Tugster - NY Harbor man

The Sixth Borough is the harbor, says the blogger who calls himself Tugster. 

I have taken a lot of pictures of tugs and barges - from North River 2 mostly -  but  Tugster has made it an avocation.  

Based in Staten Island he is well situated for his observations.  His interest reminds me of the days when the Times daily showed scheduled sailings and arrivals of steamships, and described their cargo.

The bridge is the Bayonne Bridge,and the Coast Guard ship is the buoy tender Ida Lewis.

The first and last of these shots are mine, the others are Tugster's.  I expect to come back to his site.  It's got lots of good shots - like the salt depot, barges, and cranes that I'll probably do as a post.

So check out TUGSTER

1000 Days - day 658 knockdown - audio

Reid Stowe really is an original.  Behind his airy ruminations is one hell of a sailor and worker.  One could hope that after rounding Cape Horn - in a nightmarish gale - easy street would be right around the corner.  Hope yes. But little ease so far.

Here's the audio discussing his day 658 South Atlantic Knockdown

The picture shows he survived another close call.Here's the homepage for his current ruminations.

Volvo:Qingdao to Rio 6 days out, 30 to go

The fleet (5 of 8 remain) is a few hundred miles north of the Coral Sea angling toward Cape Horn, with an average speed of 16 - 19 knots with 2o knots of wind and six foot swells. Highway speed. Next stop Rio. DTF 9,842 nm for Ericsson 4, the leader.

Here's the data page

And here's the home page.

Vendee: Samantha finishes, Rich struggles

Samantha Davies finished in 95 days (11 after Michel Desjoyeaux).  

The other female sailor - Dee Caffari - finished on February 16 - 99 days round the world, single-handed.

On February 20, day 103, Rich  Wilson has about2,300 miles to go, and is looking at bad weather and relentless pounding into headwinds without end.

Here's the coverage of Samantha's celebration.

Here's the current wrap up.

Monhegan

Monhegan is a magic island.

N.C. Wyeth, Rockwell Kent,and  James Wyeth each made his mark painting it. Monhegan is like a jazz standard.  If you play sax you have to try Body & Soul. 

Landscape painters and photographers have to try Monhegan.  (My day will come.)

Taisy's graduation gift (self-selected) when she finished at Bates was a David Vickery (Cushing, ME) painting of an afternoon summer storm at nearly the same spot and same light as the shot here from Doris Madsen's Flickr set.

She and her husband own a Monhegan skiff built built at Carpenters Boatshop in Pemaquid where I just bought a skiff of the same design.  More on that later.

Above are my favorites from her set and below is the embedded link to her Monhegan set on Flickr

Friendship, Stones Point, Rockland, and Thomaston - Valentine's Day 2009

We went up to Maine for the weekend - to check the work done on the house, buy stuff for when we take posession in May, have dinner with friends.  And, of course, shop for a seaworthy craft for man and dog to explore the Back River, Meduncook River and the other waters of Friendship and Cushing.  Found a Monhegan skiff.  Hope to clinch the deal soon.

So here are some favorite shots - our backyard - the Back River, Stones Point, Rockland, and ice fishing houses on the St. George, Thomaston.

The whole stream is at my picasaweb page. 

KB Gallery - Bronze in midwinter light

Khachik Bozoghlian works in bronze.  His K.B. Gallery is down the block and around the corner from us on 181 and Riverside Drive.  I stopped by today 30 minutes before sunset, and got some good images using the midwinter light that Andrew Wyeth loved. For the whole sequence go to my picasa webpage .

K.B. Gallery's website is here

New Hudson River School of Painting - Bennett Vadnais

K.B. Gallery at West 181 St. and Riverside Drive features the oil painting of Bennett Vadnais.

Most of this series of realistic oils are painted at the base of the George Washington Bridge - looking north or south.  The first image is looking north from under the Bridge at low tide. The second image is looking south in low winter light from Linden Terrace, Ft. Tryon Park.   Here is the series

Understimulated? Krugman Lays it on the Line

Over the years we have come to tolerate the polite blather of what passes for policy debate on the Lehrer News Hour, putting the appalling up against the ordinary or the modestly challenging.

Finally we have got a guy who can stand up and slug it out.

It is Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman.

Check out this debate on MSNBC Morning Joe - Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan against Paul Krugman.  Paul Krugman can take a punch and land a punch. 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Canting keels - how they work

Rich Wilson's horrifying knockdown in the Vendee Globe  prompted Shira Arnow to search out some technical information on canting keel systems.

Here it is. CBTF (Canting Ballast Twin foil Technology)

And here is a demonstration video of the Schock 40