Windy Day/Opera House Cup/Plane Crash Pix

It was a very windy day around the waterfront today. Here's a shot of flags flapping and snapping on a bowed flagpole up on the cliff-


The fuel tanker, Great Gull, laying out in the sound waiting for the wind to die before coming in to unload at the Boat Basin-


Some scenes from Straight Wharf where all the Opera House Cup boats are docked waiting for the big race tomorrow-




Another huge sailboat made her way into the harbor yesterday. I was able to get up alongside her and follow her into the dock with my boat as she was slowly motoring down the main channel. Her name is Meteor and she's from George Town, Cayman Islands. She's currently Med-moored at the east face of Straight Wharf. It's worth a walk down there to have a look see.



(OT) Here are a couple of shots I took today of the plane that crashed at the base of the Loran tower last evening. (OT)



That is all for today.

8/16/2007

Hither Crick is an interesting place to go kayaking. I was there yesterday and grabbed these pictures.

This cormorant was resting on the center console of a boat-


Look at all these mooring permit stickers!


A beautiful sailboat coming into the harbor under power-


And the same boat leaving the harbor under sail-


A big sport fishing boat coming up on Brant Point-


I spotted this nice 62 Nordhaven in the Boat Basin this afternoon. Her name is Grey Pearl-


Jimmy Buffett's new yacht docked in front of the Lightship-


Never a dull moment around the waterfront.

New Arrivals @ The Boat Basin

The activity down at the Boat Basin is starting to pick up a little. I think it's been rather slow down there this Summer but I could be wrong. Seems like there are always several empty slips.

There are a few interesting boats there now. It's worth taking a walk along the docks to see them in person. When I was there this afternoon, A 153' sailboat named Pink Gin tied up at the north face of Straight Wharf. She backed in all the way from the anchorage.


Note that she's from Southhampton.

Here's a shot of her nav station. Not sure why she has two stations only a couple of feet apart from each other. I would think that one station in the center would work fine. And there would be no need for redundant electronics displays and engine controls.


Still on Straight Wharf, this beauty caught my eye. Her name is Black Knight and she's from Oyster Bay, New York. A lot of brightwork on this old girl!


Notice her fake stack.

Yesterday, this steel schooner was tied up under the dock master's office. Her name is Hannibul-


Commercial Striped Bass season is set to end tomorrow, August 15th. The quota of 989,406 pounds will be reached by the end of the day. It was another short season this year, barely lasting a month.

8/12/2007

A fine late summer day to be out on the water today. Here are a few pictures I took while I was out and about on the water today.

The Nantucket Lightship anchored off First Point-


The Town Clock framed in the rigging of the Lightship-


Roger Penske's 150' yacht, Detroit Eagle med-moored at the east face of Straight Wharf-


Captain Tobey Leske and his son invited me for a ride on their cat on Saturday. Thanks, Tobey!


Two old Nantucketers and their dog fishing at the cormorant rookery-


Cormorants and terns on the rocks of the jetties-




The M/V Eagle headed out-


While cruising through the anchorage, I spied this beautiful Holland 38. I had a nice chat with her owner. I asked him if she ever lobstered. He said she never lobstered but she did win a few lobster boat races in Maine. He told me he lived here for 30 years and for 28 of those years he ran a sailboat charter business. He now lives in Camden Maine.


And finally, I got a kick out of this. The fake crow and owl (circled in red), are meant to scare the gull (red arrow pointing to it), sitting on the piling. Maybe a rubber snake on the dock would have scared the gull away.

8/10/2007

The Sailing vessel, Alabama arrived here yesterday and dropped her hook just off Straight Wharf. The charter boat, Endeavor looks so small in comparison-


The Shalako docked at the old Kevin Shore Fish Market after arriving from a tuna trip-




Click here for the most recent percent of striped bass landed during the commercial season

(OT) OH DEER! (OT)

A buddy of mine sent me the story and pictures below. Thought you might find it interesting. I have only seen one deer swimming in the ocean. It was early one morning during scallop season when I was headed out to the grounds in my boat. I saw a big doe swimming across the harbor from Abrams to Second Point. I was surprised at how fast she was swimming. I motored up to her to offer assistance but she would have no part of it. She sped away and landed on the beach at Coatue and ran off into the cedars.

Housekeeping:
There is a problem with the poll feature of my blog. I am not able to edit the polls. Blogger.com is aware of the problem and they are working on a fix.
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Last Saturday morning, my buddy Bo and I were trolling for stripers in the Chesapeake Bay . We were 11-1/2 miles offshore in about 80 feet of water contemplating why the fish weren't biting. We looked back to check our gear and saw something odd in the water. Was it a seal? Can't be, we don't have seals around here. On closer look, it turned out to be a buck deer that was WAY off course. He was desperate and barely staying afloat.

I've seen deer swim a river or bayou before. When you see that, the first thing you notice is that they are powerful swimmers. Their head and shoulders are out of the water and they make surprisingly good headway. This critter was just keeping his nose up and looked like he'd been swimming all night long. In fact, he was so warn out that he swam toward the boat probably thinking it looked enough like land to him. When he got closer though, he wasn't sure what to make of the two dudes on board, and backed off.

So, since the fish weren't biting, we thought we'd give this buck a hand. Turns out Bo grew up around cows and was really handy with a bowline. He lassoed the deer on the first try! Bo grabbed his neck, I grabbed the flank, and we barreled over backwards into the boat. Before I knew it, Bo was on top of him and had him tied up just like a calf.

We hit the throttle and shuttled him to the closest beach - Ken t Point . I beached the boat and we carefully unloaded the deer onto the sand. The whole time we kept thinking he was going to kick the snot out of us. He never did though; he was totally spent. We untied him and jumped back. Too weak to stand, he just sat there quivering. We even picked him up again and put his feet underneath him, but he still couldn't walk. Don't know if he made it or not, but I think his chances were vastly improved. Hopefully he recovered after time. When you're out & about, ya just never know...

8/5/2007

Interesting weekend around the waterfront. The schooner, Harvey Gamage, was here for a short stay on Saturday. I missed a shot of her rounding Brant Point under full sail as she was leaving. Here is a picture of her on the hook-



Click here for info and specs on the Harvey Gamage.


The western rigged dragger, It Ain't Easy, unloaded it's entire catch at the Town Pier late Saturday afternoon. I counted at least 40 totes of lobsters and 30 totes of miscellaneous ground fish. Some of the lobsters were enormous with big barnacles on their shells.


Here's a close up of the lobsters-


As soon as the crew was finished offloading their catch, they left the dock and headed towards Brant Point at full throttle in the no wake zone. I was at the end of Straight Wharf as they blew past me throwing up a huge bow wake. Very reckless on the captains part to say the least.


Father, son and their Laberdoodle dog wharf fishing at Straight Wharf-


An old sailboat always makes a nice planter-


This boat name caught my eye-


As well as these nine flags lined up along the waterfront-


The fuel tanker, Great Gull, as she is steaming down the main channel-