Waterlogged Dog

Independence Weekend and a little Freedom...for my native critters

2010-07-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

I took an extra day off for the Independence Day weekend and it was a glorious break! We steered clear of the crowds and still managed to see some fireworks. But mostly we kayaked, fished, crabbed, snorkeled, swam, and had refreshing water fights. It was a wet, hot relaxing 4 days off.
Speaking of water, one critter that I've noticed patrolling the creek behind the house lately is a Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon). I'm lucky that my neighbor's kid has an insatiable curiosity that compels him to check my minnow trap every five minutes. Otherwise I may have lost my serpent friend. Now, I also check my minnow trap every five minutes! I mistakenly refer to it as the Eastern watersnake in the video.

Native plants planted - Camera gone

2010-06-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

I went to Jim's on Saturday and got a few nice plants from his property. They're a little wind burned from the long ride in the pickup, but they seem to be hanging in there. I gave them alpaca poop and plenty of water.
Here's the list:
Highbush blueberry Vaccinium corymbassum
Lowbush blueberry
Black Eye Susan Rudbeckia sp.
Fringe Tree Cheanothas virginica
Mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia
Wild Iris Iris virginica

On another subject, the reason there are no pictures in this post is that my camera went missing at work. The last time I remember seeing it was on Friday. It's a Panasonic Lumix waterproof wonder and I miss it badly. I'm pretty sure it was either on my desk in my office or in our lab on a lab bench. I don't set it down any where else at work. Pretty sad. I don't know if I just had a severe brain fart of if it walked. I did report that it's missing and I gave them the serial number. I also discovered that other items have gone missing on campus lately. I'm still holding on to the possibility that I just did something really stupid with the camera but this hope fades with each passing day...

a little Windsurfing action!

2010-06-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

I can't remember the last time I went windsurfing. I think it was like...way back in 2008, or some damn thing. With renovating the house, coaching little league, working like dog, fishing, etc. etc. it just got away from me. Well, enough is enough! on June 6, I grabbed my gear and went to a friend's house who has access to the Chesapeake Bay in York. I didn't check the wind data but it was windy, very windy. Anyhow, it was a blast and I want to do it again soon!

I also realized how out of shape I'm in. I'm pretty sure that every major muscle group in my body had some degree of soreness the next day. Beats the hell out of the gym!

Finding native plants is not easy!

2010-06-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

I've got to make it to the fall Virginia native plant sale at the Virginia Living Museum on September 18th and 25th this year! I'm finding it difficult and expensive to obtain true native plants for my project.
A couple of weekends ago, I found a page with sources of native plants for Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, N. Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and W. Virginia. The one closest to us, Pinelands Nursery in Toano, VA has a number that is no longer in service.
So with the limited time that we had on that particular Saturday, we trekked on down the the local Ken Mathews nursery. I told them that we are looking for native plants only and they did have a few.
After going through the native plant guide, we decided on the following for the bed in front of our house: Rudbeckia hirta (black eyed susans), Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen chokeberry) Ilex glabra (inkberry), and some Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry).
At the Ken Mathews they did have the Ilex glabra, but they go for $29.99 each in a three gallon pot. We want three, but we also want to eat and maybe someday send our kid to college.

So, I think I've hatched a plan. I want to propogate my own plants. Jim Perry said that all I need to do is get some cuttings, especially in winter, and place them in root tone. Or maybe this is the way to go?? I'll ask Jim what he thinks... Does anyone know about this? I welcome any suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Increasing CO2 in our abmosphere can starve us

2010-06-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

It's pretty much indisputable that the burning of carbon based fossil fuels over the course of the last couple hundred years has pumped up our CO2 levels in the atmosphere. This is clearly illustrated by this long term data set that has been taken at Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

It's also pretty scary that an ocean CO2 level of 350ppm will drive down the pH with the resulting acidity sufficient to dissolve the calcium carbonate coral reefs around the world.

And, it's pretty scary that all of this CO2 in the atmosphere is insulating us and raising the global temperature.

But what really scares the tar out of me is this recent report from the journal Science. In a nutshell, contrary to what one might think, increasing CO2 is not good for plants. You might think it is since they use CO2 for photosynthisis, right? Wrong! Too much CO2 causes plants to not be able to use nitrogen and they become stunted, but as much as 20% with a doubling of CO2.. Not only that but plants that get less nitrogen are less nutritious.

Okay, folks, this is a no-brainer. The world population is going off the chart and we need to feed these people! These are our children and grandchildren I'm talking about! Our wanton burning of fossil fuel will essentially reduce the amount of nutritious food available to us in the future. We must develop alternative fuels, including solar, wind, and my favorite, algae.

I like algae because algae removes carbon and other pollutants from our waterways, and then if the technology pans out, this algae can be converted into fuel. I should also say that I'm biased since I'm working on a project that hopes to do just that, turn pollution into fuel.

I'm working on the Chesapeake Algal Project ChAP at VIMS.

There's a lot of bad news out there, but I think that if technologies like ours and others get going, we may have better news in the future.

Our Chernobyl

2010-06-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry for the utter fiasco that we have going on with BP in the Gulf of Mexico. I am stunned that they can't turn off the flow. I've heard that it's like an Exxon Valdez every day. But, our friend who is a very high up in the Coast Guard says that this is so much worse. With the Valdez, we at least knew how much oil had spilled, it was in a confined strait, and it was immediately shut off and cleaned up, or at least about 5% was recovered which is actually considered a "good recovery".

But this thing in the Gulf? When will it end?

I hope we learn that we must find alternatives to oil. I hope we don't let them drill off of Virginia. The reason that McDonnell has traction on this issue and the reason that on March 31, Obama opened us up for exploration (which is suspended for now) is because of the public support in our area. Obama didn't open up the Northeast or the west coast because the people of those areas didn't want it, but Virginia does. Do we still, Virginia? Do we want to risk everything for oil riches? Don't count me in.

Great Native Plant Resources for the Chesapeake Watershed

2010-05-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Recently we had the big due date for library books at work. So, I went there to drop/renew my books and I noticed a cool display about native plants, called BayScapes. On this page there is a 5.31MB pdf that can be downloaded. This is so nice because it shows plants native to the area and how they enhance the natural landscape. The pdf is loaded with cool info such as what is the optimum amount of sunlight, or rainfall, or soil type, or soil pH, or what kind of wildlife is attracted to a specific plant, i.e. which plants attract humming birds, or song birds, or other wildlife, etc.

There's also this cool link that talks about why native plants are so wonderful.

Why Use Native Plants?

Going Native!

2010-04-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

My family and I were honored this past weekend at the William & Mary Do One Thing (DOT) Sustainable campaign thanks to the DOT Facebook pledge that I made to get my free water bottle.

My Facebook Pledge is this: "To identify every plant on my small 1/2 acre property. Remove it if it's invasive or non-native, and plant all native plants. I will also advertise and preach this to all of my privet loving neighbors! Native plants attract native bugs and native birds."

It all started when Lorri Sutter, a grad student at VIMS, dangled a fancy, free aluminum drinking water bottle in front of me! Then, she showed me the DOT pledge deal where you make a pledge on the DOT facebook page to get one.

Apparently, out of 1000 DOTs, mine was in the top 10! This surprised me since there were so many great pledges, like a guy who installed solar panels and calculated that he is producing 40% of the energy his family uses, etc.

Anyhow, I took my family to the DOT/Earth Day festival at William & Mary where we were honored on stage and given a sweet T-shirt and Frisbees!

Rowan Lockwood is the very dedicated W&M geology professor who was the first to contact me and give me the great news. She also invited me to the event. I invited my family since we would be coming directly from a T-ball game, which was actually canceled due to the threat of rain.

Erin Ryan (not shown in the picture) is the law professor who actually handed me the gifts!

Also, before the whole thing W. Taylor Reveley III the William & Mary president read the Lorax, with the real Lorax present! It was very entertaining.

Oh and when I spoke with Rowan before the ceremony, she said that Cathy Lewis, on NPR's Hearsay recognized my facebook post. So, this is pretty cool stuff, which means that now I need to produce!

I chose my pledge because I felt like I needed to pledge something new. I've been reducing, reusing, and recycling. I used cloth grocery bags, take navy showers, turn off lights constantly, weather proofed the house, etc. Plus, we moved into our new place in Seaford in the fall of 08. Since then, we've been fixing up house stuff and until this spring not doing anything in the yard. Oh, btw, we moved to York County mainly so that we can both be closer to work. We commute 220 less miles per week as a result!

All I can say right now is that I used my lawn tractor to pull a huge privet piece by piece by the roots. It was a lot of fun because every time the strap that I had tied from my little tractor to the privit tightened at 4 miles per hour, one of three things would happen. 1. I would come to a dead stop, 2. the strap would snap and break, 3. the privet would come up (most likely).

Here's a picture of where the privet was. The bush next to the water that is much relieved is a wax myrtle. According to Jim Perry the privet is also allelopathic. In other words they emit biochemicals that influence the growth of nearby plants, not for the better.

Also, complements of Jim Perry, I've planted 28 black choke cherries along the fence on the south side of the property and two native hibiscus plants (Hibiscus palustris) near the mailbox.

Exceptions for food:
Finally, I will admit that I've made an exception for food plants for the following reasons: 1. Growing your food on your own property is a great, sustainable way to reduce the fossil fuel needed to transport food to the table. 2. I don't think any food plants will take off and be invasive like kudzu, even if they're not native. 3. Michael Pollan said that we should all have vegetable gardens! In my garden I've planted tomatoes(S. America), zucchini (native), eggplant(India), cucumber(western N. America), tomatillos(Central and South America), cayenne peppers(native, I think) and basil (Asia). Gosh, I guess I should have planted some corn!

09 nor'easter!

2009-11-13T02:42:00.000-08:00

The tides reached 7.5 feet above MLL and this was about 6. This storm came a foot shy of Hurricane Isabel.

This is a night vision mode video of the back yard. In the video I state that "this is not even the highest tide that we're going to get." Actually, it was. At the time, the next high tide was predicted to be even higher.

This pic shows the absolute highest that the water got. Yes that dark shadow is water.

Nice vacation - skewer boy

2009-08-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

We just returned from our annual family vacation in Duck, NC. The refreshing 17oC water felt wonderful in contrast to the air temps in the high 30s.

"The cool water appears to be due to the upwelling deep coastal water replacement of the warm surface water that is blown offshore with the southwest wind. Anyhow, I think the water feels refreshing in contrast to the hot air. The boy had such stoke that he stayed in the water despite shivering hard, until I ordered him to take a break.

Here he is riding on the nose of my 9'2" Becker longboard. This freaked Mommy a little.

My father-in-law and the boy boogie boarding. He had some sweet rides and some wipeouts, both surfing and boogie boarding.

I probably spent more time in the water walking next to him while he snorkeled than any other activity while at the beach.

This is my favorite underwater picture.

...my second favorite underwater picture

...a really goofy underwater picture

WARNING: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED FOR THIS NEXT PART OF MY BLOG

On the second to the last day of our beach week when I was walking on the deck to go in and get my beach stuff, I encountered this. I never saw it coming. It snapped off and I felt a pain like a cactus and simultaneously heard a "SNAP!".

a reenactment

The bamboo skewer that someone dropped the night before went all the way through my flip-flop, the thong, 2 inches into my foot, and broke off in my flip flop. I looked and was like, "seriously???" Then I had a good time discussing and joking about the eventual removal of the stick in my foot.

My father-in-law said, "awww, just put a stick in his mouth and pull it out!" I laughed at this and asked my paramedic brother-in-law what he thought.

He said that "they" tell us never to remove an object in "the field".

So, off to the doc in the box, where we joked and carried on more. I had to hop on my good foot to the desk, to my chair, to the restroom during the hour that I had to wait behind all of the sunburns and sour stomachs. More fodder for our snarky comments.

the real deal - a bamboo skewer 2 inches in the flesh

the swelling...

Once I got to the actual office I still had to hop to room 4, to the x ray room on the other side of the facility, then back to room 4 - and no they didn't have a wheelchair. One of the nurses even said, "he's getting good at that!" as I hopped away from xray.

When the doctor arrived, he looked at me and said, "okay, you need to take your flip flop off."

I looked at him as if he had sprouted another head and I said, "I can't."

He started making all kinds of exclamations like, "oh!...Oh my!!...wow!..

He exited the room and then a nurse entered and said, "I'm sorry but I just had to see it." Then she started bringing the tools in to fix me... Yay!

The doc tried to cut the wrong part of my flipper. I had to show him where to cut it and then he almost cut my foot.

Finally, he numbed it with Novocaine and used some rusty pliers and he remove it! Praise God! He had to pull very hard, but I felt no pain at this point.

The doc said whatever you do, don't go to the beach. He said you DON'T want to get sand in it. I kept bandaids and tennis shoes on for the rest of my beach week.

I just can't imagine a grain of sand 2 inches inside my foot. Ouch.

God bless modern pharmaceuticals! Otherwise, I'd have just bit a stick and had somebody yank it out.

Harrell Family Catfishing Tournament

2009-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, June 6, the Harrell family hosted a super fun catfishing tournament and fish fry.

I really think that C has caught the fishing bug. He was covered in fish guts for the entire day. He had a blast playing with the menhaden that we used for bait. He made frankenfish and happily threw the heads and tails overboard, which actually proved to be good chum.

When we were cleaning the fish on the dock, C insisted that all of the fish cutters cut the stomachs open, and they happily obliged. The results were interesting. Many of the big fish had bellies full of menhaden or other fishes. Most of the medium size fish had bellies full of bivalves (clams and mussels) that weren't even open! Finally, one small catfish had a belly full of seeds that resembled acorns. I should have kept a few of those...

Anyhow, C spend 6 hours on the boat and reveled in the guts for the first 4. For the last two he kept inquiring as to when we would be going home and I just gave him an update of how many hours and minutes we had.

One time C threw his pole in the water while Frans and I both had fish on! I somehow used my pole (with fish on) to scoop C's out of the water as it sank with the current! Frans grabbed it and it was saved!

So, I'm not sure if C was a handicap since he was very noisy, or if he was an asset with all of his chumming.

After the long day C went out like a light, for the night!

What an incredible day!

Okay, so this isn't the catfishing tournament, but just a day in the back yard eeling.

Caleb caught this catfish all by himself!

Trevor with he and Travis' mess and the 2nd place winner at 12-lbs. The 1st place was only 12-1/4-lbs fish.

Our team with my 3rd place winner...

pile of fish

Michael skinning

Travis with the fishing report!

...what happens when you refuse to take your nap on the boat!

Whistler Blackcomb Vancouver, Canada

2009-03-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

I just returned from Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia for a ski-week. What an incredible time! It was a badly needed break from work for me and I only wished I could have taken the family. Work schedules don't always meld and so I took the opportunity to go with some ODU friends and their network of Ultimate frisby players who had already organized everything. It really wasn't that expensive, thanks to a lot of careful planning and cost sharing among the group. We spent a week at the 2010Winter Olympics venue. It was dreamy powder and endless skiing with endless snow falling. I am so spoiled! Thanks for making it happen guys!

Here's a picture of Vancouver that I took out of the window from our van.

Stocking up on food and BEER - notice the size of the respective carts? Honestly, the ladies went back to the store for more food.

Travis, limo driver, snowboard jumper!

The boarder - it wasn't too bad, but on our way out of Canada the officer asked if we had any "maple leaf candy!"

Jill, Chris, and Travis heading up!

oh, hell yeah! a little closer to "heaven"...

Me, K.C., and Joe

Popular Mechanics sums it up pretty well:
Passenger cabins hang as high as 1427 ft. (higher than four-and-a-half Statues of Liberty) and travel nearly 2 miles without passing a single support tower. It’s the longest unsupported span of any lift of its type.

This thing is nuts. It connects the two mounain peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb. Awesome! Here's the view with low visibility:

Those are actually very large trees in the valley by the river.

Jill and Chris chillen:

One of the many slopes from aloft:

The village from the lower step.

Joe, Travis and me

A slight clearing - it snowed most of the time:

Joe and Jill went up the hill...

alll yeah!

Jill

K.C. - "Oh Canada!"

Jill, Travis, and Joe - about to GO!

Paul and Bri in front of the accomadations.

Chris

Chris - getting ready for another sesh - with a belly full from the top of the hill lodge.

I love Ski School!!!

The Newman Family Unit minus Sawyer

Thirsty?

blowing snow - whitout time!

ice ice baby...

extracurricular art project

porthole to heaven

Chris - chillin in the hot tub...

Happy St. Patrick's - Canadian Irish style

headin up.

Chris - about to head down.

Travis

The End

Family fun day on the water.

2009-03-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, I got to take my family out on the boat that I got back in September. Today was spectacular. We basically went out of Back Creek to Goodwin Island where we had a nice picnic.

fishing 101 - or more accurately, Daddy fixing a mess

The Captain

The life

My sweetie in her USCG approved tent! She likes to stay warm.

March Snow

2009-03-03T05:41:00.000-08:00

Child Labor

How do you like my boots?

The boy is swimming!

2008-07-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

My boy went with his grandparents for two weeks for a very productive visit. He learned to swim. I'm totally stoked!

Dakine PosiLock Strap (smash or trash?)

2008-07-23T05:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got an early start at work so I felt justified in taking off a little early with James to go to the Gloucester Seafood spot and get a little sailing in. The hot day and the promise of late afternoon thunder boomers were generating a nice 19kt SE wind, according to iWindsurf reports. Looking out at the York confirmed this hence the white caps.

By the time we got to the spot though, the breeze had dropped off to about 10 and the heat was oppressive. We rigged anyhow because it still seemed promising. James had his Kona longboard with a 7.5m sail and I had my UltraCat with my 6.9. This was also my maiden voyage for my new DaKine Tabu harness. I hooked in and the strap became loose. I tried to unhook, but due to the looseness, I was unsuccessful and hence I fell into my sail cussing and spitting. James and I goofed with the strap without success. Sadly, I returned to my car and fetched Ol Yeller for the rest of the session.

Last night I checked the web and found this very helpful video that demonstrates just how simple it is. I followed the protocol and now it seems solid. Guess I need to get back out there to make sure!

After the harness fiasco we had a rockin sesh! The wind picked back up to 20 and we zipped out and back with the unofficial quest of reaching the lighthouse on the other side of the river near Goodwin Island. After some tacks and much progress though, the sky became purple and there was the distant sound of thunder. We beat it down wind to get back to the beach. This was where I had some difficulty. I really need to learn to jibe. The few times that I tried it yesterday, I spilled. So I reverted to tacking, which is silly because I basically did 270 degree turns, but at least I could do that without falling. Argh, I still have much to learn from the master, I mean Dr. James before he departs for Fla in a couple of weeks!

Banks Time

2008-07-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

We just returned from the annual beach vacation with the in laws. It was fun. There was no drama, everyone just relaxed and I got in some much needed windsurfing in Duck, NC. I also, finally, got a bran spanking new harness (KaKine Tabu) so now I can donate the circa 1980something, pink and yellow, Windcatcher harness to the VIMS Sail and Paddle Club.

Over the course of the week I sailed three times. The first was Sunday the 6th. I went to Currituck Sound and launched from the deck of North Beach Outfitters (NBO). According the the WET site, this is the only launch in Duck. It was a little tight getting my longboard around the hairpin turns of the wooden stairs and wheelchair ramps to get to the gate that the very nice young lady from NBO gladly unlocked for me. It was a little weird because the launch consisted of a set of stairs that descended from the shopping deck directly into the water. The last step was treacherously slippery with algae. Once in the warm Currituck water there were patches of emergent vegetation where I wedged my board, while I fetched my sail. Then I had a fun session on the sound in the 15 to 20mph SSW wind.

The NBO is a kayak supply and rental store. We also brought a kayak and so we didn't spend a dime there. My boy didn't have his personal flotation device (PFD), but the nice lady (didn't get her name) at NBO gladly lent us one. I offered to rent it but she was totally cool and maintained that I should just borrow it. I'd really like to go back to her store sometime and spend some $$ merely because she was so helpful.

The other two days that I windsurfed were in the ocean. The first was Monday, July 7th. The wind was side shore (SSW at 10 - 20mph) at the Bayberry Street access. The water was chilly and blue. This was my first time windsurfing in the ocean and I was a little nervous but I got out and had a splended time without incident. I sailed from 11 to 1 and then 2 to 4. The swell was beginning to build from Bertha and I thoroughly enjoyed the ascents and descents. I quickly found myself far from shore in inky blue water with dolphins and several cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris). When I came in I caught some nice wave rides and got back out every time without incident.

The only downside to my session at the beach was the sand. I got sand in between my mast extension and my mast and they are still currently stuck together. I tried to use the boom for leverage to twist them apart with fruitless results. When I get the time, I'd like to try the same technique, but this time with a strap wrench on the mast extension. I'll post the results of these efforts later.

On the 10th the swell really started picking up to overhead. The wind became light at 5-10mph from the SW, which in Duck is directly offshore. So, against my better judgment, I rigged up and went for a sail. I waited for the sets to subside into what I thought was a lull. I jumped in and then came another BIG F-ing set. I greeted the first breaker in the water, on the wrong side (inshore) of my rig. My UltraCat hit me like a Lincoln Navigator. I quickly caught my breath and re-positioned myself to the offshore side of the rig for the rest of the waves. My wife and father-in-law tried to help, but I told them to get clear, so they wouldn't also get plowed over, and they did. I held the rear footstrap and waited out the set. Then I got on for a lazy sail over huge swells. After about an hour of that I called it quits and went in.

I regretted not having my old surf board, but there were plenty of boogie boards available so I went for some boogie time for the rest of the week. The wind remained light and there was frequent rain.

Now I just gotta get back out so I can get my new harness wet! I got it at the Hatteras Island Sail Shop in Waves. The father and son windsurfer/kite boarders were super helpful and their shop had a TON of gear. The place is on the sound and they have rentals, lessons, and all kinds of cool stuff. My only recommendation is to call first, especially if you have to drive from afar. Their hours are a little wacky, but I think it's worth it since the next shop in Avon is another 50 miles south, which is quite significant with todays gas prices.

Where I've been...

2008-06-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy lately, and here’s why. I’ve just returned from the Eastern Shore, Virginia, where I was fortunate to be involved in an intense grassbed community sampling effort. We sampled members of the faunal (animal) community in the underwater Zostera marina (eelgrass) beds. We willingly worked long hours, with enthusiasm. We were up until 10:30 to 11pm in the lab some nights after long days in the field. In 7 days of sampling, I “worked” 87.25 hours. Now I’m spending a couple extra hours blogging about it.

There we saw beautiful sun sets and sun rises and some beautiful country. The Eastern Shore is special. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) toll of $12 each way for passenger cars ($20 for my 4 axels) keeps it special.

Traffic on the Southside (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth etc.) and the Peninsula (Hampton, Newport News, etc.) is heavy with elements of pure insanity. Once past the CBBT toll booth, traffic instantly becomes slow. They just don’t drive fast over there. Really, it’s quite refreshing. You might get the occasional kid in a hurry to get back to New York, but he’s got plenty of room and the State boys won’t let him be in that much of a hurry anyhow.

The economic disparity is stark. There are assemblages of McMansions, old large restored plantation houses, and other restored architecture, golf course retirement communities and then there are rows of simple dwellings each with their own outhouse. I’ve also heard that some still don’t have electricity.

Farming, agriculture, and aquaculture dominate the stratified economy. There are huge chicken factories and tomato factories and other crop factories. The operations are immense.

There’s also a large segment of the population that are watermen. All the ones that I met were friendly with a unique dialect that is well documented in William Warner’s, Beautiful Swimmers. I really did hear one old dude tell me that he’s had trouble with his “ersters” (oysters).

On the water the wind was always blowing. I have always thought of the summer as a calm time, which it is on the western side of the Bay. But on the Eastern Shore that southwest wind blows incessantly. It’s rarely calm, and the sand bars are no frickin joke. They are long and far (over a mile in places) from the beach. You have to go around them, even in a small boat like our 21 foot Privateer. Many times they are shaped like long parallel spits pointing south along the shore. At low tide many of them form beaches. At high tide the chop breaks perilously on them.

We accessed all ten sites from two boat launches, Cape Charles Harbor and Morley’s Wharf. From Cape Charles we traveled to Bay Creek Golf Course Beach, Cherrystone, The Gulf, Old Town Neck, Hungars Creek, and Church Neck. From Morley’s Wharf (on Occahannock Creek) we accessed Downings Beach, Sandy Point, Hyslop Marsh and Silver Beach.

THE SCIENCE WORK

The objective was to sample marine communities in seagrass beds with varying adjacent shorelines, like bulkheads and tombolos to marshes, woods, and lagoons.

Rachael and I took 400 samples from the 10 sites. 350 of those were taken in snorkel gear. Matt was the ever important “Yak Boy”. He kept our stuff straight in a Sport Yak so we could concentrate on sampling. Here are the things that we measured. For most of the animals, except the grazers, we measured, counted and released them, so we minimized mortality.

Here’s the rundown: Number of samples/site
Sediment chl-a 5
Epiphytic leaf Chl-a 5
Grazer mass/grass mass 5
Grass biomass 5
Predator sweeps & grass coverage 5
Faster, bigger predator scrapes 4
Physical data (DO, temp, salinity) 5
Sediment grain size and organic matter 5
Riparian assessment 1
40x10 sites = 400 samples

Some of the most important critters in the community are the grazers. These are composed of amphipods and isopods. They are important and of particular interest to us because they are good stewards of grass itself. One of the drawbacks for submerged aquatic vegetation, like eelgrass, are the presence of epiphytes (plants growing on plants). Epiphytic algae grows on the surfaces of the leaves and this blocks out the light and weighs the plants down, essentially smothering them and preventing them from producing their food via photosynthesis.

Here's an example of some smothering macroalgae in the grassbed. This was at Hungar's Creek. Too much of a good thing...Algae also respires and at night when resperiation is greater than photosynthesis, dissoved oxygen can drop to zero, which cause nasty fish kills.

Enter the grazers. They actually benefit the grass by eating the epiphytes. The other way the grazers are important to the community is as food for subsequent trophic levels. Fish of all kinds, shrimps, crabs and others regularly dine on them. This way the energy from the sun travels from the algae to the grazers to the predators, to still higher predators, and so on. It is why all energy on the earth is solar energy, with the exception of nuclear energy, which resulted from supernovae, but I digress.

SOME QUALITATIVE OBSERVATIONS

The variability between the sites appeared to be very high. Some fishes appeared at every site, like the pipefish (Syngnathus sp), but it seemed that each site had its own distinctive residents. Some sites had several black sea bass, others had a huge numbers of grunts or pinfish, and still others contained summer flounder.

Pipefish are probably so successfull because they look just like the grass, as in this video. Also, pipefish are closely related to seahorses, and like seahorses, the males are the ones to get pregnant. The female transfers her egg to the male for fertilization. We saw a lot of large pregnant males. Fish are so kinky...

Palomoneates (grass shrimp) are the roaches of the grassbeds. They are so abundant it’s stupid. They also have real sharp rostrums (see the next section).

Numbers of crabs, and most other animals, were higher at the higher energy sites, where macro algae isn’t as dominant. The macroalgae smothers. One note about crabs, Jeff Shield’s group was also at the ESL. They were taking crabs and looking at the prevalence of a dinoflagellate (dino) that gets into the blood of the crabs and kills them. One of the techs described it as being like crab Ebola. They don’t live more than 3 months once they get it.

As with macro algae, dinos are bad in polluted, over-nutrified waters.

The most striking overall observation was that where macro algae dominated grassbeds in the protected sites, the grass seem smotheredand and there were fewer animals (with the exception of Gammarus amphipods and grass shrimp). Sites with higher wave energy had less of this.

Overall though, I really enjoy the field work. It's cool to observe the amazing life forms in our midst. Complex functioning marine food webs exist right in our back yard. I hope they can hang on despite the onslaught of nutrient pollution, global warming, and other maladies.

I’ll post the reference for the quantitative published results when they appear in a peer reviewed journal.

DANGERS

Finally, I should mention that, although I love to be up to my gills in the Bay, there are some, mostly minor, annoyances, and possible dangers to look out for.

Here’s the short list.

Storms – They can sneak up in the haze and ruin your day. When the sky turns purple, it’s too late. Regular weather checking it imperative.

Midge like “no see-ums” in shady areas. They’ll send you on an air-condition mission.

Green head flies near the marsh which hit you at high speed with their mouth parts open (they tear chunks from you)

Biting worms like Glycera. Their mouth parts puke out from their un-discernable head and four very prominent hooks sink into your flesh. I had one dangling from my pinky, two weeks ago. I still have a mark.

Blue crabs – out of the hundreds that I’ve handled only a handful got a piece of me. I don’t wear gloves because I need dexterity for measuring critters. If a blue crab does ever get me good, I might lose some dexterity regardless.

Grass shrimp rostrums – are the needle sharp pointy things that poke out of their “foreheads”. Handle them long enough and you WILL get “rostrusized”, which can include a painful dose of bacteria.

Sunburn – an obvious threat to melanin challenged people like me.

Stinging nettles – I fared pretty well. I only got tagged on my limbs a few times. Rachael got one in the neck. It was 24 hours before that whelp went away.

Earaches - ahhh, the lovely green water…

Cold – You wouldn’t think you’d be cold in June, but if you plan to spend as many hours in the water as we did, you’d better have some neoprene handy. With the recent upper nineties and a few triple digit temps, I complacently left mine in Gloucester. Thanks to the PG Ross of the ESL I didn’t get hypothermia.

Hot – well, it is June.

Overall though, the trip was awesome, and I’ll jump at the next chance to DO IT AGAIN!!! If you are inspired let me know. We do accept volunteers. However, keep in mind we aren't always on the water. In fact most of our time is spent in the lab sorting through all that we collected or on a computer, analyzing. Taking samples is actually the least time consuming task in the whole business.

Tight lines and full sails,
JP

Cellphones and cancer

2008-06-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is kind of scary. I wonder if I should get an ear piece or am I just being a wimp?

The Solar Grand Plan

2008-06-01T03:38:00.001-07:00

Ken Zweibel, James Mason and Vasilis Fthenakis outlined a plan for America to make the switch to solar in this January 2008 Scientific American article. I’m not sure how high gas prices will have to go for us to muster the will to implement such an aggressive plan to get off of foreign oil, but I like to hear out such plans anyhow. Our procrastination may actually help since solar technology is advancing all the time.

To summarize, their “solar grand plan” would include vast (30,000 sq miles) arrays of solar photo voltaic cells and solar thermal plants in the desert south west with direct current (D.C.) transmission lines to deliver the electricity to the nation.

If implemented, they claim that by 2050 69% of all U.S. Electricity and 35% of the total energy requirement of the country could be covered by this plan. One of their key assumptions though, is that the U.S. passenger fleet would consist of plug-in hybrids. If the trend in gas prices continues, I think this assumption could be met.

Then with the help of wind, biomass, and geothermal, by 2100 this grand plan could cover 100% of all US electricity and 90% of all US energy. Theoretically, we could be off of foreign oil by 2050. We would no longer need Mid East oil. Imagine the implications for our foreign policy, if we could tell the Saudis to “stuff it!”

As for the concern that the solar panels would use up too much land, they first state that there isn’t much in the desert anyhow. They also assert that it would actually require less land than what is required to run 300 coal plants and 300 natural gas plants, for a total of 600 plants. This figures in the area needed to mine the coal and the gas and bring it to market. They also point out that there is no refining, and no need for fossil fuels to be transported, which of course requires more fossil fuel.

Solar power is captured on site and then it’s transmitted with the proposed grid. The current system couldn’t do the job, but the authors make the case for the proposed system.

“Studies by Oak Ridge National Laboratory indicate that long-distance HVDC lines lose far less energy than AC lines do over equivalent spans. The backbone would radiate from the Southwest toward the nation’s borders. The lines would terminate at converter stations where the power would be switched to AC and sent along existing regional transmission lines that supply customers.”

In addition to photo voltaics, this system would also rely on “hot salt” technology where “large tanks of molten salts,” after being heated all day, could retain the heat at night to be drawn for turbine. They state, “long, metallic mirrors focus sunlight onto a pipe filled with fluid, heating the fluid like a huge magnifying glass might. The hot fluid runs through a heat exchanger, producing steam that turns a turbine.”

This type of technology is already being used as pointed out by the authors:

“Compressed-air energy storage plants have been operating reliably in Huntorf, Germany, since 1978 and in McIntosh, Ala., since 1991. The turbines burn only 40 percent of the natural gas they would if they were fueled by natural gas alone, and better heat recovery technology would lower that figure to 30 percent.”

This could be stored in underground caverns and could be released at night to keep the turbines going. The authors substantiate:

“Mapping by the natural gas industry and the Electric Power Research Institute shows that suitable geologic formations exist in 75 percent of the country, often close to metropolitan areas. Indeed, a compressed-air energy storage system would look similar to the U.S. natural gas storage system.”

The authors put the expected cost at $420B in initial subsidies with a 30 year subsidies payback plan and then the individual power companies could be on their own. This would cover the solar voltaic cells, the high pressure system and the DC grid needed to deliver the power. To put the cost into perspective they mention that this is less money than was required to build the interstate highway system. They also mention the $1 trillion cost for the high speed cable infrastructure for the internet.

They assert that this is the basic business model for many of our services. The government seeds an effort, and later others take over as progress is made relieving the government of the long term financing. Examples include cancer research, other drugs, telephone service and the $100s of billions in ongoing farm subsidies.

The huge reduction in imported oil would lower trade balance payments by $300 billion a year, assuming a crude oil price of $60 a barrel (average prices were higher in 2007). Once solar power plants are installed, they must be maintained and repaired, but the price of sunlight is forever free, duplicating those fuel savings year after year. Moreover, the solar investment would enhance national energy security, reduce financial burdens on the military, and greatly decrease the societal costs of pollution and global warming, from human health problems to the ruining of coastlines and farmlands.

Finally, they argue that we can argue about the cost, but what’s the cost of NOT doing it?

The greatest obstacle to implementing a renewable U.S. energy system is not technology or money, however. It is the lack of public awareness that solar power is a practical alternative—and one that can fuel transportation as well.

If you buy into the prospect of America going solar, you can assist in the lobbying effort by going to the American Solar Action Plan (ASAP) “Contact Congress” page. This resource makes it easy for you to send lawmakers the message to fund solar technologies.

Finally, A Sesh!

2008-05-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Finally, after way too long, I got some windsurfing action last Sunday. The wind was fun at 10-22kts from the SW. I picked up stranded James and a bunch of gear at 10 and we went to York River Seafood.

When we got there it was at the low end of the 10-22 range. I rigged my 6.6 on the Ultra Cat. I got some really fast runs as the breeze freshened. I did manage to get my rear foot in the forward strap. James was impressed with that run, but when I told him where my feet where, he made a funny face and said something snarky. I kept at it for a while longer.

The wind was increasing and James switched to a smaller sail. I switched to a 5.2m sail and a Mistral Prodigy beginner’s board (250L), at James’ urging. I’m glad I did; it was very fun and easy to sail. I immediately got my feet in the straps and had some nuking runs. It was so easy to handle compared to my longboard. I may have to re-think my whole “longboards rule” philosophy.

The only painful thing that happened was when I had a lull and fell back with my foot, too far into the footstrap. I was under the sail, in the water, with my foot still painfully in the strap. I yanked hard and got out, to my relief.

I met Chris (Outdoorsman). It’s cool to meet someone from the blogosphere in person. Not only does it make blogging more fun, but now I know another local windsurfer to meet up with for future seshes. He advised me to be careful not to stick my feet too far into the foot straps and at the end of the day, he offered to let me ride his short board.

I wanted to but after over 5 hours of sailing, it was time to go. I had a party to attend, a storm was brewing and my arms felt like linguine. It was a great day, and as an added bonus, I didn’t rip any sails or break any boards!

Sam and James who was testing out the Prodigy rig

Sam with a little Hang Time

Spring is in the Air!

2008-05-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

How do I know spring is in the air? I know it because my sinuses tickle. I know it from sounds of the peepers and the hooters in the night. I know it from the flowers. I know it when I see our super ladies break out their bikes. I know it when the spring series sailing starts up. But, what will make my spring so sweet will be when I get back on my Ultra Cat. I’m Jonesing for a sesh!!!

Iris in the front yard

Maxine and Gina - our departmental secretary and budget manager

The York River Wednesday night race

My first Windfest and Longboard

2008-04-23T04:34:00.000-07:00

Windfest 08 was cool, despite the grumbling about the lack of wind. I especially enjoyed meeting the smart, friendly folks of the windsurfing community. It’s an interesting crowd from a variety of backgrounds; I met internet gurus, NASA guys, a navy pilot, an atomic clock guy, a criminal justice specialist, entrepreneurs, college kids, and so on.

But, what really impressed me about Windfest were all of the resources for beginners. There were free lessons in the water and on a gimbled board thingy. Vendors also had new boards for demo. I think the windsurfing community will grow because of this active recruiting.

The real watershed moment for me though, was when Marcy, who I’d just met didn’t think twice at letting me borrow her F-2 longboard rigged with her 9 m sail. I sailed that baby in the light 10kt breeze until I could barely make out the campground. It was total bliss.

Then, on the way home we (James, Sam, John and others) kept running into each other in a torturous shopping spree up the coast. I say torturous because of the tight purse strings in my family’s budget. However, this trek was not without fruit. I met this guy, another John, who had an extra Fanatic Ultra Cat for sale with dimensions similar to Marcy’s board. I told him that I was definitely interested, and when I got home I squeezed out the funds to make it happen. I met him at Buckroe Tuesday and did the deal. Now I’m the proud owner of a most awesome board that I hope to get wet today. Yes!

12'5" long, 250L, with a sliding mast track, this baby says, "Made in West Germany" - Does this mean that this thing was made before the fall of the Berlin Wall?

For more detailed accounts of Windfest, check out these posts by Catapulting Aaron and James.

My only regret, aside from my skirmish with the free beer, was that I didn’t have my family. There were lots of windsurfer dads, which, at my current age and status, I think is ultra-cool. I plan to bring them next year.

Kite surfing cargo ship?

2008-04-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!

Instead of listing all that we can do to save the planet, I give you this outlandish Earth Day story.

WTF will those crazy Germans think of next?! Is this real? I snoped it and didn't get a hit. Even if it's not real, I'm going to give kudos for creative thinking.

Stupid Money

2008-04-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hedge fund manager John Paulson made $3.7B last year, according to this New York Times article.

How did he make all of this loot? He bets on the demise of shady mortgages and other financial products. The way I understand it, guys like Paulson borrow shares at a high price and sell them, wait for the price to drop and then buy them back and pocket the profit. For that, they can get stupid rich. They don't have to be movie stars, rock stars, or invent a cure for cancer, yet they dwarf what any of the above could make in their wildest dreams.

Dang, I'm just thinking of all I could do with $1 million!!

So, to borrow James' method, here's what 3.7 billion looks like if each 1=1 million. Remember, that's what Paulson made just last year.

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Cool mutualism story in the NY Times

2008-04-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

It's refreshing to see a story about the mutualism between a burrowing shrimp and a shrimp goby on the front page of the NY Times. Judson also mentions a smattering of other mutualism examples including our relationship with bacteria in our GI tract. Cool!

Sprawl hurting Bay...Duhhh!!!

2008-04-04T04:56:00.000-07:00

The Daily Press featured a front page article about the Bay’s report card and it looks like our land use policies should be grounded. While James is right that overpopulation is a problem, it’s also true that sprawl is outpacing population growth, which is thrusting us ever more forcefully towards K.

In the DP article Bill Dennison (Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science) stated that “in the 1990s paved surfaces expanded by 42% in the watershed while population grew only 8%”.

And from the Bay Program news release:
“…if current development trends continue, an additional 250,000 acres of watershed land will become impervious between 2000 and 2010 and 9.5 million more acres of forests will be threatened by development by 2030.”

What’s depressing is that I feel we’re hampered by the sprawl industrial complex, analogous to the military industrial complex. Sprawl is a major economic force. People need jobs and building everything up provides jobs.

It doesn’t seem like we’re close to change, barring some catastrophic event, which may or may not already be underway (global warming). Regardless, we pay a huge cost. The ick that we produce sluices uninhibited over impervious surfaces into our waters, which kills our fisheries, degrades our water, reduces our quality of life, and makes us sick.

This is a huge problem that we’re all part of and it will take everyone’s efforts to change. Unfortunately, I fear that we’ll reap misery before we unite on this.

Here's a related story about watermen who are considering suing over the bay's pollution.

Our Lovely Country Home...can be yours!!!

2008-03-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

We love our home, but we'd like to live closer to the school where my wife teaches so that we can go to more of the school games. It’s difficult to teach, and be active in extracurricular activities when you don't live in the same county.

So here’s my unabashed advertisement for our lovely country home:

Situated at the end of a cul-de-sac in central Gloucester County, our 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1400sq foot rancher, with its bright open floor plan includes a great room, huge master suite, new appliances, fenced in back yard, generator hook up, and much more. All of our appliances are electric and thanks to the shade in the summer and the high efficiency woodstove in the winter, the electric bill rarely exceeds $150, but is usually more like $100 per month. With mature hardwoods surrounding and encompassing our 1/2 acre, it’s quiet. At night we hear tree frogs, not traffic. The property is 60 ft. above sea-level, so there's no flood danger. Our neighbors are awesome and so is the county with great schools, parks, trails, several boat launches, and it’s just over the bridge from York County and the rest of Tidewater, Virginia. The whole package is negotiable at $205k. If interested, call our agent, Wendy Jackson at 757-870-5892 or 804-693-7444.

View from the circle:

Living part of great room:

Dining part of great room:

Kitchen:

Master bedroom:

Baby's room with Rainbow Fish theme:

Not shown: The third office bedroom, the huge master bath with skylight, the detached workshop, and the attached shed.

Extreme Speed

2008-03-09T01:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day of dynamic weather. There were squalls, lulls, and extreme winds. Because of this, Gloucester Seafood of Guinea was again converged upon by the wind riders. James documented this, well, in this post. He also provided photographic proof that I can windsurf, fast even, when I’m not breaking boards, or gorilla taping sails. Thanks James.
And now for some tokens of my appreciation:

James shredding.

Farrah shredding.

After all the rain and wind, we had clear skies and wind.

The EPA is broken

2008-03-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

Stephen Johnson (Bush’s EPA administrator) refuses to sign the waiver to allow California and a dozen other states to have higher emissions standards. California never had a problem getting these waivers signed until Johnson came onto the scene.

I thought the Republicans were for smaller government, where states have more power to regulate, not less. By stealing California’s ability to lead in fuel economy, Johnson is polluting on a grand scale, stifling innovation, and as one of the war hawks, he’s hindering the war effort. This is the first war in our history where we’re encouraged to consume with impunity.

We all owe our great grandkids an apology for the outrageous bill that we’re leaving for them.

Video of Macky and James (March 4)

2008-03-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

Back in Action!

2008-03-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

I smashed the nose of my board on the second outing, so I glassed it up. It’s not pretty, but it’s water tight.

First I hung it upside down for a week, but it was still damp, so when it got real cold I fired up the woodstove, brought it in and dried it good, for 48 hours.

Then, one 50oF morning, I took it back to the shed and sanded it (80 grit) until all the pink was gone. After sanding, I wiped it thoroughly with acetone for good bonding with the epoxy. This is a very important step.

I cut up several pieces of fiberglass tape, brushed on some epoxy with “fast” hardener. Laid the glass pieces and brushed more epoxy on top of them. I used the fast because that’s what I had at the time and it was 50oF, so it was actually pretty slow.

I thought I could just rely on the wet epoxy and glass to keep the gaping hole in the nose closed, but I was wrong. I figured this out after wetting everything and laying the first glass. So, I pre-drilled right through the repair area and then drove a drywall screw through the board. Then I continued glassing around the screw. It worked like a charm.

The first layer, with the screw still in.

After the first layer of glass hardened, I removed the screw and sanded the heck out of it, which opened some of the original damage. So, I wiped it down and laid more glass. After the second layer of glass I hand-sanded the burs and voila! I went windsurfing.

If I get around to it, I can clean the area with soap and water, sand some more and then wipe with acetone and apply Colloidial Silica to the West System epoxy and fill any low spots. Then, I can sand and repeat until I achieve a desired shape. After that she can get paint.

I could give the board a whole new look, or I could go windsurfing, like we did today and it was great! Besides if I invest a ton of effort to make it look beautiful and then re-bash the nose with another catapult, I’d cry like a baby.

James taking her for a spin.

Macky Launching.

Home Brewed Terror

2008-02-27T04:10:00.000-08:00

The other Saturday, at 6:30pm, when I was taking pictures of my new windsurfing sails for a previous post, I saw my neighbor leave in his little pickup. A few minutes later I heard a horrendous crash, but it didn’t register to me as a car crash, since we have heavy equipment for logging operations nearby, although I thought it late for such activity. It wasn’t until 30 minutes later, when I heard many sirens and a helicopter that I realized there was an auto accident. I was floored to learn from the paper the next day that it was my neighbor, who apparently drank and then went for a drive; a damn shame. He went over the double yellow and plowed into a Honda Civic containing two guys. One guy is dead and another critically injured. The deceased left his little girl without a dad.

I don’t know my neighbor that well, but he seemed like a nice guy with a nice wife and he also has a young daughter. Now he’s got a ton of charges, a heavy weight on his conscience, and he’ll probably never be able to afford to send his daughter to college.

The whole thing shook me up and got me thinking of something that I’ve known for some time. Our highways are dangerous, for many reasons including; alcohol, aggressive drivers, cell phones, teen drivers, texting, and the highways and the cars themselves. We face these dangers every day. We can and should do more to fix the problem of death on the highways. Currently, we don’t do much.

We spend $40B per month on the war in Iraq, with a total expected cost of $3-Trillion ($3000000000000) because of the 911 tragedy where 3000 souls perished, but what are we doing about our highways that kill over a 42000 Americans every year? That's a staggering quarter million dead since 911 just from cars, right here in the U.S.A.! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has an annual budget of $0.815B per YEAR. What the hell!?!

We need new leadership who will address the REAL issues. Something this obvious makes me think about what other issues are left off of the radar screen by the media, like the air we breathe, the water we drink, oh and guns, which kill 29000 per year in our great nation. Dang, well there’s another 175000 killed in the U.S.A. by guns since 911. Our government must be held accountable! America needs change.

Map for (How NOT to Windsurf) post

2008-02-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

My previous post keeps going berserk when I try to put this map in, so I did this post with the map only. This is Guinea, in the vicinity of Gloucester Seafood (Cooks Landing Rd.) where we launched. The two longest piers are the ones that I had to contend with. Cross Rd. on the right is where I began my "walk of shame".

View Larger Map

How NOT to Windsurf

2008-02-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

For Presidents' Day, I was blessed with warm temperatures, high southwest winds, and great company (James Douglass and Farrah Hall) for a windsurfing session in Guinea. Unfortunately, I blew it, so to speak.

Farrah and James

I had some wicked fast and furious runs, but most of the time I flailed about with my "new" rig and its old school sail that, according to James, has too much power, too high up. Furthermore, I was not prepared for the 20+kt wind that came up. If I had my 4.5m sail, I would've rigged it, but I only had the 6.4m. Consequently, I was catapulted hard and my boom demolished the nose of my board. I also had just broken my uphaul. Then I was about to be swept in between a pair of very long, private piers (see the right side of satellite image). I had to swim the rig around the end of the eastern pier or be raked through the pilings. After that, I was done.

I let the waves take me to shallow water where I commenced the "walk of shame". I stashed my broken rig in the grass next to Cross Road (far right in satellite image). Though it was barely a mile, it was a very long mile, down Jenkins Neck Rd. and then through back yards and tidal creeks with thick deep muck, back to Gloucester Seafood (Cooks Landing Rd.), seen on the left side of the satellite image. It was an even longer drive back to pick up the gear, since you have to drive around your (you know what) just to get where the crow flies in places like Guinea, where tidal waters rule.

View Larger Map

Basically, I had my ass handed to me on a foam core plastic platter, in front of Farrah and James. Nevertheless, they were both super kind to my Spasmoidialness. James blamed my old sail. He told me that I should have a more manageable sail to dial in my new board. He then hooked me up with a sweet deal on one of his older, but much more advanced Ezzy sails, a carbon fiber mast, and some other stuff that he's "outgrown". Thanks James! I very much look forward to getting back into the water.

Repair Job
My only speed bump now is my board. It's currently hanging, nose down, in my shed to let any water drain for the next several days. Meanwhile, a Google search revealed a few possibilities.
1. Marinetex
2. Solar Patch
3. Dingo or Ding Stick
4. Plumber's epoxy (supposedly the same thing as Dingo)

Farrah's solution - Saw off the nose for a whole new look.

Initial Questions:
1. I'm inclined to think that Farrah is right. If I did saw off the nose, what would be the best way to seal/finish it?

2. If I try to restore the nose to its original shape as possible, what would be the best method?

My Busted Nose

my 6.4m sail at Cross Road

And, finally: What was good about President's Day?
1. The wind (speed and direction)
2. The company - especially watching them scream up and down the shore!
3. I was windsurfing
4. I did a "water start" three times (alright, so it was only hip deep...still!)
5. The wicked fast rides (actually, they were great!)
6. The salty air

Carl Hiaasen

2008-02-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

In response to James' post, I would agree that Carl Hiaasen is The Man. I've read, or listened to most of his books and he's got a new one coming out this May (The Downhill Lie) that I can't wait to get. Carl's webpage has info on his books, an upcoming movie and a very funny clip of him being interviewed by Stephen Colbert. You can watch the video on his page or here.

The Gear

2008-02-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

Neil Pryde 4.5m

Bic Samba 170L Board

Bic 640 Fun Slalom sail

My "New" French Stick

2008-02-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

A picture of my "new" rig, this morning, the day after her maiden voyage. Great weather.

My windsurfing instructor, James, had finally had enough. He said I was getting just good enough that I was doing too much damage to his gear. So, James did me the favor of connecting me to some folks that had some extra gear. I scored a Bic (yes, it’s the same French company that makes the lighters) Samba “allround funboard” from somewhere between 1990 and 1995. At 170L she actually sinks a little under my 200 lbs when the wind is weak, and she’s much squirrelier than the 220 Kona that I’m used to.

James said that my “allround funboard” may have discouraged a lot of people from windsurfing since the sport was going more to the short boards and the funboard label was a little misleading since it is actually a little more of a technical board. James also said that he thinks I might be able to actually jump it. Sweet!

Anyhow, yesterday was the maiden voyage. The water and the air temperature were both about 45oF with a NW wind at 15 kts and driving rain; not exactly ideal conditions but I really was itching to try out my new rig.

It's awesome! I had some fast, fun rides. I can't wait to get on it in some better weather with stronger winds!

James was a real sport because he went with me to the Carmine Island spot, on the York River. We took turns, and he helped me tweak the boom and mast for my 6.4-m sail. The mast and boom needed to adjust out. The small 460 mast necessitated extending the mast base out to over 40 cm.

The board and the sail are pink and my harness is pink and yellow. Did I mention that I’m windsurfing in conservative, rural Gloucester County, VA? An old white dude watched us for about an hour from the landing in his pick-up truck. I don’t even want to know what he was thinking, plotting, or doing with the engine running while James and I were taking turns dialing in the “new” rig. Ewww!

Haitians eating dirt - on Planet Earth?

2008-02-01T02:31:00.000-08:00

It makes me sick to read stories like this in the news.

We don’t need ethanol in our gas; we need to send corn to Haiti. Better yet, we should foster more programs to help Haitians grow their own food.

We can abolish hunger and our own obesity epidemic simultaneously. All we need to do is consume less and allocate our resources where they’re needed most. Instead of spending them trying to secure the last of the world’s non-renewable energy sources (oil in the Middle East), we should be helping people like the Haitians.

We must let our politicians know how we feel about world poverty and urge them to take action. The only way to achieve world peace is if world hunger and poverty are abolished.

Go Nano! (Solar)

2007-12-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

Could we be on the verge of an energy revolution? This recent NY Times article gives me hope.

Nanosolar is a Silicon Valley startup that has developed a material that can be “painted” onto aluminum sheets that convert solar energy into electricity. At 1/100 the thickness of older panels, the idea is to roll them off like newspaper for cheap. Nanosolar predicts that when production begins, they’ll cost the consumer $1 per watt instead of the $2.1 per watt that coal costs.

Some financial news is abuzz with talk of a new bubble, where Silicon Valley investors do for alternative energy what they did for the tech boom. Well, bring it on!

I look forward to when Nanosolar sheets become as common as iPods. But, the cynic in me pictures some big oil company plopping down an irresistible couple billion bucks so they can buy the patent and sit on it like they did with that super efficient, mid-twentieth century battery featured in the movie, “Who Killed the Electric Car.”

But, maybe not this time. Maybe we’re on the verge of a cosmic awakening to the age of renewable energy. With the perfect storm of high energy prices, global warming, public awareness, promising technologies, and venture capitalists; maybe it’s time.

Wind Power

2007-12-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Renewable energy sources not only alleviate our dependence on foreign oil, clean up the environment, create jobs and help the economy, they also inspire some hilarious work, like this.

Mr. W

Not embracing renewable energies contributes to global warming. Here's Chief Ferrel's take. Enjoy!

Windsurfing Rocks!

2007-12-03T06:10:00.000-08:00

My boy is amped about learning to wind surf and he's only 3. Here's a picture from early October.

Tree hugging is fun!

2007-11-29T05:17:00.001-08:00

Once, in a past life, I was a ground guy for my uncle Frans' tree business (Re-Leaf Tree Care) where I learned to climb.

Now I live on a 1/2 acre property where we have huge trees. It has been fun.

That's me, about 80 feet up our 130' sweet gum tree.

And the view...

Here's an embarrassing video of me but a cool perspective from our back yard tree swing, which is on the same sweet gum tree.

Fight terrorism, obesity, recession and environmental ruin with the mighty BICYCLE

2007-11-22T22:55:00.000-08:00

I’d like to be healthier and burn less gasoline by riding my bike to work, but our roads are not bicycle friendly. Most of the roads in Southeast Virginia have little or no shoulder and they’re edged with gravel dust that can pitch your bike into the ditch and you into the path of a truck. Furthermore, some drivers are downright mean to bicyclists. This tyranny of the automobile fleeces us of the benefits of physical and mental health, environmental and economic improvement, and good strategy in the “war on terror”. It’s downright un-American not to share the road.

Whenever politicians address the American obesity epidemic, they mostly discuss junk food in school cafeterias, which is important. However, much more needs to be done to address the sedentary citizenry. In Virginia the only physical education requirement for the entire 4 years of high school is 2 PE credits. With standards so low, cars to take us everywhere, and more entertainment at the touch of a button than ever, we are compromised yet we don’t realize it.

Imagine if kids had safe bike lanes and pedestrian greenways to school. That would take a bite out of obesity. As it is, our local schools don’t provide bike racks for locking up, because they don’t want to encourage the dangerous behavior of kids actually riding their bikes to school. Frankly, I’m glad because it is too dangerous.

This is unfortunate because we’re missing out on some major benefits. Physical activity improves one’s mood, reduces risk of chronic disease, improves sleep, and strengthens your heart and lungs.

Physical activity is also mentally healthful, in that it improves executive brain function. Linked to the frontal cortex, executive brain function guides complex behavior, decision-making and response control. Regular exercise is also associated with fewer incidences of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Exercise enhances social health as well. There’s camaraderie among bicyclists. Whenever I ride a trail, fellow bicyclists are usually cordial, since we’re all outside together and not de-personalized in our cars. Probably the endorphins help also.

Besides, Mother Earth would breathe a huge sigh of relief if we decided to ride bikes more. How many billions of gallons less gas? My conservative back of the envelope calculation yields 39 billion gallons per year, or about 778 billion pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

Car exhaust is nasty. Not only does it contain a lot of poisonous carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, but it’s also full of corrosive NOX gases that rain as acid, kill trees, and dissolve ancient statues.

Recently, there was an editorial from the associated press where health and environmental issues were connected. They analyzed the benefits of Americans walking to work. Here’s an excerpt:

“Health experts and climate scientists propose that we can fix the obesity epidemic and cut carbon emissions at the same time if all Americans walk for half an hour a day instead of drive. The payoffs, they note, are huge, but they concede they are unlikely to happen.”

Speaking of payoffs, if we rode our bikes to work and school it would make good strategic sense in the war on terror. Pedestrian access could reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which would hit our enemies in their pocket books. More importantly, our increased mental, societal, physical and environmental well being would strengthen us in the face of our shadowy foe.

Speaking of pocket books, check out the one on this guy. Oil rich Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia just paid $300 million for a brand new Airbus for him and his entourage.

The bicycle is the new “smart bomb”. This project needs money, and more importantly, the awareness and willpower of society. The politicians won’t do it for us. They just squabble over how to pay for yet another lane on the interstate.

Here’s a chance to save ourselves, save the environment, save the economy, and win the war on terror. Practically, it’s a no-brainer. Realistically, it will be hard.

We’ve overcome bigger obstacles in our short history as a nation, and we can overcome this. I only hope that we don’t have to degenerate too much before we realized the new “smart bomb” is right in the garage. We just need the pedestrian friendly infrastructure to implement it.

Capitol Trail http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/newcaptrail_faq.asp
Biking in Virginia http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/bk-default.asp

Moving costs and benefits

2007-11-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

Our current home in mid-Gloucester County has its perks. We’re at the cul-de-sac of a lovely little neighborhood where the neighbors are wonderful, the nights are quiet, and the wildlife is abundant, in that we back up to a beautiful tract of woods. But, we want to move.

An arboreal view of our back yard

We want to move mostly because of the commute. For me it’s only 12.5 miles to work, but for my wife Adrienne, it’s 19. That doesn’t sound like much until you look at the time and fuel. Round trip, I spend 42 minutes a day and Adrienne spends one hour. That's about 8.5 hours per week. The fuel costs also adds up, even though, by U.S. standards, we get good fuel economy (25mpg for my S-10 pick-up and 33mpg for her Civic).

When I crunched the numbers, for time and gas, but not the increased risk of injury, stress or vehicle depreciation, I concluded that we will save over $7000 a year by moving to our target neighborhood in York County which lies between our works, (4.5 miles for me and 2.9 miles for her).

Also, not in the analysis, is our reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. I was astonished to find that we will put 8560 pounds less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year! I doubt we could do that if we bought a Prius and carpooled together (which would be impossible due to our different schedules).

Sounds like a lot of carbon dioxide, right? From saving 428.3 gallons of gas (2697 pounds), how do we save 8560 pounds of carbon dioxide? Well, gasoline, being the hydro-carbon that it is, combusts and the carbon atoms are liberated from the light hydrogen atoms. These free carbons bind to the much heavier oxygen atoms in our atmosphere and create CO2. Clear as mud? Check this out: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/co2.shtml

So even though our new home will have a higher sticker price than our current place, I can sleep easier knowing that we will actually save money and CO2 over the long haul. More importantly, we get to spend an extra two weeks per year together. That's an extra vacation!

I’m looking forward to our new home. Now if we can just get someone to buy our current one.

Plastic in the ocean sucks!

2007-11-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

Mr. McGuire was correct in the 1967 movie, The Graduate, when he told Benjamin, “I want to say one word to you…Plastics.” Yes, plastics are here. Everything is packaged in it and made of it. Our cars are plastic. Medical technology is all about it. It’s literally molded into every facet of our lives.

Unfortunately, plastic enters our waterways, and ultimately ends up in our oceans. Turns out, it’s concentrating in the middle of the oceans’ great gyres. Ocean currents go in circuits, the centers of which are gyres. Plastic has low density and thus floats in the center of the gyres, where it can stay for decades. One of the Pacific's great gyres is now named “The Great Garbage Patch.” Remote islands, like Midway are littered with trash blown out of the gyres by storms. Turtles, fish, albatross, and other birds mistake it for food.

Much of this plastic escapes from our communities into our rivers, below.

River plastic is flushed into the ocean and ends up in the gyres.

The Albatross

In the short term ingestion of plastic by animals can lead to starvation and dehydration because the plastic displaces food and water in the gut. In the long term, plastics adhere to toxins that get into animal tissue and impair their ability to reproduce and cause other maladies.

Out of 22 species of albatross, only 2 are not threatened with extinction. These are awesome birds with huge wingspans. They can live for months soaring over the open ocean, rarely flapping their wings.

Necropsy of an albatross - full of plastic. Where's the knucklehead who owns that lighter?

For a really in depth, Pulitzer Prize winning special on the great garbage patch, check out Kenneth R. Weiss' LA Times article:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean2aug02,0,3130914.story

Here’s an excerpt from Weiss’ story about the albatross:

“Of the 500,000 albatross chicks born here each year, about 200,000 die, mostly from dehydration or starvation. A two-year study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that chicks that died from those causes had twice as much plastic in their stomachs as those that died for other reasons.

The atoll is littered with decomposing remains, grisly wreaths of feathers and bone surrounding colorful piles of bottle caps, plastic dinosaurs, checkers, highlighter pens, perfume bottles, fishing line and small Styrofoam balls. Klavitter has calculated that albatross feed their chicks about 5 tons of plastic a year at Midway.”

According to the California Coastal Commission, plastic bags, packaging and single-use disposable products are the most common items. Common sources include industrial discharges, garbage transportation, landfills, construction debris, and debris from commercial establishments and public venues.

I remember outdoor rock concerts in the 90s, where everybody threw their plastic cups from their $6 beers on the ground to be picked up. I guess the $6 didn’t cover clean up after all.

Folks, it’s much worse than just a few isolated seabirds tangled in six-pack rings. Plastic is everywhere and we’re not doing a good job keeping it out of the oceans. This is one of the most important environmental issues of our time, which we, citizens of Earth, can and must fix. How can we must be responsible with our plastic? Reduce, re-use, and recycle.

Reduce plastic consumption.
1. Use re-usable containers for lunches.
2. Use re-usable drink containers, instead of buying a new $2 Evian each time you get thirsty. If the tap water is bad, get a filter. My great grandmother drank city tap water for all of her 100 years.

3. Tough one; consume less.

If you must use a plastic container, re-use it.

Recycle.
1. Most communities have recycling centers or curbside pick-up. Even my rural/suburban county has recycling services at the local transfer station.
a. It’s easy; all glass and plastic goes into one bin so you only need one.
b. Be sure to remove caps from containers so that the crushers can crush them.
2. Take plastic bags back to the grocery store, or re-use, or use cloth bags.

The demand is there for these recyclable plastics. We just need to ensure that our used plastics get to market and not to the oceans.

That’s good for us, but what about the corporate world, where this stuff is made. Manufacturers of laundry detergent, for example should create a re-fill program where you can bring your indestructible detergent bottle back for more. I hate knowing that the ones going into the landfill today will be there long after we’re all dead.

Less is more. Packaging is out of control. Many times the packaging out weighs the merchandise by an order of magnitude, like with digital camera cards, mp3 players, and food stuffs with multiple layers of plastic, to name a few.

We didn't have all this plastic when I was a kid. Heck, we've been living and evolving for 2 million years. Plastic burst onto the scene just a heartbeat ago. We don't need it.

There are also a lot of problems with plastic manufacturers who neglect to keep their industrial byproducts from leaking out of rail cars and factories. Little plastic beads used for the manufacture of plastic get into the environment, are ingested, and make their way into the oceanic food web. Remediation of these problems must happen.

Plastics represent a huge threat to the environment. With over 6 billion people on the planet, all using more plastic than ever, we must get better. We owe it to the albatross and our children.

Inland Surfer Fix

2007-10-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Adblock

By the way, I had nothing to do with this video, other than posting it from Youtube onto this blog. I just think it's cool.

I have been an east coast wave surfer for the past 21 years and I love it. There is nothing like jumping up on your board, making the drop and then going down the line on some insane hurricane swell, and I’ll continue to catch those days on my Becker longboard whenever I can.

But lately, I’ve been catching some sweet wind on a variety of windsurf rigs, on the York River. The biggest advantage of this new hobby is geographic. I used to live close to the oceanfront and at the time, I was a frequent rider of whatever Croatan, Sandbridge, Rodanthe, Avon, Hatteras, or Frisco had to offer.

But from where I currently reside, I’d have to combat 65 miles of congestion just to get to the nearest break, and with a family and a career, that doesn't happen often.

With windsurfing, I only have to go about a mile to the Gloucester Point Beach at the base of the Coleman Bridge; that I can do after work. I don’t get ocean swells on the York but I do get some strong winds and some good “ramps” (waves).

Thanks to one of my coworkers, James (http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/), who is a highly proficient windsurfing warrior and president of our sail and paddle club, taking up this new hobby has been a breeze. I’ve invested next to nothing, which is great since I’m not a plastic surgeon.

So far the boards that I’ve used are:

Kona: 220 liters, 70 x 350 cm.

2001 Ezzy Wave Sail: 6.9 meters squared

Bic Melody (old longboard from late 80s / early 90s): 220 liters, 350 x 68 cm

Sail: Old 7.5 meters squared no-cam sail

Mistral Prodigy: 255 liters, 87 x 298 cm

I really like the Bic. If you ask me, I think it’s actually smaller than the Kona, but according to the above specs, it’s not really. The narrower boards are more squirrelly, but easier to turn and faster, and speed is what I need. The Mistral is really wide and stable; great for beginners. It also planes easily.

I’ve probably windsurfed close to 20 times and I’ve been tacking since I started, and I'm still not a perfect tacker but at least I don’t usually fall anymore. On my last outing, I tried some jibes for the first time and immediately I loved it, more than tacking. I think because the sail has a minimal time without power. Also, I think a jibe is actually easier because you don’t have to step around the mast; you just flip the mast out in front.

Anyhow, windsurfing is totally under-rated. More people should get into it. It’s more challenging and much less noisy then the prolific jet skis. Also, as with surfing, it is close to nature, literally. As a surfer, I've been so close to porpoises, pelicans, turtles, manta rays and yes, sharks. What a thrill!

So, if you’re ever in Gloucester and want to go windsurfing drop James or me a note. When we go there’s usually an extra rig available.

Save the Sharks

2007-09-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

If you’re a fan of oysters and clams but you like to catch and kill sharks, read on. Not only are our beloved bivalves plagued by pollution, disease, and the loss of (oyster reef) habitat, but now there’s the menace of the cownose ray. They suck holes in the underwater grass beds in search of clams, and they pluck oysters off of reefs, which they crack open with their powerful jaws.

This probably wouldn’t be a problem, except that we’ve hurt the marine environment with nutrient pollution which promotes oyster disease, and we've removed most of the protective oyster reefs themselves. We’ve also decimated our shellfish by killing too many sharks, which prey on rays. The end result is that ray populations are now considered by some to be “hyperabundant”.

Cownose Rays

Some have proposed finding a market to deal with the problem. Organizations like The Virginia Marine Products Board say that it tastes like steak and belongs on the menu, served with wine sauce, lemon and capers.

But, this isn't the answer either. Rays reproduce like sharks, slowly, unlike bony fish (striped bass and croaker) that disperse thousands of eggs. Instead, they bear just one to a few pups. So if we harvest rays en masse, they’ll be next on the endangered species list.

But the vehemence of some is fervent. Once, I witnessed a lowlife goon on a local fishing pier who stabbed a hapless ray to death, and then chucked the carcass overboard.

When I asked him, why? he said, “Those pests eat all of the shellfish.”

I replied that humans do much greater damage to the shellfish.

So, what can the responsible angler do? The next time you catch a shark, gently release it. If you absolutely must show it to friends and family, snap a jpeg and set it free, because sharks, especially bulls, tigers and sandbars, and cobia, are the only predators that eat cownose rays. Plus, they're not nearly as beautiful, dead.

Sharks and the other large predators of the deep are an essential part to any hope that we might have of restoring the ecology of the oceans. Another way to look at it is, if you kill a shark, you've wasted perfectly good shellfish that filter Bay water, provide habitat for other critters, keep our watermen in business, and taste great.

Plus, sharks are cool! They’re streamlined marvels of evolution that have been swimming in the oceans since before the dinosaurs. Their scales closely resemble teeth. Their teeth replace themselves. They have a sense of smell that rivals a bloodhound. They sense electrical fields of other fishes, and some are even warm blooded.

Sharks are awesome and killing them is stupid. If you ask me, and yes I once tried it, they don’t even taste good. All fishes osmoregulate (deal with salt), and most sharks do it with urea in their flesh, which we excrete as metabolic waste, you know, pee.

Plus, shark is full of mercury. For this reason the EPA recommends that people, especially pregnant women and those who plan to be, not eat shark. So let them go.

They already have it bad enough. In addition to the slaughter wrought by the uninformed recreational fishermen, longliners catch gazillions of them just to cut off their fins and throw them dying back into the blue, so that some special guys can jazz up the libidos with a bowl of shark fin soup. One word, Viagra.

Worried they’re going to eat you? Chances are slim to none. You’re much more likely to get shot, in a fatal car wreck, or even struck by lightning, even if you swim in the ocean daily.

So, whether you catch a mako on that vacation charter with the guys from the office, or you just happen into a small sandbar while flounder fishing, for gosh sakes, set them free. You have nothing to gain, unless you’re desperately hungry, or a really un-cool evil hater of the oceans.