My first kayak

April 28, 2023 at 11:23 pm · Filed under Sail & kayak


It lacks a cup holder -:)

I ordered my 380x Explorer from Sea Eagle directly, instead from Amazon. My friend told me to take photos when I unfold – it’s useful when you fold it back.

A few specs: it weights 40 lbs, carries 3 persons or 750lb. The measurements are 12’6″ x 3’3″ (31″ x 20″ x 9″ deflated for storage) – Captain Nathaniel Palmer of Stonington, CT, whose sloop Hero that went to Antarctia in 1820 was only 47′ long!

9 months after we purchased it, I could NOT believe that I waited for so long …

I’m pretty satisfied: The inflatable Sea Eagle 380x is very solid, spacious, and easy to maneuver. The seats we purchased (not inflatable) are comfortable. It’s relatively easy to pump and clean. The only speck I’d say, is lacking a cup holder.

 

… I couldn’t believe the launching ceremony 下水典礼 would be 9 months later…

Here are some sites I checked before buying – not so much to get more info but to validate my selection – I like the look of this one, practically didn’t really consider others. What Agassi’s 1989 motto? Image is everything -:)

  1. SI’s top 6
  2. Forbes
  3. NY Mag
  4. Top 10 
  5. top 6 

Here is the Hobie hardshell kayak my friend uses (reportedly, it holds its value – general can sell at the purchase price). They also have the foot pedal that frees up your hand for fishing or drinking -:) or knitting. And it has a cup holder.

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Maple Leafs vs Lightning @ Amalie

April 23, 2023 at 2:47 am · Filed under Ice hockey


The third game of Atlantic Division of NHL playoff at Amalie Arena.

~ 2-2 after 1st period
~ 2-3 after 2nd period
~ 3-3 after 3rd period
~ 4-3 at OT

Last month, Leafs beat Wild soundly at FLA Live arena, and we were rooting for the Canadians. Today we’re all for the home team.

A view of the Garrison Channel.

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Manatees: kayak w/ Capt. Yak

April 16, 2023 at 9:33 pm · Filed under Sail & kayak

Captain Yak
2902 Miriam St S
Gulfport, FL

A nice day out there on the Boca Ciega Bay, which is connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida. We paddled through rough water, calm water, mangroves, osprey and manatees.

According to dolphin research center, manatees are about 4-4.5 feet (1.2-1.4 m) long when they are born and average 60-70 pounds (27-32 kg). Full-grown manatees weigh between 800 to 1,200 pounds (360-545 kg) and reach 10 feet (3.0 m) in length.

… some photos

 

We got to the base at 10 and left at 10:30, have the only bathroom break at 11:30 at Clam Bayou and done by 12:51. It’s $30 pp for 4 hours. We didn’t till 2pm.

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Sarasota Open

April 13, 2023 at 2:47 pm · Filed under Tennis

2023 is the second Sarasota Open, a part of ATP Challengers Tour held at Payne Park, April 9-16, 2023; with $128,000 prize money.

The box office, bathroom – definitely better than porta potty, and the center court: the poles are eyesore. 

The Open itself, goes back to 2008, had been held at various locations:

  • Longboat Key Club 2009-14 
  • Lakewood Ranch 2015-6 
  • United Tennis Center 2008, 2017
  • Laurel Oak Country Club 2018-9 
  • not held in 2020-1

This year, the title sponsor is Elizabeth Moore, a prominent local philanthropist with passion for tennis. The ticket prices increase as the tourney gets deeper, and are groups into a few categories. Re-entry is allowed.

  • $237 Fifth Third Bank Row
  • $159 5/3 Bank Champagne Table
  • $159 VIP Champagne Table
  • $169 Club Reserved
  • $64 Reserved
  • $54 general admission

Because of rain delay from previous day – Wednesday, we watched more matches than we anticipated. Court 5 is their center court, named after Nick Bollettieri (1931-2022). One side is general admission and the other side is the lounge with tables and chairs. Both sides have tent. The poles that support the tent are unsightly, unnecessary evil I guess. Court 7 and 8 are used as well, and we sit right there with the line person – perks of the small and intimate tournaments.

The center court has an announcer or commentator

 

The matches

  1. Zhang Zhizhen (🇨🇳 1996-) def Alex Rybakov (🇺🇸 1997-) delay; to Q
  2. Tristan Boyer (🇺🇸 1997-) def Jack Sock (🇺🇸 1992-) delay;
  3. Enzo Couacaud (🇫🇷 1995-) def Zhang
  4. Daniel Elahi Galán/Galan (1996-) won T Boyer retired
  5. Genaro Alberto Olivieri def Bjorn Fratangelo (🇺🇸 1993-)
  6. Gullermo Duran & Guido Andreozzi def Robert Galloway (🇺🇸 1992-) & Miguel Angel Reyes-Vareia

Zhang Zhizhen def Alex Rybakov 6-4, 7-6, delay match from Wednesday. Zhang advanced to the quarter final

Tristan Boyer  def Jack Sock, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, also a delay match from yesterday.

Enzo Couacaud (🇫🇷 1995-) def Zhang, 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday, April 13

Daniel Elahi Galán/Galan won Tristan Boyer 6-4, 3-0. Galán/Galan is the defending champ. Boyer beat out Jack Sock from previous day’s match and this is his second match of the day.

Genaro Alberto Olivieri def Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 3-6, 6-7. Fratangelo behaved pretty badly at the end, smashing his racket to the ground many times … oh well.

Gullermo Duran & Guido Andreozzi def Robert Galloway & Miguel Angel Reyes-Vareia 7-6, 5-7, 1-6. The last few points Galloway played, played badly and at the conclusion of the match, he throw his racket. A female fan or staff retrieved it from the next court.

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Duckies in the pool

April 11, 2023 at 8:19 pm · Filed under Swim

Lately, a pair of ducks have been making out in our swimming pool.

“Honey, let’s go for a swim in a resort.” ha ha ha

Not sure the chemicals are good for them. They poop a lot on the deck, which is terrible.

After I finished my 30 laps, they’re still there, enjoying their sun bathing time.

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Bid 叫牌 & response

April 4, 2023 at 12:20 pm · Filed under Musing

Bidding starts each hand, and the points (hcp and or long/short suit) determine how you bid, or not.

The basic rule for opening bid in each level, w/ hcp:

  1. NT 16-18; suit: 12-13 (♦️♣️: 3; ♠️♥️ 5 in suit)
  2. NT 21-23; suit: 22 hcp in ♠️♥️♦️♣️ 5 card suit
  3. of a suit: Preemptive; weak (5-9 hcp) 7-card suit
  4. of a suit: Preemptive; weak (6-10 hcp) 8-card suit; NT
  5. NT slam bid asking for kings

Conventions are used in bidding.  

Responses

Responses to partner’s 1NT opening bid: (Responses to a 2NT opening bid are the same, except 2NT 3C is Stayman)

  • Pass: Normal if game is out of reach, unless 2D 2H or 2S is a safer contract.
  • 2C is Stayman, promising some 4+ card major and asking partner to bid her 4-card major (2H or 2S) if she has one, otherwise to bid 2D. You can subsequently shift to a major to show a 5-card suit and invite game.
  • 2D, 2H, or 2S is a sign-off; partner must pass.
  • 2NT is invitational to 3NT; partner will raise if at the high end of her 16-18.
  • 3-of-a-suit is forcing. Partner will raise with 3+ card support, and otherwise bid 3NT.
  • 3NT or 4H or 4S is a sign-off in game.
  • 4C is Gerber, asking for aces. Partner responds 4D with 0 or 4 aces, 4H with 1, 4S with 2, 4NT with 3.
  • 4NT is invitational to 6NT (This is quantitative, not Blackwood.)

Responses to partner’s 1-of-a-suit bid

  • Pass with 0-5 points.
  • 1H → 2H = 6-10 points and support in the suit (8+ cards between you)
  • 1H → 3H = force a game, 13 points and support.
  • 1H →  4H = is a sign-off, indicating a weak hand but with many trumps.
  • 1H →  1S = 6-18 points, and 4+ cards in the suit. Forcing, i.e. don’t let the bidding stop there.
  • 1H →  2C = 10-18 points, and 4+ cards in the suit. Forcing (except by passed hand).
  • 1H → 2S = 19+ points. Forcing to game, and slam is likely.
  • 1H → 1NT =: 6-9 points, no fit in partner’s suit, no other suit that can be bid at one level. Not necessarily balanced.
  • 1H → 2NT = 13-15 points and a balanced hand, and usually no 4+ card major suits.
  • 1H → 3NT = 16-18 points and a balanced hand.

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My first grand slam

April 4, 2023 at 2:36 am · Filed under Bridge ♠️♥️♦️♣️

Played my first grand slam, mostly on my partner’s strength – forgot to take a pic of her hand – unfortunately we didn’t bid for it [大哭]: result of my not wanting to learn the bidding conversions. 
For this hand, my partner opened with 1N; I responded 2H; she jumped to 4H.

~ played my 2nd grand slam 2N  

… my first slams, and the second  

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NY Mets 纽约大都会队

April 2, 2023 at 5:03 pm · Filed under Sports

IMG_5520Citi Field
41 Seaver Way
Flushing, NY 11368

New York Mets baseball is based in Queens, New York, across the #7 subway line from the US Open.

The club was formed in 1962, to replace departing Brooklyn Dodgers (1890-1957; team color blue) who was moving to LA, and Giants (1883-1957; orange) to SF. It competes in National League (pitchers bat) east division.

image

A few milestones for me, and events

The current owner Steven A. Cohen (1956-) was born in Great Neck, NY. A fund manager of Point72 (2014-) was born after his S.A.C. Capital (1992-2016) was fined …

Currently, Mets’ payroll tops (or 2nd) the league @ $323 mil, follows by LA Dodgers @ $321m with 8 WS titles since 1958; and Yankees @ 293m 27 WS titles since 1903.

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LoanDepot Park

April 2, 2023 at 1:07 am · Filed under Musing

501 Marlins Way,
Miami, FL 33125

… more pix n videos on Google Maps

It’s the home of Miami baseball team Marlins. It’s a retractable roof stadium, seating capacity is 37,000. Opened in 2012. A little more history from Reddit, from the letters (Orange Bowl) to not having Cuban culture theme, to blame Broward Country commissioners.

It’s near Little Havana. The parking garages charge $20. Many private homes also offer parking for the games, at the same price – we’ve never taken up on that.

Cup holders: cheap seats don’t have them … gee, Van Wezel doesn’t discriminate -:)

There are these alphabets on the ground – do they mean anything, or just a decor? A, N, O could be Loan but M or W?   … Some fans said it’s a nod to the Orange Bowl, which the current arena is built on.

When I hear pram bowl, I think of tennis -:) once a junky, always a junky.

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The first sailing in FL

March 31, 2023 at 5:30 pm · Filed under Sail & kayak

What do dolphins want: the sound of motor, the companionship of the humans, or simply bathing? We saw plenty of them, jumping around our boat continuously.

Have you entertain the idea to live on a boat? A friend does that on his 44 footer most of the time. Only retrieves to his condo near by during the hurricanes or severe weather.

The community It’s pretty sizable, with four sections: the 200+ slip marina, houses, low rise and a high rise. On top of sectional hoa, everyone pays community’s hoa. There are two swimming pools for the marina, with has bbq grill and tables, all are very clean. boaters on the far end of the marina use bikes to get around. There is a lively restaurant Dockside Social Bar & Grill, with live music.

The design of the boat is really good and considerate. It has a bedroom, two pull out sleeping areas, three open areas and one enclosed space with air conditioning for social. The marina has 220 slips, his was $65,000 in 2018, is cost $160k now, in 2023.

One of the boats at the marina gets the most love: a sleek alloy color cruiser that looks futuristic. In a sea of mostly white boats, it’s sparkling. 码头上最受喜爱的一艘船: 闪闪发光 时尚 充满未来感一艘 cruiser.

The green roof house Legend has it that the husband often came home drunk and couldn’t find their house. So the loving wife painted their roof green that can glow in the dark night. 绿屋顶 传说丈夫经常醉酒后找不到家. 于是, 他慈爱的妻子就把他们的屋顶漆成了在黑夜里会发光的绿色.

One of the mates on board fell off the boat as he was making a phone call. The other mates alert the captain who stopped and went to pick him up. Remarkably, he still has his phone. Falling off any boat is easy …

 

We’ve late lunch at Floridays, sat at our usual table and tried their sun died tomato mussels, which is really good. There are many jumping fish. I didn’t catch any on my camera: too difficult. One fun fact: the two young men were asked to wear their shirts while the young women could go in with bikini tops. The heavily tattooed husband said, “oh, that’s so not fair. Can someone lend me a bra?” His wife said no …ha ha ha  四老四小 2个女娃👙 1个男娃光背. 六块还是八块腹肌+纹身 去吃饭时被告知上身需要点什么 失望 … 为啥? 性别歧视 “能有人借俺个胸围吗?” 他媳妇儿不肯 😂

The parking by the restaurant isn’t easy. Many diners have made reservation. One of the attendant is very talkative and told us that this is his 2nd career. His first was working in his family’s hardware business in Ohio (?) He later came up to the restaurant and took our plates away – helping the waiting staff or what?

Between Hernando De Soto (1957) and Green (an old photo; fishing pier) bridges at Manatee River by Bradenton is the railroad bascule / drawbridge 吊桥 Google map labels it as CSX Train Bridge. The boat owner said it’s used by Tropicana and stays up most of the time. This website captions it  “This riveted through plate girder bascule also includes extremely long approaches. Lengths given are extremely rough estimates.”

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