ITBUD, Batanes - Well it's the first week of November and things are warming up for the coming fiesta. We are preparing a list of things that have to be purchased in Basco for the cooking, and the whole town is talking about this year's celebration. If you can make it, you won't be disappointed.
I saw the joke that Vic put in the site. I wish! But, I was part of the team that set the standing world record for longest and largest ski tow rope, water skiing in the deepest water, most powerful ski boat.
dream of skiing behind the ship.
To help you understand what type of ship I'm talking about, it's the Secretary Class of cutters used by the Coast Guard. It is 378 feet long and has two main diesels that push it through the water at a speed of about 17 knots maximum. In addition there are two Pratt & Whitney gas turbines that will kick in at idle when the diesels are at max output, and we then increase speed to somewhere over 30 knots. The term we used to do this maneuver was a flying transfer. So we worked out the problems and on the big day we put the small boat over the side with the Captain on board and they went to the stern of the ship and took the three-inch towing rope. The other small boat was then placed in the water with the handmade skiing instrument. I don't think we could call it a pair of skis.
World record water skiing
On the first try the Captain fell off as we shifted to turbines, but we had success on the second try. To my knowledge no one has ever tried to duplicate this maneuver and the record still stands to this day.
Fishing the waters
Here in Itbud the sea conditions are much better than they were a couple of weeks ago. Some of the fishermen have gone out, but the catch is still small. Hope is high that with improving conditions fishing will be better.
I need to tell you all this and some of you may have heard of it anyway, but the damage from the earthquake in 2000 was a lot more than the official report. Almost all of the old style homes were cracked or pushed out of shape. This is in all four of our barangays. That's right, four! We have a new/old sitio - Song-Song is now considered its own little town. I was surprised to find so many that live there now, and all of the new homes that have been built there. Over near Uyugan Centro we have an improved picnic area with more covered areas and some have tables, and public bathrooms. There is a fish farm near that location too. As a matter of fact there are several fish farms on the island. Tilapia is the choice most have in the ponds. I don't know the other types.
Arson has raised its ugly head here. Sunday afternoon November 7th, my field and several others were burned. The Barangay Captain said it was good that no one's cow was caught in the fast moving fire. This points out that we would have had wet fields this time of the year but our usual wet October didn't happen, so it's harder now to cultivate and plant.
The gentleman farmer
To illustrate my point about me being a gentleman farmer, I stood on top of my house with the Barangay Captain and several others and watched what was happening through my binoculars. I haven't worked up to running up the hills like the young men do.
As a matter of fact I had to retire from firefighting because of just that type of thing. In 2001 while working a grass fire in my town, I suffered what the state of Nevada is officially calling "an incident." When the alarm first came in, it was 07:45 on a Saturday morning, the weather was 82 and humidity was a mere 20%. By the time I collapsed, it was 104 - humidity was 9 and I was wearing full fire department bunkers plus wearing a full air tank, and it was 1:30 in the afternoon with no break. When I came to I was in an ambulance that was racing to the local hospital with what I thought was every medic in the fire department on board. You know that "One of our own" thing that happens at fires. Long story short - I'm drawing medical retirement from the state of Nevada as a tenured firefighter and I get my Coast Guard retirement. Oh, and before you get all huffy about my retirement - it's only a hundred a month.
When any of you decide that you want to return to the island for a visit or to stay longer, stop by and see me. It's not hard to find me; my house is right in front of the church in Itbud. By next summer I hope to have the extensions done so it'll be even bigger.
`U' all come on down now and see us some time, here in the sunny south end of the island, with our cool gentle breezes and beautiful blondes (Ivatan women with headgear) and cool drinks. - Mike Griffin, November 2004. |
