The Inaugural Address

Don't count me among those who say it wasn't FDR, or JFK, or Lincoln.

It was a great speech - for the moment - and for a long time to come.

It declared itself - announced aims, a willingness to change where plans don't work, a commitment to recognizable goals: to mobilize our intelligence, and our people to meet the challenges of the day.

Stanley Fish points out in a careful analysis that "the inaugural address is proving to be more powerful in the reading than it was in the hearing".  Here is his commentary on Barack's Prose Style.

It is in his spare phrasing that Obma achieves the greatest power.  Some of my favorites:

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.  They are serious and they are many.  They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.  But know this America:  They will be met."

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.  Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward.  Where the answer is no, programs will end. "

Obama's masterstroke is the catalog, the litany that sums up the welcoming spirit that we heard sung at the Lincoln  Memorial where Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen led the crowd in singing Robert Kennedy's theme song -Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land:

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

  

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers. 

We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; 

and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, 

we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; 

that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; 

that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and 

that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

Here are the video and the text from the source - Whitehouse.gov

Southbound 650 at The End of the Road:

Jesse's odyssey ended January 14 at the end of the road.  

Ruta 3 at the Tierra Del Fuego  National Park is the southernmost point one can reach by road.  

It is south of the world's southernmost port - Ushuaia (54º48'S  68º18W) on the island `discovered'  by Magellan in his search for a route to China (the Strait of Magellan), explored and studied by Darwin (the Beagle Channel), a bit north of the island we call Cape Horn (55º59'S  68º13W).

The end of the road is 1,913 miles from Buenos Aires, and 11,090 miles south of Alaska.  

We'll have to wait for Jesse's return home to get the road miles from his odometer of his Kawasaki 650, which hopefully will find a home in a museum.  It is an icon symbolizing the will power it took to start in Delaware County, NY, 4 months ago head north, cross Ontario, cut southwest to San Diego, then reach his destination.

Here are Jesse's closing shots, images of others who have gotten there (google images search:  ruta 3 tierra del fuego, and a link to Ushuaia weather.

Congratulations, Jesse - we'll see you soon!

Andrew Wyeth

Wyeth - The Sisters

Andrew Wyeth has died.  He has high art critics it is said.  Not me.  I am a great admirer.  For me the pantheon is Ansel Adams, Monet, and Wyeth.  They taught me to see.  

Georges Harbor is  the place where Maine was founded.  Weymouth  landed there in 1605, erected a cross, claimed it for England and named the islands for the King - George.  In 1905 a memorial cross was erected there on the north end of Allen Island by the State of Maine. Thousands gathered for the Tricentennial.   Across the gut between Allen and Benner the Wyeths have a home.  

In these photographs of Georges Harbor and Allen Island Sea Station (a Betsy Wyeth project), a favorite place of mine, I have tried to capture the light that Wyeth celebrated, and for which we love the St.George River, Maple Juice Cove, Cushing where he painted the lives of Alva and Christina Olson.  We have been nearly neighbors 2 weeks a year there.  We will miss him.

Home Run is Andrew and Betsy's.  The dinghy is a Joel White-designed peapod. The lobster boat - Archangel - is the namesake of Weymouth's vessel. 

For the record here is the New York Times obit.  If you don't know the Wyeths'  Maine work the place to learn about it is in Rockland, at The Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth Center

 Portrait of Andrew Wyeth by James Graham, collage by The Farnsworth.

Vendee: Samantha Davies rounds the Horn

And she is having a blast.

Today - day 62 she rounded - in 40 knot winds and huge, short seas as it gets shallow at the Horn.

Here's the video a day before the rounding

Here's some file stills of Samantha and Roxy

And the day's news at vendeeglobe.org/en

And some shots from the fleet for good measure

Vendee - Rescue at Sea

"After a tense morning of waiting, there was huge relief for Vendée Globe organizers and competitors this afternoon with the news that Vincent Riou (PRB) had arrived 200 miles west of Cape Horn at the scene of VM Matériaux’s capsize at 1421 (GMT) and made contact with Jean Le Cam" stranded inside his boat which turtled.

On the fourth try Riou was able to pick up LeCam, though the rescuer PRB sustained some damage when the boat snagged the remains of the upright keel - which had lost its ballast bulb.  

Even with the EPIRB signal's guidance (emergency position indicating radar beacon) it is very difficult to locate a capsized boat awash in in 4 - 5 meter seas.  

Above rescued and rescuer, LeCam turtled,  Riou in a file shot.  For more go to vendeeglobe.org/en

1000 days at sea??

I have been a Reid Stowe skeptic.  

When I heard his pitch at a New York maritime event "If we don't think humans can spend 1000 days non stop at sea, how can we expect astronauts to spend 1000 days in a tiny capsule in space?", and saw the girl at his elbow, and saw his unromantic steel schooner Anne at the 23rd St. RR barge - I thought the real objective was to set the Guinness record for man alone at sea with a woman half his age.  And when he set off with novice crew I was sure, but Soanya proved herself game, if not up to the whole voyage, departing off Perth after 300 some days.  

Reid has continued on his own sailing idly across oceans, contemplating the meaning of it all.  Now at New Years 2009, day 618 he was approaching Cape Horn, with tales of gales and repairs, and still dreaming his dreams. 

He may not be much of a philosopher but he's proven he's a hell of a sailor. You can follow his voyage and his musings at 1000days.net

Vendee - Desjoyeaux First Around the Horn

      At 0310 this morning (UTC), leader Michel Desjoyeaux on Foncia rounded Cape Horn after 56 days, 15 hours and 08 minutes of racing — a little faster than the time taken in 2004 to reach the Horn (56d 17h 13’), even though this year’s route has been extended by some 1200 miles.

Foncia is the first boat to exit the Pacific and enter the Atlantic Ocean — and begin the final climb north to the finish line. Mich Desj passed just a couple of miles off the coast of the fearsome landmark, reporting squalls of 35-40 knots, gusting 45, at around midnight in local, Chilean time – his path flagged by the famous lighthouses on the rocks. However, on rounding the tip of South America Foncia is experiencing flatter seas. After a strong NW'ly wind this weekend, the leaders are being greeted by a 20-25 knot westerly, likely to ease further as a high pressure zone develops off the tip of Patagonia.  For more go to VendeeGlobe.org/en 

January 4 - Winter has come to New York

Failed winters are the bane of life in New York.

Winter means ice in the Hudson as the North River is commonly called.

Today winter came to New York.

At the Execution Rocks Buoy three miles east of City Island, outside Hempstead Harbor, just off Sands Point at 8 AM the wind is west gusting to 17.5 kts, it is 28 F, and the apparent temperature is 17.2 F.

Modest sheets of ice calm the North River outside our window and fragments bunch along the shore.

Year-end voyage

The shortest voyages can be the most gratifying.  Today in a December thaw I rowed my 8 ft. plastic dinghy out .48 nm, past Big Tom (a rock)  to  R2 - the nun buoy that marks the entrance to Eastchester Bay.  Outbound is a lot farther than inbound.  Rowing into the sea and the wind, aiming for the bridge, and pulled south on the ebb, you earn the leisurely slide back to the dock, feathering the oars, cutting across the sea, spinning and pulling to put the stern into the swells when a big one rolls in.  When you get to the dock that .48 nm looks far again and you're glad the pump can still put out enough to carry you there on the strength of your arms and your back.

Then check North River 2 at Barron's.  Boat yards are at their best in winter - full of boats.  Looking at the keels, hulls, and spars you can tell how they sail.   The functional shapes and  primary colors look their best against the gray sky.

And then Brian Dempsey's American Ale House.  Vikings 20, Giants 19.  Season not over.

Vendee - 4,000 miles front to back - NZ - to Perth

18 of 26 still racing, Michel Desjoyeaux leads the fleet by 44 miles (after 14,000 nm) as they approach the "gate" east of New Zealand.  Gates are designed to bring the fleet north of the ice zones.  The leaders have 10,000 nm to go - aiming next for Cape Horn. 

Here's the Christmas Day Roundup, and a graphic with the fleet position.