Duck and Cover!!!!!

I was reflecting on the past adventures that i have had on my boat in the past year, and i realised that one of my favorite stories was never told, so here we are! It began before my friends began to move apart... Michelle (known as Shell), who is now in the Ukraine, wanted to go on the new boat before she moved, so i found the perfect opportunity. Dad's group of sailing friends invited my family to a get together in Rock Hall Creek. It would be a three day adventure, so i decided that i wouldn't be able to stand my family by myself that long. That's when i invited Michelle along. Michelle has a really big family. She has two brothers, David and James, Three sisters, Kasha, Emily and Ania. She wanted to escape her family as much as i wanted to mine.
Well, we stopped a couple places, and had a great time! i remember when we went swimming and i got her freaked out about the Jelly fish, so we wore long sleeved shirts, long pants, socks and each of us had a glove... We had a blast! When we finally got to Rock hall, we walked around and had some fun in a pool where we splashed some collage kids.... who in return splashed us.... we won! We were hungry after that, so it was dinner time with the sailing people!
i didn't know any of them, so i sat between a man who taught English and Shell. Shell and i split something because we wanted to try what the other person got. the man next to me and i talked for a while, and so did shell. He finally said " i have never had a crab... I'm going to try it today!" so when his crabs came out he said " okay i have NO idea how to do this" well neither did i so the next thing i saw was a mallet coming down upon a poor crab! i hollered " Duck and Cover!" without thinking about it! All of a sudden the poor crab's leg flew across the table and hit the window! all conversation at the table ceased. half the people almost fell to the ground laughing and the other half were asking me how i knew what was going to happen. I had to explain that i had no clue why that came out of my mouth, and we had a great dinner after that!
When we got Shell home, all she could say was how she wished that we had left the boat at the dock... wait, why was the house still moving? we still laugh about that whenever we get to it. I do have some odd friends, but anyone who can hold bread basket up to her face during dinner to keep flying limbs out of her face and eat at the same time, is a very talented person indeed!

the grand debate.... am i a idiot (read "Talking to Engines 101" first, to make any sense outta this!!!)

Hey its emily! u mite of heard of me from jessica's story (Talking to engines 1o1) wow. jess was so smart.
Todayy i felt that i should conquer jessica's blog (:

back to the dingy adventure. i just wanted to point out that it was all jessica's fault that we were stuck in the middle of no where.....which means to me that jess needs some smacking!

thanks em, so much (yes this is Jessica. I showed em the post and she wanted to put her ideas in.) and yes i know that this whole thing is MY fault . none whats so ever yours..... all mine, although you didn't think to check to see if the gas can was actually on the boat..... and yes, section one of that annoying boating quiz is about checking and double checking supplies. oh and tha boat test, has nothing what so ever to do with sailing, for all of those die hard sailors being entertained by this blog!

haha jess. rilly funny...your such a nerd sometimes. rilly u had to bring up the rules on the quiz?
oh yeahh....how was i supposed to kno to check for gas....i didn't get my license did i ?
tehehe. AHEIA! haha thats sounds like a-hee-ya. backkk to jess i guess....

well, you have to take that lllloooonnnngggg test that i finished in three days
, so it stuck with me.... and ya if i was in your shoes at that point i would have been so afraid that you would have tipped Shirley over, so therefore i would have checked everything ;) . and at the very leaast you should see that boat test (can you see how opposed to this i am?) and what does my group of friends (Aheia) have to do with anything? i thought we were debating my stupidity...........................

well hAHA. oh snap. did i push your buttons? and (Aheia) was an random thing. and im gonna lecture you of your stupidity for a loooooooonggggg time. your gonna get used to it (:
but, you kno im just saying nxt time im going sailing with you were gonna get a big tank or can of gas!

Well well, is that how it is, is it?ya, and my family is already lecturing me on my stupidity..... what after dad lost the old anchor off the side of the boat, and i haven't let him forget that one, he won't let me forget this one! Great. hmm is ther gonna be a next time? the first things outta your mouth were " Jess, your an idiot"!!!! lol! just kidding! a tank of gas would make us sink...... wow im getting ready for a centuary worth of comments about this.

oh you have no idea....jess...I remember wen u said" Yup, we have no fuel." and i replied " Jess, your an idiot." haha. wat a good story to tell our grandchildrens (: and yeah these posts will take for centuries until i fell better from being traped in the middle of no where! lucky your dad was there to see us! THANKS MR FRYE!: )

Uhhh em, Dad actually never actually saw us.... he heard us blowing that dog whistle, although he never heard us either... he heard the dogs.... that was hilarious!! i wonder when we will get over this........... knowing you, probably never!!! great. i can hear it now.... "
hey Jess remember that day......." great. i wonder who will let me forget it first... dad or you?

Actuallly, your dad and i will never stop reminding you (: its gonna be a story for our grandchildrens remember? haha well were gonna end this eventually (:
Soo i will make your day! and stop continuing this (:

HAPPY THANKGIVING EVE!!!!!!!!!!!! and to all!

Hear Hear, i agree now lets stop this and i guess i haveta let yo u annoy the heck outta me outside of this... so Hasts la vista sailing people!!!!! happy turkey day!

I see Crabs in the future.....

A while ago, i found out that i adore crab cakes.... of course my favorites come form my favorite island... let's hear it for tangier island! So i was half heartily day dreaming about owning one crab trap just to see if i could catch any fair sized ones... and it looks like someone decided to grant my wish! One of the long days that dad and i have spent on the boat doing a whole lot of small stuff, i got one of those rare five minute breaks, and i went exploring around the dock and the old run down house of the dock master's. The dock master's son used to be in the crabbing business, but he stopped years ago (or something like that). So the tool shed is full of old equipment that will never get used, and is currently rotting away. Well, apparently sometime in the past ten years or so, someone at the dock ran over a crab trap, and threw it into the reeds near the dock. During my five minute break i got a wire brush and started fixing the trap up. All i needed was ten minutes, a piece of string, a couple cable ties and the wire brush to fix the trap. It was actually in manageable shape! Let's just say that dad got involved and feeding my sick humor, biologist's view point, and curiosity, told me to go pull up one of the fish carcasses that are constantly rotting near the pilings of the dock from the fishing boats that use the dock. lovely. I got one of the steak knives, used the boat hook, and sparing the great details i hooked the fish behind the head and the spinal cord and hoisted him up on the dock. This would have gone great except for the fact that someone was having their wife, who NEVER comes to the boat, over, and i thoroughly grossed them out. Next i found out that i couldn't wash the dock off because the dock had been winterized. Great.
Put the huge fish head in the trap and pulled out two small crabs. not bad. Crabbing season has definitely ended, so it's back to doing my homework and singing Christmas carols until i can get anymore fish.... which reminds me.. last time i put my fish trap in the water i got some of the same species of fish that i encountered when i was down in Chinqoteauge. see through, silver streak on the side, and a pug nose. I wonder why they are here.. more mysteries for the fish girl!

Talking to engines 101

It all began when my dad and i wanted to go on a relaxing sailing cruise last weekend. My friends all had church, or had some homework, babysitting, or soccor to do, so i invited my one frined who went out on the last boat. She one year younger than I, so we never see each other, but we have a great time anyway. Well, there wasn't much wind, so we used a little sail and went to our favorite beach. dad stayed on the boat, while i decided to take the Dingy out. i couldn't get the thing to start and niether could dad, at first, so we had to sit at the boat with the moter (shirley) in neutral. After talking with Shirley, and reminding her how beutiful a moter she was, we were finally given the okay to go. Dad suggested to take the gas can, and i thought that he had stowed on the dingy while he was fiddeling with the moter. He didn't. After we went to "shark tooth beach"- a beach that is covered with fossilized shark teeth- My friend, Emily, and I went to the next beach. After we got there we walked up and down the beach seeing if there was anything of interest on the beach. The tide was as high as i have ever seen it, because of all of the rain in the area. it was over some of the docks, not ours but still!

I decided that i would let Emily try her hand at steering the Dingy. I have my license for boating, but she dosn't, although i trained Em to be a Safety patrol, and iv'e known her for a couple years now, so i can trust her. We pushed the dingy off the beach and after squeeling from the icy chill of the fridgid water, we hopped in and i started the motor, as i congradulated Shirley on her looks. Started very quickly, very good, but i should have known that something was up. Shirley never starts when i want her to.

about half a mile or so away from the shoal survivor, and the engine stops. Great. i fiddle with it and manage to go a couple more feet. Emily and i encourqage Shirley as well as we could. No change. I finally think to check the fuel... and no fuel. no fuel can. Crud.

A while ago, dad and i spent the night on the boat fixing a few things. After we were done we went out on the dingy and went fishing outisde of the Jetties. We got stopped by the police. fishing licenses, life preservers, a boating license for me, whistle... ect. no whistle. "we can yell" was the lame excuse my dad gave. So, we got a free whistle with the words "know before you go. Take a boating course." etched on the whistle. ironic that i should need that whistle to call my dad when i knew that i needed fuel before i went. Well, i blew that whistle, by the way, it is a great dog whistle. Dad never heard the whislte- funny i can STILL hear it- but heard the dogs going crazy just offshore, and all of the owners trying to get thier dog to be quiet. i was standing up and waving my arms insanly. my frined almost fell off the dingy she was laughing so hard! i'm going ot get her or that some day!

in the end, i have no dignity now, and this is another story that will go down in the frye family stupidness folder. Great. oh and Sorry to all of those poor pups!

Sailing kids and thier familys.

My Dad was invited to a get together and i came along. Always interesting to hear where people have gone. Only problem is that I'm the only kid! although, i can usually find another young soul. At this get together, another sailing gal commented on the children of sailing family's. She said that the kids were always down to earth and very nice. My reply..... not so nice!

Sailing kids are either really kind, or aren't! Although, adults can't tell form the face which is which. The not so nice put on a good show, but after the parents leave to see someone else's boat....... let's just say that i run along with the parents sometimes! They can be really bratty, or just want to see if they can get you into trouble. It's kind of like a "how stupid are you" contest. Once, i was told that this little boat was a little kid's ( only I'd say 8 or so) and he didn't have his license yet. Dad doesn't mind... will i drive it around? uhhhhh no way! right...... your own boat..... does it say STUPID in bright letters on my forehead? (dad don't answer that!) uhhh huhhh! right, no lets go play with my fish trap instead.

Not all kids are like that though, if i was asked i would say..... only 15 or 20% are that way. Let me tell you... they follow their parent's examples extremely well. even if you have a big boat..... please don't send your kids off with the latest video game for a couple hours, and ignore them when guests come over! it makes the kids become really bored, and want to get into trouble, or someone else into trouble. Most kids are good at finding something to do, and to have some fun even in a tiny island with no TV connection! for instance, on Tangier island i took the kids in a family of about five on a trip around the island and played with cats, went to the homecoming celebration, and went down to the beach real quick. We had a blast and were gone for several hours, only came back for food, flashlights, bathrooms, and to check in. we all had a blast!

on another note, though, the other breed of kids...... i met one family at Rockhall where the parents were out on the back of their boat sipping wine, while the three kids were downstairs watching spongebob ( not my favorite ever! lets go sit and laugh at nothing for a while... yeah right. not happening. give me Mike Rowe on Discovery Channel any day!) and one kid, a baby i think, was screaming for a hour straight! parents never once went down. Okay they went down once, and i heard some colorfull language at the kids because the conference call had been interrupted( what call? no cell service on my phone and there hadn't been a phone out.... hmmmm what do you think watson?) and also because they had a headache. And i didn't? i saw the older brother out of the boat later, and when i offered to let him fish off of my boat (he was watching for a while) he just said " what? and get my hand slimy? i will only do it if you hold the rod, add the bait, and take off the fish. I just want to reel it in." What is the point of fishing anyway? i just don't get it. If you do, feel free to enlighten me!

so you see, the way the parents act is reflected in the kids. To my experience though, the little boys hold out a lot longer ( yea, you can usually find me looking for crabs on a mud flatt with six little boys with me) while the little girls follow their parents really early. Weird, but true in my sight! i just don't get it! Why lie and make your kid's life miserable when you could have fun with them? Would you like a wine, or get a head start on loosing that weight by going for a bike ride or catching fish for an aquarium with the kid? Parents always complain that the kids are unresponsive to them, although they would never guess it's because that the kids know that as soon as they try to tell you how their day went, the parents will take off talking about theirs.

For the most part, kids in sailing families are pretty nice, but only a kid can tell what a kid is behind the parent's back. Not all the complaining that we do is for attention! sometimes it's the truth...wait that's not what i meant to say! anyway, ignoring that comment, i can make friends with most sailing kids, but there are a few that are just.... unresponsive and don't like to have fun! but that's only a small number!

a new boat--- a kid's point of view

When you decide that you have enough money for a brrand new "toy" as my dad put it, what would a dad choose? A new grill, a new flat screen, a new car, or a chair for him. What would a kid choose? a new computer, a new pet, a new bike(ahem dad, you getting all of this?), new aquarim(comon' one more couldn't really hurt, could it? iv'e only got.... uhhhh two or three in my room now!), or a new cell phone. What does my dad choose? A boat. what's my reaction? YES!!!!!!!!

Okay, i should have explained that this is not you adverage family... No backyard grills, no room, we live in a forest with a pond and various things that my dad and i have put together, i only use them when i can get the nieghborhood kids to detach themselves from them. The term the more friends the merrier does deffinetally apply to mom's philosophy. Deffinetally not a hunting family, we don't even watch football! (gasp)No, we can proudly prclaim ( and i tell my friends on a regular basis) "nope, i am not normal"! Although around halloween, this has a new twist. ( we have a couple hundered kids every year, and we have had a family from texas come every year, and let's say that my friends get a kick out of saying " you know that house that goes nuts for halloween? The one with the graveyard in the frount yard, and the eyeballs on the roof? Ya, i know 'em!")

A new sailboat.... just a tad bigger than our Catermaran, The Cherokee Sun. We are getting a PDQ 32. "only slightly bigger," says my dad. Yeah, right. I can stand under the deck now! Well, i could do that before, but only because i'm the shortest one in my class! now i have a HUGE bed, a REAL kitchen with a fridge and a stove, a REAL head,( no more port-a -poty!), and ANOTHER BED for my mom and dad, MOT TO MENTION the dining room and all of the deck space! Right, slightly bigger my butt! i think i'm in heaven, except for one tiny detail.... we can't go to all of those awesome places on our trips that we love to go, the ones that need boats with a draft of about a foot. Well, that's okay i guess, maybe i can talk dad into GETTING THOSE KYACKS THAT I REALLY, REALLY WANT. ( ahem, oh daddy dearest, are you listening?) well, i was glad that we had a inflatable dingy, although i love, love, love kyacks! Now that i have my boating liscense, i can legally operate the dingy, and that is just, AWESOME!

to any other teen, the size and the bed would probably be a selling point, but, like i have preveiously stated, i am not the normal teen,at all. I love my exploring habbits, so that is what my dingy is for, i don't let dad operate it that often, he stinks at it. He really does. Failure! (love you dad!) but anyway, the fact is i love The Shoal Survivor, but i love exploring. The dingy on the boat, The Nana Two, after my grandmother in upstate New York, is my best friend.

Although i say that this boat restricts my family's exploring habbits, i am glad that my mom was able to finally make her first journey around the Delmarva. She was a interesting color of green now and a gain, though. i did manage to take off every night on the dingy, and go places that the Shoal Survivor was unable to go, let alone the catermaran. so, i am extreamly pleased about my new boat. and now, i can fit all of my friends on my boat, without it sinking!

When my dad and i compleated our latest adventure around the Delmarva, both of us agreed that it was wayy easier, i think that we cheated. We were used to getting attacked by fly's , cats , and dolphins ( oh my!) not to mention the storms that we got stuck in, and the problem finding slips in small fishing towns. although, we can still go to tangier...... YES! my absolute favorite stop! best place for crab cakes, and all of the cats are pretty awesome. We do need to add bikes to the boat. Dad wants some collapsable ones. ( donations are welcome! Christmas is getting a lot of publicity this year... kayaks are sure to be on sale!) I do miss the extreame thrill of surviving in the ocean, and my friends were just talking the other day about a girl younger than i compleating a trip around the world, sailing of course! Even with the extreamness gone, i still love sailing, and i am getting more nible on my feet. Amazingly, the cat didn't make running on deck soo difficult. on the PDQ, you have to duck, pick you'r feet up and not fall over! quite the trick!

All in all, the PDQ is a great boat, but there are some things that even a new boat cannot beat. it's weaknesses, in my mind at least, are pretty much covered in the strengths. As long as there is a boat to go on, i will be happy and not complain.... to much anyway!

I Had a Sinking Feeling that this would happen

This is the newspaper article that i wrote for the sailing magzine "Latitudes and Attitudes" I mainly decided that this article would be perfect to aggravate my dad and show my six grade teacher ( whom i still despise to this day) that yes, i could write. This article is still the butt of many of the family jokes about dad's anchoring skills and sailing in general.

I look out across the dark murky water of the Atlantic Ocean- and see only water and sand. We've been sailing for days, and opnly seen one big fishing boat, and that was on the horizon. No one lives on the here. This is my second sailing trip with my dad on our catermaran, the Cherokee Sun, from Deal, Maryland to Cape May, New Jersey. Actually, We're going all of the way areound the Delmarva (Deleware, Maryland, and Virginia), what everyone calls the penninsula on the Atlantic side of the Chessapeak bay.The trip is going to take over two weeks, but we are going to see Mom and my grandparents in Cape May for a few days for a break.

it's almost dinner time; correction, it is dinner time! iv'e been exploring the and playing with hermit crabs all afternoon. There are thousands of them in the shallows around Cedar island. I love catching sea creatures- fish, small crabs, snails, hermit crabs, big crabs- and watching them in my little aquarium that we bring with us. The hermit crabs crawl over the pebbles and each other, and my fingers- i wonder, do they know the difference?if they were as hungery as i am, they would be nibbling. Dad was grumbling about the oyster shells earlier. He couldn't really get a anchor to hold well, but as anchoring spots go, this sandy little cove is perfect.

"Jessica!" My dad calls. I jump in the air. " Dinner." Dad has cooked up some of the fish that we caughtyesterday with rice and vegetables. Iv'e been smelling the cooking for the last hour, and it's been driving me mad... so much for the getting away from Dad, who always likes to talk about sailing. When I say talk about sailing, he talks about the technical parts of it and the historical parts. Of course, i like sailing too, although I talk about experiances... oh well. Bye-bye hermit crabs. It's dinner time!

About three o'clock in the morning, all of a sudden i hear "scratch, scrape, creeck" ... the boat's moving! I seem to fly out of bed and my dad gets ready to move the boat to where we want it. We knew the water was shallow, we just hoped it was deep enough. We knew that the tide would go out, but not this far! Quickly, we start the engine, and move the boatout a few hundred yards. Dad puts down one anchor, and has some trouble getting it to hold on the oyster shells... again. We drift back, and Dad gets another anchor out ofr when the tide changes. He has me hold the flashlight as he connects the and disconnects anchors and ropes from each other. Everything is tangled up. We are both half asleep, and the deck light was knocked out during the last storm that we went through. How fun!

He tosses the second anchor, but something isn't right. It's not attached! My dad and i stare at each other for a long second. We both thought that we watched as he hooked the anchor up... but later we decide that we attached it to it's self. There's no wayt to get the anchor back- the water is over thirty feet, and not to mention a strong current, the lack of light, and the visibility quite unlike that in Mexico!

i will never let him forget this one. This is going down in our family history in the dumb file of stupid things that we have done. It's an interesting file, i will tell you that!

For the rest of the night we won't sleep well; we will have to check all of our anchor all night since the tide is going to switch in a few hours, and the boat will swing in the other direction, probably pulling out our only anchor. It's only hooked on shells. Good thing we finally reach land in the morning, Chincoteague! Maybe we will be able to get another anchor there. My dad is concerned that they won't have a big enough anchor for our catermaran, since only small trailer fishing boats are commen there. " Does anyone have a big anchor for a catermaran? we will pay well!"

Anyway, for now, it's time for bed. Again. I'm sleepy and i'm hitting the sack. Tomorrow i'll call mom and tell her about our "overboard anchor problem" as dad put it. I'll tell her the story over and over and over again.

I hope that we'll see dolphins on the way to Chincoteague.That's a different story to tell my frinds. And the ponies! Dad says that we can take the boat right up to the islands where they graze. Iv'e got my camera and aquarium ready! Let's hope that we can solve our floundering anchor problem!

Now, where did I put that hermit crab shell? i thought it was empty! Oh no, not another one that got away. Looks like this is another boring fishing story about "The one that got away" after all!