Taking on the Navy

Here are some shots featuring me at my best angle. The Michael Murphy, the latest DDG built by Bath iron Works in Bath, ME, was coming back up the river from successful sea trials. As she passed Maine Maritime Museum we decided to show them what real firepower looks like! It was all great fun until they came back at us with the guided missle....

Two Unrelated Observations...

1. Thought this was interesting. I got a royalty statement from McBooks Press for The Only Life that Mattered the other day. Book's still chugging along. But what was interesting is that the number of e-books sold nearly equalled the number of hard copies. The times they are a changin'.

2. Why has no one pointed out that if you shift just one letter in Mitt Romney's last name it spells R Money? As in, "Arrr! Money!"

What I Did on My Winter Vacation

Just got back from a great mini-trip to Mystic, CT where I gave a talk at the Mystic Seaport Museum. Always a treat. They put on a great event, with a good crowd despite some pretty unpleasant weather. And managed to hit a couple of great, historic inns for dinner, the Captain Daniel Packer in Mystic and the White Horse Tavern in Newport, where we went the next day to do research (read the log of U.S.S. Lawrence, Perry's flagship at Erie, in the Newport Historical Society. What a thrill to hold that!)

Here are some pics from the trip:

Signing books after the talk at Mystic Seaport

At the grave of Benedict Arnold's Great (?) Grandfather in Newport, RI
(I don't mean to suggest he wasn't great, just not sure how many generations back from Revolutionary War Arnold he was)

Getting the bill at the historic White Horse Tavern

Great Quote

I came across this quote the other day. It's from Melville's Redburn. The two characters are sitting in the forecastle after a particularly bad voyage is over. I think the sentiment here expresses why we do a lot of things that seem to make little sense:

But in silent gratitude at the end of a voyage almost equally uncongenial to both of us, and so bitter to one, Harry and I sat on a chest in the forecastle. And now the ship that we had loathed grew lovely in our eyes, which lingered over every familiar old timber, for the scene of suffering is a scene of joy when the suffering is past and the silent reminiscence of hardships departed is sweeter than the presence of delight.

Crazy Season

Okay, here it goes...

Crazy Season is about to start (which means Nutty Season is just ending). Gearing up for many promo events for the Spring and Summer.

This week I'm at St. Albans giving a talk for Osher Lifelong Learning, which I always enjoy.

Next week, down to Mystic Seaport. My wife was going to come to that one, then decided not to. Then the woman from Mystic called and mentioned to my wife that they would be putting me up in a quaint historic inn in quaint downtown Mystic and my wife said, "That will be a room for two, please."

On March 10 I'll be participating in Cooks for Books, where people entertain authors and other guests for dinner as a fundraiser for the Portland Public Library.

Hope we'll see some of you at some of these events!

Disaster (or Nearly So)

A couple of weeks ago our Sea Scout boat, the Rowan Hope, parted her mooring in the middle of the night in 40 knots of wind and took an unscheduled voyage across Potts Harbor and came to rest as you see her above. Incredibly, as you can see in the picture, she skipped over the granite ledge, missed the ledge ahead of her, and flopped over on the one stretch of mud and eel grass along the entire shore line (God loves Sea Scouts, and there's the proof). This was actually on my neighbors', the Bibbers, property. Bobby Bibber ran a line from the bow and stern to an old apple tree while people tried to figure out who the boat belonged to.

The tide started coming in in the afternoon. Bobby drove his tractor out on the dock and we threw a line over the mast to haul her over to get the keel to clear the ledge. Some of the local lobstermen came by to help.

As the tide came in she floated free. In this picture you can see the line above the spreaders hauling the boat over. She took a couple of good thumps on the ledge but got over into the deep water.

Some of the guys helping us come over in a skiff and put her on a mooring. Incredibly, she suffered no damage, even where she hit hard on the ledge. Tough little boats, those Bristol 24s. We've since sailed her back to Bath, ten miles on open water and another ten up the river, with no problems. She's hauled out for the winter and we can't see any damage done by her little adventure. Ready for another season next year.

Speaking of Sea Scouts, our Ship, 243, the Kennebec Rover is holding a fundraiser Chowder Supper at Maine Maritime Museum November 18, 5:00 - 7:00. If you would like some great chowder, great live music performed by the scouts, and a chance to support this great cause, come on by! For more info e-mail me at jlnelson76@comcast.net.

Meeting My Heroes

It was when I first started to sail seriously, and was living on my boat in Marina Del Rey, California (that's in Los Angeles, for the uninitiated) that I first became acquainted with the books of Lin and Larry Pardey. The Pardey's were one of the first cruising couples, sailing in the wake of Joshua Slocum, and among the first to seriously write about it, bringing that whole subculture of cruising sailors to public attention. I devoured their books, the narratives of their sailing adventures, starting with Cruising in Serraffyn as well as their how-too books, such as Capable Cruiser. In fact, I was ready to follow their example and head off cruising when the sailing ship Golden Hinde arrived in Marina Del Rey and my life spun off in another direction.

So, it was a great thrill to finally meet Lin and Larry in person at the Newport International Boat Show last month, where they and I were signing our new books. They were every bit as wonderful as I imagined they would be, personable and helpful, and with the sense of humor essential to successful sailing. As you can see from the above photo, Larry was even willing to interrupt his lunch to have his picture taken with me (though he was not willing to unhand the sandwich).

For anyone interested in small boat sailing, or armchair adventures at sea, the Pardey's books are a must.