SATURDAY NIGHT AT SEA: Mystic Sea Music Festival.

Due to a lot of land based issues and schedules BIANKA is still not in the water and won't be until after next weekend. I've only been able to spend weekends on board prepping and taken care of some projects that did not get done over the brutal winter. Today I plan an extended stay working on the boat. One that should continue into the evening hours. This is because it's the last concert night of the Mystic Sea Music Festival. It has become somewhat of a tradition to be on board the boat in the evening listening to the live broadcast of the festival concert which is broadcast on WPKN 89.5 from Bridgeport Connecticut (also streaming on line) . No matter that the boat is still in the boatyard I will enjoy the evening's music as I putter around getting things ready for launching. The concert runs from 7 pm to 10pm.

A LITTLE SEA MUSIC

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to be on board and listen to the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival which happens over three days. This year it is from June 6th to June 9th 2013. I often think to take BIANKA there and be there in person but, there is also something very pleasant to be in a secluded anchorage and hear how sailors use to entertain themselves on deck in the evenings in the days before electronic devices like radios and IPODS. It is usually broadcast live on WPKN 89.5 FM out of Bridgeport Connecticut. 

ANOTHER MAGICAL EVENING

 I was a little bummed as I finished cooking some Chicken Tika Marsala for which I forget to buy some cream to finish it off so I had to use non fat milk instead.  Oh well. As I sat down in the cockpit to enjoy it along with a nice glass of red wine, I heard from across the channel the channel the jolly sound of a Concertina  being played. The delightful sound of sea shanties one after another were drifting across the water in the still night air providing me with great joy as I dined. The sound was coming from a raft up of two boats where some people were enjoying themselves sans electronics. It reminded me of a recent book I had read of a journey along the New England coast in the 1840's. The author described being at anchor somewhere in New England and hearing the singing and playing of Sea Shanties coming from one of the other ships in the harbor. For me it's was one of those special evenings that elude those on land or get off their boats after a short day sail. It also made me imagine what it must have been like that evening in that harbor in New England back in the 1840'S. Just another magical evening on board the BIANKA.

SONGS FOR SAILORS: THE ACCOUNTANCY SHANTY

Since it's "tax day" here in the states it's time to "scribble away and balance the books" and sing an accountancy shanty: