Wednesday July 5th

Just Fireworks (July 4th evening recap)

I’m sharing! I love sailing!
I love this quote: “Sailors are the type of people who are do-it-yourselfers and they’re proud of it. If the engine fails, they’re going to spend three days working on it,” Tadd said. “A powerboater would take it to a shop to fix it.”
It’s from this article that highlights the differences in personality between sailors and power-boaters. It’s so true.
This is hilarious, too : “In turn, powerboaters think sailors are cheap. Sailors wouldn’t necessarily argue, Tadd said, recalling his experience running a boating store in Lombard, where he could tell a sailor at the front door by the condition of the boat shoes. Holes in them? Sailors. Spanking new? Powerboaters.” - courtesy Wendy Navratil’s “Hey, you–get outta my way! Sailboat vs powerboat: A parting of the waves.”

I went with a group. It was lovely. I didn’t stay for the after-party on the dock, as I needed to get home, but it was really fun. A lot of the group was from the vicinity (Manhattan Beach, Redondo, etc). Quite a few East Coasters, too.

MDR (Marina Del Rey) has a barge with Fireworks. If you’re on a boat, your best bet is to get as close to the barge (but within the limits of the other boats policing the barge) and you’ll be right under the fireworks!

We’re literally under the fireworks! It was beautiful! You could smell the sulphur afterwards, though. There were crowds lining the marina on land. But we had the best view from our sailboats and yachts :)

In sailing culture and on the water, contrary to television, no-one really cares for the powerboats. Someone once yelled “All you needed was a license and a cheque book” at some powerboat. Becoming a good sailor takes time and patience. My friend lives on a boat and is really good for his age, but he has a lot of mileage on the water. Most people who are serious tend to spend a lot of time on the water because they love it, not for water-cooler conversation about “being on a boat”.
You’ll see these guys (mostly guys…it’s a sausage-fest!) and as they’re passing by the boats, one will catch their eyes, and they’ll make a remark about how beautiful the make or model is. It’s very much a craft. I’d like to join a sailing club within the next year to regularly go sailing every other weekend or so.
In terms of powerboats, you often you don’t find powerboaters who have the same kind of consideration (and skill-level) as you do some of the other boaters. And..the powerboaters tend to love speeding. Not great on a night like July 4th, where boats in the marina are bumper to bumper, while drifting, with the motor off…
So…why do you have your motor on again!?

Someone had a drone right up by the fireworks. Sounds like something my friend would do, and he lives in the Marina, too (and owns a drone and Epson Moverio). He’s been known to do some 360 degree video, so I wouldn’t be surprised. I think it may have caught on fire, though XP.

Probably owned by a billionnaire. I only took a photo to find out who the owner was, out of curiosity.
I’ve actually seen quite a few of these in this Marina.
Dennis Washington’s boat (I guess it’s a super-yacht) was on the water the first time I had been sailing in LA. Also, Frank Gehry’s very fanciful boat.

I like it because it takes time to get really good, and it’s perfect if you have an analytical mind, but also requires good intuition.
I did a bit of rowing in school (and my dad also was also a Sea Scout, and my brother has done Dragon-boat racing), so I know a bit, but I’m still learning.
In sailing, you have to constantly be aware of your surroundings, while looking at details. If you’re in a group, you can work as a team, but it’s also great if you are fine with keeping your own company and don’t need to be around people all the time.
It’s also great if you are into astronomy because in navigation, it comes in handy

-Replace every instance of “Coffee” (RegEx)

function coffee(str) {
 
 str = str.replace(/coffee|Coffee|coFFEE/g, 'COFFEE');
 return str;
}

My reviewer was really nice, and very thorough. Really appreciated it. Really impressed thus far by everything.
I’m doing Python next, in the next chapter…due by August 25th.

Written on July 5, 2017