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Back to gerritt.net ADVENTURE ON THE HIGH SEAS October 31, 2005. 9:45 PM More press about my marina this weekend: a sailor who lives one pier over (H-Dock) got caught in the open water off Massachusetts during the brunt of a wicked nor'easter. His 33-foot sailboat, which he was delivering from Nova Scotia to a buyer in Virginia, was knocked down onto its side, lost its engine, and had only one sail left by the time the Coast Guard was able to get a helicopter to lift the 74-year-old captain to safety. He had been swept overboard during the knock-down, but was tied in to a harness system and clambered back on board, got the vessel upright and was headed toward safety when someone on shore spotted him and called the Coasties. He had been at sea three days in the ferocious storm, and finally had to abadon his boat when he and the Coast Guard pilots deemed it unsafe. Luckily, that boat is not his liveaboard, which was tucked safely in its slip here in Washington. Read the whole story from The Washington Post. A new picture page is up: October 2005. -G * Email Gerritt SO THIS MORE LIKE A ONCE-A-WEEK BLOG NOW October 24, 2005. 8:35 PM There is a great disturbance in the blog. Seems I forget to update as much as I used to, and when I do it usually is just a couple of pictures. If you will permit it, dear reader, I'm afraid it probably won't be more than once a week anymore. I hope you don't mind. Thursday night: Byrd Stadium on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. Josh and I, Virginia Tech alumns, headed to our first-ever away game as the Hokies came to battle a tough home-field advantage for the Terrapins. I am lucky enough to have an incredible girlfriend who went hours out of her way to find us two tickets, in the 13th row of the Maryland alumni section no less. Josh and I discovered the catch as we found our seats: they were on the end of the row next to the loud, rude, and beligerent student section. We arrived 30 minutes before the game to jeers of "Tech Sucks" and "Go Home", which wasn't enough to phase us until the debris started raining down from the rows to our right. Josh was hit with an empty water bottle, and I with a smelly old black t-shirt, plus the crumpled newspapers and other trash they threw at us. Then, still ignoring them with a smirk on my face, I was stunned to hear the dozens of nearby students begin shouting and chanting obscenities and various insults at us. Let me be very clear on this point, the student section was cursing AT JOSH AND I. Not at our team, nor our school, nor our choice of clothing, but quite literally calling us ASSHOLES at the top of their lungs until they were satisfied that we weren't going to shout back. Is this any way to treat a fellow football fan, regardless of their affiliation? These students are supposed to represent the most educated class of people in the country, dare I say in the world, dedicating years of their lives to learning, and the best they can come up with is a few jeers involving more cussing and incoherant shouting than I care to type. And for what? So that Maryland alumni, including those sitting next to us, have to hang their heads in shame, and so that the opposing team's followers, like Josh and I, can come away knowing that we're above insulting another fan. We focus our energy on shouting in support of our team, and it shows in the way our team plays. Thursday night, the Hokies spoke for themselves, and we smiled and laughed as the students were filing out the doors at the end of the third quarter. There are many Maryland students who do not fall into this category, many who do not even watch sports, and although you are not the ones shouting at us, you are also the ones not doing anything about it. I hope next time Virginia Tech comes to your house, you're a bit more inviting. But I sure won't be there. -G * Email Gerritt ABE IN THE BIG CITY October 13, 2005. 6:55 PM  
-G * Email Gerritt TRYING TO GET MY HEAD IN THE GAME October 6, 2005. 10:35 PM Been working pretty extensively on the boat this week, trying to get it ready and comfortable for the long cold winter. The head (bathroom) is looking sharp, with a new electric toilet, wallpaper, and working shower. Still more to go, but it looks a lot better. I managed to fill the whole bottom of my boat with water today during a routine top-off of my fresh water tanks. It seems the pipe that connects to the deck fill mysteriously wanted to disconnect, and by the time I figured this out I had about six inches of water in the bilge under my cutty cabin. Lucky for me, there's nothing vital down there that can be damaged by water, it is fresh water, so it will evaporate without stinking up the joint, and it might even help wash away some of the current smells that seep through the cabin at random times. Of course, it was a real pain to haul buckets full of water up from the bilge all evening. There's always more work to be done. Its just the nature of owning a boat. This weekend I'm off to a three-day Sea Scout adult leadership training weekend. This should be interesting. -G * Email Gerritt |