Evening sail on the Chesapeake Bay (8/22/2015)

We had a great and interesting evening of sailing this past Saturday.  We took our daughter and significant other sailing in the area where the York River enters the lower Chesapeake Bay.  We had a couple of firsts and it was an interesting time.  Sara, our daughter’s girlfriend had never sailed in her life, so that was a first.  The week before there were reports in the newspaper about major algae blooms causing gorgeous bioluminescent events on the river.  The photographs in the newspaper were spectacular.  We had seen the same thing during the meteor shower when my wife and I walked along the York in the evening and aquamarine waves were crashing into the shore that night and we hoped we could replicate something similar for our guests. 

So we decided to make it an evening sail in the hope the algae were still going strong.  We made chicken-humus-spinach-sprout wraps for dinner and armed with some snacks and drinks we set sail at around 5 pm.  The wind was from the north at 10 to 12 knots.

Well, 10 to 12 knots does not sound too much, but coming from the north is fun sailing especially in the southern Bay.  Typically waves are the highest when the wind is from the north and northeast.  With wind from that direction, the waves do not encounter land for a long stretch and are able to build (this is also known as fetch); and even with just 10 knot wind the waves can easily build to 2 feet in height.  Maybe no big deal, but especially when it is dark you cannot see the few extra-large wave that sneak in from time to time; both my wife and Sara were surprised one of them and got thrown around and were slightly hurt and definitively shaken up.

But let’s start with the beginning.  We started out with a somewhat bad omen.  The head sail (jib) went up great, and when it came to raising the main, I had forgotten to connect the halyard to the main.  So I had to get on the cabin to connect the halyard.  A little screw up, no big deal.  Somehow, the main did not want to go up all the way, whatever I tried.  It was stuck, this dummy did not put on his sailing gloves and I am still bothered by a blister on my finger from trying to pull the main up.  Oh well, it might not have looked that pretty, but the boat sailed and I was not going to let it ruin our evening.  I just lowered the boom a bit and it worked.  Next problem, I was not able to pivot the outboard out of the water, oh well again, in hindsight, even with our little sea anchor we still averaged 4.5 knots over the ground that evening.

We were flying, but boy it shows that, now I have all the windows in, I need to pressure wash the boat.  Also the headsail is a little dirty, but there is little I can do about that, I understand.

About hour into our sail, “BANG”, and the boom flies down wind.  The shackle that holds the mainsheet block attached to the boom snapped.  What to do?  Start the motor.  Time to take the vang apart, and use the block and the shackle from the vang.  So while the crew holding on to the boom, I tried to get everything rigged up.  Here comes one of those larger waves and the pin goes overboard.  So let’s try the other end of the vang.  I am able to get that one installed without any additional incidents and we are off sailing again.

After the repair.  The admiral and me with the new block and shackle from the vang.

In the meantime the sky is getting absolutely gorgeous.  We are all clicking away, cell phones, go-pros, Olympus T-3, you name it.  After having dinner it was getting dark and it was time to get the lights up.  We still do not have electricity on out boat, so I bought a set of battery operated navigation lights.  Somehow I had not put them up before we left, so I gave the helm to my wife and crawled up front (without life preserver and two to three foot seas) to put the thing up.  Well, a screw came lose.  Miraculously, I was able to catch it but I needed to crawl back to get a screw driver and fasten it again.  Then crawl back to the front and attach it.  Finally back in the cockpit I checked the GPS for our position and had the shock of my life.  Because of all the time it had taken me to get the navigation lights up on the bow, we had gone too far and actually crossed an area that we usually would avoid at all cost.  The area we crossed has a sand bar with a depth of 4 to 6 feet and our boat draws 4 feet and having no electricity we have no depth finder.  Thanks goodness it was mid-tide, but with two foot seas, we could have hit bottom at the bottom of the waves.  With me up on the bow, trying to attach navigation lights, that would have been very interesting.  Nothing happened, but we learned an important lesson: situational awareness; make sure you know where you are and that you need to have enough wiggle room just in case you need it especially when working on something!

The sun is about to set in the west.

A nice head wind, waiting for darkness and the algae glow.

Shutterbugs.

The rest of the evening went great!  After it got completely dark the light show started.  The sail was absolutely spectacular.  Black seas with aquamarine streaks (the crest of the waves), and an aquamarine wake from the boat sometimes bright enough you could read a newspaper by.  Unbelievable.

The algae that are causing the bloom are Alexandrium monilatum.  The algae is somewhat toxic; not horribly toxic to humans, but this species does appear to be toxic to young fish, young oysters and young crab.  Older ones seem to be able to withstand it.  While the bioluminescence is a sight to behold, it is also an indication of too much pollution in the water.  The algae bloom are caused by the pollutants we generate on land and that runs off in our stormwater, in particular phosphorus and nitrogen in animal waste and fertilizer.  An interesting juxtaposition, my hobby (sailing) and my profession (sttormwater education), all together.

On trainers and teaching, Part IV (8/20/2015)

Most days when I commute to Richmond I listen to Doctor Radio on Satellite Radio SiriusXM Channel 110.   Thursday mornings between 8 and 10 is the Emergency Medicine Show with Drs. Billy Goldberg and Howard Greller.  In his show Dr. Billy lamented about someone complaining about him being a clown on the radio and his shtick and that struck a nerve with me.

Being a public speaker/teacher who travels throughout the state of Virginia people are always surprised to hear that I consider myself an introvert.  When I am in front of a class I make the darnest effort to lose that and I try to fake being as much as an extrovert as I can be.  Yes I move around a lot, that is my way of loosening up; I joke, I tell (to many?) stories and anecdotes; and during breaks I try to interact with the students to see how the class is going.  Yes, I have been told that I am too flippant or cynical at times, but in my eyes that's to make a point.   Trying to be an extrovert is absolutely exhausting to me!  It is so nice to just sit alone in a restaurant later that evening and people watch, not having to interact with anyone.  There are exceptions of course, and that is when I teach with close friends.

So yes, I do understand Dr. Billy, you have to be serious in your job, work is a serious business, but you need an outlet, some levity whether you are an emergency doctor, or an introvert in a job made for extroverts.  You can heal, teach, do your job at your best without taking yourself too serious all the time.  This reminded me of the episode of MASH where Alan Alda came into the O.R. dressed like Groucho Marx. 

How can I be sure I am an introvert?  I’ve knew it all along, but really figured it out when I went to leadership school for the UU church we go to.  We had to do the Myers-Briggs Personality Test and it showed I was an INFP or someone who is an Introvert, who relies on Intuition, who is Feeling and Perceiving.  Reading some of its descriptions even in Wikipedia INFP describes me to a T, including the desire for creativity but also (as most of the people close to me will attest to) my sensitivity to criticism.  Wikipedia shows an interesting list of people who are INFPs.  Wow. 

How does this relate to training?  Well borrowing this from Wikipedia:

• I – Introversion preferred to extraversion: INFPs tend to be quiet and reserved. They generally prefer interacting with a few close friends rather than a wide circle of acquaintances, and they expend energy in social situations (whereas extraverts gain energy).
• N – Intuition preferred to sensing: INFPs tend to be more abstract than concrete. They focus their attention on the big picture rather than the details, and on future possibilities rather than immediate realities.
• F – Feeling preferred to thinking: INFPs tend to value personal considerations above objective criteria. When making decisions, they often give more weight to social implications than to logic.
• P – Perception preferred to judgment: INFPs tend to withhold judgment and delay important decisions, preferring to "keep their options open" should circumstances change.

Combine that with statements like low assertiveness and poor organization, and that is probably how I might be perceived by some of my colleagues.  My office may look like a mess, my brain is a mess, but it is all there.  I brood, and at one point it all come out and it flows out on Power Point, in a blog, all in a concise package that we can call a class, or rambling like this.  Even in planning trips, or shed building projects in the back yard.   My wife has learned to roll with the punches it all comes out ok even without paper plans and assertiveness.  I know it and so does she.  

On Environmental Sustainability (8/11/2015)

On April 1, we premiered a new class that I developed on the use of plants in erosion and sediment control and stormwater management.  When we announced the class it was still in the design stage and I had hoped it would have even more emphasis on native plants than it did; but looking through all the materials on the books, I felt there was such a tremendous need for a more comprehensive approach to the use of plants and planting that it quickly became a much broader class for people reviewing construction plans and inspecting construction sites (and that from someone not formally schooled in landscape architecture or planning).  Honestly, I am still not sure I cover the entire issue, but what can you do in a six hour class?

It is well recognized that with the increased population throughout the U.S., there is a tremendous pressure on the natural (land) resources.  The cartoon below illustrates this very well.  I use it very often in my classes.

This is actually a sad cartoon, but I think this cartoon is applicable wherever you live: Yorktown, Richmond, or even Dallas (TX).  I have this nagging feeling that we are allergic to moving into the inner-city or older homes and renovating them, but that we all want that new home out in the suburbs, away from what we would consider riffraff.  With it of course comes abandoned buildings, increased city blight, urban sprawl, traffic jams, road rage, and environmental degradation, just to name a few negatives.  The great exception I have seen lately is Cincinnati where we visited in April this year.  Boy what a difference 15 years make, people are finally moving back into town and it has become so vibrant.  I am sure there are other examples as well.

A photograph I took in Over the Rhyn in Cincinnati in April.  The area has been revitalized; all kind of small independent shops and even small chains have moved in, and is an amazing place to hang out. When we lived in Cincinnati more than 15 years ago you would not go to this area.

The photo below shows an example of what I mean when I write about the move to the suburbs and urban sprawl.

Built three (3) years ago, the grass had a hard time getting established in this yard, after the soil was abused during the building process.  This yard had 40 to 50 year-old trees and shrubs growing in it.  They were all cleared in favor of grass (they left those three trees against the fence, or did they misjudge the property line when clearing the site?).  We have been walking by this yard for three years wondering what landscaping they were going to add, but you guessed it.  You can see the surrounding yards where the neighbors left some of the trees.  In addition to being an ecological desert, this house has no shade and I am sure their air conditioning bills are much higher than my home which is surrounded by trees.

I am sure this is a well built home; it was was built three years ago in an infill lot in our neighborhood.   Previously it was a wooded lot with mature trees that were at least 45 years old.  The site was completely cleared or as I called it in my classes "nuked," and just seeded with grass.  That's all!  To me this yard has absolutely zero ecological, biological, or environmental value.  It is a biological desert!  Before this one small infill lot was the home to birds, snakes, frogs, salamanders, turtles, insects, raccoons, rabbits, opossums, mice, etc., and now, I don't think even a bird would want to live in that yard.  Let's not talk about aesthetically value as well.  Boy, can I be any blunter?  But it is not only this house, I see it everywhere.

But you still see this everywhere, a forested track gets cut, turned into a subdivision with 5- to 10-acre lots that are all completely turned into lawn with no trees or when there are trees growing on it they are introduced and have very little ecological value for native animals such as birds and other critters.  Moreover, we fertilize and chemically treat the lawns so that they become net exporters of chemicals and pesticides, while in the past the forests that were growing there absorbed all the chemicals and exported oxygen, clean air and life.

We have a choice how we treat the land don't we?  Even when we want to live in the suburbs.  Landscaping can be done responsibly with humans and all the critters in mind.  I am sure that the people in the home of the photograph above did not choose this landscape with the thought of intentionally messing (or f...ing) up nature, but they obviously did not know any better; do no have the resources; cannot be bothered; are taking the easy way out; or in the worst case have no pride (I am sure you can come up with a few more reasons).

Steve Allison writes that we choose the world we create in our landscaping decisions; it is not only an ethical decision, but of course also a financial and often a maintenance decision as well.  But the question remains: why not do the best for the environment?  I understand that from a builder's/developer's perspective that there is a profit motive; we all need to make a living; and yes I am generalizing here, but I would like to see more people who are proud of their work and more concerned about future generations.  Money is not the end all; actually in the end we can not take it with us any way, but we can leave a legacy of a great ecologically sound landscape for future generations.  I know I am generalizing here; however, I also know there are people who are proud of their work.  I have met them and it was fun working for and with them.

In many of the books and reports that I read, I am told that we humans have reached the level where we are changing the world's environment.  We are the only species on the earth that can do this, all others have to adapt to the environment.  So instead of only changing it for the worst, why not try to change it for the better, or at least try not to have any impact at all?  Yes, we need to build and live, but let's do it with nature instead of against nature.

Yorktown (8/3/2015)

We are so lucky where we live.  Last evening we needed to celebrate good health and just life, so after dinner we decided to take the dogs for a walk along the York River in Yorktown and get an ice-cream cone at Ben and Jerry’s.  The walk I can do every day, but $9.54 for two ordinary ice-cream cones is a bit steep, so we do that on special occasions, or when we feel we need to celebrate something.  It is really amazing how everything is getting more expensive and our wages are not keeping up.  But, if you read my previous blog post about my trip back from western Virginia you know I had a MRI and the results came back clean, so it was a special occasion.  It was around sunset and there was a large thunderstorm to the east.

Nothing really deep today (in the far distant past I started these pages as a photo blog), but as I mentioned we are really lucky.  The planners in Yorktown did a pretty decent job in what they did, and with the exception of mid-winter, our little town is pretty crowded.  Sometimes it is so crowded that I am afraid that its success, its parking issues and the lack of diversity in restaurants will be the reason for its eventual demise, but I have not seen it yet, thank goodness; and I hope I never see it.  But yes, I have walked around town, daydreaming about what I would do to make it even more attractive and more for four seasons. 

Anyway here are two more pictures I took last evening.