Search
320 results for “eyeinhand”
-
Stone Horse – Days 2 & 3
Most people think the captain is always the in charge. But there is a brief window every day, ordained by a certain alignment of celestial bodies, when a lowly deckhand is lifted to the pinnacle of importance and completely supersedes the captain’s authority. This occurs when the sun is in ascension, perpendicular to the zenith, in contact with the horizon. At this precise moment a portal opens. Like a Druid at the solstice in Stonehenge, Buddha beneath the Bodhi Tree, Newton struck by the apple, a muezzin singing the sun to prayer from the top of a minaret, the lowly peon is transformed, becomes a priest in service of a god. He becomes “The Barista”. Voices are hushed, movements slow and subdued, until the sacrament, is complete. The magical elixir is handed up to each member of the crew for their ablutions. At which point normal order resumes, and he who moments ago held the very mysteries of the universe in his hands, is once again a shambling swabbie, sent forward to haul up the anchor from the mud. Such is the importance of hot coffee on a cold and misty November morning. Mug of joe in hand, we motor out into sunrise on a mirror of polished brass. Dazzled by the light, we drift out of the winding channel until the keel brushes bottom and we ease her back. We round Stingray Point and head north across the mouth of the Rappahannock River toward Windmill Point. Birds perch on the poles of fish traps like crucifixes. The sun boils the mist and lifts it overhead, a breeze riffles the water now and then. […] -
Back in November I helped a friend move his new old from North Carolina to Maryland. I met him in Hampton to relieve his first crew. They had come through the Dismal Swamp with many adventures, but had to jump ship to meet a tight schedule. Mutual friends got in touch, and with the help of my gracious partner T was able to work out logistics on short notice. Was a fun trip on a fine boat. This leg was from Hampton Roads to Deltaville.
-
Stone Horse – Day 1
Jonathan (middle) with his tired but happy crew. Back in mid-November, I was having coffee in pajamas when I got a message from a fellow sailor and boat builder, Jim. Would I be interested in dropping whatever I was doing to go sailing for a couple of days? Short notice, long story? Apparently, Jim knows me well. I have learned the hard way, however, to ask for a few details before jumping on YES with both feet. His son Jonathan bought an old Stone Horse down in North Carolina. He is bringing it home to Maryland, and is suddenly short on crew. I know Jonathan from the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival. He has a good Youtube channel and an active Instagram account. I'm familiar with the venerable Stone Horse. My friend Michael Bogoger, aka Doryman, had one that his sister Elaine now owns, and both love it. A nice gallery of photos from Michael are here: Belle Starr Seems unlikely, but I mention it to Terri, how it would be fun but not sure how to work it out. Just so happens, says T, she will be in DC in a couple of days and can pick me up at journey's end. Would be willing to drive me down, too. Enough details fall into place that thirty-six hours later I am in Hampton Roads, walking the docks with my duffle, looking for a ship. Loon at anchor in Hampton River T graciously got up before daylight to drive me the three hours to the coast. Just after sunrise we find Jonathan and his departing crew unloading gear on the docks from a dinghy, with the Stone Horse Loon anchored out in the Hampton River. They look weary, but happy. Turns out, they had been up even before we were that day. The original plan was to crew with Jonathan the whole way. They left their car in Maryland for the drive back to NC. Weather and mechanical issues delayed things, enough they now had to jump ship here, midway, to get back to NC for other commitments. But their car was still in Maryland, 175 miles away. The past 24 hours were spent renting a car, then driving to Maryland and back to shuttle their own car to Hampton, into which they were now transferring all their gear for the drive to NC and a formal ball that night. Seems like the land-based part of any boat trip is always the most complicated. T waved before heading off for breakfast as Jonathan and I rowed out to Loon. We raised anchor and motored out into Hampton Roads, and Jonathan caught me up on the current plan. The Stone Horse is a solid seagoing cutter rigged sloop, set up well for single-handing. But being new to the boat and her foibles, he knew it was unwise to try and finish the trip alone. Too many things can go wrong. Already the main halyard jammed leaving NC, then the prop on the outboard had to be replaced. Then there's the weather. Hence the delays so far. Without an extra set of hands to manage the boat while you deal with them, small problems quickly become big problems. There's a big weather front coming, too, so we have to go 100 miles in two days and reach port before the bad weather reaches us. Assuming nothing else goes wrong, we'll have good weather until then, but we have two long days ahead. We exit Hampton Roads with the USS Kearsarge as it leaves the Norfolk base for Denmark. An ambitious assault ship, it looks huge; but an aircraft carrier is half again bigger. We raise sail in the Chesapeake Bay as the Kearsarge transits the Bridge Tunnel and disappears over the horizon. […] -
Without photos and video, it would be hard to remember how peaceful this day was last spring.
#sailing #photography #lowcountry
https://eyeinhand.com/2026/01/19/sea-islands-300-22-the-first-key/
-
Without photos and video, it would be hard to remember how peaceful this day was last spring.
#sailing #photography #lowcountry
https://eyeinhand.com/2026/01/19/sea-islands-300-22-the-first-key/
-
Without photos and video, it would be hard to remember how peaceful this day was last spring.
#sailing #photography #lowcountry
https://eyeinhand.com/2026/01/19/sea-islands-300-22-the-first-key/
-
Without photos and video, it would be hard to remember how peaceful this day was last spring.
#sailing #photography #lowcountry
https://eyeinhand.com/2026/01/19/sea-islands-300-22-the-first-key/
-
Without photos and video, it would be hard to remember how peaceful this day was last spring.
#sailing #photography #lowcountry
https://eyeinhand.com/2026/01/19/sea-islands-300-22-the-first-key/
-
Sea Islands 300 : 07-A Ship of Comedians
https://youtu.be/SDW-jV2dOdE?si=G5gVw-d2gJcN9Njp
Video of the concert on the docks.
Links to Chapters in the Series
It’s almost full dark when I get back to the marina. From the shore I can see Doug has a boom light in the cockpit, playing guitar.
We are tied up by the dinghy dock, where people come and go in zodiacs to their big yachts out in the mooring field. Some boats are too big for the docks. Many stop to ask questions and marvel that we travel so far in a boat so small.
[…]
https://eyeinhand.com/2025/07/30/sea-islands-300-07-a-ship-of-comedians/
-
Pretty little boats, all in a row.
A blog post with many photos.
.
https://eyeinhand.com/2023/06/05/serene-sailing-on-saturday/#photography
#chesapeake
#ChesapeakeBay
#WoodenBoat
#Tidewater -
Sunrise, Sailing Sharpie Skiff
St. Michaels, MarylandAt traditional Chesapeake crabbing skiff called a "Stickup". Two masts and sails, the smallest mounts in the bow and tilts forward, opposite any other rig.
Example of one sailing:
https://eyeinhand.com/2017/10/07/chesapeake-stickup-crabbing-skiff/#SilentSunday
#ChesapeakeBay
#Tidewater
#Photography
#WoodenBoat -
Axe Handle Slab Table ~ Mortises, Tenons, and Butterfly Keys
Cut the copper butterfly keys and polished them up. I decided to leave the engraving. This slab of solid copper was the embossing plate for the cover of a little book we published years ago. I like seeing the remnants of the etching. The book was a collection of works by loca
https://eyeinhand.com/2023/04/02/axe-handle-slab-table-mortises-tenons-and-butterfly-keys/
#Art #Marginalia #axehandletable #consoletable #slabtable -
Waterspout Rainbow : Winter Harbor 2022
By morning, the wind has swung around 180 degrees out of the north, and blowing hard. Within hours it goes from almost still to gusting over 40mph. Wind driven tides rush in through the northern inlet and pile up against the now close southern end, submerging the dock again.Breaking waves roll down the Bay, a
https://eyeinhand.com/2022/12/27/waterspout-rainbow-winter-harbor-2022/
#Images #Marginalia #Water #ChesapeakeBay #WinterHarbor -
Full Moon with Eclipse : Winter Harbor 2022
The slick ca'm carries through sunset, moonrise, and late into the evening. Perfect for a bonfire on the beach to welcome the lunar eclipse.The boardwalk over the marsh points almost due west like a compass rose. From the end, there's a broad view over the marsh in every dire
https://eyeinhand.com/2022/12/18/full-moon-with-eclipse-winter-harbor-2022/
#Art #Images #Marginalia #Water #ChesapeakeBay #Eclipse #FullMoon #Tidewater #WinterHarbor
-
Slick C’am : Winter Harbor 2022
In the dialect of a Tidewater waterman, a "slick c'am" is a slick calm, when the air and water are so still the Bay lays slick as glass. It's a strange effect on a body of water so large that you can't see across it. The whole world feels close and quiet.Late fall is the transition season, when winter works up courage and summer grow
https://eyeinhand.com/2022/12/17/slick-cam-winter-harbor-2022/
-
The Water is Wide
We saw where the sand ended up; we want to see where it came from – the North end.The dock is wet and slippery. Tonight is a the fullest of Full Moons, the night of an eclipse, so tides are especially high. Water lapped the bottoms of the kayaks on top of the pier where I tied them down to pylons. By early afternoon,
https://eyeinhand.com/2022/12/16/the-water-is-wide/
#History #Images #Marginalia #Water #ChesapeakeBay #kayak #skin-on-frame #skinonframe #WinterHarbor
-
An Inlet is a Beach : Winter Harbor 2022
Gear and groceries stowed, we headed south to see what weather hath wrought in our absence. It's a short paddle to follow the old channel around to the inlet, or at least what used to be the inlet.Amazing to think that within my lifetime, steamers could enter through this in
https://eyeinhand.com/2022/12/03/an-inlet-is-a-beach-winter-harbor-2022/
#Images #Marginalia #Water #ChesapeakeBay #kayak #skin-on-frame #skinonframe #WinterHarbor -
Three hundred year old home and studio of an artist friend. She lives alone in the woods, and makes no distinction between living space and painting space. She lives with her painting.
-
Corn Stubble,
Orange County, Virginia -
Beaverdam Creek, Four Views
West > East > South > North
Yorktown Battlefield National Park -
Went down to the river to look at the sky.
Comet over the water and the mountains.
Train went by, bouncing the bridge.
Thunderous rumble and horns.
Then quiet again. -
Deep in the woods,
a different measure of time. -
Off an alley beside the old courthouse in Staunton, Virginia.
Around the corner is a tiny used bookstore where you can browse the shelves with books of local artists and historians. Selections made, you ring a bell and the owner comes downstairs, sleepy from a nap, and makes change from an antique coin belt dispenser, like a carnival barker, except he's well read and compliments your taste in books, because he personally chose all these books himself.
-
Dead Downwind
Big Annemessex Marine Sanctuary
MarylandSleigh ride on the crest of a cold front, in a friend's Caledonia Yawl.
-
Old barn at what was a rural steamboat landing on the Chesapeake Bay. Farmers and fisherfolk and artisans would store their wares here until the steamboats picked up along with passengers on the way to Baltimore or Norfolk.
-
Ghosting
A Caledonia Yawl sailing in light air on a foggy morning.
-
Morning Launch
-
Coquina
A Herreshoff design built by a friend. A fast and handy boat, beautifully done.
#WoodenBoat
#Tidewater
#ChesapeakeBay
#Handmade
#Photography
#RuralSouth
