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Designing and building the ARGIA

2010-02-03T22:16:00.044-05:00

In mid-1985 I designed the Schooner ARGIA, and had her bare hull built over the winter. We went down to the Virginia yard May 1, installed the engine, motored back, and fitted her out and rigged her at Steamboat Wharf in Mystic. On July 3 we left Mystic at sunset, reaching NY City at daybreak on July 4, 1986. We carried our first paying passengers in the Tall Ship Parade that day. There are many stories here, the biggest is that none of the above would have been possible without the help of many talented, hard-working and committed employees and crew, willing to work at "schooner wages".

I recently received some questions on the vessel. Have not done much with this blog for a while, it was a good excuse to post my feedback here. I don't have time to polish my writing, so I will be cleaning it up and expanding it as time goes on.

The questions were: Why does the Argia leaves hardly any wake? What led me to that design? Was it the ease of construction, turning radius, history, or something along those lines?

Disclaimer: I am not a professional naval architect. I have only designed 4 boats. I took an 8-session small boat design class at Mystic Seaport (design 1), where we started out by pouring our own lead ducks. Then I started the Westlawn boat design course (desing 2), but after a third of the way through I felt I knew enough to design and build my first schooner, and dropped out, I was not planning on being a naval architect. Before this, I had taught sailing for 5 summers on Blue Jays, sailed on the Mystic Whaler for 2 years as deckhand and mate, captained Clearwater for 2 years, and worked in the Mystic Seaport shipyard for 2 years. So, while my theoretical background was not strong, I had some real experience under my belt. I then designed and had built the 96 foot schooner VOYAGER (design 3), which is another story. This is about ARGIA, my 4th design, but only the second to have built.

What let me to that design were the parameters I wanted. You can't design a boat to do everything well. The narrower the design criteria, the better the vessel will perform in that range. Naturally, this leads to a lack of flexibility, so most vessels have to be compromises. A boat design just does not happen, you start with rough hull sketches (3 views), sail plans, engine location, and interiors, they influence each other, and you push things around until they come together. Then there is a lot of math that has to work out. There are many of iterations of this process, ARGIA probably went through at least 6 before her final design.

My criteria were:

1. Requirement: A day sailer that was as small as possible, still look good, and carry 49 passengers. Over that number the USCG regs get stricter. The 49 matches well to the number of passengers that a bus can carry...one charter bus=one boat.

Result: I settled on a hull that was 56' on deck, with a beam of 18'. Though beamy for that length, there is considerable flare forward and aft. This increases available deck area, without sacrificing appearance and underwater volume, or displacement, too much. Without a cabin house amidships, but a clear deck, considerable seating was accommodated. This also gave us a lot of seating flexibility. With a very beamy stern and large quarterdeck, we were able to accommodate 20 passengers on a large aft cabin.

Small as possible: because the bigger the boat the more it costs to build, maintain and crew, and the longer the boat, the more it costs to dock and haul out.

2. Requirement: A boat that was as inexpensive as possible to build and maintain, but would last at least 20 years without any significant problems.

Result: Hard chine hulls cost at least 30% less than round bottom boats to build, so the choice was made for me. Looking at the nicest looking hard chine workboats, I settled on the ones in Chesapeake Bay. So the hull was inspired by those Skipjacks and hard-chine schooners. I also kept the angle of the bottom to the keel the same from amidships to the transom. Having just one angle to worry about make construction a lot easier. Not compromising materials, we used white oak for all structural timbers (keel, keelson, frames), Honduras mahogany for side planking (strip planked), hard pine for the bottom (cross-planked). Now I forgot if we use fir or hard clear pine for the shelf, clamp and deck beams...have to look this up. The hull was fastened with stainless ring nails. Exterior and interior ballast was lead. A cross-planked hull is very easy to build, once you get past the bow section. There is no bevel, caulking or glue between the planks. They are just clamped together, and nailed to the frames. When the boat is launched it leaks a lot, but it's tight as a drum after a few days. The deck was solid-core exterior plywood with two layers of fiberglass, and was built in a week.

With strip-planked sides, cross-planked bottom, and a solid deck, you have a unibody hull, except for the one caulked seam where the bottom planks meet the keel's rabbet.

3. Requirement: A boat that maneuvered well, could turn 180 degrees in twice its length, with ease of handling. We had to turn in the Mystic river to dock in a space not much longer than twice ARGIA's extreme length, 81 feet.

Result: Most sailing vessels don't need a full-length keel, a third-WL-length one is more than enough, so that's what ARGIA has. A vessel with a shorter keel will be more maneuverable than one with a long one. By also separating the skeg and rudder from the keel, I created a pivot point to spin around, which would not be possible with the conventional full-keel schooner. A large rudder and propeller help with maneuverability. The hull is more like a centerboard vessel with a fixed keel in place of the centerboard.

I always thought visibility to the helmsman is important, I don't want to depend on a bow watch in the daytime. So the quarterdeck was made as high as possible without sacrificing appearance. This also increased headroom below, and created a higher and safer freeboard aft.

4. Requirement: A boat that carried on the traditions of the last century of commercial sail. This included some of the most beautiful vessels ever designed. The link to the past is also a good marketing point. Finally, I wanted to help continue Mystic's illustrious history with commercial sail, ongoing for several centuries.

Result: Here again, I was attracted to the hard chine vessels of Chesapeake Bay. ARGIA, however, is not just a large skipjack. The round bottom pungy schooners also inspired her hull shape. Finally, her sail plan is an almost exact copy of representative schooners of that period, with the exception below. What I liked was one large jib, instead of a separate jib and staysail. This makes the vessel a lot easier to rig, maintain, and tack.

I also studied a lot of Hereshoff hull designs, these comprise some of the most beautiful in the world. No-one would think ARGIA resembles a Hereshoff, but some of the lines I saw in those translated in her spirit. She was also inspired a bit by the hard-chine Blue Jays that I sailed as a youngster.

The standing rigging was made by Dean Seder, head rigger at the Seaport, using traditional techniques. The ironwork by the Seaport blacksmith, Clint Wright. Deadeyes and lanyards instead of turnbuckles. Several other Seaport shipwrights (Roger Hambidge, Brian Mogel, Gary Adair) crafted the interior, skylights, companionways, in the style of the past century. I was extremely lucky to have the assistance of these craftsmen, some of whose names I cannot recall at this moment.

5. Requirement: A boat that sailed well during the major sailing season: Long Island Sound in the summer. Air is light during this time.

Result: Here is where we departed a bit from an "exact" copy of Chesapeake schooner rigs. I increased the sail area about 10% above these, to account for our lighter air. This enables ARGIA to move along a little better in our typical summer weather. With reef points on all three sails, and the flexibility of a schooner rig, we can still go out in fairly heavy winds.

ARGIA has a relatively light displacement for a schooner her size. This allows her to go faster. Stability was addressed by having 30-50% of her lead ballast in the lower portion of her external keel.

6. Make the Math Work: There are many ratios, displacement calculations, stability calculations, areas, etc. that have to meet specific requirements or ranges.

Result: These were all painstakingly learned, computed, changed, recomputed, etc. The explanation is beyond this post!

Finally, why does ARGIA leave so little wake? The one thing to know about boat design is that, discounting wave action, the way the water leaves the hull is more important than the way it enters it. When two cones are dragged underwater, one pointy end first, and one round flat end first, the one with the round flat end first has less drag! I though a lot about how water was going to leave the ARGIA. It has to do with laminar flow, or the smooth travel of the water over the hull. This needs to be maintained, and not disturbed, for as long as possible. This was done several ways:
1. Keeping the angle of the bottom planking to the keel the same from midships to the stern. Thus the water flow never had to "twist".
2. Aligning the leeward chine to the water flow directions, as much as possible in a typical angle of heel, about 10-15 degrees.
3. Letting the windward chine come completely out at 10 degree heel. This also reduced wetted surface, the largest factor holding you back at slow speeds. (note-have to check above angles). And once the chine comes out, the vessel gets considerably stiffer.

Of course, there are almost always waves, so the entry and first half of a hull is also extremely important. I made the cutwater as sharp as possible, but smooth over the first half of the hull. There is no chine at the bow section, it starts a bit aft, so no angle for the water to hit.

I will be adding to this, and revising it, as time goes by. I can't remember all the details right now. At last count, ARGIA has taken over 100,000 people sailing, I hope she takes at least that many more.

Peace on Earth and Good Will to Mankind

2008-12-25T17:07:00.009-05:00

About 12 years ago my daughter Leigh came home with a white pine seedling from her school's Earth Day celebration. I planted it just for fun. The tree is now almost 20 feet high, and is the winter decoration highlight of our neighborhood. It's getting harder and harder to get to the top to light it, it grows about two feet a year. This time I backed up the Volvo, climbed on the roof, and on tiptoes used a rake tied to a long pole. I joke that someday this tree will be in Rockefeller Center.

It's Chia Time!

2008-12-07T13:49:00.006-05:00

I run across this little critter in the basement a few times a year. We bought it over a decade ago at Christmas time, and it hung around for a while longer. My wife tried to throw it out one day, but I was lucky to see its little head forlornly sticking out of the garbage. I immediately rescued it! Well, I had to scold her a little bit, and tell her the Chia was important, while she snickered at me.

There were "Chia-Chia" commercials every year around this time, but I have not seen one yet. I can take the easy way out and Google chia, but I'd rather be kept in suspense, and learn if they have survived through that old medium...non-interactive television. So I'm waiting for those commercials to show up.

There has always been something fascinating about the Chia Pet. I think I have nailed it down, it looks an awful lot like that timeless Giza Sphynx, when viewed from the right angle.

I just brought little Chia up from the basement, rinsed him off, and put him up on my bookshelf near another Christmas toy, our Furby. Yes, he opened his eyes, woke up and said a few words when I picked him up, though I have not touched him for many months.

It's coming up on that magic time of the year!

Shiba Inu Puppy Cam

2008-11-15T10:37:00.001-05:00

Ah, the latest internet viral phenomenon! Not sure how long these puppies will be visible. 5 weeks old, and all taken.

Free video streaming by Ustream

What a long trip it's been

2008-11-05T20:22:00.038-05:00

Today Barak was elected president. It was moving seeing generals like Colin Powell, and tough negotiators like Condy Rice, crying when they spoke about it. Tonight I decided to take my after-dinner walk, I like these drizzly nights. As I walked out of my house a strong memory came back that occasionally surfaces.

It was 1968. After graduating and working all summer, my college roommate, Norman "Spider" Hirsch and I decided to go to San Francisco and be part of the Summer of Love. We delivered a Caddy from New York City to Florida. This got us to warmer weather for free and provided us with a bit of extra spending money. We then hitchiked to San Francisco, which took about 3 days. The best ride was from a stock race car driver. We got through Louisiana at about 110 miles per hour, in a couple of hours, in the middle of the night. Never did see much of that state!

Spider and I got settled in San Francisco, and found an apartment on Haight St, a block from Ashbury St, right in the middle of the action. However, the Summer of Love started turning into what I call the Winter of Discontent. But that's another story. We hung around a lot, living off our summer savings. We decompressed from the rushed world we had lived in, waiting for the Vietnam draft to catch up to us.

One night I remember being in a group of half a dozen young people. A black youth in his teens spoke about how badly Negroes are treated, and how small and insignificant he deeply felt. Speaking from my heart, having experienced some discrimination myself, I spoke to comfort him, saying something along the lines of "we are all the same under our skin" and "your color does not matter." Well, this young man acted like he had never heard those words before! He was wide eyed and astonished, and asked if I really felt that way. I confirmed it. In a matter of minutes, though we had never met, he latched on to me and started treating me like I was a superior being, and had all the answers to the world's problems. He asked "what do we do now?!"

I felt bad, but had nothing else to offer him besides my original comments. I was no saviour, civil rights leader or activist. He was looking for more, something I could not provide. I believed what I said, but could take it no further. He wanted to follow me, but I gently discouraged it, and told him to he would be ok. I had my own problems to deal with, and left him with a very lost look on his face.

I remember that event occasionally, thinking of my limitations then and now. I'm still not an activist. I hope that hurt young man found his way in life. I'm glad that Barak has come along, he probably could have done a lot more for him than I could have.

Nice Photos by Callie Shell

2008-10-22T20:30:00.003-04:00

Callie Shell has taken some good pictures of Obama's campaign,

link here.

Below is one of my favorite, some of my shoes are as worn out as these. A small thing, but it puts us both at the same level somewhere in life.

The Picture Colin Powell Was Talking About

2008-10-19T21:05:00.006-04:00

Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan was an American, born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life.

(Photo by Platon)

Training the next gen women sailors

2008-09-01T09:26:00.008-04:00

There was a nice picture of my daugher, Leigh, in The Day a week ago, she loves kids and is getting the young ones started. I bet that little girl will remember the experience of helping tack the ARGIA. There is always something magical about touching a ship's wheel when a vessel is underway.

Below is Leigh, about 20 years ago, getting to know VOYAGER's rigging better.

TED is the BEST

2008-07-02T12:59:00.017-04:00

Some of the best videos I have seen online, and the most memorable, are from the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) annual conferences. My favorite used to be Sherwin Nuland's story.

Recently, a web site I check frequently, Open Culture
pointed out that TED had posted its Top 10 TEDTalks videos.

Here I found another just as compelling, by Jill Bolte Taylor (Click on her name to go to it, not the image below). Warning, it's 18 minutes long, so not when you are in an ADD mood...

Maybe I was attracted to these 2 videos due to my old training in psychology, but to me the mind and its study have always been a fascinating topic. Both videos are inspiring, and also demonstrate the impossible odds that we can ovecome, how others can save us, and how tragedy can be turned to our advantage. But then, what other choices do we have?!

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

2008-05-12T15:57:00.013-04:00

This weekend I was up at Ithaca College, watching another group of All-Stars, the softball team, qualify for the National Championship next weekend. It was sad to miss Pangea Day. Some of the folks in the multicast community tried unsuccessfully to multicast it to the entire world, but the legal obstacles could not be overcome in time. Thanks to them anyways for trying. This is one of the clips that hit me, there are lots more on line...

Right after my short post and link to the video, I realized I wanted to say more about how inspirational this clip is.

Lo and behold, Banker White, its co-director and co-producer, posted a comment today taking the words out of my mouth. Banker pointed out the entire video is 80 minutes long, and provided its great WEB SITE. The full DVD is also available here.

Pangea Day is Coming

2008-05-01T15:49:00.008-04:00

Pangea Day looks to be a great idea. On May 10, individuals all over the earth will gather to view films made by the world, for the world, broadcast live around the globe. Great web site HERE, even has a countdown clock:

A fun preview is hearing citizens of one country singing another's national anthem...

This event will help us feel connected to each other. With enough of this in the world, peace and understanding will follow.

A game of inches

2008-04-27T09:39:00.006-04:00

Tom Kowalsik, one of the Ithaca softball team parents, always takes lots of pictures of each game. He posts them on Kodakgallery and sends us links. I thought this one distilled the game into one image, as well as it can be done.

I miss those game days, but Tom helps to keep the memories alive with all his great shots. The runner was out, but Cornell won, though our D3 team has beaten their D1 a few times.

iPods in the War Zone

2008-02-24T09:36:00.014-05:00

I ran across this story about iPods, and found it pretty interesting. To summarize from the article...

"As they prepare for their daily patrols around Baghdad, soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division sync up their iPods, not with songs and movies, but with a laundry list of missions and audio files containing pre-recorded phrases in Iraqi Arabic or Kurdish.

Loaded with special Vcommunicator software, the music players help them communicate with the populace and learn the local culture, and they occasionally serve as handy tools in their tactical missions, such as searching for persons of interest. The gadgets have been so useful that troops are now finding new ways to employ the technology.

The simplicity that has made the iPod, so successful as a music player also relates to its combat applications. Soldiers simply scroll through as they search for mission data or for spoken phrases. The display shows the sentence phonetically and in script, and the user can play the corresponding audio clip, which also can be synced to an avatar, or computerized character, that gestures according to customs.

Connected to a speaker or megaphone, the device functions as a one-way language translator. Prior to having these devices, troops had to wait for an interpreter before they could engage local residents during patrols.

Troops also are uploading maps and other images and content onto the video iPods to assist them at vehide checkpoints and door-to-door searches. If soldiers are looking for a particular individual, they can load a photo of their target and correlate it to Arabic script that asks, "Do you recognize this person?" Troops also can store sound clips and other pertinent information that they need to conduct mission briefs for small units, said Bright.

The most recent version of the Vcommunicator comes on the new iPod nano, which troops are strapping to their wrists or wearing on lanyards around their necks. The nano units are much faster, much smaller and more user-friendly."

In recognition of this new market, Apple has released a new color, "Desert Storm", in the nano line:

These should also appeal to the huntin' and fishin' guys.

Gave up blogging for a while

2008-02-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

I've given up blogging for a while, but ran across a nice video to share with anyone that stumbles through here!
Here it is, it you have not seen it yet...

Whether or not you vote for Barack, you have to admit it's pretty original, though it appears that Scarlett can't sing very well.

Why Blog?!

2007-12-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

I have not posted here in a long time, been going through the "why blog" stage. Either too much going on or not enough, in my life. Six months ago my definition of blogging was 60 million writers and 20 million readers, now it's 100 million writers, and 10 million readers, the blogosphere is growing! I did recently post a link to that great Bubble 2.0 video, but YouTube took it down for copyright reasons, so I deleted the post. You can probably still find it in one of the links at Techcrunch

Much better writers and thinkers than me, with more ambition and energy, such as Kathy Sierra, seem to be going through "...what to do next", though I am in no way comparing myself to her, nor our blogs. I am more productive in my work blog, but even there I don't have the time to write about all that I want to.

In the meantime, here is a nice simple web site one of our students at Connecticut College made with Google Pages: Surfing Costa Rica

Anyone going to Mali?

2007-08-18T12:16:00.002-04:00

If so, the Djembe Hotel in Malako looks like an interesting place to stay. Only $30/day includes high-speed Internet access, light breakfast, full lunch and dinner. It seems like a great opportunity to also learn about Mali life, culture, and especially drumming.

The djembe is a traditional drum from West Africa, played for many different occasions in Africa and is associated with traditional dances. Jeremy Chevrier, who runs the hotel with his wife Tewah, started the above web site, and Rootsy Records. The mission of Rootsy Records is the cultural preservation and promotion of traditional djembe drumming music, including the preservation and promotion of African culture, knowledge and values. There are a lot of interesting videos on the site, showing how much you can do with an inexpensive camcorder. It's great example of documenting culture, and sharing your works.

Lucca: A great restaurant

2007-08-09T21:25:00.001-04:00

Had a fantastic dinner with my wife yesterday at Lucca

The owner, "Lucky," ran the Bank Street Cafe for many years. But Lucca is a totally differnt place, casual but upscale. The food was delicious, the service great, and the owner friendly and attentive to every nuance. My wife's scallops and shrimp over linguini included the largest shrimp I've seen in a long time. The sauce was esquisite. My cajun salmon had just the right amount of heat in the slightly charred exterior (some of us Northern folks can't handle too much), and the fish inside was fresh and moist. Vegetables are purchased every morning.

Here is a 23 points out of 25 food review

I would have given our meal 25 out of 25. Dinner entrees are $20 to $22, and include a generous salad and fresh bread with herb butter. This is a bit above our usual budget, but we splurged as we are "on vacation". We were going to go to Maine, but decided to paint the house instead, and needed a small morale boost. Lucca definitely provided it. If you ever need a perk, or want to eat at someplace special, and have the funds, I recommend it highly.

Lucca is the best evidence yet that New London is making a comeback as a nice place to live and visit.

NPR's New Podcast Player

2007-08-06T19:57:00.000-04:00

Just ran across this, but not sure it's a real podcast. I.E.: can you download the files to iTunes, or other aggregators. Seems like many people are jumping on the "podcast" bandwagon, and changing the definition to suit their needs. A podcast is not just a bunch of audio files in a web page.

Add NPR to your page

Wednesday update: OK, my suspicions were unfounded. For some reason, I could not subscribe to the RSS feeds in iTunes yesterday, while today I can. So I agree this is a real podcast, with an innovative Flash front-end aggregator.

Fun Place to Work

2007-07-27T04:27:00.001-04:00

This looks like a fun place to work. Is this Business 2.0?

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger

They even have some job job openings. I'm sure they get a lot done, but the atmosphere reminds me of my fraternity in college, a bunch of smart fun-loving people. These folks do sound a bit more sassy and irreverent, but I think it's a generational issue.
At ZBT we had a big, almost-empty room in the basement with a long wooden bar and a free jukebox loaded with the latest music (I Want to Hold Your Hand, House of the Rising Sun, etc.), with a big party every Saturday night, open to the whole campus. We worked hard, and played hard (now I just work hard).

Our highlight was hiring the Kingsmen of Louie Louie fame, the song that would have been number one on the charts at the time, if not for the Singing Nun. Needless to say the party became a legend over the years. It was open to all, in the good old days before cover charges.

I'm glad to see the Kingsmen are still on tour. Most of my fraternity brothers have made out well, and are doctors, engineers, and corporate heads. And Eric Burdon and the Animals are playing at Misquamicut Beach, for free!

First web viral video flocking?

2007-07-07T10:08:00.000-04:00

Surfing the web yesterday, July 6, I stumbled into this intruiguing video....

Chasing down the threads, I discovered a bunch of YouTubers are meeting in Washington Park this morning (070707!), at 11 am! Wish I could be there...

Jill claims to have organized it. There are now over 60 videos on YouTube on this gathering, such as this one...

I imagine there will be many more. The Drupal site set up for the gathering, undoubtably by a well intentioned volunteer, is down. Maybe they should have used PBwiki, a very popular tool for the "self-organizing" BarCamps

(2 pm update-Drupal site is somewhat working, with some errors. Good going on trying to fix it while everyone else is having fun!)

There have been previous planned gatherings of vbloggers, or videobloggers, but I think this is first "self-organizing" viral video event, where while one person has the original idea, it is defined and shaped by flock behavior.

I have to find the recent National Geographic article on this, which I saw a few days ago. An earlier November 2000 issue of Scientific American article on self-organizing communities refers to the "fascinating theory of emergent behavior, which describes how complex social interactions can arise when individuals obey a few rudimentary but very special rules." I know human interactions can be more complex than that, and I have to chase down that latest NG article on the newest thinking regarding these self-organizing communities and behavior patterns. I did find the NG web article.

Totally OT: there are 30,000 weddings today, due to the "lucky" date. This is 3 times the normal stats!

iPod Shuttle

2007-06-13T20:36:00.000-04:00

Above is a nice NASA image of Astronaut Clayton Anderson, STS-117 mission specialist, on the middeck of Space Shuttle Atlantis, taken on June 9, 2007.

Now look in the close-up below. What do you see above the Bible? If I were to be marooned in space, those would be the first two non-edible items I might take also. Now, I would love to know what's on their playlists!

The Schooner Family

2007-06-07T20:51:00.002-04:00

This is about the good old days, and how they are still good. The photo was taken in 1994, the day Voyager left Mystic for Michigan after I sold it. I saw a lot of the above folks the last few days. Amy, the woman smiling in the center, started out as a mate in the early 90's on Voyager, the 95 foot schooner I designed and built in 1977. She became its captain after a year or two. After I sold Voyager, Amy came back and captained and managed Argia, a smaller 86 foot schooner I designed and built in 1986. Amy bought Argia from me about 6 years ago, along with the associated business, Voyager Cruises. Last Friday, Voyager Cruises expanded when Amy brought to Mystic the biggest schooner built in this country since World War II. Amy brought it up from its construction yard in the Florida panhandle. The schooner is appropriately called "Mystic". Amy herself had it designed, raised the financing and had it built, a 150 foot three-masted multi-million dollar boat.

It just amazes me the hundreds of people that have gone through Voyager Cruises, family and friends, how well many of them have done with their lives, and how many are still involved. I went down to the docks a few hours ago, and there were about 20 people, all hustling and bustling, getting "Mystic" ready for its first cruise. Passengers boarding this Sunday, and boat leaving Monday morning! There is LOTS to do.

There was Mal, in the left in the above picture, working on "Mystic". Mal was mate on Voyager a long time ago. Mary Kirby is next to him in the photo. I was best man at her wedding in the mid-90's. She also was a mate, and then captain with us, and is now mate on the high-speed ferries to Block Island. She was taking trash off the schooner, with Denise, who used to cook for us over 10 years ago, and also played hostess for catered day sails. She had also taken the above photograph 13 years ago. Denise's younger sister, who I had never seen working on a boat, was happily painting a ceiling.

In the picture, next to Mary is Marco, who also started out with us in the early 1990s. He now drives big 2,000 horsepower tugboats up and down the West Coast to Alaska, but he was relief captain on the 100 horespower Argia while on leave last week. Behind Marco is John Smallidge. Have not seen him in a while. He gave me my first job in the marine business, as assistant sailing instructor at Niantic Bay Yacht Club in the early 60's, then hired me as steward, the bottom man on the totem pole, on the 108' Mystic Whaler in 1971.

Behind Amy is James, who cooked on many schooners, and worked with us on and off since the early 1990s. James has hundreds of thousands of miles of sailing under his belt. James and Marco both came down to the docks Friday night to greet the "Mystic". Next to James is Kitty, who managed the Steamboat Inn for many years, where Voyager and Argia docked. Before the building was an Inn, it was a restaurant, and James was the head chef. Next to Kitty is me and then Nick the bridgetender. Nick lived in the little bridge house in the picture, 8 hours a day, so he knew a lot more than I what was going on with the boats. Nick had a great sense of humor.

Not in the above picture, but working hard getting "Mystic" ready for its first cruise, were other captains that had worked with us at least a decade before, Rick Nestler, Tim Rice, Beth Mongillo and Jody. Coming down to see the schooner were many other "old timers" Dean Seder, Josh Lyons, John Bebeecenter, and my wife Gig (please don't refer to her as an "old-timer"). And my daughter Leigh was on her second day as captain of Argia, docked next to "Mystic."

So, what's the point of all this rambling? It's not bragging or self-serving. I started a business in 1977, sold it 25 years later in 2002, and many of the people that I hired years ago are still involved with it as its friends, and part-time and full-time employees. To me, that is BIG. Voyager Cruises has always been more of an extended family than a traditional "business". These people are what made, and still make, the business great. The most important thing was always to treat the crew right, the second most important goal was a quality product at a fair price. The third, but not forgotten, priority was to make money, which is probably why I'm almost always on a tight budget. But someday on my deathbed, when I can't take anything material with me, how much money I made will not be very important. What will be important is the legacy I leave behind. (I promise I will leave enough funds for my wife to live above the poverty level).

Amy is a much better business person than me, and makes a loads more profit, but I like to think I helped give the business its heart, which is still beating thanks to her and our sailing fraternity.

When I saw a licensed master captain taking mounds of trash off a boat to get it ready, late in the day and at no pay, I knew I started something right.

Below is a picture of the schooner Voyager, taken in the early 90's. James is at the wheel steering. It's lunchtime, and we went down below to get out of the wind to eat the great lunch he made. James loved to steer while the crew was eating! It's blowing about 25 knots, all the sails are up, and Voyager is cutting though the water at about 11 knots, with a "bone in her teeth".

New London Anti-War Rally

2007-05-25T11:53:00.001-04:00

Click To Play

At the USCG Academy, while Bush was speaking, on May 23, 2007.

It was a nice sunny day for a protest....everyone, pro and con, had a good time! About 1,000 folks against the war, about 50 for it. The most common pro-war shout was "Commie baby killer!" This confused me a bit, as I didn't think there were many Communists left in the world, nor that they were killing babies!

The shoot, just for fun, confirmed my saying that "video is an accident waiting to happen". For some reason the soundtrack of our $3.5K Sony was all broken up. I called my stepson Kris, and asked if I could use a couple of cuts from an old CD his band, Army of Linus, put out a few years ago. Now I just have to ensure the words go with the video!

Last time I went to an anti-war protest was in 1968, when a bunch of us surrounded the Pentagon, held hands in a giant circle, and tried to levitate it! No-one thought we were actually going to do it, but maybe it did budge a little bit...
Of course, a year later I was carrying a radio in Vietnam's rice paddies, but that's another story.

Fooling around with slide

2007-05-24T22:27:00.000-04:00

A little too commercial for me! Also, the default pan rate is too fast. Has potential though...

Three Stories

2007-04-13T21:05:00.001-04:00

Stanford University Graduation, 2006

What great pictures!

2007-04-12T22:44:00.000-04:00

c|Net News published some beautiful pictures of Nigerian students powering up their $100 open-source laptops. This school is the first test deployment site for One Laptop Per Child's XO laptops. OLPC installed a satellite dish, power generator, and modem to give the school electricity and Internet connectivity.

A while ago I told my fellow worker Marisa Catagno that 1 BILLION PEOPLE ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET!, she said, well, "how about the other 5 billion!". Good point, Marisa, hope that the OLPC will help equalize things.

One Laptop Per Child: http://www.laptop.org/

The "rabbit ears" are the wireless antennas.

Photo credit: Khaled Hassounah

A Long February

2007-02-17T20:06:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's the long tough month of February, or the fatigue of the Iraq War, that are both getting the nation's spirits down, it seems, this week. After all, was there really a reason for the 50-mile long traffic tie-up in Pennsylvania, with cars still being allowed to get on the highway? And how about the poor people flying to Cancun stuck in their JetBlue aircraft for 8 hours before the flight was canceled, just a short distance from their terminal? Now that's a vacation to remember.

It's just one of those bah-humbug months! The UConn men still haven't learned to play baskeball for a whole game. And to top it off, TWO sites (not one) just publicized free complete readings of George Orwell's 1984!

George-Orwell.org
The Literature Network

Now, how are we supposed to get into a good mood? The final straw, for me, was also discovering the entire 110 minute movie is now available on Google, with the 360 megabytes downloadable to your iPod. All this in two days!

(note: the video was taken off Google as of March 1!)

There is a whole cottage community of WikiGnomes, WikiGardners, and WikiFairies over at Wikipedia, cultivating an excellent article on 1984, if anyone wants to learn more.

Only thing I ask, couldn't we be treated to so much generosity in a nicer, warmer, month? We need a bit of cheering up in the heart of winter, not another distopia. I actually had to check in to Cute Overload for a little uplift after scanning 1984 again, so you know how bad things got. I had already read it once a very long time ago.

Wikipedia "WARNING: Nineteen Eighty-Four will NOT enter the public domain in the United States until 2044 and in the European Union until 2020, although it is public domain in countries such as Canada, Russia, and Australia."
The above indicates how irrelevant and dated copyright laws can be in this web-connected age.

I just thought of another 1984, shorter and with a happier ending...

Hope springs eternal.

Burning Man in Bologna

2007-02-03T20:19:00.000-05:00

I saw many memorable things in Bologna on my visit. One of the more interesting was their "Burning Man". This was a contruction, shown here, that was about 40 feet high, and is set on fire on New Year's Eve at midnight. It is a symbol of the end of the old, and the beginning of the new. The man is set up at one end of the biggest public squre in Bologna, Piazza Maggiore. I imagine this is packed with happy revelers on New Year's Eve. There was a large tower set up in the middle of the piazza, with monster speakers. The celebration may be the equivalent of Times Square, on a smaller scale, but with a 40 foot statue burning! The flames must shoot up at least a hundred feet in the air, and must be quite a sight. A bit more spectacular than a crystal ball falling.

I've always wanted to go to the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA. Maybe it's because I missed the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1968, and did not get there until the Fall of Discontent. And then I missed out on Woodstock, having been drafted and dodging bullets in Vietnam in '69. Anyhow, I feel I have to get one of those big festivals under my belt. Of course, Burning Man in Black Rock has turned into a lot more than the one in Bologna.

As a part-time videographer, I would love to be part of the video production crew at Burning Man.
This sounds like a fun and challenging job, and is well desrcibed in a recent issue of DV Magazine. My appearance, of course, is a bit more conventional than that of the featured shooters, Tim Laurel. But I do know how to use a camera and a Mac!

My aunt worries when I am out after dark, and I was not about to roll in at 1 a.m., so unfortunately I missed the lighting of the man in Bologna. According to my almost 94 year old aunt, she remembers going to see the burning man when she was a very little girl, so the tradition must be at least 90 years old.

Both Burning Man in Bologna and in Black Rock were about 40 feet high, and there is a thorough clean up after the event. I went to the Piazza Maggiore at noon on New Year's Day, hoping to get a photo of the burnt and charred remnants. Was I surprised when there wasn't a trace that anything had happened! The piazza was spotless, the layer of sand under the Burning Man was removed, with the stones underneath showing no sign of a fire. You had to look pretty hard to even detect the sand that was covering the stones only a few hours before.

In a similar fashion, Burning Man in Black Rock is a Leave No Trace Event

I aim to do a bit of research on the history of Burning Man in Black Rock, to see if it has its roots in any festivals similar to the one in Bologna, or if it was conceived independently. There certainly seems to be a symbolic connection, though I may not take it as far as a Jungian archetype. How long have the Bolognese have been burning their man, and does this tradition exists in other European cities and countries?

To the right is the Burning Man 2006 poster for Black Rock, designed by Dominic Tinio.

Cool iPod Accessory in Bologna

2007-01-27T11:37:00.000-05:00

I recently saw the coolest iPod accessory.

First, a little sidebar. I was visiting my 93-year old aunt in Bologna, Italy, right after Christmas, on my annual visit. I have written about her before, she lives totally on her own, and does her own shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, banking, etc. Her hearing and memory are sharper than mine, and she does not miss a thing.

I felt pretty guilty on my visit, as the only thing she let me do was wash the dishes. One evening, I brought home a few groceries, and she was mad at me for 2 days! She enjoys being totally independent. I felt a bit guilty having a 93-year old taking care of me. The photo shows her with her "young" 75 year old cousin.

When I visit Zia Lelle, I enjoy walking around Bologna every day. This is a great old city, and people have been living here for three thousand years. First settled by the Villanovians in the 9th Century BC and then taken over by the Etruscans a few centuries later, Bologna went through countless rulers until Italy's independence.

The University of Bologna was the first university founded in the western world, and is the world's oldest university in continuous service.

Every day I would walk to the Piazza Maggiore, in the heart of the old city, about a half hour from my aunt's house. The piazza is also the site of the unfinished Basilica of San Petronio. This took several centuries to build, and the facade was actually never finished. Now I don't feel too bad that the outside of our house also needs a bit of work.

Ok, on to the story. It Italy, people are always drawn to the piazzas, even if there is nothing special going on. There is always "people watching", and the many small open cafes at the periphery are usually bustling with folks coming and going, and in friendly animated conversations.

One of the days I went to the piazza, there was a street musician singing and playing who had an entire sound system mounted to his large motorcycle. I was amazed to see that the heart of the system was an iPod! This was connected to a mixer, along with his mic, guitar, and drum machine. The iPod provided the background music for his show, with everything amplified by a small amp powered by a small, very quiet, generator. I must say this is one of the cleverest uses for an iPod that I have seen.

Here is a close-up of his system, showing the weatherproofed iPod. Everything was sturdily mounted to steel bars bolted to his bike, so he could just fold things up, cover them, and hit the road again.

Now, how cool is that.

Skeleton Woman in North Carolina

2006-12-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

Had a nice experience today. I take care, as a volunteer, of the WCNI internet streaming.

WCNI is our college-sponsored FM radio station. My email address is on the streaming web page, so folks can contact me directly if there are problems. I received this in the early afternoon: "Hello I am writing to inform you that I can't get your station. It says it isn't found....Hope you get it fixed soon was hoping to hear the great Global Village with the Skeleton Woman."

For some reason, not being too familiar with the WCNI programming, I thought the listener was referring to a little known punk band. There were clients receiving the stream fine, so I figured the problem was the client's computer. After several emails back and forth (almost had a chat room going), we got it fixed, and she was a happy listener.

I then got interested in who the heck "Global Village with the Skeleton Woman" was. Was this a musical mashup of the revamped Village People with a skinny female lead? I went to the WCNI schedule, and saw how wrong I was!

Global Village is the name of the show: "All the music of the world-plus bagpipes!", and Skeleton Woman is the DJ. The show is on Thursdays from 3 to 6 pm. I must say the music was great, most with a Holiday Season spin, but with a "world" of variety. So, I have to thank the listener for turning me on to Skeleton Woman's show.

I then noticed that there were four of five clients with the same IP listening to WCNI. When we get more than one from the same IP it generally means they are behind the same VLAN, which could be physically spread out over a large area. I looked up the IP on GeoBytes. Turns out the main location for this IP is Shelby, North Carolina.

So, it looks like Skeleton Woman has a faithful following in North Carolina. Hurray for the Internet, which has made this possible. For a little while, I felt close to the now happy unknown listener that emailed me, as we enjoyed the same music. And no, the Internet was not invented by Al Gore, in spite of what he has said.

Jenna at Vassar

2006-11-06T19:25:00.000-05:00

My niece is a freshman at Vassar. She was number one in her high school, and valedictorian, so I told her not to study too hard! Here she is with her dad, Tom

And here with her mom, Anita. Who is also my sister

Jenna is my fourth FaceBook friend. I joke that I had to pay the other three, they are my student employees. No, I did NOT force them to invite me to be their friend! At this rate, I hope to gain two new friends every year. But how many true friends can you really have!

How Small We Really Are

2006-10-30T21:05:00.000-05:00

Hmmm, wonder if he knows a little JavaScript...

2006-10-10T23:13:00.000-04:00

From Lonely Man's Blog

A Good Project

2006-10-07T14:41:00.000-04:00

A man tries to photograph one child from every country on Earth — without leaving New York - so far he has 194 nations

Odeo looks pretty keen

2006-09-24T21:50:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm sure most of you know about it. But I like those little flash players, I just had to put one in my blog.

powered by ODEO

The above is from a trucker that podcasts from his rig, recorded while he's driving...

Eyes Wide Shut

2006-09-24T21:15:00.000-04:00

My wife, Gig, took this picture. Steve is a great guy, and I've known him since the late 1970's, when he and his nice friends sailed with with me in the Caribbean. The guitars are made by his son, Roger. Unfortunately, the digital camera has a shutter delay, and Steve's eyes are closed.

The bees and the spider

2006-09-11T21:48:00.000-04:00

This plant has a wonderful color in the fall. The bees like it also, there's a bunch of them collecting honey all day long. You can get real close to them, inches away, and they just mind their own business and keep harvesting.

A spider showed up a few days after the bees, made himself a nice neat web between two plants, and is going through about two a day. Plenty of bees, plenty of flowers, and a happy spider!

Two people I like together

2006-09-09T10:29:00.000-04:00

Gonna Miss You, You Big Fool!

2006-09-05T23:03:00.000-04:00

The end of summer came too soon

2006-09-05T22:35:00.000-04:00

Summer is usually nice and quiet, but we had so much work to do this summer, that it really flew by. My office is in the old library, which is kind of neat. Have not seen or heard any ghosts yet. I got done about 2/3 of the projects I had planned, which is about average for me. Always reaching for the stars.

Another shot. Our front "lawn" is the nicest on this side of the Thames River, and you can see Long Island Sound. UCONN Avery Point on the other side of the river has us beat on looks though, they ARE on the Sound. My back is to the lawn, which holds three soccer fields. Looks like a giant lawn, not like an athletic center, so it's real pretty.

Decided to sell the old Whaler, and put it in tip top shape, burning up a few days of vacation time. Never had it looking this nice when I used it for myself! Even put the rail on that my wife always begged for, man, did I feel guilty about that! Sold it to the girl across the street, so I still get to pump it out when it rains.

Merry Christmas

2006-09-02T14:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm a little late, but I ran across the Christmas card I made last December.
Pretty is our overweight 17 pound cat. She loves us, and we love her. We have run across many dogs that weigh less.
Leigh came home from her internship at Hilton Head Island, and is getting settled in her too-small room. Good to have her home for a while. I think she threw out about a hundred pound's worth of childhood stuff, by my wife managed to save half of it, and is now stashing it in her car. There was a bit of a dispute over ownership, but I told Leigh that once she throws it out, she's giving up possession. Leigh is starting her USCG captain's license course in Fairhaven MA, in Mid-Sept. Kris' tennis team won their local championship, Kris is now off to Florida for a week of with Perry, his nice and cute friend.
Hope they have nice weather!

Bragging again!

2006-07-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, here is dad bragging again about his daughter.
Leigh was named Empire 8 Conference Woman of the Year, and will represent the conference for balloting for the NCAA Woman of the Year. Nice article here . The Ithaca teams are called the Bombers.

There are eight New York State colleges in the Empire 8. Leigh is the only Bomber to earn all region honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) four times, receiving first-team recognition in 2004, 2005 and 2006 after being picked to the second team as a freshman. She is the Empire 8’s only four-time first-team all-conference selection and was named the league’s Player of the Year in 2005.

Leigh is now finishing her internship with Vagabond Cruises in Hilton Head, SC, and gets to work on Stars and Stripes, the boat that Dennis Connor lost the America's Cup in.

A Maine "beach"

2006-06-03T22:41:00.000-04:00

High Tide Inn,
originally uploaded by Frank Fulchiero.

Yup, this is what those Maniacs call a beach!
Poster from flickr

Bird rest house

2006-06-03T22:35:00.000-04:00

Bird house,
originally uploaded by Frank Fulchiero.

This is posted directly from flickr

My brother and my aunt

2006-05-29T08:20:00.000-04:00

Here is my "little" brother Ralph, who lives in Austin TX, visiting my aunt Italina, aged 93, in Bologna, Italy, a few weeks ago.
I call her Zia Lelle. She lives on her own, does all her own cooking, banking, shopping, cleaning, etc.

Another picture of my aunt. She lived with her older sister most of the last 10 years. But about 3 years ago, the sister, Zia Libia, had to go in a nursing home. The home was about 150 yards away. Almost every day Zia Lelle would walk there to visit her sister. Zia Libia passed away about 2 years ago.

My daughter

2006-05-28T00:28:00.000-04:00

I needed to test image uploads, and thought of my daughter. Much of the last five weeks has been spent traveling, with the last long trip to Durham, NC for the Division 3 Softball National Championship. My daughter, Leigh Bonkowski, is captain of the Ithaca College team. They finished 5th in the nation. Leigh also won the Ithaca College Female Athlete of the Year award, and was No.2 academically in her department. Just a father bragging! I copied the image from the Ithaca College web site.

This one is personal

2006-05-28T00:22:00.000-04:00

This blog will be for personal stuff, the other for professional things.
I was inspired by this weblog
http://rustedgate.blogspot.com/
Thought it was too much to put too many personal feelings and family stuff in the other one
I like how this guy embedded a QT audio movie
http://almostblue05.blogspot.com/