A little showing my location right now I am the grey boat shape.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Charts are fun
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 8:17 PM 0 comments
Iceland geology at war.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 5:14 PM 0 comments
Friday, June 25, 2010
Today I am adding a poem and a quote from Moby Dick.
As you can see I like to read a little from the written history of the sea every day, from books to poems. It helps me feel more connected and reminds me of the fact that life is a journey that we make. No matter what we do or where we do it. Sometimes life's journey has us sailing calm waters, and at times navigating gale force winds. The trick is no matter where your journey takes you is to always find time to relax, reflect, and remember there is an endless supply of choices that will lead us to the next moment. For me looking at the water, and the sky at night as I read helps me find those Zen moments. These are the moments when I remember why I decided to stop rushing to the next destination, and enjoy the path I have chosen to get there.
A Life on the Ocean Wave
By:
Epes Sargent
A LIFE on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep!
Like an eagle caged, I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore:
Oh! give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest's roar!
Once more on the deck I stand
Of my own swift-gliding craft:
Set sail! farewell to the land!
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot through the sparkling foam
Like an ocean-bird set free; --
Like the ocean-bird, our home
We'll find far out on the sea.
The land is no longer in view,
The clouds have begun to frown;
But with a stout vessel and crew,
We'll say, Let the storm come down!
And the song of our hearts shall be,
While the winds and the waters rave,
A home on the rolling sea!
A life on the ocean wave!
From Moby Dick
By:
Herman Melville
There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 6:51 PM 0 comments
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
Herman Melville
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 7:51 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
Going out sailing on a friends boat tomorrow so I am headed back to the ship for some rest tonight.
As I look at the stars tonight it reminds me of a poem by John Masefield
Sea-Fever
By John Masefield
I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 10:13 PM 0 comments
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Not all knots are the same
Knots for everything
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 2:53 PM 1 comments
Saturday, June 12, 2010
A jellyfish came to say hello today
I was lucky and saw a really nice Jellyfish swimming in the water this morning he was enjoying a nice morning swim.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 10:41 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Rice 101
One thing living aboard teaches you is what to do with rice. Rice is one of the perfect sailboat foods. It has a shelf life thats pretty long, no need to keep or cold or frozen, can be simple to make, and very filling. The only draw back is you have to know how to tweak the flavor. Lucky in todays world that is not hard. From adding canned Veggies to adding soup without the water you can have rice everyday, and at the same time have it taste like a different dish at each meal. Like tonight I took one bowl of dried rice 2 bowls of water cooked it and added one can of Cream of Mushroom soup. Very filling but makes me want to make more and eat till I am over full. When stopping in port with a farmers market rice with fresh peppers and some Asian flare can really leave you wanting to over eat. Another great trick is adding spaghetti sauce. There are just so many things you can do to make rice one of the perfect at sea foods.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 5:29 PM 0 comments
Sunday, June 6, 2010
I think I found a motor
I have a friend at the restaurant I hang out at here in Oriental NC (The Oriental Steemer) It's a great place, if you ever stop there ask Jeff to make you buffalo calamari (you will thank me after you try it). well my friend there says he might have a 5hp long shaft. But if that one doesn't work I found a backup, it will be a few buck more then the 5hp long shaft but it is a 7.5hp med shaft. So by the end of the week I will have one of the 2 on the boat. I am pretty psyched. Now all I need to do is find a good inverter and then when my Zodiac gets here I am ready to roll. After talking to some friends this week I might head north before heading south. The ICW Intracoastal Waterway runs from NY to Texas so the choices are pretty open to me. I will let you know what direction I decide when I start provisioning for the trip. But I am feeling north first, I have family up there I would love to show my boat to.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 10:41 AM 0 comments
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The real price we pay when people we trust cut corners
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 2:26 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
One more month in Clancy's Marina in Oriental.
Well one more month and I should be all set to head out for more then a day at a time. I have a zodiac on the way here and have been pricing Motors. Every day I find new things that need my attention and have been doing my best to make sure when I set sail I do it with everything as good as I can get it. Some times I get a little frustrated at the cockpit size of the Pearson 30 but then remind myself more boat means more work to control it. Knowing first hand that it doesn't take a large unplanned shift in the weather to create a lot of work, I think I will be just fine settling for the smaller space over having extra bells and whistles. When I set sail from here my next stop will be Beaufort N.C. From there more Sea Trials then out to the Ocean Blue. I have been thinking about making a quick trip north before heading down south to give them time to plug the well that is dumping oil in the Gulf. Not that it is an issue the well is pretty far north in the Gulf and I plan on sailing across the gulf when I get around Cuba so I can hit Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cancun before mooring in Corpus Christi.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 10:22 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
A BP video
I think it is kind of funny that every BP plan to deal with the Deepwater Horizon well ends with BP getting some or most of the oil onto one of their ships until they can stop the leak. It is not hard to see where their priorities are. Check out the video
The Russians have a different way to deal with run away Oil wells. They use a small nuke send it down below the surface next to the well, and then set it off. It has worked more then once for the Russians. Well Nuking. So why are we not at least talking about the option? I would say the likely answer is that BP wants the oil, and BP is in control of most the media.
Posted by Goth VanHellsing at 7:25 AM 0 comments