My View of Life on the Dock
Did you know that the schooner shown here in the Charles Movalli painting is none other than Gloucester’s Al Bezanson’s Green Dragon?
Saturday, April 1st, at 2pm author and art historian Judith Curtis is giving an illustrated lecture to accompany the “Charles Movalli: Cape Ann and Beyond” exhibit currently at the Cape Ann Museum. To reserve seating and read more about the event go to the museum’s website here.
Thank you to Al Bezanson, GMG FOB and former Schooner Green Dragon Captain (former as his son Andy now has the helm), for sharing the following article.
Known as “Mr. Trash Wheel,” this floating device sucks up plastic from polluted waters.
National Geographic
By Jackie Snow
February 17, 2017
Baltimore’s harbor is cleaner than it has been in decades thanks to two anthropomorphic trash wheels pulling debris from its waters.
Mr. Trash Wheel and Professor Trash Wheel, the latter of which was installed in December, are solar- and hydro-powered trash interceptors based in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, clearing debris before it enters the Chesapeake Bay. Over a million pounds of trash has been pulled out of the water by Mr. Trash Wheel since it was installed in May 2014.
The trash wheel’s creator, John Kellett, worked on the harbor for years and saw garbage floating on the water every day. A sailor and engineer, he approached the city and offered to take a stab at cleaning up the harbor. He built a pilot trash wheel and installed it in 2008.
No one had ever tried to stop the trash before and the task seemed daunting. Kellett quickly realized he’d have to go bigger. The pilot wheel was often unable to pick up larger debris and had only one Dumpster, so when it was being emptied, the wheel had to wait for it to return before working again.
GloucesterCast 199 With Jim and Pat Dalpiaz, Al Bezanson, Monica and Gerald Osmera, Nichole Schrafft, Kim Smith and Joey C
Topics Include:
Beauport Review from Pat and Jim Dalpiaz
Al Bezanson 32nd Schooner Festival Recap
Monica and Gerald Osmera From Nebraska Accommodations at Rocky Neck Recap
Back To School With Nichole
Yellow Crowned Night Heron
Zuiderdam Returning Saturday The 24th Of September and Thursday the 29th
Muskrats
The Importance of teaching your children Mandarin, not letting them play football and keeping them off the race track
Gloucester Stage Totalitarians Review
Jeff Zinn Director also Managing Director Lewis D Wheeler and actor in the Totalitarians was in Black Mass
David Calvo new sign for Brass Monkey is going up this week
Weber Kettle Kept Temps between 289-291 throughout entire taping without adjusting vents once.
Snapshots taken on race day, at the morning meeting of the captains and the evening’s closing ceremony, and a few the day before. So many thanks to Al Bezanson for introductions, his much appreciated knowledge and advice generously shared, and for being an all around great guy. I’ve tried to accurately caption; click on the photo to read the captain’s names and their schooners.
Captain Harold Burnham, Schooner Ardelle, and Captain James Lobdell, Schooner Malabar II
Captain Matt Sutphin, Schooner Tyrone and Captain Al Bezanson, Schooner Green Dragon
Mike McManus, Captain Al Bezanson Schooner Green Dragon and Captain Peter Houston, Schooner Eileen Marie
Captain Stefan Edick, Schooner Adventure, receiving the George Nichols Cup from the Schooner Committee Chair Daisy Nell
Captain Matt Sutphin the day before the race painting the hull of the Schooner Tyrone
What a treat to tag along with Gloucester’s own Schooner Festival welcoming committee Brett Ramsey and his sons Max and Nick. Each year Brett purchases and assembles baskets of fresh fruit. Along with loaves of yummy bread still warm from Virgilio’s ovens (donated by Joe Virgilio), Brett and his family welcome each and every participating schooner. You could tell that the recipients were really grateful and touched by the gesture.
Special shout out to GMG FOB Schooner Green Dragon’s captain Al Bezanson. I was out filming early this morning and stopped by Rocky Neck Accommodations to say hello to Al and his wife Phyllis. This was Al’s idea to cover the Schooner Fest welcome for GMG, so thank you Al Bezanson!!
Schooner Lannon’s Captain Heath Ellis
Captains Al Bezanson (Green Dragon), Fred Murphy (Ishmael), and Matt Sutphin (Tyrone) 
Fort Square Café formula for fishcakes
After a podcast on fishcakes Monday morning with Joey I zoomed over to the Fort Square Café for a late breakfast. Heidi served up this beauty from fresh hake. She makes them only from time to time for her famed Cape Ann Reuben.
From Gorton’s archives
Gloucestercast 172 Taped 2/22/16 With @KimSmithDesigns, @DonnaArd, Al Bezanson and @Joey_C
Topics Include: 
Al forwards this link and writes, “Schooner race from Key West to Cuba is about to start and the boats can be tracked. The link is from Apella who has become a regular in the Gloucester race.” Follow this link.
Message from Dan Hall, Schooner Apella:
Read more about the Conch Republic Cup here.
Elinor Teele Photo Google Image search
HAPPY WARM DAYS OF LATE SUMMER EVERYONE! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Al Bezanson’s Green Dragon Schooner is in the foreground with the Schooners Mystic and Roseway in the background. Click to view larger. I’ve been too swamped and neglected to post Schooner Fest photos and will try to schedule this weekend although there have been so many gorgeous photos posted, more may be redundant.
JUDGE NULLIFIES FOUR GAME SUSPENSIONS
Al Bezanson’s Green Dragon Schooner, painted by Katherine Richmond.
Len Burgess aboard Al Bezanson’s Green Dragon Schooner submits ~
Thomas A. Lannon and Columbia
Schooner Ardelle
See More Photos Here Continue reading “GORGEOUS PHOTOS OF SCHOONER COLUMBIA !”
Submitted by Al Bezanson
Sighted at the Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta #PANERAI off of Marblehead August 8th. #FREEBRADY #SCHOONERGREENDRAGON
There were thumbs-ups galore from the participants. Here’s the reaction of Allesandro Pagani and his crew in NINA during a close encounter in the race.
Katherine Richmond gave us a quickie professional lettering job with the house paint at the Gloucester marine Railways an hour before launch last Friday.
The Green Dragon Tavern was the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty. On the night of the Boston Tea Party it was mysteriously empty.
“The truth shall set him free schooner or later!
-Al Bezanson
Al Bezanson submits-
The Gulf of Maine Chapter of the American Schooner Association in conjunction with the Nova Scotia Schooner Association announces a new radio program to be aired jointly on PBS and CBC, “Wicked Cod.” The show will feature a multi-national schooner fleet under sail scouring the Gulf of Maine in search of a codfish. The rules stipulate hook and line fishing only, and if a cod is actually captured it will be measured and released without disclosing its location. The program will be broadcast continually. Further details to follow.
(Painting credit: Cod __ 30 X 15 Acrylic on Masonite __ Phyllis Bezanson 1970)
Al Bezanson
Al Bezanson submits-
Glimpses of The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race in Portsmouth, VA – Part 2
Mystic Seaport’s BRILLIANT, first in the medium class this year in Gloucester, was among the few that finished early. Most of the fleet was well astern dealing with light air, then heavier headwinds.
WOODWIND runs public sails out of Annapolis and is a consistent winner in this race. She is of lightweight construction, built by John Scarano in Albany in 1993. Every year, after the pig roast, there is a famous rum party aboard for all the crews and volunteers.
APELLA, 2nd in class in Gloucester this year, with PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II. She is a Shearwater 45, designed by Dudley Dix and built in South Africa.
This was the 25th GCBSR and LADY MARYLAND has sailed in most all. She is a pungy, built in 1985 by Living Classrooms in Baltimore and used for hands-on multidisciplinary education for students of all ages.
A J MEERWALD of Bivalve, NJ is the state’s official tall ship. Built in 1928 for oyster dredging, she is fully engaged in educational programs with the Bayshore Discovery Project.
FAREWELL, built in a backyard in Annapolis and launched in 1972, is a scaled down Grand Banks schooner design by Peter Van Dyne. FAREWELL and GREEN DRAGON were rivals in Class C in six of these races between 1997 and 2009.
Brett Ramsey took time out for a high speed drive to VA over the weekend to talk to boat owners and sample the legendary hospitality that is the feature of the GCBSR.
On the inside, TOM BOMBADIL, Pasadena, MD with ISTAR, the 37 ft schooner launched this summer in Provincetown by Stormy Mayo. ISTAR has been a project for nearly forty years, and would have been at the Gloucester race this year had she not been held back by headwinds as she returned from Maine.
Dr. Al Roper, President of the GCBSR Executive Committee, was up all night managing docking and seeing to it that every schooner got a full measure of southern hospitality.
More to come, including the race results in Part 3 of this series.
Al Bezanson
The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race finished last weekend in Portsmouth, VA and here is a glimpse of goings on there. Brett Ramsey and Al Bezanson from the Gloucester Schooner Festival Committee attend on a regular basis.
Night crew tended to the schooner bait, aka slow roasted pork. No need to hurry, for the wind was contrary and most of the boats were a long time getting there.
In due time it was roasted to perfection
Transportation to Norfolk was compromised for a worthy cause
The Dockmaster’s Command Center was set up while the Schooner Liaison Crews kept the coffee flowing. It was going to be a very long wait for the arrival of most of the boats.
The race this year was hosted by four boat/yacht clubs, and the Portsmouth Boat Club stood by the docking area.
Early arrivals were BRILLIANT, LIGHT REIGN AND WOODWIND. They are docked at the North Landing, adjacent to the Renaissance Hotel and Portsmouth Visitor Center.
More to come, including the race results, in Part 2 of this report.
Al Bezanson
Joey___
Local schooner fans might enjoy tracking the boats in the 127 mile Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race starting today at 1330 off Annapolis. Entries in this year’s race include these schooners who have raced in Gloucester: Adventurer 65, Apella, Brilliant, Hindu, Liberty Clipper, Light Reign, Lynx, and Pride of Baltimore II. Istar, stormy Mayo’s new schooner from Provincerown is also racing. The tracking link is http://www.baltimoremarinecenters.com/About-BMC/Schooner-Race-Tracking.aspx
Here’s the forecast at the start. Not a friendly one for schooners.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-76.41278&lat=38.92823
The actual wind near the start is displayed here
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=tplm2
There is a half day oyster and pig roast at the finish in Portsmouth, VA. When you’ve spent up to forty hours rockin’ and rollin’ your way down the bay dodging shipping traffic it’s the light at the end of the tunnel.
Al Bezanson
Schooner Green Dragon placed first in the Small Schooner Class in the 2014 Schooner Races, winning the Betty Ramsay Plate. Al Bezanson, who’s the owner of Green Dragon and is on the Schooner Race committee, sits in the cockpit of his schooner. Photo by Kathy Chapman.
This past spring while working on Gloucester’s Feast of Saint Joseph film project, I filmed Joe Virgilio making Virgilio’s Saint Joseph rolls and wrote a post for GMG about Virgilios. At that time, Al Bezanson, owner of the Green Dragon Schooner, shared that during Schooner Festival, Joe Virgilio welcomes the schooners with warm loaves of freshly baked bread as they sail into Gloucester Harbor.
Al provides more details:
“Hi Kim
Virgilio’s started donating bread to the visiting schooners two years ago, and it now threatens to become a popular new tradition. The first year Brett and Max Ramsey, in Brett’s high speed inflatable, met up with schooners as they entered the harbor and presented them with a loaf or two along with a pineapple. In some cases the bread was still warm from the oven. When that happened with Adventurer, out came the butter, and the bread was enjoyed in a flash. Last year Max and Dom Nesta made the deliveries, and more of the Sea Scouts may be handling it this year.”
In the photos Al provided, Green Dragon had just received a delivery in the outer harbor as she entered from Manchester.
I was so struck by the Virgilio’s generous, welcoming gesture and thought what better time to pass along Al’s story than the night before the Schooners begin to arrive. As Al points out, “When you get around schooner people you may hear them talking about the need to have extra butter aboard in Gloucester. This is a very big deal in fending off other ports that are vying for schooners that same weekend. Thanks Joe and the high speed Ramsey/Nesta delivery guys!”
During summer months Virgilios makes fabulously delicious and delightfully refreshing Italian ice, created only with pure fresh fruit juices and cane sugar (not corn syrup).
For store hours and menu visit their Facebook page here.
Read more about Virgilio’s Saint Joseph rolls here.
Joe Virgilio Making Saint Joseph Rolls
Good Morning Gloucester 