..."to the vagrant gypsy's life"... WHERED THE SUMMER GO?

we had a moose on the loose near our camp and weve been held at bay by a bull whose apparently getting his seasonal spirit going early this year. All are till in velvet so Im not sure why the damned thing stomped over our berry patch and really did havoc with our homemade cranberry bog. (He nocked over the little dam that we and neighbors built and he scarfed up almost half the unripe berries , yck!
>)
I can taste the moose jerky now. My neighbor is a transplant from the Blue Ridge North Carolina and he knows how to quietly take down a large herbivore and convert it to tasty bits. He and his son moved up to MAine to be near megafauna. (I gotta say, weve never been without moose met)

Spending the day at the Machias berry Festival. Im worn out from blueberrys ,were in a shop with wifi andMrs F Is looking at books

Home again home again jiggity jig. We drove through the Canadian side and came south by NY state. It was an enjoyable beautiful trip home. Leaves are already turning.

Welcome home! Take any photos?

Lots, but those on my SD cards are in major need of " sorting" before I can post em.
My latest shots were of a huge bald eagle sitting on the shore as I was taking the boat back down to Machias Port. He waited until I was able to exchange a lens and an adapter. (He was very accommodating). Then I got him eating his lunch nd as he up ND FLEW AWAY.

HERES a pretty good video that follows a 30 year project of building a Chesapeake Bay Craft, a "BUGEYE", which was a log built beamy sail boat used in the old oyster industry on the bay.
These two guys were followed by camera or the 30 years it took to cut logs and make booards nd build a bot. Think About that when you get frustrated with a project. had the [leasure of meeting them in the past when the boat was moored on Broad Creek.

https://vimeo.com/60800762

(Turn it on by the little arrow on the bottom left of the screen. Id suggest that you use the "full screen button" on the bottom right of the screen.
Or, you can pop it over to a TV set using one of the HDMI ports

This is very good.

Thanks so much for posting it: it is inspirational.

30 years to build a boat, and someone actually filmed key points. You can see the guys then and now. I know they hauled it out to do the bunks and cabinetry inside

On the same VIMEO feed is another MPT special about the 12 people who sailed up and down the Chesapeake in a rediscovery of the trip by John SMith is 1604.

I may have posted the clips several years ago but theyve got the whole program.

Thanks FM. If you did not already exist, you would need to be invented.

The film is well shot, and expertly edited. A credit to all concerned.

When I read Capt Joshua Slocum's famous book, which I did many times when I was a boy, I was as much interested in the description of the building (re-building) as I was in the voyages and adventures of Spray.
These men are giants.

Ill bet that , when you meet em, youd be amazed at how embarrassed they get with attention.

There were a lot of new design Skipjacks being built on the Western SHore of the Chesapeake about a decade ago. Folks were laying concrete hulls but, while marine concrete seemed to be novel, the low freedoard of these boats (bugeyes, Skipjacks, Pungies) would take on water and that made em kind of dangerous. So that whole industry just stopped. Now theres several stories of guys all over the bay rebuilding these crafts in their original (deadrise, plank over log) construction. So fro all the way N at Havre de Grace down to the silands, we are seeing "new" versions of log bottom boats again.

Most of these guys are outfitted with radar and GPS as well as using on board engines rather than the old "pusher donkies"

They have a down rigging day every year where they have boat shows of all kinds and they have a parade of the Chesapeake crafts 9including things like "buy boats" and old clippers), Its a weekend in NOV of ach year and I take my little currach down and we set up near some guys ith dories and skulls.


The biggest problem for these new boats is the getting of quality heartwood trees for logs and masts.

Did a day nahaf sail on a friends boat. We left from Annapolis nd had supper in CapeMay. Really nice sailing weather. Im prolly sunburnt. Mrs F hd screen nd a bigss ht.
Lotsa porpoise and we didnt see the Great White thats supposed to be cruising the Jersey Side of the Bay.
Miss the boat nd Fundy.

Good memories of sailing out of Annapolis when I lived there.
You go bro.

we didnt breeze up till we got around Smith Island.
Then it was all sail and two really great days.

They want us to come along on a trip to Costa Rica this Fall.
I hve many reasons to say no. (emphatically).
Id only consider if my wofe would let me buy a Barrett.

in 1971 I crewed this lovely ketch from Boston to DC
http://sparkmanstephens.blogspot.com/2011/01/design-1449-sea-star.html

My first day out of the sight of land I got very anxious.
I couldn't do Costa Rica.
Not on your life.

I can relate to that.

The baddest thing on the sea are the humans.
Thats a nice boat. Ours was 63 ft and , no matter what the size, it is hard to keep from bumping into each other.
Ahhh, did the bikini clad young lady accompany your trip?

We would do the Northern waters all day and night. Fogs and winds were a constant companion and waves always would scare you (dont let anyone kid you . Unless youre in an Aircraft Carrier, big waves always scare you.

I dont so much mind the big openness because I trust my instruments and my navigation (I usually dont trust others though).

I don't mind big waves(within sight of shore)

We used to race these gorgeous Fireballs in terrific waves off the Bristol Channel, but when the 1st mate told me to put on a safety harness and lower the Sea Star's jib in 20 foot waves I got a little ...hmmm....perspiry.

About as poignant a tribute as I've seen on A2K