Inaugural Voyage of Yamp Swankee

In preparation for the upcoming Mitchell Regatta, which I am responsible for organizing, I needed to make sure my new (to me) boat Yamp Swankee was ready to go. This vessel has quite a history of voyaging in southern New England, having been part of Marsh and Bay Expeditions fleet. It was fully functional as I bought it, though I chose to refresh some cosmetics, including painting the topsides Sun Yellow, and the woodwork white.

The afternoon was unseasonably warm, with temps in the 80s and plenty of sun. I drove to the nearby Marina Park ramp to launch on the upper end of Point Judith Pond, a familiar ramp. Rigging and launching went fairly smooth, although it was a bit of a challenge to get the boat over to the adjacent dock with the wind being on-shore. I hoisted the main at the dock and attempted to bear away, but just couldn't get speed. I knew I needed the jib, so I hoisted it quickly and beat my way south.

The wind was almost zero in the narrows, but once I was into the open part of the middle pond there was more than enough wind, with gusts to 20 knots. I realized I missed the lowest batten in the main, and the leech fluttered as a result, but it was an excellent sail overall! I struggled a bit to get the boat aligned and onto the trailer, but once it was, cleanup was familiar. I really love this boat and look forward to summer adventures!

Bikes and Dikes 200k

After going through rectal cancer, open heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm, and struggles with undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy, I wanted to see if I could still complete a 200k brevet within the time limit (13.5 hours). It seems I can, even if I'm slower than before (13 hours)! The weather and route were incredible, as was the company since my friends Tyson and Jonesy showed up to ride with me! The route took us through my wife's hometown of New Bedford, MA; including the hurricane dike, which I walked along before, but had never ridden until this event. Overall, just a great experience! I should have taken more pictures, but I was focused on trying to complete it officially, and stuck to taking pictures of the controls.

Ride to Wickford, Point Judith, Galilee, and the William C. O'Neill Path

In preparation for the Bikes and Dikes 200k this upcoming weekend, I took the day off work and got in some miles (62 specifically). This will be my first 200k since 2024 when I dropped out of the Hell's Hollow 200k at mile 90 due to a combination of forgetting my waterproof phone pouch and realizing I wouldn't make the time limit (owing at least in part to my aneurysm meds at the time). Now, my aneurysm has been repaired and I'm on better meds, so while I'm not as fast as I used to be, I'm better off than I was then. This ride had plenty of headwinds that kicked up a little after I left Wickford, as predicted. Of course, they were a nice tailwind on my return up 108 from Galilee. Still, felt good to get some distance in.

The Story of My Nickname

My real name is Brian Clayton. I first got the nickname "Herzog" in 1988. I was in Mrs. O'Leary's 7th grade English class at Joseph H. Gaudet Middle School in Middletown, RI. We were given a sheet of sentences without punctuation as an in-class assignment. One of the sentences was something like "Have you read Saul Bellows new novel Herzog." This should have been changed to "Have you read Saul Bellow's new novel Herzog?" However, I changed it to "Have you read Saul Bellow's new novel, Herzog?" My friend Joe Parham noticed my mistake and burst out laughing. This, of course, drew the attention of the entire class who all had a good laugh at my mistake. For the following week Joe reminded me of the mistake by laughing, pointing, and saying "Herzog!" every time he saw me in the halls. Soon, everyone was calling me Herzog and the nickname stuck.

The original sentence I made the mistake in was not exactly the one shown above. I don't remember exactly what the original was, but I don't think that the novel it mentioned really existed (unlike the novel in the sentence shown). Both Joe and I have read the novel Herzog by Saul Bellow.

For my usernames, I usually chose "herzogone". Herzog is a fairly common surname so it is often taken already as a username. In the early days of my nickname, I was often referred to as "Herzog One" and Joe was "Herzog Two", so it just made sense.

What to Expect

This blog will most likely be mostly solo and family adventures, especially sailing and cycling. I had a blog for my previous boat Salty Beach, but with the sale of her to a new owner, my subsequent acquisition of two smaller vessels Yamp Swankee, a 1960s O'Day Day Sailer, as well as Pennyaire, a 1985 Siren 17, it seems most logical to just do a personal blog covering adventures in both boats, and more.