Robert Gould Shaw and the African American 54th Massachusetts Regiment National Memorial

The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial

Boston National Historic Park, Boston African American National Historic Site

On Boston Common, opposite the Massachusetts Statehouse

 

Robert Gould Shaw and the African American 54th Massachusetts

Regiment marching off to war, Beacon Street,

Boston, MA 1863

Cast in bronze by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, unveiled, Memorial Day, 1897

"We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers....We can imagine no holier place than that in which he lies, among his brave and devoted followers, nor wish for him better company – what a body-guard he has!"

--Francis G. Shaw - son of Col. Robert G. Shaw, Massachusetts 54th Regiment

On Hyndford Street - Van Morrison - the only time is now

Van Morrison grew up on Hyndford Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, not far from the Bloomfield Gospel Hall.  He listened to Radio Luxemburg late at night when contemplation is best.  He recalls Jelly Roll Morton and other greats.  Over the years Van has written many reminiscences about his childhood and growth in music.  One of the very best is On Hyndford Street.  

Of course many in Belfast grew up listening to his recollections of Cypress Avenue and the clickety clack of high heel shoes. This short film captures a rapturous moment as Van, marking his 70th in 2015, sings to his neighbors at a local music festival on Cypress Avenue. - GWC

Brisbane man Tom Robinson, 22, getting ready to row his handmade boat, solo, from Chile to Australia - ABC News

I love single-handing.  Sail, row, power. Always have.  I like being caught in storm, heading into a short sea///if there's a shower at the end of the day. So I've never understood the transoceanic single-handers like Australian Tom Robinson.

But he knows his own mind and has built a boat tha looks fir for the voyage.  His story follows. - GWC

Brisbane man Tom Robinson getting ready to row his handmade boat, solo, from Chile to Australia - ABC News

When Brisbane man Tom Robinson was 14, he woke up early for rowing training with a big idea lodged in his brain: He was going to row across the Pacific Ocean. 

Key points:

• Tom Robinson, 22, has built his own boat to row solo across the Pacific Ocean
• He will start from Chile, and wind his way home to Brisbane
• Some of the biggest potential dangers will be coral atolls and reefs

By the time he'd put the oars down that morning, his plan was already in motion. 

Fast forward to today and the now 22-year-old — who has completed his apprenticeship in marine craft construction — is putting the final touches on the rowboat in which he plans to make the epic voyage.

Mr Robinson hopes to become the youngest person to row across the Pacific Ocean, and will embark on the solo journey from Chile, in South America, to Brisbane.

"Ever since I was a kid, I've always loved rowing and I suppose I'm a bit of an adventurer," he told ABC Radio Brisbane.

Tom Robinson's boat, which he made himself, is almost ready to be shipped to Chile.(

ABC Radio Brisbane: Edwina Seselja

)

His boat is named Maiwar, the Indigenous name for the Brisbane River. 

"I grew up on the river. I rowed on the river. I built the boat on the banks of the river and, hopefully, it will return there."

Once completed, his rowboat will be shipped to Chile in October.

Mr Robinson plans to reunite with his vessel in January, before making his way to Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Tonga and, finally, home to Brisbane. 

"That's the plan, but when you're in a rowing boat, you can't always end up at the island you wish to end up at," Mr Robinson said. 

RIP Stephen Dunn - but first the poet was a shooting guard- George Vecsey

RIP Stephen Dunn - but first the poet was a shooting guard- 

by George Vecsey - a teammate

Start of summer

 

Wing foiling at the Golden Gate

 The narrator gets pretty Moments of Zen about Wing Foiling on the San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge. - GWC

Father's Day 2021

 

Man swallowed by whale off the coast of Cape Cod while lobster diving

Man swallowed by whale off the coast of Cape Cod while lobster diving

I was completely inside': Lobster diver swallowed by humpback whale off Provincetown -Cape Cod Times

Doug Fraser

June 11, 2021

PROVINCETOWN — At a little before 8 a.m. Friday, veteran lobster diver Michael Packard entered the water for his second dive of the day.

His vessel, the “Ja’n J,” was off Herring Cove Beach and surrounded by a fleet of boats catching striped bass. The water temperature was a balmy 60 degrees and the visibility about 20 feet.

Licensed commercial lobster divers literally pluck lobsters off the sandy bottom, and as Packard, 56, dove down Friday morning, he saw schools of sand lances and stripers swimming by. The ocean food chain was in full evidence, but about 10 feet from the bottom Packard suddenly knew what it truly felt like to be part of that chain.

In something truly biblical, Packard was swallowed whole by a humpback whale.

“All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” Packard recalled Friday afternoon following his release from Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.”

Initially, Packard thought he was inside a great white shark, but he couldn’t feel any teeth and he hadn’t suffered any obvious wounds. It quickly dawned on him that he had been swallowed by a whale.“I was completely inside; it was completely black,” Packard said. “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ All I could think of was my boys — they’re 12 and 15 years old.”Outfitted with scuba gear, he struggled and the whale began shaking its head so that Packard could tell he didn’t like it. He estimated he was in the whale for 30 to 40 seconds before the whale finally surfaced....

“I saw light, and he started throwing his head side to side, and the next thing I knew I was outside (in the water),” said Packard, who lives in Wellfleet

Fox Islands - Small Boats Magazine

Fox Islands - Small Boats Magazine

Fox Islands

A Maine coast island cruise

Written by  CHRISTOPHE MATSON

From Issue  APRIL 2021

I set out, boat in tow, well before dawn to get from my home in New Hampshire to Rockland, Maine. John, coming from Vermont, had started his drive even earlier. We needed to be on the water by 10 in the morning to make the crossing of Lower Penobscot Bay and get to the narrow entrance of The Basin on Vinalhaven at slack tide. The forecast looked promising for the 10-nautical-mile crossing. With a wind out of the south at 12 knots, we could make good speed on a broad reach out of Rockland Harbor and across lower Penobscot Bay, a stretch of water that is known for foul weather and steep seas. This was the first challenge to overcome on our trip, which was to be a circumnavigation of North Haven Island, Vinalhaven’s northern sister and the smaller of the two Fox Islands. A few years prior, I had circled Vinalhaven from Rockland with my Sea Pearl and wanted to explore more of the area. John, after hearing about that first trip, was eager to do something like it with me.

Roger Siebert

.

Rockland Harbor, 2 miles wide, didn’t have much wind. Across Penobscot Bay, Vinalhaven was made invisible by fog but for the motionless pearl-white blades of the island’s wind turbines stabbed skyward. Soon after we ghosted off the ramp with a weak southwestern breeze, the peak of John’s mainsail suddenly came undone. Sail and boom came crashing into the boat, and it took another 30 minutes to get sorted out. The current in Penobscot Bay was in a strong flood, flowing northward, and instead of the good sea breeze we expected there was a weak southeasterly wind. A straight shot across to Vinalhaven proved impossible and by the end of the crossing we were pressed to the ragged granite north end of 500-yard-long Dogfish Island, more than a mile and a half north of where we wanted to land with no time-efficient way to sail against the current. We hurriedly struck our rigs and rowed, frantically, the final 2.5 miles.

As I rowed around the forested southern point of Ledbette....KEEP READING

Is Buddy Melges America's Greatest Sailor?

 If you were looking for the home town of the great sailors, you wouldn't look west of Kenosha, WI to the Town of Zenda, Wisconsin which produced the champion of local racers on little Lake Geneva.  But  Buddy Melges came from there - and won a slew of world championships in big boats, small boats, you name it.  The last successful American Defender of the Cup, now 91, he is the subject of a forthcoming movie - The Wizard of Zenda.  Check out the trailer.

Oh and Melges.com  builds great sail and power boats, like the Melges 24.