New York

We have taken our boat through New York City several times. We have entered the harbor past the Statue of Liberty and tied up at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan or across the river in New Jersey. We have cruised up the East River through Hell’s Gate into the Long Island Sound and travelled the reverse route south at dawn along Manhattan’s East side. The sight is always glorious and a far cry from the quiet anchorages and marinas we normally visit.

Last week we were in New York without a boat, but on the 4th of July we walked along the park on the Hudson River near 66th Street and watched the sailboats bobbing on moorings just off the shore. It brought thoughts of many adventures and I was a little envious of the intrepid explorers visiting the city by boat. So I was amazed to see this piece in the Sunday New York Times yesterday. It expressed my feelings exactly:

Click here to read “Sail on Sailor”.

Parker Adele Tatum

 

As I’ve said here before, the Lovely Laura Lee told me her grandfather kept a daily journal and each grandchild could go back and read about the day he or she was born. So now, by tradition, I make a little blog entry for each of my grandchildren. And today, we’re happy to welcome our third grandchild, Parker Adele Tatum into the world.

Parker is the first child of my daughter Suzanne and her husband Bryant Tatum. She was born at 3:11 pm today, June 9, 2011.  She is 20 inches tall and weighed in at six pounds, 10 ounces. All of her grandparents and several other family members were there at East Georgia Medical Center to greet her. Her Uncle Daniel drove over from Birmingham arriving just in time to be one of the first visitors.

She was not an easy delivery. Suzanne had wanted to go through “natural childbirth”, but after spending all night Wednesday in the hospital and being in labor most of the day today, the pain got exhausting and unbearable and she reluctantly agreed to use epidural anesthesia. When I saw her after the delivery, she was tired and sore, but very, very happy. Bryant, the new father, seemed somewhat in a daze. He described the whole thing as the most amazing experience of his life, and he’s right.

Parker’s new doctor came in to check her out while we were there and announced that she is in fine health. After some prodding from me, she agreed that this is the most perfect baby she has ever examined.

Parker came into the world on a beautiful day in East Georgia. We’ve had some record-breaking heat over the past few weeks for this early in the summer, but it has gotten back to normal now with cool evening lows around 68 degrees and high temperatures around 90.

So what’s going on in this world that Parker’s been born into? Like her first cousins Stella and Pierce, Parker was born into tough economic times in our country. When Stella was born on August 22, 2008, I wrote that the economy was the worst I had seen in my lifetime. By the time Pierce showed up on November 11, 2009, I wrote that we were just beginning to see signs of recovery. Well, the recovery has been very slow. While we are technically no longer in a recession, unemployment is very high and there are no signs at all that housing prices are recovering. Too many people have lost jobs and houses. But Parker will be fine. Her parents both have good jobs, and she has about a million relatives hovering around that will always take good care of her.

Our country is still at war. Although we have gradually wound down our military presence in Iraq, we are still actively fighting in Afghanistan against terrorist groups. Let us hope for a more peaceful future for Parker.

Suzanne and Bryant will be great parents. I’m sure they’re both a little intimidated right now, but they will adjust quickly and do a fine job raising this beautiful little girl. And there is a huge crowd of us waiting to spoil her. So here’s to you Parker Adele. Welcome to the world. We love you already, and we’re looking forward to getting to know you better.

And just so you’ll have all the important news of the day, here’s a copy of today’s New York Times:

Major Progress in ending political gridlock

House leader Cantor believes Obama is a US citizen

From today’s NY Times online

Random Acts of Kindness

It’s Christmas eve morning and we woke up to find that we were out of coffee. So I took Scarlett (the Irish Setter shown below) to chase the ball in the park and stopped at Starbuck’s on the way home. In the drive-thru lane, I ordered two pounds of House Blend (close to $22) and waited my turn to reach the window.

When I got to the window, they handed me my bag and said “Merry Christmas”. I held out the money and she said, “Don’t worry about it. The guy in the car in front of you paid for yours.” Dumbfounded, I asked her who it was and she replied: “I don’t know. He just said to tell you Merry Christmas.”

It made my Christmas. I have no idea who it was and I don’t think he knew who I was either. However, I had been in line for several minutes and I had noticed the Alabama sticker on his rear window.

So I recommend that everyone commit some random act of kindness today. You will make someone else’s Christmas great.

Merry Christmas to everyone. And War Eagle.

Update on Friday, December 24, 2010 at 11:47AM by John Samford

Here’s a little better picture of our crazy redheaded dog:

Update on Friday, December 24, 2010 at 04:51PM by John Samford

The 2000 movie “Pay it Forward” was about a young boy’s charitable pyramid scheme where, if someone does a nice thing for you, you pay it forward rather than paying it back. Still thinking about my Starbuck’s experience this morning, I just went to the grocery to get Pampers for the grandkids. I was feeling bad for all of the people working there on Christmas Eve including the lady checking me out and the guy bagging groceries for her, so after I was checked out, I handed her $22 and told her to split it with the guy. They both just stared at me as if they couldn’t quite believe it. “Merry Christmas”, I said. So do something nice for someone random this Christmas and maybe we can start a movement.

Just had to make an entry at 10/10/10 10:10 a.m.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Treasure Seekers

Occasionally I receive emails via the blog from readers I didn’t know I had. Usually, they were doing some kind of internet search and ran across something in the blog that interested them. This week I heard from Captain Ray Hixon in St. Petersburg, Florida who is preparing for a trip to the Virgin Islands and was looking for advice on the best route down through the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and on to the east.

He included his contact information so I gave him a call to discuss his trip. I told him I was no expert but I was happy to discuss it with him. I quickly told him I would not use the route we used two weeks ago on Bailiwick if I was headed in the other direction. The trade winds blow steadily from the east at 15 to 20 knots and it’s not wise to run upwind against them in any kind of boat. I recommended he get hold of Bruce Van Sant’s excellent book “The Gentleman’s Guide to Passages South”. It describes a “Thornless Path to Windward” working one’s way down through the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and then along the coasts of Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Most interestingly, it describes a technique of using the night and early morning land breezes to work eastward along Dominican Republic without fighting the Trade Winds.

The more I talked with Captain Hixon, the more fascinated I became with his trip. It turns out he is moving a pirate ship to the islands to put into service taking tourists out for cruises. He was kind enough to send me this picture:

The boat is apparently some 80 feet long and runs on a single engine at six to eight knots, about the speed of Steel Magnolia. The ship has an eight to nine foot draft when full of fuel which will cause them to stay in open waters through much of the Bahamas, and to be careful choosing anchorges or fueling stops. Captain Hixon has three other people helping out on the trip, which he will need for what promises to be a long and sometimes arduous journey. Right now, they are waiting to see where Hurricane Igor will go before departing.

It turns out that this is not the first “Treasure Seeker” pirate ship that Captain Hixon has tried to move ot the Virgin Islands. I found an article from the St. Petersburg Times describing his harrowing adventure when the previous pirate ship sank on the same trip which you can read by clicking here.

I wish you a safe passage Captain. Please pass along updates so that we can follow your trip. And by all means, send more pictures.

Update on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 04:43PM by John Samford

More pictures of Treasure Seeker:

Update on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 12:42PM by John Samford

Amazing Coincidence. The comment I got to this article today reads as follows:

Morning John, it’s been much too long since I’ve contacted you. Have followed your blog, always hoping for more posts.

You can’t imagine how surprised I was/am at your latest post. The “TREASURE SEEKER” is the ex “C. G. RICHTER” a Washington Island ferry. She is ice strengthened and for many years was the only regular ferry running in the winter between Washington Island and the Door County Wisconsin mainland. The W.I. Ferry Line put her up for sale only after “ARNIE J. RICHTER”, their new ice breaking ferry, proved herself in service for a couple years. www.wisferry.com

Capt. Hixon contacted me to assist in moving the boat during the process of buying her, but ultimately with his own crew and a bit of advice from a number of sources he moved her himself, following STEEL MAGNOLIA’s route down the river system to the Gulf. I also do technical work for the ferry line on their computer systems and installed the web cams, which you can view on their site.

BTW, based on your photos, STEEL MAGNOLIA looks great, even before the yard work.

Hope all is well with you and yours. Fair winds and following seas.

Peter Jacobs is a captain in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin who helped me move Steel Magnolia across Lake Michigan when I first bought her in 2006. He saved my neck when the shaft coupling broke, leaving the shaft and prop disconnected from the engine. Through Peter’s own mechanical abilities and his contacts nearby, he was able to get new parts and install them to get us back underway quickly. See the blog entries for that trip here. I will be forever indebted, and it is good to hear from him about the history of Treasure Seeker.

It may not be clear

from the photo, but Steel Magnolia’s facelift appears to be going well. She should be ready for a public appearance within a couple of weeks.

Safely in Mobile

We arrived safely in Mobile right at noon today after about a 36-hour run from Marathon. Our record perfect weather for the entire trip was spoiled by thunderstorms and messy seas for about the last 75 miles, and we increased speed to get into Dog River in Mobile a little earlier than we had planned.

The last leg from Marathon was slightly spoiled by the fact that we never really got the new water pump working right, so we brushed teeth and flushed toilets from a jug of water. Showers, we went without for two days.

But all-in-all, it was a fabulous trip on a great boat with an outstanding crew. I always jump at a chance to travel with Alvin as I learn so much in the process, and David was equally talented and a joy to travel with. I hope they’ll invite me back.

Thanks for following our progress on the adventure.

Marathon, Florida

We started out the day getting a taxi to the airport to rent a car. From there, it was to Home Depot to get a replacement water pump, to West Marine to get some plumbing hose and fittings and to look for a lightbulb for one of our navigation lights (unsuccessfully). Then it was off on the 60-mile trip to Key West as we were required to make a personal appearance at Customs (ridiculous). Back on Marathon, we had lunch, shopped for some more groceries, and then Alvin and David went to work on the boat issues while I returned the rental car.

Right now, they’re closing in on finishing up the water pump and will then move on to replace the generator fan belt. My job is keeping the home crowd advised since I’m not as useful as they are in the engine room, and there’s not room for me down there anyway.

The plan is to get away from the dock in the next hour or two which should put us on a schedule to arrive in Mobile 48 hours later Sunday afternoon. I’ll keep clicking the little Spot Personal Locator as we seem to have a real following in Mobile, and Nashville, keeping track of our progress.

Update on Friday, August 27, 2010 at 06:13PM by John Samford

Ggot away at 1905 EDT with not anything really fixed. More on that later. We plan to run up the coast for awhile tonight to see how the weather is doing. More later.

At Sea for Three Days

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

1430 EDT

Latitude 20 Degrees 10.0 Minutes North

Longitude 71 Degrees 34.5 Minutes West

After fueling up at Puerto Plata and waiting for Customs and Navy officers to clear us to leave, we finally got away at about 9:45 am this morning. This will be our longest leg of the trip, some 640 nautical miles from Dominican Republic to Marathon, in the Florida Keys. If all goes well, we should be arriving in Marathon Thursday evening.

We have continued cruising west along the north coast of the Dominican Republic. Within the last hour, our course of around 300 degrees has begun to pull us further from land as the Island of Hispaniola dips more to the south. We have just passed the border with Haiti and will soon be entering the gap between Haiti and Cuba. Our next wapoint is just off the south tip of Great Inagua, technically a part of the Bahamas. From there, our course will keep us in deep water through the Old Bahama Channel which separates Cuba from the Bahama Bank. Further to the west, we will pass through Nicolas Channel separating Cuba from Cay Sal Bank and then turn north directly to the Florida Keys.

The weather has been fine as we continue to run downwind . This morning we had 10 to 15-knot winds and two-foot seas but now the wind has kicked up to around 20 knots in 4-foot swells with small whitecaps. The ride has been comfortable and the boat is performing beautifully. Captain Alvin has a laundry list of small repairs, always necessary when the boat has been out of the country for six months, but, for me, it is a beautiful boat with every luxury.

I hope there continues to be little to write about, always the sign of a good and uneventful trip. I’ll continue to make a few entries along the route, although none of this can be published until we are near the USA Thursday.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

0500 EDT

Latitude 21 degrees 08 minutes north

Longitude 74 degrees 28 minutes west

Just north of the east end of Cuba

I should not have mentioned that the trip was uneventful, as when I tried to brush my teeth last night there seemed to be no water pressure. The tank still appears to be pretty much full of water but somehow the pressure pump is not functioning. Captain Alvin plans to check it out more fully as we get some daylight and, knowing him, I suspect there are plenty of spare parts on board if something is needed.

Otherwise, the boat continues to run smoothly as we click off miles toward the Keys, and the weather has been nearly perfect. It is overcast this morning but seas are very calm and the ride is comfortable. We still appear to be on schedule to arrive Marathon tomorrow afternoon.

Wednesday August 25, 2010

1100 EDT

Well, Captain Alvin had no way to repair a burned-up pump and a saltwater washdown pump sitting next to it had already burned up in Dominican Republic. So we had a few problems. Showers, we could do without until tomorrow night. Washing dishes could also be postponed, or a bucket of seawater would work in a pinch. But water was also needed to flush the toilets, and that was a difficult one to deal with.

Despite a lack of parts, Alvin is never at a loss for ingenuity. So just after sunup this morning, he took a portable A.C. pump which he uses for moving oil or water around the engine room, and hooked it to the water tank. On the other end, he hooked a garden hose which runs out the engine room door to the back deck. When you’re ready for a shower, strip down on the aft deck, turn on the pump and get wet, turn off the pump and soap down, and then turn the pump back on to rinse off. Dishes will be done the same way on the aft deck or with a bucket of water in the sink. As for toilets, we have a gallon jug on the aft deck which you fill up with water, and pour into the toilet before using it and again while flushing. It’s perfect, and certainly livable for the remaining 30 hours to Marathon. There, Alvin plans to buy a new pump for the system and install it for the final leg to Mobile.

Voila! And thanks Alvin!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

1945 EDT

It’s hard to convey just how fortunate we have been with the weather and the boat. Our makeshift fresh water system has performed well all day. The weather has been perfect with very small swells from behind and no wind at all. We did have a generator fan belt failure this afternoon but we simply switched to the other generator and I’m sure Alvin will put a replacement belt on the generator in Marathon.

I’m fortunate to be helping out a great and very professional crew. My job is to take my turn at the wheel and perhaps wash some dishes after a meal. David is familiar with the boat and has worked often with Alvin and he’s a joy to be with. If he only knew how to catch us some fresh fish for dinner, we’d be in great shape.

We’re probably only about 20 or 22 hours from Marathon where we plan to spend the night docked, make the needed repairs, and get underway for the 500 mile trip to Mobile. We’re still on schedule to arrive at Dog River Marina sometime Sunday.

I’ve continued to ask my Spot Personal Locater to send out position reports every few hours. If it’s working, you can click “Follow the current trip” on the left side of this page to see where we are. I’ll report further in the morning.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

0915 EDT

Cuba is a very long island. We first crossed above its eastern tip around 0500 yesterday and we’re still cruising along its northern coast. At the moment, we are between Cuba and the shallow Cay Sal Bank which prevents us from turning more northerly on the straight line to Marathon. We are about 140 miles south of Marathon and should still be in there tonight, before dark if possible.

After dinner last night, I took a two-hour nap and then took the wheel from midnight until around 4:30 this morning. Went back to sleep for about four hours and just got up to find Alvin making toast and bacon. Life is good. We might have a few waves as we enter the gulf stream later this morning, but otherwise the entire trip has been remarkably calm.

1800 EDT

Made it safely into Marathon. Perfect trip and weather all around. I’m ready for a drink as Captain Alvin has been drying me out for days, followed by a good dinner and uninterrupted sleep. More later.

Along the North Coast of Dominican Republic

Monday Evening — Midnight

Upon my arrival at Punta Cana today just after noon, Alvin was there to meet me at the airport, but my luggage was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, it was on the next flight arriving around 2:30, and we had to be back at the airport to pick up David Dunnam, on the same flight. Alvin and I killed some time getting groceries and returned to the airport for David and my bag. We then drove to Cap Cana and, with barely a minute to look around, we checked out with customs and immediately headed out to sea, departing around 4 pm.

We started at the far east end of the island and ran a couple of hours north to round the bend and start heading west. We are running downwind with the trades at 10 knots and we’ve had 3 to 4 foot swells from the aft quarter with very little wind waves. The ride is fairly smooth with a bright almost full moon overhead. I’ve just come off duty to get some sleep and we should be arriving early in the morning. There we’ll refuel and begin the long run to Marathon, in the Florida Keys, where we should arrive Friday morning. Blog posts will be minimal this trip because we’ll have no internet access from tomorrow morning until Friday in the Keys. I’ll still be sending position reports which you can follow by clicking “Follow the Current Trip” on the left side of this page.

5:30 a.m. Tuesday

Awoke when the engines slowed for our arrival. We just pulled into Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata. Perhaps more later.

Dominican Republic

When my old friend Alvin Stacey asked me if I wanted to help out moving the boat he captains from the Dominican Republic to Mobile, Alabama, I jumped at the chance. I’ve known Alvin since the early 1990’s when he was working as a delivery captain and helped me make my first Gulf crossing from Orange Beach, Alabama across the Gulf of Mexico to Clearwater, Florida. Through the years he has helped me out with numerous trips and in 2000 he supervised the commissioning of a new boat for me in California and later brought it through the Panama Canal to turn over to me in the Bahamas.

It’s no understatement to say that everything I’ve learned about running a boat was either taught to me by Alvin, or learned the hard way from major screw-ups. To be invited to help out on this trip is quite an honor, and I’m looking forward to traveling with him again after many years.

So after some last minute schedule changes, I found myself at the Birmingham airport at 5:15 this morning checking in for a 6:15 flight to Miami with a further connection to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Alvin has worked for several years as full-time captain of a beautiful 70-foot Hatteras sport fishing boat named Bailiwick. He has been with the boat for several weeks fishing out of Cap Cana Marina on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic. I’ve just arrived and we plan to depart later this afternoon after our other crew member arrives.

While I’m excited about the adventure, this will not be your regular sightseeing trip. Bailiwick is capable of cruising at 26 knots, but the fuel consumption at that speed is outrageous and the boat’s range would only be just over 300 nautical miles. Since there are few fuel stops along our way, our plan is to mostly travel “bow down” at about 10 knots which should give us a range of more than 900 miles. While everything is subject to weather, our initial plan is to depart Cap Cana this afternoon and run approximately 18 hours along the north shore of Dominican Republic to Puerto Plata, where we will stop to refuel. From there, we set out to follow the north coast of Haiti and the north coast of Cuba and then angle up to Marathon, in the Florida Keys. I haven’t done any calculations, but Alvin tells me that this leg of the trip will take around 60 hours of constant running to cover the distance of some 600 nautical miles. From Marathon, if we take the direct route across the Gulf, we would travel another 500 miles in about 50 hours to Mobile, Alabama. All-in-all, we are talking about 128 hours underway to cover roughly 1,300 nautical miles. Whew!

So the sightseeing will mostly be open ocean, and I would expect we will drive the boat in shifts, usually 4 hours on and 8 hours off. Most ordinary mortals would never sign up for anything like this, but I find it to be an irresistible adventure. I can’t wait to get started.

As usual, I have to have a gadget to play with on a trip like this, so I’ve brought along my “Spot Personal Locator”. This little toy which is about the size of a deck of cards is capable of figuring out our position by GPS and transmitting it via satellite so that family members receive messages as to where I am and that all is well. It also can send out an SOS signal in an emergency which would summon the Coast Guard to our aid. So I’ve put a little link on the left side of this page called “See track of current trip” that you can click to follow my progress on a map. I plan to send an “I’m OK” message about twice a day throughout the trip. Other than those little satellite messages, I’ll only be able to update the blog when we are in a marina with internet access, perhaps only twice over the next week or so.

 Stay tuned for updates.

Up Pike's Peak in a Porsche -- Watch Full Screen

Click the symbol next to the word “Vimeo” to see full-screen.

Pikes Peak 2010 - Jeff Zwart Qualifying from Will Roegge on Vimeo.

In The Boatyard

At Thunderbolt Marine in Savannah, you always see beautiful boats having major work done. An example is Calixe:

Calixe is a 193-foot Feadship owned by Wendy McCaw, former wife of Craig McCaw of McCaw Cellular (sold to AT&T). Calixe is apparently a part of the divorce settlement that went to Wendy. It was listed recently as number 29 in the 100 largest American yachts. As I entered the boatyard, Calixe was being relaunched following completion of a beautiful paint job.

Another head-turner at Thunderbolt is Steel Magnolia:

I earlier said that I wouldn’t show any embarassing photos of Steel Magnolia before her face lift, but now that you’ve seen her bottom out of the water, here’s some of the rust we’ll be having fixed and painted:

And here’s a view of her rather large bottom which needs a little sprucing up:

Work has already begun removing rails, gates, windshield wipers, deck chairs, and anything else that would get in the way of a major paint job. Now that she’s out of the water, work will begin in earnest Monday and I’m hoping to have her out of the yard in four to six weeks. I’ll post some updates on our way to beautification

Getting a Facelift

I’ve never been too happy with Steel Magnolia’s paint job. She’s kind of built like a workboat, and you would expect her to be a little rough around the edges. But, along with a thousand other issues, the original paint job was just not done correctly. As a result, there are areas on the deck and house where paint is bubbling, peeling and cracking. And on the steel portions of the boat, there are some serious, but cosmetic, rust areas that need attention.

I’ve been wanting to deal with these issues for some time but I was told that the boatyard would be far more competitive in the summer, when business is light. So yesterday, I moved Steel Magnolia from The Ford Plantation into Savannah to the Thunderbolt Marine. She’s going to have a face lift!

I could show some pictures of the rust areas and peeling paint, but I don’t want to embarrass the lady. So I’ll just plan on showing the “after” pictures. She should be tied up there for four to six weeks, and then emerge looking all shiny and new.

Lucile Pierce Samford

When my first grandchild was born on August 22, 2008, I wrote a little journal entry because the Lovely Laura Lee told me her grandfather kept a daily journal and each grandchild could go back and read about the day they were born. So now that this is a tradition, herewith is the journal entry for today, November 10, 2009, the day my second grandchild was born.

Lucile Pierce Samford, second daughter of Daniel and Emily, was born this morning just after 10 am. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. She has a thick head of very dark hair and was born with very long fingernails which had to be filed down by her grandmothers Laura Lee and Charlene to prevent her from scratching her face. Best she get accustomed to regular manicures at a young age.

Lucille Pierce came into the world as Tropical Storm Ida came ashore on the Gulf coast drenching our area with heavy rain. As of tonight, areas in Birmingham have reported anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of rain over the last 24 hours. Creeks and rivers are flooded and the Mountain Brook Club golf course looks like a large lake. This rain is added to a very rainy fall with Birmingham receiving more than 5 feet of rain so far this year compared to an average of about 41 inches at this time of year.

Our economy is just beginning to show signs of recovery from a deep recession which began almost two years ago. Stella’s arrival and now Lucile’s have come among terrible economic times.

However, both of these beautiful children have been a welcome addition to the world, and a sign of hope for better days to come.

Welcome to the world Lucile. We look forward to watching you grow. And we hope the world will become a better place for you and your sister.

Mary Travers dies at 72

Some of the earliest music I ever remember listening to at home were my brother’s Peter Paul and Mary (and Kingston Trio) albums. Mary had the ability to take a raunchy sounding Dylan song and make it absolutely beautiful. Read about her from the NY Times here.

General John Samford

This was recorded when I was two years old.

A Very Nice Article About Birmingham

See the full page about Birmingham from today’s New York Times.

Simon and Garfunkel's take on the financial crisis

Sorry there have been no posts lately. There have been no boat trips and I guess we’ve just been sitting around all winter wondering what hit us. I am reminded of the words from “American Tune”:

And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it’s all right, it’s all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what’s gone wrong