The rumor of possible hurricane seas and winds didn’t keep us off the dock on Friday.  Paul, Frank and myself took off at

5am (which I am not sure why, the fish aren’t even up yet) to try again to catch the illusive tuna.  I also have to say I have never felt it that hot or humid that early since when I was in boot camp for the Navy at Great Lakes, Ill.  Wow!  We motored out on the ‘About Time’ (Franks boat) to Stellwagen Bank to see if

we could christen his boat with a tuna.  It was dark when we took off (as you can tell by the ‘fancy’ photo.  I always wanted to try to get this affect, but honestly, this was an accident) and we also watched the sun rise through the fog and it was pretty cool.

We headed to the Bank and as we headed south it really looked like we were headed into the eye of the storm.  As we were making our way south along the edge of the bank, in the fog, we saw two tons of fish – whale (which is small for a whale) jump completely out of the water.  In all my days on the ocean, I have never see this.  Then we saw the larger whales again do things I have never seen before.  They started slapping the surface of the water with their large fin.  We were trying to understand what they were doing.  We thought they were startling the bait fish so they could eat.  This would be a good sign because tuna also eat bait.  As we were looking for the fish and the bait that the tuna eat, we were struggling.  We were tracking no bait fish on the chart.  It was crazy to watch these whales breech and slap the water.  It was amazing.  We fished for another three hours without seeing anything except this whale, behaving exactly like the whale we saw that morning.  Then, out of nowhere, and me without my video camera on, the whale came all the way out of the water, just like you see on National Geographic.  It was awesome.  My dad always said, you’ll only see this a couple of times in life, if ever.  He was right, since I have been on the water from age 15, I have never seen this.

Well, the hurricane will be keeping us on the dock for the rest of this weekend, then the next two weekends we will be back to the water and one of these weekends is our fabulous Labor Day weekend meat fest.  Then I head to Germany for work for 10 days so I’ll miss a great weekend of boating in early September.  I already can’t wait to get back.

See you all on the water.  Captain SteveK

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

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

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

Okay, so I have gotten a lot of crap for not rounding out the end of our boating year. A lot of people have asked, “Where is the boat?”, “Did you take it out of the water?”… etc

The answer is yes, but not before one of the GREATEST boat rides ever of the summer. My sister, my wife and I made one last run to Stellwagon and let me tell you we saw some of the greatest marine life ever, including this HUGE Ocean Sunfish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish). Here is Donna getting friendly with “Fred” as my sister affectionately named her / him / it…

As we got further out, we also saw a bunch of whales. In fact, my sister actually saw one jump out of the water and make the big splash while Donna and I were facing forward and missing the show. According to my sister anyway, the show was fantastic. We got pretty close to them as you can tell.
Donna also spotted a huge school of Tuna fish jumping which we weren’t as lucky to get so close too but it was amazing none the same.

We knew heading home that day, that we had one of the best days ever.

The next day Donna and I refueled the boat and headed North to Beverly where we would dock the boat one last time and our very good friends from East Coast Flight Craft would pick up the boat and store it for us over the winter.

Here is us getting ready to head North.

At least this is one guy I won’t miss this winter…

So that was our summer… It was OUTSTANDING. This winter we are really missing the boat.

Hence the title of this blog, Year End, Year Begin. What is it they say every “new year” “Out with the old, in with the new”? Well, you know what time it is? It is New England Boat Show time. That is right, January 12, to the 20th, the place where it all started a year ago is happening again.

My dad came up on Saturday and he and Donna and I walked around the show looking for that perfect vessel. We saw some interesting boats I will tell you.

Well, if you get a chance to make it to the show, maybe I will see you there. If not, I am sure I will see you in Boston Harbor – in April you can look for us, we can’t wait to get out there.

Oh, I also had a comment on one of my blogs from a guy in Florida who also owns a Cobalt. Thanks for the note. I will keep posting and hopefully people will keep reading.

Now it is time to sign up for my captains license…