The gam

Eau Gallie, FL

NoLL

gam: noun, An exchange of visits at sea by the crews of two or more whaleships. The Gamming Chair was used to transport visitors from one ship to another.

The 2009 Downeast Gam, Islesboro Maine

Well, we had a lot of fun yesterday at the gam. That shouldn't be surprising since the SSCA gam is designed by cruisers to be interesting for cruisers.

The day started off with a bang. Beth Leonard, author and circumnavigator, gave an absolutely captivating talk about South Georgia Island. Her stories and pictures were wonderful, especially the pictures of the great wildlife there. If you are interested, Beth has several books.

After that I chose the technical path, going to one seminar on DSC (Digital Selective Calling) radio technology, and another on AIS (Automatic Identification System) technology.

Libby went to a seminar about crusing in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. She said the main message was, lots of fog, damp and wet. I'm sure that's a matter of luck. Some years will be a lot colder and damper than others. Next, she went to a seminar on how men and women can get along on a boat. She didn't like that one very much. She said that the speaker mostly complained about men.

Attendance seemed to be good. It looked like about 250 people at the Beth Leonard talk. However, the number of vendors attending, and the commercial offerings, raffles, and token gifts were much scaled back compared to the 2007 gam. We shouldn't be surprised; there is a severe recession in progress after all.

Missed an Atlas rocket launch last night. It was supposed to go sometime between 1AM and 3AM. I didn't have the will power to get up and sit outside those hours. However, next Monday we hope to see a Space Shuttle launch.