Christian Allaire's Sailing Life

Anyway, the picture was taken likely in 1993 timeframe aboard CGC Washington (WPB 1331) homeported in Honolulu. I spent four years aboard that ship. I still have the sword from that fish. Hence the term "marlin spike." Rope work, slicing and such is an art that originated in the old days of sail. A spike is an essential tool, even today aboard ship today that has so many applications. Today we use metal spikes, but back in the day the spike was cut off the Marlin. After we sawed the spike off the pictured fish, I spent many hours with 400 grit sandpaper and honing oil sanding it to a smooth finish. Anyway the picture was sent to me by Pat Hood, the big gorilla looking dude on the left. It was a great time in my life and likely the best tour I ever did in the Coast Guard. Things just seemed to get more complicated after my time in Hawaii Coast Guard wise.

So Marlin Spike Seamanship should create an avalanche of comments!

Capt Chris

PS: Don't forget to bookmark or even better, subscribe to Christa's New Website. Pretty soon I will stop posting to sailblogs. Thanks!
http://sailingvesselchrista.blogspot.com/

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Vessel Name:	Christa
Vessel Make/Model:	1975 Westsail 32
Hailing Port:	San Francisco
Crew:	Christian Allaire
About:	Single Handed Sailor
Extra:	I left Newport Rhode Island in September of 2007 aboard Christa, my Westsail32 bound for the worlds oceans. I spent the months of Sep-Dec 2007 sailing down the US east coast. In December of 2007 I made the jump to the Bahamas. February 2008 found me in Luperon Dominican Republic. After [...] spending an exciting hurricane season on the hook in Salinas Puerto Rico I sailed east to the Virgin Islands. After a quick stint as a Charter Boat Captain in St John I continued down island. I spent 2009 throughout the Leewards and Windwards. I hauled Christa out in Grenada for 2009 hurricane season and headed back stateside for 3 months. I rolled back to Grenada and re-launched Christa. At this point I had made the decision to sail back to Florida and truck Christa back to California, so I could take advantage of the Post 911 GI Bill. I will start College at Dominican University of California in San Francisco in August of 2010. So I had two months of some of the best sailing ever back to Florida. In November I crossed the Caribbean Sea to St Thomas. From St Thomas I made a stop in Dominican Republic and then continued through the Bahamas. I am now moored in my winter spot in Naples Florida, where I have picked up some work. Thanks for coming along! More

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Who: Christian Allaire

Port: San Francisco

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