backdating

so. the past few weeks have seen me with few pursuits aside from sailing, teaching, and drinking. could be a worse life. here's a run-down of my average day:

0645: wake up
0730: breakfast on Lady Maryland
0800: head to Sigsbee, coffee, flags
0810: engine check, engine log, warm up
0815: begin routine set-up for day. teaching stations: water quality, plankton, navigation, buoyancy, brackish water demo, marine life, oysters. plus raising sails, trawl/dredge, local attraction "tweeners". muster. coil down dock lines, halyards, downhauls, sheets.
0850: polish brass, take sail gaskets, toss lifejacket duffels to pier.
0930: kids expected. wait or hurry. education staff meet kids for bathrooms, teacher intros. i drink coffee and shoot breeze with captain, polish brass, splice or whip lines, finish setting up microscopes, other misc.
0945: circle up kids on pier, discuss goals, safety, divide kids into day groups, lifejackets
1000: board, begin second safety talk
1010: give sail talk, divide kids into main/jib hauling teams. James and Anthony take dock lines, coil down, take fenders, stow. kids raise sails, heave ho
1020: james teaches salt wedge, brackish water, tween about domino sugar. anthony and I coil down hauling lines
1030: divide into groups. kids rotate 20 minute stations: h20 quality (test pH, salinity, temp, dissolved o2, phosphates/nitrates), plankton (tow for plankton, study under microscope), navigation (this is a chart, this is a buoy, this is a bridge, shallow/deep, big boat/small boat, this is a compass, here's a cookie), and buoyancy (build the boat you think will hold the most weight, we'll sink them off this afternoon).
1200: lunch, set up trawl
1230: Sail of Silence (hush a minute, listen, see what you see, appreciate the bay)
1233: trawl talk, set trawl, don't tell the cops skit (its illegal in the bay, why do you think it is, habitat damage/bycatch/if you kill the baby fish they won't grow up to be big fish or make more, okay we have a permit for educational purposes, we're not breaking the law)
1245: haul in trawl, herd kids away from net, sort out catch. James and Anthony begin runoff model, stress importance of wetlands
1300: divide into oyster, marine life, and chesapeake history stations. let kids hold fish, touch oysters, handle crabs, Ctenophores (if caught)
1400: buoyancy sink-off/strike sails/set dock lines/set fenders, return to dock
1415: tie off, kids off, lifejacket hubbub, group thank-you
1430: remove work shirts, shoes, roll up trousers, coil down and hang halyards, downhauls, dock lines, sheets. furl sails. stow ed materials. plug in shore power, sort out catch--keepers, tossers, eel trap bait. keepers to aquarium, toss yesterday's catch.
1530: end of day muster
1540: deck wash with fire hose, handled scrub brushes. some soaking ensues.
1600: day projects: engine maintenance, painting, line maintenance, wiring, etc.
1700: dinner on Lady Maryland
1745: to the bar for a Natty Boh
2000: to Taney, check email
2200: shower, bed.
0315: garbage trucks begin wailing and making huge banging noises behind Hard Rock Cafe
0400: delivery trucks begin beeping and backing into things behind Barnes and Noble Booksellers
0600: *weekends only* Reveille over PA to wake boy scout overnighters

so there you have it. a minute-by-minute overview of my life. i'm on the water about 80% of the time. i get uncomfortable and wobbly on land. you should see my watch tan.