Stardate June 4th 2009
We reinstated the Wednesday dinners at the marina this year, but this week we did it on Thursday. We have ALL been craving Tony’s lasagna since, well, in my case, last year. Tony made a double batch (I think he actually made like 10.) We devoured his lasagna in minutes. It was FABULOUS! THANKS TONY!!!
And for a little walking music – here is a breif Animoto video I did of our boats at the marina.
Posted by Captain SteveK
(Let’s hope this is still the case when Monday Night Football comes on!)
The text message I got from my friend Kevin this past Monday night after work was simple, BOAT RIDE = NOW. My reply was even more simple and to the point, DONE. That is how it all began, we had the engines turned over and the lines off Second Beach faster then ever before. We had a simple plan, take a quick run into the harbor and come back to the Marina. We could not have asked for better conditions in the harbor as the water was like glass and the weather was perfect. We could have ended the night at that point when we docked at the marina, but are friend Mike had just returned from his first day of work after 2 months of vacation. He had the look on his face of a kid who has just had his summer vacation come to and end when he has to return to school. In one of those strange moments that we all come up with the same thought Second Beach was heading back out to go through the locks and catch the sunset on the Charles. We hit the dock which we have affectionately named point “alpha delta” and turned just in time to watch a phenomenal sunset. The return trip to the marina was amazing, I have traveled over the Zakim Bridge many times in my life but few know what it looks like from underneath on a boat at night. I will leave you all with this final thought. Try something different next Monday and I am sure the rest of your week will continue to get better.
Posted by Ryan
Note from Captain SteveK
Ryan, I have to say these pictures are AWESOME and you truly have captured what life is at the marina and on the water. Here’s to a great summer!
Stardate May 29th 2009
Okay, so I am a bit late on my posting. The nice thing about having a decent amount of knowledge in the social networking arena is it helps me to propagate the blog. Last week I saw a comment on my Facebook page from Amy suggesting that Donna and I take the boat up to Salem and go to one of their local watering holes at the marina there. Amy is John’s wife. John is a good friend and colleague from work. Donna wasn’t feeling up to it this weekend, so I offered to John and Amy that if they were up for getting off the North Shore for a bit and wanted to come to Boston I would be more than happy to take he, his wife and their two kids for a fun ride around the harbor.
Around 1:30, after I spent an hour helping our local sailing buddy Mike with his sails (trust me it was like the blind leading the blid), John and the family showed up and we took a great ride around the harbor. It was a bit breezy but we got to see the city from the harbor and we saw Codzilla running about as well.
It was a very fun afternoon except for the parking job that day. The wind had died down right up until it was time to park, isn’t that always the case? I made it down the fairway and just in time for the turn, the wind came up, took the front of the boat and pushed it right back where it came from. Well, of course I panicked (but kept cool) and with the help of ALL of our friends on the dock, I was able to get the boat into the slip. Whew… We did have a fun ride.
Posted by Captain SteveK
Stardate May 16, 2009
It was time. All good things must come to an end. Donna J – the real thing, was in NY for an event, but I went out into the deep blue sea to watch the Volvo Ocean Racing sailboat leave Boston Harbor. It was a foggy day as these guys headed to Ireland. Also, the race began, which must have been planned for a year, and, while again tuned to channel 67 on the VHF, we heard the announcer say, base on the fact it was too foggy to see them, that an oil taker was coming down the middle of the harbor. Delta Loyd and Telefonica Blue stopped racing and according to the announcer were waiting for the marshals to signal a restart. That never happened and all the boats kept racing. Very strange. I figure all the Bostonian power boaters were just tired of the sailboats and just said, ‘who cares’. Pretty poor form for Boston if you ask me. Anywho, all the boats raced around their respective buoys an headed off to Ireland. It was great to have you all and we look forward to your next stop here on Bean Town!
Posted by Captain Steve
BTW: If you have been following me on Twitter as Captain SteveK – I am moving to my original identity – skenniston. I’ll be sending out a Twitter note too.
Stardate May 9th 2009
This weekend my friend Tom wanted to see the Volvo Ocean Race – Boston In-port Race Series. At first I thought that it would be just ‘okay’ fun. I have to say I was blown away. First, there were over 200 boat that headed out to Graves Light just outside of Boston Harbor to watch the race. On the way out, we saw one of the most interesting boats made. It is called the Forge and was at the Boston Boat Show for the past two years but this
was the first time I had seen one in the water. Very interesting boat. The race was supposed to start around 12:00. I think due to the lack of wind the race officials were trying to see if they waited for a bit, if the wind would pick up. I mean what good is a sailboat race without wind. It was amazing to watch these boats set up for the start of the race. It was also interesting to watch as the race started, it looked like one set of boats went one way and the other boats went the other way. It was all in their strategy to get the best tack to get ahead of the other boats. Very cool to see.
While we in floating around and watching and trying to figure out what was going on, I was flipping through the VHF Radio channels and came across a British guy giving a play by play of the race. He was the funnest part of the day. He had a ton of funny analogies for what was going on in the water including the title of this piece. You have to laugh, a 5 knot wind, boats going anywhere from 5 to 7 knots is not really a drag race, but that is exactly what he called it.
I am not going to try to show off all the cool photos. Instead I am going to point you to a web site, where all the photos taken are courtesy of Tom who took some outstanding photos (http://bostonvolvooceanrace.shutterfly.com/). I will show off only one photo. It is the American boat Puma – pronounced Peu-ma by our now famous British announcer. Nice pics Tom!
The race ended and we headed back into the harbor. The boats take off to Galway Ireland on the 16th of May so I encourage you to check them out at Fan Pier before they leave. I also understand that Ireland will be hosting the festivities on Thursday and Friday nights (the 14th, and 15th) so you know there will be lots of Guinness. When they do leave on Saturday, it promises to be real exciting. They will leave Fan Pier and head down the channel toward the Constitution. They will go around a marker and head back up the channel and out past Deer Island and off to Ireland. GO PUMA!
Lastly, my other hobby, watching the Bruins, they play the Hurricanes this week and need to win in order to advance to the next round of the Stanley Cup. Go B’s!
Another great day on the water. See you around the harbor.
Posted by Captain SteveK
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
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
First, Donna and I bought a new home. It is a single family home in Newton. That is right, we have left the perimeter that is Brookline to Newton and I have to say we love our little house. No more noise neighbors above us running around all the time, we have parking in our own drive way and I can actually control my own heat and AC in our house. We LOVE it.
Also, during the buying cycle we decided we wouldn’t do any renovating (yeah, right!). Since moving in we have a new huge master closet and new tile in the house. We all knew it was inevitable.
Also, I now have my chores. I haven’t mowed a lawn since I was 15 but now I do; every other Sunday. It’s actually pretty fun. I think if they would have had IPod’s in 1882 I would have been a much better lawn mower.
That’s all the good stuff. We also have had some tragedy this summer. Donna’s beloved aunt passed away in June. Aunt Betty was a super wonderful woman and will be greatly missed. My cousin’s wife also passed away in June at a young age and leaving two beautiful children (and a great husband). Brenda will too be missed. Lastly, my good friend, confidant, teacher and boat neighbor, Jimmy (Sheamous) Dignan passed as well. At the ripe young age of 62. We will miss Jimmy a great deal too.
So, as you can see, this, combined with the weather and my work travel schedule has taken a bit of a toll on our ability to be on the water.
Now, that said, we have been out a few times. Donna and I have anchored around Peddock Island a few times and have been able to relax in the sun a few times. Also, we went for a ride on the 4th of July with Uncle Herbie, his buddy Jimmy and his wife Sharon. We saw the Constitution turn around in the harbor and then we had a great barb-b-que on the dock. It was a lot of fun. I took some time off on Friday and called up my cousin Eric also. We cruised around the harbor and then shot down to Marina Bay for a delicious steak and cheese sandwich lunch. Probably our best day however was Saturday. Donna, my sister Kim and I took a run out to Stellwagon Banks to see some whales. We were victorious. We saw at least a half doze whales swimming around. Also, our friends Tony and Kathy found us while we were out there. It was a beautiful day. Smooth waters, sunny, and not to hot. On the way home we cruised by Spectacle Island. They had a boa there, “The New Boston” with a bunch of bands playing music from the 70’s and 80’s. It was awesome. We anchored in the harbor near the boat and the island and listened to the music and Donna even took a dip to cool off.
It looks like the summer is starting to turn around and we will have more time to hit the boat. Donna and I have a couple of vacation days where we will go to the boat and hopefully take a trip to P-town. I also have a couple of work events planned and there are a bunch more weekends to come.
So, there it is, the update. I will try to stay on it a bit more and I am experimenting with video this year so hopefully it will be working properly in the blog.
I will close with a tribute to our friends who have passed this year with the Irish Prayer:
It is time and I am very excited. Dad is coming down from Maine on the early train and we are driving to Salem and launching the Donna Julie II. We will be brining the boat from Danvers to Boston into Constitution Marina.
Some times they say, an uneventful trip is a good trip and in this case it certainly was. We left the Danvers river at approximately 12:20 and made it to the slip at Constitution Marina by 2:30 – then it took me another 20 minutes to park – ha ha – I still need to get my parking act together. It was a good day on the water.
We did see one dive boat but other than that. Just a simple good day.
Looking forward to blogging all summer long about our adventures.
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