The Searay 370 Venture. What you don't see is good.

This is one the winners of the National Marine Manufacturers Association 2013 Innovation Awards, and deservedly so. I wasn't one of the judges, but I think I would have come to the same conclusion as did the BWI judges, but maybe for decidedly different reasons.

   

The Bounty Hearings

The tall ship Bounty's sinking was a tragic event around which many questions swirled. Why did the captain take the Bounty into the path of Hurricane Sandy? What was the condition of the vessel? What did the USCG inquiry find out? I have been following Mario Vittone's insightful coverage of the Bounty hearings on gCaptain. This is the link to the gCaptain page  covering  the hearings. Start at "Rotten Frames." This is a very good, and sobering read. This is the link to Mario's website.

Miami boat show 2013 roundup

The numbers aren't in yet for the Miami boat show, but by looking at the crowds on Friday, and the struggle it took to park, I think it is going to be a well attended show. My day was marred by rain especially in the afternoon which stopped me from visiting the "In the Water" venues. As I expected, new marine electronic product introductions have taken a big leap. My favorite was the new Raymarine Dragonfly sonar, a take on the Navico "Structure Scan", but using CHIRP technology with the brand name DownVision. With a price of about $700 I was extremely impressed.

This just fortifies my sense that we have just barely scratched the surface of sonar CHIRP technology. Just imagine this technology looking forward for obstacles, and being able to show you a safe path through shallow waters, or warning "Danger your boat can't go there!" Just musing out loud.

Hushpuppy exposé

In 1957 a wooden ketch was being battered in a gale and started taking on water from a split hull seam. It quickly came about and ran hard due east towards the Florida coastline.  The eastward turn was fortuitous, and the vessel started to run a bit ahead of the storm. A pass was seen, and used, although at that point with several feet of water sloshing in the cabin, a beach would have been acceptable.

The pass was Egmont Key, and the vessel hooked to the south seeking the lee side of Anna Maria Island. The boat was bailed down as much as practical, and the family fled to shore. The storm followed them into the coast, roiled overnight, broke the anchor chain and drove the ketch onto a sandbar. 

In the morning a tug attempts to pull the boat off the bar, but to no avail, A plan is hatched to remove one of the running backstays and use the tug to heel over the full keeled vessel. It starts to shift, and then with a horrific crack, the mainmast splintered, and crashed into the water. In 1957 dollars $9000 dollars of rigging was now floating in the water.

Like the pioneers who built the sod hut where the wagon wheel broke, the demasted vessel became the first Florida home for the small family. After hull repairs, the boat lived at small inexpensive docks on the local barrier islands. A very rare treat in those days was to go out to eat. What was close, and inexpensive, were the local mom and pop seafood restaurants. The hushpuppies were always my favorite menu choice. Remember this is 1957, and from my five year old perspective, all seafood was fried, and vegetables come out of cans. 

I'm not a gourmand, but I do have an affinity for good food, or I as I like to say it, I've finally reached that station in life where I can afford the high end $5.00 a pound hot dogs. But when it comes to hushpuppies, I'm am very particular. There are only two types of hushpuppies, real ones which are now a very endangered species, or the frozen machine extruded ball like versions now so sadly ubiquitous to most seafood restaurants. 

Pictured above are real hushpuppies. Their distinctive shape comes from a batter being rolled off of a large spoon into the oil giving them an irregular shape. I know to most they're not recognizable, and many are going to say, "This guy is some sort of an elitist, where I live hushpuppies are roundish, and I like them. They're gooey inside and seem to have some wet like onion sort of bits in them."

Now, let's take a look under the hood at a real hushpuppy. When you break it open, it's actually fully cooked inside, and fluffy like the inside of a piece of cornbread. It's also speckled with small bits of chef added mojo.

Behold the machine extruded hushpuppies. They are about the same everywhere. In reality, the ingredients are nearly identical to real hushpuppies, but they have to be smaller to actually cook the frozen interior. Since the mojo added to the batter has been frozen, things like onion tend to be mushy. Try freezing an onion, thawing it, slice it, and put it on a salad. It's not good eats.

When you break open the machine extruded cooked product, you can see the interior is a bit mushy inside, and I'm being kind. If you blow up the picture you can see the less than a tasty ring of grease just under the crusty layer.

Here is another example. Eight little balls lost in a big basket. The order came out lukewarm in just a couple of minutes. No doubt a really big batch had been fried up and then left to languish under a heat lamp.

The good news is that it was cooked all the way through. The bad news was no mojo, and it was johnny cake sweet. By no mojo, I mean no onion, pepper, garlic, jalapeno, chilies, celery, chives, scallions, corn, hot sauce or the millions of other things you could add to them. These were just tepid balls of cornmeal and flour fried up, rattling around in a large basket.

Without regard to my personal health, and as a public service for all I have randomly visited about seven or eight of our local seafood establishments. I ordered hush puppies and a beer for lunch. The Beer? Yep Yuengling, you can't properly divine the exquisite taste and textures of this fried food by washing it down with a glass of skim milk.

Only one in the lot actually made their own hushpuppies, and unfortunately, all the rest served me various versions of the frozen oil-bathed balls. This is amazing, the recipe is stupidly simple, and I don't mind if you use a dry mix to make the batter, as long as you add good mojo. So when you go to a seafood restaurant and want to order hushpuppies, ask to see some first. If they look like jawbreakers, large marbles, wonky ball bearings, cojones, or tiny billiard balls, do yourself a favor, and just say, "Sorry, what a shame, I wanted real hushpuppies, not your deep fried  extruded balls, even if you say they are tasty."

For the record, not a single soul said a word to me as I sat there taking pictures, and eviscerating their food. Walt's Seafood restaurant in Sarasota is the only one I have found to date that makes real hushpuppies. I'm not mentioning the ones who serve the ersatz ones. There must be some more, and when I find them I will add them to this now very shortlist. You're not a real seafood restaurant if you don't serve real hushpuppies. 

Pulitzer Prize rejection

From: Pulitzer Prize Journalism Jury

Subject: Your Pulitzer Prize  journalism entries

Dear Mr Bishop,

Only very grudgingly have we accepted your journalism entry, primarily because you paid the entry fees. We want you to know that despite your fervent assertion you have the word "Newsy" in The Marine Installers Rant's nameplate, it does not automatically qualify your publication for inclusion in the journalism category.

That being said, we have several other issues with your submitted boating related "exposés." One of the tenets of good journalism is to be concise. We can only advise you that your writing style can only be described as very windy at the minimum. We couldn't come up with printable adjectives for the maximum.

We also noted the use of many obviously made up medical syndromes such WBS (wet butt syndrome), CS (cyclops syndrome), RPS (random placement syndrome), and many others.  

One of our jurors was in particular upset with your terminology  "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot." Dressing this euphemistic pig up does not make it any less pejorative, and the use of nater nater is never becoming to a professional journalist.

Mr. Bishop, the list is long and includes your use of fictional personages, made up quotes, delusive leads, and poor news story construction. We suggest that if you want to continue in your tenuous journalism career that you might try submitting your material to the Weekly World News. Since Edwin Newman has left, and Bat Boy is going to retire, there may be an opportunity there for you. You might also try the Huffington Post, we understand they pay the same.

With regards,

Pulitzer Prize Journalism Jury

Scene of the crime

I got the call at 11:00am. The boat was a wreck, and the TV was gone. I asked if anything else was missing or damaged. The owner said no. I shuddered. I already knew what had happened. I reached through the window, stuck the red light on the roof and turned on the siren. It was no doubt zombies. The undead were hard at work again.

N. E. Taylor Boatworks

I love working in this boatyard. There are no cute whirring golf carts driven by staff wearing polo shirts with logos. It smells like salt air, fish, and in older times you could add creosote to the odorous mix. My eyes see sparks flying off steel hulls from grinders, new copper being nailed onto wooden hulls, and vessels of all types. It's a mixed use facility. Fish house, seafood market, boatyard, two restaurants, and commercial fishing boat docks. Something is always going on. Reefer trucks are pulling out with frozen fish and bait, fork trucks are delivering pallets of ice to boats, and lots of fish and crab. The company has been in business in the Cortez Florida area since 1921.