The Houston Expedition is fast-approaching.
Chris Harrison and I will row down the Buffalo Bayou on April 18th - a week from today.
I spent the better part of the day trying to get permission from the US Coast Guard to pass through a two-mile section of restricted water known as a "security zone". The Coast Guard was great about listening to my crazy plan, and in the end they did give us approval.
I brought the materials needed to Corki's Embroidery and we should have our shirts by tomorrow.
I also had the pleasure of picking up the vinyl lettering and decals for the gondola. Ray Saporito of Impact Graphics did an awesome job. I wasn't surprised though - he did the vinyl for the Hudson River Expedition last year.
Arranging parking and an overnight security guard to keep hooligans from messing with the boat overnight were also on my menu today. I have no idea whether Houston has hooligans, but one can never be too careful.
I really need to give credit to gondolier Matt Schenk for doing a great design for our striped shirts. As with past shirts, we'll have striped ones with a large white back-patch with the design heat-transferred on.
(photo of shirt to come)
I chose the unique green striped shirts for this because I felt they matched our Boy Scouts of America theme.
The gondola will have "BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA" on the sides of the hull, and "Be Prepared" more towards the stern. The BSA logo will be on the trasto da prua and the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau decal will ride prominently on either side of the hull towards the bow.
One last thing to share - and this is so cool - I spent a fair amount of time talking with Philip Kropf – a past Commodore of the TMCA (Texas Mariners Cruising Assoc. see www.tmca.nu) out of Kemah in the Galveston area.
The TMCA does an annual multi-boat cruise up from Clear Lake to Allen’s Landing.
Philip has been super helpful in advising me on Coast Guard issues, and he’s gotten so excited about what we’re doing that he’s offered to join us on his inflatable as a chase-boat.
The Coast Guard has approved his inflatable and knows him from his annual event.
Philip can assist us by monitoring the VHF radio traffic (much harder to do while rowing), and by taking some on-the-water photos.
In the days to come, look for more information as well as updates on the Houston Expedition.
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