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September 28, 2009
Why I Love Canada - Reason #69
Posted by dave at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2009
The Only Constant is Change
I admit that my mouse has grown accustomed to knowing exactly where to stop in selecting the Category for our blog postings for the last 3.5 years. It naturally lands on "New York". It's like a magnet that guides me to its selection.
Soon, very soon, I will add a new Category for this site entitled "California". It may take me a while to change the magnetic draw of New York, but in time, this too shall change.
Chis and the company he works for decided that the best place for him to be is in the San Francisco Bay Area, closer to the global marketing group and its resources. And true, he needs a better balance of work and life. We all do, but Chis works investment banker hours, but doesn't get paid like an investment banker. Well, at least those who are lucky enough to still be employed.
And so it is that our lives will move again. Anybody who knows us well, will not be surprised by the news. In fact, my calendar suggests we are approximately 7 months overdue for a big change like this.
Prana, our darling sailboat that we have enjoyed immensely over the past two seasons, will be coming with us. To be true, she will arrive in Richmond, California before we do. She will be hauled from the water on October 19, prepped for shipping, then settled on a trailer for her 3,000 mile journey across the USA. I will be there to greet her when she arrives, look for a place to live, and find an office for me to open Goldfish Advisors, my new corporate finance advisory practice (an evolution from Catfish Capital Partners for those of you who knew me then).
Our condo in New York has been listed for sale since June, anticipating that this was coming. Sadly, the New York real estate market is still not moving, despite what the New York Times reports. The banks are still not lending. Last week, it was listed to rent. No sense selling into a falling market?
Chis and I have been working on a list of the 20 things we will miss about New York, and the 20 things we won't. It started out as the 10 things, and grew from there. I'm sure we will get to 30 or 40 or 50 before we are done, and it will probably be equally balanced. That's what New York is all about - for all of its excitement, energy, crowds, shopping, promenades, etc. there is the noise, chaos, honking, sirens, demanding people, and neurosis. Don't worry, we'll post our top 20 when we're done. In the meantime, thanks to those who came to visit, and we welcome you all to visit us in the Bay Area.
I'm so proud of Chis. He is my shadow. I am his. Home is where he is, and if that means New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto or the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we'll be there. Together.
Posted by dave at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2009
Anatoliy Zalevskiy - Eurovision 2005 - Kiev
This is impressive. It gives me new inspiration for my yoga practice. I can only now hold an arm balance called crow pose, and am making my way through a similar pose called side crow. My tripod headstand is pretty amazing, my handstand isn't too bad (even if I have to kick up into it and use the wall for support). And I'm really working hard on my forearm stand. Which means I kick a few times and fall on my face.
Posted by dave at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2009
Sweet Sailing Bliss
True to our passion for sailing, Chis and I have pushed the edge of the season once again this year. But it seems to be paying off with unbelievable wind conditions. Last year we sailed right through to the end of October. I doubt we’ll go that far this year because I can still feel the chill in my toes and see the breath in the air from one fine morning on anchor in Oyster Bay last fall. Brrrr.
Last Saturday, it was drizzling rain with very poor visibility. The hearty Canadians that we are, we donned our foul weather gear and headed over to Oyster Bay. The wind was blowing all of 2 knots in the marina, but once we were out of Stamford’s breakwater, we found east 12-15 knots of wind! As we were heading out the channel we saw a sailboat that had just exited the harbour, rolling around like a rubber duck in a washing machine. East winds build up quite a fetch in Long Island Sound, and this was no exception. We left a single reef in the main and pulled out the full genoa. We flew across the sound so fast. It was magical, even thought it was pretty rough. The visibility was awful, so we headed in and dropped the anchor. It rained all night, and by Sunday morning the clouds were breaking and the wind was diminishing.
In no hurry to motor back across the sound, we decided to have a leisurely morning. Around noon, the skies had cleared and we decided to head back. Once we were out of Oyster Bay’s inner harbour, the wind picked up out of the north to 12 knots! It was fantastic! We had an incredible sail back to Stamford. Two awesome days in a row. I can’t remember the last time we sailed both days on a weekend. Usually one day is windless, sometimes both.
This past Saturday, the forecast was for northwest 10-15 knots. Woohoo! We decided to make a longer journey out of it and head west to Port Jefferson. Well, we were bombing along under full sail. As the wind started to slacken, we decided to hoist our French colours genneker. Like a spinnaker but without the need for a pole. It was fantastic. We picked up about 3 knots of speed and continued to fire out the sound.
It was too good to last. Sunday we woke to very light northerly winds and beautiful sunshine. We motored back to Stamford as the wind dropped from 4 knots, to 3, to 2, then finally shifted to the southwest. A tedious trip, but well worth Saturday’s sail.
I wish I had taken photos, but I’m not sure that they would capture the exhilaration. Sailing often can only be explained in words, and even then, words often don’t do the experience justice. It was, without a doubt, two of the best weekends of sailing we have had in Long Island Sound.
Posted by dave at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2009
Port Jefferson, NY to Stamford, CT
Skeleton of an old pier
We were torn. Do we sail for Stamford and spend the night on the boat at the marina, or sail to Oyster Bay and anchor for the night, then hop across the sound to Stamford tomorrow. We decided to head for Stamford, giving us a day and a half in the city. We haven’t spend a lot of time in New York on the weekends since the spring, so we thought this would be fun. Plus, there was no wind in the forecast.
We motored for Stamford and arrived in time to watch a few of the boats finish the Vineyard Race. The race committee shortened the course because of the wind forecast. We gave Prana a good scrub.
----
This 10-day trip felt different for some reason. Maybe because it started out with the threat of a hurricane, which reminded me of the terror that weighed on us in the summer of 2005 sailing up the US East Coast, being chased out of marinas because of one hurricane after another. Maybe because it was more familiar to us, taking the element of surprise out of it. Maybe because the anticipation of the end of the sailing season clouded our ability to fully appreciate it. Whatever it was, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Nothing in the world is better than enjoying the love of my life, with the love of my life.
Posted by dave at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2009
Joshua Cove, CT to Port Jefferson, NY
Prana from the beach, Port Jefferson
Chis on the beach, Port Jefferson
We sailed out of the anchorage in Joshua Cove and headed across the sound to Port Jefferson on Long Island. It was a deep broad reach in light winds. Finally approaching the island the wind shifted to the southeast and picked up a bit, giving us a nice lift. We anchorage behind the bluffs, and hopped in the dinghy to walk the bluffs. We were joined by two other boats for the night.
Posted by dave at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2009
Montauk, NY to Westbrook, CT. Umm… Joshua Cove, CT
Full moon rising, Joshua Cove
We left Montauk very early to beat the tidal shift at Plum Gut. This time, our exit from Lake Montauk was at high tide. No heart palpitations. We set our course for the gut, and I made coffee and breakfast. In Block Island, there is a bakery that comes to your boat. He has the best sticky cinnamon buns. We picked up four when we were there, intending to give a couple to Emily and Huntley, but they didn’t want them. So we had them while we were sailing to Westbrook. We thought we would go back to the marina there, or anchor behind Duck Island if they didn’t have room for us.
The current at Plum Gut spat us through with a vengeance. We made such good time that we decided to make more westing by continuing to Joshua Cove, where we would anchor for the night.
We arrived to find one other boat there. They left shortly after we arrived. Was it something we said? A group of kayakers paddled by and said we should watch for them after sunset when they would paddle back. They were picnicking on the beach to celebrate the full moon.
This place, just east of the Thimble Islands, is a great place to be in a north or east wind. We came in here in the spring in an east 20 knot wind, horizontal rain and cold. It was a refuge, and one we cherished at the time. It was nice to be back, this time in settled weather.
It was magical, and a moment I have never seen before. As the sun set in the west, the moon rose exactly opposite in the east, and almost at exactly the same time. Shortly after, the kayakers breezed by. A bit like the dolphins in the middle of the Atlantic, angels of the sea.
Posted by dave at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2009
Block Island, RI to Montauk, NY
Work Boat off Montauk
Our neighbours in New York, Emily and Huntley, rented a house in Amagansett for the summer. We’ve tried a couple of times to rendezvous with them but the stars were not aligning. While anchored in Block Island, I called Emily to see if they were out island this week. In fact, they were! Lucky us. We agreed to call when we arrived in Montauk.
We left Block Island after breakfast. There was no wind, so we knew it would be a long and tedious trip. Montauk is the outer most point of Long Island’s south fork. The current ripping into Long Island Sound was incredible, stirring things up and making everything very lumpy – like a rubber duck in a washing machine.
We entered the channel to Lake Montauk around low tide, which was a little dangerous given that the lake is very shallow. We realized how shallow it was when we saw virtually no sailboats. We kept going, trying not to look at the depth sounder, which I had recently recalibrated to measure from the bottom of the keel rather than the water line. This meant that I saw a couple of times 2 to 3 feet of water under the keel, which made my heart race a little. At least it wasn’t set in metres! Then it would have read less than 1.0 and I would have had bricks in my shorts.
We made our way to the marina, tied up Prana (that sounds kinky) and checked in at the office. We had lunch on the veranda and scrubbed the boat. I called Emily and said we had arrived. They were heading out fishing and asked if we would like to join them. We agreed. They pulled up alongside us, had a look at the boat, then we hopped in their boat and went fishing. Chis caught a few bluefish, but they all went back – apparently not good eating.
We went to their home after fishing. Taylor, their one-year-old, was still awake when we got there, so we had a little play time. We helped Huntley get dinner together while Emily put Taylor to bed. Dinner was fabulous. They drove us back to the boat, where we quickly fell asleep in anticipation of another journey tomorrow.
Posted by dave at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)