Boston Boating Blog

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.

Captain Steve K

Stardate September 6, 2009

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.)

Stay tuned for some updates for the last few weekends and pray for an Indian Summer.

Captain SteveK

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

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

Stardate June 4^th 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

Stardate May 29^th 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.

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