From Steve Weigelt
MMSD Crew
George Sutherland started it! Last November during the annual sail of Star of India, George showed up with his forearms sporting the latest in spiffy tattoo-ology. These masterpieces were painstakingly crafted using the finest Sharpie and bore a striking resemblance to the anchors adorning his hero Popeye's forearms!
George's artwork had so impressed me that I was green with envy and I wanted more than ever to have an anchor tattoo of my own! Of course, it would never be the equal to the original, but I had to try.
Fisherman's Warf in Monterey is adjacent to the original Customs House used to access taxes on goods arriving in Monterey. On one end of the structure there is a large bronze anchor with a placard saying its origin was unknown, but the anchor had been retrieved from the bay in 1944. This anchor appears to have been originally fitted with a wooden stock that had long since decayed away. On seeing this anchor I was reminded of George's tats and the lust began again!
I sought the help of Chari Wessel to render a sketch of this and any other noteworthy anchor to be found in Monterey. Chari was up to the task and in a short time she had located three potential candidates and provided drawings of each. This led to a field trip to view the candidates. My favorite turned out to be located at the USCG Station Monterey.
Armed with photos and sketches I was off to find a tattoo studio in Monterey. My fingers walked thru the yellow pages and located two within walking distance of Fisherman's Warf (go figure).
Ross Grajewski is a talented young artist working at Creative Visions on Lighthouse Ave. in Monterey. Ross, a former Marine sniper (1998-2002) was very helpful in providing suggestions as to how to accomplish my vision (I decided not to argue with him!). Thankfully,
Ross came thru with a beautiful anchor tattoo I will be proud to show. Thank you, George! Now all I have to do is convince my wife, Laura, that this is her 31st anniversary gift from me (I'm at sea and she is having dinner with friends). Wish me luck!
Mike says "I went all the way to San Francisco on the Californian and all I got was this crummy tattoo!
Posts
