tools of the trade

Sometimes I do it for the money

Sometimes for the glamour

Sometimes I use my head

Sometimes I get a bigger hammer

Guy Clark, The Jack of All Trades

I sorted through the tool kit on Spartina today.  Somehow I always end up carrying more tools (weight) than I really need.  I found six screw drivers in there today, I only really need two.  When it comes down to it I just need a couple of screw drivers, a couple of wrenches and a ratchet with a few sockets (there just aren't that many nuts and bolts on the boat).  So I pared the kit down to the minimum.

I've got some other repair gear on board that is standard equipment.  I carry both a leatherman multi-tool and leatherman folding knife.  There is a outboard tool kit with a spark plug socket and a pair of pliers.  And I always carry a handful of cable ties  (an easy way to bind things together) and a west system epoxy repair kit.  

I keep the tools in a tool roll from Duluth Trading Company that I bought on sale years ago.  It may have been a close-out, I'm not sure if they sell them anymore.  But this is very convenient for me.  Of course the roll is not waterproof so I wrap it in a gigantic (2' x 2.5') ziploc big bag and put a bungee cord around it to keep it wrapped tight.  Is that waterproof?  Not 100%, but the kit has been on Spartina for years now and the tools are still in pretty good shape.

Below is a peek through the starboard deckplate on the bunk flat of Spartina.  That is where the tool kit lives.  You'll also see a bottle of water, there are a total of four bottles of water  on the starboard side all together.  And above the water are two 15 pound dumbbells (by far the cheapest and most convenient ballast I could find) and the flukes to the spare anchor.

I've carried the toolkit on Spartina as long as I have been sailing her.  But I can only recall one time when I used any tools.  That was when Bruce and I were cruising on Pamlico Sound and found that centerboard winch wasn't working.  We used one tool - a screw driver - and that was it.  But I am always glad to have the kit  on board.  You never know what you will need and when you will need it.

steve

a new camera

I finally ordered a new camera, the Pentax Option W90 from Amazon.  I've been researching this for months trying to figure out what was the best way to go for a waterproof camera.  There were five or six in contention but after readying and comparing all the reviews I think this one is the best choice for me.

Part of that is based on the Pentax Optio W20 that I've used on Spartina for about four years.  I bought that one based on a recommendation by Kiwibird after she used one for an Everglades Challenge.  It worked well until this past fall when it started draining batteries regardless of whether the camera was turned on or not.  

While these cameras are listed as waterproof to 20 feet I still consider them "water resistant" and not "water proof."  I don't plan to take it underwater.  I just want a camera that can take the rain, salt spray and occasional drop on the deck and keep on working.

I've been leaning towards the camera for a while and have been watching the prices trying to get the best deal.  Watching the prices have been like watching the stock market.  The values have been continually changing.  I ordered today because the green model (which goes with Spartina's hull color), above, dropped down to under $200.  The black version, which had been under $200 for a while, went up to $214.  And the orange version is at $449.95.  Go figure.  When I first started researching the cameras the orange model, with an infared remote trigger included, was going for just about $200.  I should have bought futures in those cameras at that price.

 I also ordered a second battery, going with the original Pentax battery as opposed to the cheaper off brand batteries.  My sailing friend Paul, aka Danceswith SandyBottom, who also used a Pentax Optio camera, told me he had better luck with the Pentax batteries and in his opinion were worth the price. 

That's one more job I can take off the list of things I need to do to be ready for a March launch.

steve

under the big top

Jim posted a comment the other day asking about Spartina's boom tent.  Here are some photographs of it in use.  The tent is made out of white polytarp, three inch wide polytarp tape, double sided tape, some rope and bungee cord.  I suspect I got the idea from Duckworks but can't find the article right now.  Total cost was about $60.

The photo above is from my first cruise, a solo trip on Tangier Sound.  Below is from a trip with Bruce around Cedar Island in North Carolina (I still remember sitting there that evening listening to the dolphin swimming around outside the boat, I could hear the gentle spouting as they surfaced to breathe).
Those trips were before we discovered Alpine Bivys.  On those first couple of cruises, pre-bivy, we set up the boom tent every night.  It kept the rain and dew off us.  But it did not stop the mosquitoes (you can see the aft end is open).  And, if there was no wind, it got hot.  Worst of all, it blocked the view of the beautiful night sky.  It really wasn't a very good shelter for a typical night on the water.

Now the bivys are the standard shelter on Spartina.  They are cooler, keep mosquitoes out and at the same time you can look up through the mosquito mesh and enjoy the stars.  I've mentioned the bivys in several posts including this one.  But the tent is along on every cruise for those rainy nights and also when Spartina is tied up at a marina.

My friend Jim (not the mechanical Jim, the other one) from down the street helped me put it together one afternoon.  A bolt rope runs down the peak of the tent, the forward end connecting to the main mast at the goose neck, the aft end gets tied to the mizzen mast.  You can see the bolt rope in the peak in the photo above, plus one of the three grommets with bits of line that wrap around the furled main, boom and gaff.
Along the bottom edges of the tent are another series of grommets with bungee loops tied into them.  The bungee lines hook onto inverted fender hooks (available at Duckworks).

As I mentioned, we always have the boom tent along and set it up when the boat is tied up at a dock or a marina.  There is always some gear left on board and we figure it helps hide the stuff a little bit from folks walking by (the outboard is always locked in place and the valuable gear is carried with us up to the hotel room, but there are boat cushions, fishing gear, camp stove, etc).  Plus it helps keep out rain.  (On the Tag Team sail I neglected to set up the tent at the marina in Beaufort and of course a huge thunderstorm came through that night and I spent a good while pumping rain water out of the boat the next morning.)  Below you will see Spartina, with boom tent in place, tied up at the public dock in Oriental, one of my favorite stopping places.  

The heaviest rain we've experienced on board was on day two of the Crab House trip when we were anchored off of Punch Island Creek.  I did not a very good job of tensioning the tent the night before and we did get some water in the boat and one side of the tent formed a nice little pool of rainwater, but nonetheless we stayed dry and comfortable in the bivy's.  That is me below, a nice photo from Bruce, showing me getting ready to tuck the folded boom tent up under the foredeck where it lives during the day.  Bungee lines hold it up under the deck where it is both out of sight and out of the way.  (Some people say "How would we ever live without the internet?"  I say "How would I ever live without bungee cord?")

So the boom tent is always on board, but used only when needed.  I think I spent about 25 days cruising this past year and put the tent in place just twice, once at the marina in Oriental and again in New Bern.  But when sleeping on board I some how avoided the rain and did not need to use the tent at all while anchored out.  It is one of those pieces of gear that I'm glad to have on board to use when I need it, but only use when I really need it.

steve

many happy returns

Well, really just two returns.  I am glad they worked out.

In tough economic times, but really any time, I want to make sure I get full value out of my purchases.  I had a couple of pieces of gear fail last year and decided to contact the stores and see what they could do for me.

My West Marine Third Reef foul weather pants started to delaminate last fall.  A similar thing had happened to my jacket during the skeeterbeater trip.  On day four of that trip we sailed into a thunderstorm and I felt the water coming through my jacket.  Bruce showed me the delaminating material and said I ought to ask for a replacement.  I took the jacket to West Marine and they handed me a new one.

So this year some panels in in my bib overalls started to delaminate.  The exterior shell was fine, the interior lining was in great shape.  But the waterproof lining inside the shell was peeling off.  I emailed West Marine's customer service and they said take them to a store, with the receipt, for replacement.  I no longer had the receipt so the customer service people emailed me one.  The pants were out of stock for much of the Fall, but I got a call today that they had a pair for me.  Dropped by and made the exchange.  Can't beat service and support like that.

That's a nice photo by Bruce, below, showing me trying to figure out where we were on the Crabhouse 150.  In the background you can see James Island, we were crossing the mouth of the Little Choptank River on our way to Tilghman Island.  We had had heavy rains all night, a steady mist all morning.  About an hour later the skies cleared.  I remember how nice it was to take off the foul weather gear and enjoy the bright, warm sunshine.

The other item I had a problem with was the griddle on my Coleman stove.  While cooking dinner on the Bay Days trip I heard a metallic pop and the griddle shifted on the stove.  I soon found that the aluminum griddle had warped.  As such it no longer sat squarely on the stove and rocked back and forth.  Annoying to say the least, unsafe (when you consider how hot the griddle gets) at worst.

I emailed Coleman.  They took nearly a month to get back to me but when they did they asked for details of what happened and a photograph.  I responded with the information and within four or five days I had a new griddle.  That's the new griddle, right, with the old griddle on the left.  The fact that they had raised the new griddle about 1/4 inch higher off the stove makes me wonder if this was a design flaw with the original griddle.  The newer, raised griddle will let heat escape a little easier.  I'm not sure if that was the problem or not, just glad to have a new griddle that will fit better on the stove.

The cool thing about dropping by West Marine today was that I had to wait a couple of minutes for them to go into the back and get the new foul weather gear.  While waiting I glanced over at the magazine rack and found some copies of Small Craft Advisor No. 67 on sail.  A nice surprise!  I finally got to see the article about our Tag Team sail last June.  On a cold day with snow in the forecast for tonight, it was nice to be reminded of a great summer sail.

steve

fishing gear

 I had to dig into the equipment closet this morning to get out some gear for this weekend's fishing expedition.  It felt kind of good to rummage around in there, almost felt like I was gearing up for a cruise.  But cruising is months away.  I just needed a few things for charter trip out of Rudee Inlet.

The closet was an unused closet in a extra bedroom.  I've got two big tubs in there, one for pieces of gear and the other, now empty, for the food supplies I'll start buying in a few weeks.  The food jars, camera case, rubber maid tubs, hats, stove and all that gear are in there too.

 Today all I needed was sleeping gear.  We've rented a two bedroom condo (or something like that, not clear on the details) in Virginia Beach that won't have enough beds for everybody so I'll sleep on the floor or the couch.
The charter boat itself is only thirty minutes from the house, but half the fun of the trip is the cookout/party the night before.  There'll be steaks and cigars, bourbon, beer and a bunch of middle-aged guys acting like teenagers.  Plus we've got an nfl playoff game to watch and that will be fun.

I also broke out the Wanchese slippers, the ubiquitous rubber boots worn by commercial fishermen.  I got my pair at the old J. P. Tawe's Brothers Hardware in Crisfield on the way to Tangier Island for some work.  It was Viv, the fantastic mate on the charter boat Sinbad, that told me what they were called down in North Carolina.  What else are you gonna wear in a fishing village like Wanchese?

I will leave behind my own fishing tackle.  That's my favorite lure, above, for trolling on Chesapeake Bay.  It's good for stripers and bluefish and I've had some nice luck with it the last couple of trips.  But we are looking for a larger class of fish on this trip and the lures will be three or four times larger than this.  Below is a 37 pound fish I caught on our last really successful trip.  I wouldn't mind one or two like that on this trip.

We have been blown out by weather the last couple of years, plus the fishing was slow down at Oregon Inlet.  But I'm reading fish reports that are showing good numbers of 30 and 40 pound fish are being caught off the Virginia Beach ocean front.  I hope those fish hang around a few more days.  The forecast is decent.  I can't wait.

steve

planning, and a camera

We are in the early process of roughing out the spring trip.  (I need to talk about spring right now as it has been snowing all day here, I need something to look forward to.)  Bruce and I agreed on sailing the middle part of Chesapeake Bay from Tangier Sound in the south to Tilghman Island in the north (or possibly higher on the bay).  

This would be some of the same area that we covered on the Crab House 150, and also some of the same area I visited on a solo sail last September on the Bay Days 220.  On the Crab House we were on a tight schedule heading up the bay and just sailed north on open water, bypassing a lot of interesting creeks, rivers and bays.  This time we'll meander up the coast, checking out those places along the way.

Starting places could be either Onancock (in Virginia) or Rumbley (in Maryland).  Possible ending points could be Cambridge, St. Michaels or, if the wind favors us, as far north as Chestertown on the Chester River.  All three of those possible stopping places have what we need to complete the trip - a nearby car rental spot so we can rent a car to retrieve my jeep and trailer for the drive home.

I came across an interesting camera the other day that I briefly considered as a replacement camera.  It is the GoPro HD Hero, a camera designed for adventure photography (both stills and video).  It is a video/still camera that comes in a housing with a variety of mounts.  They are available to mount on cars, surfboards, bikes and helmets.  The one I looked at, without mounting attachments, is called the "Naked" version.

Pluses of the camera are....

• designed for the wear and tear of the outdoors
• impact resistant housing good to 180 feet
• 170 degree view (and from their sample photos there is little distortion)
• presets for interval shooting of still images
• hd video

Minus are....

• that very wide angle lens is a fixed lens, no zooming
• no preview window
• very few controls
• no flash
• no close-up feature 

It is a pretty cool camera, take a look at this clip. (Keep in mind that is a low-rez stream, go to their home page for higher resolution.)  It might be perfect for adventure racing (I wonder what the EC crowd would think of this - maybe mounted on the nose of a kayak or a multihull sailboat??).  And it might be nice to have one of these as a second camera to mount somewhere - on the mast, on the end of the boom, on the bow - and forget about.  But I don't think it has the flexibility that I would like for a primary camera on cruises.  So right now the Pentax Optio W90 is the frontrunner, but I'm still doing some research.

steve

batteries

I've been doing some shopping at a couple of my favorite expedition suppliers - Lowe's hardware and Walmart - and noticed that they had some great deals on batteries. I haven't taken time to compare prices but both stores were had some pretty good values. I guess this is all a pre-christmas deal - plenty of low cost double A batteries to power those new tools and toys.

I know I go through more batteries than I like each year on Spartina. There are lots of pieces of gear that required double A and triple A batteries. Above you'll see flashlights, emergency strobes, anchor light, a vhf radio, gps and SPOT. It would be nice to think I could be "green" and use rechargeable batteries but in my experience the technology isn't quite there yet. Someday I hope to add a solar panel to Spartina to I can be a little bit more green. But for now I need batteries.

I've tried to standardize with all aa batteries, but the only ICOM radio I could find last year to replace my old one took aaa batteries.

The strobe, flashlight and anchor lights use double A. SPOT uses the lithium double A. And I heard from the crew of Dawn Patrol last year that my gps would do better if I use the lithium batteries (the standard double A last just a little more than a day with that bright color screen).

So sometime before the christmas season is over, while the double A batteries are going for as low as 40 cents each, I'll pick up on of the 36 battery packs. I know I'll make good use of it next year.

steve

made in the shade

Here's a nice moonset photo from my fishing buddy Steve, shot after I left Urbanna the other evening. Pretty nice, don't you think?

And that's his boat. I've always thought the best kind of power boat is one owned by a good friend. This one is just right for me.

Some good gear info from Kiwibird on her blog. Kristen, a veteran EC'er, is a gear-head. She is always on the lookout for new gear that will make life on the water a little bit better. She is not posting very often these days, but scrolling through her blog provides some pretty good information on a lot of different equipment. I've bought a lot of gear based on her recommendations.

This time she is writing about CGEAR Sand Mats. The mats are designed to be thrown out on a beach for camping. The sand falls through the fine mesh of the mat, keeping your feet and camping area sand free.
That seems like a great idea. But I don't camp on the beach - I prefer the smooth, flat and sand free bunk flat of Spartina. Plenty of room there for the bug-free bivy and sleeping bag, there's no need to haul the gear out of the boat to the beach. But what did cross my mind is that these would make a perfect shade tarp to drape over the boom. When I watched CGEAR's video about the sand mats I was very happy to see they in fact suggested using the mats for shade.

They are UV resistant and block about 90% of the sun. They are lightweight, brightly colored (I like the orange, it could come in handy if somebody is trying to locate me) and have d-rings sewn into the corners and along the edges - perfect for bungee cords to attach to the deck cleats while draped over the boom.

The heat, as we found out on day 7 of the Tag Team, can be brutal out on the sounds of North Carolina. There is nowhere to hide from the sun on an open boat. A nice shade tarp would not just be a comfort item, it could be considered a piece of safety gear.

I am pretty selective about adding equipment to Spartina's packing list. Every items needs to "earn" its spot on the boat. I think the sand mat is well worth considering. At $50 for the 6 foot x 6 foot mat, with weighs less than 4 lbs, I think it could be a plus for the boat.

One of the things I want to do next year is a mid-summer walkabout sail on Pamlico Sound, a four or five days exploration out of Pate Boatyard in Hobucken. (Maybe a long fourth of July weekend???) In the heat of the summer, on those sometimes windless days, something to provide protection from the sun would be a good thing to have along.

Thanks for the tip Kiwibird.

steve

dept. of redundancy dept.

I got my old vhf radio back from the ICOM repair guy in South Carolina. The radio, which I've had for eight years, died the day before the spring Weekend Walkabout (I'm really glad I turned the radio on to test the batteries as I was packing up the boat). I did not want to go on a trip without a vhf radio so I ran to West Marine and picked up a new ICOM vhf 150 (at right, below).

The idea of having a backup radio on appealed to me so I sent the old radio off for repair. Got it back for a few days later for $80, a fair price I think to have the second radio (below, left) on board. I'll probably put batteries in it, seal it in a bag and then tuck it away in the emergency back or hypothermia kit bag.

The other piece gear I would like to have a as a backup is a gps. On the first day of the Walkabout I dropped my garmin legend etrex a few inches to the deck and the screen when blank. That caught my attention. Fortunately is was just a battery that jarred loose (I think). I had planned on upgrading to a Garmin Etrex Venture GPS this winter. When I do that I'll tuck the old gps in with the old radio.

(Quick question: Why do they always make the handheld radios black? My SPOT is orange, the current gps is a clear aquamarine, the new gps will be yellow. How about a nice bright color for the radios so they are easier to fine?)

I've also been doing the pre-trip shopping, picking up some food here and there when I do the regular grocery shopping. I'm in good shape on breakfast bars and lunches. And I've got a pretty good start on fruit cups and dinners. I also stopped by the Bass Pro Shop to pick up two Heater Meals, I always like to have those on board in case of rain (don't want to use the stove with the boom tent in place) or if I'm just too tired to cook.

I'm about six or seven weeks out from the trip and all the planning seems to be on schedule.

steve

thou shall not covet thy neighbor's camp stove

One of the many nice things about the trip with Dawn Patrol was that we could talk about cruising/camping gear. We seemed to touch on equipment just about every evening as we rafted up together. Camp stoves were one of the first topics to come up.

I had seen photos of Dawn Patrol's camp stove (below), a Coleman "fold and go" propane stove, in one of her blog posts before the trip. It looked small, light and very practical.

I use a Cole grill stove that is a few years old (that's Bruce cooking dinner on the Crab House trip below) with one burner and a griddle. It is much larger and heavier's than Dawn Patrol's. I started trying to figure out how I could wear my stove out so I could justify buying a new folding model (good luck wearing out a Coleman stove).

But at the trip wore on Dawn said she saw a few advantages to my older, larger stove. For one thing, it had built in wind screens on three sides. Her stove did not have wind screens and I think the wind may have interfered with the flame. She also said that the cooking grates stood relatively tall on her stove, something that you don't want on a rocking boat. So in the end my old stove wasn't so bad - I guess I'll get a few more years of cooking out of it.

Along with his usual good ideas for cooking, Bruce had the great idea to bring along tortillas. No refrigeration needed, they keep for days and can be used with just about any sort of meal (including the shrimp tacos below). They'll be on my list for the next trip.

And another favorite piece of gear was the Danforth compass, a gift from my Mother. Thanks Mom! With a grey color it looked like it was made to match the interior of Spartina. And it worked very well mounted on the centerboard trunk. We used it constantly. I always carried a small hand held compass, but this was much nicer and easier to use. It certainly helped maintain our course when pointing high up into the wind (something I'll mention below).

If we are going to talk about comparing stoves, how about comparing boats. Dawn Patrol is a Graham Byrnes designed Core Sound 20. Spartina is a John Welsford designed Pathfinder. Dawn Patrol is a cat ketch. Spartina is a gaff rigged yawl.

It was really fun to sail with another boat. I had never done that before except for the occasional 200 yard sail alongside another boat while out on a day sail. I learned quite a bit by watching the performance of another boat (and the crew that sailed her). Funny thing is it never felt like a race (the old saying that anytime two boats are on the water together it is a race did not hold true on this trip). Dawn Patrol is a faster boat than Spartina, I could have told you that just from comparing length of the waterlines. To me this was more of a shared journey, watching the other boat on the opposite tack, learning from their tactics, enjoying the beauty of their sails.

The one interesting thing to me was during the trip I felt that Dawn Patrol was pointing much higher in the wind, but now that I look at our tracks I see that we were not so far apart. This is one area - pointing up high to the wind - where I think we really benefitted from watching another boat. Seeing Dawn Patrol up ahead set us goal for us to aim for. Out there by myself it is easy to fall off a bit and pick up speed. But watching another boat made me conscience of pointing up and getting the most out of the wind. (Thanks for the sailing lesson Paul.)

Which boat is better? That's impossible to say. I wouldn't give up my Spartina. I love the lapstrake hull, the gaff rig, the narrow forefoot, the lazy jacks, the positive floatation and the wide coamings to lean back against during a long day at the tiller. I'm sure if you asked Paul and Dawn they'll quickly give you a list of things they love about Dawn Patrol.

Let's just say I'm thrilled whenever I'm out sailing Spartina. And I'm even more thrilled when I'm out in Spartina sharing tacks with Dawn Patrol.

steve

a few things

I'm still drying out my North Carolina chartbook. This weekend I'll get some fresh water and a sponge and go through it page by page. This was the sixth cruise I've used it on and it is starting to show some wear and tear.

I've also started looking at my Chesapeake Bay chartbook. I hope to do my fall sail up there in mid to late September. I think this will be a solo sail as Bruce has some family travel plans in the work. The trip might be an extended walkabout in the Tangier Sound area. Right now I'm looking at the area from Onancock, Va in the south to the Choptank River in the north. That includes Tangier and Smith Islands, plus towns like Crisfield, Saxis and Oxford. I need to start roughing out that trip.

Paul and Dawn sent a disc with their photos from the trip. There are some really nice photos of Spartina on there including the one above. Thanks guys!

We've started the daily logs for the trip. If you read them as posts they will be in reverse order (first day on the bottom then scroll up to the next day). To make it easier to read I've added a list of links(Tag Team 200 daily logs) at the right where the days will be in the correct order and can be read from top to bottom.

steve

packing up

We spent the day picking up fresh food, packing, checking batteries and going over plans. We'll load up the jeep in a little while.



I was looking through my notes and found my first rough draft of a sailing planning dated early December. That makes it six months to get where we are - ready to head south. Below is the updated map. But the course could change during the trip.

I heard from Dawn, she and Paul are in the thick of packing. I think they are finding out a nice vacation cruise involves more gear and supplies than a kayak race. I mean how much gear can you stow in a kayak? But I do hope they will find it is a lot of fun just to get out on the water and relax. We should meet up around 9 or so at Potters Marine off of the Pamlico River.

The tracking links are down in the post below. See you later.

steve

DAY FIVE - Back to the Dock

You can't tell from this photo but I was sailing backwards under just the mizzen as I backed out of the little creek on the edge of Spencer Bay on the last morning of the trip. Sailing backwards is one of the cool things you can do with a yawl.

The wind had in fact swung from SE to SW and gotten a little stronger too. Later that day it was supposed to really kick up and swing to the NW. A good time to be heading to the dock.

It took just about an hour to get back to the dock, an easy downwind sail under mizzen and jib. I got a few waves from crabbers heading out to check their pots. Just about a hundred yards from the marina I dropped the sails and cranked up the outboard, tying up in one of the crabber's docks while I brought the trailer around to the ramp.

With such a short ride I didn't really have anything to photograph. But below are some detail photos of the gear on board Spartina that I shot throughout the trip. Below is the light/notebook kit that gets stored on the port side.

And there is the cook kit that is tied down on the starboard side. That is a filet knife on top, never got to use it on this trip.

And there is my sleeping gear which all stores up under the foredeck. From left to right are my pillow, sleeping pad, sleeping bag and, in the grey stuffsack, my bivy.

And this is the area above the day storage at the aft end of the cockpit. You'll see my watch and my radio (which I never turned on during the trip - the only voices I heard throughout the trip were the voices on weather radio). At left is my rope boarding ladder which I can reach from outside the cockpit if I need to. And at the bottom is my waterproof notebook and my Virginia State Lottery pencil tied to the notebook with a string (with all the tickets I have bought over the years the least they could donate to the boat is one of those little pencils). That's were I jot down all my notes about time, wind, location, etc that I use to put together this log.

So that's the trip. It was a great one, I had a lot of fun and found it all very relaxing. I like the idea of the long weekend sail. I hope to do more in the future. Five weeks until the next trip, I can't wait.

Thanks to everyone who has taken some time to look at the log, I do appreciate it.

steve

For the trip.............

Total distance 93.5 nautical miles (107 statute miles)

Moving Average 2.7 knots

Moving Time 33 hours 59 minutes