New fish.

   We had two students graduate from TLS on Friday. Geoff and Chris started in January last year and attended school throughout the summer. They were both in wooden boat building, so they built a single boat between the two of them. The school got out early on Friday to watch the graduation. It was neat. The student's professor gave a short speech, announced the name of the boat (which I didn't hear, oops), read a poem, and talked about the student's quirks. Chris's mom got to smash the champagne bottle over the boat to christen it while a cannon was fired. I took a few pictures, but there was a photographer there that will post the pictures to social media. I'll try to remember to post them to my blog so you can have a better idea of what the ceremony was like. It was pretty special and makes me excited for my graduation.

   I have been wanting to find a nice trail/path to walk on. It is getting colder every day and I still haven't found a trail. It was nice on Wednesday so I decided it was a perfect day to finally find a walking path.

It didn't work.

   I did research online and narrowed it down to The Eastern Trail as being the best option. It is a 65 mile long trail. I couldn't find anywhere online about where to drive to and park to get on the trail. Sooo I had to guess. I found a road on Google Maps that had a dead end right at the Eastern Trail.

   I assumed that that meant the end of that road had a parking lot and a nice entrance to the trail.

Nope.

   I found Emmons Rd, also known as Abandoned Railroad, and kept driving until I got to the end. I should have turned around when the pavement turned to gravel. That wasn't a good sign. But I kept going. The nice wide road turned to gravel and continued to get more and more narrow until only a single car could fit on the road. I even had to cross one of those sketchy bridges that have basically two planks of wood for each tire. I kept going until the road got too narrow to drive on and turned to dirt. The road literally just turned into a walking trail. But it wasn't the Eastern Trail. It was an access trail. But there also wasn't anywhere to park/leave my car. So I couldn't find where that trail leaded... I didn't want to find out where it lead because I was too creeped out, anyway.

   So I gave up. It was going to get dark soon anyway because sunset is SO EARLY now. I think it is going to snow one of these days. Maybe I'll find a trail in the spring?

   The following is a picture of a homework assignment I recently finished. It wasn't a difficult assignment, but I am just showing the image because it helps me draw a picture of how much stuff we learn in a short amount of time. I hadn't learned about propellers, propeller shafts, couplings, or struts ever before this one class period. In the time of a two-hour class, we crammed in enough new information for us to be able to do this assignment. We learned things from what shaft horsepower means, to reduction ratios, to the material properties of Aquamet 17 and 22, to the difference between flexible and rigid engine mountings and how that affects strut and barrel length, to taper ratios of a strut, and the list goes on. It isn't difficult stuff, but just a LOT to learn in two hours. I'm still surprised I am able to keep up with all of it. It is stuff that I won't be allowed to forget, though, because now we will be expected to include these calculations on all of our yacht designs from now on.

   Alright, time for the bad news. Fish are dead. 

   Before I get into that, I want to tell you about this COOL app that I got on my phone. It's called Flixel. You film a 10 second video. The video also captures a single image. So you end up with a photograph. You use your finger on the touchscreen to highlight what parts of the photograph you want to move. Kind of hard to explain, but here is one that I did. I don't know how to upload the video to make it HD like I see it on my phone. Also, I don't think clicking on the video works well. Idk. 

   See how it is a photograph of my (deceased) fish, Yellow? But then I highlighted the flowing water to make that part move. It's pretty cool.

Check this one out. Maybe I'll try to do that with my new fish. 

http://flixel.com/flixel/zyud67ezod1jxdbq2avx/

   Okay... So... After creating that Flixel with Yellow, I started eating lunch. As I was eating, I noticed the filter wasn't running water as quickly as it usually does. Know why? Because it was clogged with three fish, thats why. I didn't realize that while I was filming Yellow, all three other fish were dead! Ugh. 

   Yellow ended up dying that night. But Mrs. Black is still kickin'!

   I went to buy new fish today. I chose to get goldfish because they are much tougher than GloFish. There were, like, 20 different types of goldfish to choose from. And the guy helping me was the same guy who sold me the GloFish two weeks ago. We were laughing together at their short life. He was telling me about the different goldfish and then said that these little guys are actually just used for food for the bigger fish, but they do sell them for 15 cents if people want them. He then proceeded to go Discovery Channel on me and demonstrate the feeding. He scooped up a little goldfish and put it in a different tank and I watched it get eaten alive. The goldfish is circled in red. It doesn't have any fins left in this picture:

   So I decided that I need to save a few of these fish from getting eaten. I rescued three. They're about the same length as my last fish but skinnier. They were swimming/exploring their new home really fast so it was basically impossible to take a picture of them without it being blurry. This is the pathetic result. I gave up trying to take a picture after about 15 minutes. They wouldn't hold still. But here it is. They are circled in black. 

   This picture worked, but only one of the fish are in it. This globe tank magnifies everything so they do look much bigger in the tank than they actually are. This guy is also the largest of the three. 

   It is too soon to know if these are cool fish or not. I don't know if they'll be more visible or if they will hide all the time like the other fish. They are still exploring their tank and haven't settled in yet. Mrs. Black seems to like them okay. She came out to welcome them and was swimming laps around the tank with them.
   I don't have names for them. They don't have different colors so I'm pretty lost. I am going to wait a week or two to see if they live and maybe a name will grow on me. I am open to suggestions. Here's to the fish making it through the night!

And now I need to go to sleep. I didn't have school today because of Veteran's Day, so it will be nice to have a short week of class.

Goodnight.

Halloween and a Field Trip

Okay, first I have to share this photo that someone posted to Facebook. I laugh every time I look at it. Reminds me of Rock.

Now, update #1: My fish. I should have named all of them "Chicken Shit," because they are all afraid of me. Whenever I walk into the room, they go hide behind the decorations in the tank. It looks like I don't have any fish - just an empty tank. They are good at hiding. Mrs. Black, the fish that is supposed to hide under a rock all day, comes out to swim laps more often than the other fish. So Mrs. Black is my favorite fish. She even likes rubbing against my finger when I put it against the tank. So, her new name is "Brave" and the rest are named "Chicken Shit 1, 2, 3, and 4."

Ugh.

Update #2: The Okoboji 40 Sailboat project. It doesn't exist anymore. My professors thought it was too challenging for us, so they dropped the project altogether and gave us an easier assignment. For the record, the first project was NOT too difficult for me. I was excelling at it, so I am disappointed that we had to quit. Maybe I'll work on it again someday on my own. I can't easily describe our new project, but I'll try: We were given a pre-made hull (we had to design our own hull on the original project). In this hull we were given, we have to make a GA (general arrangement) that includes 5 berths (beds), one head (bathroom), a sette for 6 (dining table), and a galley (kitchen). And that is it. No exterior styling, no sail plan, no weights and centers calculations, no nothing. Easy peasy. I'll let you know how it goes.

Moving on: Halloween. Halloween was on a Thursday. I was hesitant to go out on a school night, but I couldn't pass up a costume party. The girls I've met came over and got ready at my apartment. No boys allowed. It was fun. I dressed up as a Phoenix Goddess. Kate and Christina were leopards, and Hazel was Batwoman. There were at least 50 people at the costume party and every single person was in a costume, so it was a lot of fun. We had an air guitar contest, dance contest, and super hero battles. Here are some pictures. The boys in the photos with me are some of my yacht design classmates:

Kate on the left, Christina on the right.

 This is Will as the Wolverine. 

Sherwayne as a Tommy Hilfiger Model. 

Channel 4 News Team (Anchorman movie). Zan on the left, Cam on the right.

And this was the classroom 10 minutes into class the next morning:

   We all had a lot of fun on Thursday night, and no one was very excited to get to class on Friday. I was just as exhausted, but the quote I had to repeat to myself on Friday morning was, "no matter what, get up, dress up, and show up." Everyone did eventually show up by 8:30 because we had a field trip that day! We took a trip to the Maine Yacht Center. It was in Portland, so we all carpooled up there together. When we got there, we didn't have a tour or anything, we were just instructed to go explore the boats. It was awesome. They had a huge warehouse of yachts that they are currently building from scratch or repainting, repairing, refitting, etc.

It is difficult to get a sense of scale for how big these boats were. It was scary climbing into them on these ladders. But once you climbed into a boat, you could pretty easily just hop into the next boat without climbing back down to the ground. 

   This is a one-man sailboat that is being prepared for the sailboat race around the world. It is 60 feet long. Listen to this: Our 40-foot sailboats that the class was designing weighed on average 18-20,000 lbs (which is normal for a cruiser/racer 40-foot sailboat). This sailboat is 60 feet rather than 40 feet and is built using the lightest and fewest materials as possible. It weighs 9,000 lbs. Twenty feet longer than my 0-40 and half the weight. That is a big deal. It will definitely sail a lot faster than the Okoboji 40 would. 

    They have green tape on all of the boats to mark what they intend to do for repairs. Such a simple approach.

    This was the largest yacht - 90 feet. This photo is doing a terrible job at portraying its size.

   I had the moment of "woah, I'm really going to be a yacht designer," when I was looking at these boats. After learning the design process in school these past two months, including designing my own 40-foot sailboat, it meant a lot more to see these boats in person. The Okoboji 40 sailboat that I designed was all on paper. I haven't seen my design any larger than 8.5x11 inches long. Coming to this boatyard and seeing real 40-foot sailboats was an eye-opener. They are a LOT bigger than my tiny little drawings on paper. This was when I stopped and took a minute to breathe and digest the thought that this is what I am going to be. I'm going to be a yacht designer. I'm just now finally grasping that idea, and I couldn't be more happy.



   Yesterday was too nice of a day to stay inside. I went to the dog park and watched the dogs play. It was funny. I didn't take any pictures because I thought that might be weird for the dog owners. After the park I went to the beach and watched everything... dogs, surfers, walkers, birds, waves, everything.

I am really happy here.

My new pets

   I bought 5 fish today! It was a tough decision on what kind of fish to buy. They had a sweet freshwater shark that is very low-maintenance and looks really cool. But the sharks get up to 14 inches long so I would have needed a big tank for it. I only had room for a tank that was small enough to fit on my 12"x12" end table. So I skipped the shark idea. I bought neon fish instead. I tried for quite a while to take a good picture of them, but when they are swimming around they show up blurry in the photos. I finally got a picture of all four of the neon fish in the same frame. I got one of each color: white, yellow, green, and pink. The fifth fish is the bottom feeder who cleans up after the neon fish. She is black and looks like a tiny eel or leech. She is already hiding under that statue in the tank, so I couldn't get a picture of her.
   All five fish are still alive. Their names are:  White, P!nk, Yellow, Green, and Mrs. Black.

   I really like how collaborative all of the five programs are at the school. In the middle of class, if a student asks about a specific part of a boat, our professors will take the entire class right into the shop downstairs to show us parts of the boat to help us understand. This has been helpful for me when it comes to sailboats. The bald guy in the photo below is my Marine Engineering professor, Ken, showing us propeller shafts and how/why they should be offset from the rudder.  

   This is a photo of my professor, Sean, helping me with my homework. It was posted to the Landing School's social media sites: Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. So I'm famous, right?

   I've been practicing my perspective sketching. I enjoy it much more when I am sketching powerboats. Currently I am more interested in designing powerboats after school than sailboats. Maybe it's because powerboats have so much more space and so many more interesting features. They can also have more unique exterior designs whereas sailboats are limited to their shape and size in order to sail correctly. My IndD professor from ISU, David Ringholz, would yell at me if he saw that I didn't correct the white balance on that first sketch. But I'll just hope he never finds it. (Okay, maybe he wouldn't yell at me, but he probably would ask to take my diploma back)

   I had a long, fun weekend with my friends here. But that has made me very tired. I wish I had one more day to rest before going back to class tomorrow. Instead, I'll just go to sleep early. So I am going to cut this blog short tonight. I'll try to have more to talk about next time. Goodnight. 

Birthday Weekend

   I had a great birthday weekend. I got to hang out with Devin... and Mom and Dad.
We had to walk into a CVS store and pass the birthday/greeting card section for Dad and Mom to remember it was my birthday. That was really funny. I hadn't noticed that they forgot to say anything until then, either.
   I picked everyone up from the airport on Friday and showed them around my town. That night Devin and I went out to eat at a brewery. Because I won't see Devin again until after his birthday in November, we decided to celebrate our birthdays on the same weekend. So I made Devin cupcakes.... And yes, Mom, Dad, and I ate most of them haha.
   On Saturday I got to show Mom, Dad, and Devin my school and what I've been working on. That night I got to choose where I wanted to eat for my birthday dinner. Guess what, Grandma? I chose a place that had pizza.

   On Sunday we all drove up to Freeport to shop a little bit, then traveled further north to Brunswick (is that right, Dad?). From Brunswick we took a road out to Lands End and ate at a really good restaurant for lunch. After lunch we made a quick drive through Bath and headed back to Kennebunkport.

   On Monday morning we took a trip to the beach before heading to Portland. I had to drop Mom and Dad off at the airport a couple hours before Devin had to be there. So Devin and I found a park to go to after we said bye to my parents. The park was right on the ocean with a walking path, beach, passenger train, playground, and lots of park benches for us to sit on and people watch. We saw a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in port, too.

   It was hard to say goodbye, but having them visit gave me an extra kick of motivation to keep working hard here. I still love Maine and school and I look forward to what's to come. I wonder where I'll be for my next birthday?

   This is a picture of my view at about 7:30 in the morning. I haven't taken a minute to enjoy the view at that time of day because I'm always in a rush to get to school... or sleeping in on the weekends :) But I'm going to make a point to enjoy my surroundings before everything is snow-covered.
   I am the student ambassador for yacht design. This means that I have lunch with the president of the Landing School and other student ambassadors once a month. During lunch we talk about our concerns and recommendations to improve the school. It has been brought up that the Landing School should have a sailing team. That sounds pretty cool and the President loved the idea. The school would have to purchase a sailboat.... or make one? I don't know how to sail, but I'd still enjoy going to the races! That is something that probably won't get started up until next year, though. A student requested some couches next to the student lounge and couches were there just a few days later. So the president really does seem to listen and take our requests seriously.
   I went to the movie, Rush, last week and also saw Gravity yesterday. Both movies were good. I'm more excited to talk about the theater itself, though. It is called Smitty's Cinema. They have a huge full-menu and bar. I've been to a theater that served food before, but it was a fancier one. Smitty's isn't fancy at all. I love it. You get your movie ticket, grab a menu, and then go sit in the theater. A waitress comes in before the movie starts and takes your order and will bring the food in after the movie starts. Here is what it looks like. These are all kind of like big comfy office chairs. They wheel around. It's just different than what Spirit Lake or Ames has... and I like it.

   I'm finally getting into the fun stuff in yacht design classes. The DESIGN part! The sketching part. My O-40 yacht design brief was approved, so I have moved on to drafting the General Arrangement (GA). The GA is basically blocking out where all of the interior stuff will go like beds, tables, kitchens, etc. It includes a birds-eye view as well as a profile view as if the boat were cut in half. The school doesn't have a scanner and I don't have one in my apartment. So... unfortunately I've resorted to taking pictures of my drawings with my phone. They are pretty poor quality images compared to how much better these look in person. I'll probably put in a recommendation for the school to get a scanner soon. A scanner sounds pretty simple to get compared to buying a sailboat and starting a sailing team, right?

Here is the GA:

   I also had to do an "Outboard Profile" sketch. Which is a sketch that I would show the client to make him/her understand what the boat will look like. I only took a photo of two of the sketches. I chose to pursue the first sketch with the smoother lines over the more jagged lines in the second sketch:

   The last sketch we've been assigned to do is the "Perspective Cockpit" sketch. The swim deck would be folded up to create a wall on the back end so the sailor doesn't fall out into the water. But I left that out to make it easier to see the wheel base. It's an okay sketch for my first try. I see a lot of mistakes that I won't point out haha. I am looking forward to practicing and getting a lot better... but drawing a boat that is such an irregular shape in perspective is tough! All of these sketches are just Round #1. Once we learn more about plumbing, electrical, fuel tanks, sail plans, etc, lots of our stuff will have to be changed and moved around. So there are more sketches and updates to come :) This project will be finished in January, so I am excited to see where the final design ends up!

 Here are some real cockpits. A helm with one wheel vs. two wheels is still a mystery to me, honestly. I'll learn the difference soon enough.

Beneteau Oceanis 45

Dufour 410

J Boat J/122

Jeanneau 41DS