So, does this make me a volunteer?

Patagonia is certainly on to something, why a living wage makes sense, and in the "it's just not right" department...

Today's Archdruid report actually made me catch my breath with two words from the title...

"Involuntary Simplicity"

Adding the word "involuntary" to the word "simplicity" makes a world of difference and, as someone who is hopefully making strides towards a more simple lifestyle, it made me sit up and take notice.

For instance, there's a huge difference between choosing to go engineless and being forced to go engineless beause your engine packed up and died. The person who chooses to go engineless is prepared, one way or another, to deal with such things as no wind, lee shores, and suchlike. On the other hand, the guy who uses his engine on a regular basis find the loss of said engine disruptive at best...

A lot of people tend to shy away from simpler boats or boat systems because they tend to think of them as doing without needful things rather than the act of simply losing things they don't really need at all.

Listening to Bob Delevante

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For boatbound guitar and bass players only...

Some worrisome skullduggery, one third is a frelling scary number, and just how is this surprising...

Now this is one seriously boat-friendly amp...



More info can be found over at Roland.

Listening to my favorite Jesse Winchester song

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so, about that "F" word...

Something important you need to read about Ebola, about that white privilege, and Ian Welsh offers some good advice...

The other day I was watching yet another politician playing the fear con and it occurred to me that the word "fear" doesn't get used all that much in spite of the fact that we've been fed an almost steady diet of ersatz fear-inducing crap for the last fifteen years.

Fear is actually a healthy emotion... A couple of weeks back when Invest 90L popped up out of nowhere it gave me a serious jolt of stomach churning, iced bowels, and pissing your pants fear. Yeah, way past Spidey sense because I knew that 90L was a serious threat. The next forecast and the more reliable computer models show it would track right over us which increased the fear level a notch and we got into big-storm-come-soon mode.

Trust me, fear is a pretty awesome motivator to get your shit together which is hardly surprising as that's what it's for.

Luckily (for us) the storm edged a bit north (but still within the forecast cone) and Gonzalo never even touched us. Of course, just a hundred miles away St Martin got nailed and, judging from the number of ill prepared boats wrecked, too few people were afraid enough to get sorted out and that might have let them fare better.

"Fear" is an emotion that is there for a reason but, sadly, it has been corrupted to the point that a lot of folks now concentrate on nonexistent threats and ignore the sort of thing that's coming right at you with your name written all over it.

Then again, with so many pseudo reasons for fear like those pesky Islamic State Ebola carriers sneaking over the Texas border to steal your trick and treat candy and other such drivel, it's hard to tell the difference. Maybe it's needful to reacquaint yourself with what threats are real, which ones are not, and then learn to embrace and listen to the fear when it speaks rather than be controlled by it.

Listening to Jesse Winchester

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a design for limited mobility...

This is kind of interesting, 50-billion dollars in theft but no one's doing any jail time, so much for the bad apple conundrum, and the world just became a little less because Jack Bruce is no longer with us...

Here's a seriously neat design.


Hope 28' : l'espoir de l'handi-voile by vlydtv

More information over at Nautical Trek


Listening/watching Cream



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Not just any chicken...

Very much worth a watch, I'm pretty sure the phrase "Read it and weep" is an apt description, and a last blast from the ever great Johnny Winter...





Listening to Johnny Winter

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a good read...

A depressing trend, a little good news, and in the "Not Holding My Breath" department...

The new issue of Yachting Monthly is well worth checking out...

They had me at the "Why all boats still need a leadline-and how to use it" article

Listening to David Pramik cover U2

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Something that should be on your must watch list...

A bit of worthwhile reading, something that bears repeating, and since fear is good for profits why not pump it up to make a buck...


Red Dot on the Ocean - Trailer from TheSailingChannel.TV on Vimeo.

Listening to Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas

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On developing your DIY skills...

The sort of man we can't afford to lose, getting warmer, and one step closer...

Friends of ours recently had a rudder failure and it cost them $14K for a shop to repair it which, however you look at it, is a lot of money for some fiberglass/epoxy, a bit of foam, and some stainless steel pipe. The new rudder for "So It Goes" is budgeted at less than $500 for the same matrix of materials but then I work for free.

Admittedly, their boat is bigger but not all that much bigger and the bulk of that heart stopping yard bill is simple labor and mark up... Or, should I just say lots of markup.

For a bit of mind-expanding tomfoolery, next time you're in a yard ask the guy who's working on your boat what he's getting paid as an hourly wage and then deduct that number from what you're getting billed hourly for labor... It might teach you a valuable lesson. Then again, it also might make your head explode so consider yourself warned.

In the mean and lean times of a waning 2014, DIY is even more a survival skill rather than just messing about in boats...

Listening to Jefferson Airplane

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What we're watching...

A bit of needful perspective, some good news on the Ebola front, and John Oliver has a solution to a problem...



You can find more here.

Listening to Jo Jo Gunne

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They might be on to something...

Someone not doing their job, someone making a lot of sense, and, just maybe, the stupidest man in American politics (so what does that say about us that he's there?)...

Has anyone else noticed some positive changes over at the West Marine website recently? They now have a cruising oriented section which has what looks to be the start of a good thing. While you're there be sure to check out their Cruising TV section which seems to be the real plus in the new mix...

I'd like to see more of this sort of thing.

Listening to Jo Jo Gunne

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The verdict is in...

The question of the day, this is awesome, and some really scary shit...

So, I've been reading the new edition of "Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding" and, while little has changed from the previous edition, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that it deserves a space on your bookshelf right next to the old one.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed at the outset because a few things I consider important like references to materials pricing and suchlike... Seriously, what stuff costs today is of vital importance to anyone building a boat and what stuff cost in 1990 is, at best, confusing. Or that a lot of the ideas Buehler had floated in the first edition like roofing tar composite and other various ways around marine materials were not answered or updated. Really, you'd think in nearly twenty-five years you would have thought that someone might have actually used or at least done some testing to see just how viable some of those ideas were.

That said, a couple of hours' research on your own will tell you that prices on everything you need to build a boat has gone through the roof and, as far as Buehler's various "ideas", you'll just have to do them and see what happens. My take on his various "cunning plans" is that they are all grounded in common sense and should work just fine as my personal experiments with formply have have shown me that they work finestkind.

One of the many boats with complete plans in the book

The best thing about the book, for me at least, is you get a lot of free plans that you can actually build a boat from and the ability to study real complete plan sets is truly helpful. Plus, you can always just build a boat if you want to...

So yeah, well worth the cost of admission.

Listening to Little Feat

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The day after nothing much happened...

On the not-too-distant-future in progress, something to keep in mind, and a little situational awareness...

Hurricane Gonzalo never actually dropped by...

Considering the number of boats who had not made any real preparations I'd say that's more of a deities protect children, fools, and drunks result rather than any sort of deserved divine intervention.

Listening to Jon Pousette-Dart

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Just another day in paradise...

I suspect that this will make some folk's heads explode, one might ask how stupid are we in the US of A, and Dave Z has a good cause he wants to tell you about...

Let it be said that you can never have too many anchors or too much chain... Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to put some anchors down.

Listening to Lucinda Williams

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Speaking of boats of the year and all that...

Depressing news, someone making a lot of sense, and how about humiliating your pet in aid of a good cause...

So, Voile magazine seems to think the the new Mojito 888 is the boat of the year. They just might be right.

In a bigger more expensive world it's nice to see someone pointing out that smaller makes sense as well.

What I like about it is that the Mojito is really just a simple boat done well...

I'm still of two minds about the integrated dinghy garage as it uses a hellacious amount of stowage space which, from where I sit, is some kind of problematic in a sub 9-meter boat.

What does impress me is how wonderfully simple and clean translates into a bright livable interior...

For those with some time there are a lot of good ideas floating around this interior.

The downside of this boat is it's price... At about 92,000 Euros ($116,155.52) that's pretty expensive simplicity.

Listening to Bonnie Raitt & David Lindley

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Ahead of the trend...

Not just another story about black lung, what I'm really worried about, and Sailing Anarchy has something you should know about...

Say what you will about the French but, if you take a look at recent history where yacht design and trends are concerned, you'd find it difficult to argue against the fact that the French are ahead of the curve design wise. Want to know what's going to be hip in American boats in 2018-21 you might want to check out what's getting attention in France today.


Voilier de l'Ann�e Voile Magazine 2015 by voile-magazine

Listening to Lucinda Williams

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stripey legged little suckers everywhere I go...

This from NOAA is pretty interesting, while this a bit droll, and some good thinking about our Ebola problem...

A couple days back we were on the phone with a charter company we deal with in the BVI and everyone except the person on the phone was home sick with Dengue fever. Meanwhile a captain in the Grenadines on a boat we're chartering for a client has been down sick with Chickungunya and we're hearing rumors that Malaria might be back in play down Antigua way.

A big part of the problem down here is that most (if not all) Caribbean nations have had a "pretend mosquito-borne illnesses don't exist" agenda because it might scare away the tourists. Which, of course, made things worse by not addressing the problem. Spray for mosquitos and someone might think you're doing it because you have a problem so best not to. So much easier to simply not report any cases...

Nets and repellent are today's mantra...

Listening to Shovels & Rope

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Some seriously good thinking in action...

Not the most uplifting read to start your day, how doing the right thing can pay off in a big way, and in the "this video will destroy your faith in humanity" department...

Colligo has a great idea...



More info at Colligo.

Listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard

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Something that may be of interest...

This just might hurt gun sales, lots of BS on the Ebola front recently, and have you noticed how warm and caring a certain political party is getting lately...

I was a little surprised how much positive input I got from the post about the little cat from Eric Henseval... Obviously a niche folks are interested in.

As it happens, James Wharram has something new as well...

The Mana 24.

Seriously cool and well worth checking out.

Listening to Dexys Midnight Runners

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In the expecting great thing department..

Baby Doc passes away, the Coasties rescue an idiot, and some scary reading well worth your time...

George Buehler has a new book coming out in the next few days and I'm very much looking forward to reading it.

As in really, really looking forward to reading it.

More about it after I've had a chance to read it...

Listening to Madeleine Peyroux

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A pretty good idea...

You might need a strong drink after reading this, now this, on the other hand, should scare some politicians shitless, and over here, some sense being made...

Here's a good idea and Kickstarter campaign that you might want to support...



Nuff said.

Listening to the Texas Tornados

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A pretty neat boat...

Somewhat nervous making, an interview with Lucinda Williams, and a good point being made...

There's a lot to be said for plywood.



Listening to Red Molly

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