Last summer, a friend on my dock renamed their boat. We needed a ceremony that properly deflected the bad juju that often comes with a casual re-christening. What we also needed was as many unpronounceable deities as possible. This is not original. I stole liberally from several online examples. Wikipedia also helped with the names…
Brooklyn Sunrise
Molten on water. Crystals arranged on a breath. A threat for later.
Winter Arrives for Some
Standing on the fuel dock, filling cans with diesel for my heater, as a dozen or so Sunfish tacked to and fro, at the mouth of the Morris Canal basin and the Hudson River. As I loudly cursed my gloveless hands, aching as the wet snow melted on my skin, they filled the grey with…
Around Long Island Regatta Start From My Veranda
More than 70 boats set off just a few boat lengths from Ellis Island Thursday afternoon for the 200-miles race around Long Island. Usually, the race starts off the Rockaways. This year, the start line was in the shadow of lower Manhattan. Thanks to Jim Chambers for a place on the Osprey to watch all…
The awful rise of boat name pun-ditry
Among boats built in the 1990s, the pun name SEAS THE DAY cracked the top 30. It was just the beginning. By the 2000s, the boozy HAPPY OURS and the medical KNOT ON CALL had joined it in the top 30. The next decade saw WHY KNOT added to the top names and why not?
The Weight of a Big Boat Project
Long boat projects can be daunting, especially as a live-aboard. The boat is often in a state of tumult. Dust and debris in the head, in pots and pans, in toothbrushes, hair and teeth. Between the sheets. Sometimes even in dinner.
I will allow myself to complete the work exactly on time. Which will be precisely when I am finished.
Of Two Minds in Puerto Rico
It is easy to forget that this island’s flavor would not have happened if the Spanish hadn’t decimated the Taínos and imported West African slaves to replace them.
But today each has contributed practices, rituals and DNA which has been shaken, blended and muddled into a poignant, delicious, cocktail.
Causation and Correlation: How I Didn’t Die From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
I had a unexplained headache wake me late Friday night. Later, maybe I had a dream or heard an an unexpected noise, but my reflexive brain told my hand grab a spare CO detector, put the battery in, and plant it near my bunk in the aft cabin.
Following the Moon
We tacked away from the Keys and the ships, toward the Bahamas and into the moon. As is rose higher, the moon fluffed-off the scattered protons of its initial ascent and turned brilliant. We followed a line of moonlight stretching before us, along of glowing peaks of swells and twinkling wind-driven ripples.
When The Sails Are Stowed
There are thousands of reasons on hundreds of days that made him happy to be living on a boat. Winter, in New York, however tested him every year. He lay in the v-berth before dawn. The wind howled through the rigging while it blew snow upon the deck like tossed sand. He was bundled between a comforter…