The need for speed-It's not rocket science...Oh Wait. It is! Concorde JFK to LHR in 2 Hr 59 min and 59 sec
Winging it today at The Fleet Naval Aviation Arm Museum
The cost of doing business for BA with passenger revenues down and maintenance costs high led to the end of an era for commercial traffic. Still, the pursuit of shattering time and space continues. A predecessor of Concorde, NASA’s X-59
QueSST (short for Quiet SuperSonic Technology), is being built now in the high
desert of Palmdale, California, where many OUTSIDE THE BOX aircraft have been
made and flown in this Lockheed
Martin division known as Skunk Works. These projects are done for the sake of
radical innovation. WHat could be more radical than designing a plane to fly faster than sound without producing – sonic
booms of previous supersonic aircraft.
Going, Going, Gondola Back in 2014 (insert) and 9/29/16 Where
the Earth STILL revolves around The Sea
Venice is a city built on the water, a working, living city, and everybody gets around in boats. NO CARS!
All the traffic is waterborne- All the emergency services--water ambulance , police boats, fireman; garage collection boats, Fidelity armored cash couriers. All the delivery-boats that deliver goods of every sort; and all the postal service delivering packages and letters. What a cool place. Put it on your Bucket list.
You don't just visit Venice, you undergo this Picturesque Floating City. 9/29/16.Then it was off to Rome Sweet Rome, and The Vatican.Not many folks realize it, but you can take the stairs to the top of the dome in St Peter's Basilica., which is exactly what I did.But I digress. Back to Venice:
Getting lost in Venice is the only place worth going to. knowing that you have a finite life creates an urgency to the minutes that you live. Had to go to Venice(once) in the Winter! My sole currency from their language “espresso” was already spent. I used it twice.
In Venice, Italy they don't have streets,
they have canals.Today the water level reached onto the sidewalks-
and I got some canal cred-
So besides the stunning photos I took of the architecture and the canals, I was really amazed at the fact there were - I took a few shots-
Venice Cash-Courier Boat
Garbage Collection
Police Boat plowing through the grand canal
Water Ambulance Behind Me,Taxi in Front.
A Simple Delivery Barge, the most common kind on the canals
Today September 21, 2019 The Have And The Have Yachts
On A RIB (Rigged Inflatable Boat ) doing 41 knots in a 5 knot wake zone with Queen Victoria docked at The Mayflower Pier
Roll Video:
The Time Machine June 2015 The last time I was on RIB, Rigid Inflatable Boat (Ballistic Brand)...Roll Video:
I managed to hitch a ride on Charles and Annie's Ballistic Inflatable (Zodiac) and the 500HP was no match for Mothers Nature and The Land Rover BAR crew. Last July, while we were on The QM2, an Oceanliner, we reached 22 nautical mph, nearly getting blown off the deck, and these guys can throttle it to 50, in the tiny spaces of a 20 meter trampoline. Even though it was a sea trial,the boat's foils are out of the water and things get very fast very quickly. There's very little of the boat in the water. It's about aerodynamics, it's about control systems, hydraulic systems. It's not Brain Surgery, it' Rocket Science---reminds me of Open-Wheel Racing technology and Life in the Fast Lane, at the Indy 500.
Chasing Ben Ainsley's Landrover BAR On The Solent during the sea trials for The Anerica's Cup in Portsmouth
The Time Machine September 2015
The last time I attended The Southampton Boat Show.
How Swede It Is-The smaller the boat the bigger the Captain September 11. 2015
Had some business in Bournemouth today, and on the way back stopped by SO'TON for the UK's Leading Outdoor Boat Show. In the background is The Queen Mary 2, Cunard's flagship. Sailed that last year and it was cool to see her docked alongside all these wonderful yachts.
The best ships are friendships
I always get an amazing feeling when I walk past a ship I have "lived" and worked on with the person I love, my wife Sarah.
If ecstasy is doing something out of your ordinary experience, and nostalgia is the pain of remembering something beautiful-then that sums up cruising---it's an amazing lifestyle!
It's a miracle that I "Get to go" to work on ships-If a miracle is a shift in thinking-then it takes a special kind of shift to count your blessings, ride the wave and enjoy the ride.
The QM2 and the Cunard brand, is no miraculous exception. This is not your typical cruise ship. In fact, The Mary is the last of the great ocean liners- passage ships designed for 12 months of brutal Atlantic sea crossings: NY to SO'TON. Her keel sits higher above the water line, 7 decks instead of 5, which makes it cut water better and makes for a smoother sail.
The Mary Sailing towards The Verrazano Bridge
I Remember these transatlantic crossings- 'the shortest bridge between Europe and America.....and when I went under the Verrazano Bridge, and saw Lady Liberty after 5 days at sea, I felt born again:
After all-The whole object of traveling is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on ones own country as a foreign land.
Took a bit of video and some great photos of not only Oracle's Rig, but also Emirates Team NZ, Softbank Team Japan and The Swedish Team Artemis out in The windy Solent.
Out at historic Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and met up with 2x America's Cup Champion, Skipper Jim Spithill, from Oracle Team USA, going for #3 next Sunday
"English? Why do I have to learn that, I'm never going to live in England" Glad I didn't follow that advice.
MIA to LGW Miami Beach
Norwegian Air-Commercial flight. Wow what a difference from Mil Air
FT BLISS El Paso Texas
Pease,New Hampshire
New Hampshire
Frankfurt Germany
Kuwait
C 17 from Bagram Afghanistan
When the weather's good, there's no better place to be than the British countryside. We go walking around in the forests, rivers and shoreline, creating our own fairy tale and our carefully nurtured sentiment for the simple life.
Being in the countryside is like being in a dream, where you don't quite know who's who but can tell what's what.
The cure for anything is salt-sweat, tears or the sea
There is an anonymity to it all when you connect with nature...“The Dude Abides Principal” says that there is this energetic force that has your best interest at heart that you can tap into it any time you want. Doing nothing in particular, you feel nature somatically, through the senses.
The smell of fermented hay, peat and grass makes me feel more wholesome...Then comes Rain. Somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So even the heavens were celebrating this morning my return to The UK. That liquid sunshine just added to the vividness of the colors to give it a cinematic quality and texture to our day trip.
Courage is found in the most quietest of places. A glance at the white chalky cliffs or the Arudel silage produces a desire to continue...still round the corner, there may wait a new road or secret stream. We Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. Delay is not denial and infinite patience brings immediate results and we receive far more than we sought. Alive and breathing, the landscape watches over us and we are renewed. The good earth laughs in flowers. Yet I can stand anything except a succession of the ordinary days of work and routine.We time millionaires are doing something important when we aren't doing anything. We are recharging, re-creating, renewing.
When we go out in the sun with all the green grass and pasture and sheep grazing and thatched roofs, and swans and everything flowering, I say it all belongs to all of us.
