Pics From the Past

Moored Naples Florida

My buddy Pat Hood unearthed the following pictures from my past life. They brought back an avalanche of memories stored up from my tour in Hawaii. I was stationed aboard USCGC Washington, a 110 foot Patrol Boat. Our beat was the main Hawaiian Islands, but we were deployed for a historic long range trip to the NW Hawaiian Islands including Midway Atoll. We became the first Island Class Patrol Boat to be re-fueled at sea by a Buoy Tender. It was a wonderful trips. We stopped at places that are off limits to humans. It was awesome. So below is a picture of me and Pat. Look how skinny I am!

Me, Pat and Jason Tama, who was a Coast Guard Academy Cadet at the time.

Taking the Sunfish out for a sail in the Midway Lagoon.

Pictures are Cica 1993

Pretty wild stuff. Enjoy

Capt Chris

Draft Article I Penned for Latitude38

Living Aboard Christa in Naples Florida

I am just putting the finishing touches on this article before submission to Latitude38, an excellent west coast sailing rag. This article gives the fullest explanation as to why I've cut short my intended circumnavigation. I would appreciate any feed back. Thanks!

Giving Up or a Sabbatical Draft1-1

Capt Chris

The Blooming Interest in Photography and Video

Moored Naples Florida

 I just love getting swept up into a new activity. I regret not investing earlier in a higher end digital camera before I went sailing in 2007. The Fuji-Fine pics I used was adequate, but compared to the Canon G11 it is lackluster. The Canon is a complex piece of equipment that takes some study. It's common sense, that in order to take pictures you must have your camera with you. It is a bummer that I'm working so much and have less of a chance to take pictures and or write blog entries. But today, Tuesday is my only day off, and while driving to get some dinner, I noticed the sun was setting and thought why don't I take a swing to the beach. Of course I had my Canon G11 and tri-pod in the trunk of the Green Hornet. Turned out to be a really nice evening along the Gulf of Mexico. And now I share some of my pictures with you.

Rogue Wave

Moored Naples Florida

A short blurb on the news this morning got my attention. Cruise ships slams into a abnormally high wave killing two passengers. Here is the video clip of the wave.



I have experienced a couple of rouge waves in my life. One of the these waves was snapped in a series of pictures by none other than Tom Larson, formally of Sandpiper and currently of Sadie Sea fame. I had the conn this morning as we were heading out of Kodiak Alaska. The swells were large and well spaced. But we slammed into a doozey. Buried the bow completely, ripped off the ships bell, the original from the 1960's and bent steel stantions. We slowed downed! Keep in mind Morgenthau is 378 feet. Below is the series of pictures. Thanks to Chief Warrant Officer Dave Holder, USCG.

Check it out!

Capt Chris

Around Naples Florida on the White Rino

Moored Naples Florida

I am now officially getting trained up for the GranFondo out in California. I have been doing some riding, in spite of the cold tempts and north wind here in Florida. I don't care what anyone says. It's cold! Before someone wants to dispute the definition of cold, please keep in mind that I have been to both the Antarctic, Arctic and the Aleutian Island chain in the winter. It really is a matter of expectation. I put together a little video of my routine and some footage along my path.


Untitled from Christian Allaire on Vimeo.

Please leave comments!

Capt Chris

Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge GranFondo

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here
For a more complete history of me and sailing click here.

I love to run. But, I'm aware that after years of pounding the pavement, the toll on the body can outweigh the cardio benefit. Many runners morph into cyclists and garner the cardio workout benefit while mitigating the strain on the joints. Or so the experts say. I am no different. But I have always loved to ride a bike.

It is keeping with my genetic penchant to roam. As far back as I can remember, I would set a course for the woods with streams and ponds. Traverse across golf courses and pastures. Trespass with my buddy Brad to "The Illegal"  with Ugly Stick in hand and a new Repalla Water Dog lure and slay Rainbow and Brook trout and then high tail it in retreat as the hunt club caretakers gave chase. As each year passes I continue the same roaming routine, but the vehicle or maybe the surroundings change. Surely I don't fish illegally anymore.

 

So it was with great excitement that my Uncle Mike got in touch with me to invite me to ride with him in the King Ridge GranFondo. Here is an explanation.

"The Gran Fondo is a celebrated tradition in Italian cycling culture. A Gran Fondo is a long distance, mass-participation cycling event – not a race – that welcomes professional, amateur, and recreational cyclists of all abilities . While not strictly  competitive, these rides are timed to ensure cyclists complete the entire course and provide some scoring for quick completion of unique sections of the route."

Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge GranFondo from Bike Monkey LLC on Vimeo.

The course starts in Santa Rosa California, north of San Francisco and only 10 miles from where my little cottage is in Glen Ellen California. I will ride for 65 miles through some of the most beautiful countryside and ocean side real estate our great country has to offer. An opportunity like this is surely one of the reasons I came ashore. Of course I will be attending Dominican U of C at the time of the ride. October 9th 2010 is the date. I'll see you on the road....training!


Capt Chris

Short Video Clip of Sailing in the Florida Keys

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here
For a more complete history of me and sailing click here.


Untitled from Christian Allaire on Vimeo.

Capt Chris

Scenes from a Morning Beach Stroll

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here
For a more complete history of me and sailing click here. 


One of the great things about my situation in Naples is the short distance to the beautiful beach. Sometimes I run the beach and other times I take a stroll with the ladies. I prefer the stroll. This day, we hooked a left and headed south along the Port Royal section of town as far as the Port Royal Club. You want to see some money spent, just click on the Port Royal Club link. Bam! It's nice. 


For all the northers thinking were soaking up the rays at the beach in south Florida, think again. Just check out our attire. But I can say the threat of flurries was not a concern.

                                                      

 Capt Chris....Happy in Naples

PS: You can double click on the images to expand them to see the full 10 mega-pixel capabilities of the Canon G11.

Wordpress Coming Soon to christianallaire.com

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here
For a more complete history of me and sailing click here. 

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about blogs and blogging over the passed three plus years. The original idea for a blog was planted by Tom & Amy from Sandpiper.   They used Blogger for their journey from California, west-about to St John USVI where they now call home. I had to have one. And so I do. The blog has become an enjoyable labor of love. I always say, I love that folks take the time to read the blog, comment and send me emails. Please keep it up! But the main mission is for my own personal gratification. It's my log book of life. The blog has pushed me in different areas that I never imagined. It has forced me to think a little more deeply, to observer a little closer, because I may have to put what I'm thinking or feeling or observing into words. A daily event or situation forces me to assess, is it blog worthy? At one point I was getting tired of writing so much, so I thought well I'll just take more pictures and let them do the talking. Picture is worth a thousand words type of thing. This pivot hurtled me into an interest in photography, or a re-invigoration more accurately, because in 7th grade I loved the photography club. I dug the old school dark room development process. Of course now I needed to learn about management of a digital library and digital photography which lead me into the world of High Definition video and editing. All this sprung from my simple desire to let the folks back home know where I was and how I was doing on my sailing voyage. This is life.

My evolution continues. I originally started out on Sailblogs and still have my sailblogs site up and running. I found sailblogs limiting (has since gotten better) but became aggravated when I found out that Google Adsense revenue generated from my blog (granted, pennies) was going into the pocket of the owners of sailblogs. I decided to go the way of Sandpiper and start a blog on Blogger. Blogger has many more options and is easier to personalize and I could use my own domain name, christianallaire.com. I thought I was on it like Blue Bonnet, but since have learned that Blogger is still considered rookie ville. 

Enter Wordpress.org This is where the more serious go to to crank it up a few notches. Wordpress.org is a publishing platform that creates websites. It is all very complicated to new folks, me included. The learning curve is steep and I'm still on the first hill. Over the past month I have been working on this project. I have a Wordpress.org website now being hosted on a sever I pay for each month. Files are transferred via FTP and once a theme is downloaded, I can manipulate the layout and color and feel of the website to my own liking. The rub is, you must start to learn how to write CSS Code. I have no idea how long this will take me. But when you click on a professional website like Nikonfestival or Queens College you know you've logged onto a professional product. In terms of making the switch, from the reader point of view, you'll never do anything different. When the new christianallaire.com is ready for prime time, I simply assign christianallaire.com as the domain name for my new blog and you'll automatically see the new site. The new site will of course have all my archives and what not.

I love my Blogger blog and spent a good deal of time learning how to upgrade it. So why switch again? I would like to improve and with Wordpress.org, I can endlessly tweak the website as new technology is created or improved upon. But the biggest reason is that Blogger (owned by google) owns my content as the blog resides on their servers for free. So now I control and own my own content, but have to pay. So I have now gone from worries about squalls to worries about File Transfers Protocols. And of course I worry about bread trays to.

So keep a sharp eye. One issue that I'm not sure I will be able to over come is, when I make the shift I may loose my followers as the RSS Feed may be broken. If you are a follower via RSS Feed, I may ask for you to re-sign up for the feed. That's it from a chilly Naples Florida.

Capt Chris

Rigors of the Job

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here
For a more complete history of me and sailing click here.

As some may know I took a job as an Expeditor at a restaurant here in Naples. It has given me a whole new view into life in America after 20 years in the Coast Guard community. Once I'm done my tour of duty at Ridgeway Bar & Grill, I'll give a more thorough review of my experience. It is a low level job in the grand scheme, but one should never adopt the view that they are "above" a certain occupation. Having a job is a blessing. Having the opportunity to aspire higher is even more of a blessing.

An Expo is the coordinator of the galley. In my case, there are two of us and even then at times two Expo's become overwhelmed. On the busiest of nights the restaurant has 13 chef's working behind the line and 300 to 500 meals are pumped out between 5 and 9pm. Ensuring the meals come out timely and with a crisp quality is the Expo's bread and butter. Speaking of bread and butter. One thing I do many times per night is take a hot tray of bread and discharge it into the bread warmer. I've burned myself twice doing this. You can see above the latest scorch job. When the latest burn happened I didn't even know it, but when I looked at my arm a few minutes later, we had bubbleage! Medic! Medic! No one paid attention, so I went and got some ice and dove back into the  Expo mayhem. 


Capt Chris


PS: Happy Presidents Day! And I'm driving across the country in late May through early June time frame. You can read about that in a blog entry by clicking here.  I wanted to thank everyone who have extended an invitation for me to "camp" out on there couches. It really really is appreciated and I'm excited to meet blog readers! So thank you and see you soon!