Its been one of those summers. A lot of activity going on, a new puppy and the weather not always cooperating, there haven’t been a ton of days on the boat this summer. Kind of a bummer really. The 4th of July was fun, nice 4 days on
the boat but I think we could tell that after 4 days, little Diver couldn’t wait to get back on land.
We have also gone to dinner at the new harbor side restaurants, anchored at Peddock and relaxed some and gone out with family.
There has been some interesting sailing activity in the harbor this summer with all of the newness of South Boston. This year we have also taken a few fishing trips on the Reel Pursuit which has been a ton of fun. Our friends Brian and Jenny have had their twins Isaac and Phoebe and everyone is doing well.
The Dive Inn went on the Martha’s Vinyard shark tournament this year and they caught 3 dog fish and a 200lb Maco. I am sure that was a great trip. Wish I was there but while I thought I would have a lot of free time this summer, I haven’t had that yet.
Good news is we have been doing a lot of video. We will be putting together some sort of compilation to show toward the end of the summer.
Good news is, Donna and I are on vacation this week so we are off to the boat today for a day or so, then the weekend, at least as long as the weather holds out.
Wow – What can I say? I hate those guys who take forever to update their blogs but this season was a bit crazy. I had a new job this boating season for a startup company and well, needless to say, seven trips to Israel later and it was tough to stay on top of the blog. I used the time to be on the boat instead of write. (The good news is we sold the company so I’ll be more up to date on the blog this season.)
Speaking of time on the boat, this summer was great. Good weather and Donna’s family came to Boston for 2 weeks and we spend some great time on the boat. We also took the family fishing on Reel Pursuit charters with our good friend Captain Paul and the man of the hour was Donna’s cousin Cesar who caught a 36″ stripped bass. We cooked it up and ate it and it was delicious!
We also did a lot of relaxing on the boat with the family. Afternoons on the water, anchored and swimming. It was all good fun.
Some boaters never cease to amaze me. Last weekend Donna and I went to AquaPalooza 2010 Boston. We got there a bit early (11:00) and got a nice spot to hear the music and lounge on our boat. Before you know it there were 500 boats all piled up in Perry’s cove near Peddock Island. One such boater decided to anchor his 50′ SeaRay in front of a bunch of boats that were rafted up. Needless to say this guy didn’t have any clue what he was doing, nor should he have been in a boat of that size near any other boats trying to anchor. The guy tossed his anchor out right on top of the anchor that was holding 3 boats rafted together (another no-no for anyone who knows anything about boating). As the SeaRay tried to set his anchor by backing down on it, he started to drag the anchor of the 3 rafted boats. Now all 4 boats were drifting into a series of boats that were all rafted together causing a great deal of panic among everyone.
With his anchor line now tangled and causing havoc, the guy in the 50′ SeaRay decided to cut his anchor line and high tail it out of dodge – only to leave the 3 rafted boats, now floating, uncontrollably, toward a number of other anchored boats.
It was at that moment Donna came up to the helm, turned on the blower switch and said “We are out of here!”.
Guys (and Gals), its ALL ABOUT BOATING SAFETY out there on the water. Its not just you in your 50′ boat trying to show off, there are 100′s of other folks out just trying to have a good time. Be cognizant of what is going on around you. Just because you have a little $ doesn’t entitle you to anything out there on the water. Think! When traveling around a bunch of boats in an anchorage, it is obviously a no wake zone, so treat it as such.
This brings up another great story my dad sent to me which comes from Cape Town So. Africa. I learned most all of my water skills from my Dad. He is always making sure that you understand mother nature when your out on the water and be especially careful of marine wild life. Donna and I love to go to Stellwagen and see the whales and sometimes, before you know it they can be pretty close. This guy obviously got too close.
Now, I have to think that the whale did more than $5,000 worth of damage, but do you think this guy will ever get that close to marine wild life again?
My dad is actually coming to visit me tomorrow and we are going for a nice boat ride and I am looking forward to it.
Every 4th of July Donna’s uncle and his friends come down to the boat and this year was no exception. It was a wonderful day. Uncle Herbie, Jimmy & Sharon and Arthur and Lauraine came down for a nice ride. The sun was out, it was hot but the seas were very calm. Donna had got some lobster meat the night before so we were doing to have a feast on the water. We motored out of the harbor nice and easy and kept on going for an hour or so. Again, once off shore it was beautiful. Very clam and very cool. Here is a great shot of Jimmy with the city skyline in the back ground and a great picture of Donna Julie and her Uncle Herbie.
It was a great day on the water. We motored back to the dock and relaxed until the fireworks. This year, just across from Constitution Marina there were a lot of fire works and very impressive. Here is to another great 4th.
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!
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!
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 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.
