Monday, June 23, 2008

Launch

High: 68°
Low: 52°
Conditions: Partly cloudy with gusty wind and sea fog
Summer arrived this weekend, and we decided to celebrate by attending a historic boat launch in our equally-historic neighboring town of Belfast. The occasion was the rechristening of three Buzzard Bay 30 sailboats. These boats, originally built as a small fleet of racing sailers in 1902, underwent a massive, 3-year, multi-million dollar overhaul led by nautical historians and boat-builders.

Greg, Ari, and I met up with our friends Candace and Dennis for the event. Candace is a freelance photographer who also runs a fantastic dog walking business called Boneheads (You can visit her website here). She’s also the author of a fabulous blog detailing her victory over Hodgkins Lymphoma called "Hodge Podge." Dennis, her soon-to-be-husband, is a true salty sailor who has crewed on tall ships, including the very beautiful Angelique, where he served as first mate (and where I first met Dennis and Candace while writing a travel article on the windjammer industry). Dennis was one of the wooden boat carpenters who restored the three boats, so this was an exciting day for him.

It was also a great day for the caninaturalist. Even though Dennis and Candace’s dog, Sadie, had to stay home that day, there were plenty of other dogs for the caninaturalist to meet, like this Jack Russell terrier, who was too busy watching the boats to pose for a picture (or maybe he's just a graduate of Stormy's Posing School?)


The beach plums (Prunus maritima var. maritima.) are finally in bloom, and they filled the scene both with their garish color and classic summer scent, which even Ari (who usually prefers the smell of rotting snake carcass) seemed to appreciate:


The real highlight of the day, however, was watching the boats return to the sea after generations away.


Once they were christened, the boats were launched along with their owners and many of the carpenters and builders who have spent the past several years restoring them. A bagpiper added harmonic gravity to the scene:

On Thursday, they'll undergo their first sea-test under full sail. In the meantime, the crews took all three out for a few quick turns around the harbor before docking for the night.



Ari wasn't nearly as excited as we were to hear about the sea-test, but she was plenty thrilled when the humans decided to celebrate the day with ice cream, which meant that she got more than her fair share of ooey-gooey cone.


I don't know if it was the resulting blood sugar from the ice cream, or all the excitement of the day, but the caninaturalist fell asleep the minute we made our way back to the car. In fact, we even had to wake her up to get her up to bed at the end of the night. That, in our opinion, is a sure-fire sign of a great day.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm the first one here this time. When will Ari embark on a sea voyage? Will she encounter pirate huskies? Arrr? Like Maverick! I won't try to write it all in the pirate talk--only Maverick can do that ;)
or Johnny Depp and Keith Richards. Do they have blogs? Does the Dread Pirate Roberts? Does the previous Dread Pirate Roberts? Or the real Dread Pirate Roberts? Not the Dread Pirate Wesley? Ok, back to the movie...

(Can anyone guess the movie?)

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

WOW!

What a khool day fur all!!

And yes, a sleep khanine naturalist is a sign of a full and produkhtive day!!!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

Pippa said...

Ari needs to remember that looking at boats and stuff invariably means a stop for eats and drinks. So not all bad in my dog opinion.

Master took some good tall ship boaty photos last year but I refused to allow them on my blog so they went on mistress's blog instead. I have to put my paw down as you know.

Pippa

Steve, Kat, & Wilbur said...

That's pretty look Ari! I'm just happy you were able to top off your day with ice cream!

Steve

John Theberge said...

Great post and I'm glad you enjoyed the vetch photo. My goal this week is to photograph flowers that most people consider weeds and make them look beautiful.

Kodak the Eskie said...

It sounds like you had a fabulous day! Boats, flowers and ice cream! What a day.

Hugs, Kodak

Unknown said...

What a great boat-watching day! We live right on the New River in Fort Lauderdale, and one of Booker's favorite things to do with his Man-Dad is sit by the river and watch the mega-yachts and trim little sailboats go past! Wait until Christmas, when we watch the boat parade. We have a river taxi and next weekend Booker might get to go for a ride to the coast. Wonder how he will do? How do coondogs do on water?!

Kathie Brown said...

Kathyrn, while I'm burning up out here and the Rincons are on fire you are enjoying a lovey day at the beach! Those sea plums look fabulously cool, and the water shots are all bright and cool shades of blue while my world is dusty green-gray smoke. Lovley post, though. Glad you had fun. Blossom would love to share an ice cream cone with Ari!

Rhea said...

I agree, if the dog is wiped out, sure signs of a busy, fun day! I love the boat launching photos. That just looks so amazing!

I can't believe summer is just arriving for you guys...and that the temps you're experiencing IS summer!! WE're melting here in Texas.

Hey, did your package arrive?

The Army of Four said...

How COOL! Hey... mom says I act like I'm "out to launch" all the time - I didn't know it involved cool boats! Ha ROOOO!
Wait until Dave hears there were bag pipers there; he LOVES bag pipe music!
What a great day it must have been!
Play bows,
Zim
PS: If Ari gets tagged for Breed Tag, she can be ANY breed or breeds she thinks represents who she is! That's cool that you're a Border Collie like Stormy!

Gus, Louie and Callie said...

Wow you got to see some beautiful sailboats. What a lovely way to spend a day..

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus and Louie

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Wow! What a beautiful day and such a momentus occasion.
You are so lucky to live so close to the sea, too.
I do love the mountains, but there is something so wonderful about the salty smell of the sea and the endless ocean vistas...and sail boats. Ahhhh!

Glad to her that Ari enjoyed all the ice cream!

Kess And Her Mama said...

Hi Ari, I came over from Booker's blog. It's a swell boat. What a great outing. Can tell your human is a pofessional writer...Very engaging!

Lorenza said...

sure you had a great day! many interesting things to see!
and ice cream too!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Southbaygirl said...

I think it was looking at all the big boats and ice cream that made you sleepy! Thats alot of activity for one day!

Velcro

Teddy Westlife said...

Ohhh, I think I'm getting seasick. I don't have my sailing paws yet.

Huffle Mawson, Honorary Husky and Explorer Cat

Eve said...

I'm sure it was the sugar!!!
Great time thanks for bringing us along guys! Now I'm off to visit the Boneheads!

umekotyan said...

Good evening Ari.
The construction of the yacht of the boat race is very interesting.
The scene of the design and manufacturing is also important.
It divides with the ship and the progress of and ..insertion water.. ..becoming empty.. champagne of the ship to come. Of course, navigation person's excellence is needless to say.
Pole Star..rely on..star..see..nighttime..navigation.
It starts from knowing the wind and the course at the race.
Wonderful navigation with the provision with thorough.
My mind is a departure together. :)

from loved ume tyan

JB's Big and Small Worlds said...

That looks like a great day with the boat launch. Maybe Ari did get a sugar high and then low from the ice cream?
Beautiful blue eyes, Ari! I know I have said it before but wanted to say it again!
--JB

Dakota said...

Ari, this looked like a great day! You must let us know when you finally sign on as someone's First Mate!

Maverick the Pirate said...

Harrrr Ari
The boat launch looked like so much fun Harrrr
Cap'n Maverick the Pirate

Amici said...

We just finished reading the Downeast Dog news and we believe tht Ari was present in the Belfast Dog Park photo!! We're almost pawsitive that it is Ari!

Let us know if we're on the right track!

Hopefully Ari looks like this after a rump at the new dog park. :)