Summer Movie

On Assignment in Williamstown MA
18 Days until Grenada
Bound for NYC tomorrow

I've been hard at work learning Apple iMovie and using my new Flip HD camera. I'm now dangerous with this equipment. It should be good fun filming sailing this year. Please stay tuned.

To watch in full screen mode just click on the button next to "HQ" on the video slide. Please don't be shy about comments or rating the post.

Thanks!

Capt Chris

Last Week in the Berkshires

On Assignment in Williamstowns MA

25 Days until Grenada

I'm now in the 9th inning of my stay here in the Berkshire of Mass. What a beautiful small-town stretch of America. But the leaves are changing and I don't want to wear out my welcome here. So yesterday my U2 partner in crime, Mary Jane and I, took a wonderful hike along a stretch of the Appalachian Trail. We paused at the above look out for a photo op. In the distance you can see the small town of Williamstown and the campus of Williams College. Early in the spring I had given deep thought and made some plans to hike for several weeks along the Appalachian trail, but found the logistics to difficult. I was disappointed I couldn't make it work without a measure of pain. So I was particularly thrilled to at least say I hit a small portion of the famous trail.

The above picture has no significance other than I like it. Something I forgot to mention a few weeks back was a lecture, held at Williams College, my buddy John and I attended. I do hesitate to mention it as it really is way off the sailing track, but has some relevance to my future in academia. In the world of philosophy this fellow is a power house. Daniel Dennet, a Professor at Tufts, lectured for an hour and half on evolution. Dennet is famous and influential, but mostly known in the academic world. He also is one of the "four horseman of Atheism."  Considering that my upcoming education is going to be centered in the humanities and philosophy, I was enthusiastic to hear the man lecture. Especially since I am not simpatico with the man. Always good to have your point of view challenged. So if your interested click on Dennet's link.

I'll be heading to NYC at the end of this week to spend time with my bro for a week and then I'll push on to Florida.

Capt Chris

U2 SHOW FOXBOROUGH MASS

On Assignment Williamstown MA

Certainly one of my highlights since my arrival back to the states this summer, is last nights show. U2 has been around for a very long time and still puts on an energetic display. The stage itself should be featured on Modern Marvels. It's transport is 40 semi's and requires 3 days to set up. Apparently the band has two identical stages in order to prevent the tour from getting gummed up. A really wonderful time was had by all.

Capt Chris

PS: You can click the link and check out the 30 plus pics I took at the show. Two videos even!
http://picasaweb.google.com/christian.allaire/U2?feat=directlink

Test Video for the 5th Generation iPod Nano

Th Fall-The Itch

On Assignment Williamstown Ma



Fall in the northeast of the United States is upon us. The trees are changing colors with each passing moment, the nights are chilly and the days are being brisk. The sequence of pictures is of Williamstown Mass, the beautiful small town I've been lounging in for the past couple of months. I took these photo's on my daily trip into the center of town. I drive through the center of a valley, along a stream that winds its way to god knows where.



I also have the joy of running throughout the country roads of the Berkshires. But the itch has arrived and I'm ramping up to scratch said itch. What am I talking about?



Well, when I left Grenada in early July I was good and ready to take a break from boat life. I had sickened of the routine and longed to go home. But the other day I surfed on over to Adamo's blog to do some research on routing back to America as Mike, Sue and Phillip had done the jaunt last year. Well I started to get all kinds of excited about the prospect of returning to Christa and making her sing.



So my flight back to Grenada remains at October 26th. I've started ordering some parts and focusing on my plan for returning. I have a some projects to complete in Grenada before I can splash Christa. A number one is the replacement of at least the two upper shroud chainplates that I fear may be weak. All six chainplates need replacing and I've ordered custom fabricated chainplates. But the difficulty of accessing the 4 lower shroud chainplate backing bolts make replacement of those much more difficult. I will defer the lowers until I get to Naples. If the upper chainplates were to giveway the whole mast would tumble. If I lose one of the lowers, I don't think the mast would tumble, especially since I have running backstays. So that is my rational and I'm sticking to it!



I still am marveling at the lack of hurricane activity in the Atlantic. I guess I picked the wrong year to hunker down in Puerto Rico. Should have swapped years! But that would require peering into the future, which to my knowledge no one has been able to do.

Capt Chris

5th Generation iPod

Currently on Assignment in Williamstown MA

I am a diciple of Apple products. Each time I make an informal comparision to another like product, the other like product invariably comes up short. Most of the time far short. The only exception to this being I chose a Blackberry over the iPhone, but part of this was due to my revulvsion for AT&T. AT&T cannot support the capabilities of the iPhone. But that is another story. Example #2 is my recent 30 trial of Apple iWorks09 which is Apple's run at Microsoft Office. I have to say, again it is superior. Since I'm entering school in a year, I've been making an effort to brush up on my technology skills, which will be critical to my success as a student. I also purchased Snow Lepard the latest MAC OS X operating system. Innovative and lightening fast. Each time I try another Apple product I'm pretty much dazzled.

So when Apple unveiled the latest iPod Nano, I convulsed and bought. From the sailing point of view, the gizmo now can shoot video which will be very convienent to point and shoot with a moments notice. But another, perhaps most important thing for me is it now has an FM radio. Why would I be excited? Well since I also love my Sirius Sat Radio, which has an FM transmitter, I can now tune up the iPod to 88.1 FM and listen to Sirius via the iPod. On Christa I have an iPod docking station made by Bose, so now I don't have to have speaker wire connected to the docking station. I can now lay down up on the bow with iPod headphones on and listen to Sirius Radio. Jazzed? You bet!


Capt Chris


PS: Don't forget to leave comments! Love those comments!

The People are What's Important

On assignment in Williamstown MA

Case in point. One of my delights is meeting interesting people from all walks of life. I am a homebody and if I were to settle, for example, into a life of suburban routine I likely would meet few new aquatainces. I generally have my peeps and I like to stick with them, seeking the familiar groove of expectation. This is not to imply that I'm meeting scores of people, but I clearly bump into new people. Having the gregarious gene, I unintentionally propel my entire personality quite readily. I usually find conversation forthcoming.

Most people I meet are fine and nice people. Every once in a while you just meet someone with a pizzaze that grabs hold of you. And so it is with Sam, pictured above. I met Sam at a yoga class and we subsequently had some vittles. Sam is chock full of adventure and I was delighted to hear all about it!


Capt Chris

Alive and Doin Fine!

 


On Assignment in Williamstown Ma

Fear not, Capt Chris (me) is landlocked well inland, but really enjoying myself. For such a simple life, for a guy who has no job, I seem to have a day crammed full. Each night I am plume tired and sleep soundly.

This weekend past, mys sister and I attended a show, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow and Yo Yo Ma at Tanglewood in the Berkshire. It was great, but cold to my taste. Most days are spent exercising, hiking, eating, reading and running. Really can't beat that.

However, that old faithful yearning for life afloat has now entered my brain. It is my fate. So my timeline is still to return to Grenada on October 26th and prepare Christa to splash.

I plan on setting sail in early November, bound for Naples Florida. I know many blog readers have lost interest due to current shorebound ways. After all, most readers are shorebound themselves and who wants to read about another shorebound chump. But this chump will put to sea in the not far distant future. So please stay tuned!

Capt Chris

Just Livin....but Livin Well

On Assignment in the United States
Williamstown Ma

I've surely fallen behind in my documentation project. So many adventures have occurred since I departed my sister's house nearly two weeks ago. I spent a full week in NYC visiting my brother, sister in law and niece Annie. I then headed north aboard Amtrak to upstate NY, near the Finger Lakes, to spend four days with Brad Finegan, a childhood buddy of mine. An adventure worthy of blogging about in it's own right. So much to write about and I don't believe I'll report chronologically, nor pack all into one post.

First off, lets check in with my borrowed ride. The use of the Hummer has been a pleasant surprise. Lets not forget that for more than a year I have pretty much gone without such controversial conveniences such as a vehicle. Although now that I think about it, I did have the car while in Puerto Rico last summer. But my friends Amy and Mike are generous in the extreme, and so is my buddy John for that matter. But they have loaned me the use of the H1 during my two month plus stay here in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

I've really got it made. I'm staying in a beautiful guest house, deep in the woods, with all the critters of nature. The nights are cool and the mountains silent. While dining in the evening on the deck we've seen a momma bear and her cub twice, cautiously stroll into a field foraging. It's amazing to watch through the spotting scope perched on a tri-pod. Wait there is more.

I am in yoga ville. I was pressed into yoga last summer while visiting here in the Berkshires and loved it. Surely this is one of the best side benefits of being retired. I've gone three times since arrival and one of those days was a full 3 hour session. It is a crushingly good work out. Amazingly enough, I can already see the post 40 bod transforming. Two months at 3 times per week, coupled with my running regime should whoop me right into shape.

As I mentioned before, I should be here in Mass until mid October. I'm still shaping up what a daily routine may look like for the kid, aside from the yoga. I hope to help out my friends in anyway I can to pay back the generosity. This weekend I'm baby sitting for John. He has a 115LBS black lab named Brick. Brick is a little more than a year old and has more energy than a hydrogen bomb. When he steps on your foot, you know it. Last night I had to put him in his cage for management purposes. That drooping face as seen through the cage nearly killed me. If Brick wasn't a dog, I'd say he's the man.

Please check my Picas Photo album as I am updating as I go along. I apologize to the folks who have been following the blog for the sailing aspect. What can I say, this is my life and I always adjust as necessary.

Later

Capt Chris

PS: I still check in with the National Hurricane Center homepage several times a day. But now I just get off that I'm not in the path of the yellow blobs of doom!

A Week in Conneticut and the coming week in NYC

Currently on Assignment in the United States
Greenwich Village, New York City

I wrapped up a very enjoyable and mellow week at my sisters in Shelton CT. I've got it made. I spent most day's reading, exercising and hanging out with my 12 year old niece Alexa. Then my sis would come home from work and we'd enjoy a wonderful home cooked dinner. Love it, just what the doctored ordered. Sometimes it can be a challenge to come up with a good story to tell for the blog. The week was not boring by any stretch for me, but nothing earth shattering occurred. Except for the spider incident.

It happened on my last night. As I prepared to turn in after a long day of doing nothing, I noticed a spider the size of the palm of my hand in the center of my bed. At first I figured it was a fake left for me by my niece who is prone to such things. A quick poke revealed a quick and much alive hairy scary spider. I went into battle stance and called out to my sister to retrieve the Raid. I starting getting frantic as Tracy lollygagged with the Raid. I was concerned the beast would stealthily move to its lair within my room. Well when Tracy arrived the tension propagated like a shock wave. After a loud gulp of air followed by an "oh my god", my sis took cover and I took charge of the can of Raid. I thought Tracy may collapse, but was surprised that she maintained enough situational awareness to not let me blast away with the Raid and stain the bedspread. I'm not one to worry about staining things much as evidenced by my wardrobe. Safe from the reach of the arachnid, she hollered from behind the door not to hit the bedspread. I was overwhelmed with all this task direction and concern. The thing was really scary looking and it was occurring to me that I was going to have to sleep in this bedroom. I maneuvered the beast onto my new L.L. Bean backpack (its first real mission) and gingerly dragged it onto the floor. Shock and Awe erupted from the Raid can. Bulls eye! He/she retreated into the backpack proper and I moved to drop the backpack out the window and onto the deck.

Tracy and I deployed out to the deck to access the results of the skirmish. I dumped the backpacks contents and the corpse of the spider flopped out. It's a shame for the spider that humans are generally not thrilled with their appearance and the immediate result is to be attacked. We moved to post battle analysis using Google. While surfing through pictures on google images, Tracy nearly starting dry heaving, I nearly followed suit when I thought it may have been a brown recluse. A no joke poisonous spider that can do serious damage. But we finally concluded that our murder victim was a Dock Spider. A non-poisonous spider, but has a very painful bite. They typically hang out in damp, water prone areas such as lakes and basements. With all the rain in the north east it seems reasonable for the spider to be present. I didn't sleep well that night.

More to follow about my adventures in New York City. Pic #1 was taken during an evening stroll. Entrance to Washington Square Park, where Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan part company in "When Harry Met Sally." Pic #2 is Union Square during the Saturday Farmers Market.

Capt Chris

Train Trip.....Deland Florida to Bridgeport Connecticut

On Assignment in the United States
Shelton Connecticut

I needed transport to the northeast of the United States. I have some time flexibility so instead of taking an airplane, certainly a speedier option, but not necessarily more convenient; I chose Amtrak. Cost wise, taking the train was about $30 dollars less than the airplane option. I have always loved taking the train. The NYC subway and the ease that BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) can scoot one about a bustling metropolis is great. But this was the first long range Amtrak trip I have taken since I was a wee lad, negating any decent comparison between air and rail. Overall, I had a excellent experience and will make room in the future for train travel.

Things started out a little negatively with the train being 4 hours late. But, I received an automated voice mail on the BBC (Blackberry Curve) letting me know that Train 78 was struggling to meet its obligations, cushioning the blow. Some kind of derailing event in Miami. Armed with all my gizmos, to include; iPod, BBC, Macbook, Martin Backpackers Acoustic Guitar and Kindle, I was in a good position to stay occupied for the long term. And so it was.

Prior to the arrival at the station in Deland, my Dad and I had some pizza. Just as we were pulling into the station the news trickled out that the schedule was continuing to slip. So with the late afternoon sun waning, my dad had to get rolling back home to tend to my mom. Not to long after the powerful GE locomotive came rolling into view. For some reason I get off on the process of a train pulling into a station. I love the clanging of the bell, the clamor of the passengers jockeying for position and the conductors giving task direction. It reminds me of history, of the World Wars and the critical role railroad played in America's expansion westward. It reminds me of Dagny Taggert and Readen Metal. I also like the view from the train itself. With each town and city passing, you wonder what is happening with the town and the people sitting atop their luggage, waiting.

Once aboard my top priority was finding a seat that had 110 volt plugs to power my base of operations I was fixing to set up. I was more than pleased to see many available seats and all had the critical plugs. There is plenty of room compared to an aircraft. The train car was about the same width as a Boeing 737, but with four seats, two on each side of the aisle. Where a 737 has crammed six seats across. three to port and three to starboard. I thought beautiful as I settled in for the twenty five hour run up the east coast.

One of the best reasons to take a train is to watch the country side roll on passed. Once we left Deland, the train quickly picked up the pace to 80MPH and everything whizzed on past, except the sun, which was busy sinking below the horizon. Once darkness settled in, I headed aft to the Dinner Car and lounge. It was a buzz of activity with the regular folk (me) and the Sleeper Car crowd. I thought class warfare may rear up, but no, everyone seemed to be happy just mixing it up. This atmosphere does not permeate aboard aircraft while crowded around the bathroom. I had some dinner, followed with a good cup of coffee, which always brings me joy. Once I reached my target heart rate, I headed back to my seat and base of operations. I settled in with the BBC to brief all hands on Facebook and then watched 4 hours worth of Band of Brothers on DVD. During this period, I also had the BBC tethered to the laptop to finish downloading Revolutionary Road as a rental from iTunes. Which I subsequently watched. So it goes.

I tired out after all the hoopla, but struggled somewhat to sleep. Sleeping on Amtrak is similar to an airplane, unless of course your in a sleeper. Even with the big seats and adequate leg room, it can be tough. But I did get three to four hours of rest. I was interrupted at 3 am, when a non English speaking lady came aboard, tired and very frazzled. She needed a seat and of course, being a spreader outer, I had expanded my base of operations into the seat that she wanted to occupy. She was a wreak, so I helped get her luggage secured in the darkened compartment without waking everyone up. Turns out she was a diabetic and needed to do her thing. She was lockin up and was very relieved that I didn't bark at her. Twenty seats were empty just aft of us, but it didn't compute for her and I wasn't about to get into an altercation with a 60 year old Mexican woman. Especially since the only Spanish word I remember is perfecto, which would take the sting out of any shouting match. She was pleasant company all the way to NY's Penn Station and clearly a well loved woman. Her phone rang every five minutes with her family very worried about her traveling alone. Once in New York I was pressed into duty again and handled her luggage for her. Perfecto.

Even with stops at most major cities, the train was able to make up for lost time. I was able to get to NY's Penn Station with plenty of time to grab my connecting train north to Bridgeport Connecticut where my sister picked me up.

So, I like Amtrak. It chaps my ass though, that President Nixon declared during his reign that Amtrak would be profitable by the end of his term. 35 years later and we still pour billions into the operation each year. But, Amtrak is in my immediate future as I head to NYC late next week and then take the Hudson Line to upstate New York.


All Aboard!


Capt Chris

Kayaking with Janina

Central Florida, USA
Currently on hiatis from Christa

I rendevous with Janina who resides in central Florida, not far from my parents house. Janina had several options well researched for a day of fun in the sun in the sunshine state. Being nautical types, we opted for an inland water adventure. We Kayaked about twelve miles down the Weeki Wachee river, somewhere in Florida. It was a really cool experience. We started out at the Weeki Wachee Springs Park and rented the kayaks. Once on the river, we flowed along in the 3 mph current that twists and turns, with shadows cast from the gigantic Cypress trees providing some relief from the sun. The river is spring feed, cool and as crystal clear as the Bahamas. Carp and other critters were scurring throughout. Wow it was a wonderful day. And equally wonderful to catch up with Janina!

Capt Chris

Latitude38 Article

I penned an article about my sailing adventure and submitted it to a couple of different publications. Latitude38, a legendary sailing rag from San Francisco published the article in the June and July edition of the mag. They did some minor edits, but used the photos I submitted. I am thrilled they published it. I've published several times with them, and while on active duty the Coast Guard would publish a Search and Rescue monthly column in Latitude. I was one of the folks who researched and put the article together before the boss put his stamp on it and submitted. During this time I went to some Latitude38 Crew List parties and other functions, really gaining an appreciation for the magazines dedication to all things nautical. So surf on over to www.latitude38.com and check it out. For readers who are not familiar, don't waste your time with mags like Cruising World, you'll learn more and feel much more engaged by reading Latitude. plus the mag is free!


Capt Chris

Slacken in Central Florida

Sorry folks I have taken so long to update said blog. I departed Grenada aboard an American Airlines plane on July 6th and safely made it to Tampa, where Dad picked me up for further transport to Summerfield. It truly is wonderful to be back in the United States, home of the brave. I have lots of irons in the fire, as the saying goes. I've been pretty busy visiting my parents and 86 year old grandfather who has been pretty ill in Vero Beach.

Culture shock is real. I've missed the ease of gathering supplies and taking care of the daily choirs. St Maartin was the last place I'd been that really had any kind of westernized grocery stores. Even then they were small, expensive and limited. Then the other day I entered a Publix and was bewildered at its scope. I would have not done well on the Prices Right as I totally had lost contact with what was a reasonable price. For example, I am a coffee snob and want good coffee. The best coffee I could find in Grenada was Dunkin Donuts original blend, 12 OZ. Price? $26.95 USD. I was lockin up. I did have a clue that $26.95 was a bit pricey, but didn't know I could get the same coffee and size for about $5.00. On the flip side of that coin, I dined on some beautiful red American "organic" tomatoes that were ok, but compared to tomatoes in the island tasted poorly. Fruits and vegies in the islands look mangled, likely are filled with seeds and stalks, but the taste is rich and full of flavor. This tells me that food in the US is being engineered in some fashion to look good at the expense of taste. I always side with function over fashion; then again I am a male.

Another bummer is all the traffic signs and stop lights. In the bannana republics, to the in experienced eye, things looks quite chaotic, with all the horns and cars stopping where they like. But really an organized ebb and flow is occruing. Personal responsibility dictating society? How shocking. American driving is regulated in every aspect.

Capt Chris