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It’s Sunday morning and the sun is out.  Yesterday began as a sunny day but deteriorated as the day went on, delivering some much needed rain.   It’s cool, no make that COLD, in the low 50s, the coldest morning yet As we head into fall.  I am always struck by how quickly the temperatures fall once you get past Labor Day here on the CT River.  One day it’s in the 80s and the next…

A friend years ago remarked that “you could hear the iron gates slam shut on Labor Day” and that seems about right to me.   Before you know it, we will all be complaining about the cold.   No wait, I am complaining already.  And, I can’t wait to rake leaves!  NOT!!!

Anyway, I have not written much about our plans for this winter but they are coming together, so here goes…

In about a week I will shove off with Pandora to take her south with crew to ST Mary’s GA where she will be pulled out of the water for a few months.  Brenda and I will be joining her there right after the New Year to sail down to Miami and probably the Florida Keys.  We have wanted to explore this area for some time and are looking forward to trying it out this year. We are also looking forward to spending a leisurely time heading down the Intra Costal Waterway, down the coast of Florida, a trip that we enjoyed two years ago.

We may head over to the Bahamas at some point but that’s unclear right now. Brenda needs to head back to CT in mid March for a conference for a week and certainly heading out from Miami will be easier for her.  We also have a wedding in SC in mid April so when you add it all up, staying in the US might be prudent.  Heck, it’s warm in the Keys too… Right?

Perhaps we can head down to Key West and then on to the Dry Tortugas and see the old fort.  I have heard that it’s pretty neat by friends of us that are avid bird watchers.   It seems that the remote location of Ft Jefferson, built during the Civil War, is a favorite stopover for migrating birds.

Remote or not, the fort is now a national park and it’s easy to get to by high speed ferry.  I don’t know if it’s practical to take the 70 mile run from Key West to the fort on Pandora.  I guess we will have to think about that.  However, this National Park Service video of the park is interesting.  Watch it and you will probably guess where the phrase “your name is Mudd” came from.Who knows what the winter will bring, but for sure we’ll be warm.

Between now and then, Brenda’s heading to a week long weaving conference in Rockport MA and I will be heading to Annapolis, aboard Pandora, to a Seven Seas Cruising Association event.   After that a “quick” run to GA and then I’ll fly home around October 10th.

Then, Brenda and I are heading to Portugal.  That will be my first extended visit outside of the US beyond the Bahamas.  As Portugal was a major sea power, I bet that there will be lots of fun things nautical to write about.

Well, there is certainly plenty to look forward to between now and May when I will bring Pandora back to New England in the spring.

Now, all that’s left is to provision Pandora, do some last minute repairs and upgrades.  For the next week, I’ll be pretty busy, that’s for sure.  You’d think that after months of summer to take care of it all that I’d be all ready to go.  Think again.

However, with the threat of frosty air, I’ll be motivated to “get the lead out” and head south.    And, now that you have probably guesses the origin of  the phrase “your name is Mudd” perhaps you are curious about the phrase “get the lead out”.

I am so pleased that you asked, even if you didn’t.  Well, it’s origin isn’t clear at all.  Some say that in early horse racing, lead weights were added to a horse’s load if the jockey was below a minimum weight.  However, “boys will be boys” and some jockeys, it seems, dumped their weights during the race to gain an advantage. However, it’s uncertain if that’s the actual origin.  I guess you will have to be the judge.

This is so great! Now I am really on a roll…   D0 you know what the origin of “three sheets to the wind” is?    Well, according to the UK based site, Phrases.org, the origin is as follows,

The phrase is these days more often given as ‘three sheets to the wind’, rather than the original ‘three sheets in the wind’. The earliest printed citation that I can find is in Pierce Egan’s Real Life in London, 1821:

“Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind.”

Sailors at that time had a sliding scale of drunkenness; three sheets was the falling over stage; tipsy was just ‘one sheet in the wind’, or ‘a sheet in the wind’s eye’. An example appears in the novel The Fisher’s Daughter, by Catherine Ward, 1824:

“Wolf replenished his glass at the request of Mr. Blust, who, instead of being one sheet in the wind, was likely to get to three before he took his departure.”

 

Well, I’ll bet that you never knew that there were degrees of “sheets to the wind” on a scale of one to three.

Ok, Ok, I’ll quit now before I drive YOU to drink.

Well, just a few (hundred) more things to do to get Pandora ready to sail. Wish me luck.  On to warmer climes…soon for Pandora and her crew.

I have been writing a number of posts, probably more than you want to read, actually, about our recent time aboard the superyacht Marie, when we sailed in the Newport Bucket Regatta few weeks ago.

Well, to provide some balance, I did some research and found a “regatta” with a lot more participants.   However, while the total displacement of all 200,000 entries in this “fleet” is somewhat less than even one in the Newport Bucket, there is certainly no less excitement from those who finance and participate in this event.

However, I doubt that there is a regatta worldwide that has more folks involved.  Here’s a short video of the “start”.  Ready?Actually, there are other regattas using the same “one design” vessels. However, I am hard pressed to imagine one with more participants.  200,000 duckies is a lot of “foul play”.  Right?  And, with the opportunity to win a new car, the stakes are high indeed.

Here’s a local news report…
Who won? Well now you know.

But wait, there’s more… In other cities.
“Bob, Bob, enough already!!!

Ok, got it.

So, if you’ve had enough of rubber duckies here’s yet another, really well done, video of yet another regatta, but this time it’s one for some really, really “big duckies”, the Palma Superyacht Cup in Palma Mallorca. And, like the “Cinci” regatta, this one has also been going on for nearly 20 years.   Good to know that there are so many events with “staying power”.Alas, I am afraid to admit this but the one in Cincinnati is probably more my speed.

However, I enjoy writing about Marie and she did sail in the 2011 Palma event.  This video was commissioned by Vitters, her builder and it’s pretty impressive.  Well, I like it…
I’s pretty clear that some regattas are for the .001% crowd but it’s good to know that there are regattas for the other 99.999% of us. Whew!!!, what a relief.

Great videos, right?  Well, eclectic at least.  And, I’ll bet that you thought I was straying from my course.  Nope…  However, I do enjoy most anything that takes place on the water.

And, as if that’s not enough, Pandora heads to sea in less than a week. Where’s Pandora…going?  Good question.  Mallorca?  I am afraid that will have to wait a bit as I’d have to cross the “pond” first, and I am not quite ready for that.  I KNOW

Brenda’s not ready…

Where’s Pandora…going… I guess you’ll have to pass this way again, if you care.  I hope you do.

 

It’s Wednesday morning and I need to dash off this post so I can hit the road to go shooting with a good friend of my late father.  Shooting skeet was a favorite pastime for my dad and to shoot with Milan, one of his best shooting buddies, will be nostalgic.  It wasn’t that long ago when the three of us would shoot most Wednesdays.   Well, today will be fun too, as it’s been quite a while…

Anyway, as I was gathering up dad’s shooting gear which I will use at today’s outing, I thought that it would be fitting to write about another noisy pastime, firing the cannons aboard the Yacht Marie.  If you have not read any of my posts about Marie, the 180′ superyacht that Brenda and I sailed on a few weeks ago, I should mention that the owner Ed, LOVES antique weapons.  Aboard Marie there are a number of cannons on display as well as two mounted on the stern quarters that are fired REGULARLY.

When I say “often” I mean that Ed fires them whenever he has a “good” reason, and sometimes just because the mood strikes.  Good reasons include, but are not limited to, leaving the dock, returning to the dock, passing a boat or a resort on shore and finishing a race.  Of course, finishing a race, or better winning the race, calls for a “double broadside” or firing of both cannons together.

Well, when we were racing in the Newport Bucket Regatta, a few weeks ago, the “mood struck” often.   The first time we heard Ed holler, “fire in the hole” was as we were leaving the dock for race one.  Everyone instinctively covered their ears (the “ladies” were issued earplugs of course) and BOOOM!!! the cannon “spoke”.

These cannons are not the little sort of “pop-guns” that you hear at yacht clubs shooting 10ga blank shells at sunset.  These babies fire custom packed 8oz charges of black powder packed in aluminum foil packages.  For fun, I asked Rich, Marie’s engineer, to guide me through the process of preparing the cannon for firing.

Here goes..

The first thing that Rich does is get out is the “charge”.   It’s an 80z prepared slug of black powder wrapped securely in aluminum foil and rammed down the barrel.  I don’t know how much explosive force that much black powder has exactly but let me tell you, it’s plenty LOUD and it spits out a very satisfying cloud of white smoke.  Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself.

Here’s Rich patiently posing for me.  Note the foil “package” in his hand. That’s 8oz of black powder that provides the “business” portion of the cannon. Caution:  No open flames!!!Ramming the charge home to be sure it’s well packed into the bottom of the barrel.Next, Rich jams a narrow metal rod into the priming hole at the back of the cannon.  This allows him to pierce the foil in the charge. Note the protective canvas on the cabin side.  Don’t mar the varnish.   Also note that there are ropes on the base of the cannon.  They were added after someone inadvertently put two charges into one of the cannon and the resulting recoil was so great that the cannon slammed into the cabin side.  Oops! Next, he pours a cap-full of powder into the priming hole. Then,  he fully packs the priming into the hole to ensure that there are no gaps that might lead to a misfire. Finally, a “primer” is placed into the hole.   The “primer” is a small brass tube with a flint, sort of like striker on a match.  Note the little wire loop on the primer.  A lanyard is clipped to this so it can be pulled from a safe distance.

When this is deformed, or pulled, the flint gives off a spark which lights a small charge in the tube. This “spark” ignites the powder in the primer tube and, you guessed it, BOOOM!!! or should I say BOOOM!!!All set!  All that’s left is for Ed to bellow, loud enough to be heard from one end of Marie’s 180′ deck to the other, “fire in the hole”.  Oh yeah, Rich, closest to the “action” dons a good set of ear-muffs himself.

Yank the cord. and yes, BOOOM!!!  Of course, there are the occasional miss-fires.  Not to worry, Ed has TWO cannons, so there’s always a backup.

So, there will always be a terrific BOOOM!!!  Sometimes they are fired in close quarters, like in this shot.  I’ll bet that the neighbors really appreciated the attention.Other times he fires when Marie is “at sea”.   I am not sure that his little foiling sailboat aptly called  a “moth” would fare well against Marie and her cannon.Interestingly, these little boats are REALLY fast and when they get going they rise up on hydro-foils and scoot across the water.   I’ll bet that they are tough to sail but a real thrill if you master the technique.

I wonder what the FAA would think of a surface-to-air cannon bombardment from Marie toward this helicopter?  Probably a pretty dim view, I would expect. This little red chopper circled around Marie quite a bit taking pictures.  Hey Ed, want to buy a photo of your boat?  Take this…”fire in the hole!!!” This stately yacht might be a cause for a “salute” from Marie.   What a lovely vessel.    She looked right at home in the waters off of Newport. All and all, I can’t think of any pastime that goes quite as well with sailing as firing cannons.  And, it seems that Ed has the resources, combined with a teenagers love of LOUD NOISES, and the cannon to make the best of both,  to “puncuate” his outings in a way that makes his point “loud and clear”.  What fun.  I LOVED IT!!!

Yes, today is a good day to go out and make some noise shooting skeet with Milan.  I am sure that Dad would have approved, and would have liked Ed’s toys too.

I guess that Boys will be boys on land and on sea.

 

Sailing aboard the 180′ superyacht Marie in the Newport Bucket Regatta last week was an experience, that’s for sure.  And even beyond the thrill it was blasting around Block Island Sound at 10+ kts every day for three days, the parties that we were treated to each evening were just as memorable.

As Ratty famously said to Mole in the beloved book, The wind in the Willows, “There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”  I’d have to add to that that good food aboard ranks up there as well worth doing as well.   Yes, there is absolutely nothing that goes better with sailing than good food.  And, what tops everything is “yachting” (eg: sailing on boats bigger than yours) and eating food that’s been prepared by someone else.  Yes, that’s the best.

Well, let me tell you, the crew of Marie know great food and they know how to throw a great party.  While it “takes a village”, or crew to put on a truly great party, the heart of the operation is the chef and Tami on Marie is a great one.

Chef, or is that “Cheffess” Tami grew up on boats and it’s obvious given the way that she manages to produce great meals, one after another, seemingly without breaking a sweat. Here’s Tami looking right at home in her galley aboard Marie. 

The galley is the full width of the boat on starboard with the crew mess to port.  Yes, it’s a big galley but it starts to look pretty small when you see how many great dishes she turns out when things are hopping aboard.  Lunches were terrific with sandwiches served on freshly baked baguettes.  Would you care for a lobster roll and bean salad for lunch?  Well, yes!!!  I won’t even mention what was for desert!!!  Frankly, it was so decadent you should get a permit to eat one.

On each day of the race, she turned out over 50 lunches for racing crew, guests and the permanent crew.  That’s amazing and that doesn’t count snacks along the way.  Her days over the course of the event began at 04:00 and ran to nearly midnight.   At least she was able to catch a few ZZZs while we were racing between meals.  I guess she’s right at home on the water to be able to sleep while we were blasting around the race course at double digit speeds.

On the first night, after a full day on the water, the crew put on quite a feast for the “Yacht Hop”.  I wrote about this a few posts ago.  And, as you’d expect, Marie was in great form and ready to “compete” with the best of them.   What a nice spread.Even in costume.  But, more about that later.When superyachts congregate there is competition on every front.  And Tami is “superchef” competitive.   I understand that there is a chef competition at the charter show in the Caribbean and I am sure she’s already thinking about how to take top honors.

On day two we really saw what Tami and the crew are capable of when they threw a theme party aboard Marie for the racing crew and guests.  The regatta hosted a Beatles review band under the main tent so it seemed only natural that Marie would have a 60s Beatles theme too.  In fact, they won an award for the best crew theme.   Here’s the cockpit all decked out and ready to party. (you can click on the photo to make it full screen)Tami, “with a little help from her friends, er, crew”, came up with a wonderful collection of nibbles to feast on, all with a Beatles theme.  How about these to make your “fab four palate” water?

Let’s try “Let it Brie”, “Sargent Pepperoni Pizza” and “Here Comes the Sunkist Tomato Salad”.  Would you care for some “Chicken Wingo Starr”, “All the lonely Pita Chips” with “I am the Humas”.  Still hungry?  How a bit of “Veggie Dip La Di, Dip La Da”?  Try saying that three times fast…

And who could resist “Ate Days a Leek” or “I am the Egg Man” a twist on, always popular, deviled eggs.  They even had an abundant supply of dangerous sounding “LSD”,  Little Shrimp Dumplings.  OK, OK,  a bit of a stretch but fun.

How about “Love, Love Me Noodles” and everyone’s favorite “The Long Winding Toad in a hole” and my all time favorite, “I Wana Hold your Lamb Kabobs”.  Yumm…  

Of course, each “course” was labeled so you could get the full effect.  Speaking of “effects” there was plenty of punch, wine and beer for all so the effect was very nice.  Brenda looked like she was having fun too. Right?  Nice shades!

Would you care for a “I wanna Hold Your Lamb Kabob”, served with a smile. You bet, I’ll take two. Everyone had really wonderful time. And to top it off, Tami even made a mountain, or “tower” of “tie-dyed” cupcakes.  Even the insides were multi-colored or should I say “dyed”. Amazingly presented.  YUM!  

Perhaps even more amazing is that all of this party stuff and the serving trays are aboard Marie all the time.  I guess that “super storage”, for everything, is also included aboard Marie. And, as if that’s not enough, the 8 permanent crew dressed in costume for the event.   Yes, I’d give them an “A+” for this one.  A bit blurry, but everyone was by the time we got to the dance.  What fun. And, Marie looked just wonderful in her costume too. And to cap things off there were fireworks for everyone to enjoy although given everything else that was going on, I’m not sure everyone noticed the show. I can say with confidence, and trust me on this, that the food and parties aboard Marie was indeed a “gastroMarieque” experience.  

Oh, what a night, what a party, what a yacht.  

It’s Wednesday morning, 3AM.  actually, that’s “3-days-After-Marie”.

There is plenty of talk about “bucket lists”.   You know, the list of things that you are supposed to do before you die?  I understand that some folks get a bit crazy about making their list and then checking these items off.

Perhaps I am missing something but I don’t actually have a formal list.  However, I am a pretty practical guy and there are plenty of things I’d like to do but would never put on my list even if I had one, knowing that  I would be unlikely to be able to achieve them anyway.  Well, being in a race on one of the largest sailing yachts in the world is one of those things that I would hesitate to put on that list. as I frankly, “wasn’t expecting that” as being something that I’d ever do anyway.  Thanks to Ed, owner of the superyacht Marie, I was able to  quickly put that on my list and, just as quickly, checked it off.

Bucket list:  Sail on a super yacht.  Check…  Sail in a regatta for super yachts.  Check… Spend three days on the BIGGEST yacht in Newport Harbor.  Check… Do it all in one weekend.  Who knew?  A bucket Marathon?  Perhaps.  

Now that I think about it, there are plenty of things that I can put on my Bucket List but not a lot like these.  Sail to the Bahamas on my own boat.  Check… Sail to the Caribbean?  Sail across the Atlantic to the Med? Hmm…  I’ll have to think about those.   Sail around the world?  Not likely.

As I told a friend about our weekend of sailing on Marie, his response was simply, “Bob, how are you going to top this?”  Not sure I can, actually. However, I’ll sure try.

Marie is the “superyacht” Marie and Brenda and I just got back from three amazing days sailing aboard her in Newport over the weekend.   Marie, for those who might have missed the many posts that I have done that have mentioned her over the last year, is a 181′ Dutch built ketch from the Vitter’s Yard.   She is a remarkable yacht and built to exacting standards. Her owner Ed, made an interesting comment to me over the weekend when he remarked, about the quality of the work that went into Marie, “if it ain’t Dutch, it ain’t much”.  Well, I don’t have a lot to compare her to but my take on the whole thing is that Ed is accurate in his statement.   And, if that’s a true statement then Marie is perhaps the “fairest Dutch girl in the land”.

I have tried to describe Marie to some of my boating friends as I have shared our experience with and am finding myself at a bit of a loss.  Even when I tell them her length, 181′ I am pretty sure that they have no real clue about what that means.   And what’s more, the level of care that went into her design and construction, setting aside the ongoing up-keep, isn’t something that most can relate to.  Perhaps the closest comparison would be to compare her to a fine Swiss watch, and a 600,000+ pound one at that.  

It took some four years from start to finish to build Marie.  And I am sure that probably way understates the magnitude of the project.  However, when you look at her details first hand, you begin to understand.  While I didn’t see every corner of the boat, ship, yacht, I saw plenty and here are a few details to consider.

First, she’s massive.  Did I say that she’s big?   She weighs in at over 600,000 lbs.  Her main mast is a soaring 210′ tall.   She’s nearly 40′ wide.  Well, again, it’s hard to fathom what all this means.    Here’s a shot of her main mast with sails up. Every day someone goes up the mast to be sure that all her rigging is in perfect shape.  It’s hard to see but there is someone up there in this shot. Here’s a closeup.   Must be some view from up there.  Me, I’d have my eyes screwed shut clutching to the mast.Her winches… There are plenty and most are big enough to be a comfortable seat.  Here I am sitting on one that controls the running back stays for the main mast.  Here’s a crew member setting the running backstays under sail.  They have to be reset every time the boat tacks. And the huge masts have to be supported by massive hardware.  Here’s a turnbuckle.  It must weigh several hundred pounds.  Notice the stereo speaker at it’s base.   They blast rousing music before the race to get everyone in the mood.  I recall Michael Jackson’s Beat It as one of the more memorable tunes. It seemed just right.The masts and rigging, all made of carbon fiber, were made in New Zealand and shipped all the way to the Netherlands.  I understand that each shroud is carbon fiber and every one was fabricated to size as a single piece using a single thread run back and forth dozens of times in a continuous loop to complete the shroud.  No cutting the wire for the rig from a spool of wire for Marie.  This is Custom-Custom.   Bespoke actually, again, like a fine watch. 

The gooseneck, that connects the main boom to the magnificent piece of work.The main mast is spare in some ways and amazingly complex in others.  It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity or complex.  Art actually.   Nice mast boot.   Pandora has a mast boot.  Well, that’s about where the similarities begin and end. Speaking of art, these are Dorade vents on Marie to let fresh air down below. However, the AC was running the whole time so perhaps they feed air to the engine compartment.   Whatever they are they are certainly a feast for the eyes. Down below is light an airy with plenty of outside light streaming down through skylights port and starboard.  Theye are magnificent.  Notice the detailing in the teak decking surrounding them.  And, in spite of their delicate beauty, they are tough enough to withstand tons of seawater crashing down in a storm.  Amazing varnish. The spinnaker is a massive 16,000 square feet.  Heck, Pandora’s entire sailplan is 1/16th the size of that one sail.  I was told that pressure sensors on the rig show loads of near 70,000 lbs on the backstay. The engine room is beautiful.  I was given an hour long tour by Rich the engineer.  I’ll save the details for another post but the main engine is a whopping 1,100 HP.  What a magnificent piece of machinery.  The engine room is large and just packed from end to end with all sorts of gear.  Note the red flasher above the engine.  It’s so loud in there that the only way to know if there is an emergency is with a rotating flasher to get your attention.   Amazingly, in spite of all the noise, when you close the door to the engine room room, latch it and step outside, it’s suddenly completely silent.  You can’t even tell when the engine is on beyond a very subtle vibration in the decks.  More to come on the engine room in a future post.  So much to say, so little time…

The level of detail in the living areas of Marie is really something.  There’s even a baby grand Steinway piano.  And it plays itself if needed.  I am sure that Brenda would have loved to give it a try.   She didn’t.The main salon, quite a spot.  Note the stair rails.  They are all gold plated to avoid tarnishing.  Of course, why didn’t I think of that?Nice spot to sit and enjoy a quiet moment.  Yes, works for me.  I’ll take another Gin and Tonic please. Ed collects antique weapons and there is a miniature coat of armor in the aft hallway.  Not a great shot but I just had to include it.    Beyond is the owner’s cabin protected by a brace of antique cannons.  His cabin leads to a private cockpit.  Off limits to all but a chosen few.  Alas… I didn’t see…  Beautiful carpets everywhere. Not exactly what you’d expect to see out at sea.  Note the red leather lined shelving and the great floor lighting.  Speaking of cannons, there are two aft on deck that are fired regularly.  The engineer, Rich took time to show me exactly how they are prepared for firing.  I’ll save that for a future post.  For now, just a look at them.  I believe that they are from the 1600s. Beautiful pieces of art.Let’s just agree that Marie is magnificent in ways that defy description.    I could go on all day about her but I have to stop somewhere.  I have lots more to say than you probably have the patience to read.

Tough luck.  It’s my blog and I am going to write more although perhaps not today.  Besides, I need to get back to reality and the yard needs tending. Believe me, yard work is definitely NOT in my bucket list.

Alas, real life beckons…