Adventures In Parenting:

This is the cute kitten picture (see last post). Java likes blankets. In particular, she likes any blanket that you might want to use for say, sleeping in the near future. Also, Java recently discovered how to climb on top of Christina's monitor, where the Windows "starfield" screensave proved to be highly entertaining.

Over the weekend, as noted in my last post, I got to visit the great state of Michigan! In particular the southwest shores. The purpose of the trip was for Christina and her Mom to meet up with her Aunt for her soon-to-be-cousin's bridal shower. We slept on one sailboat (which is much like sleeping in an RV, only its less spacious) and the rest of the family on the other.

During the bridal shower, Christina's Dad, her Uncle and I went sailing. This was a lot of fun. I also learned a few things about modern navigational systems. I took a lot of pictures and I think the best way to share this is by photos and explain a little about each one. I also took little videos on my digital camera and will have to learn how to embed them here for viewing (I can't decide between YouTube or Google Video, any ideas??)

For those interested, we started off at Whitehall Lake, MI (www.whitelake.org), or Google Earth's best search term is "Muskegon, MI". From the docks we left Whitehall Lake, went through the channel onto Lake Michigan then turned north for 5 NM and returned.


Sunrise at the boat docks, fantastic morning, cool, slightly humid....pretty. Spent part of the morning strolling the dock drinking a good cup of coffee.


Our craft for the day the Desperado. Interior of the Desperado...note the radios, GPS, Windows XP startup screen. All of these tools came in very handy during our journey.



The image on the left is the main control panel on deck, located right in front of the ship's main steering wheel. Top left screen is a digital compass, the screen on the right shows position, and radar, bottom left gauge measures boat speed or wind speed and direction. These devices are linked to sensors throughout the ship, controls the rudder (if you want it to), and maps your journey on the PC downstairs.

The digital compass can be set to "Auto" (as shown), from here if you want to go 10 degrees to port, hit the button marked "-10", and the compass will automatically adjust the rudder, even when factoring in wind, to take you there. Very spiffy tool when you're close to harbor. Out in the wind I preferred the manual wheel.

The map/radar screen conveys a variety of information to guide your way. It shows geography, topography (below water lever), bouyes, and other ships.



Left: This is the channel from White Lake onto Lake Michigan.
Right: We spent most of the day with good strong wind that kept us leaned to the starboard side, on occasion we got some water up over the boats edge. We averaged around 6 knots across the ground, with 17-20 knot winds. This image was the view from my seat on the starboard side.


A photo by Christina's Dad of me at the helm on Lake Michigan. Yes I'm wearing bears jacket, but I forgot mine and it was the spare available. The hat, however is a Denver Broncos hat. The boat over my shoulder was listed on our radar as a "dangerous target". Sadly, this boat had no torpedoes with which to eradicate my "dangerous target". Also in the picture, to my right, is a little black speaker. The boat has many media options (including cable TV in dock), such as a CD player, AM/FM radio, and I'm sure in you were inventive enough to load an MP3 library onto the ship's computer, you entire iTunes library on the water with you.


This dog, belongs to the people in the slip next door to Christina's Aunt and Uncle. His name, amazingly enough is Harley.

All in all, a good weekend trip. But for now its far too late for me to be blogging, and I should try and go to sleep.

ps. I am working on some new fun links for those of you bored with the current offerings.