Went to a party in the Hollywood hills, what more is there to say?
more LA
Los Angeles is fun, I have found it amusing, eclectic, crowded, wild and calm all at the same time.
Music is such an important part of Los Angeles, as is art, movies,and theatre, writing.
The fellow looking skyward is Dix Denning, guitarist for the Weirdos, often mislabeled originators of Punk, still today they are described to me as exactly that. If you read their official site, They decry the monicker.
907 MILES IN 24 HOURS
907 miles in 24 hours. Who would have imagined. Now they ( the crew aboard Banque Populaire) are seriously considering 1000 miles.
I think the real heros of this achievement are the weather routers, the French weather routers.
This record was part of the larger plan to break the record from New York to the Lizard.
Sea state played an important part of this achievement.
IRON MEN AND WOODEN SHIPS
If you look at these boats; the sail area, the size of the gear, and no winches to speak of. It really was a time of iron men and wooden ships. The boats needed a long course for a race because of the time involved in setting this much sail.
I had the good fortune to acquire a large collection of glass slides some years ago of these elegant Edwardian boats.
CASTOR & POLLUX ARE SERIOUSLY FOR SALE
These two wonderful one-third scale America’s Cup boats are listed for sale with Harry Morgan at Sparkman & Stephens.
Exact replicas of their big brothers,built entirely of carbon fiber, they move effortlessly through the water. Included are three masts, 6 suits of sails (3dl) all rigging, ready to go.
Harry : 516-551-6224
cross country at St. George’s school
For me, running was an acquired taste. I think it was the idea of mental determination that I found intriguing. It is something that is learned. I kept running until I was nearly 40. In college I was running nearly 10 miles a day; part of my regimen in preparation for sailing. Along with lifting weights, it served me well. Today I just cannot find the interest.
What strikes me most finding these photographs is how young I look. I really don’t remember ever being this young.
walking on the moon
Do you remember where you were when Apollo 11 landed on the moon? I was in the middle of the Ocean. BBC stayed on late, instead of signing off at midnight. We were all huddled around the Nav station listening to a crackling radio transmission.
PAPERS
In 1968 I sailed the Bermuda and Trans-Atlantic races. Finishing in Travemunde, Germany. My friend John Watson and I had the clever idea of selling our plane tickets, buying a car, touring Europe, selling the car at the end of the summer and buying tickets home. The problem was that the very second hand car we bought died within a few days.
Now we are stuck; with no money. The story has many twists and turns. We sold the car for junk, with difficulty; bought tickets to England , because my uncle who had been the ambassador to the court of St. James; had given me the name and address of some friends. Arriving in England, immigration was not sure they wanted us to enter the country, as we had no money, no visible means of support. I swallowed hard and called my uncle’s friends. We were immediately welcomed to their house on Hyde Park Corner. We stayed a few days, They very kindly loaned us money to get home.
This is when I decided that I would prepare for this eventuality by writing to all the shipping companies I could. There were quite a few and most of the owners had sailboats and raced them.
The Only one who responded favorably was Jakob Isbrandstsen. I did go through the process to get “papers” which I still carry, although never used.
This June at Block Island Race Week Jakob and his wife were honored at the members dinner of the Storm Trysail Club. I told him the story.
Saturday sailing
I awoke to thick damp fog and although the forecast was for it to clear and the wind to fill from the west; I was skeptical. The forecast was exactly right. I discovered why Lee likes sailing so much in Fishers Island Sound; the view.
