Parrott Ventures
Castine, Maine, is picturesque in a way that leaves words like “quaint” and “charming” sitting in the corner with empty dance cards. The only reason most Americans have never heard of the place is the reflexive Anglo-orientation of U.S. history.
Read MoreAs we edge toward the boarding gate I am reminded that each time one of us - an American - travels abroad it presents an opportunity for small time diplomacy.
Read MoreA few days later it happened again. All the little dogs laughed to see such sport and one even staggered to his feet with all the ardor a tropic sun permits. I knew I had a problem. I also knew that the yellow cur was a bully. He always waited till I was just past him before he made his move. No one likes a bully.
Read MoreSquat is a related pressure phenomenon. Also known as “smelling the bottom,” squat causes a vessel to ride lower in the water than normal. If the water is shallow enough, squat can have serious navigational implications for vessels of all sizes.
Read MoreA tourist pitched half a hot dog off the bridge just to see what would happen. I always recommend this. In a blur of snapping jaws and lashing tails, several large semi-submerged crocs levitated onto the bank, smashing the lesser crocs aside. I never guessed so many pounds of reptile could move so fast. It was a real “Mutual of Omaha, Wild Kingdom” moment.
Read MoreThe 7th inning stretch was more of a picnic than a stretch. There was no organ playing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballpark”. In fact, there was no organ at all. And since there was no place to buy a beer, I crossed the street to a bar and grabbed me a cold one. Great minds, including athletic minds, think alike and so a couple of ball players were doing the same thing. If Doc Ellis can throw a no-hitter on LSD, then I guess these guys can handle a beer.
Read MoreNow, I count myself an adventurous eater. I’ve been all over. Seldom, if ever, have I stepped back from the chance to eat something weird. I could turn your stomach describing food that has gone down my hatch. But there are some culinary paths that you simply don’t want to travel without, how do you say, foreknowledge?
Read MoreWishing to show my enormous appreciation for this chance meeting I made a quick inventory of my Spanish and said ‘I am going to get my hair cut.” I didn’t really want a haircut. I never do. But a recent lesson in the online Spanish course I am taking included vocabulary about haircuts. He, having little hair, was enthusiastic.
Read MoreIn a different world this commerce would follow a carefully-considered, purpose-built route: a railway spur, an interstate highway, or it would be moved coastwise by barge. Here, it is in your neighborhood, it is in your wheelhouse, it is on your sidewalk, it is in your face.
Read MoreBut a successful Fulbright proposal has to stand out from thousands. It can’t just be “My wife and I want to have an overseas experience with our kids before they grow up and hate us. Well, let’s just say before they grow up.”
When a fine-bowed vessel glides through smooth blue water, the bow seems to cleave the water effortlessly, slicing a passageway through which to gracefully pass. To an extent, the eye does not deceive, but to one degree or another all vessels — finely shaped or otherwise — push, or displace, water to make way for the hull.
Read MoreThey say that travel is stimulating. They are right. You see the same damn stuff wherever you go but when it isn’t in your own backyard it looks different. That, in turn, makes you look differently at your own backyard.
Read MoreWhy build a boat if you have no harbor?
Read MoreKids quickly grasp that weight up high makes a thing less stable: think of a pogo stick, stilts or a unicycle. It is equally plain that weight down low makes a thing more stable: Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down. What is less obvious to kids and grown-ups alike is how free surface effect — liquid sloshing freely from side to side in or on a boat — functions like an invisible hand rocking a boat closer to the point of capsize than we know at a given moment.
Read MoreModern life is complicated. I needed a car, a bus, a train and a taxi to get to my square-rigger. When no cabs could be had, a young police officer offered me a lift. Musing on my last conveyance in such a vehicle, I thought, My, how a touch of gray can change your circumstances.
Read MoreElectronic plotters, GPS, and AIS are great, but their virtues don’t preclude the actual work of navigation.
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