[Patrick]

Schoolie,

Ha ha. Fun fun fun. I learned all this stuff in the special aquaculture school. Built a rod there, that was a lot of fun.

Took apart a 6 hp Evinrude. Completely disassembled the lower unit. Took apart the powerhead and put it all together again. Not much to the lower unit, drain the gearcase oil, take out a few bolts, take out some more bolts, put the new impellar in, but the bolts back in, torque them to the manual's specs, slide the lower unit back up over the rods, flip the switch back and forth until the rod locks into place. Put the remainder of the bolts back in. Not too much to it. Now the powerhead is a pain in the butt. The camshaft has these needlebearings that are covered in bluegrease. They stick to your fingers and are really hard to put back in. Hopefully I won't have to do that. Sparkplugs are changed just like they are on your car engine. Take the boots off, twist and pull.

As a class project, assembled 4 buoys, then wired the lights up to a battery and a solar panel that recharges them. That was easy. Just had to tin the wires really, drill a couple holes through 1/8-1/4 inch of metal. Nothing to it.

As far as boat building, that was my favorite course. My first year my friend and I made an 8 foot pram using the stitch and glue method. Recieved an excellance in boat building award.

The next year, we used autocad to design a 12 foot round bottom boat. Made a mold, then used 4 layers of 1/8 inch wood to make half of the hull. Then using a vacuum, we sucked a tarp down over the mold to compress the wood up against the mold. I have also built a 12' Power skiff, worked on another 12' Powerskiff, countless 8 foot prams, and helped with the construction of a 15 foot electric harbor boat. All of the boats, except for the 12 foot round bottom, were made using the stitch and glue method. Had to use industrial sized equipment (had a bandsaw there with a 20 foot blade among other tools) also learned to use handtools. Of course got tested on the safety issues for OSHA and all. The second year, I got the Master Boat builders award.

Passed a course in Marina management. Recieved my safe boating license. Learned knots like the Bowline, square knot, sheepshank, and some others. I also got to ride around in the Bridgeport Harbormaster's 21 foot scorpion I/O and ride in a coastguard 40 footer, got to pilot a Steigercraft and helped on a 50 foot research vessel. During these two courses, I also learned how to use Radar, Fishfinders, depthsounders, VHF radios. Went over how trailers work, how to upkeep trailers. Part of this program, I learned how to shrink wrap boats. Got a demonstration from a professional.
That was just the tech parts.

The science part of this class, we got to go out on the research vessel (the 50 footer with an A-frame) and did soil samples, water tests like temperature, work with secchi discs, salinometer. We also did otter trawls and picked up flounders, crabs, silversides, lobsters, and pipefish(related to the sea horses). We aslo did a bottom dredge and mostly picked up shells. I can't remember anything too specific about that dredge. As part of chemistry classes, we use spectrometers (passes light through materials to determine their composition), made aspirin and did a lot of cool things.

There are of course other programs in the school which I didn't get involved in. Sailing clubs, rowing clubs, afterschool fishing club, Intensive work with fish raising. In the fish tanks at the school there were baby brown trout that were released, tilapia(an african fish), eels, winter flounder, summer flounder and maybe some others. Other kids in the school used hydroponics to grow marsh grasses.

I have been blessed to go to this school. I have learned so much about the ocean. Honestly, I wouldn't have survived highschool without this place. It was a close knit school where I knew all the teachers, a lot of the kids. All the kids wanted to be there so there weren't trouble makers for the most part. Not only did they offer highschool stuff but they had college fairs and stuff like that. There were plenty of oppurtunities for continuing education.

Now for fishing, my dad and uncle took me along with my cousins. I had some Zebco pushbutton reel that I got for easter. I didn't catch any that trip. I fell in love with the sport. My dad is originally from MD and he was a Navy man so the ocean is sorta in his blood. I guess he passed along the outdoorsman gene to me. Other people that got me involved in the sport was my great uncle and his friend Lou, both of whom have now passed on, they gave me my first real taste of saltwater fishing. Another Uncle and Aunt who are diehard freshwater fishermen and supplied me with SO much gear and enthusiasm for the sport. The man who runs the tackle shop I go to because he always is there to help me out and last but not least my mom who saw me getting involved in a healthy hobby and encouraged me to have fun.

So if you think I'm BSing you, try and call my bluff. Honest to God I have done all the stuff above. I aced just about every class they threw at me. I know I've said a lot above but if you don't believe me, I will do everything in my power to show you that I can do it.

The main thing keeping me out of fly casting is the cost. I have two fly rods upstairs, one is a cortland, the other is a pfluegar. They are freshwater outfits and frankly, I just don't freshwater fish enough to use them.

I'm looking forward to seeing you guys soon. I'll be up your way one of these days, you just wait and see. I'm not the best fisherman in the world, (maybe the best looking ;D) but I catch my fair share of fish.

Now, despite what you say, I can tell you are just trying to bust on me. I really don't appreciate it.

So have a good day,