SAILORS THANKSGIVING

What's that sound? It's a Gravy Boat coming around.

GIFTS FOR BOATERS: Columbia Sport/Fishing Shirts

Well, the holidays are coming up including the ominous Black Friday and this year Black Thursday events. Though, I certainly won't be in that crowd of shoppers. Fact is most of my shopping is on line. Especially for things I need for the boat. One of the things I will always be carrying on board and in my travels is several  Columbia Men's Bonehead Long Sleeve Shirt. I live in them for most of the year and take a few of them with me on any charters I go on in the off season. They are light and well ventilated and have lot's of pockets to hold things like cell phones, cameras, notepads, pens and the all important reading glasses. They are easy to clean and rinse and dry faster than most other shirts. They look good on the beach and at the bar and stay cool in hot climes. Which is why I recommend them as gifts for any boaters or crew members you may have on your holiday list.

A SAILOR'S THANKSGIVING

Well this is a day for giving thanks and this sailor has a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful that I have a boat that I love and have not felt the need to look at any others since I bought it in 1995. I'm also thankful I can spend as much time on it as I do.  To me it's all about being content with what you have and being able to separate your wants and needs. Knowing the difference is important if one wants to be happy and I am thankful that I do.  I'm also thankful for each sunrise and sunset I get to see when I'm on the boat. They never cease to remind me how lucky I am to be on board to see them.

Gifts for Sailors this holiday SEAson.

It's that time of year were neighborhoods on the Isle of Long begin to look like the Vegas strip. Luckily, these light displays are mostly inland and therefore won't confuse a sailor trying to enter a harbor. But, it also means that Christmas is near at hand. Even if you are in a generous mood the AIS/GPS/RADAR/VHF radio/CD player/coffee maker device is probably not a good idea to buy as a gift.  Not all sailors will think that is really useful (or they may already have one). But, something in the way of a "stocking stuffer" may be more useful and appreciated. So here are a few of Capt. Mike's gift giving ideas for the Holidays:

1) Survival Whistle like the ACR WW-3  This simple, cheap device could save a life. In fact if you are feeling very generous you might want to buy several so that every life jacket on board has one attached. 

2) The Smith and Wesson 44 Mag Tool knife. I was first tipped off to this baby by a post by Bob at  BOAT BITS. While I still do prefer my Gerber MP400. But, I recently found myself working in a location where I needed a multi tool and had left my Gerber several hundred miles away. So I ordered one. The blades and tools do not lock like the Gerber but, it does have some things to recommend it. Instead of one knife blade it has two. One is a straight edge and the other serrated which is good for a sailor who needs to cut through lines with minimal hassle. It also has a smaller Phillips head screw driver than the Gerber which can be very useful. There is also a saw blade which cut through butcher block impressively in my test. Along with scissors, file and the needle nose pliers it is good to have on board even as a backup. For less than ten dollars why not put one in the ditch bag too! In short it makes a great useful gift for a sailor even if it is a spare.



3)A copy of the  NAVIGATION RULES As a Licensed Captain I'm required to have a copy of the Navigation Rules on board. Even if the sailor in your life is not a licensed Captain it's good to have a copy on board. They can check to make sure they or other boats are meeting the requirements in terms of signals, lights etc... Plus it could be fun and very educational to identify the various tug and barge combinations you might see on the waters. If they are new to boating may even make them a better boater.

FORTUNATE SEAS OF ADVICE

I was at a Chinese restaurant here in Washington D.C. last night enjoying a cup tea after a delicious Peking Duck dinner. I open up the fortune cookie provided by the waitress which reads:

I'd be a little more concerned if BIANKA was not already stored for the winter on land. But, word up to all the mariners out there!

DESTINATION: CITY ISLAND PART TWO: ISLAND OF THE DEAD

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While City Island was my destination it is also a place where people leave from and never return. Just a two minute walk from the boatyard is a guarded and locked ferry dock at the end of Fordham Street.

This is the ferry that runs to Hart Island and which is the Potters Field for the city of New York. The ferry is operated by the New York City Corrections department. Because the people doing the burials are prisoner volunteers of nearby Rikers Island.

Hart Island is only about 1800 feet away from City Island. But, for several youngsters it was a journey too far on a January night in 2003: 

A weekend search of the icy waters and small islands off City Island in the Bronx turned up no trace of four teenage boys who vanished Friday night after leaving a party and apparently shoving off into Long Island Sound in a fiberglass rowboat. Officials said last night that if they had gone into the water, there was little hope that they had survived.


"The most obvious destination for what many thought was a nocturnal adventure -- Hart Island, with its storied potter's field graveyard and abandoned missile silos, less than a mile off City Island -- yielded no signs that the teenagers had been there. Dozens of other islands between Westchester and Nassau Counties were scoured. Scuba divers searched shoreline waters, but turned up nothing.

On Friday night, he said, they attended another party, and were last seen about 9:30 p.m., carrying oars and Mr. Wertenbaker's acoustic guitar toward the docks and marinas on the island's eastern shore.


The guitar was found on Saturday by Mr. Wertenbaker's family in a cemetery by the docks, and police search dogs traced the teenagers' scent to Barron's Marina nearby, where an eight-foot fiberglass rowboat was missing." -New York Times

The next morning I wandered over to the same Pelham Cemetery where the guitar washed up. It was just a stones throw from the mooring Bianka was on. It is a very interesting place. The dead at Pelham have "million dollar" waterfront views:

That's BIANKA at the mooring with the white hull and blue sail cover on the left. Hart Island is in the background. Most of the tombstones at Pelhem Cemetery are facing the water:

Well, wouldn't you want that view too?  Another interesting thing about the Pelham Cemetery for me as a sailor was how many of the grave markers showed the deceased's love for sailing on the waters that surround City Island:

When you see the word "pilot" like on the grave stone of Alexander Banta below. Think about a "Hell Gate Pilot" guiding ships down the East River and not those in planes circling overhead making a final approach to Laguardia Airport.

There is no doubt how this fellow made his living:

 I spent over an hour wandering around the Pelham Cemetery. It's a fascinating place for those who love the sailing and the sea because for many of those buried there loved it too! It's a reminder for those of us still living to appreciated it while we can and everyday that we can.
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DESTINATION CITY ISLAND PART THREE CLICK HERE

The big small world of Reid Stowe and BIANKA

Back in the late 1990's when BIANKA was docked at the Chelsea Piers and I was pretty much living on board. Reid Stowe and his schooner ANNE was docked a few piers up river. I had on occasion walked by there and had seen Stowe working on his boat but, never actually had a gam with him. At the time I think he was getting prepared to head out into the Atlantic and chart a course that would trace a giant turtle on the waters of the Atlantic. After he returned from that trip he came up with a more ambitious project which was to spend a thousand days at sea. A journey which he is currently embarked on now being some 936 days into that sail. He is actually going to be spending more than one thousand days at sea in order to avoid the winter storms of the Atlantic before returning back to New York harbor.


I've been checking into his website/blog 1000 DAYS AT SEA every couple of weeks. I and many others have been vicariously taking the journey with him through his blog. He is part sailor, part artist and very spiritual as he single hands the 70-foot and 60-ton gaff-rigged schooner ANNE around the ocean. Now that the sailing season is over for me I wish I could be out there with him as he alternates between his art and boat chores. Lately, it seems his computer is acting up and may fail at some point depriving the rest of the world of his colorful, descriptive posts. He is certainly in tune with his environment and the ocean he sails. But, personally I have concerns that he might never be able to set foot on land again after making this journey. But, reading his posts and the things he has seen and experienced I'm sure that would be fine with Stowe but, I and others would sure miss not being able to have a little chat with him should we be anchored or docked nearby the Anne someday.