New Year in South florida

December was an enjoyable month in Palm Beach. It has been consistently 70-80 degrees and sunny with water temperatures at 75. Our captain spent the month in Spain with his wife and kids. In his absence, Scott, the former captain of Kaleen, lived with us for the time. Scott is always up for a good time.

Mike and I took the first half of the Advanced Open Water certification with an obnoxious instructor whose only redeeming quality was that he brought his underwater camera along for the dives. I guess thats not a quality. Here are some of those picturesWe saw a loggerhead turtle, a green moray eel, a couple of lobster, some octopii, and a bunch of tropical fish. We have cooler looking spotted eagle rays that swim under our boat, but I havent gotten a picture of one of them yet. Here is the eel that we saw. It had crazy, unblinking zombie eyes. He just sticks his head out of the rocks and and stares at fish until they give up and let him eat them. You can see the frog fish's fat lips in the bottem right of the picture. The fuzzy white splotch just above his upper lip is a clear appendage that is meant to resemble a shrimp. The fish waits for a small baitfish to go for the shrimp-appendage, then it gulps that little baitfish down. Man, do those baitfish ever get it good!

Since then, we have snorkled over to the blue heron bridge. my camera takes some decent underwater photos as well, so we have had some fun with that.Here a picture of a Jack Crevalle that mike caught.

Mom, Dad and Katherine came down for a few days during christmas. We went out on the center console, caught a few snook, hung out on south beach for a day and otherwise just hung out and had a great time. It is weird to wake up on christmas morning and go to the beach. Katherine, send me some of your good pics. Ill put the ones of the monster fish you caught on here. Heres one of the many snook that we have caught down here. Delicious.

I bought a surfboard for $10 at a thrift store. Its only 6 feet tall and very diffucult to ride. waiting for some good surf and ill give it a try again.

Tony from Newport and some of his college friends came down and we went to the Hard Rock Casino in lauderdale for a night, then south beach for the next day, then Key West for the following night. We were able go for a boat ride, snorkel, and see some roosters(everywhere in key west). Mike Bowman and I almost caught one. There were also Key deer, which are tiny deer that only live on one of the keys. They are only about the size of a large dog and and very friendly. That was a fun and exhausting weekend. Here are the cheap memosas that started it all.




New Years Eve was a blast. it was a house party that never ended. The next day's trip down to south beach with the boss and his family went surprisingly smoothly, despite never having gone to bed the night before. I think it is OK to party your face off every once in a while, and I believe that that was my once for a very long while.

This last picture was taken with my camera earlier today. The structure is a sunken sailboat about 100 yards from our boat.

I am still thinking about doing something different. I know I said this a month ago, but I am very hesitant to leave the yachting industry for a ski break if its going to be a pain in the ass to get back in.

UPDATE: I just watched "That's It, That's All," an incredible snowboarding movie. Either this boat starts doing something cool(unlikely) or I get a potential job in the carribean(50/50) or I am snowbound by my birthday, Jan 25th. thats it, thats all.

Palm Beach

Hello everyone. I hope that your thanksgivings were happy affairs. Mike and I spent ours at his college friend's house and enjoyed a huge traditional thanksgiving dinner. I did muss being at home with my family, but not all was lost. We are still in Palm Beach with no plans of leaving. Work is easy, but life is a little boring here. I suppose that I need to find some stuff to do in the community to keep me busy. I don't think that I'll be able to sit around for the full winter, so I am going to look for other opportunities, both in yachting and skiing. Another job in yachting seems a bit unlikely as it is already the middle of the season and the few boats who are doing cool things already have a full crew. I'm going to send some emails out to old captains that appreciated me and see what turns up. I have also applied at several ski chalets in the French Alps. Its a bit late as the season has already begun, but I am sure that there will be some turnover. I'm just not sure that American candidates are going to be their first choice. I have also thought about moving out to join Luc and Brett in Steamboat. The header picture is one of Steamboat before a storm from a couple of years ago. Its such a good place and I can't wait to get back.

I found a cool program that turns pictures into vector images. The link is http://vectormagic.com/main/

UGA vs. Colorado at Nationals in Columbus, Ohio in 2006. We won 17-16.
Bull Sluice class IV on the Chattooga river. The 78 year old woman in front of me nearly died shortly after this picture was taken.
Here is a picture of the boat on which I work, Kaleen

SCUBA

Last weekend, Mike and I took our PADI Open Water SCUBA Certification class. It consisted of a 50 question multiple choice test, a 2 hour pool period and 4 ocean dives. It was just Mike, a girl about our age, the instructor and myself, which made for an easy course. As we were all comfortable underwater, we were able to spend more time exploring the reefs and the wreck. On Saturday, the two dives that we did were both to a reef at a depth of about 40 feet. We saw lots of cool tropical fish and all of the coral associated with reefs. On Sunday, we dove to depths of ~80feet at the deepest and explored a 150' wreck called "Ancient Mariner" as well as a another deep reef. It is quite an incredible feeling to sit on the sandy bottom and look up and not be able to see the surface. Though we were not supposed to be deeper than 60' nor to be swimming around inside the wreck, our instructor felt that we were competent enough and let us do both. At the wreck, we saw a few lobster, a wide variety of fish and an enormous manta ray. It was about 6 feet in diameter and casually swimming around the wreck. The 4 dives were anywhere between 25 and 45 minutes depending on our depth because one uses compressed air faster when one is deeper because the air is more compressed.

Speaking of which, an interesting thing happened when we were preforming out last decompression stop of the weekend. A decompression stop is pausing for a few minutes while ascending to allow some of the dissolved nitrogen escape from the blood stream. If this is not done, a painful condition called decompression sickness "the bends" could result. Throughout the weekend, the instructor had told us to let him know whenever our pressure gauges read less than 500 psi. Once mine dropped below, I showed it to him and he gave me the universal "OK" signal. We kept exploring the reef. At this point, I was not concerned because he was not concerned, and I figured that as it was a class, they would provide a much larger window than necessary in order to get to the surface. In another minute or so we begin ascending. I'm checking my gauge which is reading about 300 psi. Because we are coming from around 70 feet, we are slowly ascending to prevent the bends. I am occasionally glancing at my gauge, which is steadily declining over the next 5 minutes. We get to about 20 feet below the surface and the instructor indicates that we will begin our 3 minute decompression stop. At this point, I am looking at my gauge, which says about 50psi, and wondering if I have 3 minutes of air. I wasn't too worried because I felt like in an emergency, I could swim to the surface. Also, I felt like the gauge could work like a gas tank gauge in that one can get by for quite a while while on empty. Anyone that knows me well knows that this is a silly thing for me of all people to think as I have tested that particular gauge many times with unlucky results. Just after we begin the stop, I notice it becomes hard to breathe. Each breath becomes more and more difficult to draw until finally, there is definitely no more air in my tank. Uh oh. Luckily, we were all close to one another, so I reached over for the secondary air source on my instructor's tank and was able to breathe again. Though it was never that scary, it is a bit unnerving to run out of air. It was a good learning experience and will be the last time that I let such a thing happen.

South florida thanksgiving

Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it home for thanksgiving because we have a dinner cruise planned. I suppose that I am thankful that I still have a job. i will miss all of you and hopefully see you all soon.

Buckethead, Hashing and Jerk

I forgot to mention that I had the privilege of seeing Buckethead a week or so ago at a tiny venue here in Lauderdale. The opening act was a guy called That One Guy. We played this crazy harp thing that he made out of stainless steel piping, one bass string and some effects buttons. He could make a bunch of music for just being one guy. Later, he came out and played with Buckethead. It was good.

Last night, I went hashing for the first time. Basically, its a loose club of people who like to drink beer and run around. Its fairly weird but really fun. This is all the information that I had before I showed up last night. I had looked it up on the internet and found a hotline to call for info about upcoming hashes. There are usually about 5 or so each week anywhere between Palm Beach and Miami. So I called the number and found out about Hash. I learned that it costs $2 to pay for cheap beer and that we were supposed to meet up at a Library parking lot at 6:30pm in Hollywood. So I got my running shoes and showed up. When I got there there were already a few people standing around drinking beer, waiting as more people showed up. From what I could tell, there was not any sort of commonality among the hashers other than the fact that they enjoyed running and drinking beer.

At this point, people welcomed me as "Virgin Louis" and explained how things work. Basically, at each hashing event, there is one organizer called the "hare." This position rotates every week. The hare is responsible for bringing coolers, ice and some beer. We each gave the hare $2 bucks this time, though normally these things are BYOB + 1$ for the ice and beer for the beer stop. The hares are also responsible for setting the course. At around 7pm, they took off, reminding us to look for baking flour and banana peels to stay on the path. We followed 10 mins after. The hares left different kinds of markings that indicate different things. A single blob of flour is called a "plop" and generally signifies that you are on the right track. If you have found 3 in a row, then you are definitely on the right track. An "X" in the road signifies that the path could have turned in any direction. At this point, people split up and search for about 100 yards in search of more "plops" This makes it a bit more challenging, and because the guys in front are doubling back at the Xs, it also serves to keep the group together. A few of the guys ran with whistles and would blow it to help others find the trail. One guy ran with a conch shell in a side holster and another had a bugle. Some of the costumes were funny as well. Because this particular hash was a Banana theme, most wore yellow, one guy had a banana costume, a girl had a cub scout uniform "pub scout" and one guy wore only a banana hammock. The trail took us through many different side streets, across a bridge, through a hotel lobby and a beach bar. So the scene is 20 or so adults in strange outfits running absently through the streets and establishments of Fort Lauderdale sounding whistles and shells. Also at this point, i had one of those 3rd person views of my own life. Not in a negative way, but "How did I get here?" Eventually, we saw "BN" written in flour on the road, which means "beer near." We rounded a corner to find a a couple of the faster ones already at the beer check, which was a parking lot near the inter coastal. A 15-20 beer break ensued. At this point, Banana Hammock jumped in the water.
The whole group caught up and a few minutes later, the hares left again to make the trail, which led us back to the original parking lot for the ceremonial part. it involved singing, chanting, dancing and the eventual naming of Chiquita Mussolini. You will have to go to figure out what goes on. That ended at 9:30 or so and those who chose went to the "on after" at a bar for some late dinner.This is from the "On After." Everyone in the photo was along on the hash with the exception of the woman in the front. She is a nice stranger who joined the party.

All in all, I am very surprised that this exists and I had not previously known of it. It was very fun and I will definitely be back. Some of the hashes can get really intense and take the better part of a day to complete.

In other news, i rode my bike 12 miles to a Jamaican jerk chicken festival. It was really hot and I popped my tire, but the music and the chicken were both good. coconut water, on the other hand, is not delicious.

Boat Show

Heres a giant goose that protected the house at which we bought Mike a bike. The owner says that he just showed up one day.
Michael Neder and Beth Rowe got married. Ben began celebrating before the church ceremony.Brett post-wedding, pre-waffle house
This thing (a mudskipper?) tried to attack Luc as we waited for a ride the first night we were in town. It just kind of flops around to where it wants to go. This one wanted to cross a divided highway.


The past few weeks here have been hrd work as well as a lot of fun. We have been getting the boat ready for Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The work has been waxing the paint coat, acid washing the teak wood, bleach cleaning the cushions and other tiring physical labor. We have had a good group of help on many of the jobs. My friend and former boss Tony from Steverino's pizza in Athens now lives down here and was a big help. The other two kids are day workers from a crew house and are a good time. Hard Timin' Simon is a kid from Oregon who recently got arrested for getting drunk and falling into the New River. He learned his lesson in jail. John is the other dayworker from texas and is quite possibly the funniest story teller that I have ever met. He has a great perspective on life, a great texas drawl and hundreds of phrases like "Man that engine room is slicker than boiled okra" and "Stand up straight, boy! A crooked spine is the Devil's rollercoaster" I've been over to the crew house a couple of different nights. It is a crazy place with 13 kids from all over the world living in a 3 bedroom house.

Mike and i have continued to visit South Beach with Lb for some good cuban food, surfing, kayaking, and topless beaches.

I made it up to Atlanta for the wedding of Michael
Neder and Beth. Ben and I made it up to athens for a night to see some friends and drink some beers. I was really only there for 9 hours or so and therefore didnt get to do all of the things that I would have liked to do. I'm gonna try to make it back soon.

We've been mostly stationary so that we can do work on the boat. We did make it out for a sea trial after we had some work done on the engines. This is the result of 8 foot seas that day. Everything that was not stowed was somewhere else by the end of the trial.We had a good time on the top deck trying to hold on as we occasionally burried the bow of the boat into the crests of some of the waves. We were about 35 feet above the water line and were still getting wet. Getting tossed around is fun for a bit, but days at sea like that would be pretty unpleasant. 35 foot seas, on the other hand, would probably not be fun at all.

The boat show happened and we were ready for it. we had worked through the weekend to finish everything. At the show, our boat was situated next to two other identical boats in the Westport display. The boat show was fun as there were plenty of cute girls and free food and drinks. Each night a different Marine/Yacht company threw a big parties. I got to see a lot of familliar faces that I had worked with in Newport. We gave a bunch of tours to potential buyers, byt we only had one guy with serious interest. He has been back and forth with the broker so many times that I have no idea what to think about weather or not hes gonna buy this thing. If it doesn't sell, it looks like the boat will stay in palm beach for the winter. As much as i have enjoyed this boat and the crew, I got into this whole thing with the hopes of seeing the world, so I might persue other options. Either Ill look into other, busier boats or Ill go somewhere where I can ski. The alps would be good, and I could hop on a boat in the Med for next spring/summer. I'd love some advice.

Mike and I just signed up for an Open Water SCUBA certification class. We also bought the movie "Open Water" about a disaster on a SCUBA vacation. We should be ready to dive after next weekend.
Luc makes the best of a calm wave day in Miami
LB and I find a treasure in a sweet nearby park called secret woods. Its a mangrove swamp filled with cranes, giant spiders and butterflies.

This is the city in which I live. I have found frisbee, some good friends, warm weather, the sea, and a free-sushi-during-happy-hour-place. So life is good. I hope that all is well every where else in the world.
This is from Peter Dempsey. My old team plays in the Classic City Classic in Athens this weekend. If you are around, try to make it out. It is the best college ultimate happening this fall. Sorry for the gap in posting. While I have been having fun and working hard, there haven't been any epic stories to record. Warm Winds and Following Seas

Fairhaven to Fort Lauderdle

On Monday night, the six of us and our boat pushed off from Fairhaven and began cruising south. The plan was plotted to follow along the continental shelf, keeping
us anywhere from 25 to 200 miles off shore. In order to continue traveling around the clock, we split up into three groups. I had the 12pm to 4pm and the 12am to 4am shift with
Mike's friend Chris from Boston. Luc got the 8-12 shifts with captain Mike and Peter and Mike got the sunset/sunrise shifts from 4-8. While it is nice to watch the sun rise and fall, 4am
is a hell of a time to begin anything. A watch shift involves watching the radar and charts for potential hazards, namely buoys, shallow water and other boats.
It is fairly empty once you get more then fifty miles off shore, but we have had to chance course to avoid some other fishing boats and cargo ships. Watch also involves
engine room checks every hour and plotting the course on a physical chart. Aside from the eight hours of watch each day, we are free to read, watch movies, play games, sleep, etc.
There have been some cool encounters with wildlife along the way. On the first morning just after sunrise, those awake were joined by 40 or so porpoise playing in the wake and jumping at the bow. Check out the
video. Later that day, we saw a smaller pod of porpoise, a jumping marlin and a jumping dolphin. Mike, who missed seeing all of these aquatic animal displays, claimed to have seen a mermaid.
The next day, we caught some 30-knot winds coming from a storm blowing off of Cape Hatteras and spent around 18 hours in 5-foot seas. This is very exhausting. No one got seasick, but no one really enjoyed the experience.
The next day, we found that we had two small finches that stowed away on the boat. They must have gotten caught in the heavy winds and were lucky to find a place to land. Luc was able to catch one of them a few moths and feed it.
We passed within 20 miles of Cape Canaveral and were able to see the two shuttles scheduled to launch on October 12th to fix the space station. On Friday morning, we arrived at the new river in Lauderdale and met up with the towboats to pull us up the river. We got in, did a four-hour wash down to remove all of the salt and finch poop. The shipyard is Roscioli and roughly 3 miles from the downtown area. It is a fairly industrial yard and has only covered slips. Our boat stays in a big enclosed room. This is good because it keeps it cleaner, but it also means that we are unable to work on the boat in the sun.
This weekend, we made it out to the bars, found treasure in a cool nearby park called secret woods and visited LB in South Beach for some surfing and surf kayaking. It was great and we will definitely be back to visit her. Peter left this morning for Atlanta. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with him. I think he might try to get into the industry as well. Luc, Mike and I are going to spend the day looking for a bike for mike, playing some ultimate with the local pickup group and watching some football. So, life is good and steamy down here. I will see many of you in a week for Mike and Beth Neder’s wedding. My car made it safely to Atlanta, which is good, because many people were convinced that it was going to get stolen and disassembled in a chop shop somewhere.