor.  We saw the planes take off from Logan and we went by George’s Island to see the forts and then we ended up anchored off of Peddock’s Island where the Iroquois, the yacht owned by Red Sox owner John Henry was also anchored.  This is a very beautiful boat.

We see this boat around the harbor quite frequently.  We hung out for a while and had brunch and then played with the hose and got Captain Adele all wet and then headed back to the marina and we let Captain Adele drive for a bit.

It was a very nice day for all of us.

Looking forward to next weekend. I am participating in a fishing tournament sponsored by Sperry Top-Sider.  Captain Paul from Reel Persuit will be taking a few of us from the marina on the trip and after the last trip, I am really looking forward to this.  Hope to see you all out there.

Signing off, Captain SteveK

I have said that if you want the best fishing charter in Boston you go with Reel Pursuit captained by Captain Paul and now I know why.  On Tuesday I went fishing with Paul and one of his first mates Pat.  (Pat is my good friend Jimmy’s  (god rest his soul) brother and one of the best mates around.  In all fairness Paul’s primary mate Scott – who is no slouch himself, was on vacation so he couldn’t make it.  I say Scott is AWESOME because like anyone who love what they do, they tend to be very good at it and Scott loves to fish and I am looking forward to the next trip with Scott.

Now, that said, I learned more from Patrick in a few short hours (6) then I had learned about being a mate in a lifetime.

I will digress a moment on a couple of topics.  First, I have to be one of the luckiest people in the world.  I was able to get the time off and go fishing on a beautiful day and learn about doing something I have always wanted to do for years.  It was great.  Next, the day really was about Jimmy.  See our friend passed a year ago Tuesday so we went to the spot in the ocean where we spread his ashes to say ‘hi’ again.  It was very sentimental.

One funny thing happened to us.  It was probably Jim giving us a hard time.  See we were fishing and not catching much and saw fish jumping and birds swarming in a close by area.  So, instead of pulling up the anchor, we tied a buoy to the rope where the anchor was and motored to where we saw the fish and tried trolling for a while.  When that didn’t work we went back to the anchor line to anchor up again and keep fishing.  In the process of trying to grab the anchor line we ran it over (oops).  The line got tied around the prop and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t shake it loose.  So, you can guess what that means.  Yup, someone had to dive in and fix it.  Leave it to the ‘new guy’.  Funny thing though, I was wearing my swim trunks and I don’t know why that was the outfit I choose that morning but it turns out that it was the right thing so in I went.  MAN the water was cold.  Once I caught my breath I was able to untangle the rope and we were set to anchor up and catch some fish.  I don’t know what you call it but we caught everything in the harbor that day.  We caught 2 stripped bass, a lobster, a skate and a dog fish.  Nothing was a keeper except the memories.  Thanks Paul and Pat!

Stardate July 11 / 12 2009

Well the weather is really shaping up for July.  It was a great weekend.  Starting Friday afternoon I took Uncle Herbie and his close friends Jimmy and Sharon on a tour of the harbor to see the Tall Ships that were in town.  While Mayor Menino messed everything up for the Tall Ships (first time they have been here in 10 years) we still got to see them and it was a great sight.  I have to say, it was funny seeing the Boston Police boats in the harbor with their ‘extended’ families on the boats seeing the sights and then on the local news Sunday night for ‘misappropriation’ of funds / equipment – call it what you want.  It wouldn’t have been so bitter sweet if they hadn’t been such jerks on the water – but I digress.

Saturday was AWESOME as well.  My Dad came down to the boat for a trip to see the ships.  Can’t get any better – he loves boating, tall ships and the water – a true tripple play – well and he got to hang out with Donna and I – how does it get any better?  We took a nice tour, again, of the harbor and saw some very cool ships and then we took a nice tour of the inner islands.

The reality is my Dad took the trian down from Maine and paid $50 just to see if I had actually learned how to drive / park the boat.  I have to say, I did a good job given the pressure.

So Mayor Menino did everything in his power to screw up even the tall ships coming into Boston, but I have to say it was a nice weekend in spite of it all.

On Sunday, another great day, our friends Brian and Jenny came down for a boat ride along with our bud Steve from the marina.  Again we drove around the harbor to see the ships and then we anchored off of Peddock’s Island again to relax and feel the cool breeze.  While we were there we saw one of the coolest boats EVER.  It was probably 90 feet long and very sleek and stealth.  As we drove by it had its back open and had launced 2 jet skies and a tender.  Beautiful boat.

After we got back to the marina it was one of those nights where EVERYONE was there and having a great time.  By the time Donna and I got out of there it was 10PM and we missed dinner.  Oh well, I can eat any time.

Until next time this is Captain SteveK signing off.

Thanks for reading!

Stardate 7/4/2009*

Well, three times a year we have a BASH at the marina.  Memorial Day, Labor Day and yup, the 4th of July.  This year was no exception.  It ends up being a lot of laughing, lots of company and a huge eating fest with tons of meat – sausage, hot dogs and hamburgers.

The day started around noon.  The usuals were there, Paul, Betty Anne, Frank, Dale, Donna, Steve, Ron and Mary Ann and myself.  The visitors

were Megan (Donna’s friend) and her daughter Isabella and Megan’s Dad, Steve, who we affectionately call Steve 19.  Then of course, it wouldn’t be one of the holidays at the marina without Uncle Herbie and Jimmy.  Then more folks showed up.  Scott, Paul’s first mate and Betty Anne’s nice showed up Kerri and her friend, who we met the previous week, Julie.  Also, for the first time, Donna’s cousin Felipe came to the boat.  Scott, Kerri, Julie and Felipe came to the marina later and stayed for the fireworks, the rest of the folks headed home to watch the fireworks.

Earlier in the day the U.S.S. Constitution was moved from it’s slip and taken out into Boston Harbor.  This year I was on the dock at the marina versus being in the water.  I was actually closer to it than you can get if you were to be out in the water.  This year it was a bit less impressive.  The ship is undergoing some construction so as you can see, the masts are half off, and the deck is covered as they do their work.  Regardless, it is exciting to watch the oldest commissioned Naval vessel move from her slip and the production it takes to make it happen.  There were 4 tugs, 2 smaller Coast Guard boats, 1 Coast Guard cutter, multiple Boston Police boats, multiple Environmental Police boats and, of course, tons of boaters trying to catch a glimpse or trying to bypass the show to get up the Charles to anchor for the evenings festivities.

After I watched the Constitution head out, Jimmy and Uncle Herbie showed up.  Jimmy’s wife Sharon made an outstanding grape salad.

Then the meat fest started with the George Forman grills.  We spend a lot of time grilling and cleaning and getting ready for the next meal, or should I say meals because once the grilling begins, it usually doesn’t end until the traffic from the fireworks is over.

It started to get dark and at 8:41 4 F-15′s did a flyover the Lenny Zakim bridge and up the Charles River, it was pretty awesome.  Steve and his family headed up to the Charles to

watch the fireworks, but more importantly, they stop every year and linger around the locks to see all of the boaters, with little to no experience try to navigate the locks.  It’s not hard, but when you have 1000 boats trying to go through in a day mixed with little experience and perhaps a few adult beverages, you get chaos.

We had the radio’s on the boat going and Ron even brought out his TV so we could hear and see the Boston Pops, live with Neil Diamond.  Oh yeah, ‘Coming To America’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’.  We were belting it out on the dock for all of Boston to hear.  And then the show started.  Boston ALWAYS does a great job with the fireworks.

After they were finished, we cooked up another 10 hotdogs, I think we all had one and then hit the hay.

The next day was beautiful too.  I think we ‘willed’ the weekend to give us nice weather.  It was too windy all weekend to get in a good boat ride, but it was really nice to be outside all weekend.  On Sunday we all just sat around, enjoyed the sun, worked on our boats, relaxed, read, ate some more meat and had a fun day.  Well, right up until the Boston Police Department showed up.

Each year, around the July time frame the BPD comes by to make sure everyone has their morring permit.  (Why on God’s green earth they would show up on a holiday weekend on a Sunday at probably double time pay when the state is in such dire straights with the economy is really assinine but I digress.)  Well, because Donna and I moved this year, the address on my boat documentation and the address for the moring permit were differnt so they couldn’t send me my permit – forget the fact that I paid for it 6 months ago and have called them 3 times to see where it was and each time they said, “Oh, yeah, we see you have paid, no problem, we are just a bit behind and we will mail it out to you soon.”  Yeah right.  Anyway, I got that taken care of this week so we shall see if they finally send it.

On a side note, Ryan, Mike and Kevin headed to Newport for the 4th.  I am anxious to see if Ryan is going to send me some photo’s to update the blog.  We missed them this year but I am sure they had a great time.

Signing off for now, Captain SteveK

Oh, the tall ships are in this week – stay tuned for more pictures and an update. Read the rest of this entry »

Stardate 6/27/09

I know a lot of people have been complaining about the weather, but really.  I look at it like, there are really only about 18 to 20 good boating weekends in New England and you have to make the most of all of them and I think Donna and I do a pretty good job.  We are about 35% of the way through the boating season and we have already put about 50 hours on the boat.

So, even though the weather forecast didn’t look good for the weekend, Donna and I headed down on Friday night and spent the night.  It is

always good to watch a movie on the boat and be rocked to sleep.  We got up the next morning and it was beautiful.  We decided to make a steam out to Stellwagon – we still haven’t done that this year.  As we were heading out to sea, we were around Graves Light and I could see the fog coming at me faster than I was headed toward it.  So we turned around and when to our favorite anchor spot by Peddock Island.  Well, something when very right that day and we picked the perfect spot.  The fog did roll in, but we were in the sun for about 6 hours.  It got so foggy we couldn’t see the city but above us is was very nice.

It did start to get a bit chilly and cloudy so we headed back to the marina.  When we got there, Paul, Betty Anne, Steve and Betty Anne nice and some of her friends were all there.  They had said, the day was beautiful on the doc too but it looked like it was going to rain.  The thing I love about the marina though, it didn’t matter.  We all hung out, under the tarp on Paul’s boat and played some games, had a few drinks and a ton of laughs.  I forget sometimes – its a family there – a very fun family.

Next weekend – 4th of July – I can’t wait!  Until then…

Posted by Captain SteveK