http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss en-us rustyrice@mac.com RustyRice Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:43:07 -0700 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:43:24 -0700 iBlog 1.4.6 Capt Rusty Rice The Life of a Sailor, The Adventures of Capt. Rusty Wild Rice I am trying to join the world of blogging, so we will see how it goes.... I am trying to do this in a way that fits my lifestyle. I can do this right on my laptop at anytime and then post online on my own web page. So welcome and I will do my best to keep you up to date on all of my adventures. So check this site often I will be sure to add pictures here as well. Capt. Rusty Capt Rusty Rice rustyrice@mac.com The Life of a Sailor, The Adventures of Capt. Rusty Wild Rice Travel http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061013143333/index.html

I am trying out a new blog format. Since I am in the process of changing over my entire web site from homepage.mac site to a web.mac site using my new iWeb software, I thought I would see how iWeb’s blogging features work. You know can add comments to my blog, so please do. I also have a lot more creative options and it better integrates with the rest of my website. So use the new commenting feature and let me know what you think!

Capt. Rusty

New iWeb Blog

E-mail Me
My Home Page

]]> Fri, 13 Oct 2006 11:33:33 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061013143333/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061013123746/index.html Today we had another sail with the performers from King Richard’s Faire. I had been looking forward to this sail for a while since I had such a good time with them last time. I filmed a couple of movies while I was out with them, be sure to check them out on my new web page and blog.Ren Fair Sail Movies E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 12 Oct 2006 09:37:46 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061013123746/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061010010729/index.html You would be surprised what you will find when you google your own name. I of course found my own website right off the bat. I also found the Sloop Providence site pretty quickly and the Lady Washington site with one of my pictures. I found a blog from an former co-worker at Reachout Expeditions, Jenna Olwin who referenced me being in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Also another site citing my site as good for behind the scenes pictures and an article about my experience with the movie. I found another site that was photo clearing house and had a number of my pictures from my web site and blog! I don't know how I feel about that even though they gave me credit. I found a few pictures of myself on other peoples and organizations web sites as well. So "google" me some time. Or for even more fun, try "googling" yourself. ASTA Volunteer Dream Team - Kazu Nakayama (Japan), Nicole McLoughlin (Canada) and Rusty Rice (USA) UNDER THE WATCHFUL SUPERVISION of First Mate Rusty Rice, in the background, Cassandra Alonzo and classmates unfurled the 112-foot-tall ship’s mammoth sails. Jenna Olwin's Blog: A Light Inside: Pirates of the Caribbean II E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:07:29 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061010010729/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061009233152/index.html I am redoing my web site using my new iWeb software. Check out my new home page. The address has changed slightly. http://web.mac.com/captrustywildrice/ RustyE-mail Me My New Home Page ]]> Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:31:52 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061009233152/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061009213408/index.html Me teaching a young lady how to sail, Bo furling the inner jib, me out in the head rig. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 09 Oct 2006 18:34:08 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061009213408/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061008203112/index.html Over the last few days Captain Steve has been working with me more and I have been steeping up to get more training on the sloop underway and getting it on and off of the dock. Yesterday I took the Sloop off the dock for our afternoon charter sail (we went out in the morning to a breakfast at the Modern Dinner where I had a very tasty Belgian waffle covered in fruit), and was at the helm as we set sail and for the whole sail. Capt. Steve acted more like a mate during the sail. During the sail a little girl lost her baby hat overboard, so we decided to launch the yawl boat and go after it. Bo, went out, but was unable to find it since too much time had elapsed. We brought the boat back up along side, but we were getting waked so if was filling with water. Capt. Steve went to pump it out and was getting swamped, so had the painter cast off and he drifted away behind us. As he drifted away he yelled back "Rusty has the con!" he took his time pumping out the boat and then started it up, tooled around for a little bit and came back to the sloop where we hauled it back up into its davits. when we got back to the pier I put her back on the dock as well. It was to difficult because we had the wind blowing us off. Today was a different story however with the wind blowing us on. I had some difficulty,but Captain jumped in and helped me out. After the sail and after we got the boat put away for the night, those that didn't have watch took off. Bo had the watch, so warmed up some left overs for dinner. My friends Michael and Emily came down for a visit in the evening because they weren't too far away today for Michael's nieces birthday party. I am trying to get Michael and Emily to join the crew to replace Nichola since they have left Outward Bound and haven't lined anything up in South Carolina where they are moving yet. I showed them around the Sloop and we went into Providence to see water fire and get a drink. Water Fire is an event that Providence does a couple of weekends a month where they have these fires burning on platforms in the river and there are performers around during it as well. After Mike and Emily left, I went to find my former outward Bound roommate from last year Michael Farrell, who is professional fire performer. I found him and watched two of his performances and was able to shoot some footage for him. My former Outward Bound roomate Michael Kevin Farrell performing at Waterfire. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 08 Oct 2006 17:31:12 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061008203112/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061005200241/index.html The Continential Sloop Providence has an opening for a deckhand from next wednesday (October, 11) until mid November. One of our deckhands will be leaving us then and since we are already short handed we need to fill her position immediately. A volunteer is preferred, but I am sure that a meager salary with meals and lots of experience can be arranged. As the first mate, if you contact me, I will be sure to put a good word in for you and personally train you up to whatever level you need to be trained to do the job. There is also another possibility for a short movie gig in early November. Contact me directly if interested, see the Sloop Providence Website for more info or contact Capt. Steve Brown. Sloop Providence Website (http://www.sloopprovidenceri.org) E-mail Capt. Steve Brown(steve_sloopprovidenceri@cox.net) E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:02:41 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061005200241/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061004225744/index.html I am starting to try out the new iWeb software that came with my computer. Here is a new page that I have added to my web site, be sure to check it out. Let me know what you think! I eventually will convert my whole website and maybe even my blog to this format. About Capt. Rusty E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 04 Oct 2006 19:57:44 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061004225744/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061003152119/index.html Today being another day off Bo and I decided to venture up the Providence River in our yawl boat. I was tired yesterday so I had gone to be early, which made it easy to get up at a reasonable hour this morning. Capt. Steve, left yesterday afternoon after our morning sail to take some time with his family. So that left me to supervise the work for the afternoon. We got a lot done, and didn't have time to start any new projects, so I ended the day a little bit early. That is something the crew will not get used to for sure. Jocelyn had watch today, and I know she did a little bit of work,so that should all balance out. Liberty Clipper was splashed yesterday, so she came over and tied up on the same pier as us to work on some maintenance projects before she heads south for the winter at the end of the week. Josh Corpel who sailed with me on the Niagara as an OS, and who I bumped into the last time that I was on the Sloop when we were down in Key West is their Bosun and just got back to the ship. He was telling me that he will be Captain of the Liberty for the winter. Bo and I rose this morning, not early, but at a reasonable hour and got some things together for our planned yawl boat trip, throwing them into my dry box. We made a bag lunch since we are both fairly broke or at least trying to be conservative in our spending until pay day. We launched the boat and then up the river we went. I was a bit of a motor hog and held the helm the entire way. It was a lot shallower than expected and we had to have the engine in shallow drive most of the way once we pasted the hurricane gate. It was better on the way back because it was a flooding tide. I was checking it out as a possible pulling boat destination as well as our own exploration. It seemed too shallow and would have to be done with a high tide and soundings all the way. I thing the water fire platforms would get in the way of oars for the sections of the river that they are in as well. We went all the way up to where the Providence Place Mall is and then tide up to a dock at water place and secured it with a cable and a lock. I don't think that anyone bothered with the boat either. Bo left his backpack sitting in it and no one messed with it. We hit the mall. I just checked out the Apple store and the Borders book store while Bo checked out the rest of it and got a passport picture taken. We then had our bag lunch and I rested/waited on the boat as Bo went back to get his pictures. We tried to go up the river passed the mall for a little bit, but the water got too shallow and their was lots of debris on the bottom and we didn't want to hit anything so we worked our way back to the mother ship. We took a little "tunnel" on the way back for fun and found that is where they store the boats that they use for water fire. I took lots of pictures of course and it was an enjoyable expedition. We got back to the Sloop, left the boat secured to the side in case we want to use it latter and put all of our things away. Bo went to his rack to watch Stargate and me to mine to work on my blog and watch some Cowboy Beebop. I think I may watch the special features to V is for Vendetta latter or maybe something else. Tomorrow is another workday under my supervision until the Captain gets back for our sail on Thursday. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:21:19 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061003152119/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061001223833/index.html I had the day off today, so after sleeping in, (Bo gave me breakfast in bed) I went out and about. It was a rainy day, so the sail was canceled and the work that was being done, was done under cover. I took a casual walk, my first stop being at the Russian Submarine Museum. They are right near us and I have been wanting to check it out. I was able to get a "courtesy tour" since I am a crew member on the Sloop Providence. It was like every other Russian Submarine that I have seen, but neat. I picked up a bumper sticker from it on my way out to start decorating my sea chest. I walked a little way down this river walk, but part of it was closed off due to some new highway construction. There were some artifacts from when it was a collier dock for the power station. I got back on the walk closer to down town and learned about how they reclaimed the land around the river and covered it with the "world's widest bridge" and then rerouted the highway to open the banks back up to the public and make it more of an attraction. They are still working on parts of that now. By the time that I got close to the mall Bo was starting to message me, because they were done with their work day and we had talked about seeing a movie. So I didn't get to walk around the Mall much before I was joined by Capt. Steve and Bo. I had to change out of my foulies since I was getting warm in them and it was raining when I left the Sloop. After I found out movie times I stuck my head into Hot Topic since they have the tendency to have Pirates of the Caribbean Items. I picked up a POC cloth patch and a sticker for my sea chest, then met Capt. Steve and Bo in the food court. We grabbed dinner at Smokey Bones and then went to see the movie The Guardian. I ordered some of their famous donuts with my burger and we had a nice waitress named Patty, who was a cheer leader and now attends a local university and is studying to be a pastry chef. It is funny, but I met someone else recently who attended the same school and it is right around the corner from us. I left her the home page for the sloop and for my web site, so hopefully she drops some pastries by. I enjoyed the movie, it was about a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. It was the Coast Guard connection that made me want to see it. Bo, thought it was a little too "cliche". E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2006 19:38:33 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20061001223833/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060929155538/index.html Sorry for those of you that are avid readers of my Blog. I have been down for a couple of weeks. .Mac who I use as the most for my web site includes a certain amount a storage space. With that amount of storage you are also limited to the amount of data you are allowed to transfer. I exceeded my transfer rate so my web site was shut down for a two week period. I will try to upgrade my memory to prevent this from happening again. Thank you for your patience. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 01 Oct 2006 12:55:38 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060929155538/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060930002858/index.html Today was our day off for the whole crew. Bo and I pretty much had the Sloop to ourselves. It was nice I slept in late, answered some e-mail an did some blogging. I didn't eat much all day. The cook from the Liberty Clipper came over and invited us over for dinner. When Nicola got back from her day off Bo and I took them up on their offer. Laura their cook and I have met on a couple of occasions before. First we met in Muskegon Michigan in 2003 when I was there with ASTA for the Tall Ships Challenge. She was on Inland Seas and joined me when I joined a Chanty Singer when he asked people from the audience to come up and sing a chanty. Her crew did the response for me as I sang Paddy Lay Back to a crowd of thousands, well hundreds at least. I saw one of the crowd latter at the airport when I left to fly back. Anyway we met again the summer of 2004 when I was AB/ Coxswain/ Medical Officer on the Brig Niagara. We had sailed into Suttons Bay and anchored for a night or two. I brought the Captain in on the cutter and she was there with Inland Seas still. That was her home port. She made us scones. I knew I recognized her as soon as I saw her. She recognized me when I mentioned my name. Small world. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:28:58 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060930002858/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060929141551/index.html I thought that I would add something a little new and different to my blog and web site. T-mobile has this site set up where I can send photos right from my phone to a picture web site. So I will play with it a little bit and see how it works out. Take a look over the next few weeks and let me know what you think. RustyT-Mobile Pictures- http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/CaptRusty E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:15:51 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060929141551/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060929121014/index.html Jocelyn the cook and Capt. Steve.This evening we had an interesting evening sail. Today was mostly a work day. Nicola had the day off, so it was an enjoyable day as well. This week other than an educational sail on Tuesday has mostly been maintenance projects. Tuesday afternoon I had taken off the water pump on the generator so that it could be rebuilt and then I unmounted and disconnected the macerator (head pump) so it could be worked on as well. Wednesday the Captain had off so I organized the work projects for the day. After Chores we worked on raising out topsail yard a little higher, re-leading the lifts and leveling the yard. That is one of the projects I wanted to get done. I then had everyone do various little projects that they had been working on and I disassembled the macerator to see what was clogging it and then clear the clog. Now I can truly say that I have dealt with everyone's shit. Jocelyn the cook and Nicola snuck away in the afternoon to do some grocery shopping as Bo and I jumped in on scraping and sanding the forward trunk to get it ready for painting. In the evenings I have gone back to working my way through my Cowboy Beebop dvd's since they are short episodes and a nice relaxing way to end the day. So, Thursday was pretty much a continuation of Wednesday until we had to get ready for our evening sail. It was just Bo, Jocelyn, Captain and I for chores. We went over the leads on the lifts and then jumped into various projects. I read over the directions from the rebuild kit for the water pump on the generator and then left it for the Captain to do because we needed a special tool, and he had stepped off for a minute to bring Nicola to the train station and meet with Rob. I went ahead and remounted the macerator, because I had some trouble mounting it the day before. We just need to test it now. We need to be underway three miles out to do that, since it will mean pumping our black water (waste) overboard. Captain came back and rebuilt the pump as I did that, and then I cleaned all the rust and salt off below and around the generator as the Captain did that. When the rebuild was done, I remounted the pump on the generator and connected all of the necessary hoses. It took us a couple of trial runs to get everything adjusted to that it would work right, but now we are good to go. We had a late but large lunch because of our evening sail, and thus we ended up not having dinner, though I am not sure if that was part of the plan or not. After lunch our time was spent mostly wrapping up the work on the generator, cleaning up from our various projects in the morning and then getting the Sloop ready for our evening sail. ie: cleaning up, putting things away, removing chafe gear, loosing sails, getting the ramp set, and putting on our uniforms, or in my case period clothing. Our sail was scheduled or I should say rescheduled to be between five and seven. We could tell when time was getting close, as people dressed in funny cloths began to show up in the parking lot and on the pier. The group was a group of performers from King Richard's Faire, which Bo and I had attended a couple weekends ago with some free passes we got from this group. We actually got even more passes when they came sailing, so if anyone would like to go to the Faire with me/us, let me know. They were a great group to sail with and we have another sail with them in a couple of weeks a different group of specific people because we couldn't fit them all on one trip. Their organizer McNiff, who I have met on myspace worked with them really well and laid down the ground rules, for us, no drinking until after the sails were set and the shooting was done (yes there was plenty of black powder shooting), and listen to the directions of the crew. After the sails were all set there was lots of singing to fill the evening. They were a Renaissance group, but their singing spanned beyond that to some sea chanties, drinking songs and some done right bawdy songs. I knew a lot of them, so I was sure to join right in. I really liked a lot of their costumes. Some were accurate to sailors and the period I like to represent, so I was sure to get some pictures to develop some more ideas for my clothing as well. We were heading right into the wind most of the way, after we got to our mid point down the Providence River, we turned around and were able to sail back for a ways. Everyone seemed to really appreciate that. After our ware to come back we also formed our gun crew with McNiff joining us to help out and fired the our starboard side forward three pounder. I fired as it has become my job on the gun crew as well as the gun captain most of the time. After we fired the deck gun, McNiff brought a bunch of black powder firearms with him and was allowing people to fire them. I didn't go at first since there was lots of interest and I did fire our three pounder. Latter as he was wrapping up there was less interest, so I got to fire a brown bess musket, which was fun. I was impressed with the way he ran things, even though he was only firing powder charges, he was very organized and ran a safe line. Capt. Steve said that is why he allows him to come and bring his guns and power with him. When we got tied up at the pier after the sail it was after dark. They sang at least one song before they left which cut into our furling time and putting the ship to bed, but still I enjoyed having them on board. They left us some Caribbean Rum and beers which we enjoyed after they left and then Capt and I watched a couple episodes of Firefly. Why is the rum not gone? Getting Ready to fire a Brown Bess Musket. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:10:14 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060929121014/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060927201301/index.html E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:13:01 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060927201301/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060927223236/index.html Picture at right: Bo hiding during dock side tours.Greenport, Long Island, NY was a fun, but busy port. Saturday and Sunday we were open for dock side tours. Something I had not done before on board the Sloop Providence. We had quite a few people pass over our deck and purchase merchandise from our store. Sunday I organized a rotation schedule to make thing go a little smoother and we had the help of three of Jocelyn's and Jon's friends who were onboard visiting. I was able to sneak away once each day to get a funnel cake, one of the simple pleasures at such festivals. While out and about on Saturday night talking on the phone with my parents, I found an ice cream place that had something new that I had not experienced before, a Twinky sunday. It was very good, I had mine with chocolate moose tracks ice cream and hot fudge. I almost went back for another on Sunday, but we had a very filling meal that night. We had a two hour sail on Saturday which was very enjoyable with some very interested and helpful public. We had one scheduled for Sunday as well, but there was not enough interest and the weather report was threatening, though turned out not to be so bad. Someone was selling used dvd's on the street so I picked up a copy of Desperado to complement my dvd of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. That was my entertainment for Sunday evening after watching the special features from Once Upon a Time in Mexico. We had a wonderful sail back from Greenport on Sunday. We made good time, sailed a good portion of it and set full sail. I have included some nice pictures of that in the following blog entry. It was interesting to be up aloft furling the topsail witch such a good heal, and then out in the head rig furling with a good wind, but it was nice to get in to the dock (I was at the helm for this as the Captain guided me on how to come in at our home dock) , get tied up and be done rather than have to go out and furl. Jocelyn's friends left a couple nights latter. They drank a lot, so it was nice to have some peace and quiet after they left. On watch en route back to Providence. Bo and RustyE-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:32:36 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060927223236/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060923003030/index.html I have added a new photo album to my web site. My favorite people . If you are not on it and think that you should be, I must not have a good picture of you! Also I am limited to the number of pictures I can put up, so watch for a second album of favorite people sometime in the future.Rusty My Photo Albums E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 22 Sep 2006 21:30:30 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060923003030/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060922214630/index.html Today we rose early for our transit to Greenport, Long Island, NY. We basically just had to warm up the engine, untie from the dock and get underway since we got everything ready and secure yesterday. Captain told me to get underway when I was ready, and didn't even come up on deck from the galley, he just let me take the con/ helm, call it and get the sloop off the dock and underway. I did fine. We set just the main for stability since we were heading mostly into the wind all day, though it wasn't too strong. I made a watch schedule of three hour watches, watch on watch including our guests who are friends of Jocelyn and Jon (who is home in St. Louis recovering still). It worked well and we made good time getting to Greenport arriving in the early afternoon. I was on hand to splat onto the dock as we came in, but it was further than I was comfortable with, so I didn't go. Paul one of our guests, jumped onto the dock from the stern when it had swung in close enough. He cut his toe since he had just choco sandals on. It was a decent avulsion, so I cleaned and dressed it, and sent him off to the hospital. I thought that he might have to get stitches, but he didn't. We did our chores, got our shore power figured out, set up our ramp and settled in. Once we mustered and stood down, I took a nap before dinner. We had a fine dinner of pork tenderloin and then Capt, Bo and I went over to check out a very nice three masted Schooner with a British flag that just came in to dock. There was a cocktail reception for the maritime festival, but we didn't go because there was a $2.00 cover charge. We went back to the Sloop, and everyone jumped into listening to loud music, playing cards and drinking. I stayed out of all the festivities and helped the captain mount a new light at the nav station and then got online and worked on my website and did some things online. Three Masted Schooner Adix. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:46:30 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060922214630/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060922214423/index.html This week we spent a few days in the small town of Jamestown, RI, just across from Newport, RI. Monday morning we rose early, had breakfast underway and worked our way through the fog to Jametown, RI. It was a short transit, only about three hours, we didn't set any sail. Since it was a short sail, we were all hands all the way working on various projects. We allowed Nichola to work on making a knife sheath since she didn't have one and had been showing up to work with out her rig (knife and spike). I took the helm most of the way. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings we had educational sails with a group of sixth graders. Each group was broken into three watches and went through three stations. I taught "Life of a Sailor" in the great cabin. We also had the students set and strike sail. It was a quick three hour sail. They seemed to have a good time and asked lots of good questions. Wednesday Captain, started having me take the Sloop off of the dock and docking her again when we got back in as well as having the helm during the set and strike. The first time he talked me through it. The second time, he was comfortable with me docking, that he "splatted", swung ashore on our yard tackle to catch our dock lines. So He was not even on board when I docked and it was all me at the helm, throttle, and calling for what lines that I wanted sent when. In the afternoon after our ed sails and lunch we did our chores and worked on various projects like tuning the topmast shrouds. Wednesday night we had a charter with a software group called Abacus I ended up singing some chanties for them at their request. Thursday was a work day, so we spent the whole day tuning the rigging, since it was getting a bit loose and we got the ship stowed and ready for our Friday transit to Greenport, Long Island, New York. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 21 Sep 2006 18:44:23 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060922214423/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060917221658/index.html I just added a slew of movies to my web site. Be sure to check them out. They take a while to load, so be patient. My Movies E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:16:58 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060917221658/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060917173446/index.html Rusty and Alex IglesiaToday my friend and self defense instructor Alex Iglesia came down with his partner Beth, her son and another student from the class he used to teach, Perdine to sail with us. I hadn't seen Alex or Beth in a while, so it was good to see them and get caught up. I need to find a way to get some training in soon too! There wasn't much wind, so we just kind of bobbed along and motored in ideal a little bit. Captain Steve pointed out a Russian Submarine that is close to us. It is in pretty bad shape so I said "It doesn't look like it is Russian anywhere Captain!" We didn't have another sail until 1700 hours, so after lunch we worked on getting some projects done. I replaced the head pump that I had worked on before because it was still giving us some trouble. We ended up not having a sail, so we furled the head sails before wrapping things up for the day. I did the outer jib all by myself and I am becoming better and better at my head sail furls. Before we finished for the day I had a little time to talk with the Captain. I wanted to run some changes by him before I implemented him. Basicly I want to run a tighter ship. We will now have musters at the begining and ending of each work day, everyone works until all the work is done and we muster and then are stood down at the end of the day, no talking on your cell phone during work hours, and everyone shows up ready to work with their knife and spike. Most everyone likes the tighter ship, I can tell one has issues with it. They will have to get it together or not and find something else I suppose. I took part of the watch tonight and then slipped off to Starbucks to use the wireless to work on my web site and update my upload my blog. Tomorrow we motor to Jamestown, RI. Kibuku and Will Davies called me while I was on watch it was good t catch up with them on things at the island. Natasha gave me a buzz tonight and may come down to see the ship with her brother and his wife tomorrow. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 17 Sep 2006 14:34:46 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060917173446/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916232502/index.html PRESS RELEASEContact: Kathleen McQuillan-Hofmann, Communications DirectorProvidence Maritime Heritage Foundation408 Broadway, Providence, RI 02909kathleen_sloopprovidenceri@cox.netPhone: (401) 274-7447FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 11, 2006CONTINENTAL SLOOP PROVIDENCE will offer Public sailsout of Providence, RI in September and October.Providence , RI – September 11, 2006 : Rhode Island's state flagship, the Continental Sloop Providence, will offer public sails out of Providence Piers in Providence, Rhode Island in September and October. Date and times are as follows:Saturday, September 16 5:00 – 7:00 PMSunday, September 17 10:30 – 12:30 PM and 5:00 – 7:00 PMSunday, October 1 1:00 – 3:00 PMSunday, October 8 1:00 – 3:00 PMMonday, October 9 (Columbus Day) 1:00 – 3:00 PMSunday, October 15 1:00 – 3:00 PMCost is $25.00 per person, children age 6 – 14 $15.00 per person (for safety reasons, children age 5 and under can not sail aboard the Providence.) Reservations are recommended but walk-ons are welcomed, space permitting. Call 401-274-7447 or visit www.sloopprovidenceri.org for more information.The Sloop Providence is a 110' traditionally rigged sailing vessel that is a faithful replica of Revolutionary War hero Captain John Paul Jones' first command. She was built in 1976 for this nation's bicentennial. The Providence appears in the current "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" as various vessels, including a merchant ship that is destroyed by a sea monster, the Kraken. ### E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:25:02 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916232502/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916232339/index.html Come see us and Sail with us in Greenport!PRESS RELEASEContact: Kathleen McQuillan-Hofmann Communications DirectorProvidence Maritime Heritage Foundation408 Broadway, Providence, RI 02909Email: kathleen_sloopprovidenceri@cox.netPhone: (401) 274-7447FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 13, 2006CONTINENTAL SLOOP PROVIDENCE will offer Public sails at the MARitime Festival in Greenport, NY.Providence, RI – september 13, 2006: Rhode Island’s state flagship, the Continental Sloop Providence, will offer public sails during the Maritime Festival in Greenport, NY on Saturday, September 23 and Sunday September 24. Sail times, both days, will be from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Prior to the sails, the Continental Sloop Providence will be open for dockside tours. Cost is for the sails are $25.00 per person, children age 6 – 12 15.00 per person (for safety reasons, children age 5 and under can not sail aboard the Providence.) Reservations are recommended but walk-ons are welcomed, space permitting. Call 401-274-7447 or visit www.sloopprovidenceri.org for more information.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:23:39 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916232339/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916223327/index.html After our training for the educational programs we will be doing this fall, I decided to change the name of my blog to "The Life of a Sailor, The Adventures of Capt. Rusty Wild Rice" We each were assigned topics, that we are to become experts in for the four stations we will be offering to the school groups that will be coming onboard this fall. The station that I will teach is called "Life of A Sailor". At that station, which will be taught in the great cabin, I will answer questions that students have about what living on board ship is like, both for the modern crew of the Sloop Providence and the revolutionary crew of the Sloop. The teacher of this topic also is encouraged to dress up as an 18th century sailor and to teach the students a chanty. So I was the obvious and unanimous choice to teach this topic. I am very excited about putting it together. Capt. Rusty on the Marshall Dodge, by the fisherman's memorial in Gloucester, MA. during an OBEE course during the summer of 2005. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 16 Sep 2006 19:33:27 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916223327/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916215218/index.html Two Sexy Sea Dogs at the Faire! Yesterday at the end of our work day, our executive director Rob Hoffman came by with some complimentary tickets for King Richard's Faire. They were a partial compensation for a group from the faire that we will be taking out latter in the fall. Capt. Steve he said he would take watch for us and let us use his car to be able to go. Bo and I were right on it, but Jocelyn and Nichola opted to go to the Newport boat show instead. That was disappointing since we were given the day to be able to do it, the tickets were provided, and Capt. took the watch. It would have been a good crew bonding day away from the Sloop. Instead it separated the men from the women on board. Bo and I went up to Carver, MA anyway to check it out. We got a reasonable start in the morning and it seemed like we got to the Faire not too long after it had opened. I went to the Faire last year with Jill, so gave her a call to see if she wanted to go again, since she had called me the night before about coming down to help out on the Sloop. Bo and I did the once around the Faire when we got there to see what there was and to check out what we really wanted to see. I was looking for the place that I had purchased my belt pouch from because I needed to get a new rivet on part of the clasp that holds it shut. That vender was not there this year. My first purchase of the day was a leather mask, that I had checked out last year. So know I can be Zorro, the Dread Pirate Roberts, or whatever other masked man I want to be for Holloween, or whenever! :-) Modeling a new mask, cape and belt pouch. Enough damage for one day at the faire!Bo was hungry so we grabbed a bite to eat. He went for the Chinese and I went for the traditional turkey leg (and a Mt. Dew). The way that then do food here is a bit of a scam. You have to buy tickets that are worth $.50 each, and you can only by them in groups of ten. I ended up with only one left over from what I bought I think Bo still had seven or eight left over that I think he will keep for next time since we have more more complementary passes that we can use. We checked out the mud show, which is a popular one. It has a lot of jokes that were "cleverly crafted to go over the heads of the children in the audience." Bo went off to check out the jousting and I went to buy a new belt pouch and have my old one repaired, which was done for free, I thought that was a nice jester. It was hot, out, so we grabbed another drink when we rejoined each other. Bo made a new friend at the faire. She was trying to get him to try one of the carnival type games that they have there. She told him if he didn't she would pout all day long. Sure enough every time we passed by her event she gave him the pouty lips. I have to say he was strong though and didn't give in. She actually works a few of the faire's and even lives on the premise.Before departing I bought one last item, a wool cape with a hood. It will fit nicely over my wool blanket shirt for those cold fall night watches. It also has lanolin in it so, it is naturally waterproof. We decided to leave the faire shortly after that before I spent more money. We also had to be ready to go in case people actually signed up for our 1700 sail, which no one did. On the way back we made a couple of stops. One to a T- Mobile store so that I could pay my cell phone bill and to a grochery store so I could western union in a payment for another bill (I was going to just get a money order, but western union made it even easier). I have only two more one time bills and then my cell phone will be my only bill each month. Yea! We got back to the Sloop so Steve could use his car to get home to do some work at his house and settled in for the rest of the evening. I organized my rack and worked on my blog a bit. Beneath the hood reveals the man in the mask. Zorro? The Dread Pirate Roberts? Who can it be?E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:52:18 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916215218/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916220835/index.html OBEE Student Alex.This weekend I had the very pleasant surprise of getting an e-mail from an Outward Bound student of mine from not this past summer, but the summer before. It doesn't happen that often that you get such a meaningful message from a student. It is because of students like Alex that I do it. I have copied both of the e-mails that I got from her below for you all to enjoy. Especially for those of you in the field. _________________________________________________________________Subj: hey! Date: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 5:04:40 PMFrom: ***********@hotmail.comTo: rustywildrice@aol.comI don't know if you remember me, but I was on the Marshall Dodge LAST year,04-05.I was looking at Pirates of the Carribean stuff, and I remembered youand went to see if you were still around.Basically, I stumbled upon your siteand was delightfully surprised to find your email.how IS everything??I know, long time no see... it's been over a year now,and I miss the Dodge & the ocean more then ANYTHING.so much has happened since last year's end-of-summer.I just wanted to check up and see how you were.You probably don't remember me at ALL,but I remember everything... it's changed my life SO muchI can't even begin to tell you.email me back if you remember me!-Alex_________________________________________________________________Subj: Re: hey! Date: Saturday, September 16, 2006 7:16:05 PMFrom: ***********@hotmail.comTo: RustyWildRice@aol.comI don't even know where to begin..Captain Rusty no longer on the Marshall Dodge? It's like a day withoutsunshine!That's so depressing, though I'm glad the Dodge got spiffied up before youleft.How were the 2006 kids? As good as us?(most likely not. :-P)Aimee saw the blog and your pictures and was totally remembering seeing youin the scene(s).That is so unbelievably cool! I can't believe your in a movie as famous asPotC2.I loved it, by the way.And I remembered that hat scene you showed us before, and Kiera with shorthair...it all made sense, and then I thought of you and the boat and I got awfullysad.I can't remember, but did I mention we went to Gloucester?I went to the memorial of the guy with the beard... it wasn't the same onland.How is Emily, by the way? I don't have her email or anythingbut I remember &miss her as much as the boat.her advice is very much missed.I guess gushing about OBEE is nothing new to youbut it wasn't just the course...it was how we made it throughtogetherand became a family(though I haven't talked to anyone elsein almost a year. ironic, right?)Ah, well, lots of stuff has happened since the Dodge, but that's life.I wanna send a picture of me NOW, because I don't look half as horrible as Iused to.I don't know which one will work, so bare with me.-Alex_________________________________________________________________ The Flag and "Full Value Contract" for the crew of the Marshall Dodge OBEE 34-A.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 15 Sep 2006 19:08:35 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916220835/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916220735/index.html My SpaceE-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 15 Sep 2006 19:07:35 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916220735/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916214928/index.html Thursday was another opportunity for me to get some time on the silver screen. We had a group from Boston productions come on board to film a documentary to be shown at the Fort Montgomery Visitors Center near New Paltz, New York. I had met with two of the film people the day before to find out what they needed from us to get the Sloop to look the way that they wanted it to look. I wore my period clothing and had to lend some to Bo in case we ever ended up on camera shot. We first helped the film people all of their gear and props onto the ship and showed them where they could and couldn't put things. And once we had everything, we got underway. We went down river about and hour to a place more rural where there wouldn't be houses and such in the background. They shot a couple of scenes on deck and then they wanted to get some shots of use underway, so Capt got into the yawl boat with the camera man and left me on the Sloop with the con and in command. So I was the Captain of the Sloop Providence for about an hour. It was pretty simple, getting the ship to where they wanted us, shutting down the engine and sailing along. I was still a little nervous we were close to land, but there was good water right up to the shore of the island that we were off of. It started raining near the end of the shooting, so we headed back to Providence. Back at the dock we got a late lunch that they had catered for us, and then they filmed a scene in the aft cabin, which they converted to look like a hold for prisoners. When they were doing that we got sail furled and tried to get as much done as we could before they left. Bo at the helm. When they finished, we helped them off load there things and then stood down for the night. Capt. Steve went back to his house with the girls to get it cleaned up from his tennents, Bo and I stayed on the Sloop. I made a couple of phone calls (to Brock Greenlaw and Erin Gutbrod) to get caught up with some friends, then watched the final episode of ALIAS and went to bed early since I hadn't been feeling well. I had a bit of a cough that everyone had been getting on my case about, so I wanted to get rested up. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:49:28 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916214928/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060917181525/index.html On Wednesday evening, my time finally came to be sworn into the USCG Auxiliary. I got cleaned up while everyone was getting drug tested and then helped the Captain move some hatch grates to get ready for the filming the following day. I had already thrown on my USCG duty uniform, since it is the only uniform that I have so far. Capt, Bo and I then drove up to Boston, for a guys night out. We made a quick stop at a bank so I could cash my pay check and then off we went. We got to the USCG base in Boston with some time to spare and I introduce Bo and Capt. Steve to my fellow auxiliarists. They fit in really well and made some good contacts. The flotilla is even talking about coming down to the Providence for a day and maybe sailing with us. Near the close of the meeting I got sworn in as an official member of the USCG Auxiliary. My paperwork had finally all gone through and I had my number at the beginning of the summer and most of the rest of my documents by the end. Since we don't meet over the summer this was the first opportunity to get sworn in. After the meeting, Capt. Steve, Bo and I found a brew pub to grab a late dinner and then walked into the North End to grab some desert. It was Bo's first visit to Boston, so we had to show him around a little bit. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:15:25 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060917181525/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916212135/index.html After resting and waiting out the weather on Monday, Tuesday morning we set sail to head back to our home port of Providence from our over a weeks stay in Provincetown, MA. The wind was favorable so, we thought we would try actually sailing off of the dock, so we set our main and our staysail while still at the dock, backed our staysail to get the bow off of the dock as we cast our lines, fell off the wind and sailed off. We did have the engine running as a safety precaution and we did have to use it to get around since there were some mooring and such near by. We think if we left our stern line on a little longer we could have swung her around enough and sailed right out of the harbor without the engine. We had a nice down wind sail to the Cape Cod Cannel and we made good time, not motoring until we got close. The watches were Bo and I, and Captain with Nichola to mix it up a little bit from our last transit. Bo and I took the first watch, which got us pretty close to the Cannel where Captain's watch took over and we had a late lunch. We still had a reef in the main, so we just trimmed them in tight and motored on through the cannel. Passing a small tanker and Mass Maritime Academy. Bo and I came back on at 1800 and got her out off Buzzard's Bay and back into Naragannsett bay before heading back to bed for a couple of hours before all hands was called to strike sail and head into our dock. I got a couple episodes of ALIAS in before heading to sleep between watches. When we got into Providence early in the morning around 0300, Capt, Bo and I tried to find a dinner still open to grab a bite to eat, but with no luck. Wednesday we slept in and it was light duty, Jocelyn rejoined us and everyone else had to go get drug tested in the afternoon. I did not have to go because I am already in a random drug testing program. The entire crew that was on board for the transit back to Providence. Yes there were only four of us! E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:21:35 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060916212135/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060911115251/index.html This weekend was the "Great Provincetown Schooner Regatta" The primary reason why we had come to Provincetown. Saturday we had two sails in the afternoon. Natasha, a friend of mine from Boston drove down to see the cape and then came sailing with us on our second sail and spent the rest of the weekend with us. Shiney and other crew member of the Alabama, Decklin joined us on our second sail as well. Before our sail, I started training Natasha in the basics of sailing, belaying, handling lines and such. There was a crew party on saturday night, but since we were sailing until 1930, by the time that any of us where able to get there, the food was all gone. Natasha and I didn't even bother going. Since we had missed dinner and there were no plans made to make dinner, the Sloop bought us dinner. We went out for pizza. We had some good conversation and got to know Steve and his wife Carolyn better. Natasha and I went back to the sloop and dropped some pizza off for Nichola who was on watch and then walked through town eventually getting some ice cream at Ben and Jerry's she told me all about her sisters recent engagement and move back to Utah. Natasha joined us for the night in one of our spare bunks. That super seaman our Capt, Steven Brown. Sunday was race day. There was a Captain's breakfast. I missed it, because I was on watch. We tucked a reef into the main sail, and then once we got underway we put a reef up in the top sail as well. First there was a parade of sail. We set our main, inner and outer jib, latter we set the stay sail as well. Nichola and I went up aloft after the first set to put a reef in the topsail. It was the first time that I had done a reef on the Sloop Providence Topsail, it was the first time ever that Nichola had ever put in a reef on a square. I was glad that I was one of the ones to go up and do it to figure it all out. My experience from Niagara and Lady Washington really helped here. I have been the first mate for the past week or so and this was one of those times that I really felt I had it together in this position. Since we have only four professional crew onboard with the Captain, I had to put some volunteers to work like Natasha, James a friend of Nichola's and friends of the Captain to work as well as some of our passengers. To help work around the inexperience on board, I gave everyone specific jobs at each tack and ware. I put my good people at the cleats and important jobs. It worked well once we got it all together, and then we set the topsail, which really helped us and added more sails to the crew we had on board to handle. We had everything set except for our jib topsail. Captain and I worked really well together. I believe that my relationship with Capt. Steve and I has been the best Captain/ Mate relationship that I have had. Both of us learned a lot with the race and rolled with the punches, dealing with issues as they came up and learning how to best tack and ware the ship in the conditions we had with the number of crew that we had on board. Since I was working and all about ship's business as the mate, I didn't get to spend a lot of time with Natasha on board. I still think that she had a good time though and learned a bit as everyone on board did. Natasha and I.We raced in the class 'A' class. There were two other ships in our class, the Schooner Alabama, and the Schooner Bay Lady. Two of us were "disqualified" pretty early on. I don't think that really mattered though since the race rules were more oriented towards a yacht race and not a tall ship race. We came in third place, and one a silver cup award thing, which became a container for rum in the evening. After the sail, Natasha had to go home right away because she promised some people that she would baby sit for them. I had the deck are cleaned up, and went aloft to supervise and teach the furling of the topsail. Never did I think I would become the expert furling on board a ship, one of the things that I have risen to as the mate. I sent some people out to furl in the head rig and after all was done, we went to the awards dinner. Bo took the watch for the night, since he was the only one who hadn't missed an event while here in Provincetown. We got a good tip from the sail, so it was divided up among the crew. It was enough that after the awards dinner, I went and bought the medical box at the army/ navy store that I had been eyeing to use as a sea chest. I carried it back to the sloop and was going to relieve Bo from watch, but he was settled in for the night, so we watched part of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy until the rest of the gang came back. Monday we have the day off and are waiting out some weather for our Tuesday departure and transit back to Providence. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:52:51 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060911115251/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060909002731/index.html The highlight of today was the interaction with three good shipmates from past ships. As we were coming in from our afternoon sail, the Schooner Alabama was coming into the same float we wanted to be on, so we got them to move long enough to offload our passengers and then move to the end of the pier where we have been tying up. As we passed the Alabama, someone was shouting out my name, and saying "Rusty, from the Lady Washington". I wasn't sure who it was, because I was getting ready to throw lines to get on our dock. After we got tied up it turned out to be Shinney (Jame McClurg), who was the Bosun's mate on the Lady Washington when I was first mate there. It was good to see him, because he had the day off my last day on board the Lady, and I didn't have a chance to say goodbye and tell him some things that I wanted to saw. As we were getting dinner ready, I checked my phone, and I had a text message from Jill and a voice message from Erin Gutbrod both two of my favorite shipmates from the Niagara. Actually Shinney sailed with me on the Niagara as a volunteer as well. I called and talked to Jill for a little bit. She was a deckhand on the Providence over the summer and we were trying to get her to come down and help us with the race. She may yet. We need the help. Natasha, a friend of mine from Boston will be coming down tomorrow and I will be training her on the last sail tomorrow to get ready for the race. After dinner Shinney droped by with a shipmate of his from Alabama and we got caught up. Since I was on the phone at the time with Jill he talked with her for a bit. We both left a message for Erin as well. It was really good seeing him and talking to or hearing from everyone else to get caught up. Niagara Shipmates: Jill, Erin and ShinneyE-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 08 Sep 2006 21:27:30 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060909002731/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060908112602/index.html I have added a new movie to my web site and updated my resume, so be sure to check it out. I put up behind the scenes "bootleg" movie from Pirates of the Caribbean that was filmed on the Sloop Providence. POC II Bootleg I plan to add more behind the scenes photos, and movies now that the movie is out and I don't think that I will get in trouble. My Movies My Resumes E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 08 Sep 2006 08:26:02 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060908112602/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060908111606/index.html Today we said farewell to our Greenpeace friends from the sailing vessel Witness. I was stuck on watch last night so, while the rest of the crew went to a bomb fire with friends of the Captain, Heather and Usnea came over to get some sea chanties from my iTunes and "knot tying practice". Here Heather demonstrates the application of the "hand cuff knot". Looking for a "pizzookie" one night lead us to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 08 Sep 2006 08:16:06 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060908111606/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060905212319/index.html Max, the Captain's son coming aboard. This morning was the normal sleeping in. I got up just in time for my interview to work winter maintenance on the Tole Mour and possibly stick around to be second mate for the spring. The interview went well, the mate overheard me in the interview and said he would hire me! This evening I checked my e-mail and I heard back from Hurricane Island Outward Bound about working for their winter sailing program. They are moving from Puerto Rico to Costa Rica this winter and want to talk with me about working for them maybe course directing. I also got an e-mail about registering for Cambridge College this fall and I think I may still be able to fit in a class or two towards my masters in mental health counseling. This morning I heard from the Bounty and they want hard copies of all my paperwork, so I will have to print everything out and send it to them. After my interview I still had an hour or so before work, so Bo and I went to check out a different Coffee Shop with free wireless. It was called Wired Pup and it had high speed wireless, much better than the other place that we had been going. I was able to get several episodes of Alias downloaded (I now only have one left), my blog updated, and my e-mail checked. I ordered my usual an iced raspberry mocha. The barista had never made a raspberry mocha before, so it was her first. She was a bit heavy on the syrup, so it was very good. We got back to the Sloop, just in time for lunch and to start the work day. Jon, had to go in to the hospital for his MRI, so we helped get him off with the yard tackle and bosun's chair since the tide was a bit low and he couldn't easily climb over the bull works. Nicola had the day off, so it was just Bo, Captain and me. We didn't have a sail this afternoon because not enough people signed up, so we just worked our way through the afternoon. My first project was rigging up out shower curtains for our new shower. I just strung some seine twine really tight around it and hung the curtain on it, they ran a couple lines to pull it up out of the way when it isn't in use. The shower is part of our new head (new since the last time I was crew). The major project for the afternoon was fixing the head pump in the lower head. It had a small leak. I first tried tightening all the screws on it, but that did not work. So I got a rebuild kit, took the pump all apart and replaced all of the gaskets and diaphragm. I got it all put together and then it didn't work right. I figured out that I put one valve in upside down, so once I had that figured out, it was pretty easily fixed. So my engineering skills are growing more now. After dinner Usnea and her friend Heather from the Greenpeace boat came by to visit us. Usnea may join us once she is done with her current commitment to Greenpeace. It would be nice to have another motivated hand onboard, especially if I end up as first mate depending on what happens with Jon's ankle. We all wanted to watch a movie, so we ended up watching Around Cape Horn since our guests had not seen it yet. After we spent some time telling sea stories and then everyone else went to bed as I stayed up to work on my blog. Usnea had looked up my blog and read it. So I felt a bit bad about the things I had written about her crew in my blog the other night. I don't think she was too offended, but I still felt bad. I normally don't put things down in my blog about people that could be construed as negative. Though what I wrote was just observations, I should keep it as a policy not to write such things because I don't know who will read it. I expect to get to bed a little earlier tonight as we have to help Jon get off the Sloop in the morning. Our Greenpeace friends Usnea and Heather. I also just got a better address to send mail and things too. Cell phone, Skype and e-mail are all still the same. c/o Rob Hoffman91 Deerfield West Warwick, RI 02893.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:23:19 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060905212319/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060905004625/index.html Today was my day off. I didn't really want one or need one. Things are pretty low key here and we mostly have been having the mornings off. Also I am broke since we haven't been paid yet. If I had money I might have tried to find a way over to Plymouth and the Mayflower since I have never been there, at least in my adult life or in memory. There is also a foot locker that I have been checking out for my space on board. Buying the computer and trying to pay off the last of my debt at the same time really set me back. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I was back at Outward Bound for one reason or another. Don't get me wrong I am really enjoying it back on the Sloop Providence, but some much of my plans and future was centered around being on Thompson Island working for Outward Bound. I have been looking at what I will be doing after the Sloop. I was supposed to have an interview to be winter mate on Tole Mour today, but they couldn't reach me due to poor reception. So they will be giving me a call tomorrow. I also returned a call to Amistad today. Last night I saw a posting that the Bounty is looking for crew for a round the world voyage starting next year, so I put in for that. I think I have a good chance to get on as an AB. I also applied for the John Smith Project, which will be a 121 day pulling boat expedition in the Chesapeake Bay next summer. Last night a group of us played a game of Settlers of Katon. It is a board game that I had played once before on the night that I met my best friend's, Greg Bubniak, fiancé' now wife for the first time. It is a game that involves the collection of resources and the building or roads and settlements. We played the sea version. The players included Tom and Jay two of our volunteers, Nicola, Jocelyn and Jon played as a team, Bo and myself. I ended up forming an alliance with Tom and was able to gain sea supremacy while he gained land supremacy. The game tends to be a long one. It got a little hostile at the end with me making an alliance. There was a player that I didn't care much to play with, which also made it a little intense. Bo slipped out as the winner, I think mostly because he not only played a good game, but people were too distracted by the alliance that Tom and I made and were going after us. It was late, but before going to bed I watched one of the episodes of Alias, that I have been downloading. First Mate Jon getting some Sun up on deck. Today I slept in as per normal, plus it being my day off. I grabbed some breakfast. I hung out on deck a little bit with the mate and in the aft cabin. He is still recovering from his ankle injury. I hopped of the Sloop after we moved over to the float to board passengers for our 1330 sail. I hung around long enough to cast off the mooring lines. Usnea was around by the Greenpeace boat, so I chatted with her for a little bit. I then went into town. I sat at a bench across the street from a coffee shop to use their wireless so I wouldn't have to buy anything to use it. I wasn't there long and then went for a walk ending up at the Pilgrim monument and museum. I was able to get in free as a crew member on the Sloop. The woman at the desk let me be her guest as she as at the reception we had on board a few nights ago. I snapped some pictures and caught some of the Sloop coming in. I worked my way back to the Sloop getting some fried dough on the way. I got back and hung with Jon in the aft cabin watching the movie Wedding Crashers, which I found out that he was in on the Schooner that he worked on and was Captain of the Woodwind. Got a glimpse of him in it. I have been making it point to spend a little time with him so he doesn't get all lonely in the aft cabin as he recovers. I took a nap after dinner and got up just in time to watch V for Vendetta with Captain Steve, Jon and Jocelyn in the aft cabin. Since I had taken an after dinner nap, I am wide awake and up late blogging. :-) E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 04 Sep 2006 08:46:25 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060905004625/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060903174723/index.html Rob and Dale splicing and whipping. Since I have been on board the Sloop we have had a steady flow of volunteers on board. Mary joined us on the transit over here. We had a school teacher named Brenda join us for a couple days this week. A long term volunteer who works for the Providence Children's Museum named Jay, got in a couple nights ago. This morning I found a family that got in last night and stayed aboard. They helped us for the day, but didn't stay because of the weather and that we wouldn't be sailing because of it. Tom, yet another volunteer dropped in this afternoon to help out. If I end up here long term, I would like to organize and work out a solid volunteer training program and get a solid pool of volunteers to help us out. I was up shortly before 0800 this morning to raise the ensign since I am on watch today. I checked in with the Captain as I did, since he was up and about to go for a fun. I am thinking that maybe I should start joining him. I will have to find out how fast and how far he runs. I would like to get in shape to run an adventure race, if I could put a team together, and to run the Boston Marathon like Logan next year. Capt. Steve filled me in on what he would like to see done this morning, and told me we would most likely not be sailing this afternoon so would have it off once the work is done. I laid back down in my bunk for a bit, until breakfast was called. I was acting as mate today, so I organized chores and once they were done organized the work detail. Jay knew how to mouse and we had some hooks and shackles that needed it, so I had him show Nicola how to and put them to mousing everything that needed mousing. I had the parents in the family help Capt. put in the new shower, and I had Bo fix the connections for the spreader lights. Then the two children (14 and 17 years old), I had them help me end for end our stern line. Putting an eye slice in one end, and then whipping and taking the eye splice out of the other end. It was good because I got to teach, they got to learn a new skill and we got the job done. As well as windy, it war rainy today as well. After work detail was done, I did some work on my blog, checked e-mail and took a peak at the ASTA billet bank to see what jobs are open, starting to think more about the winter and beyond. I applied to be crew on a 121 day pulling boat trip in Chesapeake Bay next summer, reenacting John Smith's explorations of the area. I had applied to be Captain all ready, but it had been filled, by the time I got to it. I saw some other positions that looked interesting. I already have an interview with Tole Mour for winter mate during their maintenance period, LA Maritime Institute and I have talked, and I got some voice messages from Amistad recently. So it looks like I may have some options. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 03 Sep 2006 14:47:23 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060903174723/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060903154809/index.html Usnea from Greenpeace and Rusty ready for a night of dancing. Today we did not sail due to the weather. We have had gail force winds all day. After chores one of the things we did was have our holding tanks pumped out. I was helping get set up for that. We had to move the large boxes that hold our life jackets, to get the pump out hose on board through a scupper. As we shifted it my pinky finger got pinched between the box and the steel frame that holds our fire hose. It took off some skin and I latter realized it also took off my finger nail. At first I just put on a latex glove to keep it clean as I dealt with pump out, then as the glove filled with blood, I thought I should dress which I did. Today it is fine, I have it all cleaned, some liquid band aid on it and just a band aid and latex cover on it to keep it dry. I wonder how long it will take for my finger nail to grow back. The crew from Witness (the Greenpeace boat) invited us to go out dancing with them. So Bo and I could not refuse an offer like that. After dinner and getting the Sloop all ship shape for the night, we headed over to their boat. Though we had a large dinner we could not refuse the pie that they offered us when we got there. The evening started with the drinking game "never have I ever" in their main salon. I only drank water or coke myself, but it didn't matter as their were few times I would have had to take a drink. I learned more than I cared to about their crew, a pretty crude and lecherous bunch. Around 2200 we headed over to Vixens to dance. I was a bit shy and self conscious at first as usual, but eventually got out on the dance floor. I danced with a woman named Kate as well as one named Usnea. They danced a little racer than I am used to or prefer, but it as all in good fun. When we had enough dancing we headed to another bar called the Governor Bradford to play pool. They wouldn't accept my Merchant Marine Document as ID, so we snuck in the back and they kicked me out. Can you believe that? I wasn't drinking anyway. So don't go there if you are ever in P-town. After that, I had enough for the evening, so headed back to the Sloop. I wanted to get back since I was on watch the next day anyway. Jon and Jocelyn were still up watching Rainman in the aft cabin. So I dropped in on them. They have been staying there because of John's ankle. Captain is staying out with his family who is visiting anyway. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 02 Sep 2006 12:48:09 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060903154809/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060902000252/index.html Jon the mate in the headrig. We are getting into out routine here in Provincetown. Because we do two sails in the afternoon (on weekends) and the last one ends after 1900, we haven't been starting our work day until 1230 or 1300. I haven't really gone out much since being here, just walked the strip the first night here, found a coffee shop yesterday morning to get wireless internet, and checked out the army navy store today and picked out a foot locker that I would like to get for by my bunk to work like a sea chest. Yesterday afternoon after we did our chores, I did some work re-caulking parts of the deck where the caulk and oakum had pulled out or was starting to pull out until it was time to clean up and get ready for the public for our sail. We had a reporter on board for a public sail yesterday. She had already heard about me and that I liked to talk about my experience making the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, so she interviewed me. I am looking forward to seeing the article when it comes out in the paper. In the evenings I have been checking my e-mail and doing the internet things using my cell phone as a modem and then I have been watching a movie, since I don't need to be up until late. I watch V for Vendetta the other night because I have been wanting to watch it since I bought it before I got on the Sloop. It was interesting and thought Provoking. Last night I watched Lord of War which made me think a little too. It was a used copy that I bought so there were a couple scenes that were messed up for some reason and I couldn't see them. Today since it is friday and the beginning of a holiday (labor day) weekend, we had two sails. One in the early afternoon and one late. The tide was low, which would make boarding difficult at the pier that we are tied too, so we moved over to the float where the Provincetown III fast ferry docks, to board our passengers. When Jon the first mate swung over, it was a good swing, he landed funny, twisted his ankle and dislocated it. I thought it must have broken since it was anglated so badly. He just laid there until someone from the Greenpeace boat assisted him. Someone who happened to be a nurse. We had someone else on the dock so we were still able to get in. I didn't get involved in his care, because there were plenty of qualified people already helping out and the paramedics arrived quickly. Jocelyn went with him to the hospital and we found out latter on our second sail that it was only a severe sprain, when they called. Since Jon had to leave, I took over as mate, which other than the circumstances that made it happen, I was happy about. We were a little short on crew now, even though we had one volunteer with us, a school teacher named Brenda. The captain and a couple of the crew members from the Greenpeace boat here joined us to help out, and had a crew member cast off our lines for us. We had two good sails. I guess that they have had trouble tacking and have had to use the engine to get through the wind, so I called sail today and we did three perfect tacks without the engine. I account for that from the training I got while mate on the Lady Washington. When we got in and got all secure this evening, I furled the outer jib by myself and then helped with the inner one. I furled the inner and the stay-sail by myself yesterday. I have been really focusing on my furling and being able to do them by myself since I believe a mate should be able to do that. I need some work there, but I am coming along with it. I think if I keep it up, I will have perfect furls by the end of the season. As we were finishing up Capt. Steve took off to get Jocelyn and Jon, and I believe his wife and Max as well. Once we got the deck all set, we went over to the Greenpeace boat for dinner since they invited us over due to the loss of our cook. They are here to promote and raise public awareness to the wind farm project in Nantucket Sound. It was a very good dinner. After dinner I took the watch for Bo (Brion), so he could join the Greenpeace folks at the Karaoke bar. I was a little interested, but was feeling kind of tired. Me caulking seems. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:02:52 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060902000252/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060830213704/index.html I decided to change my blog picture to a more recent one so I have now changed from this one: To this one: Let me know what you think. I am also just curious who is reading my blog these days, so drop me a line and let me know you are out there!E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:37:04 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060830213704/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060830195753/index.html Our transit to Provincetown, MA was uneventful and an ongoing nice return to the Sloop Providence. Captain Steve had some matters to attend to, so Chief Mate Jon was the captain for the transit, which promoted me to first mate. It really didn't feel much different from being a watch leader on the Providence before, not quiet like what it was like to be first mate on the Lady Washington. I did organize the watch, but there was only six of us plus the cook so that was fairly easy. I did have the con while Capt. Jon slept at night, but that was really no different from the last time that I was onboard. This morning when we did chores and got the Sloop ready to come in and took up the anchor, I took a leadership role in making that happen and got things like the sails furled properly, that was a little different from my prior time onboard and more like being mate. We are having a turn over of crew right now, so I will be able to train up the new crew on the way I like to do things and they can become used to me. We left Providence early yesterday morning, shortly after 0600. Capt. Jon had the first watch with Brian (Bo), and Heather. My watch (Mary a volunteer with us for the transit who had a daughter as a crew member, and Nicola) took the deck with the Captains' watch had breakfast and then we went back to bed until all hands was called a few hours latter to set sail. We grabbed lunch at the change of the watch and were on deck until about four when we then struck all sail since we had turned into the wind to head into Buzzards Bay. We saw the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel in the distance. My watch was awoken again shortly after 1900 hours and we grabbed dinner. I took over for the Captain a little ahead of my watch so he could eat and then my watch took the deck. We were in the Cape Cod Cannel by this point. I had never been through it. It was pretty much like any other cannel though. We were pretty quickly out of it and we motored a course straight to Province town, MA getting there just as our watch was ending around midnight. We called all heads, set the anchor, made an anchor watch up and went to bed sleeping in a bit and have a late breakfast in the morning.After we got the ship all cleaned, furled and ready, and after lunch we took up the anchor and headed in to our dock. We had been anchored, just outside of the break water all morning. Capt. Steve met us at the dock. We got all tied up, got our ramp set, decorated the ship with all of our dress flags and got ready to have a reception put on by the chamber of comerce. There was lots of finger food, and they left all the left overs to us. They were a friendly bunch and we will be sailing out of here for about a week and will be in the Provincetown Schooner race this weekend. It should be a good time. It is Jon's birthday today, so everyone went into town. I volunteered to take the first watch. Capt. Steve will come back to relieve me and then I will grab a shower and meet the rest of the gang wherever they are. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:57:53 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060830195753/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060828231628/index.html Me and my new ship mate Brian. On Saturday night we picked up a new crew member. Brion Spore better known as Bo joined us from the west coast, currently from Oregon. The students just meeting him quickly picked up that his style of humor is very similar to mine, he even used some of the same lines as me. I was up aloft furling when all this was going on. The captain was concerned that we looked alike and had a lot of similarities, same phones, similar habits and such. Brion and I quickly hit it off as we had the last day and a half off together and were the only two that stayed on the Sloop last night. We have lots in common and a few common friends. Brion has sailed on the Lady Washington so knows, and knows of many of the same people that I do. He has also sailed on the Dennis Sulivan with my now good friend Will Davies (Pip) from Outward Bound. We shared many stories and pictures of common friends over the last couple of days. I have been downloading the last season of Alias so we watched a couple episodes of that on my computer and a couple episodes of Seinfield on his. Nicola joined us this afternoon and we headed into town to check out an Army/ Navy store and go to Starbucks for a little quicker internet access, since downloads don't happen too quickly when I am getting online with my cell phone. Tonight Heather got back, along former crew members mother (Mary). First Mate (Captain for this leg making me first mate) Jon got back with his partner and cook Jocelyn latter. Tomorrow we leave early in the morning for P-town. 0630.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:16:27 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060828231628/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827143302/index.html For anyone who would like to write me while I am on the Sloop Providence, my address is below. My cell phone and skype numbers are still the same. Providence Maritime Heritage Foundation408 BroadwayProvidence, RI 02909E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 27 Aug 2006 11:33:02 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827143302/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060826125506/index.html Press ReleaseContact: Kathleen McQuillan-Hofmann, Communications Directorkathleen_sloopprovidenceri@cox.netPhone: (401) 274-7447FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 25, 2006 cONTINENTAL sLOOP pROVIDENCE will offer Public sailsout of Provincetown, MA August 31 – September 10.Providence, RI – August 25, 2006: Rhode Island’s state flagship, the Continental Sloop Providence, will offer public sails out of MacMillan Wharf in Provincetown, Massachusetts August 31 through September 10. Sail times are as follows: Thursday, August 31 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Friday, Sept 1 1:30 - 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Saturday, Sept 2 10:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M., 1:30 - 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Sunday, Sept 3 10:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M., 1:30 - 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Monday, Sept 4 1:30 - 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Tuesday, Sept 5 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Wednesday, Sept 6 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Thursday, Sept 7 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Friday, Sept 8 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Saturday, Sept 9 10:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M., 1:30 - 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 – 7:30 P.M.Sunday, Sept 10 Provincetown Schooner Regatta: Noon – 3:00 P.M.Visit our website www.sloopprovidenceri.org for that days scheduled events.Cost is $30.00 per person, children age 6 – 14 $15.00 per person (for safety reasons, children age 5 and under can not sail aboard the Providence.) Reservations are recommended but walk-ons are welcomed, space permitting. Call 401-274-7447 or visit www.sloopprovidenceri.org for more information.The Sloop Providence is a 110’ traditionally rigged sailing vessel that is a faithful replica of Revolutionary War hero Captain John Paul Jones’ first command. She was built in 1976 for this nation’s bicentennial. The Providence appears in the current “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” as various vessels, including a merchant ship that is destroyed by a sea monster, the Kraken.408 BroadwayProvidence, RI 02909Phone (401) 274-7447Fax (401) 828-8788www.sloopprovidenceri.org###E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 27 Aug 2006 08:43:06 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060826125506/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827110521/index.html The Sloop Providence at the Mystic Seaport Museum. This morning we said goodbye to the six cadets that had come to know and love for this weeks voyage. It was very nice to be back on the Sloop Providence, in a little different role from what I have done with them in the past. It wasn't too different from an Outward Bound course, but a little less structured. I got to see a good section of this part of New England from the water. We didn't spend too much time in Naragansett Bay, but I am convinced it would be a good pulling boat cruising ground. From Point Judith (which was the first light and land I saw since leaving Puerto Rico on our return the last time I was on the Sloop Providence), we headed over to Block Island. There we went ashore, and had a fire and bar-b-cue on the beach. It was here that I had to put one of the Cadets on a behavior contract, something I carried over from Outward Bound, but it really seemed to apply here and they want me to do a training on contracting now too. I really want to get more involved with the development of the educational program here. Eric and Grace up aloft. Sweating on a line and setting sail. From Block Island we set sail and headed down to one of my favorite places in the world, Mystic Seaport. We tied to the guest dock there and after lunch we took the students around the Museum. I didn't have to go with them, but they asked me to join them, so I hung with them most of the time and then broke away towards the end of their tour to take a nap. Nichola and I, one of the deck hands checked out the gift shop before dinner. I picked up a new chanty book, a patch, since they didn't have them on previous visits, and a large stuffed Octopus for my niece Catharina. After a great dinner we all walked into town for ice cream at a popular home made ice cream place by the draw bridge. I picked up a watch glass, which I have already put to use on the sloop, for my ultimate return to a pulling boat command. Eric and Mac furling the topsail. From Mystic we motored into the wind all day to Dutch Harbor, back in Naragansett bay. We had movie night on board in Dutch Harbor and watched Around Cape Horn and my dvd of our trip to the Caribbean and back from Pirates of the Caribbean. The following morning the cadets went ashore to Dutch Island and then had a swim call before we got underway. The final night we had a good dinner and since we got in a little late, we pushed the last few things for program off for this morning. After breakfast we did a cannon demonstration. I am getting trained up to lead that, and then we did a pin chase, which my watch won. I enjoyed working with these cadets. I have worked with student this age lots before, but this was the first time I have worked with them on a tall ship, so bringing them up aloft and out on the head rig, and teaching them to furl was a new thing, but mostly it wasn't too different from a pulling boat, I look forward to doing some more trips like this in the future. For now we have off until Tuesday morning when we set sail for Province town for a spell of day sails there. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 27 Aug 2006 08:05:21 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827110521/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060822201653/index.html Grace at the helm.Today was the first full day with our Cadets from Michigan. I am naturally one of the watch leaders. Michael is the other watch leader. I have one of the interns a high school student named Serjieo in my watch and three students, Welling, Grace and Eric. Good students, though one can be a bit of a challenge at times. It was a pretty straight forward day. After breakfast, chores, and then we got underway. I am the leader of Starboard watch. Port watch was on first. While they were one, my watch did training. We did basic line handling and they got the main sail ready to set, set in and then three of our head sails (Stay sail, inner jib, outer jib). I started a sail theory class before lunch. After lunch out watch took the deck so I went over deck and engine checks, look out, and helmsmanship with my cadets. We sailed out of Naraganset bay and to Point Judith where we dropped the anchor for the night, and furled sails. I took two of my students out into the head rig to furl the outer jib and then it was time for dinner. I am now enjoying some peace and quiet as all the students went ashore for ice cream. Eric and Grace in the head rig to furl. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:16:53 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060822201653/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060821204912/index.html Today was my first day back as a crew member on the Continental Sloop Providence and it was a good tone set for my season here. The crew was just getting back from a day off, so we got to sleep in until 0815 with a 0830 breakfast. I met the crew members that I didn't meet last night and the Captain and his seven year old son, who I met when we were in the Caribbean in 2005, Max came on board. I jumped right into chores and got to clean out our new sumps in the bilge. To refamilerize myself with the boat and all the new things they had me do the dailies and weeklies. Dallies and weeklies are checks and readings that we do on a daily or weekly basis. Things like how much water and fuel we have on board, smoke alarms, bilge levels, oil..... They had Nichola, a new crew member that I met yesterday who went up to Boston and back with me when I returned Emily's car join me, so I could orient her to the sloop. After all that was done, I got started right away doing more mate like things. They had me in the engine room first, to remove the alternator so it could go into the shop and be check out. I then did more bosundry work, paint some gear and then putting some chafe gear on the boom lifts to protect them from the outhaul. We went out to lunch today to a pizza place. I found it neat because they had an actual wood fired stone hearth to cook it in. This afternoon Rob Hoffman dropped by with the paper work I needed to fill out and update. It was good catching up with him some. This afternoon we picked up our cadets for the week, six 12-13 year olds, five boys and one girl. They are from Michigan and where going to sail with us out there, but since the Sloop was not able to go to the Great Lakes this summer because of some locks being damaged in the Erie Canal, they flew out here. We gave them an orientation and I jumped right in on helping out with the program. Adria the educational director knows me from priveous experiences with the sloop and ASTA so she was sure to ask for my help. I lead a name game and latter helped with a heaving line class. The rest of the crew seem not too into it, so I should be able to jump on it all I want to. It is a younger bunch, some are new to the crew, so we should be able to whip them into shape. I am looking forward to this week, as we are taking them to Mystic Seaport, one of my favorite places. I have been there many times, but this will have been the first time I have sailed in. I am also looking forward to what my role will be with this crew as well. I feel very good about it all. This evening Capt. Steve and I talked some more about a future pulling boat program, and with Hurricane Island selling some of their boats, this would be a good time to pursue it. So I need to talk to Rob a little more about it and do some research to see what I can find out. Stay posted for updates on this experience and this group. I have my internet service on my T-Mobile cell phone turned back on, so I will be able to update my blog underway from the Sloop. It is close to lights out now, so I better wrap things up so I can put the students to bed. Heaving line class and practice. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:49:12 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060821204912/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060820224846/index.html I am not back on board the Contenential Sloop Providence in my old position as basicly second mate and even in my same old bunk, though the below decks have been completely redone since I was last on board. Over the course of the season I will be mentoured into a relief mate and then relief captain position. I am really looking forward to that and the possibilities to follow. Stay tuned true believers! E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 20 Aug 2006 19:48:46 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060820224846/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827122223/index.html Caitlin with a little bed had from the Chapel floor! Last night I got a call from Caitlin that she was at the airport and back in town. I was pleased that she was the first one to call me as she got back from Spain. She hadn't even cleared customs yet! I met her at the dock before the 2130 boat as she was heading out to the island. We met again this morning at the dock to go to Terries' Place for breakfast and catch up on stories. She had far more than I. While waiting at the dock for her, I ran into Capt. Will too. It was very good to see him. After breakfast I helped out at the New England Seafarers Mission as Caitlin rested in the Chapel. I had called Emily Grouber to borrow her car to move my things to Providence. I had just a little too much to carry on the train. So I got the keys at noon, ran into a few Outward Bound friends including Noelle and then Caitlin and I took off after grabbing my bags from the mission. I brought her home to Cohasset and then rushed down to Providence (or tried to, but traffic was bad in places). I got to the Sloop Providence. Another new crew member Nicola was there, and I asked if she would like to join me for the drive up to Boston. She did. I got Emily's car back to her with a full tank just in time, actually a couple of minutes late. Not everyone had left the dock area yet. I ran into the program director Bashire as I dropped the car off. Nicola and I went to the train station, got tickets for the commuter rail, and grabbed a bite to eat and then caught the train to Providence. We called Capt. Steve and then Adria the education director to get a ride to the Sloop from the train station. Both were surprised that we had met up and were together. We watched Around Cape Horn on my lap top on the train ride down. Adria picked us up and I got settled in on the sloop and met the rest of the crew as they came back from a day off. Nichola one of our new deck hands. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 20 Aug 2006 09:22:23 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827122223/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827121909/index.html Logan, by one of the Yurts on the Browne Center Challenge Course. While back in Boston waiting to head down to Providence I took the time to go up to see my good friend Logan in her new position at UNH's Brown center in New Hampshire. I got back into Boston on Wednesday early and in time to meet Michael at the noon boat with his van so he could move some things off the island. We went out to lunch and then I slowly worked my way back to the mission. I met up with a woman that I met on a web site called LIfe Knot which is a site to meet activity partners. Her name is Lisa and we went to high school together. She graduated a couple of years ahead of me, but we were in the concert choir together. We met a restaurant in Central Square after a tai kuwn do class she was taking/ teaching. It was a convenient place to meet since her class was there and I was staying at Nastasha's place that night on the futon since we had reconnected. The next morning I got up early and met Lisa again for breakfast at Terries' Place sine she lives in South Boston, then I had to catch a cab and rush to North Station to make my train. I made it just in time. Logan was waiting for me at the train station in Durham, NH, where UNH is. I had been there once before when I went up to visit my first girl friend (then my ex) Marie, back when I was in seminary. Logan drove me through town, we grabbed some subs which we at at the Browne center and dropped a cooler off at a boat launch for a group that would be canoeing there. After lunch she had some work to do, so I just checked my e-mail and read over there policy manual for their challenge course. After a meeting she had she gave me a tour or their course and checked me off on some skills so that I could facilitate there in the future. After work she showed me her place, and I got to see her dog that I have watched many times Abby. We went out for Pizza in town and then went to see Pirates of the Caribbean II since she hadn't seen it yet. Since I had seen it a few times (this being the fourth), I was able to tell her exactly where to look for me and she was able to see my face shot in the scene I was in. It was very good to see her again and spend some quality time with her, though my visit was short. I left the next morning as she had meetings out of town to attend to. The early train was running late, which worked in my favor, so I was able to catch it back to Boston. Friday night I ended up doing some ship visits at Connely terminal for Chaplain Steve since he had his daughters 11th Birthday party. He paid for my cab to central square where I attended a going away party for Natasha's sister Tiffany and I spent the night there and helped them pack the car in the morning. Sasha was there as well. In the morning, I slowly made my way back to the mission checking my e-mail at the mall, buying a case for my dvd's and eventually ending up at a Starbucks in the theater district where I started to download the latest season of ALIAS on their wireless network. I was there when I got the call from Caitlin that she was back in town. Just getting back in fact. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:19:09 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827121909/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827121746/index.html Cross country drive in December 2000, I think this was in Wyoming someplace. After having it off the road for over a year, and with all the repairs I would have to do to it from the time it was stolen, plus the fact it had been giving me problems from time to time when I was last driving it. I mean it has over 360,000 miles on it! Not to mention the current price of gas at over $3.00 a gallon. I finally decided it was time to sell the Jeep. I have been thinking about it for a while. I have done well without it. Using public transit while in Boston, the bus and train to get between cities, and a zip car when there are no other options. My dad's friend Matt said he would give $200 for it, I said $400 and it was his. My other option was to try to sell it at my parents upcoming garage sail. Matt took my offer, so when I was home, I went back to my parents house (they are now living at my grandmother's house, and that is where I stayed), cleaned my last few things out of it, found the title, and took a few minutes to sit in it, reminisce about our adventures together and many travels and say goodbye to an old friend. I had her since May of 2000. I had pretty much let go of her since it had been over a year since I last drove her. I will always remember the many cross country drives we did. She was certainly my favorite vehicle of the five I have owned since high school Four wheeling on the campus of California State University Monterey Bay August 2000 during "Otter Days" This was an annual tradition during the three years that I did this program. Pictures of all of my stickers during the final drive home from Boston to Syracuse after loaning it to Capt. Michael for several months. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:17:46 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827121746/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827120642/index.html My visit home was a whirlwind visit as usual. From Sunday afternoon until Tuesday night. I had to unpack everything from Michael's van, find a place for it in my Dad's new garage and pack my sea bag for the Sloop Providence. My parents are now living at my Grandmothers house and plan to move completely there by next July. I need to think about getting all my things there and into storage as well. I am thinking of getting a container to put my things in and have gotten permission from my Dad to put in on their property there. So if any knows anything about getting one, please contact me. I also had to go through some antiques with my mother before an upcoming garage sale to pick the things I would like to keep of my grand parents things. Key among them is a Victrola record player, some of my grandfathers fishing gear and an old fold down dresser desk type thing. I gave my dad a dvd of Abbot and Costello movies which he is already really enjoying. They have a finished room in the basement now with a tv and dvd player in it that my day will move all his toy tractors and race cars in to. I slept in there on the couch while visiting. On monday we all went to see Pirates of the Caribbean two. After the movie I picked up my computers from the Apple store where I was having the data shifted over from my old one to my new one. It didn't happen exactly the way that I wanted it to, so that took a little while, but my computer has exactly all the settings that I had on the old one and is set up just the way that I like it. Tuesday I made it up to the house to get the title for my jeep and some things there. I swung into the mall to pick up a modem that I had ordered the other day when it came in. I also got to see my brother, sister-in-law and niece briefly on that day. I gave my niece an "Uncle Rusty Pirate" action figure that I had bought for her last time I was in Province town. Like the one that I got in the Caribbean. I had all the things I wanted to bring with me to the Providence in a pile and didn't have a chance to pack it all neatly, so I just threw it back in the van to bring it back to Boston, so I ended up with a little more than I would have liked to have brought, but not too much. I left late on tuesday night and slept at a rest area on the thru way a couple hours away so I wouldn't have to get up too early in the morning. My niece Catharina with Uncle Rusty the Pirate action figure. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 09:06:42 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827120642/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827120508/index.html Saturday, after sleeping in a little since I was out late picking up my new Mac, I got up to become more familiar with it, and then headed back to the store to get a fire wire cable (so I could shift all my data over if I wasn't able to get to a store to have them do it), a modem (which they didn't have in stock). I met Michael in Davis Square and we went to pick up his van so I could borrow it to move my things back to Baldwinsville. We had enough time to grab dinner before heading back to the island. The original plan was to head out to the island on the 2000 boat with the change of the shift to Michael's shift and then pack all my things that were already all packed in my room into the truck and onto the boat and then slip off at 2100 boat, load the van and be on my way. The boat was a little late at 2000, so we had enough time to load the truck with one load my stuff, but not my furnature (a couple of desks and a book case), and not enough time to load the boat and for it to be on time. So we decided just to bring the rest of my things to the dock during the last run, load the boat when it got back and then just take everything off in the morning with the first run. I spent the night on the island at the duplex with Michael. We shared a cigar and some island stories, then off to bed and an early rise to get everything off in the morning. There was plenty of room in the van to get all my things with furnature into it. I made a quick stop to the mission to grab my pack and computer there, some snacks and then off I went back to New York State. Gas was a bit much, made me glad that I don't drive much anymore. I got a call from Capt. Steve Brown of the Sloop Providence, and I was offered a position as basicly second mate/ relief first mate leading to relief captain. I was offered the same amount of money as what I made before, so I accepted it and will start in about a weeks time. When I got into town I swung by carosel mall and dropped my computers off to have the data and setting switched over from one to the other. It should be ready for me the next day. I almost drove all the way to my parents house, but they are now living at my grandmothers house and have been since the spring. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 13 Aug 2006 09:05:08 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827120508/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827115438/index.html I have a new Mac! I finally broke down and got the new MacBook Pro. Because I had my nine month salary with Outward Bound payed out over twelve months instead of nine, I had a bit of money owed to me in my last pay check. I thought that I would use this to pay off a little bit of debt from when my jeep was stolen and I had to replace things and buy a new computer to replace the one that was stolen from my parents car back in December. I did get about what I expected to, but after over $1000 was taken out in taxes I only had enough for the computer. I only owe about $1500 on my debt and I am months ahead in my payments so it shouldn't be a problem. After joining Kibuku for a bite to eat this afternoon, I headed over to the shore to shop around and pick out what I wanted. I decided that the Mac Book Pro with the 15" screen was the one for me and best fit my needs. I had the sales person write down everything that I wanted, and then I had to kill some time until midnight when I could come back and get it tax free. Since I worked for an educational institution and (hopefully) would be going to school at Cambridge College in the fall (I have already been accepted), I was able to get the educational/ educators discount as well. It was a wad of cash, but baring things like theft and with a couple of upgrades, I am sure that I will have this computer for many years. So now I have an even better, music, picture storing, dvd making blogging machine! So watch my blog and web page for lots of new and good material. Maybe I will even figure out this pod casting thing and add that to my repitour. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 12 Aug 2006 08:54:38 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827115438/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827115156/index.html The Eagle was in port today, so I made my way over to see here. I had hoped to see her sail in, but by the time I ventured out from the mission after doing my morning e-mail, and internet thing, she had already made it in. So I took a leisurely walk over to the Coast Guard base to have a look. She wasn't open to the public yet, so I took just a brief look at the Coast Guard race car that they had out front, and thought I would walk over to Charlestown to see the USS Constitution since I hadn't been on board in quite a while. I took the full tour, but there wasn't anyone on still from the crew members I helped train when I was on the Niagara. They were a bit busy as well, so I wasn't able get a private or special tour. I did pick up a hat like what the crew wears and a challenge coin. After getting my fill of the Constitution I worked my way back over towards EDIC. I needed to pick up a final pay check from the office and meet Kibuku at the dock. KIbuku and I went out to grab a bite to eat after cashing and depositing our pay checks. We checked out the Kinsale Pub down by Government Center and I gave him some pictures from our recent trip wirelessly from my computer to his. He has a mac as well. While there I checked online to see the hours at the Apple Store, so I could go look at a new computer. I found out that starting at midnight they would be open for 24 hours a day for a sale corresponding with a state wide no sales tax day. After saying goodbye to Kibuku at North Station where he had to catch his train home, I headed over to the Mall to look at computers and then met up with Sasha at Boston Common. I called and talked to Logan and my parents as I walked over. At Boston Common I met up with Sasha and her dog Solie. They where there checking out Shakespeare in the park's presentation of Taming of the Shrew. We left a little early because Sasha was meeting with another friend to go out dancing and had to walk her dog back home, so I walked back with her to keep her company (and safe since it was a little late). I road with her to pick up her friend and then walked back to the mall after they got to the club that they were going to. That gave me just enough time to make it to the midnight opening of the Apple Store in the mall. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 11 Aug 2006 08:51:56 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060827115156/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060810211954/index.html Today I am putting a lot of energy into a job search. It is hard realizing what a good thing that I left behind at Thompson Island with all the long term plans that I had attached to it. Plans that maybe could be picked up again in the future but for now need to be put on hold or replaced with new ones. I have lots of things in the works right now, but nothing that really excites me like Thompson Island did. Today I was happy to get a call from a program in Portland Maine called the Ripple effect. They are an adventure education program that run out of an island of Portland. They had advertised on Craigs list for a weekend captain. Sound familiar? I applied and noted my adventure ed background and that I might be able to help them in other areas as well. They left me a message this morning on my skpe account saying how psyched they where to get my resume and that their program director (who I found to be very impressive after I read his bio on their web site) would be calling me tomorrow. I put in also for some challenge course and college positions in the New England area including a couple of therapy programs. Then I wrapped things up by applying to a few tall ships off of the ASTA billet bank. So I have a few resumes out there. We will see what happens. Part of me would like to just take the risk and go back to school, take whatever part time job comes my way, find a cheap place to rent and really focus on it. With currently only one bill, my cell phone, taking on lots more expenses and maybe even debt for school is not that appealing. If anyone hears of any work that might interest me, be sure to contact me. Also if you know of an inexpensive place to rent in the Boston area, let me know about that as well. I took a break at lunch time and had lunch with a shipmate from the Providence Chris Mancinni, and then we went over to his parents place so I could pass some pictures from our experience over to him since he had lost some when his hard drive crashed. That is about it for the news here. I am interested to hear about what is happening in other people's lives. Drop me a line sometime. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:19:54 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060810211954/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060809230935/index.html I got to sleep in a little bit this morning since Ida waits for rush hour traffic to end before she heads into work, and it has been bad lately with one of the big dig tunnels being closed because of a ceiling panel falling and killing someone a few weeks ago. Ida gave me a ride to the mission. I had a little bit of time in the morning to check my e-mail. I am starting to get some responses from my recent blog entries. It was good to hear from one of my biggest blog fans John Vonk. I met Capt. Michael Burpee at the noon boat for his shift change to help him do some moving. He resigned his position this past week as well, but has a couple weeks left before he goes completely. He has been moving his things off the island and has a van that he inherited to do it. I may use that van myself to move my things. I saw Ellen and Allie from OBP and got to tell them that I am leaving. Mike and grabbed a quick lunch at the Liberty Bell Roast Beef place in southie then went to get his van from a friends house where he parked it. We then dropped the things that he took off the island this weekend at his storage unit. He took Emily's car to return it and I followed. I saw Caitlin (not Capt. Caitlin an intern named Caitlin) and Dan walking by South Station, tried to blow the horn, but it didn't work, tried to call, but I didn't have either of their numbers. I got Caitlin's from Katie and called them once I got to dry dock ave and left a message. Dan eventually called me so I have his number now too. They where on their way up to Gloucester to evac a student. We picked Emily up at the boat, I hid in the van in case there was anyone I didn't want to see (there was only one supervisor that I though I should avoid). We dropped off some things at the good will, then Emily Michael and I went to the Independent in Sommerville for dinner and drinks. That rounded out the day with good friends and good fellowship. Somewhat of a boring day to write about, funny that when all the good stuff is happening I am too busy to write! I will continue to get caught up and add to some of my previous entries about my adventures that only have a picture and a sentence or two right now. Michael and EmilyE-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:09:35 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060809230935/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808164344/index.html Over the last couple of days and over the next few days I have been updating my blog. I have been writing some details of some recent events, but I have also been filling in some details from over the summer where I wasn't able to write much at the time, only put up a couple pictures or write a sentence or two. So if you are interested look back as far as June and you will find some more details. Make it a habit to always look back because I am always adding new things to previous entries as well as adding new ones. For those of you that are relatively new to my blog and are interested in tall ships, go back to January through March of this year and learn about my experience as first mate on board the Brig Lady Washington. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 08 Aug 2006 17:44:44 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808164344/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808195731/index.html As seems to be the case during times of transition while in Boston or while I am waiting for something and trying not to spend lots of money I have been spending my days (and nights) at the New England Seafarers Mission. It hasn't been so bad, but putting together a bunch of padded chairs together in the Chapel, does affect your back after a while. Two nights I had a friend stay with me, so that was a little different and took away the boredom, so last night was the only night I was there alone, and I got in late and pretty much went right to bed, so that wasn't so bad either. Monday I slept in a little bit after Katie left. Since everyone had been working over the weekend with the ships Chaplain Steve didn't come in until the afternoon. I had spent most of the day catching up and answering some e-mail, updating my My Space account some and updating my blog for you all to enjoy. :-) Steve's new office is in the Chapel/ seafarers lounge where I had set up my computer to use the wireless. So we would chat periodically throughout the afternoon. Katie grabbed some things that I needed from my room for me and gave them to me when she got off of the island this afternoon and then dropped me off downtown. Shortly after Katie dropped me off, I got a call from Sasha and she invited me to a bar-b-que with some friends from church. I hadn't done anything with her church in a while, but I was hungry and needed a free meal. I had been eating out a little too much lately and needed to conserve my money more since I don't know how long it will be before I go back to work. I had shared that with Sasha in an e-mail. So I worked my way over to Sasha's place, stopping at the mall on the way to kill some time, look at the new mac's and tape decks. Then I showed up at her place just in time to catch a ride to the bar-b-que. It was Mormon family night or something like that since Sasha is in a single ward it was all single people. We got their a little late so missed the devotion. I met a lot of new people which is typical when I go to such things. I ran into Natasha there, which was nice since we hadn't seen each other in a while, and I had just left a voice message for her and got an e-mail from her. We didn't have a chance to really talk, but it was still nice to see her though a little awkward for a second. I got a lift with Sasha back to her place and then worked my way back to the mission for the night where I went to bed pretty quickly. Today was more of the same. Working on my blog and web site. Checking e-mail. I did try to contact the USCG cutter EAGLE to see if I could get onboard while she is in port and maybe sail with her on one of her upcoming voyages. I don't think that there are any crew members on board from when I helped out last time, so I may have to start all over again to make it happen. They are doing a trip up to Halifax, NS which would be really nice to get on, since Michael, Emily and I have been talking about going up anyway. I will see if I can get them on too. This afternoon I did a ship visit to the container ship MSC China with Chaplain Steve. I just missed Caitlin dropping by the mission to get some new shoes that she left there the other day. I had hoped to catch her and join her on her way to the airport to see her off, but missed her. :-( Ida, who works in the office at the mission offered me a place to stay and a hot meal at her place tonight. Since it is what I really needed and I didn't have any plans, I took her up on it. That is where I am now. Still getting caught up on my blog. MSC China at Connely Terminal. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 08 Aug 2006 16:57:31 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808195731/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808102226/index.html For the time being any mail can be sent to my parents address or as always to my mail forwarding service in Anacortes, WA. When in doubt check the contact info section of my web page, or refer to this blog for the latest information. 7698 Morgan Rd.Baldwinsville, NY 130271004 Commercial Ave.PMB-301Anacortes, Wa 98221My phone numbers are still the same.Cell: 857-928-9191SKYPE VOIP: 617-381-4141Parents: 315-635-6517Contact Info.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 08 Aug 2006 16:56:26 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808102226/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060807235449/index.html Drawing of me by Caitlin.This morning Caitlin and I went to my favorite breakfast place, Terries Place. We debated it since we knew that the OBEE course going out would be there too, but we where able to get in and out before them. It was nice since I hadn't been there much lately. The Irish waitress recognized me and had a glass of ice for me when I got up to get a bottle of Nantucket Nectar and then asked me if I wanted a chocolate chip muffin and even grilled it without asking. She knew what I always get. :-) Just as we where leaving someone called in to make reservations for eight. Terries' Place is not a place where you make reservations, but it has been crowded at different times when we have gone in for course prep, so we where pretty sure that it was the OBEE staff making the reservation and we where able to get out before them. We thought about leaving a note for them, but didn't want to be around since we were both staffed to be on this course in one capacity or another before each of our plans changed. We left Terries Place and went down to Castle Island to walk around and practiced our Italian from a book that she picked up at the mission. The ship that she will be on is Spanish, but the captain is Italian and that is also the language spoken on board. So she wants to be able to get around and communicate a little there. So we practiced throughout the day. It was fun. We played a little on the playground and then headed back to the mission, quickly passing the OBEE/ Mountain Passages and CWC course start unnoticed. I grabbed my computer and and sun glasses after we relaxed in the sea farers lounge for a little bit, and off we went to the Borders Cafe to use their wireless. We grabbed iced coffees and took turns using my computer to blog and such as I went off to browse the book stacks. Eventually I took a walk around the block and grabbed a Italian sausage sandwich from a street vender. While there, I e-mailed the Sloop Providence to let them know that I am available. In a very short amount of time, I got a call from Rob their executive director, saying he would be glad to have me back, and that it would be Capt. Steve's decision, so I would have to wait for him to get back from vacation. So that looks like it will be a good prospect for me. Katie called us and we rendezvoused with her back at the mission which seems to be our base of operations these days. Katie gave Caitlin a ride home to Cohasset since it looked like it would be a day or two before she flies to Spain. I went along and we got ice cream on the way. After dropping her off we returned to the mission for the night. Katie left early the next morning to do a contract course for the island. Caitlin will make even a tree blush! For her perspective of these events see Caitlin's My Space blog. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 06 Aug 2006 20:54:49 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060807235449/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808170254/index.html I have always wanted to visit Maine Maritime Academy, and now I had my chance. It was a whirl wind visit if that, but now I can say that I have seen it. After our night on the town, Caitlin, Katie, and I jumped into two cars (Caitlin and Katie's) and headed up to Maine. Caitlin is leaving for Spain to work on a private yacht there that is a Schooner doing the classic ship racing circuit in the Mediterranean. Our friend Simon Colley is the chief mate on it and got her the job. Since she would be coming back and going right back to school in Maine she wanted to have her car up there. I offered to help her in any way that I could since I have some time on my hands until I am able to get my things moved off of the island and find my next job. Katie also offered to help. So the three of us took turns driving Katie and Caitlin's cars and keeping each other company all the way up to Maine. We dropped the car off and then found a quiet beach to sleep by for a few hours in the car. In the morning after some rest off we where again driving back down to Boston. We made a quick stop at Ducun Donuts for breakfast and then again close to Boston for Caitlin to do some shopping to get some final things she needed for her trip. We ended back at the New England Seafarers Mission where we started and Katie parted from us there. Caitlin and I stayed together hanging out. After we got settled in at the mission, Caitlin checking her e-mail and going through her things, and I checking in with Steve and Michael who where in since a cruise ship was in, Caitlin and I went for a walk and out for dinner. We went to Central Square and having dinner at a quiet little restaurant there. We return the the mission for the evening and crashed in the Chapel. Caitlin was beat, so fell asleep right way, I stayed up and did some thing including starting to get caught up on this blog! E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 05 Aug 2006 14:02:54 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808170254/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060805211557/index.html Tonight was a much needed fun night out on the town. It started with getting off the island for close to the last time, at least in the immediate future on the 1400 boat. I ran into Capt. Michael and Emily and chatted with them for a couple of minutes and then they dropped me and my bags off at the New England Seafarers Mission. Chaplain Steve was in alone, so I helped him move some groceries up to the connivence store. During this time and before I had been exchanging some phone calls with Sasha and with Capt. Caitlin. Steve was just finishing up, so he gave me a ride to Cambridge where I dropped in on Sasha to spend some time with her and fill her in on what is happening in my life. The time was good but short, since I had to look up showings from Blue Man Group and maybe order tickets so Caitlin and I could go see it tonight. Sasha let me use her shower and bathroom so that I could get cleaned up and change in to my Captains uniform so Caitlin and I could go out on the town in style dressed to the nines. I was in line at the ticket booth to get on the waiting list so that we could have two seats together, Caitlin called to let me know that there was no way that she would be able to make it into town in time (she was having her car worked on today), and said we should just get dinner and asked if Katie could join us, of course she could. Not only that since Caitlin and I were getting all dressed up, Katie would have to as well which is not something that happens often. We all gathered at the New England Seafarer Mission and then headed into town to P.F. Changs in the Theater District. It was a very nice family style Chinese restaurant that I have been meaning to check out. I was glad that I did because it was a very good restaurant and the company was spectacular. After dinner the adventure really started as we all drove up to Maine to Maine Maritime Academy to bring Caitlin's car up there so it would be ready for her when she gets back from Spain and goes back to school. We just to make a quick stop at Sasha's to pick up some things I left there and off we went. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 04 Aug 2006 18:15:57 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060805211557/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060807163228/index.html After some unforeseen circumstances and upon some personal reflection the time has come for me to resign my position as a core staff member at Thompson Island Outward Bound. I had plans to be here long term, but that seemed just to be the "easy" plan. I have not been promoted as quickly as I would like to have been and I have become aware of some other positions that would be a good fit for my skills and experience. I am leaving in such a way as to not burn any bridges and to keep my options open for a future return. I have some personal things that I need to work on and Thompson Island is not the place to work on them right now. Tuesday night some issues came to my attention that started me thinking seriously on this and after meeting with some senior staff members on Thursday morning I chose to resign my position. I have long been thinking of all my friends who have left recently or will soon be leaving (Sasha, Jeff, Logan, Michael...). They where a big reason why I kept coming back and while I have new friends, it just isn't and won't be the same island without them. So I am off to new things now. I have applied for an Adventure Coordinator position at Asbury College in Kentucky (across the street from where I went to Seminary), and have talked with a couple of Tall Ships. In the mean time I will just do some work for Project Adventure and then fill in some on the Sloop Providence after they loose there summer crew. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 03 Aug 2006 13:32:27 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060807163228/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808141840/index.html After debrief for our last OBEE trip, which was a little intense with some feedback that I got and had to give, I jumped on the 11:30 boat off the island and headed off. I may a quick stop at the New England Seafarers Mission to say "hi", and then dropped my laundry off in South Boston. I then jumped on the T and headed to down town crossing where I had a couple of copies of the Friendship crew manual copied and bound and then I had just enough time to make it to Long Wharf to catch the 1400 fast ferry to Proviencetown, MA on Cape Cod. I ordered my ticket the night before and wasn't sure if I would be able to make the 1400 boat so I got it for the 1830 boat. Since I was able to make it, they changed it for me no problem. It was nice to get there early enough to help out, have dinner with the crew and be able to relax a little bit before going to bed. The fast ferry was a fun ride. I grabbed a snack and road up on the fore deck for a little bit. She really moves fast. I am not used to going that fast on the water! After we got out of the harbor, I sat down and napped for a while. I was pretty beat after some late nights and early mornings the last couple of days of course. I got in and stepped into the Pirate museum gift shop on my way up the dock. They had my action figure in stock so I bought a couple so now I have a duplicate set to give away. Then I checked in on the ship stowed my gear and helped with tours and loading cargo demonstrations. We had a great turkey dinner made by a volunteer cook who made great meals the entire time that I was onboard. In the evening I took a little walk around P-Town and picked a couple things up at the army/navy store there. I slept up on deck that evening as it was fairly hot below and I was used to being out in the open after course. Monday morning we got up and underway early. There wasn't much wind so we motored the whole way. We did see some whales of of Stellwagon Bank which was neat. I was able to get my rig orientation out of the way, so I am allowed to climb aloft now. I talked with lots of interesting people some of whom I had met last time that I was onboard. On person has a son that is currently a cadet on the Sloop Providence. John Burn who is a watch officer for Thompson Island from time to time as well was there. I spent a lot of time talking with him and his wife. They are an interesting couple. John has been a watch officer for years and usually does the Island of Hope courses. They actually gave me a ride to the train station after we got back to Salem. We got into Salem with the high tide, which is the only way for Friendship to get in. I caught a train back to Boston, and had enough time to pick up my laundry in South Boston and make the last boat back to the island. It was nice to be able to sleep in my own bed and get some much needed rest that night. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:18:40 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808141840/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808122621/index.html I am doing a little catch up. The dates will all be right when you read this on my blog, but I am actually writing it much latter in an effort to get caught up. This last and my last OBEE trip at least for a time if not ever was a good one. Good Students, Good instructor team, good new explorations and some good challenges. We had an all boy boat this time due to the numbers. Of the three boats only one had girls on it. So this made for an interesting dynamic. However it was a good group of boys and not like my first OBEE trip in 2003 which was all boys and I often refer to it as the OBEE intercept course that I did. (Intercept being the course we do for youth at risk). I learned some things from my students we had two from Needem which I found out has the highest teen depression and suicide rate in the Boston area. We also had two students from Rockport, Ma which is near where we sail on the North Shore, so they provided some local knowledge as well. We covered a lot of distance quickly more than once on this trip. Our first full day underway put us in Salem Sound at Brown/ Crownshield island. We left from Thompson island that morning. The other boats left the night before and one didn't even make it out of the Harbor! The other to Nahant, which is where I usually go on that day. We were trying to get ahead of some storms that where predicted to come the following day. This allowed to do some sail training in Salem sound after visiting Brown island and then do some service at Great Misery Island. One of my great high lights was when I found out that the HIOBS 22 (Indifatigable) was on a mooring on the other side of Great Misery from us. I know they where there, but they did not know where we were. So after evening meeting, I waded ashore, walked accross the island, swam out to their boat, climbed on, untied their rudder, un shipped it and swam it to another mooring where I tied it off, then swam back ashore holding in the laughter. This was all done to get back at Capt. Will (and Erica) for steeling my rudder and tying it to a mooring the trip before in freshwater cover/ Gloucester. I was in glee for days. Since we where ahead of schedule, we got into Gloucester a day early and spent two nights there at two different anchorages. One day we broke the students into three groups and cycled them through some classed on navigation, sail theory and knot tying, that worked really well. Then we shore drilled to do some environmental lessons and Kibuku and I snuck ashore for some burgers and then Chelsea and I for some ice cream. A new exploration was heading up the Essex river one afternoon and evening. I had never been up there and had been wanting to explore it. The tides where right. The weather was predicted to blow a little bit, so we spent some time sailing in plum island sound first before heading into the more sheltered waters of the Essex. There was one place where the tide was really pushing us and we had to use ferry angles to keep from hitting things as we moved back and forth across the current. The Essex is known for being really shallow at low tide. We found this out when we anchored for the night as close to the channel as we could and at low tide the front quarter of the boat was aground in the mud. It didn't hold us up at all since we wanted to move with the end of the flood anyway. The following morning we went all the way into Essex and went to the Essex ship building museum. The students where really into it. More two masted vessels where built in Essex than in any other city in the world. Which is impressive since some of them where close to 200' long and there where places that our little 30' pulling boat had to be careful coming in. On the way out we decided to head to our resupply spot by going around the back side of hog island, which is all mud flats at low tide. We made it around with no problems using the steering oar, Chelsea at the con and tried something new. Kibuku was very insistant that we try this since no one else had ever done it, at least in recent memory. Everyones favorite high point of the trip was after the resupply when we head out of the Castle Neck river with the ebb and caught the flood just right to get down the Anisquam River. When we got to the half way point the tide was against us, but not too badly, so we kept going and going, under the railroad bridge it was a bit strong but doable after then opened for us. Then the big challenge to go under the Blyman bridge into Gloucester Harbor against max flood. The bridge opened for us and we hit it with power strokes and all eight oars. We got past the half way point and rowing with all our might we were standing still or just creeping inches with each stroke so we had to bail out. There was a crowd along the bridge who got out of their cars to watch us try. A bystander offered a tow, so we went back a little ways dropped the anchor and waited for him. This second try with a little less current and a tow we made in through to cheering crowds and anchored in the Gloucester inner harbor for the night. We were also able to visit the Friendship in Salem to do service on the way back, staying at their guest dock for a night. The last day we traveled from Short beach in Nahant all the way back to Thompson Island, beating to weather all the way. Fortunately this students had the sailing down and where able to hold a course to weather. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 30 Jul 2006 09:26:21 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060808122621/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060716005922/index.html Capt Will and Capt Rusty relaxing the evening before course prep. After a couple days of working for Project Adventure and just a couple of days of rest I am back at it again. I am just wrapping up my preparation for another Outward Bound Environmental Expedition and will be meeting my students tomorrow. I have a good instructor team with me. I have Kibuku who is a lead instructor and another core staff member like myself and Chelsea who is one of the new watch officers as my co- captain. After having such great success with a co- captain last time (Caitlin) I asked for one again and they actually gave me one! With a co- captain I am also more in a mentor rule with them, which I also really enjoy and it seems to be working well. It is late, I wish had more time to write, but I want to go into my course well rested. Maybe when I get back I will be able to fill in the gaps here and from the last course. Intern Shanti at Porter Square station on the way to get ice cream after a full day of course prep. If anyone wants to write or send a care package (wink wink nudge nudge), I do get mail while on course as do the students. If you send cookies or other treats be sure to send enough for eight students and three instructors. I will be on course until July 29, 2006. Capt. Rusty Rice, OBEE 36-Cc/o TIOBECPO Box 127Boston, MA 02127I can also get e-mail on course if you send it to OBEE@thompsonisland.org Captain's Medicine to make it through course. :-)E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 15 Jul 2006 21:59:22 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060716005922/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060713192127/index.html Check out the new photo albums on my web site from my recent Outward Bound Environmental Expedition. Capt. Rusty the Watch Officer of the Marshall Dodge Captain Caitlan OBEE 35-C Students Photo Albums E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:21:27 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060713192127/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060712181920/index.html I have added a new movie on my web site from my last trip. Ever seen a rowing machine? Check this out. Rowing Machine My Movies E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:19:20 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060712181920/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060712124046/index.html I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Man's Chest again last night. This time with my shipmate from the Providence Chris Mancinni, Sasha, Adam and a friend of Chris's. Here are a couple pictures to assist you in picking me out of the background. In the opening scene where the boats are storming the beach, you can see me jumping out of one of the boats and holding the bow. There where only six boats in the filming so where you see more than that, they CGI'ed more boats in. So I may be in the same frame up to three times, but you have to look really closely. In the scene on board the merchant ship where the sailors are fighting over a dress, look over the shoulder of the bald guy and you will see me (Minus the glasses) for a second taking up the upper left corner of the screen. You can see my shoulder at the end of that last scene too. Look for the green shirt that you see me wearing in this picture. There are a few shots of me rowing in the background, but I am really small and blurry and you would have to know it was me. Any time you see a row boat with sacks of cotton in the bow, that is me rowing or steering. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 12 Jul 2006 09:40:46 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060712124046/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060709232336/index.html Today I saw Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Man's Chest for the first time. It was bit overwhelming. I had just gotten off of course and had the final debriefing with my co-captain and course director. I wasn't planning on getting off island until the afternoon because I had to pack for a few days since I had two maybe three days of work with Project Adventure, which means I can't stay on the island and get to Project Adventure in time. I was walking down the dock talking with Bashire our program director about some things, when I was grabbed by Dan Evans another watch officer, and some others who where on course with me and was told we are going to go see the movie. I didn't even have my wallet on me, but was assured that I would be covered. So I gave in and went with them. Capt. Michael and I had planned to sneak off the island earlier, but even though it was approved by Bashire, a stop was put to it. So Michael already had tickets from then that he got a rain check for and passed on to me. Dan and I went to find out about the showing and to get tickets. While we waited we grabbed a bite to eat then all went in. It was overwhelming because I didn't even have a chance to sit down, relax and get into the movie. The opening scene was one that we had spent days working on, and somehow the days were reduced to seconds and flashes on the screen. I was able to pick myself out of that one, as where some others who had scene the movie separate from me. It was easy to pick me out rowing because I knew what boat I was in, but you have to believe me when I tell you it was me. The other big scene that I knew I was in, I didn't catch my face the first time, but I did see my shoulder and knew it was me. After the movie I walked with the crew to the pub (Caitlin was the first to ask for my autograph), and then headed back to the boat to get back to the island, pack my things for a few days and leave again. I spent the night at the Seafarers mission and then was off to work for Project Adventure the next two mornings. Capt. Will Davies and Myself at the Movies.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 09 Jul 2006 20:23:36 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060709232336/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060709231943/index.html I just got off my first open enrollment expedition of the summer and it was excellent! E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 09 Jul 2006 20:19:43 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060709231943/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060624234133/index.html The past two days of been my preparation for my Outward Bound Environmental Expedition. This is my first long sailing expedition of the summer. Tomorrow I meet my students and we are gone for two weeks. So there will be a two week dry spell on my blog, but I am sure that I will have lots of stories and pictures to share when I get back. I am a little behind on blogging, but with expeditions starting up, I don't think that What I have missed or not written detailed information on will be caught up. Stay tuned for blogs about expeditions though. Me and my boat the Marshall Dodge. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:41:33 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060624234133/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060624235532/index.html Will and I spent a good part of the day looking at tall ships in port and wandering around Boston. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:55:32 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060624235532/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060624235724/index.html Today for the second year in a row I got to train the ASTA interns in a day of team building. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:57:24 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060624235724/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618214905/index.html E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 18 Jun 2006 18:49:05 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618214905/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618204828/index.html This Sunday was a contract with the MIT MITES program. The group was a group of treachers assistants (TA) for a program through MIT that reaches out to bright but under privileged high school students to prepare them to get into a high tech school like MIT. There where 17 of them, most of which had gone through the program themselves. Rather than split them up, we worked with them as one large group. Their where four staff on the course, all leads. Matt, Christian, Mickey and myself. Paul the new contracts apd was the course director for the program. It was a hot day, so we tried to stay in the shade and drink lots of water. In the afternoon we all did the dangle quad, and then pretty much called it a day. I came off of the island on the 1930 boat, since I have to work for Project Adventure tomorrow and need to catch an early train. The Pride of Baltimore Sailing into port. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 18 Jun 2006 17:48:28 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618204828/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002636/index.html It was bitter sweet. It was a celebration for the eighth graders for their Graduation, but for us all it was said as it would be the last graduation of the Willauer Middle School on Thompson Island as it is closing its doors for the last time with the end of this term. I attended the graduation for many reasons. I have substitute taught and have been a guest speaker in their classes over my years here. I have grown to know some of the students. Logan, the principle is a very good friend of mine and I wanted to support her. The students just got off of a tall ship expedition, so I of course was very supportive of that. I wish that I could have gone myself! It was a saturday so I got to sleep in a little bit before the ceremonies. I dressed up in my merchant marine officers uniform for the event. I am of course always looking for an excuse to wear it. Things wrapped up around two after a lunch shared by everyone. I tool the rest of the afternoon to rest and do some odds and ends to get ready for summer expeditions. I had purchased a traditional 18th century straw hat and painted the name of my boat the Marshall Dodge on the front of it and then painted Outward Bound on the ribbon on the back. I borrowed some small screw drivers from Capt. Michael and after talking with him and Emily for a little bit, I fixed my prescription sunglasses with some parts that I had ordered for them. Late at night before going to bed, I was board so google searched a couple old girlfriends to see what they are up to now. Marie, my first and the one who taught me how to sail lives in Rhode Island now and has her own marine environmental consulting business. She is younger than I and has her own business. I feel like I would be judged by her if she knew that I was mostly still doing the same thing that I was when we dated in the mid nineties. I feel like I should be doing more. She has a 50 ton inland masters license so I got some consolation in knowing that I have a 200 ton near coastal master. She also appears to be married now since she has a hyphenated last name. Carol came up on a couple recent jobs, but I couldn't see what she is doing now. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 16 Jun 2006 21:26:36 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002636/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002518/index.html Today not only did I get to check out our new zip line, I also got trained and checked off on it. Allie, The OBP intern. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:25:18 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002518/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618211825/index.html On my way back to the dock from North Station heading back to the island after a day at Project Adventure, I ran into three former ship mates in three minutes time. All happened to be from the Niagara. They are all on different ships now too. Earlier in the week I ran into Matt a ship mate from the Sloop Providence who is now on the Spirit of Massachusetts. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2006 18:18:25 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618211825/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002342/index.html

I debated it for a while and was hoping that it would come down to this, but for me to do the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, I called in sick and went to work for Project Adventure today.

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]]> Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:23:42 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002342/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002242/index.html The main focus of this week was all staff training, starting first with the already mentioned curriculum training, then followed by three days of training concerning policies and things that we need to know to run trips this summer. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:22:42 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002242/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002146/index.html I missed the first two days of OBEE training. The third found us at the New England Aquarium. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:21:46 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002146/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002106/index.html I made it home this weekend to surprise my dad at his surprise retirement party. After 31 years, he is retiring from Centro bus in Syracuse, NY. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 10 Jun 2006 21:21:06 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618002106/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618001919/index.html Waking up with the rest of the crew in the focsil, I joined a ship mate on a dunkin donuts run. I was given a safety orientation by one of the crew members. It is mostly a volunteer crew with some professional national parks people. I was put into a watch of new people to stand by and watch and then help out when needed. I wasn't able to go aloft, because I hadn't been through their training yet. Once we got going, given my back ground, I was allowed to help out quite a bit. I got to know a couple other visitors and interpreted the harbor for them. The USS Constitution got under way at about the same time as us. SHe did not set any sail, they don't even have them pent on yet! It was a nice adventure and I took some pictures of the Constitution underway. I needed to take off soon after we got back to catch my train to Syracuse. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 09 Jun 2006 21:19:19 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618001919/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618001827/index.html My comp day, finally. After sleeping in a little bit, I headed off the island on a mid day boat and grabbed an Outward Bound truck from a group that was getting back from Canoe training and headed down to Fairhaven, MA to return some sextants that we had borrowed from Northeast Maritime Institute to use with out Harbor School program. After I returned the sextants since I was in the area anyway, I headed over to the New Bedford Whaling museum and checked it out again. I have visited a couple years ago after the ASTA conference when it was in Providence. I needed a hair cut to, so I found a local barber shop before heading back up to Boston. When I got back into town, I dropped my things off at the mission after dropping my things off and then headed into town. I swung by the friendship to see if they had any berths for the night since I had to be on early enough in the morning that I couldn't stay on the island. So I dropped the keys off at the 2000 boat and brought my sea bag down to the Friendship and started meeting the crew and learning the lines. Emily Rolling came by to see me, so I showed her around the deck and Adam came by a little bit latter to see the same. Emily and I went out for a bite at a pub called Mr. Doolies, which had some nice Irish music playing from a live band. I hope to revisit it. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:18:27 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060618001827/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060613212540/index.html I am way behind on my blog, so I am going to do my best to get caught up. Stay tuned for at least pictures. I did some catching up, now I am only about a week behind. Maybe I can get all caught up now before I head out on expedition and get behind again!Rusty E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:25:40 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060613212540/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060608201404/index.html

Thursday was going to be a day off for me. I had a comp day coming. Wednesday night I found out of a need for a staff member for an OBP course which is normally big money. So I said I would do it. The message didn't get to Colin soon enough, he found someone, but could still use me on support. The group a MIT international business leadership course did the rafting inititive first. so I was out in a Kayak to do a rescue just in case they needed one. I spent a lot of the rest of the day getting the Corn Crib in order which is where we store pfd's, foulies and some gear for sailing and sea kayaking. I had some things I needed to tidy up from the Harbor School and hadn't the chance to yet. Since I was only on support and I did some thing more related to my regular job, the day was counted as a regular work day and my comp day was shifted to Friday.

I spent the evening packing since when I got off the island on Friday I would not be returning to Monday evening.

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]]> Thu, 08 Jun 2006 17:14:04 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060608201404/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060607225811/index.html

It was another day course today. It was rainy and windy. This group was also staying the night. I didn't think it was a good day to do the Alpine tower or climbing wall. Choices was still climbing it, so we did too. Only one or two people in my group climbed the alpine wall, and then we stopped because the students where getting too wet and cold an no one wanted to climb. We got them changed into some warmer clothes and then did lunch. After lunch we did some activities in indoor spaces and set up some of the high elements in the gym for them to do. After dinner all the groups could either go to the gym and climb or come to me and have "Fun with Capt. Rusty". With played a bunch of fun games up in the Gardner Auditorium some of the ones I played dated back to my youth group days. Winkum was a popular one with them.

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]]> Wed, 07 Jun 2006 19:58:11 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060607225811/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060606104129/index.html Today I was working a day course with the Beaver Country Day School. Paul our new contracts person was our course director. The group was using the Alpine Tower and wall. We where a bit understaffed for it, but it was our new staffing associates first time staffing such a course. I was the site manager and it was my first time site managing for a course here on Thompson Island. I set up everything by myself and then took it all down at the end of the day by myself too. I had just enough time to make it to the 1700 boat when I was done. Will passed his captains test, so I took him out for a root beer at a favorite cafe. Then I picked up some photo paper so I could print out some pictures for my room, and back to the island. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 06 Jun 2006 07:41:29 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060606104129/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060605175424/index.html Colin OBP program director. Carl, out ACA sea kayaking instructor.This weekend, I had the professional development opportunity to go through an ACA Sea Kayaking instructor training. There is need for some male sea kayaking staff at the end of the summer and I am in the pool of possible people to go out on that course so then put me through the ACA training to help prepare me for that possibility and for me to see if I would be comfortable with it. Because I was needed elsewhere I wasn't able to go through the Thompson Island based training. They will catch me up latter on that if they need to. It was a good training and fun. I taught the navigation section of it and the instructor said I did a better job than he does and he said he would send some work my way to teach some nav classes for him. Emily, Kayaking Course director.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:54:24 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060605175424/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060606104055/index.html

This evening I got a call from Fielding. She was trying to get ahold of Capt. Michael because there was someone who needed to get off of the pulling boat for a family emergency. I went and found Michael. His deck hand joined us, and I grabbed Will, when I grabed my chart sounding lead and some other gear that we needed. We took the Outrage out to Boston light, where the sea staff was on a mooring for their training. It was Chelsea, her grandmother was ill and could die, so she needed to get to her and be with family. There wasn't time for her to get her things for the 1930 boat, so Michael had me run her accross to EDIC (the Boston side dock) in the Outrage. Colin was leaving on the 1930, so stuck around to join us. On the way back Jamie, the logistics person, and Logan joined us. I beat the Outward Bound there, even though she left before us and the same on the way back. It was a nice evening.

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]]> Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:59:55 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060606104055/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602234104/index.html Today a raccoon was caught in a trash can, and didn't decide to come out until it was being loaded on the boat to go off of the island. It was spoked so climbed a piling until the boat left. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:41:04 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602234104/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602232124/index.html Tuesday was the last of the Harbor School Day Sails. The weather was looking like maybe it could be too windy, but it actually turned out ok. Wednesday was our prep for the over night. We where able to get all of the prep work done in the morning and have the afternoon to ourselves. On Wednesday I found out that we would be running only four boats rather than five, so one Watch Officer and one assistant would have to stay behind. I was asked to stay behind and to take over the role of course director since we officially didn't have one and I had been basicly doing it anyway. So I finally got my promotion to course director. I had gone through the training for course director shortly before and got my check off form completed to be able to do so. So I was waiting for this opportunity to present itself. Some of us got up early to prep the boats on Thursday. We where ready when the students arrived and where is much better shape than we where the week before. One assistant that showed up had other things to do, so didn't mind going back and not sailing, so that worked out well with the one that we needed to leave behind. It was a little different to be all involved in the prep and getting the boats ready, and then not to go out myself. Then in the midst of doing other things, I had to wait by the phone for them to call in and to be sure they are safe. There was some weather that came through while they where out, but they where tied up at the island at the time, so all was ok. They where able to get back to Thompson Island on friday before the storms as well. I was great to see the boats all sailing in together. After all was cleaned up and packed away and we had a quick debrief, we all got on the 1600 boat and headed ashore. It was pay day so I rushed off to cash and deposit check, and then joined some of the others for drinks at a little cafe we like. The drinks where on me, since I was the course director and they did a good job with the course. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:21:24 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602232124/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602233515/index.html Sisters Tiffany and Natasha.After our prep day for the Harbor School, I headed into Boston on the 1600 ferry. First I joined Mike and Emily at a bar called the Independent. Mike meets his friends mostly going back to High School after work each week. So I went along and grabbed a bite to eat as well. A woman that I met on New Years Eve was there. She was interested in dating me before I headed out to work on the Lady Washington. I wasn't interested and haven't talked to her since I left for the Lady, so that was a bit awkward. I was saved by leaving to go meet up with Natasha, Tiffany and Adam, which was a new adventure. Mike dropped me off in Porter square, where I bumped into Amann, who will be my course director for a course this summer, and who was a watch officer with me last summer. Then it was phone tag, well just me leaving messages trying to get to Natasha. Adam called and gave me directions to within a couple houses of where everyone was. After I started to leave, then Natasha reached me and it was getting to time to head back to the last boat, so we picked up Adam, then Tiffany Natasha and I just had ice cream in the car on the way to the dock. Tiffany almost came to the island for the night but, an early morning meeting (even though she works close to the dock) made her decide not to come out. They made me pose this way. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 31 May 2006 20:35:15 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602233515/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602233811/index.html Today after our sail with The Harbor School, I rented a truck from zip car. Zip Car is a company in Boston and other cities that you can join that allows you to use cars hourly which are parked throughout the city. The rental included gas and insurance which is a pretty good deal. I used my Zip car to go up to Billerica, MA and pick up a futon and frame that I bought off of Craigs list for only $70. I have had it a couple weeks now and I am loving it. After I got it all put together, Will, Shawn, and Dan all came by to sit on it and break it in. Some rum got broken out which lead to a late night of sea stories. It is a bunk bed futon frame, so I have the top bunk for storage. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 30 May 2006 20:38:11 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060602233811/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060613211426/index.html I am way behind on my blog, so I am going to do my best to get caught up. Stay tuned for at least pictures. I am going to do my best to try to get this caught up before I go out on my first expedition. So there will be at least a brief synopsis on things. Rusty E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 30 May 2006 18:14:26 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060613211426/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060529221614/index.html Continental Sloop ProvidenceToday I went down to Providence to help out the crew with whatever work they where doing on this memorial day. So it was the first boat off of the island for me, which wasn't until 0800 because of the holiday schedule and then the next train down to Providence. Adria the educational coordinator for the Providence picked me up and gave me a ride down to the Sloop. Jill my good friend and Ship mate from the Niagara is now on board. It was great to see her again and catch up with her on her sea semester/ trip around the world. It was good to see Capt. Steve as well who I had lunch with at the new crew apartment that they are renting from former Captain, Austin Becker. I spent most of the day helping Jill and a friend of one of the new Watch Officers up here (Alice) work on the new boom to replace the one that was made to replace the one we broke in the Gulf of Mexico last year. It was a hot day and I think I got a little sun burn. They quiet work early at 1530. Jill and I went to get a quick bite to eat and I showed her some pictures and then I caught the last train out that would still allow me to make the 2000 boat back to the island. Capt. Michael showed me a movie that a friend of his made about him and the M/V Outward Bound. Then I retired to my room for the evening to prepare for tomorrow. It looks like we will have some interesting weather, which should not be a surprise because it is another sail for the Harbor school. Jill HughesE-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 29 May 2006 19:16:14 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060529221614/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060528213206/index.html Natasha, Sasha, and Emily.Today was close to a typical free Sunday in Boston. I got up, made sure that things were well with the Boy Scout group as they where leaving, and caught the boat ashore myself. I had a nice leisurely walk to South Station, and caught the red line to Central Square. I dropped by Natasha's. She had some people visiting from New York. I rode with them to church. I only went to sacrament this morning. I caught Sasha who was leaving early as well. She gave me a ride to North Station and I hung out with her for a little bit at her place before she dropped me off. At North Station I was picked up by Emily and we headed down to Hull and Nantasket for the afternoon. So I got to spend the day with three wonderful women each individually or mostly so. It is no secrete either since they all read my blog! :-) For Emily and I, it was our plan to go to the Hull Lifesaving Museum today. During the week you can take a commuter boat from Boston in about 25 minutes, but it doesn't run on the weekend and it took us over an hour to get there. It was a very pleasant drive down with lots of green scenery and big New England Houses. When we got to Hull, which I had never been to by land before, only by boat, we found that the Life Saving Museum was closed because they did not have a volunteer to run it today. Fortunately we found that Nantasket was a very little nice beach town that I did not know about. I will have to take my parents there next time they are in town, they would like it. We grabbed a bit to eat at a nice beach restaurant, they went for a walk and grabbed some ice cream at an ice cream stand it was this great chocolate raspberry flavor. Then we walked on the beach and put our feet in the water. We drove back on a different route roughly following the shore line. I saw some places up close that I had always wanted to see which was cool. We got back to her place and walked down to the Constitution and it had just closed. This was the second time that we had missed it. We went for a walk, grabbed a drink and then I headed back to catch the 2000 boat. I need to get ready to head down to the Providence tomorrow to help out and to see Jill.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sun, 28 May 2006 18:32:06 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060528213206/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060528213003/index.html Today I was stuck on the island all day as duty officer. I shouldn't really say "stuck" since I chose it and it was a good day of rest. There was a Boy Scout group coming out to the island, and they needed someone on the island to be a contact person for them. I said I would do it since it meant an extra day of pay. Since I would be here all day anyway, I told Fielding that I would cover her duty officer day for her. I also told Colin that since I was here, I could do some challenge course stuff for him too. He gave me a list of stuff that I could do if I wanted to, but I never did get to it. The Boy Scout group wasn't supposed to come until 1730, but then ended up getting to the island on the noon boat at 1230. So I am glad that I was on the island to assist them. They were low maintenance for me, but the leaders didn't have the group organized well and had students wondering around without adult supervision. I checked on them again in the evening and everything was still fine even though Jackie's dog ran through the group unattended while they where playing base ball. Also today a couple former watch officers and staff came out for a sail. Among them one of my avid blog readers and fans Capt. John Vonk. I wish I had grabbed a picture to throw on here since he is such a fan. In was in the area for some Coast Guard Training. I wish I could have interacted with him more, but they came to sail and where off and I was "stuck" on the island. They had some non staff people with them as well. I had to be the barer of bad news and let them know that they needed screened medical forms to be able to go out. They where able to work it all out though so I am glad for that. I decided to try to get on the USS constitution for their next turnaround, so I am trying to get a hold of the right person to do so. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Sat, 27 May 2006 18:30:03 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060528213003/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060527152756/index.html

Tonight I got to see one of my favoritest people. Katie Cartier got back on the island for new staff and diversity training on thursday night. I went over to the dining hall for dinner and to find her, which I did. She greeted me with a great big hug, a couple actually. It was good to see her. She came to use my computer to check her e-mail as Dan, Chelsea and I watched an episode of Firefly. I went up to her room to hang out with her latter.

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]]> Fri, 26 May 2006 12:27:56 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060527152756/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060527142550/index.html Thursday and Friday this week was the Harbor School's over night sail to Lovells Island in Boston Harbor. The weather was nearly perfect for it. It took us some time to get all the boats loaded and issues like med forms worked through. We had four boats and we all got off of the dock fairly close to each other. It was a nice sail, we sailed most of the way and rowed a little bit too, making it to Lovell island in good time. There was a NPS ranger there to meet us that would be working with the group some. Fielding our marine operations manager asked that if we could that we should take her out for a sail. So a few stayed behind to watch the boats and the rest of the staff sailed with her over to George's Island to see if the snack bar is open. It wasn't be she gave us a private tour of the Fort Warren which was very nice. When we got back before dinner I made a couple of phone calls, calling Natasha, and then giving Erin Gutbrod a call since I hadn't talked to her in a while. She is going to be doing an internship at a telescope in Arizona which sounds cool. We (the Outward Bound Staff) made our own menu for ourselves since we weren't eating with the students or doing anything with them once we got to the island. The Ranger Kelly joined us and Mitsu one of their teachers who used to work for Thompson Island hung out with us some as well. It was a very good chicken curry meal, and I experimented making a peach cobbler which did not cook all the way through since people where too impatient to wait. It took a while to bake because I was using an improvised bake packer set up to cook it. The part that was completely cooked turned out well. I had a really good AWO on this trip which is always nice. Sean Patch one of our new watch officers in training. It was nice because I could trust things to him and didn't have to worry if it was being done properly. I even turned the con over to him a couple of times. We all slept on our boats so that we could watch them through the night, and then it was an early morning to get underway to make it back to Thompson Island in time for the school to catch the boat off of the island in time. Which we all did with only a short row, mostly sailing. We got in off loaded the students and spent the rest of the afternoon getting all of the boats cleaned and out on the moorings. Then we signed in our boats and gear while the AWO's did the rest of the camping type gear. When all was done we debriefed. After then taking care of my own things I didn't have time to clean up to make the boat, so I didn't it rained anyway, and I didn't need to get off of the island. I showered up and relaxed for the rest of the evening. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 26 May 2006 11:25:50 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060527142550/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524233345/index.html I got back onto the island and helped with COI's (the Coast Guard Inspection to renew the certificates of inspection on our pulling boats). We just had to make sure all the boats where rigged and had all of their safety equipment on them. After that we demonstrated a man overboard drill for them. They told us that we had one of the quickest recover times that they have ever seen. Things went well and quickly, and we had some time, so just went out for a short sail with some of the staff on the upcoming Harbor school sail. Watch Officers Dan Evans, and Bill Assistant Watch Officers Corry Crammer and KibukuAfter our little sail, we spent the rest of the day prepping for the Harbor School sail. Getting all of our equipment together, making sure the boats where ready and deciding who would be working with who on the boats. We have a good group of staff for this course. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Wed, 24 May 2006 20:33:45 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524233345/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524231221/index.html Tuesday night after helping out with the pulling boats at the bosun's shed, I got cleaned up and slipped off of the island. Three tall ships where in port and I was planning on catching a movie with some friends from church a nice evening plan. I was able to check my e-mail quickly before catching the boat to confirm my plans, and turn my cell service back on, so I could reach people while off island. I had some time to kill when I got to the Boston side of the harbor at 1630. So I walked to the Barking Crab with three of the Willauer School Teachers, Emily, Erin and Mara for a drink. I had a root beer since they server Harpoon (a small brewery in Boston) root beer, which I have yet to find anywhere else. We had a good conversation and Natasha called to fill me in on the evening plans. Emily and I split some shrimp. After some good conversation we decided that we should be on our ways. Erin and Emily where on foot, so we walked over to fan pier at the court house to look at the two schooners there, the Spirt of Massachusetts and the Harvey Gammage. The Willauer school will be going on their spring expedition on the Harvey Gammage and the Westward, so it was good for the teachers to see them. I found out today when Chris Mancini one of my ship mates from the Providence called that another ship mate Matt is on board the Spirt of Massachusetts. I wish that I knew that when I was down there! The Roseway is also in over at Rowes Wharf (Boston Harbor Hotel), so I walked with them as far as there to see her too. Simon Colley a mentor of mine was the captain of it last summer and a good portion of our new watch officer trainees where at the crew at the time as well. TIffany, Natasha's sister works not too far from the court house, so Natasha was going to pick her up there, so I stuck around in the area after looking at the schooners. Natasha called when she was close by so I walked over to where her sister works and she picked us both up. We headed over to Allston I think and caught the Da Vinci Code there. Adam, and a friend of his in a wheel chair joined us at the Theater. Tiffany's and Natasha's room mate was already with us in the car. We missed the previews, but where right on time for the movie. I enjoyed it, but don't get what all the contriversy over it is. It is clearly fiction and the "conspiricy theories" are hundreds of years old. Of course I am used to hearing them from my seminary and religious studies I am sure. However is someone looses their faith over a movie like this, I would say that they have a very week faith. The knowledge of symbols that the lead character had was inspiring and made me wonder what it would have been like if I went that route and engaged in those types of studies in my PhD work. I suppose I could always try to do that again someday. I enjoyed the movie, but need to see it again to take it all in. I did not read the book as many other people have and I really have little interest in doing so. After the movie, I went home with Natasha and all of her room mates. We talked for a bit in the car and Natasha and I continued to engate in converstaion in between her calls to mom and to family members with birthdays that day. She got me a rock from Utah when she was home last week, because it reminded her of me as it was shaped kind of like a sail to her. that was nice, I have it displayed in a prominate location in my room. Since I had long missed the last boat to the island as I had planned, I crashed on the futon in their living room. In the morning I was the first up, so I let myself out. I grabbed a rasberry Mocha from starbucks on my way to the t-stop Dan and Chealse where waiting at the same t stop as I since they went out for bluegrass music the night before. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 23 May 2006 20:12:21 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524231221/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524222002/index.html The Harbor school has had no matter or luck at all when it has come to the weather for their sailing program. They where supposed to sail with us on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for their expedition this Thursday and Friday. Monday the wind was blowing at 25 kts with gusts to 30kts, so it was too much for them to sail since they had never sailed before. Their was a 9:30 boat to get the Choices students, so the school just turned around and hadn't back to class, and wasn't interested in the plan that we came up with as an alternative for them. Tuesday the winds weren't quite as strong, but there were white caps and it was rough at the dock, so it was deemed not good conditions again. This time they did take us up and we did four stations with them outside on topic such as navigation 201, soundings, celestial navigation (sextants), and using the log book. We had some plans for them in the afternoon too, before they leave on the 1400 boat, but they decided to do their own thing, and go through the students gear to get them ready for the expedition. Captains Comeing Corry Krammer Teaching on the sextant. A student using a sextant. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Tue, 23 May 2006 19:20:02 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524222002/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524223927/index.html On monday I was thinking of getting off the island to pick up a futon bunk bed that I purchased on craigslist.com, but I ran into Michael and he told me that meagan a mutual friend of ours and one of the first people that I met when I first came to Thompson Island, was coming out to the island for a visit. She went to high school with Michael and was a deck hand when I first got here. It was through her that I became friends with Michael. So I stayed on the island and joined them for a cookout. Margaret another friend of Michael's who I have heard of and who had heard of me and refers to me as "Tall Ship Rusty" came out too. Meagan and I went for a walk with her dog and got caught up. It was a nice cookout with good food and I joined them on the ferry ride back running it on the trip over from the island. Meagan Mahoney, Emily Grouber, Margaret.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Mon, 22 May 2006 19:39:27 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060524223927/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060520225622/index.html

This weekend I went through course director training. This past week I was able to get checked off on everything that I needed to have checked off to be a course director. I currently do not have anything on my schedule as a course director, maybe as an assistant, but maybe this will put me in a good place for next summer to have it all out of the way, or if I am needed in a pinch, I am all checked off and trained up. It is a good group of people that they have for course directors this year.

Sunday night some of us in Course Director training and others from the WFR training went to our office on shore for a training on the Harbor School curriculum that I conducted. I was able to get some sextants lent to us from Northeast Maritime Institute for the program. Fielding was able to pick them up for us on Sunday.



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]]> Sun, 21 May 2006 19:56:22 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060520225622/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060515155523/index.html This week was spent working with Colin, the program director for the OBP (Outward Bound Professional) program maintaining the challenge course. I have been unofficially made the assistant challenge course manager, which I like. The rain prevented getting some things done, but some equipment on the course was able to be replaced, some clearing of brush and limbs in the vicinity of some of the courses was done, and some old cables and platforms that where removed from some trees where able to be cleaned up and trashed. Tuesday was training for the senior site managers on the new no transfer belay system. I was invited to attend since I am assigned to do work on the course this week. The other attenders where Noelle, vice president of programs, Mara assitant program director, Bashire Choices program director, Raul choices course director and it was run by Colin program director for Outward Bound Professional, so I was in good company. In the afternoon the board of trustees came out to do the course including the president, so I was able to get checked off as site manager. I am the first of the core staff to be checked off as diamond course site manager. So it was a good week on the course, and hopefully set the basis for much more work like it. Thursday morning I had to go in for my annual drug test. Dan Evans, one of our new Watch Officiers, but old to Outward Bound (PCOBS) went with me. We grabbed breakfast at Terries place before hand since it had been a while since I had been there and he hadn't been there before. It looked like a whole new staff there, but the grilled chocolate chip muffins where still good. Friday was a comp day, so I helped out as deck hand on the m/v Outward Bound for some extra money. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Fri, 19 May 2006 12:55:23 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060515155523/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060520225552/index.html Tonight I helped out with the wilderness first responder class as the safety officer on their night simulation. Vikki the instructor (the same one who taught me both times that I took it on the island), is teaching solo, so needed someone to help out with the night sim, just to keep an eye on things and help out if there was a real emergency. Zach asked me if I would do it and of course I said yes. It was great fun and the team really had it together. I need to look into working for one of the wilderness medicine instruction companies. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Wed, 17 May 2006 19:55:52 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060520225552/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060516170130/index.html For those of you that are involved with the Harbor School sailing program we are doing, I have added some things for you to the download page of my web site. There is a document explaining the curriculum, a page for the log book, and directions for the Mark III sextant. This may be of general interest to others as well. There are other documents that may be of interest to you as well. My Downloads Page For Harbor School Look for the following documents: Harbor School5-1.doclogbookhourlies.xlsMark III Sextant Instructions.pdfE-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Tue, 16 May 2006 14:01:30 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060516170130/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060514141542/index.html And yes, I did call my mother and wish her a happy Mother's day first thing this morning. I hadn't had a chance to mail her her gift yet. I wasn't in a rush like I normally am on a Sunday morning because I slept in and missed the first boat off the island to make church. It was not my intention to sleep in, but I was up a little bit late last night and since I don't use an alarm clock and usually wake with the sun coming in my window, it didn't work too well today because of all the rain. It has rained all week and it is expected to rain for another. I am disappointed that I didn't make church, even though Natasha is home in Utah, I still wanted to see Adam and Sasha if they where there today. I think it will be a couple weeks before I can get back there. So today I will shower and do some work on Harbor School curriculum, and hopefully put the finishing touches on it. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 14 May 2006 11:15:42 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060514141542/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060513205540/index.html Last night I worked until 2100 on the boat and got off on the Boston side at 2130 and headed over to North Station where I caught the commuter rail up to Beverly, MA. I did not realize how tired I was until I got on the train and was falling asleep as soon as I sat down! I was worried that I would miss my stop! It was a pretty quick trip though. I got in in Beverly and went into the bar right there by the depot to see if they could call me a cab. I had a coke while I waited. The driver didn't know the way to Project Adventure's Moraine Farm, so had to call for directions, but we go there. I had a room in the conference center. I went in and went right to bed because I was so beat. I had a great nights sleep and woke refreshed. It was still raining and reports say it will rain through next friday. Because of the weather the group, actually canceled, but Angel the director of Youth and College age programs talked them into still coming and we would stay inside. So they got there over an hour late. Which worked out fine. We planned a bunch of portables to do inside, including this new portable tp shuffle/ wild woozy... thing, that I may look into buying for myself. The group was the cast and crew of a children's public television called Camp Fetch. It used to be called Zoom kinds and it is produced by WGBH, Boston which does lots of public television shows. One of the crew members was an intern on Sesame Street as a muppet wrangler and had been inside the Snuffalophagus suite. It was a good group, since there goals where mainly for the new cast and crew to get to know each other doing portables inside worked really well. After we where all done Angel dropped me off at the train station. I had about 40 minutes to the train, so I went to a nearby chinese restaurant for dinner. Once I got back to North Station, I hoped on the T and slowly worked my way back to the dock. The group left some donuts at Project Adventure, so I brought them to the boat crew and then left in the kitchen when I got back on the island. I heard rumors of flooding on the island and was very glad that my room was not among them that where flooded. Since today was my first day officially working for Project Adventure, I was given a guide for challenge course operations that they publish and my own PA t-shirt. I plan for a relaxing evening tonight. Maybe I will watch a movie since I haven't in a while. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sat, 13 May 2006 17:55:40 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060513205540/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060512092947/index.html Container Ship in the Boston Harbor Main Ship Channel. Willauer Middle School Teachers Emily, Erin and Mara. Can you guess?E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Fri, 12 May 2006 06:29:47 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060512092947/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509200013/index.html This week I was put on support for the Wellsley environmental education. I don't often get put on support because I am a senior instructor. This week I was because there are lots of instructors available and I needed the time to work on developing the Harbor School sailing curriculum. Which worked out nice for me. I would spend about half of each day doing each, and took two turns in the dorm with the students at night because I was free enough to be doing my work for the Harbor School otherwise. One night in the dorm after the students went to bed Tye, John and I watched a couple episodes of Cowboy Bebop on my portable DVD player. My second night in the dorm we where all too tired to watch anything. We had so much support on this course that one day I was able to just wonder around with my basket and bag of tricks and help out by just facilitating a game or an initiative with some of the groups. That seemed to go over well. I got a little lax and started to lend out some of my props and portables too, but only to the people I trusted. Thursday was water day the day that they do water activities like the salt pond restoration, the salt marsh exploration and data collection on fragmites for the nature conservancy. Ernest one of the lead instructors (the Blue Peter award from last year a.k.a. the instructor of the year.), hadn't gone through our training, so I helped him out with is salt pond and data collection. We joined up with the group Ernie was leading to share resources. Ernie and I had worked a bit together last week and it went well. In spite of the rainy weather all week Wellsley seemed to go really well. There was lots of support. Two groups had students in wheel chairs, and activities where found to incorporate them as well. I had time to work on Harbor School stuff and to help out the boat crew in the mornings and evenings because they are now down one deck hand. I learned more about my new friend Ernie who I found out has studied under Tom Brown and has done a bit of survival training. Something I now want to pursue more with him. He is interested in getting on a tall ship so maybe we can work out a trade of some sort. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Fri, 12 May 2006 06:15:13 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509200013/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509195942/index.html The USS Constitution "Old Ironsides" and the US Navy Destroyer Cassin YoungThis evening was my normal second wednesday of the month coast guard night. Fortunately I am on support for Wellsley so I was able to get off the island to make it. I found out after I got off the island that my AUX COMM class was canceled tonight (My USCG radio communication training), but the monthly Coast Guard Auxiliary meeting was still going on, onboard the US Navy Destroyer Cassin Young in Charlestown near the USS Constitution. I had some time to kill, so I just went over to the New England Seafarers Mission to see who is in, catch up with them and use the wireless. The office assistant was the only one in because she is working late tonight. On my way to the Cassin Young in Charlestown Navy Yard, I stopped by a Bank of America and deposited my tax refund that I was very happy to get. It was funny that my federal return was just about the same as my RI and Mass. taxes combined! I also grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Burger King by North Station. I was at the Navy Yard a little early, so I could take my time walking by to enjoy the beauty of the USS Constitution. Our flotilla did colors on board the Cassin Young. That was nice. I wish I had a uniform so I could have been part of it. After the formal meeting I was finally was able to get fingerprinted, so I will have my number soon and will be a full member and be able to do more things. After all that was done, we were able to get a insiders tour of the ship. The National Park Service Ranger there is a member of our Flotilla, so he pulled out all of the stops to show us around. There was no way that I could have made the 2130 boat after getting finger printed and all. I had made a back up plan to stay at Natasha's, so I was glad of that. Part of me wanted to miss the boat anyway to talk with and spend a little time with her, so I called her from North Station to let her know I was on my way.That is actually where I am now. She is on the phone with her sister Tiffany who is also a new friend of mine, her room mate and is currently in Pakistan for her work! I suspect that I will go to bed soon, and Natasha and I won't have much time to hang out because it is getting late and I should be on my way to the boat around 0600 or 0630 so I can make it to work tomorrow. I have lots of harbor school stuff to do as well as my support work and it is my turn to be in the dorm again tomorrow night. I got my schedule for next week. Choices is going to be smaller than they thought so I get to work with Colin the director of OBP (Outward Bound Professional), on the challenge course, and I get to help out with the wilderness first responder class on their night sim, and even get a comp day on friday. The deck hand on the Outward Bound has been fired, so I will be picking up some extra work there too. Things are going good for me. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Wed, 10 May 2006 14:59:42 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509195942/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509195849/index.html LGBTQQITA Stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, two spirit, allies. All of which was the focus of our training for monday afternoon. Which is a lot to fit into an afternoon slot, I think our facilitators for this training would have liked to have done a lot more with us on this. The purpose of this training was for us to help to understand this people and be able to work with those that show up on our courses and may need some support. It was also to help us be an allie or help support those on our staff that may be one of these people. An interesting and thought provoking training. Monday morning was our normal prep day for the upcoming week with the Wellsley Environmental education program. I am support this week, so I had to make sure to get all my support in blocks of time to be able to have time to work on Harbor School curriculum for their upcoming sail. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Tue, 09 May 2006 16:58:49 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509195849/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509195508/index.html This Sunday was fairly 'normal' as far as Sunday's go when I am not working or traveling someplace. It did have a couple extra little twists though. The morning started with getting of the island as it does with all Sunday's, however this one I was not allow, but had a guest leaving with me. Not only was my guest Natasha leaving with me, we where both going the same place, so that made the walk and T ride nice since I had someone to share it with for a change. We had plenty of time, so we went to her place off of Central Square in Cambridge first so she could shower and change for church, then we took a nice walk partially along the Charles river with one of her room mates to church which is just off of Harvard Square. We wanted to make it in time for Sacrament, which we just able to do. I attend the sacrament service, but have not been taking it as I am not Mormon and want to be respectful of that. Then there is still my own issue as to wether I am even welcome at the Lord's table. Church was normal, sacrament followed by Sunday School followed by elders quorum.... I am still meeting new people there and have a few friends there now too. Sunday School was from the book of Numbers and about Balam's Ass. A good story. Elders Quorum was about the priest hood, which was very interesting since I do not know the office's of the church and how they are organized in the Mormon church. So that was very educational and I took some notes. After church Sasha (not Natasha, so you don't get confused), some others and I wondered into an arts festival that was going on in Harvard Square for a little bit. We weren't there too long before Sasha and I went back to her place for some lunch and to hang out. Her room mate Christina is back from Romania (her home), but has not moved back in yet. It was enjoyable to sit and catch up with Sasha for a bit, we had in little bits over the last few weeks, it was good to do all at once though. She eventually had other things to do and I worked my way back to catch the 1730 boat back to the island. Capt. Mike and Emily had bought me some Pirates of the Caribbean cereal and gummy snacks and gave them to me on the boat. After the last boat run at 2030 we watched the last episode of Firefly together down at the duplex. They have been working their way through the series for a couple of weeks now. I was beat from a long weekend and little sleep, so I went to bed a bit early sunday night and was well rested monday morning. Sunday was a good day. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 07 May 2006 16:55:08 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509195508/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509164028/index.html Saturday afternoon when I was finally able to get off the M/V Outward Bound at 1530 there really wasn't much of a day left to do anything with. Capt. Michael and I went to see if we could get on the USNS Comfort. They had caterers there and where preparing for some sort of event, so we couldn't, but they said maybe on Sunday and gave us some hours to drop by. I was able to pick up a pair of soft shell pants that the laundry place that I use didn't return last time I dropped my laundry off a couple of weeks ago. Michael dropped me of there, and then at Broadway so I could hop on the red line. My cell phone is down for a couple of weeks, because of overuse, and to save some money so I have mainly been using my VOIP (internet phone). That doesn't really help when I am out and about town though. I have a phone card to use on pay phones when I can find one. A woman from church who Sasha introduced me to and who I have stayed with when I have been stuck on shore was comeing out to camp out on the island on Saturday night, so I was trying to touch base with her. She was at a wedding all afternoon. So as I rode the red line to central square in Cambridge I left some messages for her letting her know where I would meet her and escort her to the dock. I waited for a bit at a little park in Central Square and just as I was about to head back to the dock to meet her there, I got a hold of her. She was just around the corner at her place and one of her roomates was going to drive us to the dock. They picked me up and we got to the dock just before the MVOB got in. Natasha and I rode up in the wheel house of course. Jackie let me run her on the way back dock to dock. I told Natasha all about the harbor. When we got in, I showed her the engine room, then we went on a little hike to the south end of the island. I showed her the alpine tower, the spit and the cemetery. I told her about the salt marsh and we walked the beach back as far as the salt pond and then headed up to the dorm. I showed her my room and we made dinner together with some left over course food. After dinner I packed up some sleeping bags and all that we would need for the night for the both of us, grabbed a pad from logistics and we headed up to the north end of the island to sleep out for the night. We slept on a tent platform all the way at the north end of the island. We had some very good conversations and I feel like we really bonded. We enjoyed each others company and I see some similar times in the future together. When morning came we watched the sun rise, sang some hymns and songs from my Rise up Singing book, she read to me some from the book that she is reading. I forget the title, but it is by Steinbeck and has Eden in the title. I recited some Robert Service poetry as we hiked back up to the dorm where I changed to get ready for Church. We caught the 0800 boat off the island. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 07 May 2006 13:40:28 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509164028/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509163951/index.html The M/V Outward Bound, Capt. Jackie and deck hand Emily.When I returned to the Outward Bound to head back to the island on Friday evening at 1630, the deck hand was still on his way back from a personal day in New Hampshire, while he was on the road and back in Boston, he wasn't close to the boat, so I offered to take the run for him and the rest of the day and even the first two runs the next morning, but I wanted the option to get off at 0800 so I could go down to Cape Cod and meet up with my friend Emily or maybe check out the hospital ship Comfort that had come into port and was docked at the reserved channel, or even go to a Mormon wedding with my new friend Natasha. Reed took me up on it and I worked the rest of the runs on Friday and the first two on Saturday morning. That is when things started to go bad. Reed never showed up to the dock at 0830 and didn't even call, so I was stuck on the island. That really did in any plans to go to the cape at least on Saturday and to do much of anything really. The Captain, Jackie eventually got ahold of him and some course words where exchanged which led to him being asked not to come into work at all with the full support of the waterfront director. So I was stuck. The other deck hand, Emily had some errons to do and some grocery shopping, but was willing to take over for me early and come in on the 1530 special boat to relieve me, which she did. I could say that it ruined my weekend, which in a sense it did. It certainly limited my options. My paycheck was a little low the previous pay period, because I didn't do any extra work on the boat like I had in the previous couple of pay periods. So this certainly will give me a nice pay check for the next pay period. I saved some money too by not going down to Cape Cod. I was really beat though since I was up late friday night going through my mail and e-mail since I had to catch up from a week being in the field. I expected that I would have gotten more rest on Saturday since working was not in my plans. Incidentally Reed got suspended from this so I will be able to pick up some more hours during the week. The hospital ship USNS Comfort. Operated by the civilian merchant mariners of the Military Sea Lift Command (MSC). Staffed by US. Navy medical professionals. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sat, 06 May 2006 13:39:51 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060509163951/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060506023135/index.html Another week was spent doing the environmental education program for the Wellsley school district. The week started with a nor'easter, but even though it was rainy and cold, the students had good spirits and things went well, especially when things warmed up at the end of the week. I had three home sick students that I was aware of, and was able to work with them to help them all stay. By the end of the trip and well before they where all smiling and happy that they stayed. Choices was running at the same time, so we were a little bit low on support, but we made it work. All the instructors where working solo. I often met up with another instructor named Ernie, but called Stone Monkey. He is a bit older than the rest of us and a well experienced environmental educator. He didn't go through our training, so I helped him with the overall curriculum and he helped with the finer details and facts, which worked out really well. The name of his groups was the Oompaloompa's and we were the Snorteios (because some of them snorted when that laughed). Sometimes the two groups worked really well together other times they did not. I did have one student that was a constant distraction that I eventually had to remove from the group, but after he returned, though not perfect his behavior greatly improved. All in all it was a good week and a good group of students. I can't really say anything bad about them, because some of the smarter ones have started to "google me", that is do a search of "Rusty Rice" on google and find my web site and thus my blog and e-mail address. I have heard from two students so far. So I have to be careful. Good thing this is a family oriented blog and website! After it was all over most of us got off the island on the 1400 boat on friday. I cashed and deposited my pay check then went out for a root beer with one of our support staff Lisa. We are both root beer fans and we split a sunday at the Barking Crab. After our quick drink and snack off she went to catch the T to see her finance's family and I to get the next boat to the island. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Thu, 04 May 2006 23:31:35 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060506023135/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060430203601/index.html (Picture from yesterday)I over slept a little bit this morning even though I shooting for the 0800 boat! I needed to grab a shower, skipped shaving and ran down the hill to the boat without my tie tied or shirt tucked in. I grabbed my wallet, money, cell phone (though it is turned off for the time being I could use it as a phone book), Bible, and Book of Mormon on the way out the door. The boat was not in a hurry to leave and the deck hand, had run up to get something, so I made it in time, so I am glad that I tried for it. I needed to get off the island for a little bit and I wanted to see my friends at church since it had been a few weeks. I forgot my digital camera, so no pictures from today unfortunately. Mike and Emily had a gift for me. They got me a shirt with a skull and cross bones on it that said Pirate's union Local #109, "Not just a job its an adventure" Boston, Massachusetts. Since the boat schedule is back to normal, I had some time to kill. I talked with Carol (I think that is her name), who does sales for short courses, she was at the dock to meet a group going out to the island today, for a little bit. She recommended a chocolate cafe near Sasha's church which I had never noticed since I always pass it on the other side of the road. I was in Harvard Square in good time so I dropped in and got an iced, dark hot chocolate for the walk. Sasha saw me just after I sat down, so I got up and sat with her during church. I did Sunday school and then there was a combined meeting after, usually they separate male and female. Adam and I got into a good conversation per usual. He is convinced that I should become Mormon and is polite about it. He even threw in that there are four women to every man at the church, and that I shouldn't convert for the women, but Mormon women are a sucker for a new convert. I talked with some other friend and Sasha for a bit too. Sasha dropped me off at Adams (he was on his bike). Adam had to call his girlfriend who is in Pakistan on business, so I watched the movie Hero, then had to jet to make the 1700 boat. I checked my e-mail when I got in and the Harbor School canceled tomorrow and rescheduled. I think that is good since it gives us more prep time. I am glad that I was proactive about contacting them on friday about the weather, an upcoming nor'easter. As far as I know no one else contacted them. They did talk with us about canceling and rescheduling, but it was from them that I heard about the change and I passed it along to the other staff. No one on the island contacted me even though I have other things I need to do in its place. That is a bit frustrating for me. I think I should be promoted to course director because I have been filling that role for this course anyway. While I was checking my e-mail I got an IM from Jill, she is back in the US now home from her semester at sea. I was very happy to hear from her and she got something for me. I can't wait to see what. Katie called me yesterday and left a message for me. I called back and left a message for her last night. She was on solo with her students down in Florida. She called again tonight and we talked briefly before she had to get back to her students. I was so happy to hear from her. She will be back next month. Today was a good day I had communication with many of my favorite people in the whole world (Sasha, Capt. Michael Burpee, Logan (both on or waiting for the boat), Jill and Katie. What could be better than that. It made me smile. It is so good to be loved. The evening was rounded out down at the duplex with Capt. Michael and Emily watching an episode of Firefly. I am able to make it down there to catch an occasional episode with them as they are now working their way through it with Fielding. (From camera phone.)E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:36:01 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060430203601/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060429201821/index.html Outward Bound Professional or OBP is the corporate team building/ training arm of Thompson Island Outward Bound. I have done a couple courses with them in the past, which are nice to work because the pay scale starts at $250 a day. Now that I am a core instructor, since OBP is not part of my job description I can work courses for them and still get paid, as long as I do them on a day off from my regular duties. Colin the OBP program director invited me to the training and fortunately I was free and able to attend, though this evening it will be back to working on the Harbor School Program. There where two other core staff (Ernest and Kibuku) who attended. In the morning there were some introductions and some examples of ice breakers and then we learned a little bit about OBP and the sales side of it. Some of us that are newer to the program went with Ellen the sales person for the program as well as a facilitator and learned some of the models for OBP experientially. After lunch Kibuku lead us in an activity that he does with his own company in Africa then we reviewed the elements and local operating (LOP) procedures on the low course. That part wasn't too different from what I did with Project Adventure last weekend. During the latter part of the weekend we spent some time on our newly redesigned diamond course. I am not sure that is was used at all last year. We know have a non- transfer belay on two sides of it, so you can do three elements in a row without transferring. It is relatively new design. There is a car that clips onto the cable and the cable is attached to the outside of the poles. The car is able to go over the connection point and the pole and you can continue on. I have saw a similar system at the 2003 ACCT (Association for Challenge Course Technology) conference, but this is the first time that I have seen it on an actually course. We will be adding a zip line to this course soon as well. I got up on the course myself and did some climbing around. The transfer points can be a little tight, the course itself is pretty hard, I don't think I would do it with young students at least not the no transfer section on the east side that I did. It was fun though. I look forward to getting trained up on it and being a site manager there too. The day ended with just a review of individual skills and comfort levels. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sat, 29 Apr 2006 17:18:21 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060429201821/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060428221100/index.html This week was my first week working with the Wellesley School District. Though it was the second for most of the rest of the staff involved. I missed some of the prep because I had to go to the Harbor School on monday to meet with a couple of teachers to integrate the curriculum more with what they are learning in school. That hurt me a little bit, but I was able to get all I needed by the appropriate time. I had a good group of fifth graders. They did really well with the challenges, wouldn't give up and really impressed me. I need to study up some more on the environmental component since it has been some time since I have done an environmental education program. I had some support staff to help with some of it. The program consisted of some low course initiatives, predator/ prey study, forest ecology, wetlands (water and salt marsh) some research for the Nature Conservancy and Harvard, night hike and some astronomy. I let some students that where really interested in Astronomy teach that part and it went over really well. In the evenings after all the program I was able to get exempted from sleeping in the dorms because I had to work on some curriculum for the Harbor school based on my meeting on monday. I was understandably tired in the evenings, so I wasn't able to get as much together as I would have liked to have. I have to do some of that through the weekend as well. I am not sure if I am going to get paid for my weekend work or not. All in all it was a good week. Though I have a lot on my plate, I am kind of looking forward to doing it all again next week. We will how I feel about the week following which is my last week of the Wellesley program. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:11:00 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060428221100/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060424231318/index.html I got my DSL modem from Verizon finally today, so I can now connect to high speed internet in my room. I have it hooked to my airport express so it is even wireless. I am going to allow it to be used by others for free for the time being, then I am going to put a password on it and charge a couple bucks a month. So I am high speed now! E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Mon, 24 Apr 2006 20:13:18 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060424231318/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060423225214/index.html This weekends training went really well. I feel really good about it and look forward to working with Project Adventure more. I have already signed up for three dates. The training mostly went over standard operating procedures (sop's) for the course and a little bit about Project Adventure. The facility is excellent. Some of it is research and development for Project Adventure. The training was very well organized, it started and ended on time and was very respectful. The housing and food was excellent. We had some good fellowship and game playing there too. It was one of the best trainings that I have been to in recent time. I can't say that I really learned much new, but I feel well prepared to lead a course there. Today was our check off day where we were tested on all of our knots, the tying of a swiss seat and studabaker harness, setting up and facilitationg a high course element and a low course element. We will find out what our status is this week for instructing, but I know that I did really well from all of the feedback that I got. Like I said, I am really looking forward to working for Project Adventure in the future. I bummed a ride back from the island from one of the other facilitators at the training in his newly transitioned "grease" powered car. I had to run to make it to the 1730 boat. My room mate is back this week, so no more private room. I ran the Hurricane on the run I came over on and put it on the dock on the Thompson Island for the first time. I unpacked and got settled back in, then went to see my WFR instructor to give him some money for my CPR card. Since he is in the same building as Logan, I dropped in on Logan and hung out with her for a little bit. She did a similar training as mine up at UNH's Brown Center where she will be working and teaching next, she had a similar experience and things went really well for her too. I came back to my room mate watching my ALIAS dvd's and I think he may be hooked now. Another exciting week lies ahead. Meetings, Harbor School visitation, and a four day environmental program. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:52:14 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060423225214/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060420221524/index.html This weekend I have training with Project Adventure to be one of their youth and college contract facilitators. This is pretty exciting since I will soon not only be working for one of the largest and most recognized adventure education providers in the world (Outward Bound), I will also be working for the organization that pretty much created the challenge course and thus a whole industry. Hopefully this will also open up opportunities to also be a trainer for Project Adventure. Thursday morning I took my written exam for my Wilderness First Responder re-cert. and thus wrapped that all up. I whipped through a cpr test in the afternoon, so have that re-certification done as well. The rest of the class which is doing the full certification had a simulation this after noon which involved the alpine tower. I set up a system to hold a person a few feet off of the ground that would need to be rescued. I wish I could have seen the whole thing play through, but I had to catch the 1600 boat off of the island. Today our new work boat the Invictus arrived. It has a drop down front so it can be used as a landing craft. It seems nice with a chart plotter and all. I look forward to maybe getting the opportunity to run it some time. I met Capt. Michael at the dock and he, Emily and I walked downtown. I cashed my paycheck which I received a day early per request and tried to deposit it (I cash and deposit at two different banks so that I have my funds right away), but I didn't get to Bank of America in time and had to deposit the cash from my pay check and a check from Verizon Wireless for a class action suite that I was involved in. That with my regular salary and some pay for a weekend working on the Outward Bound made for a very nice paycheck. Mike, Emily and I grabbed a small bite to eat, a snack really, down town and then I rushed off to North Station to catch the commuter rail up to Beverly. Once in Beverly I got a cab to Project Adventure's Moraine Farm Conference center. The cab driver is a PA graduate from his youth and had lots of good things to say about his experience. It is a really nice facility. I took a little walk around after I was shown my room. I just relaxed in the evening. After doing some channel surfing on the TV in the lounge and finding nothing, I read some of my USCG- Auxiliary AUXCOMM book. I am really looking forward to tomorrow's and this weekend's training. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:15:24 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060420221524/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419204349/index.html This week I have been working on my wilderness first responder recert. Since I haven't been able to find the time or the money to do my Wilderness EMT again, and my last WFR is about to expire and I am required to have it for work, I had to bite the bullet and recert as a wilderness first responder. It took a bit of fanageling to get what I needed. There is a recert course this weekend, but I have a Project Adventure training that I had already committed to and couldn't miss. There were no other recert courses available before my current one expired, so I had to take something. It would be a bit much to take the full course and even if I did I then would still miss the first day of my PA training and the Boston Marathon and that wasn't going to happen. So I worked it out to take the full course as a recert and only had to attend the sections that I needed. I went to more than what was necessary, but I was still able to go to the marathon to support Logan and will be able to make all of the PA training. Life is good. Now if you don't know what wilderness first responder is, this would be a good time to use my new comment feature to post a comment and ask! :-) Watch Officer Trainee Chelsea (my woofer buddy and new friend) in a hypo wrap. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:43:49 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419204349/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419201655/index.html I am trying something new with my blog. I have just added the ability to leave comments. So go ahead and use it. Let me know what you think of what I am writing.Rusty (Riding in the crow's nest of the MV/ Hurricane)E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:16:55 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419201655/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419202605/index.html Monday was a pretty exciting day even though it didn't work out quite the way that I wanted it to. My good friend Logan ran the Boston Marathon! I had big plans to meet her at the base of heart break hill which is the roughest part of the course so I could pass her some water and a snack as she ran by. I slept in a little and took a special 0930 boat off of the island. I killed some time using the internet at the Seafarers mission, then caught the T and went up to Woodland Park to walk over to the base of heart break hill. There were some runner passing by as I walked over there. I found a good spot, hung an Outward Bound flag in a tree and then signed onto the internet with my cell phone and lap top to see Logan's times. I was there half an hour ahead of her projected time, but when I saw what time she was at the half way point, I knew that I had already missed her. I didn't have enough time to make it to Coolidge Corner where some other Outward Bound People where in time, so I tried to make it to the finish line. I checked her time shortly after I got there and missed her there too. :-( I gave her a call and found out about a gathering of Outward Bound people and other people running for Thompson Island in a suite at the Marriot, so I went there to congratulate her. She was just full of energy and was just beaming. I was so proud of her. I was disappointed not to see her in the race, but I got to ride in a cab with her back to the dock and hang out with her alone for a bit as we waited for the boat. I gave her the water and snack I had for her as we waited. Even though I didn't run the race, it was such a cool experience to experience it through her. She is such an inspiration to me. Logan Westmoreland the night before the big race. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:26:05 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419202605/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419194300/index.html I have been a little derelict in my duty to keep my blog caught up to date the last couple of weeks. I am certain that I could have made the time to do it, though I have been busy. Though I am not doing the same things every day or even every week, things have become a bit routine so I haven't put much down. I will catch you all up on what my past two weeks have been like briefly. Let me know if you still reading this now that I have left the Lady Washington. It is good to know who my fans are. And if you are a new reader, that is good to know too. It will help me to know what to write about and what sort of things my readers would like to get caught up on. Since my last entry we did four more days of programing with the Harbor school. It was a different group of students each day so we just ran them through the same program that we created for the first group refining it all the time. It wasn't always the same group of people. Erika, Tryka, and Tye came in to help out for at least a day as well. I filled in as deck hand on the Outward Bound for a weekend, and spent a day getting checked off on the alpine tower as site manager while the contract facilitators where going through their training. One fun night was had with the watch officer trainees when after dinner one night we retired to my room to listen to and sing sea chanties and drink some rum. Some others came in as well and a good time was had by all. The second Wednesday of the month was a Coast Guard Auxillary meeting as always. I have been doing the AUXCOMM radio communication training as well to help me prepare for the test I need to take to get my marine radio operators permit and general radio operators license. I want to get as much training as I can get done with them so that I can get on the EAGLE or an ice breaker next winter as an auxillarist. Before dinner I killed some time by going out to dinner with Emily Rolling of the Willauer school. We have been spending a little bit of time together as our schedules have allowed. I think that pretty much catches things up to this week. I will hit that in my next entry and then we will be all caught up to date yea!E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 16 Apr 2006 16:43:00 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060419194300/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060406164644/index.html

Today, was the first day of the program with the Harbor school. I went to bed last night early all set to sail today. After going to bed, there was a knock at my door from Bashire letting me know that there was a change in plans and that we would not be sailing because the boats needed to be hauled out for a hull inspection and our COI (certificate of inspection) does not allow us to operate that early in the spring. So we needed a new plan. They wanted some teaching on weather and navigation. So I through some teaching materials together on this.

This morning I got up to meet the boat at 0800 and met with the rest of the staff for this course. Watch officiers Arista (from last summer), and Erin (who trained with me), and Assistant Watch Officier Sarai were the staff. We brain stormed some ideas for the land based program. We ended up doing the bulk of the training by breaking into for groups and having four stations that the students would rotate through. We each picked a station to teach that we felt most comfortable with. I taught weather and sail theory, Arista taught tides and currents, Sarai taught navigation, and Erin taught knots. It worked well. We did a round of Captain's coming after meeting the students at the dock, a quick game after we did rotations, a trip to the boats to learn their parts and answer questions, then lunch. After lunch we did a round of jeopardy to review what they learned at their stations, and then went for a walk on the beach to look at tide lines and discern the wind direction.

Their teachers really liked it, one of them was formerly a staff member here and a teacher for the Willauer school, so it was good to hear that we impressed him. It was a good group of staff to pull it together. We are doing the same thing all over again tomorrow with the same group of staff and little change. We debriefed at the end of it all and all was good.

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Well, my night at the "Happy Harem" was certainly a fun and interesting one. That is their name for it. They also called it the "Heavenly Harem", I think that it must be a Mormon thing. Tiffany and Natasha where very nice hostess'. Natasha eventually showed up with another gentleman from church. They had gone out dancing. I found out about a dance at MIT on tuesday nights, that I may start attending with them as I am able. We ended up looking at some Pirates of the Caribbean II and Lady Washington pictures on my lap top and then just hung out for a bit. Tiffany (Natasha's roommate who I had met at church as well) showed up just as we finished looking at pictures. I think Tiffany might have been hitting on me, but it could have just been a Mormon thing as well.

I found out why I missed the boat. It actually had broken down and there was a water taxi instead, which of course did not know to wait a couple of minutes for me and of course did not. I caught the T in, in the morning for a rumored 0830 boat. The Outward Bound was there being worked on and was ready to go by 0830. So I didn't miss out on any work. We had our COI inspection for three of the pulling boats in the morning for the Coast Guard and then I spent the afternoon preparing for my day sails with the Harbor School on Thursday and Friday.

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]]> Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:46:18 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060406164618/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060404220101/index.html This evening was an interesting evening for sure! Today was my day off. I slept in even though I was able to get to bed at a reasonable hour last night. I think I have met all the new watch officer training candidates that have been arriving over the course of the weekend. I have had conversations with each. A couple have worked on the Lady Washington and various other tall ships. Many know people that I know. I have helped some and have answered questions about licensing for them. I am glad to help. They all went down to the coast guard today to hand in their paper work and schedule their tests. I ended up only sleeping in until around 0930, because some workers in the hallway and neighboring rooms where playing loud music. I managed to get a shower in and get some work I needed to get done completed. I didn't even watch a dvd today, it is my habit to at least get an episode of Firefly or Cowboy Beebop in most days. I got off the island on the 1600 boat. It was my first time off in over a week, the last time being a week ago Sunday. This evening I had a new member training and test for the Coast Guard Auxilliary. I had some time to kill before that some teacher Emily and I went out for a cup of coco at a cafe in Charlestown near where she lives. It was a short walk from their to the Coast Guard Base. The training was pretty basic and the test was open book and fairly straight forward. I only missed one question. It was close on timing to catch the boats. Even though I caught all my trains (orange line, red line, silver line) with little or no wait, I missed the boat by about six minutes. I tried to call when I had a signal, but was not able to reach the boat phone Capt. Michael or Emily. I was a little surprised that they did not wait a little bit for me. They were out of sight by the time that I got to the dock. I thought about staying at the Sea Farers mission, but I did not bring a blanket or sleeping bag and it would be a little less than comfortable, though heated. I made a few calls and left messages of people in town. The winner was Natasha, a friend for Sasha's church who said I could stay at her place if I ever needed to crash someplace. Fortunately I caught her and was able to get directions. So that is where I am now. I haven't seen her yet, she left the keys for me to get in. Other people have dropped by though. Adam came by to get his motor cycle and then a gentleman that I also know from church came by to drop a woman who goes to BYU and is staying here off. So I am in a good place, but it will be an early morning to catch the boat. Tomorrow is my prep day for the two day sails that I will have with the harbor school, and I will be helping out with the Coast Guard inspection tomorrow. Hopefully I will have time to run up and change my clothes before all that. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Tue, 04 Apr 2006 19:01:01 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060404220101/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060403113057/index.html Today was our check off to follow up on our site manager training a few weeks ago. Since I didn't have to go to the meeting this morning for Wellsley, since I am not doing that course this week. So I jumped right into my check off with Colin the director of Our Outward Bound Professional program. We did all the knots and such in his office and then joined the others out at the High course where John, an other OBP instructor and I got checked off fairly quickly by Colin as Noelle and Bashire worked with the other core instructors. I made arrangements to get checked off on the Alpine tower this weekend. Since today is actually my day off I took off when I got all I could get checked off done. This afternoon I have to go to a training on some sort of Psychology assessment tool. Then I am free. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Mon, 03 Apr 2006 08:30:57 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060403113057/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060403113006/index.html This Weekend was the contract facilitator training. It was for the facilitators who mostly work just day courses and the occasional over night programs on the island for our youth contracts department. I didn't have to go through the training since I have had it all already, but I wanted to work on being a trainer, so I went to help out with it and ended up leading most of the initial games, and initiative activities. Phil conducted the training as well, but mostly left me on my own for the portions that I was doing. The eight to nine people who came for the training camped out so that they would be trained on island procedures if they worked an overnight course. I did not sleep with them, opting to go to my room, relax, check some e-mail and watch a little Firefly. Sunday we did mostly low ropes course stuff. It was good to be finally working up to doing more training. I am also glad I did it, because I found out that I would not be working the Wellesley program as I would be leading two day sails on Thursday and Friday for the Harbor school. Wednesday is my prep day for that. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be my day off because I worked the weekend. I should have known all of this sooner, but wasn't given the information until Saturday morning. One of the joys of working for Thompson Island Outward Bound. Jeff left the island on Sunday afternoon. Sunday night a group of us studied and practiced for our site manager check off. E-mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on my Space ]]> Sun, 02 Apr 2006 08:30:06 -0700 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060403113006/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060331182225/index.html My good friend Jeff came back onto the island this week. Unfortunately not to stay. They restructured his position and turned it into two positions. The day contracts portion is only a six month contract now. He was full time. So he decided not to keep it and is moving on to something else. He had been on a leave of absence for part of the winter and now is back to get his things because of the change. He will be missed. I am wondering how long I want to stay now with so many of my friends leaving. Logan leaves with the closing out the Willauer school (they are having a dance tonight), Sasha already left and now Jeff. We will see what happens with this first nine month contract I suppose. E-mail me My Home Page Find me on My Space and add me as a friend ]]> Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:22:25 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060331182225/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060327163727/index.html This week was our training for the upcoming Wesllesley environmental program that we will be doing. We did things like forest ecology, salt marsh, night time activities like astronomy with some initiatives and low ropes thrown in. There were some experts in different fields that where brought in to help us out. We only had training on two of the evenings which was a refreshing change from our previous trainings when we were busy most evenings. E-mail Me My Homepage Add me on My Space ]]> Fri, 31 Mar 2006 13:37:26 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060327163727/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060330172853/index.html Today the Willauer School on Thompson Island made the announcement to its students for it's spring expedition. As you may know Thompson Island Outward Bound will be closing the doors of the Willauer Middle School in June. So the teachers really want to give the students the best expedition ever. They will be going on it as a full school, sixth, seventh and eighth grade. The school will be chartering the Harvey Gammage and the Westward from Ocean Classroom Foundation for a three day tall ship sailing expedition from Mystic Seaport, Ct, back to Boston. There is a chance that I may be able to go too give my relationship with the students as a substitute teacher and guest speaker and my tall ship experience. We will see. I will keep you posted. I was asked by the leadership teachers (the class that I normally substitute teach) to help with the unveiling of the expedition today. They set the students up to start brainstorming a 21 mile backpacking expedition after showing a video from previous years expeditions. Then the two leadership teachers and myself stormed the room dressed as pirates and asking them questions of their training and saying that they should go on a real expedition. I lead them in a sea chanty and then their teachers gave them the details. They had some cake, watched a 10 minute dvd on sail training from the International Sail Training Association, then asked some questions. We were going to play a round of the game Captain's coming, but we ran out of time. E-Mail Me My Home Page Add me as a friend on My Space ]]> Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:28:53 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060330172853/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060327000919/index.html I got a new room mate tonight. Mac Petty who is an intern with us for the spring and will be an assistant instructor this summer. I knew that I would be getting a room mate at some point, and got the heads up last week when I got back onto the island from the weekend. Mac had already found a room for the week then, so I had Ben who was training with us from another program for the week. I helped Mac move in last night and we rearranged the room to be more conducive to two people and found another bed since the top bunk gets hot in this room as it is close to some pipes and the ceiling. I think we will work out well as room mates. He has a brother going to school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, my favorite port! E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends ]]> Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:09:19 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060327000919/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060326002717/index.html Today was another good day. Since the fist boat off the island wasn't until 0930, I got to sleep in a bit, which was much needed. Unfortunately that did not put me in Boston until 1000. I caught the T at South Station to Harvard square. I bought one of the new Charlie tickets from the machine and latter learned that it only works at South Station since the other stations aren't automated yet, of course there is nothing there to tell you so. I found my way to the LDS church where Sasha attends near Harvard Square without a problem. I tried to call her, but as I found out latter her phone had just been stolen. I had been there enough times now that I would be able to find my way around ok and know other people there too. So that is exactly what I did. I got there close to the end of their sacrament time which is basically the church service time, and just entered the sanctuary and found a seat. Adam a friend of mine from there slipped in beside me shortly after noting that he had just been thinking of me because he came across my business card in his book of Mormon. Church was good. I saw a few people I had met before. I went to a sunday school class that Adam was actually teaching and sat with Catharine who I had spent a little time catching up with. Adam put me on the spot a little bit when he mentioned that he was open to any other opinions on things during his class and then pointed me out as one who always has an interesting perspective. A little embarrassing since I didn't know many people there. Next was the priesthood where the men and women meet separately. In that class there was a discussion on praying for wisdom before teaching and Adam asked the question if that was common in other Christian traditions as well, and then looked at me as if that question was meant for me. Fortunately someone else jumped on it first. After the priesthood I got to catch up with Sasha a little bit. I gave her the ear rings that I bought her in Mexico. She loved them and even said one pair was like a pair that she had broken or lost. I spent some time looking for just the right pair and thought the ones I got were her style, so I was happy that she liked them. She gave me a ride back to her place after church with her new room mate. She had a meeting to go to, so I walked with her a little bit towards the green line on the way to her meeting. After we parted ways, I had a good bit of time to spare, so I went over to the mall since it was close by too look at the new Mac's. I grabbed some lunch there too. there was a movie store going out of business so I picked up a couple of dvd's for my parents at 50% and 60% off and a couple for myself too, then headed back to the boat and the island. When I got in, I went over to Logan's since I hadn't spent much time lately other than the night before when she had guests who are running the Boston Marathon with her. I showed her some movies of Catharina and the coconut pirate head she had got me for watching her dog abby (see last weekends entries). I was a little tired so I went back to my room early in the evening. E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends ]]> Sat, 25 Mar 2006 21:27:17 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060326002717/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060326002649/index.html Friday night after our celebration, I grabbed my pack from the seafarers mission where I had left it for a bit, then went to the South Station bus depot (incidentally it would have worked out better if I had just carried my pack with me when we all went out if I had know we were only going to a bar in South Station anyway), and caught the bus to New Bedford/ Fair Haven, MA. I sat with a nice woman who commutes to Boston from New Bedford everyday. I wish I had gotten her contact info to keep in touch on myspace or something, but we were so busy talking that we got to her stop without even realizing it. I talked with the bus driver to find out the best place to get off and it turns out it was best to go all the way to the bus garage in Fair Haven because the bridge from New Bedford to Fair Haven is being worked on. I caught a cab from there to my hotel room and then again in the morning to the Northeast Maritime Institute where the ASTA regional meeting was. I got the a little early, first other than the people who own or work for the institute, so that I could help Lori set up and do the registration. Now that I have been awarded the volunteer of the year award I have to be sure to actually live up to it! They also covered my registration for me since I helped out. It was a nice group of just over 20. There was lots of good networking too. I got connected with the Friendship up in Salem. Three of her crew and executive director where there. We connected on doing more service with them on our OBEE courses like what we did last summer and got some information on more places to go around Salem Sound and Harbor. I will be volunteering with them as able. It was very good to see Capt. Steve Brown of the Sloop Providence again. He really wanted me to be mate. Part of me wishes I had taken that position, but I have no regrets for coming back to Outward Bound. I will help him do some crew training, and possible do some relief mate and eventually Captain work on the Great Lakes this summer for him. At the close of the meeting we got a walking tour of Fair Haven, which was very interesting and then a tour of the Northeast Maritime Institute facility. It is a very impressive place. We were able to check out their bridge resource management simulator and they did a couple of sims with us. That was very interesting. I got to be at the helm of a research vessel in San Francisco Bay. I got it off of the very same dock that the Lady Washington was docked at while we were there. They can add fog, seas, rain, other vessels and any number of things to it. You can turn the monitors to see what is behind or along side of you as well. If feels very realistic. Because in your entire field of vision you can see the monitors that simulate looking out the windows, when there are seas, you body feels like it is really moving. I plan to eventually go back there to take a couple of courses. After all of that we a bunch of us went out for dinner. I didn't stay long enough to order, because I bummed a ride with Michael the chairman of the ASTA board since he lives north of Boston, and had to get home. This worked well since it also meant that I would be able to make the boat back to the island too. All in all it was a very good meeting and I am glad that I was able to make it. Capt. Stave Brown of the Sloop ProvidenceE-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends ]]> Fri, 24 Mar 2006 21:26:49 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060326002649/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060326002624/index.html This week was spent doing training for the Choices program, our program that works with Boston Public Schools and urban youth. I went into the training a bit tired, because my train did not get in in time for me to catch the last boat out to the island on Sunday night, which I was not happy about. The training went well and it was a good bonding experience for me to get to know the rest of the core instructors and choices staff. It was my expectation, having done diversity training last week, that Diversity training was the philosophical side of the training and that this would be the more practical side. It was some of that to an extent, but this training was mostly curriculum with some other things thrown in. We were supposed to sleep out at least once and make our own dinner outside. We ended up not sleeping out at all. We only cooked one dinner at the campsite, but we did eat most of out lunches in the field or like we would with students. Even though it had been a bit cold out, I was tired and we all have lots of experience camping out, I would have liked to have that opportunity to get to know the rest of the instructors better and bond some more. All in all, having done Choices once before with out training, now that I have some, I feel prepared to lead a Choices course. Ty, Maria, and TrykaSince we try to live what we teach and part of our training was to mirror an actual Choices course we made a full value contract (FVC). The process worked really well and it seems so far that we are holding each other to it. There is a real good energy in the group which was evident when we did our "create a nation" program a night latter where we actually designed a dream school with our values. That whole process worked well too. I called some people on issues early on. I am not sure if it was best done in the group as I did it, but I think it set a good tone in the group. I really want to focus on getting to know everyone individually over the course of this nine months, sooner rather than latter. We are going to be a close group by the end of it all, at least I hope that we are. I am becoming more and more open with everyone and I am sharing more of myself. We did an abbreviated urban expedition, that included going to a Caribbean restaurant one night and then going to a school for a summer programs open house type thing. At the end of the week we went to another school for an assembly about Choices to introduce the students to and tell them about the opportunity to come out to the island for the week. We wrapped up our training at our shore side office on dry dock ave., and then a few of us went out for drinks to celebrate. An end of training celebration!E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends ]]> Thu, 23 Mar 2006 21:26:24 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060326002624/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060319201138/index.html Not much to say really. Mom and dad took me out to breakfast at the B'ville dinner and then lent me a car to drive to the train station that they would pick up latter. The train was several hours late which is typical for the Lake Shore Limited coming out of Chicago especially since it snowed last night. With some freight trains causing us to have to wait after I changed trains in Albany we are not bound to be into Boston South Station until around 2130. So even if there was a 2130 boat tonight I still wouldn't be able to make it. So it looks like I will be crashing at the Seafarers Mission again and then catching the first boat out to the island in the morning. Which should be interesting since I don't know the plan for the choices training. That meaning, I will run to my room, find out as much information as possible along the way, change my clothes possibly to be outside, pack my gear in case we are camping out and finding out where we are meeting. I think we will be camping out, but I don't think it will be all week. Should be fun and interesting! E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends ]]> Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:11:38 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060319201138/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060319140345/index.html E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends. ]]> Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:03:44 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060319140345/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060318150438/index.html Last night I took the 1600 boat off the island at the conclusion of diversity training to head home to Baldwinsville (outside Syracuse, NY). I had forgotten that it is St. Patrick's day (evacuation day if you are from Boston) and Boston is one of the best places to be for that. If I had remembered I would have planned better. The New England Seafarers Mission was still opened after I grabbed my dad's keys from the port police, so I dropped in to see Steve the Chaplain since I hadn't seen him since I have been back, though I had dropped by the mission a couple of times. He showed me the new set up with the seafarers lounge and the store now all the way up on deck 3. After a little catching up, I jumped into the truck and started the drive home. Another thing I forgot to plan around was rush hour traffic, so it was bit slow getting out of Boston until I was close to Worchester. Other than that it was an uneventful ride back and I was home before midnight. Everyone was asleep when I got in. There was a little surprise for me when I unlocked the door to get in. My brother and sister-in-law's dog Sadie was there to greet me. Which meant that my niece Catharina was probably there as well. Mom was sleeping on the couch since Catharina was sleeping in the play pen downstairs. Mom woke up when I came in. I pretty much just went to my room went to bed. This morning I got up and went into my parents room where my mother was with Catharina and Sadie. Dad had gone to a toy tractor show for the morning. I gave Catharina the toy guitar that I bought for her in Mexico and the stuffed giraffe that I found in the street in Boston and picked up for her. She really liked the guitar and played with it a lot. Sometimes she is still a little bit afraid of me, since she isn't used to me. She knows my name now though, and can also say "buccaneer" and "pirate". She likes a pirate coconut head that Logan gave me last year for watching Abby once. She can name all of his facial features and I got a video of it as well as many pictures too. Catharina and Sadie where staying here last night and today because my brother and sister in law went to a youth event at Houghton College (my alma mata) called the spring fling for the night. We are all going out for Chinese tonight (which is a cross cultural experience for my parents). Rusty and Sadie. Catharina and Grandma, Mom in background. Catharina and her new guitar. Catharina and her "Buccaneer"E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends. ]]> Sat, 18 Mar 2006 12:04:37 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060318150438/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060313233003/index.html This week was diversity training. A very important part of working for Thompson Island Outward Bound. Even though this was important to Kurt Hahn and a core value of Outward Bound, Thompson Island puts more emphasis on it than most, which is important as we are an urban center working with predominately urban youth. Diversity training is not something that I really look forward to, being, white, male, heterosexual and "Christian", I am considered "privileged", and even though there is nothing I can do about it because I was born with that privilege, I am made to feel very uncomfortable.I have to say that this training, though longer, was much better than the one I went to when I first joined the Thompson Island Outward Bound staff. It was less hostile, and the facilitators where more receptive to feedback and less argumentative when you challenged them. I didn't say much during the training as I normally don't talk much in large groups. A couple people had said some things about this, but the couple times that I did flag in to say something, I was not called on to, so even when I tried my voice wasn't heard. I know that I will never be able to identify with the black man's, the woman's or the homosexuals struggle, so this will be the difficulty that I will have to face when working with urban youth. They will know obviously that I am white and male, but also that I am not from the city. I will have to work hard to gain their trust to help them grow and make a change in this world. I am looking forward to that challenge as next week will be training for the Choices program and pretty soon I will be working with Choices students. The days were long and we had sessions in the evenings a couple of the nights as well. I was able even with the reading assignments and home work we had at night to bring the truck load of stuff I had out to the island and over the course of the week get it unpacked and put it away. I finally had it all put away thursday evening. I got my entertainment system set up and was able to get in an episode of Firefly one evening and an episode of Cowboy Bebop with John one evening as well. I have a pretty good set up, but I will need to work out a way to get a room mate in, in not too long as well. E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends. ]]> Fri, 17 Mar 2006 20:30:03 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060313233003/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060312111451/index.html This morning I got up when my parents got up for church and I started packing the truck. I didn't fill it completely full, but I did fill it. It wasn't too hard since a lot of the stuff was still packed up from when I moved off the island in November. I wanted to get my home entertainment system, winter clothes, and any pulling boat gear if I had time so I would have it when I needed it. I got that and a few books as well, so I am in good shape for the season. My dad accidentally through the spare key to the truck in the furnace (don't ask me how), so they had to go and get a key made before I leaf. They went to get it after church. I had everything packed up fairly quickly so I took a shower while I waited for my parents to get back. I took off as soon as my parents got in. It is good though, or maybe it really didn't matter. Somehow I missed the exit from I87 back onto I90 to go to Massachusetts. I was cutting it close as it was to make the 2000 boat back to the island as I believed it to be the last one for the night. By the time I realized that it was taking a while to get to my exit, the next exit was for I84, so I just took that back to 90 and then into Boston, even if there was a 2130 boat I would have stilled missed it by an hour. I drove past West Point on the other side of the Hudson from it which was neat. Also on the drive I picked up some Abbot and Costello on the radio which was enjoyable. I had forgotten what fine humor they had. Earlier in the drive I caught some Prairie Home Companion which is a stable of a road trip falling on a saturday night or sunday afternoon. I got into Boston and talked with the Mass Port Police at the Black Falcon cruise terminal and was able to get a parking pass for the week since I work with the New England Seafarers Mission. I will just have to leave the keys with them. I let myself into the mission and I am crashing there tonight. Since training starts right away in the morning and I think it goes into the evening all week, I do not know when I will unload my stuff. Hopefully I will get a chance to or I guess I will just have to wait until saturday morning. E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends. ]]> Sun, 12 Mar 2006 08:14:51 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060312111451/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060311194432/index.html If I have talked to you about the Watch Officier Training Program to get your captains license or have talked to you about being an outward bound instructor send me your info and I will pass it on to the right person for this season or next, or you can skip the middle man and contact them directly. Even if you are not interested or not available this season, pass your info on and you will be contacted when the hiring and selection process starts for next year. Be sure to tell them that I sent you. For Watch Officer training contact Fielding Arnold: fielding.arnold@gmail.com To be an instructor contact Zach See: ZSee@Thompsonisland.org E-Mail Me My Web Page Look me up on MySpace and add me to your friends. ]]> Sat, 11 Mar 2006 16:44:32 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060311194432/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060311164506/index.html

While on the train I took the time to update my resumes. Check it out if you are interested. There is a link below. You can view them on my web site and/ or download them in pdf format from the download section of my site.

My Resumes
My Downloads
My Home Page
E-mail Me
See me and then Add Me on MySpace

]]> Sat, 11 Mar 2006 13:45:06 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060311164506/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060311142322/index.html Right now I am on the train to Syracuse. No big deal to be writing in my blog while I am on the train since I have blogging software and a place to plug into power while on the train. The beauty of it though is that I will be not only able to write in my blog while on the train, but log online and post it as well since I am connecting through my cell phone. Connecting with my cell pone is no big deal I have done it for a couple of months now while I was on the Lady Washington, but I have never done while I was actually moving or traveling so this is new and a whole new way to keep busy will traveling by train. Which is nice since I don't have a dvd player on my current lap top. This morning I got off the island at 0930. Which was nice to sleep in because of the new winter boat schedule. I left my shoulder bag at the New England Seafarers Mission so I wouldn't have to carry it around and went out to breakfast at my favorite breakfast place Terrie's Place in South Boston. Now that I have done that, I have truly returned to Boston. Since I was there a bit latter than usual, I actually had to wait to be seated because it was a bit full this morning. After my usual breakfast of two eggs over easy with wheat toast, bacon and potatoes, a grilled chocolate chip muffin, a nantucket nectar and a hot cocoa, I went up the street to pick up my laundry which includes someone else's shirt. I dropped my laundry off at the Sea Farers mission to be picked up when I come back into town on sunday and then caught the silver line to south station. While this isn't the first time that I have taken the subway or been to south station since I have returned to Boston it is the first time that I have gone from one to the other and there is a new system for tickets as well as entering and leaving the subway there instead of the older turn styles. I was at South Station in reasonable time to not have to wait long for boarding of my train. I saw a magazine on the new intel macs so I picked one up as well as a black belt to read up on the new macs to help me decide what to get when I get my new one. I was one of the first on the train and I will be on until Albany where I switch to grab another train to Syracuse arriving this evening. I got a lot of internet time in on the train. After switching trains in Albany I went to the dinning car for dinner which I enjoy doing when I have the money to do so. I like it in part because they usually sit you with other riders on the train and you meet new people. The car wasn't full so I had my own table, so it wasn't as much fun as usually. I had the special turkey steak, and key lime pie for desert. Upon arriving in Syracuse, I found the car that my parents left for me, the key they hid and drove home. My parents where still up when I got home. I gave them the magnents for their refridgerator that I got in my travels and the Lady Washington gift box that I got for them. I left a gift box for my brother and sister-in-law Mike and Kim as well. We visited and watch a special feature on tall ships and sail training that was on one of the Hornblower DVD's that I had ordered. I looked through my mail, and then wen to bed so that I would be rested to pack in the morning and drive back to Boston. E-mail Me My Home Page See me and then Add Me on MySpace ]]> Sat, 11 Mar 2006 11:23:22 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060311142322/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060307144954/index.html This has been my first week back to Thompson Island. It is good to be home. Many good things are happenings goals are being met and the position is turning out to be just what I hoped it would be. To fill you in, I recently accepted a newly created core staff position at Thompson Island Outward Bound. This new position is for a group of staff about ten of us filling various roles but all here on a nine month a year contract with salary and benefits. In addition to doing our various jobs we are to be the "core" of the program serving and mentors and examples to the other staff as we are groomed for more leadership positions such as course directors and eventually full time program positions as they open up. I am the only watch officer (sailing captain) on the core staff in addition to our marine operations manager Fielding. So I do all the spring and fall sailing trips, in addition to the summer ones as well as support the watch officer training program which Fielding runs. We have a contract for a pulling boat program with the Harbor School this spring which I will have leadership in. I will also be doing an environmental program with Wellsley, working with the Choices program on and off the island (a program working with Boston Public Schools), and other contract programs as they come up. The Week in Review: MondayOur first day back and on the job. The first portion of the day was our orientation as we met the other core instructors and found out more about what our position means. Since we are the core it is all returning staff some people I knew better than others, but I am sure I will know them all pretty well in due time. Over the next two days we would be having interviews alone with the staffing team, the directors for the various departments we are involved with. When we were not meeting we were given time to get settled into our rooms and fill out out paper work for our insurance and other things. I moved into a room in the basement of Baxter. It isn't as big as my last room, but it isn't a small room either. I will have a room mate at some point, but I get the impression it will be more a seasonal person. My parents will be happy that I know have benefits medical and dental insurance. In the evening I took Abby for a walk, used the wireless in Logan's apartment and hung out with Luke for a little bit who was also helping to watch Abby. I hung out with Capt. Michael and Emily before their evening boat run and then went back latter to show Michael some pictures. Some from film before I got my new camera and some on my lap top. I gave Michael a pin of the Hawaiian Chieftain that I got him since he went down to Falmouth, MA to help move her with me once back in the fall. We know have wireless on the island, which I can get one bar on in my room. That is nice. When I pick up my airport express when I go home, I think that will improve my signal. TuesdayJet lag is effecting me a little bit. I am not tired late at night so it is easy to stay up and do things, so I do. Then I am tired and it is hard to get up in the morning. Tuesday morning I had my meeting with the staffing team and directors. It was a good meeting. I shared my goals and desires for the position and they shared their goals for me. Bashire shared his desire for me to be more involved with the Choices program and working more on diversity and the urban youth population. For the summer tentatively I will be doing OBEE (Outward Bound Environmental Expedition, the longer 14 day courses up the North Shore of MA) for the first two rounds and then will be the course director for the third round. Which is the best of both worlds. I get to sail and lead trips but then get to move up to being course director, which is the direction that I want to go. I will also be involved with training new facilitators and maintenance and inspection work in the challenge course. So I am in a very good place right now, and excited about it. WednesdayWednesday the pace of things changed a little bit. There is a "new" building on the island, it actually has been here a couple of years now, but just recently logistics and food packout was moved into it. The core instructors (us) will have (or I guess I should say now have) an office in it that we will share with the course directors during the summer. So Wednesday morning we cleaned out the resource room in programs below the dinning hall and moved it all down to our new space and began to organize it how we want it. There isn't a desk for everyone, but there are plenty to share. There is also wireless there which is very nice. At lunch I saw Logan who was back from a couple day interview at UNH for a teaching position up there. I grabbed the tea gift box that I bought for her on the Lady Washington. She loved it. After lunch Fielding took me down to show me the work that had been done on my boat the Marshall Dodge over the winter. She looks great, all her wood work has been sanded and stained. She has some new would work. New sole boards being worked on and is looking like new. They are going to bring her to the Gala dinner and have her set up there. I am looking forward to running her again this summer. In the afternoon we spent some time cleaning our living space, namely the bathroom and kitchen both have been badly neglected. In the past that has been the case in the past. Hopefully we as core instructors can set the standard to change this. I got off the island for the first time since I got back on wednesday night. I killed some time by dropping in at the New England Seafarers Mission, but everyone one had gone home for the day. So I just hooked up to their internet and then left for my US Coast Guard Auxiliary meeting. I went to the meeting early for the start of the AUXCOM (auxiliary communications) class. Which is good since I am already studying for my marine radio operators permit and my general radio operators license with radar endorsement. I don't think this class will be as in depth as what I need, but there will be overlap I am sure, and that will be helpful. So I already getting back into the swing of things with my normal activities. I got an nice e-mail from Bob Kennedy of the Lady Washington apologizing for the difficulties I had before I got on board and complementing me on my good work as well as saying that I can come back as long as there is a position open for me, It is nice to have that option open for me next winter and I think I would be very nice if it worked out. ThursdayThursday was the start of our site managers training for the high challenge course. It started on a very hight note when I saw that my OBEE co-leader Erica is back. It was so good to see her, it made me very happy to give her a great big hug. Part of the training was outside, and it was a bit chilly out. I am looking forward to grabbing some warm clothes when I get home to my parents this weekend. The training went well, it was mostly review, but good. There are some new industry standards that I was not aware of since I have been a little bit out of the loop lately on that since I am sailing more these days. We went over some knots which I helped teach and then practiced some set ups on one of our sets of elements. I was told in my interview the other day that I would probably be made a site manager when we have our assessment day next month given my experience. In the evening I went over to Logan's apartment to catch up with her, and use the wireless there. It was good to hand out with her again. We had some of the Lady Washington tea, and for someone that is not a tea fan it was quite good. l ended up staying for dinner as well as we got caught up on each others lives. I did see on the Lady Washington web page that they said some good things about me with my parting from the ship, which felt good to read. FridayToday was more site manager training. We spent just about all day down on the alpine tower working on procedures, rescue practice and going through difference scenarios in small groups. It was a good day. There was threat of bad weather, but the sun was out and it warmed up nice enough to shed a few layers. We finished up in time where I could grab my laundry and make it off the island on the 1600 boat. Erica walked with me to the Laundromat where I dropped it off to be done. Then we walked to the Barking Crab to have dinner with Colin, his wife and a couple other OBP (Outward Bound Professional) staff. After Erica and I walked up to South Station where we parted ways for the evening. She went to her sisters and I picked up my train ticket for tomorrow using my Merchant Marine Document to get the military discount. I took a survey for a Princeton Study on moral judgments and got $3.00. Then caught the 2000 boat back to the island. I found my missing desk Reed the deck hand "boworrowed" it from my old room. He says he will give it back on Monday. It was a good week and it is good to be back. E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:49:54 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060307144954/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060307144850/index.html Capt. Irving Johnson. One of my Heros.E-mail Me My Home Page ]]> Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:48:50 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060307144850/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060307000832/index.html Pirates of the Caribbean Official Web Site My Pirates Links My Home page E-mail me ]]> Sun, 05 Mar 2006 21:08:32 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060307000832/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060305105839/index.html I got up early this morning at 0400 after only an hour and a half of sleep which is what I wanted so I would be tired for my flight. I dressed and then woke up Sam and Ted in the main hold before packing up what I needed to sleep, signing out of ships articles and then leaving the brig under the cover of darkness without saying good bye to anyone because they were all asleep. Sam and Ted drove me to the Oakland airport and I got their with plenty of time to spare, checked in and then waited for my flight. My plan to fly tired worked out well. I sat in my seat and was so asleep on the trip between Oakland and Los Angles (LAX) that I have no recollection of the take off or landing. I had a quick layover at LAX and then was off again to Boston. I slept a lot on that flight as well. It was a nice flight. I was siting next to a Unitarian minister and her and I chatted for a little bit now and then. There were two in flight movies since it was a direct flight from LAX to Boston. The first was Aeo Flux, which is a movie I had wanted to see anyway. It was ok. The second one, I forget the name, but it was about two sisters reconnecting with their grandmother after they had a fight with each other. It was enjoy able as well. I worked on my blog some during the second movie. As we got close to Boston we were able to clearly pick out Albany, NY out the window. I wish I had looked a little sooner, maybe I could have picked out Syracuse too. It was a nice day coming into Boston. We did a complete circle over the harbor before coming in to land, which allowed me to get some good shots of the harbor and Thomnpson Island. After collecting my checked baggage I caught the silver line down the the Marine Industrial Park, dropped my bags at the Thompson Island dock then went to the Seafarers mission to collect a bag that I had in my locker there, leave them a note letting them know that I am back in town and use their wireless internet as I waited for the Thompson Island Boat. John was the first person I saw as he is coming back onto the island as well to be a core instructor. When I stepped onto the Motor Vessel Outward Bound (MVOB) I was greeted with a big hug from Emily the deck hand who also worked a course with me as instructor last summer, and then a hand shake from my good friend Capt. Michael Burpee. I road up in the wheel house so we could catch up and reconnect. Once on the island I checked in with Bashire the Choices program director and was given a room in Baxter being told I may have a room mate at some point. I grabbed the larger of the two rooms I was offered in the basement. The place needs to be cleaned up a bit. I grabbed some furniture that I had left in my old room, my disk which had my name on it being mysteriously missing. I arranged things to a way that was pleasing, unpacked and got settled in.It is odd going right from the Lady Washington to here. Something that had become so familiar to me, to something else familiar yet new with a new room and position. I grabbed my mail and on the way back was found by my favorite black lab Abby so I said hi to my good friend Logan briefly before she headed to bed having a big two day interview tomorrow at UNH. After getting all unpacked and settled in, I grabbed a shower (how many times have I said grabbed in this blog?) and will soon head to bed. It is good to be home. I doubt I will be blogging as much since I will quickly be either too busy or in a routine. I suspect I will loose some readers that read just to keep up on things concerning the Lady Washington, that is alright by me. This will still be here for those that want to keep up with my adventures. Boston and Boston Harbor. The Brewsters and Boston Light. George's IslandMy Home Page E-mail me ]]> Sun, 05 Mar 2006 10:58:39 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060305105839/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060304192329/index.html Today was my last day as the first mate on the Brig Lady Washington. It was a mellow day and a good way to end things, or to just take a break I should say, because I hope to return. It was the normal Saturday morning routine sleeping in until 0800, breakfast and chores. I put myself down to have the meeting with the Captain to have an exit interview of sorts. Captain Kevin isn't the best at giving feedback, but he did say I did a good job. I feel the same, but I definitely believe there is room for improvement which is a big reason why I hope to return. Next time I would like to continue working on being mate and when I get that all down perfectly or as close to perfect as possible and then start training to be captain of a tall ship. After chores and getting the vessel ready for tours, there were a couple people working with the bosun on maintenance and the rest giving tours. It was slow but steady are currently location is not the most visible for attracting random public. I used the time to check in with some of the two week volunteers and brief Joan a little bit on the battle sail to help her get ready. I made my last battle plan which was titled the same as this blog entry. As tours wound down and we had lunch, Samantha Levins a shipmate from the providence her boy fiend Ted and her room mate Em came by. I gave them a quick tour. I signed Sam in as crew since we are a little low right now and she has some tall ship and square rig experience from the Bounty. Ted was able to get on as a shore support comp because they are giving me a ride to the airport and he is interested in being crew on a tall ship. He has done some work and research on container ships concerning labor laws and such and is interested in the Tall Ship side of things. This was our first battle sail with the Hawaiian Chieftain since she became part of Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority. It was slow and not as heated as our normal battles. We had to head over to the Oakland part of the bay since we don't have a permit to fire the guns in San Francisco. It was a good break in for the two vessels though. Either I did really well with all our tacks, wares and other maneuvers or Captain was being really good to me on my last day. We did pretty well too with a small crew that included a few people that hadn't had an opportunity to do a battle sail with us before since it had been a few weeks. I would have liked it to have been better, a little faster and more call backs. After the sail we cleaned up the deck, Sam went off with her friends for dinner and some other perspective crew members hung around for a bit. It was the last full day with our two week volunteers Ric and Annette so I did their exit interviews and evaluations for dinner. This evenings muster included the usual debrief of the sail. I told everyone I enjoyed sailing on the Lady, that leaned a bunch and that I hope to sail on the Lady again. The muster ended with 2nd mate Rob leading a traditional tall ship song calling me a very specific part of a horse. I certainly saw that coming! After muster I packed some things up, checked e-mail, got my ticket information for my flight, and updated by blog with pictures first. There was a chanty sing on board the Balcultha at the maritime museum. Most of the crew went to it, so I walked to there to make an appearance. It was about an hour walk, which was a good one. I stopped to watch a street performer lay on a bed of glass along the way. Just outside of In and Out Burger I ran into Marzipan and Anna, which was very convenient since Marzipan said she would buy me a milk shake earlier. So we got one and then went to the Chanty sing. As we got to the Balcultha I ran into Sam and Ted as they were leaving. Ted was tired, so I told them where the open bunks were in the main hold. They spent the night on the brig because we had to get up so early in the morning to get to the airport. We got to the chanty sing after 2300 which is when the bawdy ones and ones with choruses. I didn't sing any because I didn't know what had already been sung, plus there were personalities there that would interupt, correct or add their own two cents worth. I just was comfortable with that or the number of people there. Just give me my pulling boat full of students and I am good. After the Chanty sing ended, I walked back to the Brig. I wanted to stay up as late as possible so that I would be tired enough to sleep on my flight and I wanted to smoke a cigar. I got back finished packing, was online for a little bit chatting with Jenny which is pretty common when I am on in the evening. Then I went to bed and slept for about an hour and a half...My Home Page E-mail Me ]]> Sat, 04 Mar 2006 19:23:29 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060304192329/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060304192137/index.html Today was my day off for this port. It was nice to be in San Francisco again and to see some things that I hadn't seen before as well as get one last break from the brig before I leave. I slept in as is my habit even though the cook still woke me up as is her habit. Once I got up and out of my rack, I grabbed what I would need for the day and walked to the first Starbucks that I could find which was on Market, St. There a grabbed a raspberry mocha decaf and sat down to use their t-mobile hotspot. I updated my blog which was much quicker than the cell phone connection that I normally use and checked my e-mail before venturing out into the city. I walked out of the starbucks and got on a cable car on the California line and took it up the hill and eventually got the the Cable car museum. I had been by it a couple of times before and have always wanted to check it out. It was wicked cool. I spend over an hour in there and it was a small museum. It was at the actual power plant and terminal of the cable car system. All four cable lines feed into this hub where they are driven by large motors in complete loops throughout the city. There was a viewing area where you could see under the street and where the pulleys direct the cable. Upstairs you could see the motors and the cable tension system and exhibits that explained things. The cables have to be changed every two to six months. They are spliced into a loop with a 96 foot splice that has no diameter change. It was very interesting to learn about. From the Cable Car Museum I wondered down and through China town which was near by. While wondering through China town I got a call from Project Adventure and had a phone interview with them. It ended with an invitation to attend their training this spring, which I intend to do, so that I can work with them on the side. After I had my fill of China Town, I began to walk towards the Maritime Museum which I have visited many times before. I got a call from Jeff Lehner and we made a plan to meet up in San Francisco. So I began to walk more towards Fisherman's Wharf where I would meet him. I saw that I was near Telegraph Hill, I have never been there, so I walked up the hill and then went up Coit Tower and check all that out before heading to Fisherman's Wharf. I arrived at Fisherman's Wharf a little bit before jeff so I took the time to write in my journal a little bit. Jeff pulled up and I jumped in his new Honda Hybrid. Jeff wanted to know if there was anything that I wanted to see. There wasn't much that I really wanted to see, but I hadn't been over to Lombard street yet, so we drove over there took a couple of pictures, then went to find a place to eat since I hadn't eaten yet. We found this inexpensive bar-b-que place on Van Ness near the area called the Tenderloin. We were in a dinner just before that, that was a little high priced for our budget. We had some good conversations on religion and spirituality, and just got caught up. He is now an anthropology student in Santa Cruz, having moved up there from Monterey (Seaside) with his girlfriend Julie. After dinner I brought him back to the brig and showed him around before he had to head on back to Santa Cruz, a couple hour drive. The rest of the evening I just hung out in the aft cabin and began packing for the eminent departure. Before going to be Rob and I watched the end of the movie Gattaca which we had started a month or more ago and then just starting watching other things rather than going back to it. Tomorrow is my last day and my last battle sail. My Home Page E-mail Me ]]> Fri, 03 Mar 2006 19:21:37 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060304192137/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060302214150/index.html Today was our grand arrival day to San Francisco. We slept in a little bit until 0800 since we just finished a transit and were in early. Correy took on her first day as bosun and got some maintenance going on. Topher and Newt were in and out getting ready to leave, though they both did sail with us today. Joan needed a break, so she went to get a hotel room for 24 hours and will be back tomorrow morning. I got a voice message from Jeff, hopefully we will get to meet up while I am here. I had e-mailed him ahead of time. Sam, a shipmate from the Providence may be meeting me here as well. She said she would like to sail with us and has offered to give me a ride to the airport. I heard that she dropped by the dock earlier while we were underway this afternoon. After lunch we got the brig ready, got into our funny cloathes and motered back out to the other side of the Golden Gate, set some sail and sailed back in with the Hawaiian Chieftain for our Grand Arrival which was grand in deed. We had our large American flag flying, or flag sail as we like to call it as well as a large state of Washington flag. The two local scow schooners Gas Light and Alma joined as as well. It was a little bit choppy outside the gate and fun to watch them. I got some good picture and movie footage. I haven't got it just right on my blog yet with the movies so maybe latter. We got back in and tied up to the dock around 1800 had dinner and bid farewell to Topher and Newt. I pretty much just hung out in the aft cabin for a bit and fooled around on the computer. Rob is looking for future work in the Florida Keys. We looked at the Florida Sea Base site and saw that there are some new programs including a live aboard scuba program on a schooner. He may look that up. Today we also bid farewell to our Bosun Topher who has left us to be the second mate on Schooner Adventuress. Fair Winds Topher! Newt left tonight as well to travel part way with Topher on a little "vacation", and unfortunately Annie had to leave to attend a funeral of a close relative. We my departure soon, we are slowly having a decent turn over in the crew. My Home Page E-mail Me ]]> Thu, 02 Mar 2006 21:41:49 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060302214150/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060302010520/index.html The Hawaiian Chieftain leaving Morro Bay, CA.Our transit to San Francisco was pretty uneventful, which is the way we like them. I switched things up a bit for the watch schedule. I took watch B rather than my normal watch A. I always just naturally put myself there because it just seemed right for the first mate to take the first watch. It really didn't have anything to do with it being the best watch of course everyone has their own opinion on it. Watch B isn't that nice because you have to get woken for meals which don't correspond with your watch times. So I skipped most of mine since I was loosing them anyway. The only one that fits is lunch which is just before your watch (1200- 1600 and 0000 to 0400). Watch A you have breakfast before watch, and lunch after watch and you only get woken up for dinner then. I had a good group of people on my watch though. I try to mix things up so the same people aren't together all the time. I had Correy, Newt and Joan. Correy just rejoined us from the Hawaiian Chieftain back in Ventura and will soon be our new Bosun when Topher leaves. Newt is our storekeeper and will soon be our bosun's mate when he returns from a week long "vacation" between contracts. Joan is a two week volunteer that was a passenger on the transit to Morro Bay and then joined as a volunteer after we arrived. Correy wants to be a watch leader and has the skills to do so, so once we got going I let her lead the watch and she did a good job at it. She does well in leadership positions. I started talking with Newt about what is necessary to become a watch leader. Joan is a bit older than most of our volunteers. She had a rough bout of sea sickness her first transit with us and many were surprised that she stayed. But she rose to the task of doing lookout and got up to speed on taking the helm and was eventually able to do the boat checks on her own as well. I was a little sick this transit as I was the one before, which has not been typical during my time on the Lady Washington. This time is was the kind of sick where I mostly felt ok, and then would have the urge to go to the lee rail and loose whatever the previous meal I ate was. Fortunately the transit was short, only two days. We left Morro Bay Tuesday morning and were in San Francisco by Wednesday evening. The Hawaiian Chieftain left about an hour before us and got in several hours before we did. We talked to them once on the single side band radio to test it out while we were underway. Our initial arrival was not very grand, though it was cool. I was awoken and told that we were approaching the Golden Gate. We sailed under the Golden Gate bridge at night under sail power alone. Then got in and tied to the dock in front of the Chieftain. Les Bolton our executive director is here as well. After we got in and were stood down, Sarah and I went out to grab a bite to eat since we didn't eat much on transit. Jack in the Box was the first open place we found and that was good enough for us. Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge at night.My Home Page E-mail Me ]]> Wed, 01 Mar 2006 01:05:20 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060302010520/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060227205837/index.html My Home Page E-mail Me ]]> Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:58:37 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060227205837/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060226202614/index.html E-mail me and let me know what look you prefer. Long hair....short hair...bearded...clean shaven..... My Home Page ]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2006 20:26:14 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060226202614/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060226134945/index.html Today was mostly a free day for me since we are in port and the Captain has been around all day between us and the Hawaiian Chieftain. I still got up for breakfast, did morning muster, and made sure that things got going in the morning. I checked my e-mail, worked on my blog and registered for my FCC marine radio operators permit as well as got the study materials for it. I let the Captain use my computer and internet connection to check the weather and other things. This afternoon I took a shower and then took a walk around town to shop for souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. My Home Page The rigs of the Lady and the Chieftain. Hawaiian Chieftain and Morro Rock,CA The Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain together again. ]]> Sun, 26 Feb 2006 13:49:45 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060226134945/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060225224440/index.html This morning we had a pleasant surprise. We awoke to the sound of the Hawaiian Chieftain rafting up to us. After many months of waiting, she finally joins us. It was great to reconnect with some crew members that had gone over to her to help out and to see Capt. "Evil" (Ryan Meyers) and Capt. Jake (Michael Jacobson). Ryan was a mere bosun's mate when I was on the Lady Washington Crew the first time back during the summer of 1998 and Lake was our Captain during part of that summer when Capt. Gary Stugard took some time off. Today was a full day of dockside tours for the public. After working out the last chore and day off schedule that I would have to do as mate, I put on my "funny clothes" (the period attire the we are required to wear when we are dealing with the public), and went up on deck to help out with the public. There were lots of people on board, but not as many as in some previous ports. Someone came and dropped off a change purse and a box of chocolates for the Captain and Mate. I thought that was nice and left my chocolate out on the aft cabin table to share. Crystal and Pete left us this afternoon. You could tell that it was a little emotional for Crystal, but she will be back soon. In the afternoon the Captain said I could take some time off while we were doing docksides and that he would cover things on the ship. So I took off to get a much needed hair cut and shave. It was getting to be a little latter in the afternoon, so I couldn't find a basic barber shop that was still open to taking in customers. I found more of a beauty parlor and they gave me a nice hair cut, washed my hair and let me use their trimmers to shave off my beard. I left her a nice tip and told her to come down for a free tour of the ship. Coming back to the Brig some people had to take a double take, and use expletives at their shock at my change in appearance. I tried to pass myself off as a new volunteer. It was fun. I wanted to get a hair cut and shave by the time I got back to Boston, because I don't know if I will have the time once I get back into things with Outward Bound. Also, our second mate Rob had seen pictures of me with short hair and clean shaved and said he would like to see me like that before I left. Now that I am all clean cut I am not scaring small children or being mistaken for a pirate! Tonight the local yacht club had a little reception for us which was an enjoyable experience. My Home Page ]]> Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:44:40 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060225224440/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060224204036/index.html Today was a full day of dock side educational programs. Something like six of them I think. This morning I was keeping the time and ringing the bell for the rotations for two of them and then two again in the afternoon. With the idlers this afternoon, I worked on knots splices and other marlin spike seamanship skills. Latter this afternoon during and after tours I did some navigation training with Pete and Marzipan, Tomorrow we loose two of our two week volunteers. So I did two exit interviews tonight and we sang our traditional farewell song at muster. We will be loosing Pete and Crystal, but Crystal will be rejoining us in the not too distant future. Captain Kevin had to go to some sort of special dinner with the mayor, so I ran muster and stood the crew down tonight. Tonight, Rob, Correy, Crystal, Annie and I went out for a little bit just to enjoy each other company. My Home Page ]]> Fri, 24 Feb 2006 20:40:36 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060224204036/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060224015939/index.html Since we aren't sailing at all while we are in Morro Bay, things have been opened up for other opportunities. Today we got to sleep in a bit which was nice. After chores we got our ramp set up and then the bosun set to work to get our gaff and spanker back up. We had lowered it in Ventura so that we could put a patch on the sail. As opposed to some other rigs, our spanker sail brails in rather than having to raise and lower it every time that we need it. Today was a grand arrival day. We didn't sail in, because we were already here. Our dock isn't the easiest to get into due to currents and not a lot of space to turn around. We did however fire the cannon shortly after tours began to announce our presence here. Lunch was at noon, as was our opening to the public, so I manned the ramp to welcome people on board and had the volunteers I would be working with for today help out on tours while the rest of the crew grabbed lunch. After they ate, and relieved us, we had our lunch and jumped into our training. Since we are in port now with no sails and lots of crew currently on board, we can get lots done. We have enough people to do tours, plenty of people to send to the bosun to do maintenance, and then still time and people to let me do some training with the two week volunteers, which is really nice. The last week with transit and a full schedule of educational and public sails, I haven't been able to focus on the volunteers as much as I would like to other than for a hour or so in the evenings either during tours if it is slow, or just after tours. So today I spent the whole afternoon working with our two week volunteers. I focused mostly on getting our two newest two week volunteers Rick and Annette up to speed on the lines and a set and douse of the squares, but Pete was available for most of it too, to help out with what he had already learned and to do some more learning himself. Crystal was able to break away for a little bit from tours too, to learn and help out some as well. I got some feedback from some of our longer term volunteers too, that they didn't feel that they got the kind of training that I am giving during their two week stint. So that makes me feel good that I am providing good training, but bad in that it may disappear again when I leave. Training has been an important focus for me during my time here, so I am glad that people feel that I am giving them that. While here in Morro bay, I hope to work with some of our other crew members who are longer term volunteers and teach them some things that they would like to know as well. We got lots of goodies from the Chamber of Commerce here as well, so we horse and goggled for them here too. I did pretty well, I got some chocolate "Morro Rock" candy, a deck of cards (which I gave to Crystal for her and Pete to play cards on their train ride home), a pin (which I gave to the Captain since he wanted it too, and hadn't won anything else), and a magnet which I will give to my parents for the refrigerator magnet collection. Correy is back with us training to be Bosun we were able to reconnect tonight over some pictures of the Kalmar Nickol the previous Tall Ship and I think maybe the only other tall ship she was on and a little rum. It was good and we have put our past behind us and I suspect things will go well between us during my last little stint here. We made it onto the Morro Bay web cam. Here we are. http://24.180.1.178/home/homeS.html Morro Rock, Morro Bay, CAMy Home Page ]]> Fri, 24 Feb 2006 01:59:39 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060224015939/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060222161549/index.html We are now in Morro Bay after one of our longer transit since I have been Mate on board. We left Monday evening after dinner and the arrival of a crew member that was on loan to the Hawaiian Chieftain. My watch (A watch) was on first starting at 2000. We got the brig off of the dock, down the channel and then out to sea. It was a nice calm night with the wind slowing picking up. We did not set any sail because we were heading right into the wind. We are on a Sweedish watch system. Which means we have three watches, four hours on eight hours off with no "dog watch". My watch is the eight to twelve watch both morning and evening. It was quiet our first night, but the wind began to slowly build. It had picked up a bit by tuesday morning when my watch was up again and we were heading right into it making slow progress and getting set to leeward a bit. We had our main top mast stay sail set as a righting sail. We struck that and braced around onto a starboard tack to reduce our windage and continued on our way. I slept between watches, and got sick once my second night. I will spare you the pictures of what I left on the side of the hull of my dinner. We were moving slowly during my watch tuesday night, but by wednesday morning when came on deck again, the wind had died down and looking at the chart we were getting close to Morro Bay and were actually tied to the dock by the end of my watch, having called all hands to get onto the dock. We won't be sailing at all while we are in Morro Bay. In part due to the currents, and in part down to a local ordinance that does not allow vessels to take school groups out on trips due to an incident that happened some time ago. Lady Washington Crew in Morro Bay.My Home Page ]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:15:49 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060222161549/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060220120459/index.html Ventura was a very nice, but quick port. We had a full weekend of sails with one on saturday afternoon, two on Sunday and one on Monday morning for presidents day. All were full and I had to bump some crew off. Just about everyone got bumped at one point or another. Sunday afternoon I bumped myself off. It worked well as two new two week volunteers arrived, so I could talk to them a little bit on shore and find out about them and their expectations. They are booth cool people who met and have previously volunteered on the Picton Castle. I am looking forward to working with them more. Jenny joined up with us at the coffee show we were meeting at a little latter. She was volunteering for thew weekend and got bumped from that sail as well. Unfortunately I had to bump her from most of the sails since she isn't a regular crew member or volunteer yet. We all went to the beach to see the Lady out Sailing and then Jenny and I went and explored the shops in the little marina area we are docked at. Monday was my day off. We didn't have a sail until ten, so I took advantage of that and slept in a little bit. I left a note on the door for the cook not to wake me, which she read as she knocked on my cabin door and then apologized. I went to a coffee shop and hooked up to their internet and then caught the bus into town. It was my first visit into Ventura. They had a nice little main street with lots of shops, thrift stores and antiques. After an afternoon of walking around, I caught the bus back to be onboard by five pm and ready to get underway. We had dinner and then waited for a crew member Correy to return from her time helping out as crew on the Hawaiian Chiefton and rejoin us to continue her training to be the next bosun. We got underway on our transit to Morro Bay shortly after her return. My watch having the first watch as we left the harbor. ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:04:58 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060220120459/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060217205519/index.html

Today was the Captain's day off since we only had dockside programs today. That meant that I had the deck. No big deal really, since we weren't underway. I just made sure that no ship's business went to the Captain so that he could enjoy his day off. The phone didn't ring too much and it was all stuff easily dealt with and I passed the information off to the appropriate crew member.

The port here is very friendly and we are in a tourist restaurant and marketplace type area. They dropped off a load or loot which we horse and goggled off to the crew members (a fair way of dividing loot between the people who want it). I ended up with a new tote bag and a "fanny foil" kite, (a parafoil kite that stows into a fanny pack). Last night a group of us went out to the local ice cream shop for shakes and the like, I got a nice banana split with three types of chocolate ice cream and hot fudge.

The night rounded out with a showing of two episodes of fire fly in the aft cabin and then off to bed.

]]> Fri, 17 Feb 2006 20:55:19 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060217205519/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060216233959/index.html Today was our last day in Oxnard. We were supposed to be in Ventura, but due to yesterdays conditions we did not make it. Today was completely different from yesterday. Since were close to our next port, we just had the schools come down to Oxnard. We had two small groups today. The weather was calm this morning and picked up just a little bit this afternoon enough that we didn't set top gallants. After we unloaded the second group, we quickly got underway again and did our transit to Ventura which was only seven miles dock to dock. Victoria on transit. A bunch of the crew went to Anna's parents house to help here parents move a piano in exchange for food and drink. Rob, Crystal, Peter and I just went out to eat close by. There are a lot of restaurants and shops right close to the ship in the marina. We just went to a mexican place, After we came back and watched two episodes of Firefly. I am chatting with one of our tall ship groupies right now and we are talking about camping out on the islands here on my day off. Tomorrow we are just doing dock sides, so the captain will have the day off for a change, he doesn't get much time off. ]]> Thu, 16 Feb 2006 23:39:59 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060216233959/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060216031154/index.html Today was an interesting an exciting day. We were scheduled for something a little different, an ed transit. So today we were supposed to transit to our next port of Ventura. Since it is so close, only a few hours away, we were also to bring students with us and do an educational program with them. Before all that though, we said goodbye to our friends on the crew of the Lynx as we would now be going our separate ways. They off to Santa Barbara and us to Ventura. Before they left, they did find the stuffed "hug me" elephant that we tied to their rudder as a prank and in retaliation for the jack in the box ball that we found on our fore truck at the top of our mast and the can of open tuna we found in our winless. At muster this morning I gave the recommendation that we stow for sea, which some headed, but others did not. We would need to lash our ramp to the main shrouds, so we got the lines we needed for that all ready, and the chafe gear out so it would be easy to do, once we got our students all on board. Things went smoothly, getting the students on board, untying the Lynx from us and getting her underway, striking and securing the ramp and then getting underway. We were escorted out of the harbor by the harbor patrol as has been the protocol here due to the shoal in the channel here. We had a wind from the north west coming down on us, right from the direction we wanted to go, so we couldn't set any sail other than the main topmast staysail to help stabilize us. We had some rough seas about ten feet or so at times, high winds too. We were taking spray over the deck. Once we cleared the breakwater, we set our sail, ran jack lines to help people move about the deck and move all or our passengers to the half deck and crowded them in there. We were all getting wet, even up on the quarter deck we were getting spray. The crew was amazing. Our ed coordinator for the day Nathalie did an excellent job in keeping programing, sea chanties and blankets coming. Some of the students did get sick, and there were screams, more like the ones on roller coasters though than of terror. Most seemed to have a good time, especially the crew which all had a ball. No one on the crew got sick however, save one, the mate who lost his breakfast over the side a few times, and then got a sore throat from it. Even after that he still was able to give commands loud enough to get everything done that needed to be done. (the mate being me of course) :-) What happens when you don't sea stow. At first we were going to keep plugging away and try to make it to Ventura. We were running full throttle against the wind and seas and really putting a strain on our engine. Due to the difficulty of the Oxnard channel and shoaling, going back was not our first choice in these conditions. The Captain made some calls, found out that the Ventura channel may not be much better with these seas and got permission from the Oxnard harbor patrol to come back. So we turned around and went back, our speed almost doubling now that we were with the wind and seas. Once we got into the shelter of the harbor, we got mooring lines rigged and with the wind putting us on the dock, docking was a quick and easy affair. The winds however kept us there and we would not be leaving it soon. We continued on with out ed program for the students, parents and teachers that wanted to stay and then went on with a new afternoon plan. We did a thorough deck wash to get any puke left onboard off. I took advantage of the time and the fact that we had a lot of our PFD's (personal floatation devices or life jackets) out to do my monthly safety inspection. The bosun did some light maintenance and training and when all was done, I took our two two week volunteers Crystal and Pete and did some training with them. We went over setting, dousing and reviewed the lines for the head rig and how they worked. Since it is Crystals second week, I had her show Pete as much as she could to help her solidify things. We mustered early before dinner and stood down early. After dinner I took a nice long nap and then got up for a couple episodes of Firefly being viewed in the aft cabin. ]]> Thu, 16 Feb 2006 03:11:54 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060216031154/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060216021609/index.html Yesterday it was back at it after a day off to two ed sails. It was a little light on the wind in the morning, but much better in the afternoon. Last night was "50's dinner night" for dinner. We were supposed to dress up in 50's attire. I really didn't have any, so I went with 1750's. We had burgers and fries to 50's music. The cook Sarah also made us shakes, which as a nice treat. We had a choice between vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. Bosun's mate Shinney and Cook Sarah at "50's dinner night"After dinner where some traditional movies in the aft cabin. We are now starting to work through the one and only season of "Firefly" which the movie "Serenity" is based on. We watched that movie twice last week since it was so good and actually seems to relate to life on a tall ship, at least this one. We really enjoy it. I have gotten hooked on a couple of series since I have been here, and have ordered the DVD's so that I may enjoy them between courses this summer. Tonight I ordered, Cowboy Bebop, Serenity, and Firefly. I have already ordered Hornblower. Last night I went out for a walk and had an interesting encounter. I met a Korean woman and talked with her a little bit. Her english was not that good. I could understand her, but she could not always understand me and labored for the right words to tell me what she wanted to tell me. She did not strike me as a Christian, I actually thought that she might be a prostitute in the awkward way that she approached me. She told me during our conversation that that I need to not work on Sunday and attend church, and when I do so, to listen. Given my spiritual background, my walk away from it, this unexpected and awkward encounter, I may just listen to it and see about attending church in the next port. The schedule is already made, so it would have to be an evening service for me, or I may have to schedule a Sunday off in the near future to see if there is something God has to say to me. Though I am always just a little bit of a skeptic. I finally got my insurance payment for my computer and digital camera. It is about time. I had already borrowed money against it from my parents to buy a new camera which I did. I think I will use some of the rest of it to pay off some bills and then wait for the new macs to come out, supplement it with some pay from Outward Bound and get a nice new computer. I have the one I am borrowing for the time being to get me through the rest of the winter and spring. If I had to, I could probably survive the summer without one if I had to since I will be on course so much anyway. ]]> Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:16:09 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060216021609/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060215001622/index.html I have found it useful to have a cell phone in some ports, plus it is always nice to reach people and be reachable. My VOIP seems to only work well when I have a high speed connection. So I added voice service to my cell phone. It costs me only $10 more than what I was paying for just data. I still won't be that reachable underway, but my new cell phone number is 857-928- 9191. Give me a call sometime. I wanted to call some special friends on Valentines day, so I thought it was as good of day as any to make this change to my cell service. ]]> Tue, 14 Feb 2006 00:16:22 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060215001622/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060213151411/index.html Today is my date off. It started kind of slow. The cook knowing it was my day off woke me up this morning anyway for some reason. I just rolled over and slept in as is my day off habit. I got up prepared for the day and off just before the students started to board for this mornings ed sail. Annie was off this morning to do her weekly mailer for the office. We helped the Lady get off the dock by getting the mooring lines at the dock. I bummed a ride with her to get into town and see if anything caught my eye. Nothing did. I wanted to waste time until about 11 am when the local maritime museum opens. I went into a radio shack while she was doing the mailer and got an antenna for my cell phone to get better reception while I am on the boat so maybe I can have a little better and faster internet connection. I also grabbed a donut while I was waiting since I had skipped breakfast. I made it to the maritime museum by 11 and took a look around. They had a nice collection of models and art work. Their feature exhibit was "When China Ruled the Seas" which is about large Chinese treasure ships in the 14th century. Very interesting. I used their wireless internet for a little bit outside, then got back to the Brig in time to help cast off lines for the afternoon sail and meet with Preston who was giving me a ride to a train station closer to LA. I thought he lived closer to LA than he does. I am on my way to LA and Hollywood just to tour around a little bit and see what there is to see since I have never been there. It is afternoon now, and I am thinking that maybe I should have skipped the museum and caught the train out of Oxnard this morning. It looks like I will have to start heading back at around 9 tonight. I got into LA Union station at around fourish. I bought my return train (Amtrak thruway bus actually) ticket before I left the station. I scoped out what was around the station. Didn't see much, so I dropped down to the subway and caught it to Hollywood. Like San Diego, you just buy a ticket from a machine and then get on the subway, there is no one really checking. I got a day pass and only in one station was it checked and it was by the police and you just held it up as you went by. I took the train to the Universal City stop which was recommended by Preston. At that stop I was able to catch a shuttle up to Universal Studios. It was already too late for the last tour and the rest of the place was like a mall. There didn't seem to be much around the metro stop, so I hopped back on and went up to North Hollywood. I couldn't remember if there were things to see there or if it was a place that I should avoid. There wasn't a lot there either. I walked a couple of blocks to see. I saw the academy as in the academy awards. I took some pictures of the outside of it. After I saw there was nothing there, I got back on the subway and went back a couple of stops to the Hollywood and Highland stop to see what was there. That is where I wanted to be. The Hollywood that I had pictured lots of lights and a big tourist trap. I was on Hollywood blvd. Which is the street with all the stars with the names of celebrities on them in the side walk. I took a couple of pictures of stars that would interest my mother and a couple of friends. I saw the Chinese theatre where the celebrities put their foot and hand prints in the concrete. I walked further up the street saw the Egyptian theatre, El Capitan, and the head quarters for Scientology. It was all interesting. I toped off my visit with an In n Out Burger for dinner. Not my first trip to In and Out while in California this time, but the first In and Out burger I got this go round. I wish I had come earlier and made a day of it. Maybe if the next port isn't too far away or too interesting I will try again. I left shortly after eight, and made it back to Union Station at a reasonable time to make my 9:05 pm bus back to Oxnard. I quickly feel asleep. I caught a cab from the train station back to the Brig. It wasn't long before I was in my cabin fast asleep. I was beat! ]]> Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:14:11 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060213151411/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060209234805/index.html Wow, I am finding out that people actually do read this blog and I am getting a little bit of a following with it. So if you are reading this, drop me a line and let me know what you think. If you find this on some sort of a web search for the Lady Washington let me know. If you don't know me in person let me know, how you found my blog. I am curious to hear from people and how they found and like my blog. If you are new to my blog and web site, be sure to check out my photo albums too, I have recently added pictures there and will continue to do so. All the feedback that I have received on it has been fantastic, thanks! We have been in Oxnard a few days now. Things are fairly routine. We now have both of our top gallant masts, yards and sails up, and have been sailing with them. It is nice to have and adds a little more challenge and learning to things. Thursday and Friday we did ed programs. Both days we had dockside programs in the morning and a sail in the afternoon. This let the captain sneak away one day for a shower and me to sneak away on another day for one. I have gotten the scheduling down for the crew. Each week I make up a chore and day off schedule. Not that it doesn't need to be changed with changing times on board, it just is a lot easier and better now. Our afternoon dockside tours for an hour after our sail and on Saturday morning has been fairly popular here too. We are docked by a harbor patrol base so we are trying to be low impact to the area around their facility. We have had great wind here. It seems to be just right. We are actually able to make our tacks easily, but it isn't so strong that things happen too fast with the potential of getting out of hand. I have really enjoyed it. We have a volunteer that has been joining us for the days from breakfast until dinner. He goes by doc and is a volunteer with the museum and is trying to learn as much as possible about our ed prgram so they can do something similar with the museum. I have spent the tour and after tour times with him and Crystal going over settings and dousings to help them learn the lines and the process of getting things done. I rigged up a training sail with my do rag and belay pins with some saine twine as lines to help illustrate things for them. One evening Chrystal, Rob and I went out to the local In and Out Burger. We had eaten on the ship so I just got a shake and fries. I would like to go back for a burger on my day off, so that I can get my traditional In and Out burger while visiting California. We swung into circuit city too so I could get a new USB bluetooth since I broke the one I got in San Diego. So I had been down and not able to get online for a day or two. Most evenings this week we set up an old sail as a screen in the aft cabin and watch dvd's on it with our projector. Cowboy Bee Bob and japanese animation is a popular selection. I have to saw that I am getting hooked on it as a number of crew members already are. On another night we watched a movie that Rob picked up called Serenity. It was a science fiction movie, but it had a lot of funny lines and had parts that really related to shipboard life. Wrestling seems to be a popular activity among the crew. I joined in one night. Sarah, Crystal and I went to the beach where there was nothing to get hit or hurt on and wrestled in the sand. We did two rounds and I won both. I was nervous since Sarah had a pretty good reputation and I had never seen her wrestle before. Annie mentioned that she was disappointed not to have gotten any mail in this port, so I sent her a post card (which she unknowingly actually mailed for me) so she would have mail here. Last night we went to a bar b que that was put on by a family that just fell in love with the tall ships last year. They took up up to their "ranch" it is a piece of property where they will be building a home. They just have a trailer there right now. They were very generous to us. It was a nice relaxing evening. This morning we had a nice full adventure sail. Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon we had battle sails. There was more wind than what we had grown accustomed too and it was nice. My sail calling is getting better and I have to ask Kevin less and less about when to brace around the sails. I am feeling better and better about it. I couple times I started to call something just as he was asking me to do it, which means I am starting to think more like him and understand things better. I only have like five battle sails left, so I want to make the best of them. We picked up another volunteer today. Peter from Canada. We dropped him right into a battle sail and he seemed to do ok with it. This evening I went to a donut shop that I heard had free wireless. I couldn't get a signal there, so I just signed on with my phone as I had a stronger signal with it there than I do on the ship. Tomorrow is my day off. I am thinking of going to Hollywood. Regardless I am going to relax. I only have three more weeks left on the ship. That is hard to believe. ]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2006 23:48:05 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060209234805/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060208220437/index.html We are now in Oxnard, California. Yesterday was a pretty full and interesting day. Our first school of the day was late due to a wild fire they rerouted traffic and put them into a traffic jam. There was talk of doing just a dockside education program with them if they didn't make it in a reasonable time. They did make it, and it was just a short sail that we did with them. That afternoon we had no lack of excitement either. Our school did show up on time however, just after getting off the dock, we ran aground, and were not able to get off easily. Though we were close to the dock and had been rafted to the Lynx, they were still able to get off the dock around us and get underway for their sail. We tried to work our way off the shoal we were on using various methods. The Lynx lent us their tender and a crew member. They tried to help push us out and that didn't help much. Then we lead a line back to the dock and to the windless and tried to warp ourselves around off, we then added a spring line that helped some. Eventually we got around enough to set the four topsail, back it and then rotate ourselves off. We did a quick line handling class and had the students help with the set. Shortly after we got off, we had to "clew up all standing" to be able to steer effectively. That was a command that had not been heard by all the crew yet, but it went well. We then continued on with our sail and all was fine. When we returned to the dock, we had our normal crowd of public for our afternoon dockside tours. I was helping out a little bit on the quarter deck and as I worked my way forward to check on things and do something else, I saw that a shipmate of mine from Sloop Providence and a former Lady Washington Crew member Kim Carver was on board. It was good to run into her and share a couple quick stories before we had to do other things. Kim CarverAt 8:00 pm we got underway for our transit to Oxnard, CA where we are now. I was on the first watch from 2000 to 0000. Topher our bosun was on my watch and I started to train him to be a watch leader and I had our new volunteer Crystal on my watch too, who I started to teach things to about transits. It was a pretty uneventful evening with just a couple fishing boats, and some calm water. We saw some container ships as we crossed the precautionary area for LA harbor. Other than that it was a pretty quiet night. When I was woken in the morning for breakfast and for my watch again, the wind had picked up and the prior watch was setting sail. We had our main top gallant sail set, but it was quickly taken in as the wind increased. When I took the deck, I woke the captain and asked if we could throttle back or shut down the engine. We throttled back and then shortly shut down the engine and sailed. We were making up to seven knots and above. It was nice to sail with a bit of wind. When it died down, we tried to set the top gallant again and it picked right back up. Topher at the helm under sail.We got off watch had lunch and was able to take a quick nap before all hands was called to take in sail and get ready for grand arrival. We came into Oxnard with the harbor master as an escort. This is the same harbor where the Irving Johnson hit the sandbar and was washed up on the beach about a year ago. We got onto the dock with press taking lots of pictures, I think there is a good chance I can be in the paper since there were lots of me, since I stand on the rail to relay information as we are coming in. Two beauties Privateer Lynx and CrystalWe had a decent group of public here and gave dockside tours soon after we tied up. We gained a new volunteer who is from the local museum and will be helping us out while we are here. As things slowed down, I worked with Crystal on her lines and working on what to do to set the topsail and the fore topmast stay sail and related things. I had Doc (our new volunteer) join in as well. It was a laid back evening, a group of us gathered into the aft cabin to watch Cowboy Bebop which is a popular cartoon with the officers and just relax. I got my mail for this port, so I was pretty excited to have a mail bundle from my mail forwarding service which included my first post card from Jill on her sea semester voyage. I shared it with Shinney since he knows Jill as well. ]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2006 22:04:37 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060208220437/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060207002739/index.html

I took another day off today, my second since I have been on the Lady Washington other than a morning that I took off in Oceanside, CA. I slept in even though the cook forgot that it was my day off and woke me anyway. I got up and out of my cabin before the school students came onboard and headed over to the Starbucks. I ran into Dave from the Lynx as he was coming back from the shower and he met me at Starbucks latter as he had the day off too. I got myself a tall raspberry mocha and then got online to do some editing of my website and to check my e-mail. I have been using the t-mobile hotspot at the closest starbucks for the last few days, since my own account on my cell phone has been down.

After getting my fill of internet time (take a look at the added pictures on my website by the way), and letting Dave check his e-mail too, he drove me to the mall dropped me off and went to do his own erons. I went to the wireless store that I went to the other night and called the security division of T-Mobile to work things out. It went much smoother than I had expected. I had to fax some things in to them because the fax I sent last week was too dark. I had to then wait 20 minutes, so I went up to the apple store to check out the new laptops that will be in latter this month. Hopefully I will have my insurance claim by then. I went back and called again and they worked it all out and turned my cell service (for internet only) back on. I was also able to get a credit for some of the time that I had to pay the daily rate to use the t-mobile hot spot at Starbucks. The owner of the store came by and recognized me and wanted to know if things were being worked out. That was nice. She had left a message for her staff to help me when I came back.

David showed up just as I was wrapping things up. We went to the Lynx office because he needed to pick some things up there. I recognized it, it was right near where I picked up Steve Baker and some others after the September 11 tall ship wreath laying in 2002, as the Tall Ships Challenge was coming to a close. Then David and I went on a quest for a good burger. We ended up at Ruby's at the end of the pier where we both had a great burger and a shake. We walked around for a little bit and then worked our way back to the ships.

We made a stop at the Newport Boy Scout Sea Base, and got a tour of their operation. They own the Argus and we got the inside scoop on what is happening with her. They may build a new hull for her or purchase a new ship. Once back at the ship, I took a nap and skipped dinner since I was still full from my burger. I went for a walk this evening and got an e-mail from my new tall ships groupie. :-)

It was a productive day off I got what I wanted to get done completed and filled out a course request form for the Atlantic Region of Outward Bound (Hurricane Island) to work in the Keys or Puerto Rico next winter. Tomorrow is two ed sails, dockside tours and then we begin our transit to Oxnard. I need to make up the watch schedule for that yet. Tomorrow during chores I will.

]]> Mon, 06 Feb 2006 00:27:39 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060207002739/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060205230947/index.html Today we had two sails. One in the morning, and one in the afternoon. This morning after chores we crossed our top gallant yard. There were people on the dock wanting a tour because the paper said we would be open for tours and apparently the museum thought the same. We couldn't let them on because we were getting the top gallant yard up, and we would soon be boarding people for our sail. During our sail Topher our bosun Rob our engineer along with Shinney the bosun's mate got the sail all rigged and we were able to set it. So I called all the commands and we set the main top gallant sail for the first time since I have been aboard. When we got back to the dock the dock was full of people who wanted to come on board and get a tour. So we off loaded our passengers, ate in shifts and gave dock side tours for about an hour before we loaded for our afternoon sail. Both the paper and the museum had us listed as being open for tours rather than our actual schedule from the office having an adventure sail in the morning and again in the afternoon. We had a group dressed as "Pirates" in the morning come on. One had an extensive collection of antique weapons, some of which he brought back to show me that evening. We set our main top gallant sail again in the afternoon. We we doused sail there was a race to get to the top as everyone wanted to furl it since it had been a while since we have had it. Some crew members have never sailed with Top Gallants before. We gained a new two week volunteer named Crystal. She came in time for our second sail and we threw her right into it. That evening we did introductions and had everyone share where they were from and their favorite piece of rigging. Captain Kevin took off after the sail to catch the end of the super bowl with Purser Annie, so I lead evening muster and stood down the crew. Main Top Gallant SailAfter dinner I went out with a volunteer who has dropped in on us from time to time named Jenny. She went to Azsu Pacific University. I know some other people who went there. It is a Christian school, so we had a common experience having both gone to a Christian university. We went out driving in her t-bird with the tops off. We ended up over at Balboa and walked around a bit. She told me of her experience with the Masons girls youth group called the daughters of Job. We went to a micro brewery pizza place called JB's which I had been to in Boulder, CO. We shared a pizookie, which is a fresh chocolate chip cookie still hot with vanilla ice on it that just melts right into it. She is an educator so we talked about experiential education and I told her about the AEE. I really enjoyed hanging out with her. I am disappointed that I won't be around when she comes on as a volunteer in April. Jenny ]]> Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:09:47 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060205230947/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060204230201/index.html This morning immediately after breakfast we got back to work on swaying up our new top gallant mast as chores where getting started. We had a line of people up the dock for dockside tours this morning, as has been the case in this port. We have had really good publicity here and have been in the paper a couple of times. We are billed as the Pirate Ship from Pirates of the Caribbean so that attracts lots of people. Every day since we have been here when we get back from our educational sails the dock is lined with people wanting to get a dockside tour for the one hour that we are open at the end of the day. The young children come all dressed up as pirates and when I am on deck in my "funny clothes" (our word for our period clothing) all the parents want to get pictures of the pirate with their children no matter how many times I tell them that I am a friendly merchant sailor. Even today when I was on deck in my work cloths because I was helping with the mast I was still mistaken for a Pirate! I do really enjoy talking with the public though some times it can be a bit overwhelming when our decks are full, I am watching kids running around and making sure they aren't climbing on things, ringing the bell and stick with their parents or just listening in to see what things the crew members are telling the public. We had two sails this afternoon. One that we had donated to the museum here and they in turn donated it to a group of "under privileged children" That was from 2 pm until 4 pm. We did it like a cross between one of our adventure sails and an educational sail. We set almost everything we had minus the sprit sail, the fore course and the main stay sail. We had the students help us set everything except for the spanker. Then filled in some time with a little talk similar to the stations we would do on an educational sail and then we took all the sails in again. Our cooks were waiting for us when we hit the dock and we took on provisions and pizza for dinner which was a nice touch. Then we did it all again for an evening sail with the public from five until eight. It was a nice group of people that included a three year old who was convinced that I was Captain Jack Sparrow. His mom introduced him to Captain Kevin, his response was "you are not Capt. Jack!" Then he saw me working on a line, his eyes got big and he said "Captain Jack!" I just couldn't bare to break his heart and tell him the truth, so I put my fingers to my lips and said "shhh don't tell anyone" I said "I am going to steal the ship want to help me?" He got really quiet and said "yes". The rest of the group on board was really friendly as well. We sailed and it got dark, we fired the cannons a couple of times, once at the request of a group asking us to from shore. My new friend who was celebrating his third birthday came to me and asked for a "plank" so I sent the Bosun to find one and he brought him a scrap piece of wood, which he just adored and asked if he could keep. I signed it for him latter as Capt. Jack. It was fun and a nice way to round out the day. Tomorrow we have two more sails morning and afternoon and then on Monday I get a day off. Hopefully I will be able to work out the issues with my cell phone, get a little relaxing time, and see some of town. ]]> Sat, 04 Feb 2006 23:02:01 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060204230201/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060203222807/index.html We had two dock side programs this morning and a sail in the fog this afternoon. After a large number of people came by for dockside tours this afternoon we got to work at getting one of our new top gallant masts up on the main mast. This lasted until after dinner. After some difficulty we lowered it back to the deck to continue to be worked on tomorrow morning. As we were finishing up, a group of crew from the Hawaiian Chieftain came down to visit us. Since I don't like large groups of unfamiliar people and there was a gathering of them in the aft cabin, I disappeared to Starbucks to get online to check some e-mail and update my blog. I still don't have things resolved with T-Mobile. I didn't have anytime to deal with that today, though I had a little time to visit the small nautical museum we are docked to this morning. The Lady without top gallant masts. The Hawaiian Chieftian ]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2006 22:28:07 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060203222807/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060202225618/index.html Once again I am facing difficulties with a major corporation because of my life style. This time it is with my new cell phone account that I use for internet access, T- Mobile. I have not been able to log on to the internet with my cell phone since I arrived in Newport Beach a couple days ago. My cell phone kept on giving me the message that my SIM card is not registered. So today after we were stood down, I trekked out to the closest mall to see if there is a T-Mobile store and to see if I can figure this out. I went to the first T-Mobile Kiosk that I found. They looked up my account and it said that it had been canceled. They called customer service for me and eventually I talked with them. The word "fraud" was mentioned and I have to now send them a copy of my social security card, an id and a utility bill. Of course I had little of this on me and they didn't have a fax machine at the Kiosk. I went to another wireless store in the mall and faxed a copy of my drivers license and merchant marine document (which has my social security card number on it, it should also work as a passport, soc. sec. card and birth certificate. I already anticipated problems with them since they both have different addresses on them, different from my account. So I wrote a note with them explaining my situation. My address at home at outward bound and my address for forwarding mail to me. I can't call them because it is handled by the east coast office which closes at 9 EST which is before I get off work at 7 pacific time. So I faxed what I had, called and left a message with the east coast office. I got a number for the west coast office, called them. They were closing in 10 minutes so couldn't help me and can only help me when the east coast office is closed. I faxed my info to their office too. I won't be able to do anything more about it until tomorrow now when I get off of work. ]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2006 22:56:18 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060202225618/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060202224720/index.html We are now in Newport Beach, CA. We got in a couple days ago after leaving Oceanside at 3 AM in the morning. I wasn't on that watch, though I expected to get woken up to help get the boat off the dock. So I wasn't up on deck until after 7 AM when all hands was called. We made good time getting in a little before our 11 AM arrival time. The Lynx came out to greet us as this is her homeport. We followed her into her dock where we rafted to her. This docking situation is a bit challenging with low water at low tide and the changing currents from tide to tide as was evidenced from our first docking and our last one today. We did two ed sails here yesterday and two today. Pretty standard. We don't leave the harbor for them. We motored up to the harbor entrance and then down the harbor which is part residential and part touristy and tour boat oriented. The first night I went out with a couple Lynx crew and Rob our second mate and engineer. Last night I walked to Balboa Island with a couple of our crew and a crew member for the Lynx. We took the ferry over to Balboa and fun zone which happened to be closed by the time we got there. It didn't seem like much anyway. Today I was able to get off the Lady Washington for the two sails and sail on the Lynx. That was a special treat, but I did miss being the mate. The mate on the Lynx was off for the day, so I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to pick his brain about what it is like to be mate on a schooner. I did have a good time though learning about how she does thing. I actually got to help teach some too which was a treat. Lynx is a nice schooner. She is on the list of schooners to work on someday. ]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2006 22:47:20 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060202224720/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060129210421/index.html Today wasn't too different from yesterday. We had tours in the morning. I did my paper work, updated the station bill and put together a watch schedule for our transit up to Newport Beach on Tuesday morning. We had an onslaught of dockside tours today. We were still rafted to the Lynx due to the tide. We would be aground at the dock at low tide if we were tied directly to it. Our steward needed a break so he could eat lunch before we started checking in passengers for our afternoon battle sail, so I spelled him at the dock selling tickets for our dockside tours and closing the ships to tours at the appropriate time. I had to close down fifteen minutes before noon so that we could off load all the people onboard before noon and allow them time to see the ships. Several people just could not understand that we were closing because of this and were all upset. I would have liked to have let them aboard, but I couldn't make exceptions for them after I had just turned others away. I felt bad about that.We had another battle sail today against the Lynx. It didn't go bad. We landed more transom shots and she never saw ours. I just didn't feel that it went as well as yesterday on my part. The Lynx left this evening to head back to her homeport of Newport Beach. She we were rafted outside of her, we had to get underway move and then return to the dock after she left. The Captain gave the throttle to me and I took her off the dock, spun her around near the entrance to the channel, went back spun her again and put her on the dock. This was only the second time I have been in control of her. The other time was with JB as Captain. I only took her off the dock that time and made the approach to dock. I got some coaching from Captain Kevin and did well. She handles a little differently than the MV Outward Bound or the Marshall Dodge! She can spin in her own wake and has a bit of prop walk to port. I am not use to that. The concept that I can spin her clockwise just by throttling forward and reverse without shifting the helm is a bit hard for me to wrap my mind around, even though I have now done it. I am used to shifting the helm every time that I change from forward to reverse on the throttle. So it will take some getting used to. I look forward to doing it again. I tried to use my voip with my cell phone internet link tonight. It seemed a little slow to actually work well. I wanted to call a couple friends. Maybe I can get them another time. I allowed myself to get distracted by an episode of Hornblower tonight which was shown in the engine room since other spaces were being used. I actually ordered my own copy of it for when I get home from Amazon this morning. Tomorrow we get to sleep in until 9 am. We have no tours or ed programs, so at my suggestion we are going to have a field day, which is when we do a deep cleaning of the boat and clean everything and every part of the ship. I thought this would be a good idea since we have had some sickness going around. ]]> Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:04:21 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060129210421/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060128234057/index.html This morning after chores were done, since I was up to speed on all my paper work, now which has to be all changed again with the addition of a new cook, and the loss of our former steward, and then again tomorrow after we loose one of our two week volunteers Doug, I took the morning off since I didn't give myself a day off in this port. I walked into the city of Oceanside for the first time. It was a nice little surfing town with a pier. A place I think that my parents would enjoy. Being so close to Camp Pendellton Marine Corps base, there were lots of army/ navy stores. I stuck my head into a couple, but did not spend any money there. I wanted to stick my head into a surf shop and see if I could get some more Rusty surfwear but didn't feel that I had the time to. It was good to get out and clear my head as this afternoon was another battle sail. This time against the Lynx. This is the first time that we had battled her and the first time that our captain has faced her. Her captain and mate were very experienced, her mate having been a mate on the Lady Washington and relief captain. She was a worth advisory and it was a close battle. I can say that I felt very good about the battle. We were a little short handed. I am familiar with Capt. Kevin's style and could anticipate what he wanted in our maneuvering very well. My crew performed well and things ran smoothly. I was happy and felt good about it and things are coming together for me now. I have been mistaken for the Captain a couple times now. Which feels good, but is a little awkward. I think part of it is the way that I dress and I am seen in the forefront. The passengers hear my yelling and see me giving all the commands. Even though the captain is back by the helm telling the person at the tiller what to do and me what he wants to happen it isn't noticed as much. Captain will tell me something like let's take the ship, and then once the helm is put to the lee, I will give all the orders to make the tack happen such as "let fly your head sails", and "mainsail haul" and "let go and haul" all at the appropriate times. Sometimes we will change from a tack to a ware or some other maneuver in a moments notice and I need to make it happen. I like it when it works out. My time is so short here an I only have like five weeks left. Today our engineer and bosun had the day off. They went shopping for dvd's and Rob our engineer brought back the complete set of Hornblower dvd's. I have seen one of the video's once when I checked it out of the library in Boston. I joined them in part of an episode before dinner and then in a couple this evening. I have to say that I am hooked now and will need to get the series myself. I think it is something that I will need to share with my friend Capt. Michael Burpee when I return to Boston. As I believe we will both enjoy them as we enjoy Patrick O'Brian's Aubury Maturian series. The Lynx crew joined us for dinner tonight and we had a joint meal of sushi and other things. I allowed Marzipan and Preston to go out for milk shakes before main course (dinner) in exchange they brought back a chocolate malt for me. We are currently rafted up to the Lynx. After dinner we set our main stay sail, set up our projector and dvd player on their deck and watched Around Cape Horn on our main stay sail. As many times as I have seen it, I think that this was one of the most enjoyable times. To be watching it with other sailors, not only on the deck of a tall ship, but on a sail of one. Many of us had seen it many times before, but there were a couple among us who had never seen it before. Tommorrow is another battle sail with the Lynx. Our Captain and our Nemesis. ]]> Sat, 28 Jan 2006 23:40:57 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060128234057/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060127214125/index.html We are now in Oceanside, California. We have been here a few days now and have done a few days of educational sails and some dockside tours. We had a nice transit up. We set some sail, but the wind wasn't from a favorable direction most of the way. I taught our volunteers a navigation class, with a few brakes to help avoid sea sickness. The aforementioned crew member that I had difficulties with is no longer with us. She went to work on another vessel for a period. I am glad, I would have sought to have their employment terminated if they stayed longer. When we got to Oceanside she told me she had no respect for me and when I asked why she called me some choice words and didn't give me any feedback to help me to be different. She told me that the rest of the crew felt the same way, so I brought it up in muster that night and said if anyone had a problem with me, that I have an open door policy and they could come talk to me and we would work it out. No one came to see me, in fact I only got more positive feedback consistent with everything else that I had heard. We have two two week volunteers on right now. Doug and Preston. They are very bright and enjoyable to work with and a great addition to our crew. They are the first two weekers that I have been able to work with from beginning to end. Preston may stay on with us a little longer, which will be nice since a few of the crew members are down with the "boat plague" and it seems to be going through the ship. Apparently this is the first time that Lady Washington has been in Oceanside. The other day we found out that we are aground at the dock at a low low tide. We found this out just as we were about to leave on a sail. Fortunately the tide was rising and we were able to get off the dock just a little bit late. The next day we got the school to board a little bit early and were able to get off no problem. This afternoon we would have had to leave earlier and do a longer sail or just do a dockside program to make it work. The school decided to do a dockside which worked well since this morning there wasn't much wind, and the boat rolled a bit with the swell making students, teachers and even a couple crew members a little bit sea sick. I kicked the Captain off for the afternoon since we don't need him on board when we are just at the dock as long as at least I am here. I am supposed to make sure he gets off whenever possible since he isn't able to often. The Privateer Lynx came in tonight. They were with us earlier this week for an educational sail. We are doing a battle sail with them tomorrow. They are fast and have more and bigger cannons, so I am a bit nervous, since I will be calling sail. These are the most stressful days of my week since I have to effectively communicate and interpret what the captains wants to the crew and make it happen quickly. The last couple of sails have been good ones for me as far as getting everything together and not missing anything, so hopefully I can carry that through. I have seen a lot of Navy activity since I have been on board. An aircraft carrier on the way to San Diego, a few carriers in San Diego including and experimental "stealth boat". Lots of Amphibious warfare ships including one with a flight deck launching helicopters that we saw while doing an ed sail here. A hospital ship and various other things. Yesterday a group of Navy SEAL's came on board for a courtesy tour. They had a lot of high tech gear on and I recognized their insignia to be SEALS. When I asked what kind of unit they were in, they said Navy special warfare so that answered that question. They showed me their boats after. They were rigid hull inflatables with twin caterpillar engines with a 200 mile range. They had loads of navigation equipment and machine guns fore and aft. They let me take pictures. One of them gave me his challenge coin. Which I really appreciated since I knew what it was. They were all amazed of how we sailed with our "primitive" equipment and lots of rigging. I was amazed by all their high tech equipment and gear. A challenge coin is a coin carried by special operations groups and more and more all units in the military with their unit insignia on it. I have one from the EAGLE and the CIA as well. If one them wants to have a "challenge" they tap their coin on the bar twice. Everyone else has to produce and tap their coin as well. Whoever doesn't have their coin buys a round of drinks. If everyone has their coin, then the one giving the challenge buys the round. ]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2006 21:41:25 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060127214125/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060123213936/index.html I am adding some new pictures on my web site. There are some of battle sails, tall ships, Lady Washington Crew, and maybe some of Mexico. Enjoy. ]]> Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:39:36 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060123213936/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060123204642/index.html Take a look back through the previous entries occasionally. I have added some pictures to some posts during the time that I have been on the Lady Washington crew and have added some more information to days that I was too tired to write lots on. I will do this periodically so be sure to reread some sections if you are interested. Today was an educational sail in the morning and we did maintenance in the afternoon. I jumped right back into it after my fun but tiring day off. It was also the first ed sail back with Captain Kevin, so I am getting used to his way of doing things again. Some differences to the way JB does it, but not big ones and none better than the other either. There wasn't much with today. This afternoon I did some marlin spike seamanship with out trainee's. We reviewed some knots, and I taught them whipping, splicing and seizings. I had to check in with the Captain and the Bosun on the seizing since they do them a little differently here than other ships that I have worked on. It seems every ship has their own way. We fixed a line for the a fender that needed a new one as part of our training. It was good, but I feel I need to brush up some. There was one crew member who seems to be constantly looking over my shoulder waiting for me to make a mistake so she can go tell the Captain, like she already has more than once. I am not sure that she realizes that when I don't know something I check in with him anyway or ask someone who does. She will be leaving soon, so I won't have to worry about that. I shouldn't have to anyway since I am in the mate. Just an awkward situation. Today we lost our cook Dina. She was a good cook and a great person. I only knew her a couple of weeks and did not realize that she had been here since July, as a volunteer even! She heads home to Arizona tomorrow. The rest of us transit to Oceanside. CA which will be a short sail up the coast. I am not going out tonight, just hanging back to get caught up on some personal paper work and things. ]]> Mon, 23 Jan 2006 20:46:42 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060123204642/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060123001713/index.html I just got a very surprising e-mail from one of my closest friends during my first year of college at North Country Community College. Dirk Gantvoort. I haven't heard from him in years! He went on to be a truck driver and my life style has always been transient, so we just lost touch. I know I did write him when I still his parents address before they moved I think. He wasn't as good at writing as most people aren't good at writing and keeping in touch. He thought of me and google searched my name and e-mailed me. We have some catching up to do! ]]> Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:17:13 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060123001713/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060122232436/index.html Today was my day off, my first since I have been aboard. Two weeks not bad. I think I was about ready for it. I have been have difficulty with one specific crew member and those things always wear on me. The debate to write her off and ignore her, or go into Outward Bound instructor mode and see what the root of her issue is and try to help her. She is leaving the ship soon, so it won't be an issue for much longer. Yesterday is was a battle sail and they are always stressful since I am still learning and trying to find out what the captain wants and needs and then communicate that to the crew in a timely manor. So it was good to get a day to myself and I really enjoyed it. Getting some time alone and being able to explore. I can give myself my own days off, which is one nice thing about being first mate and making the time off schedule. I think I will keep it to about every two weeks though or less if we aren't in an interesting port. I don't need lots to recharge. So today I did sleep in a little bit because I could. Wake up was at 7 AM. The cook knowing that it was my day off didn't give me one. I slept in until about chore time, then got my things together and left for the day. I caught the blue line trolley to the US border with Mexico, and then took a shuttle bus to Tijuana. It was only $6 round trip. Crossing the border into Mexico was nothing we just drove across. I got into Tijuana and walked up the main drag, Revolution ave. At the bus terminal I saw that there was a shuttle to Rosita Beach and Foxplorations (Fox Studios Bahja), so I got a ticket to that. It is where they filmed Titantic, Master and Commander and some other movies. They have a big tank there and some indoor water studios. They actually build the whole thing for Titantic. It was interesting, but not very exciting. They still have the Surprise there (the Tank Ship) from Master and Commander. I spent a couple hours there, then caught the shuttle bus back to Rosita Beach and spent a couple hours there, then caught the bus back to Tijuana and spent the rest of the evening there. I met a guy on the bus from Iowa. He is a postal worker on vacation in Tijuana. He showed me around a little bit, and into a part of town I did not want to be in. To say there were prostitutes on every corner would be an under statement. They lined the whole street! I quickly parted company with him and went back to the main drag. I bought some gifts from friends and family, got to dicker for the price a little bit. One person wanted to trade for my hat! When I had enough of Tijuana, I caught the bus back to the border. I sat next to an interesting man from Sweden who is a strawberry farmer exploring California with his wife for a few weeks. Customs was easy, they checked my ID (merchant marine document), x-rayed my bag and that was it. I talked to a couple interesting people on the trolley back and got back to the Brig at around 8:30 PM. I dropped my things off. Someone did my laundry for me (I paid them $20) and it was left in the aft cabin for me. I heard most of the crew was over at the pub in the Holiday Inn, the Elephant and the Castle. I went over, joined them and grabbed a bite to eat. So that was my exciting day off in Mexico. ]]> Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:24:35 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060122232436/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060121010723/index.html My life is coming back together now. I have been on the Lady Washington for almost two weeks now. I have gone through 3 disposable camera's and one disposable digital camera. So I thought it was time that I broke down and replaced the digital camera that was stolen from my parents cah about a month ago. So yesterday I took the the trolly to a mall with the closest Best Buy and got a new digital camera. I got the canon digital elph SD450. It was a model up from what I had before and the price was about the same. We will see what insurance gives me! I also got a belt case for it, similar to the one I had, a spare battery, a 1gb memory card and a 256 mb spare card. The following night I bought a t-mobile phone that has bluetooth and internet capable. So I just bought an internet plan that allows me to access T-mobiles Edge network with my lap top via bluetooth with the phone. Since it isn't my computer I had to buy a usb bluetooth module for it. My plan also allows me unlimited usage of t-mobile wifi hot spots. So I have regular internet access now too. We will see how it works underway. ]]> Sat, 21 Jan 2006 01:07:23 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060121010723/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060119105011/index.html I wish I could write every day. Not that you all would be interested in day to day reports, but so many cool things happy and I learn so much I would just like to document them. I am usually too tired or too busy in the evening to write much. When we don't sail in the morning I do get some time to do some paper work and study up on things for training the crew and improving my sail handling skills. Monday we had an ed sail in the morning. This captain likes to set more sail for ed sails so I got too learn some more sails that I hadn't set before. We set the jib, the main stay sail and the fore course. We put a reef in the fore course sail. So that really helped with tacking to have more sails to call and things to think about. It was good for me. I am working really well with the captain and I think that we are a good match. We get students to help out with the set too. After lunch we went over to the maritime museum and were allowed to climb in the rigging of the Star of India, which was a real treat for everyone. I climbed all the way up to the main royal's with some other crew members, others climbed the fore mast. It was pretty high up, I would have to look up the statistics, but surely well over 100 feet. Of course we weren't clipped into anything until we got to the top. We just held on to something as we climbed. It would be stupid to let go now wouldn't it? After we climbed we were allowed free reign of the ship to explore. The museum has several exhibits on it and other things. We went down to the lowest part of the ship which isn't open to the public. A "bilge trolley" had been created there, that was a cart like a creeper that mechanic uses, but on tracks that went the length of the bilge in like a crawl space. There was a line attached and pulleys so you could pull in back and forth. So we played around on it a bit before we went and explored the rest of that part of the museum before returning to the ship to do some maintenance. ]]> Thu, 19 Jan 2006 10:50:11 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060119105011/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060118114102/index.html Here is an article that I wrote for the Sloop Providence Newsletter. There is also a link on the articles section of my web site. Enjoy. http://www.sloopprovidenceri.org/newsenewsjan06rusty.htm ]]> Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:41:02 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060118114102/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060115213834/index.html Today was similar to yesterday. We had a latter wake up did some maintenance, a little bit of training and gained two more volunteers. I gave the second mate a day off since he is also the engineer and had been working a lot in the engine room. One volunteer showed up just before we left the dock on the battle sail. I did not know he was coming, and no one else here really did either. But we worked with it. I got both volunteers to sign in ships articles, got them both a harness and a crew manual as well as an information form to fill out (what they want to learn, what they have to offer...). This morning I worked out the stations everyone would have for the battle sail this afternoon. I also studied the crew manual and the notes that I took on yesterday's battle as today it would be all on me. The battle sail went well. We won, based on landing the most shots to the transom on the Californian. As a schooner they are faster, but we are more maneuverable. It was a bit stressful. A couple of the sails (Jib and Main staysail) I am a little less familiar with setting so I have to refer to my notes. We weren't as fast as we could be, and my communication of commands improved throughout the sail. I certainly learned a lot. It might have been a better idea to not have given the second mate the day off so I could refer to him more, but I did it and got some good feed back. I need to study up on my tacks and wares some for next week, but I will be ready. This continues to be a good experience for me. I am learning lots and doing well. Tomorrow I hope to begin doing more teaching too, now that I am up to speed on more things and mostly caught up on all of my paperwork. After our battle sail we moved back over to the pier where we were our first two nights and again rafted up to the Bill of Rights. So with two new volunteers on board, I had a bit of paper work to do before and after dinner. There wasn't much time to do work after the sail, so I got the new volunteers oriented aloft, on deck and throughout the ship, and got a start on my paper work that carried into after dinner. I had to update the station bill, do a watch schedule for tonight, since we are on a pier and not a float and our lines will need to be adjusted throughout the night. I had to update the chores schedule to include our two new crew members. A mates work is never done! I still enjoy it though.Tomorrow we only have one educational sail that we will do with the Bill of Rights. We have a bit of maintenance to do tomorrow afternoon, but I made arrangements to do a little bit of training on the Star of India that we will do after lunch tomorrow. I am pretty excited about conducting some training while I am here because I haven't done much my first week. Our Captain, Kevin has left today and is taking about five days off. "JB" or "John Boy", John Morrison is our captain during that time. I have heard of him. He is younger than me (as is Kevin), and is a little less experienced than Kevin, but knows it and I think that makes him a good captain. He and I had a long talk this evening about our strengths and weaknesses and where we want to go with our time on board. We plan to check in often on this. It was much like a meeting between an Outward Bound instructor pair. So I think we will work really well together and I am looking forward to that. Not that it really means anything because I am not ready to do it yet, I found out that my license is bigger than either of our Captains. They are 100 ton near coastal master, and I am 200 ton near coastal master. I am glad to be here and wish you all could be here to, to see me in my element, on a tall ship, still learning, but taking leadership and calling sail and leading a crew of diverse people. I can't wait to get back and tell you all more individual stories. I hope I don't write too much here and take away from that! ]]> Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:38:34 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060115213834/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060114172509/index.html We are now rafted up to the Californian at the San Diego Maritime Museum. Home of the Star of India, HMS Surprise (HMS Rose), the steam ferry Berkley (home of most of the museums artifacts), a pilot boat, a 1904 steam yacht, a 1914 harbor pilot boat, a Soviet Attack Submarine (B-39), and of course the 19th century Revenue Cutter Californian (replica). Yesterday we did our first educational sail in San Diego. We did it with the Bill or Rights which joined us late the night before and rafted up beside of us. We had a dock watch that night and last night since we where tied up to a pier. The Bill of Rights came in before us and we rafted to here that time, since we would be leaving again today to go over to the maritime museum. Due to our docking situation we did not open for dockside tours. I spent the afternoon working out days off, the chore schedule and the dock watch. Bill of Rights invited us over to have dinner in their main salon. They had been eating with us. We don't have a table so it was nice of them to have us over.That evening I swung over to the San Diego Maritime Museum hoping to use the wireless there, but apparently I need to talk to their IT guy first and get passwords and proxies and all that jazz. I went through their gift shop and picked up a couple of small items. I was hoping to get a patch to replace the one that was on my backpack that was stolen when my Jeep was stolen way back when. Zander met me there with his deck hand. Kate I think her name was. We walked into the Gas Lamp Quarter an old area of the city that is now really a trendy area with lots of clubs and restaurants including a Geridelli chocolate cafe. We went to an Irish pub called the field that had been brought over piece by piece from Ireland. I had been there before when I was here with the tall ships in 2002. Today we were allowed to sleep in until 8 am, did chores after breakfast and some maintenance. This afternoon was our first battle sail. I got us off the dock as mate and Rob took over as sail master for the battle sail so I could learn from him. We battled the Californian for a couple of hours in a fierce cannon battle. I got some pictures on a disposable camera that I will post on my web page latter. I called the dousing of sail and mooring lines when we got back to the dock and rafted back up to the Californian. We had our evening muster before dinner and then I stood down the crew. A volunteer got a hotel room and invited us over to hang out, shower and use the internet. A bunch of us went over. I finally got online, got and answered some e-mail, got my voice mail and made some calls. I was very happy to get a voice message from Capt. Michael Burpee, Emily Rolling, and Emily Grouber for my birthday which included a song for my birthday relating to various parts of a horse. I was surprised I didn't get it from the crew here! After updating my blog and dealing with voice mail and e-mail I grabbed a quick shower and all was good. ]]> Sat, 14 Jan 2006 17:25:09 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060114172509/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060114171838/index.html Why I Want to be a Captain!The following was written by a 10-year old boy who has a somewhat, er, romantic view of what it's like to be a captain. Maybe the boy knows something the rest of us don't! "I want to be a Captain when I grow up because it's a fun job and easy to do. Captains don't need much school education; they just have to learn numbers so they can read instruments. I guess they should be able to read maps so they won't get lost. Captains should be brave so they won't be scared if it's foggy they can't see or if the propeller falls off they should stay calm so they will know what to do. Captains have to have eyes to see through the clouds and they can't be afraid of thunder or lightening because they are closer to them than we are. The salary that Captains make is another thing I like. They make more money than they can spend. This is because most people think captaining a ship is dangerous, except Captains, because they know how easy it is. There isn't much I don't like, except girls like Captains and all the girls want to marry a Captain so they always have to chase them away so they won't bother them. I hope I don't get seasick because I get car sick and if I get seasick I could not be a Captain and then I would have to go out and work" (Reprinted from Bow Wave, newsletter of B.C. Branch of Nautical Institute.) ]]> Sat, 14 Jan 2006 17:18:38 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060114171838/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060112200118/index.html We are now in San Diego. We left LA (San Pedro) yesterday afternoon. It was a nice sail. As the first mate I lead a watch of course. It was the 8-12 watch which is the same watch that I had last time I was in these waters on board the Quisette. The morning we saw a Aircraft Carrier underway, which I thought was really cool. I snapped a couple pictures of it. I haven't replaced my digital camera yet, but I have picked up a couple disposable cameras for the time being. LA was a cool port. We ended up not using the Bill of Rights there, but we are going to use it here in San Diego. We provided four crew for it yesterday and they got this morning and should be here late tonight. I believe my friend Zander will be mate on it, so we will get to spend some more time together, which I am looking forward to. Tuesday was my birthday. It was uneventful. No one really did anything for, which I am content with. In the morning and early part of the afternoon I had a team of people working with me to get the Bill of Rights ready to sail. We ended up not using it as I said, but ended up still latter using it for down here. I called my brother Michael to see if he could give us advice on our engine difficulties. He couldn't help much over the phone and our engine is a little older than what he is used to. He said he would ask his boss and my dad's friend Lonnie at work about it and call back. Our engineer did get it working that night. Michael did call back twice and left messages, but I didn't know about it until today because our phone got dropped into the engine room bilge. Tuesday evening my friend Zander and I went out for my birthday. We first hit a Mexican restaurant where I knew our Captain and second mate would be. Zander hadn't eaten yet, so he grabbed a couple taco's. I had some fried ice cream. After we checked out an English pub after. On the way back we had to wait for a group of oil cars on at a train crossing because they were unhooking some on another track. It was neat to watch. There was some drinking and chanty singing on the Exy Johnson that night. I declined going because I knew if I dropped in for a minute, I would have been there longer than I wanted to.Wednesday morning after chores, we went to the LA Maritime Museum where we were invited to go for free. I had been there before, but really enjoyed seeing their collection again. They have many models. The crew members that were there with me asked me lots of questions which I really enjoyed. I picked up a couple post cards from Tall Ships 2002, as I was there for it. I also got a patch and they had my "pirate action figure" there like the one I got in the Caribbean for Jill. So I picked up another one for myself. I had recently seen a place online that I could get them too. After lunch before we got underway Nancy Richardson from LAMI and ASTA came down to the boat to see me. I am glad she did, because I wanted to make sure that I saw her while I was in LA. We disembarked our crew for the Bill of Rights, then went to a fuel dock to get fuel and got underway for San Diego. We broke into watches around 1600 after doing a man overboard drill and setting some sail. On watch Annie our Purser was really interested in becoming a watch leader, so had lots of questions and wanted to learn the rules of the road, lights and other things. A big part of my job is scheduling chores in the morning and days off, keeping the watch bill up to date and scheduling watches. So I did some of that this afternoon. ]]> Thu, 12 Jan 2006 20:01:18 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060112200118/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060109224023/index.html Haven't had a chance to get online yet, but these entries will get posted as soon as I do. So, I got onboard yesterday shortly afternoon. I was picked up at the airport by Laura, who is one of my friends from myspace, lives in Long Beach and is also a volunteer on Lady Washington. She gave me a ride to the Brig. I was there in time for lunch and went out on my first sail. I mostly observed the current mate and how things went. At the dock when we came in, some Exy Johnson crew where there to catch our lines for us. Among them was Zander, who was a shipmate of mine on Niagara. He showed up today and is going to be the mate on Irving Johnson, which is exciting. We haven't had a chance to hang out yet, I hope we do. Today Mark Klophostein my good friend and client of Wild Rice Adventures dropped by after lunch between sails. He came by again in the evening after our ed sail before dinner, and came over with us to look at the Bill of Rights. It was good catching up with him. Today we had two educational (ed) sails. The first one I observed the previous mate (now the second mate/engineer) and took notes as well as did a little line handling myself. The second one, the second mate got off of the boat, and I was on and up to the task. What followed can be considered a "trial by fire." We lost our main engine and had to get sails up immediately to maintain steerage. We were in a major shipping channel and a bulk carrier came by as we were trying to maneuver our way back to the dock. We sailed onto the dock. I got good feed back from the Captain and the crew that I did a good job as my first day as mate. It made me feel good and gave me confidence that I could do the job under ordinary conditions. Tomorrow we have a couple options for what we will do if we don't have our engine back online. One of them involves borrowing the Schooner Bill of Rights from the LA Maritime Institute. We went over to look at it tonight to see what we would need to do, to get it ready. The plan is a the morning sail tomorrow will be just a dockside educational program. Part of the crew will prepare the Bill of Rights and we will sail in the afternoon. We have been doing ed sails with the Exy Johnson. So she has sailed with one group of students and us another. We provide the educators from our crew for the Exy. If we use the Bill of Rights. She will come with her own Captain and maybe some LAMI volunteers. I will be mate on it. So in two days time I have been mate on a Brig (square rigger) and a schooner and it is my first time as mate. I find that to be pretty exciting. We need another vessel to work with us in our next port of San Diego. The Bill of Rights is an option we are looking at, to transit down with us. If it does we have a captain coming down to take her, and I will be mate on her. I am pretty excited about that. Jim McDunna, the former program director at Thompson Island Outward Bound was the first mate on here when she worked with Vision Quest. I should e-mail him since I have wanted to for a while. So exciting things are happening here. I am glad to be here. ]]> Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:40:22 -0800 http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060109224023/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/captrustywildrice/iblog/B1152809943/C1081457827/E20060108124247/index.html A history of my flying experiences.

Since I am not part of the "jet set" I thought it would be fun to reminisce on the flights I have taken. I have flown roughly at least once a year since my first flight in 1991 after I graduated from high school.

1991- July- Isaiah 6 project to St. Kitts and Nevis. Flew from Syracuse, NY, changed flights in Raleigh/ Durham, NC, to San Juan, Puerto Rico met my group and then flew on to St. Kitts, West Indies. Returned at end of month reverse of same itinerary.

August- Philmont Scout Ranch, NM, Flew from Syracuse, NY changed flights in St. Louis, MO then on to Colorado Springs, CO took a bus to Philmont with an over night stay in some army barracks in Fort Carson. Return trip the same a week or so latter.

1992- June- Philmont Scout Ranch Staff, NM, Went back to be on Staff. Flew from Syracuse, NY, changed flights at Chicago O'Hare to Denver, CO, then changed again to Colorado Springs, CO. I think I took a Greyhound to Raton, NM from there and got picked up by Philmont. I am not sure though I will have to find my journal and look it up! Returned at the end of the summer in August got a ride to the airport from a fellow staff member whose name I also forget. Flew standby because I left a day early. Was able to get from Colorado Springs to Denver ok, then after a few hours on to Chicago O'Hare ok. I ended up having to sleep in the airport and caught the first flight to Syracuse in the morning.

1993- No flying

1994- Spring Break Honduras SCUBA trip with Houghton College. Flew from Rochester, NY to Chicago O'Hare changed to Miami, FL spent the night at a motel in Miami, then on to San Pedro Sula (sp) the next morning. Spent a day in San Pedro Sula and then took a bus to La Ceba (it was Good Friday so not many local airlines where flying) to catch a flight to the island of Utila in the Bay Islands of Honduras. The bus ride was an experience! The flight from La Ceba was too. The airstrip on Utila was just a dirt runway. There were no buildings at the airport, just one crashed plane. The run way was so short that the plane came in just above the water and slammed on the breaks as soon as it hit the runway, stopping just before it dropped into the Ocean at the other end. Likewise when we left the plane stated at one end of the runway revved the engines until the plane shook and then took off down the runway leaving just before the wheels touched the water at the other end.

On the return we were able to get a flight from La Ceba to San Pedro Sula, a night there, then a plane to Miami, Fl, a night there, then back to Chicago O'Hare. The Professor for this trip was big on volunteering the group to get bumped to get us travel vouchers. I don't think we did on the way down, but we did twice on the way back and I got $400 in travel vouchers at least, plus dinner. At the airport I met up with a friend Laura Selicaro, who I worked with at Chingachgook in the spring 1993 and met up with Micah and Rebekah Driscol from the Isaiah 6 Project. They were both students at Moody Bible Institute at the time. Sine we got bumped, then brought me into the city, showed me the school and showed me around. That was cool. I almost didn't make my flight getting back, good thing we got bumped from it!

When we finally did fly out we were put on a flight to Syracuse, that they had stop in Rochester just for us and some others that had been bumped. Believe me the others on their way to Syracuse weren't happy about that!

Summer- June- Reachout Expeditions. I put me travel vouchers to work right away and got a flight to Washington to work for Reachout Expeditions. Syracuse, NY to Chicago, O'Hare, then on to Sea Tac airport Washington. Return trip the same at the end of the summer.

1995- Spring Break- Israel- Bus from Houghton, NY to JFK in New York. JFK to Tel Aviv Israel. Return the same. Bus broke down and we had to wait for another one, school just sent vans to get us because we were close to Houghton.

1996- Summer- Florida Sea Base Staff- Syracuse, NY to JFK to Miami, FL. Was supposed to meet my former girl friend Marie in JFK and we were going to fly the rest of the way together, but her flight got changed in Albany and we met in Miami and caught a shuttle down to Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Got a ride to the airport at the end of the summer and the return flights were the same.

Christmas- Christmas break Staff at Florida Sea Base- Flew on Christmas day from Syracuse, NY to Detroit, MI volunteered to get bumped as long as they could still get me in the same day. Rerouted to Tampa and then changed for a flight to Miami. Got picked up with some other staff in Miami. Did not fly back because my return ticket wasn't until January 6, and my grandfather died my last day of work there. So I drove up with two friends back to Syracuse. One got off at Appomatix, VA and the other drove through to Buffalo, NY. Gave the travel voucher to my brother and sister in law the folllowing summer as a wedding gift so they could go someplace away for their honeymoon.

1997- Summer August, Flew home to Syracuse, NY (don't remember my connections if any) from Miami for my brother and sister-in-laws wedding. I wasn't going to make it, but an adult leader on our trip that week ( I was second mate on my first Schooner the Heritage of Miami II) died of a heart attack and the trip ended. So I flew home last minute for the wedding. First time using 1-800-fly-4-les(s) rather than using a travel agent.

1998- Spring BOSS course flew from Sea-Tac to Salt Lake City. Spent a day in Salt Lake City visiting the Temple Square and seeing the Mormon sites. Took bus to Provo, UT and then BOSS picked us up in a van a drove us to the school's base. Return trip, had trouble making the bus to the airport, didn't have enough money for a taxi, went to the Mariott pretended to be a guest and took the airport shuttle.

November AEE conference on Lake Tahoe, flew into Reno, NV from Sea-Tac spent a day there and took Shuttle to Lake Tahoe. Return trip, shuttle and then the same.

December. Returned home from Washington state. Sea Tac to connected in Newark, NJ to Syracuse, NY. Spent the year at SPU in graduate school Drove out, totaled Mustang so flew home for Christmas.... Returned flight to Sea Tac from Syracuse via Newark in March 1999.

In the mean time did auto drive away delivered a car from Syracuse to Winter Park, Florida, caught a train to Miami, bus to Islamorada to work Christmas break at the Sea Base. Caught ride with class mates Richard and Terri Jones from Miami to Lexington, KY to finish up Seminary (so I thought) at Asbury, then a Greyhound to Harrisburg, PA to work for Tressler Care Wilderness Services a 32 day expedition then parents picked me up, drove me ho