Athens Greece Street Art

Love it or Hate it... It is ART.  

Recently I spent an exhilarating day immersing my self in the underground world of the Athens Greece graffiti. I ran around the city with one of the underground world's well known "writers" and learned all about the culture, the psyche of the "writers", the different graffiti styles, and the strategy used to do the big pieces and to tag trains.  


Since my days living in Venice Beach California, I have always been drawn to graffiti. The colors, the styles and the mystery of how it takes place. That curiosity found my self wandering the streets of Athens mesmerized by all of the graffiti. I stumbled on a "graffiti shop". A shop that supplies high end spray paints and supplies to the street artists. After convincing the store owner that I was not a cop, and that I wanted to learn more about the graffiti world in Athens. He agreed to introduce me the following morning to the hottest young graffiti artist in town, Asod.


Together Asod and I walked, ran, rode buses and trains and weaved in and out of ghetto neighborhoods looking at graffiti. The whole time he would be telling me about the various artists, crews, styles etc. One of the most interesting stories was how they disable the train systems electric to shut it down for a few minutes to do a piece. In the same story he shared that one of his mates died last month being run over by a train because he did no stop painting in time as the train started up again.


 The graffiti in Athens is sometimes dark and sends a strong message of the current situation in the city. One difference between a "normal" artist and a street "writer" is that a normal artist may work on a piece for weeks in the secure comfort of the studio. A street writer averages 5 minutes or less on a piece with the threat of being caught at any moment and going to jail, or get run over by a train. This is the buzz for the street "writers"...


Enjoy the photos.... Love it or hate it...it is ART!

Three Somali Pirates Face Death Penalty Responsible for SV Quest Killings

Three Somali Pirates Face Death Penalty Saturday, 9 July 2011

Three of the suspected Somali pirates alleged to be responsible for their part in the death of four US citizens onboard the US yacht, SV Quest, are facing the death penalty; according to press reports from Saturday, 9 July. It was reported that Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nuraniu Shiekh Abrar were originally charged with piracy and kidnapping which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. However, a new indictment against the suspects carries fresh charges alleging that the suspects were directly responsible for the death of the US sailors. The new charges carry the death penalty, and the suspects face arraignment on 20 July. SV Quest was hijacked approximately 400 nm east of Salalah on 18 February with four US citizens onboard. A boarding team from a US frigate was dispatched on 22 February when gunfire originating from onboard the yacht was heard. However, when the team was able to board SV Quest, they discovered that all the hostages had been shot. Four pirates lost their lives during the incident and a number of pirates were detained. Eleven other suspects involved in the hijacking have reportedly pleaded guilty to piracy which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Facebook!

My blog writing has take a back seat to the ease of quick posts on Facebook!

This site is evolving into more of a photo journal and Facebook is taking its place for easy and random text updates to friends and family.

If you are enjoying the photos and would like to know when I update them and follow my sailing travels feel free to add me as a FB friend at Timothy J Forderer.  Just send a message with the friend add request that you are following the Photo Journal.

Thanks!
www.facebook.com

Pirate attacks hit an all-time high worldwide

Piracy hit an all-time high worldwide in the first three months of 2011 led by a surge in incidents off the coast of Somalia.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42584628/ns/world_news-africa/from/toolbar

Pacific Ocean Navigation Hazzard

Massive floating rubbish islands from Japan tsunami spotted on Pacific

Massive floating rubbish islands of houses, cars and bodies almost 70 miles in length from the Japanese tsunami are causing chaos in the shipping lanes of the Pacific Ocean as it heads for the west coast of the United States.

Cars, tractors, boats and the occasional entire house have been spotted floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the aftermath of the March 11 Japanese tsunami triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

The largest "island" of debris stretches 60 nautical miles (69 miles) in length and covers an expanse of more than 2.2 million square feet, according to the US Navy's 7th Fleet, which is closely monitoring the floating rubbish.

"It is very large and it's a maritime hazard," Lieutenant Anthony Falvo, deputy public affairs officer for the US Navy's 7th Fleet, told the Daily Telegraph.

"The damage it can cause is anything from piercing the hull of a ship to leaving dents or getting wrapped up in propulsion systems."

Experts have reportedly estimated that it could take up to two years for the floating tsunami debris to hit Hawaii and three years for the West Coast.

The US navy is currently working with civilian construction companies from Japan on attempts to start removing the floating debris from the ocean.

Read the rest of this article at The Telegraph.

Yacht Aid Global - Video

YachtAid Global
http://vimeo.com/20002328

About this video:
"The mission of YachtAid Global is to use luxury yachts to move school and medical supplies to locations worldwide that need the help. We engage Captain, Crew, Owners and Guest to meet our objectives. Produced by Praxis Universal."

Nice mention of Vivid and Yacht Aid Global's Komodo Village School Fence project. (about 1 minute into video)

YachtAid Global from Praxis Universal on Vimeo.

Piracy strikes close

It is with great sadness that I learned about the SY Quest crew.  This hits very close to home.  The SY Quest was anchored 300 meters from us three weeks ago prior to there departure for Salah.  The Adam's where members of the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey where I was sailing out of for years while living in Los Angeles.  

The piracy situation in the Indian Ocean has become extreme in the past three months with the area of attacks increasing to the shores of India, and more importantly the tactics used now include attacking private yachts and killing crew.  This has many yachts that I have personally talked with in the past few weeks abandoning there sailing plans for going west and shipping their vessels.

Pirates Kill Four Captives Onboard Hijacked SV Quest Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Pirates onboard the hijacked yacht, SV Quest, killed all four of its captives in the early hours of Tuesday, February 22, according to a statement from the US Central Command. SV Quest was hijacked by pirates approximately 400 nm east of Salalah on February 18 as she was underway from Mumbai to Salalah with four US citizens onboard; Jean and Scott Adam, and Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle. According to the US Central Command statement, four US frigates were assigned as a response force to aid the stricken yacht;USS Enterprise, USS Leyte Gulf, USS Sterett and USS Bulkeley. It was reported that one of these frigates had been tracking SV Quest since she was hijacked.

Mumbai, India

We are in Mumbai India now and it is a real shocker.  Unlike anyplace that I have been.  I have been fortunate to travel and get in deep to many remote places, but this is different.  The wide spread poverty is hard to digest.  The general overcrowding of people.  The infrastructure reminds me of Cuba, A place that once was grand and then was left to decay with no maintenance or upgrades. 

There are 20 million people in Mumbai (Bombay) India, and 4 million are homeless.  To put that in perspective; in the whole country of Australia there are 21 million people and Australia is the size of all of India.

Life is very much "in your face".  Yelling, pushing, begging, touting, if you have personal space issues - this is not the place for you!  Driving is insane, I would not even think of renting a car or motor bike here.  It is common practice to use your horn as much as you use your brake pedal and it is grid lock stop and go traffic here with incessant horns.  It can drive you mental after about a 15 minute taxi ride.  The accepted practice if there is a car crash is that you get out and beat the person that was wrong.  Makes me wonder if California was on to something with "No Fault Insurance".  The hustling, scamming and touts ashore wear you down.  The Lonely Planet warns of scams to lure you to a family restaurant, drug you and then steal your vital organs for resale on the market.  Nice.  

It is like a scene out of a disaster movie, how the world tries to cope after being nuked.  It is the worst place I have ever seen for negative impact on the environment.

Indonesian Yachting's Banyan Tree Award's 2010

I am very honored to have received The Indonesian Yachting Associations - Banyan Tree Award for Captain of the Year. CONGRATULATIONS to all the award winners, I am humbled to be in your company!  Keep up the GOOD WORKS in Indonesia!!!!

22 November 2010 - Banyan Tree Awards 2010 winners announced

the Indonesia Superyacht Association has announced the 2010 winners of their annual Banyan Tree Awards. The Banyan Tree Awards are presented annually to companies or individuals who provide exceptional service and commitment to the superyacht industry within Indonesia. Awards were handed out in five categories at the recent BaliMoon Superyacht Rendezvous held in Bali, Indonesia. Categories cover Superyacht of the Year, Captain of the Year, Charity Personality of the Year, Service Provider of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement award.  Captain Ralph Lucas receives Seljm's award, presented by ISA chair,  Dewi Wati Annalisah Superyacht of the Year went to S/Y Seljm for exceptional commitment to charities during their third circumnavigation of the Globe and in particular to Yacht Aid Global and a local soccer team in Lovina, North Bali. The award was accepted by Captain Ralph Lucas on behalf of Captain Steve Ray. Dewi Wati Annalisah presents Nila Tanzil with Tim Forderer's award  for Captain of the Year Captain of the Year went to Tim Forderer of S/Y Vivid, represented by Nila Tanzil, for his continuing support of remote village school, Arte Moris in Dili, East Timor and his Do What You Love high-school presentations.  Tanzil received an award herself for Charity Personality of the Year for her work as founder of the Rainbow Reading Gardens project that creates small reading libraries in remote villages to encourage leisure reading outside of school hours.