Lofting

 Lofting

image: ship half hull models – scottisch maritime museum

Written by: R.O.Neish – www.theloftsman.com

NOAA Charts - Great South Bay, south shore, long island

NOAA: New York Bight: Great South Bay Complex

NOAA navigational charts: The Great South Bay  

'Just fire away'- When Nazi subs had free reign of the East Coast - Task & Purpose

My father George W. Conk, Jr.., Lt j.g. commanded SC 1355 from 1943 - 1945.  The 110 foot "subchaser" was on convoy escort duty ranging from Jamaica to Iceland.

The favorite targets of the German U-boats were bauxite ore carriers coming up from Jamaica to Baltimore.  Crippling aluminum production was their aim.  I recall my Dad speaking of the sinking of the Libertad.  I've not found it in the official history but the SC 1355 picked up the surviving crew, he recalled.  - gwc

'Just fire away'- When Nazi subs had free reign of the East Coast - Task & Purpose

Fishing Fire Island Inlet - Captree and Robert Moses State Parks

We grew up on South Oyster Bay about five miles from the Captree Bridge across the Great South Bay.  On summer mornings in our 15' Snipe I sailed east to the bridge in a light offshore breeze, then turned back west against the reliable southwesterly blow - rails buried, water pouring in through the leaky side deck, put it in irons, bail, and head off into the wind again. On a couple of occasions I made it to the Fire Island Inlet before heading back home.

In the evening our mother Clare would throw us boys out of the house to go fishing for snappers at the mouth of the canal across the street.  The baby bluefish would wait off the point for schools of shiners, like the one that was skewered on a snelling hook below the red and white bobbin at the end of our bamboo poles.

So it was an occasion for reminiscing to visit Captree yesterday, seeing dozens of people (mostly Asian - men and women) fishing for snappers, perhaps a fluke or sea bass, or tossing a chicken baited crab trap into the waters at the eastern end of the Jones Beach Island where the ocean gushes into the Bay. 

At the Captree State Park boat basin on the bay side a dozen 80 foot party boats vie to take out a dozen or so in these covid-constrained days to snag fluke and sea bass until the striper run starts later in the fall.  The flocks of gulls hovering over the returning boats signal success as they wait for returning fishermen, cleaning their catch, to throw the scraps overboard.  For fifty bucks the fluke boats will hand you a rod, rig, and bait then take you out for three hours of hoping for an 18 inch or better keeper or three.

- GWC

 

Teen boat builder

 One clever kid

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2020/08/27/when-the-pandemic-shut-down-schools-this-naples-ny-teen-built-a-boat/5641945002/

Ian & Sylvia Reunion 1986

Four strong winds only carried Ian and Sylvia Tyson so far.  They divorced in 1975.  But did a reunion concert in 1986.  Ian is 86 now and still performs.  Sylvia is a member of the all-female folk super group Quartette.

Ian and Sylvia are joined by Gordon Lightfoot, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt.

Four Strong Winds - Ian and Sylvia Tyson

 Many have covered this song, but none better than the great Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia Tyson.

Tomorrow is a Long Time - Keb' Mo

 

Sebastian Steudtner German pro-surfer catches 115 foot wave in Portugal

 Sebastian Steudtner at Nazare, Portugal

115 feet!  But how does it end?

Sebastian Steudtner — a German pro surfer — rode a wave over 115 feet tall at Nazare, Portugal.

I’m not this tough. Or brave. Or talented VIDEO: ...pic.twitter.com/b7p1RW8tTO

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 7, 2020

 

Swamped: At Least 4 Boats Sink During ‘Trump Boat Parade’ in Texas, Officials Say - The New York Times

This stupidity astonishes.  Lake Travis is fed by two dams which form Inks Lake on the Colorado River (NOT the one that runs through the Grand Canyon].  It's a sliver that looks perhaps 100 yards wide to me.  10 miles an hour by these boats is a lot of displacement.  Why these guys put these big boats in that river for a Trump parade is a mystery to me.  Hail to the Chief, I guess.  What coud go wrong?

At Least 4 Boats Sink During ‘Trump Boat Parade’ in Texas, Officials Say - The New York Times