Paul J. Lagassey - Personal Pages
(Last Updated – January 8, 2009)
Contact Me:
P.O. Box 643207, Vero Beach, FL 32964
772-231-1449 (Office) - 772-492-5029 (Fax)Email: Paul@Lagassey.com
Curriculum Vitae
Resume for the English speaking :)
NEW (January 2009)
You can’t get there from here (user name and password required)
My cousin Luc Gagnon, .asp programmer extraordinaire, created a webpage for me that strips relevant weather charts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather fax chart pages. This makes for a quick and easy download of relevant charts while at sea from the low-bandwidth Internet connection of the ships satellite phone. The charts on this page cover the West Atlantic from the Caribbean to the Canadian Maritimes, and we refer to them at least daily during a blue water crossing. My charts page is an excellent resource for anyone making voyages in these waters. At the top of the charts page are fields where we can log our position and comments (please don’t touch the “Submit” button). Friends and family can go to the map and log pages where we are and how we’re doing. On the last trip in November 2007, this alleviated much anxiety for family back home. The log would also be a good resource for search and rescue if something ever should go wrong. Charts Page 2 is a page I created myself in Notepad (Notepad is a great .html editor) for use in planning trips before setting sail. Most of the charts on this page are too large to download from a typical satellite phone. The Navy Weather links on this page are a particularly good resource – the wind and seas forecast extends out for a week and is typically reliable. And here are my weather favorites, added earlier this year.
I found some old LP records that my parents used to listen to. A couple of French Canadian comics from the early 1960's (Lucien Boyer and Les Cyniques a la Comedie Canadian), and some Guy Lombardo (from the 1930's) and Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass (from the 1960's). I digitized them and placed them here for all to enjoy.
I like to travel, and particularly enjoy sailing and the outdoors. My picture pages include pictures from many of my sail trips as well as some pictures I’ve taken hiking and horseback riding. Also there are some pictures and movies taken during and after some of the hurricanes that have hit Vero Beach in the past two years. .
Here are a few of my favorite pictures:
Formerly from my home page - Self portrait – June 2003 - Taken from the mast of the SV Nomad (about 65’)
bas du Fort Marina, Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe - somebody has to change the light bulbs up there.
I took Mom to Quebec City for her 80th birthday. We had lunch in a nice restaurant at Le Chateau Frontenac. I surprised her with a birthday cheese cake. The Frontenac is the premier hotel in Quebec City. This old building overlooking the St. Lawrence River has lots of character. After lunch, we took a guided tour of the hotel and grounds.
This is Dad when he was about my age (mid-to-late 40’s), taken at Pratt & Whitney Tool & Gage in West Hartford, CT (different company than Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, CT). Here he was testing an air gage he helped build and assemble. This gage tested television picture tubes. Based on the pressure air pressure readings, the gage could determine if a picture tube was within the specified tolerances suitable for shipping. Dad was trained as a watchmaker after World War II, and was adept at working with small parts. After leaving the jewelry business in the early 1950’s, he worked at manufacturing air gages until his retirement. He was capable of drilling air nozzles from pieces of metal the size of pencil lead, using Swiss drills the size of human hair, and rarely, if ever broke a drill. I watched him do it many times; he had just the right touch.
Mom and I in spring 2004. Mom was 78 when we took this picture at my aunt’s house in Repentigny, Quebec (east of Montreal)
From left to right, my cousin Ginette, myself, Mom, and her older brother Maurice Gagnon. This photo was taken in July 2007 at the reception after my uncle Maurice Bergeron’s memorial service.
My cousin Doris at Mom’s place, August, 2007.
Sailing back from Halifax – August 2004 – On watch and finally in range of a cell tower. Hello – Can anybody hear me?
Promoting my HatLights – Great Harbour, Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands – after arriving from Bermuda – November 2007
Sailing from St. Barths to Saba – March 2008 (credit Sue LaFrance) – That’s me coming out of the hatch.
Snorkeling – Wells Bay, Island of Saba, March 2008
Self-portrait taken from the top of the Barbour Bridge – June 2007. I live on the barrier island in Vero Beach. Everything is flat in most of Florida – no hills. I like to walk over the bridge because it's the only hill around. It’s three miles round trip. From the top, you get a great view of the ocean, and you can sometime see dolphin swimming below you in the Indian River.
Space Shuttle launch as seen from the bridge – June 8, 2007
My dear friend George & I – July 2007
My friend Raffi & I walking in the reservoir in West Hartford, CT. Raffi quit smoking and drinking and we got some good exercise that day climbing up a steep hill. From the top, you can see the whole Connecticut River Valley – more pictures of this spot in my main pictures page.
My cat Lola and her third litter of kittens – 2006. One more after this and we closed the factory. The one on the left and the one in the front center (Bloom & Rosie) went to my niece & nephew Michelle and Mark Gagnon, in Ontario. It was an adventure flying to Vermont with two kittens then crossing the border. Bloom is doing well, but sad to say Rosie died prematurely after being struck by a car. Lola is doing well, along with my other two cats, Tigger and Pretty Girl.
This is my cat Callie and her first litter. Callie was the first born of Lola’s first litter. When she was born, the sac was stuck on her head. I removed it and got her breathing, so we had a special bond. I kept Spot (on the right) for a while. My friend Callie (coincidence on the name) lived here for a while when she was between apartments, and she bonded with Spot, so I gave him to her. Callie (the cat) hasn’t been seen since July 2007. I think she became diner for one of the local bobcats (:
Reindeer Car – a little fun for the holidays – December 2007
Sunset – St. Barths, March 2008 (credit Sue LaFrance)
More pictures on my pictures page – many more!
To protect the privacy of family and close relatives, some family pictures are maintained in private pages. These pages require a user name and password. Friends and family can email me to get your own user name and password if you don’t already have one. If you have a user name and password for these pages, then click here for access.