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!
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.
There it is, look at that weather post for yesterday. Easily the best day of the season so far. After a failed attempt last weekend – due to an torrential downpour, we postponed the boat launch until today. I headed to the marina at 6:30 am, took a taxi to East Coast Flight Craft (where I have the boat serviced – and they do an outstanding job) where we would take the boat to Salem for an early launch on a high tide.
I happened to mention to Dale, great service guy at East Coast, that last year one of my trim tabs had stopped working, so in a jiffy, Dale did some troubleshooting and found the problem. This put us behind schedule about 2 hours, but it was well worth it in the end.
We trailered the boat through Middelton and Danvers and launched the boat in Danvers. Every thing went smooth. Boat was waxed and looking sharp, it started right up when we put it in the water, I backed it off the trailer and was on my way at about 10:30. It was warm, and sunny, and the water was nice a calm. I brought the boat out the channel and after the no wake zone fired her up to about 2800 rpms and in no time flat was easily doing 30 knots. I took the boat around to Presidents Row in Boston Harbor in about 45 min where I coasted in the rest of the way at about 10 knots and enjoyed being one of the only boats in the harbor. I gave a call to Donna Julie, working in HER new showroom at Venegas and Company in the Boston Design Center. I drove by the ICA, the New England Aquarium and the left side of the shoreline. I put up all the ropes and fenders and called in to Constitutuion Marina on Channel 69 so see if my slip was ready to pull into. It was, and with that I headed down the fairway and – all by myself, put the boat in to slip E 60. I washed her down, powered her up, and covered her and we are now, officially ready to start the 2009 boating season. Stay tuned for more updates and follow Captain SteveK on twitter for updates.
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.
Okay, so it has been a while since I updated this crazy thing. It is one of those things, you start and you have the greatest intentions, but then you get busy, and well, you know…
So this summer we have done a TON of boating. We have spent over 200 hours on the water, 150 on the Donna Julie II alone and this week we are headed out on vacation. I am not sure what we are going to do during the week but for Labor Day weekend, we are headed to the Vinyard. I am excited about this.
This summer we have seen some pretty cool stuff. We were out in the harbor when the turned the Constitution around. We saw the 4th of July fireworks from the dock. We have also made some good friends at the marina.
We have seen some pretty amazing boats in the harbor as well. This is a photo of the “Turmoil” owned by the Founder of Lands End. This is a beautiful boat used for exploring. After one of our new marina friends did some research we found that this boat had circumnavigated the North pole starting in the Pacific Ocean. The only boat to do this since the early 1900′s. Additionally this boat carried a Hinkley Picnic boat as it’s run about. (Very Nice)
Also, as you can see, my dad made a couple of trips down and this time he did some “skippering” of the boat. It has been nice to have him down for a visit. He takes the train, I pick him up, we do some boating, catch a burger and then he catches the evening train home.
A few weeks ago this summer, I went to Knoxville, TN to see the launch of the new Cobalt 47. This is one BEAUTIFUL yacht. It has a ton of cool features such as the Zuse drive system, a “skyhook” connected to the GPS system and an in-board modular control system by E-Plex. And for just $950K this boat could be yours. No, I didn’t go to buy one, but I do hope at some point during this winter I can help the guys at East Coast Flightcraft sell one and perhaps make some commission $$$.
Also, it is getting close to the time when I can start my captain’s license classes. Who knows, maybe if I sell a company or two more, I can retire and drive the Ferry back and forth to P-town…
Aside from just more of the same – heading out of the harbor on some new adventure, it has been status quo. I promise to keep up the blog – especially during this vacation and as we venture off to Martha’s Vinyard this coming weekend.
Keeping it between the buoy’s this is Captain Steve signing off.
So, Saturday before Mother’s Day. We get up and go pick up Donna’s mom because we have an errand to do before the “ladies” go get their hair done. As we are riding to Middleton Donna’s mom asks, “Donna, may I ask you a question?” to which Donna replies, “Sure mom”. Gloria asks, “Where are we going?” – Donna and I look at each other and laugh out loud. Gloria loved the ride, but was very curious as to where we were going.
We are going to look at the Donna Julie II – a Cobalt 323 with a cuddy cabin. Our new home away from home, the new oasis. Donna and I took a trip to East Coast Flightcraft so I could get permission to upgrade our 282, which we have owned for whole month now… Yup, we are doing it. Here it is – out of the water…
There she is… We can’t wait. We take deliver in two weeks. Drive the Donna Julie to Beverly and take this one from Beverly back to Boston. Wow.
Now the ladies go and get their hair done and then Donna and I decide to take a ridge on the Donna Julie. Conditions are pretty good. I am now using a cool web site called Buoyweather.com. I can select the buoy in Boston Harbor and get the weather conditions. Here is the same details I use to type out (and the legend). Pretty good stuff. I am thinking of signing up for the service for even more detail.
We took a short ride by Spectacle Island and went to the entrance of Hull Harbor and turned around and came home. Donna did some more of here artsy photograpy as you can see…
Taking our picture together is always fun.
We were boarded by the Coast Guard who came on board for a “Safety Inspection” (quite frankly I think they were board and it was getting late and we were coming in so it was last piece of work before the end of a shift). You know what, that is a okay. That is what they are out there for and it was a good experience.
Next we took the boat into our slip and this time, I went very very slow and was very patient and I backed the boat into our slip very well. (I think I am getting the hand of this.
We cleaned up the boat, had a cocktail and headed home. Another GREAT day on the water.
We shall see and are anxious to check it out.
