Fun with playdoh

We almost missed Carousel because we were having too much fun with Play-Doh!

Three on a sunfish

Saturday, my "little sister" and I went to day camp on cape cod, where we played kickball, made tie-dye t-shirts, practiced archery and swam in the pool, but of course the most fun was sailing on a sunfish. Angerica didn't want to go out on a boat, so I took another "big" and her "little". Three on a sunfish, what fun!!! Meanwhile, after a bit more gentle persuasion by the camp counselors, Angerica decided to give boating a try.

The Graduate & Friend

Up, Up & Away

Perhaps a bowline would have worked better?


NORTH BATTLEFORD, Saskatchewan (AP) -- A skydiver's hope to set a new free-fall record might have come to an end Tuesday when his ride to the sky left without him.

The helium balloon Michel Fournier was going to use to soar to the stratosphere detached from the capsule he was going to use to jump from 130,000 feet (40,000 meters).

It happened after the balloon was inflated on the ground at the airport in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The balloon drifted away into the sky without the capsule.

Ocean Sunfish

The Ocean Sunfish, otherwise known as Mola Mola.

I went on a long distance (2 days & 2 nights) ocean bird watching trip a couple of weekends ago and at about 100 miles offshore we came across a couple dozen of these guys. Weird looking fish they are. They were eating the large jellyfish that were also out in this area known as Tanner's Bank. A good fish to name a sailboat after.

Today's NY Times Xword Puzzle (for Stu)

see 27 down.

Opening Day Regatta

We led the fleet for the first 2 1/2 hours but we lost the lead and finished in second place. A good race and a fine party afterwards.

Tribute to Sox Hitters Past & Present

Click on the title to watch the video

End of Big Papi's Batting Slump?

Perhaps this was the cause?

Click here.

Spring Arrives

Approaching the Mark

A Day at the Races

There we were, on the first leg of the first race, close hauled on port tack, among the leaders after a nice start, Dave at the tiller, Ross sitting on the cabin top to hike moderately hard. In response to nothing in particular (the wind was steady, the water flat) Ross adjusted his position — only slightly, but enough to lose his balance, fall backwards through the companionway, strike the back of his head on the coaming, and fall to the bottom of the boat, knocked unconscious for just a few seconds.

Ai yi yi! Yet he came to almost right away and answered repeated insistence that we should return to the dock with repeated refusal. He lay there a while and, after we were both satisfied that he had recovered, we went on to…win the race. We were third around the first mark (after our little "moment" led us to overstand it), but passed both boats ahead of us on the downwind leg, and stayed ahead on the second upwind and downwind legs.

Naturally, in the second race I asked Ross whether he would be willing to knock himself unconscious again, since it seemed to work so well for us, and would you believe it? He said no! Whatever happened to taking one for the team? This race, the most he was willing to do was whack his arm hard enough against a bulkhead to raise a lump and, predictably enough, we only came in third. That result had nothing to do, of course, with the helmsman making bizarre decisions on downwind legs.

And so it went. Our worst finishes came when Ross merely cracked a fingernail or almost (but not quite) fell overboard (a fifth, out of ten, in both cases). Once again, of course, the helmsman's tactical decisions and performance could not be faulted.

In the fifth and final race, Ross was kind enough to wrench his knee, and so our performance improved — we finished third once more. And so, a third place finish over all, with no one (permanently) hurt and nothing damaged (except for the other boat in the collision I didn't tell you about, in which of course we were blameless.)

Ah racing!

Tea Party - Raven Riddle

`You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some severity; `it's very rude.'

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'

`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud.

`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare.

`Exactly so,' said Alice.

`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.

Wetsuits are for Wimps

Went for my first ocean swim/bodysurfing of 2008 yesterday. Waves were great. Water was a chilly 59. It took me about 10 minutes to get "all in' but it was worth it!

Full Wetsuit Required

http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=13885

I'm in the 500 Club!

Click here!

We've worked out the kinks

fluffie has her equipment cooperating and lbilightnin' has found his invites so now we are ready to roll

only .15 miles to go??? oh come on!!!!

because we are also about dogs....

SunfishGirl ! & SunfishBoy ?

Congrats to Sunfishgirl for a great end of the season climb up the ladder to beat msmollin and all those other runners. Let's keep it going in 2008. I have taken up the challenge and logged in my first 1.8 miles yesterday. We are un-officially the MSYC - Crabbing - YankeeSwap - cats & dogs - soccer/football - kilt wearing - Bosox - rummy - surfing and running w/ipod society.

If Tom's not ready

We have Daisy!

Boat Builder races to finish

click on title to read fascinating story...

The Chargers Versus The Greatest Football Team Ever

San Diego Super Chargers

Working at home

How am I supposed to print?


No problem!

Good News

No more verification strings when posting something new!

At Radio City Music Hall: 3-D Glasses!

I've done it; Have you?

I have my renewed ISCA membership card - sail # 80015. It is proof that I have joined over 1900 other sailors in support of the Sunfish Class. Being a member entitles me to race at World Championship events.

While we wait

cher and cher II (aka puffin)

I Want a Million Points!

 

Meet Cathy of Encinitas, California, who tells me she visits LBI every other year. While in California, she adds, she can always tell if a person she meets is from New Jersey by the reaction to her sweat shirt.

Let’s Talk About Sailing

You may recall that back when the fires were raging, Emma and I were evacuated and wound up taking Raven and Nemo on a little “stationary sail.” Here’s what it looks like when dogs are at the helm:

 

But while we rested at port under canine command, I found I liked the boat so much that I had to take it out for some actual sailing. So Ross and I went out last week from San Diego Bay, rounded Point Loma, went out to sea a bit to avoid the kelp beds, then tacked back and forth to fetch the opening to Mission Bay. Didn’t quite make it all the way, but so what, when we spent an entire day that looked like this:

 

Plus we got to make a daring hat-overboard rescue, saw a mysterious wave moving against the swell that may have been the wake of a blue whale but probably wasn’t, drank some beer, and got to wear shorts in November.

We covered a total of about 18 nautical miles CMG (a shiny copper to anyone who can say what that stands for) and returned in darkness (sunset at 16:44, and sailing after dark is a treat in itself). Too slow? Not for my tastes; give me a brisk six knots any time!

In your face msmollin!

Better Them Than Me, Part Two

We all love sailing, but face it: sailboats are kinda slow. So perhaps we should all try the airborne sport demonstrated in the video at this link. Or maybe not! I don’t think there’s any camera trickery here — just some insane people who can’t buy insurance.

P.S. Beat MsMolin! Go Ex-Pats!

As Long As We're Not Talking About Sailing

Look to the Monday/Tuesday Men's Fall '07.

Ex-Pats rule! Especially over our arch rivals, Egan's OPT!

it's a horse race

in the absence of any sailing related news, we must turn our attention to the Nike+ challenge to your left, in which the race has tightened up to be a mere 10 miles separating 3 of the top 5 contenders ("ElizabethAnn" doesn't count because rumor has it that "ElizabethAnn" is actually a robot). Sunfishgirl, it's time to pick up your pace and leave msmollin behind!

These are not clouds

Here's the view from the end of my street. It's all smoke from one of the many fires buring in San Diego Country right now. For the time being, it appears that this fire is buring a little south of us and moving from east to west. More to come....

Believe

This picture may look alot like last week's picture, with the only difference being my Red Sox Nation citizenship is far more obvious. Today it was 82 and much lighter winds. We discovered that Hingham Harbor becomes very Barnegat Bay-like at low tide. About a foot deep in some areas. With a mucky bottom that almost sucked me in up to my knees. Today we made it out all the way to Boston Harbor and back.

So this is sailing in New England in October

Yesterday we went out in 15-20mph winds. As soon as we made it out of the more or less protected Hingham harbor into the more open Hingham Bay, there were huge waves and white caps so we quickly surfed back to Hingham harbor (wheee!) and had a fine time sailing back and forth in relatively warm conditions without capsizing.

"I will not drive over the speed limit."
"I will not drive over the speed limit."

We did it!

Captain and crew

OK so we didn't really have all of the rigging figured out... next time! You can see Boston in the distance.

In the parking lot after the sail, wondering if we will be able to unstep the really huge mast without breaking everything.

2007 Crabber of the Year

Nominations are now open.


I nominate...myself:

caught, barehanded, 1 sandcrab.

devoured, 2 crabcake sandwiches.

watched, 1 SpongeBob SquarePants episode featuring Mr. Krabs.

Poor Little Rhode Island LBI'er

I know you all want to see real pictures of Cher II, but for now...

Puffin

The lengths some people will go to have something to blog about....

Route 9 East, Framingham, MA

Surfer Girl

LBI 2007

Rounding the Mark

Grey sky & pretty sails.

A year of planning, and they picked this week???

For those of you who have left the NJ region, here's a brief description of the weather in relation to the 2007 Sunfish World Championship race schedule:

Saturday, 8/18 - travel day - warm and sunny;
Sunday, 8/19 - practice race - dark and drizzly;
Monday, 8/20 - first race day - rain;
Tuesday, 8/21 - second race day - LOTS of rain;
Wednesday, 8/22 - third race day - overcast and rain;
Thursday, 8/23 - last race day - overcast and rain, skies clearing by nightfall;
Friday, 8/24 - boat return - warm and sunny.

Sunfish Worlds - Brant Beach Y C

Sailing fast & we know just how fast!

Catch a Wave and You're Sittin on Top of the World

Today, August 1, 2007 Caroline and I each caught waves and rode them. Standing. 2 or 3 each. The water today was better than I have ever experienced on LBI.

Bumper Sticker Question

How do I transfer a cell phone picture (LBTBP on a Prius parked on Torrey Pines Rd, San Diego) to a computer? Do I need a fancy USB cable? That's Long Beach Township Beach Patrol, baby!

The Boy Who Lived?

Vanessa and I went to the local bookstore's midnight Harry Potter party last night and by 12:30 we had our books. By 1:30 Vanessa was already chapters ahead of me (she started reading in the car while I drove home). I went to bed. When I woke up at 7:30 Vanessa was still awake and about 3/4 through the book. By 9:00 am she had finished the story of Harry Potter.

I'm on chapter 7. Don't anybody tell me anything.

My old daggerboard

If you ever wondered what the inside of your daggerboard looked like, there are about 40 of these metal rods that are really hard to saw through! Which sort of explains why they are so expensive. When I first broke the end off I could see the two metal thingies in the top picture and thought "No sweat I can saw through those!" Only of course to have it turn into a much harder project. But now I have a brand new daggerboard with silly rope handle and one patented custom Barnegat Bay length daggerboard.