Three hours on the Back River

Today.  4:30 - 7:30

Back River summer evening light

Matt Rutherford - The Southern Ice Belt | oceanresearchproject.org

The Southern Ice Belt | oceanresearchproject.org

by Matt Rutherford



After rounding southeast Newfoundland we could finally head north. It’s pretty incredible how far east you have to go before you can turn north heading from the U.S. east coast. Canada is wider than it looks on a map. It was great to finally be heading north towards Greenland but now we had our first real obstacle, southern icebergs.

Icebergs come out of Hudson Bay and the Labrador Sea and travel south to southeast. It was one of these southern icebergs that sank the Titanic, so you know they can be pretty serious. Basically you look at an ice map which is a map broken into squares with numbers estimating the number of bergs in that region. You try to steer a course connecting the boxes that have the least amount of icebergs (check picture). At least that is the theory. The wind direction ultimately determines which box on the map you have sailed into and you just do your best to keep a sharp lookout. A sharp lookout in the fog that is. It’s a good thing we installed a radar before we left.

Sailing in the fog day after day is strange experience. It can even be a bit claustrophobic. It can be blowing a gale and still be incredibly foggy, and rainy. Hard to imagine a more dreary place to sail than the southern Labrador Sea. The grey foggy sky gives the water a greyish color so you’re completely surrounded by grey, for days on end. The fog can come or go so quickly that it seems like someone flipped a switch and the pea soup fog machine turns on or off. Fog itself is nearly always misting water so the deck, lines, everything outside is always wet. Mixing icebergs into this equation makes for sleepless nights. My stomach is not happy with all the coffee I’ve been drinking lately.

We are now north of the Southern ice belt, it will be a little while before we get far enough north to see the big boys. Huge icebergs that can be a mile around, hundreds of feet tall and who knows how deep. These southern bergs are hardly an appetizer compared to the feast waiting in the Arctic. Each iceberg is a unique and always changing natural sculpture. Icebergs are one of the most beautiful natural phenomena’s I’ve ever seen. (more after the break)

Launch of the Emjay, a Back River skiff

Launch of the Emjay, a Hobbs White skiff built at the Apprenticeshop, Rockland.  Launched at Back River landing, Friendship, Maine.

High and dry

Headed out rowing to The Nubbins and found the Edwards' dory high and dry.  Heartbreak avoided.

First run on Georgiabel - Thomaston to Port Clyde

First run on Georgiabel

Thomaston to Georges Harbor via Port Clyde

Dry plank caulking

Paul Kilpin  Step 1: paint primer into the seam, then lay in cotton, seal with underwater seam compound.

Gilchrist Estate - Ashfield, MA

Green River Festival 2015 - Booker T. Jones

The First Voyage of 刘达奇

 海湾 帆船 泛舟 航行 小 记 

                                                                刘 达 奇 

 奔驰 而 往 ， 所 需 而 持 ， 准备 以 绪 ， 接驳 到位 。

 然 遇 乌云 聚集 ， 风雨 来袭 ， 置 船 而 候 。

 稍倾 天 复 晴朗 ， 跃 跃 而 行 。

 长 绳 收缩 ， 角度 调整 ， 帆 扬 此 彼 ， 随风 而 动 。 掌舵 左右 ， 方向 乃 定 。

 行 不多时 ， 风 停 完全 ， 止 舟 赏 景 ， 又 时 波浪 荡漾 ， 风 渐 行进 ， 再度 起航 。

 东 切 斯 特 ， 长岛 海湾 ， 西洋 海水 ， 奔流 于此 。

 指点 定向 ， 弯 转回 赴 ， 船 波 水 拍 ， 风 正 帆 悬 。

 归途 之中 ， 风 再度 止 ， 船桨 出 艄 ， 荡桨 拨 浪 ， 划船 而 返 。

 借 风 归位 ， 三 折 而 停 ， 收拾 妥当 ， 重 归 岸边 。

 海湾 帆船 ， 北河二 号 ， 泛舟 航行 ， 以此 为 记 。

Andrea Marie - a wedding barge

 Andrea Marie - soon to carry the Maiden on her maiden voyage across Falmouth Harbour to her wedding.  Built by Patrick Smith and Joseph Lizarazo.   For Patrick's bride to be.

The Forgotten Man Behind William Carlos Williams’s ‘Red Wheelbarrow’ - The New York Times

William Carlos Williams was a physician, a caring man, who examined patients the old fashioned way: listening, touching.  His plain and powerful poetry demonstrates those virtues and talents.  The three poems below, old favorites of mine, show his empathy.   William Logan, a Florida English professor who cared, has tracked down the owner of the red wheelbarrow of which Dr. Williams wrote.

 On July 18, in a moment of belated poetic justice, a stone will be laid on the otherwise unmarked grave of Thaddeus Marshall, an African-American street vendor from Rutherford, N.J., noting his unsung contribution to American literature.

The Forgotten Man Behind William Carlos Williams’s ‘Red Wheelbarrow’ - The New York Times by Jennifer Schleussler

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

TO A POOR OLD WOMAN 

munching a plum on

the street a paper bag 

of them in her hand 

They taste good to her

They taste good

to her. They taste

good to her

You can see it by 

the way she gives herself 

to the one half 

sucked out in her hand 

Comforted 

a solace of ripe plums 

seeming to fill the air 

They taste good to her

An Exercise 

Sick as I am

confused in the head

I mean I have

endured this April

so far

visiting friends

returning home

late at night

I saw

a huge negro

a dirty collar

about his

enormous neck

appeared to be

choking

him

I did not know

whether or not

he saw me though

he was sitting

directly

before me how

shall we 

escape this modern

age

and learn

to breathe again

William Carlos Williams

Attics of My Life - Grateful Dead - Soldiers Field, July 5, 2015

Grateful Dead Plays its Last - Jon Pareles - NY Times

CHICAGO — The last song the Grateful Dead performed here on Sunday night at Soldier Field — the band’s farewell, 50 years after it was founded — was “Attics of My Life.” It’s a close-harmony song of thankfulness to a soul, a muse, perhaps an audience. It professes, “I have spent my life/ Seeking all that’s still unsung” and concludes, “When there was no dream of mine/ You dreamed of me.”

History of Navigation - the story of Harrison and the chronometer

Joshua Slocum- Sailing Alone Around the World

If you haven't read Sailing Alone Around the World, or Geoffrey Wolff's Hard Way Around, and especially if you have, watch this documentary video history of the great mariner Joshua Slocum.

Dorade Sets All-Time Speed Records

Dorade Sets All-Time Speed Records

Rod and Olin Stephens’ fastest recorded speed on Dorade in the 1931 Transatlantic Race was 11.4 knots, set when their father, Rod Stephens, Sr., was driving. In the 2013 Transpacific Yacht Race, Ben Galloway set what we think was the all-time speed record aboard Dorade of 15.9 knots (unless one of our followers knows better — please let us know when and where that was topped!).

 

In the 2015 Transatlantic Race, navigator Shaun Pammenter reports that the crew is already smashing every speed and distance record for Dorade.

 

So far the top drivers are:

Ben “Hollywood” Galloway: 
Boat Speed: 17.1 knots* (Honorable Mention)

Sail Plan: A4, all the trimmings, no reefs for me thanks

Wind Speed: 22-26 knots

Terry “Lets Just Keep This Boat In One Piece” Halpin:Boat Speed: 18.7* knots
Sail Plan: J4, one reef and full mizzen
Wind Speed: 24-32 knots

*Speed Over Water

Dorade (1929) back in the "Transat"

Dorade - the 1929 Sparkman & Stephens designed 52 foot yawl - built at Minnieford on City Island -is back in the race.  That is the NYYC Transatlantic Race from Newport to Cowes that she won three times back in the day.  They are trying to match the Stephens brothers' record - 17 days.  It will be tough though because they can't do the great circle route: race planners have defined an iceberg exclusion zone reaching down to 42 N, forcing them due east until turning NNE   at 52 W - east of Newfoundland.  But Dorade did peak at 17.8 kts two days ago in a wet Gulf Stream run.  
At the moment - day five - they are 4th overall in a fleet of forty boats!  The lead boat?  Mariette of 1915 - a Herreshoff-built 42 meter LOA schooner.
Like Dorade on Facebook, follow them on Twitter  @dorade1929, click on Transatlantic Race or download the YB Tracking app (free for the Transat).