Curtain Closing on Summer
Combination of events have colluded in keeping me closer to the desk this summer than the beach. Have taken the time with the bum leg to overdose on gear (iPhone, iPhone Apps, GPS, solar, etc). Now just need to put them to use. My wife (often) wonders (aloud) why the dive equipment can’t be put in storage so I’m sure the parade of Amazon-ordered gear has only added fuel to that smoldering fire.
I have road tested the iNavx iPhone nav app in both a 400+ mile sailing trip from Ft Lauderdale, and weekly out on the Hudson — pretty impressive what you can do with a GPS-enabled iPhone. Hoping to do get a bit further off the grid though. At least for a few days.
Voyage.tv is still so early stage that I’m not so enamored with leaving the development to whoever is next in line. As with most start-ups there really is no next in line as everyone is fully embroiled and slightly overwhelmed in their own efforts. And vacations. We are a travel/experience video-enabled platform, so here’s to testing some product before the streets ice over.
Took the boy (2 years old) to the Beach to see the big waves today, but he slept through them. They were impressive — to me. We made it out to Captree – a place that conjurs foggy memories ( a growing category for me). But I grew up on Long Island and some of the less-known beaches like Gilgo and Tobay were more a mainstay than Jones Beach or Robert Moses. And Captree. Can’t say I would recommend it if you don’t share the nostalgia.
Rehabbing the leg for the Nike Human Race in October and anything else I can find time for. I the meanwhile will be at my desk.
Taking the Tayana
Somehow squeezed in a trip from Ft Lauderdale to Savannah Georgia on 52 foot Tayana. Got to test iPhone navigation app by INavx. The navigation charts downloaded to the phone so you don’t need a cell signal to navaigate, just the GPS.
And there is just so much to know, and Tayana Captain (friend) is a fantastic sailor. There’s so much to know on a boat and any time with someone who’s sailed probably 35,000+ miles is really like Gold.
INavx worked well — hard to keep an iPhone on deck in wet environment though Aquapack can help. Still need a bigger electronic chart on the computer and ideally the same as what’s on the iPhone. Again ideally you’d want to plot waypoints on the bigger screen of laptop and upload them to iPhone, but can do on phone with patience. In any case, good to have another chart on board (and GPS). Just took ASA 105 which is kind of a throwback Navigation class — lots of pencils and erasers….but it all helps…especially blue water…harbors too.
Trip was 400 miles — did 10 knots with the help of the Gulf Stream and was back at desk on Wednesday.
Kayak
Small boats can be big risks. A Speck on the Sea kind of takes that to the nth degree with several interesting characters crossing the Atlantic in some highly suspect boats.
I’m not up for that. I am up for getting back in a small boat. Surprisingly (to some) the kayaking is pretty good in New York City. I’ve been heading over to Manhattan Kayak for several awhile, and even more idyllic are places close by like Cold Spring and Hudson Valley Outfitters.
Yeah, the New York City harbor is challenging especially if you head out to the Statue of Liberty where a couple of currents meet along with a pretty serious amount of boat traffic. It’s an adventure on a couple of levels. That was my thing, getting an adventure fix that the Hamptons doesn’t usually deliver when you can’t really get away.
Photo above is from Iceland – did a quick trip with Ultima Thule. Beautiful country, kind of strange trip as I did it solo. Between the sun never really setting and language…strange little trip but would do it again if I could…same way.
Mexico
Will post more later. Even with all the grim economic news the world does not stop spinning. There are still beach hippies who couldn’t begin to tell you what the market has done or will do…good to see them. Diving later. Be at my desk on Monday. @ Esencia.
Humility
Sailing can be tough. And bad news generally makes better headlines (and pictures) so you see more of it. This post no exception. Pacific magazine, a favorite on-line stop, had a recent roundup of some of the blue water adventures this season that didn’t go as planned.
Like all of these types of articles these are cautionary stories that probably serve to keep armchair sailors rooted in their living rooms. Between business and the baby I’ve been pretty close to shore myself with one Philadelphia to New York sail this summer as a brief taste of open water.
In any case, love to see that there is so much adventure to be had, and sailors willing to risk their neck. Inspiration. It’s not all about email, iPhones and conference calls.
Bransons Billions vs The Atlantic
Short story. I could say the Atlantic wins, but that would imply Branson loses. And sailing is complicated. He demonstrated the judgment that has helped him amass a fortune; sure you take risks, but you have to know when to fold. And with two of his adult children on board the boat I’m sure his risk aversion was only heightened.
Still, the thought that the Atlantic ocean can send a world-class yacht back to port is on one level amazing. That they lost a life raft and a sail can be said of many a long sailing trip — something always breaks. Chalk up one more of many for the Atlantic. Reassuring, for me, to know that adventure is still just as close as the beach.
Nike’s Genius Race
Genius from a marketing perspective. Take a slow holiday or an end of summer Sunday in cities around the world and create an event that invites everyone to participate and what do you get? If you’re Nike you get a giant marketing success with the ‘Human Race’ even if there are some false starts here and there.
For disclosure I ran a 55 minute and 1 second time in New York. I could have been better, but easily could have done worse. That aside, Nike deserves lots of credit for having the guts to even attempt something on this scale. And congratulations for the sea of red shirts that showed up in New York (10,000+ runners).
Randall’s Island is maybe not the best venue for a race of this size. First off, moving 10,000 people plus spectators on and off the island was not easy or elegant to watch (or participate in). But we got there — and I would guess most New Yorkers have never been to Randall’s Island and so just getting there was a bit of an adventure. The line for the Nike arranged buses in Harlem snaked around 2 blocks taking up to 45 minutes to step off the street and onto a bus. I think everyone made it. Buses and ferries were still arriving at 6PM the official, yet missed, start time.
The takeaway was that we all had to go to the Nike store, we all participated in a Nike event, we all signed into a Nike site to check times (several times). In marketing jargon, we all ‘experienced’ the brand in an immersive event. In English, Nike hosted a fun and positive event and that rubs off on the brand. For one day, Nike added to quality life in New York City and they won.
Last Places
Greenland. I am reading Gretel Ehrlich’s (pictured) book which takes place in Greenland, “This Cold Heaven.” The first book I remember reading about Greenland was Lawrence Millman’s “Last Places.” That was funny, and Millman is a character in of himself.
Ehrlich’s book is much different. It’s not funny. She wasn’t a tourist in Greenland or even so much a traveler, she was a person living there for whatever time she had there (7 years on and off). So more “of” Greenland than a tourist. I found the book at Housing Works Bookstore on Crosby in Soho, a place as special as some of the books you find there. I was skeptical of “This Cold Heaven” at first and even second glance, but after reading the jacket I was hooked. It’s a very good book.
Ehrlich weaves in so much more than her own experience including that of super-explorer Knud Rasmussen and painter Rockwell Kent. Rasmussen was half Dutch and half Inuit and his search for the history of the place and its people took him from Greenland to Alaska by dogsled in an epic three year journey. And that just scratches the surface of who he was a person and what he contributed.
Like Rasmussen, Ehrlich’s focus is on the people, the Inuit and of course the land itself. Surviving the arctic creates a people who are unique on our planet. Stories of starving hunters and successful hunts follow one another like good weather after bad.
There are old stories told to Rasmussen, stories that make up spiritual life on the Inuit as well as Ehrlich’s own stories. She shares her friendships and experiences with stark and at times startling honesty. There is a certain rugged freedom and a connection to the physical; the weather, the animals, eating, sleeping and staying alive and warm.
The constant is the distance between this civilized yet harsh place and civilization as in Denmark or most anywhere else. Not just physical distance, but the distance of a Last Place, a place where disharmony with elements such as the weather can swiftly bring tragedy as it always has. A place where some people find refuge in the cold, when the streetlights and paved roads of the Great Cities seem too foreign, too unnatural. And it’s a place, if we’re right about the Planet warming, that we’ll hear more and more about.
Mountain (Washington)
We had talked about hiking (climbing?) New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington for years. Why so long? No good answer. But, in my experience, any trip that requires aligning more than one schedule is at risk for serious postponement. Talking finally turned to walking this past weekend. What is curious was the difficulty in getting info for what is a pretty popular trip in the Northeast that many, many people have tackled.
Here in New York City, neither Paragon Sports or EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) had a map. Basic. Tent and Trails had one. Literally one. But it was of the entire Presidential range. I’d get one when I got there.
Best site for me was this Earthlink page. The other Google top-ranked pages are pretty good. The takeaway is basically that the weather can be seriously dangerous above the tree-line, and you should be in shape.
The where to stay, what to bring, which trail is best is somewhat of a Rubik’s Cube as each ties into the other. If you’re up for a 7 hour-ish drive from NYC, don’t let the weather warnings deter you (at least in August and assuming you’ve got some sense — the days before we got there the temperatures at the summit were in the 30’s — add wind and rain and you get the picture).
Bring: rain gear, warm clothes, some way to keep warm clothes dry while you’re not wearing them, and other requisite hiking materials (food, water, etc). That’s for summer, any other season (especially winter) gear up and maybe get a guide from EMS if you don’t have serious winter camping skills (can you build an igloo?).
Enjoy.
Diving Dutch Springs
Dove Dutch Springs this weekend. The notoriously cold and often cloudy water are the main reasons it took me five years to finally give up the ghost of only diving warm water (not to mention the crowds).
The whole trip was Internet-enabled in that I met (through www.meetup.com) a diving group in New York, Ocean Blue Divers and after a couple NYC-based events, took the plunge with a short trip.
Really good experience. Great group of people and smart. Smart enough to engage Lifeguard Systems to do our Rescue Diver training for the weekend. Rescue Diver is generally the third stage in the big dive organizations development: Open Water Diver; Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, and them perhaps on to Dive Master or Instructor.
Lifeguard Systems has a few maverick ideas about safety that may not always be shared by the dive organizations where the primary goal seems at times just to get as many people under the water as possible. Very valuable, would definitely recommend looking at them if you’re exploring diving. They seem a bit more objective than your average dive shop which seems intent on selling you your next piece of gear.
Sailing, again.
I only really noticed the gap in my sailing when I looked at my log. And with my son at little over a year-old, I know why I stayed closer to home. Still, it’s funny how a body of water, or water itself can actually exert some unseen magnetic force. Having read much Moitessier lately perhaps it’s just some idealized vision of some alternative vagabond life.
But actually being on the sea, even today for 20 miles in the Atlantic is both a gentle and firm reminder that it’s there, the Sea. Not far. But on a boat, you’re really at its mercy, and it commands respect. And sailing can be quite a test. For me…
And Moitessier on returning to England, “…but leaving from Plymouth and returning to Plymouth now seems like leaving from nowhere to go nowhere.” And he didn’t return, he sailed on. Alone. His wife and family to join later. By not going back he lost the race but what he kept was much more valuable. To him…
For me, sailing the 1200 or so miles to Panama from St. Lucia was in many ways a miserable trip. In more ways much more than that. I took about twenty minutes of video of just really nothing (a part of that is on this site, set to music by Max Richter’s, “Maria the Poet”); so just the wind and the waves; and I took the video to remember that part of the trip that took up the most time, but had no edges to distinguish one moment from the next. On most days all there was were the three of us rotating watch, trying to eat together and mostly nothing else.
And now sitting at this computer, one might think great, fine, read a book. But in reality all that time can be filled just thinking and looking. Or just looking. Each wave slightly different, the boat bouncing along pushed by the wind. Same sounds over and over. Sun rises and sets. Sail through the night. By the grace of God the boat doesn’t hit anything drifting below the surface, and worrying doesn’t do any good. And on and on…
That trip in particular without any satellite phone was very much hidden blessing in retrospect. Because rarely do we have that type of uninterrupted solitude. And probably most don’t want it. But it’s so rare…it’s a very special reintroduction to one’s self. For me…
Greenland
Got my first issue of Greenland Today magazine. As a former publisher I still really love print. And the plight of indigenous people around the globe is a magnet for my attention.
Greenland according to Wikipedia is “self-governing Danish province” which essentially means Colony. Interestingly, Greenland is taking steps towards independence with a Referendum later this year. In any event, it was one trip I had on the books that I never completed. I had planned to go kayaking with Ultima Thule of Iceland, but work intervened. Something to look forward to.
The Sea
At times, I’m a little overly focused on all things aquatic. So wanted to post some random thoughts on what is a very wide topic. Underwater Times is by far the most entertaining and informative ocean-focused site site I know. It’s a great jumping off point on all ocean-related topics.
But the sea is more than news or events. It is in many ways a great wilderness. We play at the edge of that wilderness every time we head to the beach, but it can still provide whatever it is we’ve always looked to the wilderness to provide. And Bernard Moitessier, a life-long sea gypsy, and his book The Long Way (picked up electronically on an Amazon Kindle!) provides what it is we look to adventure books for.
Unrelated to ocean as wilderness but worth reading is a novel called, The Sea, by John Banville.
Somewhat related to Moitessier is the interesting documentary on Donald Crowhurst. Crowhurst and Montessier both participated in the Sunday Times Golden Globe race. A race around the world for single-hand (read alone) sailers. While leading the race, Montessier bailed after sailing nearly around the world because he thought the idea of a trophy or a competition did not equal the spirit of the sea or his view of the sea. Artist Tacita Dean did an interesting piece of work on Crowhurst which involves several photographs (and a film I can not find) on the now-abandoned vessel which lies in a sorry state off a deserted beach in Grand Cayman.
For me, sailing, diving, swimming or even looking out at the ocean is a magical experience. There is so much history and nature is so immediate. I could go on and on…won’t though.
(Photo by Michael Truog as we sailed from St. Lucia to Panama several years ago on the Anna of Brighton.)
Breathe Carefully
While much of the conversation regarding pollution centers on Global Warming’s effects, the immediate health impact seems lost. The Guardian in particular and the press generally has been diligent in keeping Global Warming out front. A study published by the UK government,
The Stern Review, is a pretty concise report revolving around the financial impact of Climate Change.
The need for clean air is obvious. We take care of the planet and it takes care of us. We don’t, it doesn’t. I suppose weighing and stressing the financial impact of greenhouse gases and pollution generally is a good lever to motivate businesses, but one might think that even business owners would want to live long in their prosperity.
Sunday
There are not enough boat days. Boat days being the close cousin to boat drinks; a term we all recognize from the classic film, “Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead.” Both are simply way too scarce. Pictured the Atlantic Beach Bridge this Sunday from the deck of Option…
High Places
Sophia Danenberg is the first African American woman to climb Mount Everest. That was in 2006. It’s not new news, but it’s new to many of us who never read about it. I read about Sophia as I was doing a short piece on Sibusiso Vilane, the first “Black” man to climb Everest.
I admire anyone, of any race who can accomplish these challenges, even if they are arbitrary in the sense that there is no need other than one’s desire to set out to tackle them. From the comfort of the Net, I’ve watched as modern explorers like Ben Saunders have set out of these treks in much the same was as we set off to work. Someone should televise
Life is an adventure and their stories serve as another example of just how wide the world still is. It’s been a minute since my last outing, and thanks to Net I can get an adventure fix. Don’t just sit there.
