Celebrities

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by seafox

I'd swear that I saw Billy Connolly and his NZ wife walking down our marina pier last year. He was here for a visit at the time.

Yeah, his wife Pamela Stevenson bought a whopping big yacht - 115 feet? and sailed it through the pacific following the path of Robert Louis Stevenson where he wrote Treasure Island. The book is a scream for some of the totally landlubber ways of doing things. Yacth was fully crewed, of course. Airconditioned etc.

Amazon website details Includes photo of big, expensive 'yacht'

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Yeah, his wife Pamela Stevenson bought a whopping big yacht - 115 feet? and sailed it through the pacific following the path of Robert Louis Stevenson where he wrote Treasure Island. . . .

This is not quite accurate, Mark, insofar as it describes Pamela Stephenson's travels that led to her writing Treasure Islands. Her inspiration for the journey was actually Fanny Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson's wife.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island in the summer of 1881 (long before he'd ever sailed into the Pacific), composing the first 15 chapters at Braemar in the Scottish Highlands. He completed the remainder of the novel at Davos, Switzerland in the fall of 1881. It was published serially (one chapter per week) in the magazine Young Folks from October 1881 to January 1882, and was subsequently published as a novel in 1883.

He was inspired to write Treasure Island when he came upon his stepson Lloyd busily painting a map of an island he had drawn. Once he began writing, then reading aloud what he had written to the other family members present, the effort took on a bit of a "creation by committee" air, though Robert was very much the author of the novel.

Robert Louis Stevenson sailed from San Francisco into the Pacific for the first time in June of 1888, bound for Hawai'i. His wife Fanny and her children from a previous marriage were also aboard for the voyage. They cruised aboard Casco for nearly three years, visiting many of the principle island groups of the central and eastern Pacific.

The Stevensons purchased a property of about 400 acres on Upolu, one of the Samoan islands, in 1890. Never a healthy child, nor man, Stevenson died there on December 3, 1894. A cerebral hemorrhage is believed to have been the cause of his death.

He is buried atop Mt. Vaea on that island, on a spot overlooking the sea. A tablet placed there is engraved with his Requiem, composed by Stevenson fourteen years earlier when he came close to death.

Requiem

Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894)

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I lay me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

TaoJones

[seafox]

I just wish I had invited Billy aboard Seafox for a beer. I would have got him to sign my sail or something.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Home is the sailor, home from the sea,

TaoJones

Thanks Tao, thats beautiful! And thanks for the history leson... I do get more interested in history as I get older. The world as a whole gets more interesting

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

This is not quite accurate, Mark, insofar as it describes Pamela Stephenson's travels that led to her writing Treasure Islands. Her inspiration for the journey was actually Fanny Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson's wife.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island in the summer of 1881 (long before he'd ever sailed into the Pacific), composing the first 15 chapters at Braemar in the Scottish Highlands. He completed the remainder of the novel at Davos, Switzerland in the fall of 1881. It was published serially (one chapter per week) in the magazine Young Folks from October 1881 to January 1882, and was subsequently published as a novel in 1883.

He was inspired to write Treasure Island when he came upon his stepson Lloyd busily painting a map of an island he had drawn. Once he began writing, then reading aloud what he had written to the other family members present, the effort took on a bit of a "creation by committee" air, though Robert was very much the author of the novel.

Robert Louis Stevenson sailed from San Francisco into the Pacific for the first time in June of 1888, bound for Hawai'i. His wife Fanny and her children from a previous marriage were also aboard for the voyage. They cruised aboard Casco for nearly three years, visiting many of the principle island groups of the central and eastern Pacific.

The Stevensons purchased a property of about 400 acres on Upolu, one of the Samoan islands, in 1890. Never a healthy child, nor man, Stevenson died there on December 3, 1894. A cerebral hemorrhage is believed to have been the cause of his death.

He is buried atop Mt. Vaea on that island, on a spot overlooking the sea. A tablet placed there is engraved with his Requiem, composed by Stevenson fourteen years earlier when he came close to death.

Requiem

Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850-1894)

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I lay me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

TaoJones

How many of you have walked to the top of the mountain in Western Samoa to see Robert Louis Stevenson's tomb? If you haven't and you get to Western Samoa....it is a must.

At the bottom of the path there's a sign (or used to be a sign) that said, "45 minute walk to Robert Louis Stevenson's tomb". It took us about twice that, slipping in the mud & muck but it was well worth it. The view from up there was unreal and there is a natural pool about half way up that you can cool down in.

From his tomb, you can view the horizon 360* and that was the first time that I knew for sure that the world is round. To actually see an unubstructed view of the ocean for 360* is quite awe inspiring.

[Celestialsailor]

I'd like to say I fixed Farrah's Faucet but that is just a joke. Once upon a time when I was a starving liveaboard in Half Moon Bay, Ca. Neil Young had his Schooner "Ragland" there. Saw him a few times. Weird Dude. Always in full black leathers and never took the boat out himself. Just roared around the anchorage in an inflatable. Bored I guess.

[Arabella]

Speaking of Robert Louis Stevenson, this is my favorite of his, and appropriate for the season.


Christmas at Sea

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'-wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.

They heard the suff a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard.
So's we saw the cliff and houses and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every longshore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessèd Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china plates that stand upon the shelves.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessèd Christmas Day.

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate, Jackson, cried.
. . . ."It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood;
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.

[spencer53]

Heard that Eric Clapton had his powerboat in the yard at Ventura Harbor, Ca. Complete with onboard sound studio. Never saw it myself. I understand that the captain was not much for conversation. Wish I would have at least seen it though. Better yet, maybe play guitar with Eric for a minute or two.

[Strygaldwir]

I meet Jerry Stackhouse. He wasn't cruising, his boat was next to mine in the marina in New Bern, North Carolina.

[lannen]

I was easing along the ICW, just south of Clearwater Fl a couple of years ago. Hulk Hogan came plowing by in a rather long cigarette looking boat. It was very loud. It had a 35mm filmstrip painting along the freeboard from bow to stern, with each frame a different picture of a scene from a movie or event of his.

I only had to wait for a half hour for the tide to come up enough to get me off of the sandbar I was pushed up onto with the wake. The channel is very narrow just south of John's Pass.

After that Judge Judy came by holding a fuzzy little ankle biter dog... Presumably it was her husband driving the pontoon boat. They returned a friendly wave.

I try to stay outta the ICW as much as possible now...

[GordMay]

Morgan Freeman is in "good spirits" after being injured in a serious single-car accident near his Mississippi home.
* he has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage.
Plan!t Now: Advocate for the power of preparedness!

[scotty]

mine is several baseball players, all one time oriole players one now plays for new york, and another who pawned viagra
also a few ravens players

its easy when you are an electrician, they all need work. but i dont even mention what they do for a living and they normally will talk your ear off about other stuff

[BlueLagoon]

I was hugged once by Burt Reynolds, not on a boat but near the water.

[Chantyabc]

I met Luther Campbell, he invited me on his boat...It was very Kewl



Chanty

[Den]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

Oh yeah... and Jeter used to live in my building on 86th st.

My wife and I don't usually care much about celebrities but both agreed that when Micheal Jeter died, it was a true loss of talent. He never did any "big" roles but was always very good at what he did.