Today was a day I have longed for, waited for, and worked towards for at least a year and a half. Today was the day that should have happened last year, last October/November. Today was the day, at last, when 50 people hurried on board the HMS Surprise and following the directions of our Captain, worked the lines off the docks and watched the Museum drift away.
We have worked very hard and very long to see this finally happen. We left the dockside to a 3 cheers from the Star Crew. Normally stoic fellows on board were all smiles. My mast captain was more visibly excited than I have ever seen him. My top captain was practically dancing (although I think he was more excited about having a preventer--a line that keeps the Spanker or huge sail on the bow from flapping around when its set--on the Spanker than anything else).
Getting off the dock was a little tense, because of the Surprise's squeezed in parking space between the submarine and the Star, but we managed it without a hitch. When we were far enough away from the Museum, the Captain put the engines in neutral and gave us the plan. We were going to motor up past Shelter Island, to the submarine drydocks and then set sail and come down the harbor to the bridge. This we did with little difficulty, although the wind was virtually non-existent. We just glided gently and slowly down the harbor. We went under the bridge and turned around and motored back to our starting point.
At that point the Captain decided to take us out to sea. We still had very little wind, but there was enough to make our sails fill modestly and our pennant snap at the main masthead. By this time we'd been drawing quite a crowd. I'm pretty sure that the folks who could afford the snazzy condos along the waterfront of downtown SD were feeling that they had their money's worth finally when they saw us coming. We crossed paths with the Lord Hornblower, one of its namesake's lines of touring ferries and boats. The tourists on board flocked to the side where they could best see us. Once we were out to sea, we even had a US Customs boat come speeding up beside us, snapping photos the whole time. We yelled at them in Spanish.
Once out to sea we picked up some more wind. Unfortunately we were not able to master the trick of tacking and swinging the bow of the ship around in the wind. I don't know, maybe there wasn't enough weight forward, or the 7 knots we were doing just weren't enough to move our whale. The tacking had to be assisted by the twin diesels. Hopefully next Sunday we will be able to figure it out. Hopefully we will have more wind.
We started to head back in to the harbor about an hour and a half later than planned, much to the discomfort of our Captain. I think he was worried about upsetting the higher-ups, but we didn't care. We were having way too much fun. As we headed in, we encountered the Californian, which came up and fired a broadside at us. The entire crew, which had been lining the rail, proceeded to fall over dead on the deck. Then we jumped up and gave them the Monty Python salute. There were cheers passed back and forth between the crews, and they proceeded to escort us back to the Museum.
We threaded the needle and parked the ship back in its slot, put everything way and were on our way by 5ish in the evening, instead of the 3pm we'd been shooting for. Every one of us were exhausted, but extremely happy. We are doing it again next weekend, hopefully to the tune of more wind, and getting everything down. The following weekend is the two day sail with the Star of India.
What a day, what a day. Hopefully this is the start of a long and beautiful relationship.
For pictures of this wonderful day, go here, and enjoy!
Cheers, mate!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!!
Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the movie Top Gun. My mom admitted to me once that she had grown to loathe the movie because I watched it every single day. I loved it. I loved the F-14 Tomcats, the Migs, the aircraft carriers, the dogfights. I loved it all.
Well today I got the chance to visit one of the key locations from the film, or rather, one of the former locations: Miramar Air Base. One of my buddies from Crew consented to go to the annual Miramar Air Show with me. I picked Hector up around noon from his office near the base, and we drove there, found parking and started gawking at all the planes.
Amidst all the modern planes I managed to spot a couple of old WWII planes, lined up for later demonstrations, and got a good shot of a Spitfire (which sadly didn't fly today). While we admired the big cargo planes, the Marines were putting on a demonstration of a rather complicated exercise that involved tanks, helicopters, two F-15s and two Harriers. There were lots of huge explosions, giant plumes of flame and smoke, and lots and lots of noise from the jets flying over.
That finished, and was followed by a demonstration of the F-18, the favorite super-jet of the services. It did some absolutely amazing stuff, and at the end of the day, Hector and I both agreed that the F-18 was the best thing we'd seen. It banked, twisted, turned, pulled loops. Best of all, however, were its abilities to turn on a dime in midair, rather than having to bank around in an arc to change directions. I have never seen a plane do that before. It slowed down as much as possible, flew up (maybe 200 or 300 ft) at a sharp angle, and then seemed to just twist around and back down facing the opposite direction. Unbelievable. It also did a pass by the stands so slow, and so quiet, that Hector and I were actually able to hear each other speak, when we hadn't before. It also did another pass by where a diamond-shaped cloud of air covered the back half of the plane because it was going so fast, and a couple of seconds later the sound caught up to. That was the prettiest breaking of the sound barrier I've ever seen.
Once the F-18 had finished showing off, a flight of Red Baron byplanes did a whole bunch of really well done stunts, followed by a civilian flight of jets called the Patriots, and finally, but not lastly, the Thunderbirds took to the sky. They were really good, but I have to say that I was a tad disappointed. The bulk of their maneuvers hinged on at least three of the planes, and eventually all five flying in such tight and perfect formation that their wingtips must not have been more than about a foot apart. They were thoroughly professional, and really good. But not nearly as exciting and awe-inspiring as the F-18. Still, I got some sweet pictures and videos of them.
The demos, along with being able to walk around all the planes on the ground, and displays and stuff, contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable day.
The F-117 Stealth Fighter...what a sight...
Migs!
F-15...I think. I can't remember.
The C-31, featured in Band of Brothers dropping paratroopers into Normandy.
I'm really glad that I had a former Marine Staff Sergeant to show me around and tell me about all the planes and maneuvers and stuff. Not to mention that working on the same ship gave us lots of comparison to the world of planes, and plenty of sarcasm to enjoy. Man, that was fun. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!!
Well today I got the chance to visit one of the key locations from the film, or rather, one of the former locations: Miramar Air Base. One of my buddies from Crew consented to go to the annual Miramar Air Show with me. I picked Hector up around noon from his office near the base, and we drove there, found parking and started gawking at all the planes.
Amidst all the modern planes I managed to spot a couple of old WWII planes, lined up for later demonstrations, and got a good shot of a Spitfire (which sadly didn't fly today). While we admired the big cargo planes, the Marines were putting on a demonstration of a rather complicated exercise that involved tanks, helicopters, two F-15s and two Harriers. There were lots of huge explosions, giant plumes of flame and smoke, and lots and lots of noise from the jets flying over.
That finished, and was followed by a demonstration of the F-18, the favorite super-jet of the services. It did some absolutely amazing stuff, and at the end of the day, Hector and I both agreed that the F-18 was the best thing we'd seen. It banked, twisted, turned, pulled loops. Best of all, however, were its abilities to turn on a dime in midair, rather than having to bank around in an arc to change directions. I have never seen a plane do that before. It slowed down as much as possible, flew up (maybe 200 or 300 ft) at a sharp angle, and then seemed to just twist around and back down facing the opposite direction. Unbelievable. It also did a pass by the stands so slow, and so quiet, that Hector and I were actually able to hear each other speak, when we hadn't before. It also did another pass by where a diamond-shaped cloud of air covered the back half of the plane because it was going so fast, and a couple of seconds later the sound caught up to. That was the prettiest breaking of the sound barrier I've ever seen.
Once the F-18 had finished showing off, a flight of Red Baron byplanes did a whole bunch of really well done stunts, followed by a civilian flight of jets called the Patriots, and finally, but not lastly, the Thunderbirds took to the sky. They were really good, but I have to say that I was a tad disappointed. The bulk of their maneuvers hinged on at least three of the planes, and eventually all five flying in such tight and perfect formation that their wingtips must not have been more than about a foot apart. They were thoroughly professional, and really good. But not nearly as exciting and awe-inspiring as the F-18. Still, I got some sweet pictures and videos of them.
The demos, along with being able to walk around all the planes on the ground, and displays and stuff, contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable day.
The F-117 Stealth Fighter...what a sight...
Migs!
F-15...I think. I can't remember. 
The C-31, featured in Band of Brothers dropping paratroopers into Normandy. I'm really glad that I had a former Marine Staff Sergeant to show me around and tell me about all the planes and maneuvers and stuff. Not to mention that working on the same ship gave us lots of comparison to the world of planes, and plenty of sarcasm to enjoy. Man, that was fun. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The Horse I Rode Out On
For the last couple of years, my Jetta has had more problems than I can remember. Well, a couple of weeks ago, it broke down again. Being that my extended warranty was about to expire, I decided to go in a different direction. I got the car fixed and cleaned, and my folks and I went car shopping. My choices were limited to the Honda Civic, Civic Hybrid, the Toyota Matrix and the Toyota Prius. After driving these cars around, I decided I liked the Prius the best.
So, Quicksilver got traded in for a new Prius. I have to tell you, I felt absolutely horrible about this. Normally one is supposed to be excited about getting a brand new car, but it took me about three days to get over the loss of my beloved station wagon. I will probably never quite get over it, being that it was my first car and all, but my new car and I have come to accept each other.
He (yes, both Quicksilver and my new car are masculine) has been teaching me about how to drive more softly and patiently. And in return for my new driving techniques, I got 41.5 miles to the gallon on my first tank of gas. I have come to respect my new car immensely.
Without further ado, I give you....Kiyoshi-san.
From the various websites I've checked out, Kiyoshi means "quiet", although there is sometimes some discrepancy as to the meaning of that name. I'm going with it regardless. Why a Japanese name, you might ask? Well, because I purchased Kiyoshi at the end of September, and earlier in the month Kiyoshi had been completely built and assembled in Japan. So, he is truly a Japanese car.
May he run quietly, without fuss, wheels and engines working in a smooth ballet of technology for many many years to come.
So, Quicksilver got traded in for a new Prius. I have to tell you, I felt absolutely horrible about this. Normally one is supposed to be excited about getting a brand new car, but it took me about three days to get over the loss of my beloved station wagon. I will probably never quite get over it, being that it was my first car and all, but my new car and I have come to accept each other.
He (yes, both Quicksilver and my new car are masculine) has been teaching me about how to drive more softly and patiently. And in return for my new driving techniques, I got 41.5 miles to the gallon on my first tank of gas. I have come to respect my new car immensely.
Without further ado, I give you....Kiyoshi-san.
From the various websites I've checked out, Kiyoshi means "quiet", although there is sometimes some discrepancy as to the meaning of that name. I'm going with it regardless. Why a Japanese name, you might ask? Well, because I purchased Kiyoshi at the end of September, and earlier in the month Kiyoshi had been completely built and assembled in Japan. So, he is truly a Japanese car.
May he run quietly, without fuss, wheels and engines working in a smooth ballet of technology for many many years to come.
The President and the Radio Man
This is a great picture. I grabbed it from APHC's site for last weekend's show. I wish I could have been there in St. Paul to see it first hand. I give you: The President and The Radio Man! (aka Martin Sheen and Garrison Keeler)
I love GK's socks and shoes. I mean really. You've got to have guts to wear a suit and tie and red socks and red shoes.
I love GK's socks and shoes. I mean really. You've got to have guts to wear a suit and tie and red socks and red shoes.
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