Couldn't Resist

Dec. 31, 2008 - To close out the year in proper fashion, I just ordered one of these - a Brompton folding bicycle.

Read all about it and watch the amazing 10-second folding video at C.M. Wasson Co.'s web site.

A Bicycle Built For Three

Dec. 24, 2008 - Well, yeah, it isn't really a bike. But it was a fun ride for Greg, Georgiena and Sam, who are from Great Britian and were spending their holiday with Greg's aunt in Palm Beach. You can rent this contraption, let's call it a quadri-cycle, at the Palm Beach Bicycle Trail Shop.

The trail shop is my LBS, that's "local bicycle shop" to all you people who are bicycle challenged, and I should have mentioned them well before this since I've now purchased three bicycles from them. I'm in their shop at least once a week futzing with something. They are unfailingly nice and helpful.

Below is the map of the Palm Beach Bicycle Trail from their web site.

The Great Pumpkin

Dec. 21, 2008 - Meet Rip McIntosh. He is a fly fisherman and bird hunter from Palm Beach who often can be found riding his bright orange Serotta in his bright orange outfit on the Palm Beach Bike Trail. "They call me the Great Pumpkin," he said when I stopped him on the trail to ask about his bike. "The outfit is designed so even an old lady in a 1939 DeSoto can see me."

The bike, he said, is old but it still gets him around. At $11,000 to $18,000 for a new, custom fitted model, that's probably a good thing.

What's This?

Dec. 19, 2008 - This is a photo of the bottom of the Palm Beach inlet about 10 feet from shore. It was shot looking straight down at the water from the dock. Click on the photo to bring up a full-sized photo you can capture and use as wallpaper.

If you prefer something a bit more surreal, click on the bottom photo. It is a similar shot enhanced by iPhoto.

No, Not a Swatch

Dec. 17, 2008 - This little yacht, the Silver Cloud out of Georgetown, Gayman Islands, parked behind the Sailfish Club on Palm Beach, is a SWATH, which stands for Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull. The concept comes from semi-submersible offshore rigs that need large, stable working platforms.

The catamaran design yields twice the beam of a similar sized yacht with only 1/6th the area of sea surface to interact with waves. The Silver Cloud measures 134' by 56' and was delivered from the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyards in Lemwerder, Germany, in September.

It comes with all the goodies - two 63-inch plasma TVs, high-speed internet, even a helicopter if you want it - and it has its own home page on the internet.

We'd just like to know who in Palm Beach is playing with this toy and how we can get a ride.

Lady Gloria

Dec. 10, 2008 - I had just arrived at the docks on the Palm Beach inlet when the 6,204 ton Lady Gloria, a general cargo hauler owned by Navmar of Naples, Italy, passed within a stone's throw.

She was built in Poland in 2000 and has sailed under three other names. Here is a page giving her vitals.

Inlet Challenge

Dec. 7, 2008 - Bikes everywhere. Whizzing by. These guys are serious.

A major clot of cyclists round the traffic island at the Palm Beach docks half way through a 100-mile ride starting in Fort Lauderdale to raise money for Kids In Distress, a Broward and south Palm Beach charity that works to prevent child abuse. Unfortunately, they don't have anything about the Inlet Challenge ride on their web site.