Something worth watching...

Some needful reading, a sad story involving a man with penis/manhood issues, and in the "I didn't really need anything else to worry about department"...

A video a reader turned me on to he thought other Boat Bits readers would like...


Gyrecraft from Studio Swine on Vimeo.

Listening to The Lone Bellow

So it goes...

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about that fear factor...

Some more folks on sailboats who happen to be Firefly fans, the Rude Pundit making some sense, and something about two 14-year olds lost at sea...

Chuck Wendig (an author well worth reading) has a very good take on fear that you really should read and, while not so much about boats, cruising, and suchlike, it really does have everything to do with boats, cruising, and suchlike.

Go read it.

Listening to Tracy Bonham

So it goes...

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OK, I admit I'm at a loss...

An island of interest, a question of justice, and in the "outrageous" department...

Has anyone seen a really clever (dare I say cunning?) method of stowing a pair of bikes on a sub forty-foot sailboat?

If so, care to share?

Listening to a bunch of Rolling Stones covers

So it goes...

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Some Saturday surf...

A most excellent reply to a guy with some serious issues, just another unhinged lunatic, and a fact you might want to consider...


"LEMONYIP LIVIN" Official Film 2014 from Owen Milne Media on Vimeo.

Listening to Have Gun, Will Travel

So it goes...

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a shift away from solitude...

The rewards of being a drug dealer, what the clothes you wear actually cost, and if this does not set off your Spidey sense to 11 you might want to go see a doctor...

Things keep changing.

I suppose that's just a fact of life and at a certain age one does tend to view change in a negative light but still... I'm just not seeing this as a positive trend in cruising.

Listening to Fishbone

So it goes...

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Note to self: need to get some popcorn...

Orlov's on a roll, something very interesting, and the same old same yacht racing stupidity from a race that I expect better of...

A film you might want to keep an eye out for.



Listening to Ben Bullington

So it goes...

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On the subject of expansion in a contracting world...

A question, apparently, that needed asking, real numbers seldom lie, and something you may need to think about...

Listening to the Governor of the USVI on the radio this morning talking about local economics and turning St Thomas into a big shopping mall was quite interesting and got me thinking long and hard about how a lot of what some people think is just seriously batshit crazy.

And we're not talking the good kind of batshit crazy.

On the other hand, maybe it's me who's a few sanwiches short of a picnic and  the best way to get out of crippling debt is to borrow more rather than live within one's means.

Listening to PK Dwyer

So it goes...

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TFH

This may make you sick to your stomach, a question of note, and it's hard being a clown these days...

Some time ago (20-30 years or so I suspect) I saw a clever idea in Practical Boat Owner for a boarding step that hooked over your toerail that you could make with some scrap plywood. It was a good idea, easy/quick to build, and wouldn't set you back much more than $10 in today's world.

So, it was with some interest I saw that in the new Cruising World they had a blurb about a "new" product that was a simple boarding step that hooked over your toerail and looked not a whole lot different than the PBO DIY sort...

Of course, the difference is that the one Cruising World is pimping costs $299. Think about that for a moment or two.

OK, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and admit that aluminum costs more than some plywood scrap you have laying around but looking at my favorite purveyor of metal for boat projects, Online Metal Supply, I find that the needful square tube, channel, and plate would cost me around $20... Throw in another $10 for fastenings, a couple of hours with a hacksaw/drill, and hey presto you have yourself a reasonable facsimile of a "$299 boarding step".

That said, I'd go with the cheaper plywood version... Wouldn't you?

I don't really need a boarding step but I mention this because it's just another example of people making products and pricing them, apparently, using the "People who buy stuff for their boats are stupid and we can jack the price sky high" equation. So, today's mantra is...



"Too Fucking High"

Listening to Gene Jr and the Family

So it goes...

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a quick thought on tools and toys...

A cost of bad policing, something you need to read, and NASA doing it right...

The other day I was looking at the interior of a nice yacht with a lot of beautiful interior wood, lush fabrics, and a lust inspiring media center focused around a 66" ultra-HD 4K video screen and it inspired two cascading thoughts...

"Boy, I'd love to hang out in this boat"

and...

"What a horridly unseamanlike interior for a cruising boat"

Sadly, I find this is pretty much my reactions to most newer designs I look at these days which all seem great on comfort to the Nth degree but are sadly lacking in the practical needs of someone cruising in the real world.

Maybe it's the fact that today cruising boats are thought of as toys rather than tools while a generation ago it was all about being a tool and not a toy...

Listening to Lydia Loveless

So it goes...

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Some seriously good news...

There be bigots assholes in Dent County Missouri, just some welfare for rich folks, and I'm not quite sure the military and I share the same definition of the word humane...

I've never been a big fan of carrying around a lot of pyrotechnics as things designed to explode/burn on a boat just make me nervous. A feeling underlined over the years by a too large number of incidents where flares became part of the problem rather than the solution.

Truth be told, flares scare me.

Then there's the ongoing need to replace your flares every couple of years... Yeah, I know flares have a three year lifespan but, try as I may, whenever I find myself needing to buy flares I only seem to be able to find flares with eighteen months or so validity.

Have I mentioned that flares are silly expensive?

So, in the "it's about frelling time" department...

... Finally an electric flare that is USCG approved (and yes I know it looks like a man-overboard light).

The good news is from here on this is the only night signal you need to carry and combined with a distress flag as your day signal (which comes with the Sirius flare) it's all you need to be 100% street legal with the USCG and other powers that be.

But wait... It gets better!

The Sirius electric flare is not "dated" with an expiry date which means the only thing you need to replace is the c-cell batteries when needful. That said, if you lose or screw it up you can order a replacement and get it shipped to you by the US Mail or something similar.

Of course I saved the best for last... It only costs $99!

Doing the happy dance...

Listening to Chuck Johnson

So it goes...

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A surfboard for Saturday...

Henry Rollins making a whole lot of sense, something of a needful read, and just in case you were wondering why Wall Street crooks don't go to jail...




Listening to Whitey Morgan & the 78's

So it goes...

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A significant accomplishment...

Nice truck/nice neighborhood but not so much the neighbors, a little bit of good news, and, just maybe, a serious contender for the worst person in the US of A...

The Eco Sailing project with, I believe, the first electric propulsion sailboat through the Panama canal.



Listening to JJ Grey & Mofro

So it goes..

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This would make sense in your pocket...

Dick Dorworth talking about a book of interest, in the "white and wealthy" department, and someone making a lot of sense...

This...



 ...is just very smart

Listening to Jerry Jeff Walker

So it goes...

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A quick look at some numbers...

Krugman asks a question, news that will make you want to repeatedly bash your head against a bulkhead, and in the "things that glow in the dark department"...

The other day I was looking at the changes of population in the Caribbean and it was/is depressing reading.

For instance, here's the population stats for the USVI but if you bother to look into the rest of the Caribbean you're going to see the same story played out...

Year	Pop.	�%
1901	30,527	�
1911	27,086	-11.3%
1917	26,051	-3.8%
1930	22,012	-15.5%
1940	24,889	+13.1%
1950	26,665	+7.1%
1960	32,099	+20.4%
1970	62,468	+94.6%
1980	96,569	+54.6%
1990	101,809	+5.4%
2000	108,612	+6.7%
2010	106,405	-2.0%

Scary numbers when you think about it. An even scarier number is that in 2008 the population density was measured at 162 people per square kilometer.

The increased population combined with a unsustainable economy, an infrastructure way past its sell-by date, and a total lack of anyone in power actually doing anything remotely constructive to fix things does not a pretty picture make.

Or, to put it in common parlance, it's all going to hell in a turbo charged wicker basket. So, if you plan to visit and cruise down here I'd do it sooner rather than later...

Listening to Greg Trooper

So it goes...

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Dumb and dangerous...

This sort of leaves a nasty aftertaste, about those boat people, and just how do you lampoon this sort of shit...

It's the D&D day again... So, try not to blow up, burn down, or otherwise let things get out of hand while listening to our founding fathers spin like tops in their graves.

Listening to Caleb Caudle

So it goes...

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Why you might want to dust off your sextant...

A piece of the puzzle, an interesting discussion, and in the "not spontaneous combustion" department...

Over at Just an Earth Bound Misfit ( a blog you should really be reading) there's an interesting bit about the return of LightSquared to the playing field that you need to read and check out the provided links.

Since soulless greed has an annoying habit of trumping common sense these days you might want to work on your celestial navigation skills... Just in case.



Listening to Your Heart Breaks

So it goes...

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I suppose it was just a matter of time...

Just plain barbaric, how clean air is not as important as profits, and, if you happen to need some wedding photography, you might want to check out these folks...

Till someone came up with a nautical version of Jam in the Van...


Boating with Clyde Episode #1: Peanut Buzzers and Jammin' with Angelo Spencer et Les Hauts Sommets from Do it for the girls on Vimeo.

Listening to the guy in the boat

So it goes...

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So, what do you really get for that extra $425K?

Very interesting, well worth a read, and a good point being made...

Reading a recent issue of Sail magazine I was admiring the look of the new Rustler 36 and, thinking to myself, what a nice cruising boat it would be. Well, right up till the point that I saw it was around $450K for a "sailaway" version.

Which is not to say that the Rustler is not a very, very nice boat but an over half-million dollar, old-school design boat by the time you get it off the dock for something that performs like and will take you to the same places as an old CAL 36 (or insert your favorite older classic plastic 36 here) you could buy for less than $15K.

Throw in a smart $10K bespoke refit and anchor it next to the Rustler 36 and 99% of folks who dinghy by wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two...

Maybe it's just me but I just can't see any way that extra $425K spent would make my life any better.

Just saying.

Listening to a hurdy-gurdy man...

So it goes...

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Just kinda neat...

David Simon gets it so right, a little ray of hope, and a bit of happy dancing...


Scotch Bright Board Art - Surf Sufficient from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

Listening to a whole lot of Red Rhodes

So it goes...

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Some common sense amidst the consumerism...

A couple of very good points, a bit of truth in advertising, and in the "if you want a drill, drill em" department...

Deb and TJ (who have the most excellent "The Retirement Project" blog ) sent me a copy of their new book "How Not to Buy a Cruising Boat" which, as it happens, is also now available as a KINDLE book.

Now, as a general rule, I'm not a big fan of what passes for "How-To" books of the sailing/cruising variety these days. The problem is they're either just rehashed clones of books that are already on my book shelf or a concoction of recipes of how to throw money at stuff and buy needless shit. So, I'll be honest and admit I wasn't exactly excited by the prospect of reading HNTBACB if it was the same old same.

So, here's the short form good news... It's a good book and if you are currently thinking about buying a sailboat to go cruising it's a must read.

The reason it's good is that they did all of the right stuff we're told is needful and still had problems. Which is not to say they did not make some mistakes along the way as well but they had the good sense to learn from them. A surprisingly rare trait in writers dispensing advice of a nautical nature.

Take their issues/problems with some marine tradesmen...

They don't like surveyors. Point of fact; this state of affairs is contrary to most everyone's advice on how to buy a boat. The current accepted carved in granite mindset is that whenever buying a boat you MUST GET A SURVEY! As it happens, I know quite a few surveyors but, then again, I have been known to travel in rather unsavory circles from time to time so hardly surprising. Fact of the matter is that all but one of the surveyors I know are either crooks, incompetent, or a mix of the two... Would I have a beer with them? Sure (though I'd keep my hand on my wallet while I'm doing it). Would I trust them to survey my own boat or a friends? Hell no! Well, actually, if I needed a survey that said my boat was in great shape and worth a shitload of money so I could defraud an insurance company I might (I hear the current going rate for this sort of service is 15% of the take).

Their input on other marine "experts" is also very good.

I have one niggle with the book (which had me throwing my virtual book against the virtual bulkhead several times) which is that some standard false comparisons that everbody uses crept in (the worst being their table comparing dinghies). I also took some issue with their measurement of needed HP for a given boat. That said, they are minor issues.

All in all, it is a very good additon to my book shelf and one I'll be recommending to folks right along with Fatty Goodlanders "Buy, Outfit, & Sail" and Geoff Pack's "Blue Water Countdown".

Listening to some bottom line stuff

So it goes...

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Something you need to read...

Something well worth reading, FYI on appropriate use of language, and an important question you should ask yourself every once in awhile...

In a week with more than its fair share of bad news  a lot of folks have been focused on the loss overboard of Carly Hill of Oryx. Jill from Yacht Mollymawk covers the important stuff better than most and it's really a must read.

Listening to Chicano Batman and digging it

So it goes...

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Here's a project of interest...

John Scalzi making some needful points, a sky pilot getting it right, and Badtux pointing out the obvious...

A long time ago I read the book "Sailing the Farm" by Ken Neumeyer and while there is a lot of good ideas, some excellent information on seaweed and other content of a useful sort, it suffered greatly from the fact that a lot of the projects/ideas were just not practical aboard a boat or, in their current form of evolution, simply did not work. Which is not to say he was not on the right track or his theories were wrong but it was simply not quite ready for prime time.

Tragically, as fate would have it, Ken Neumeyer was never able to write a sequel to "Sailing the Farm" but I'm sure that if he had it would have contained a boat sized, scaled down, and demountable version of something like this solar dehydrator from Mother Earth News.

Actually, maybe it's time to look at "Sailing the Farm" again and see how we can apply current tech and materials...

Listening to The Platters (2015 version)

So it goes...

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It's been a shitty week...

One every 98 minutes is seriously fucked up, something you should know if you plan to cruise Guatemala, and Donkey Mountain makes a good point/prediction...

It's the first day of summer and in France the streets are alive with the sound of music during the F�te de la Musique and I'm well and I'm more than a little depressed.

It's been a horrible week. The sort of week you really just wish you had not read the news at all, topped off by a senseless racist massacre in a church in South Carolina.

Made even worse, if that is even possible, by listening to a clown car of spineless, self-serving politicians running for president and FAUX news say that it wasn't about racism, that there was really no racism in the US of A anymore, and that all things considered it was really the fault of any number of things but certainly had nothing to do with racism or guns.

Yeah right...

Of course, as some folks will no doubt write in and tell me...

 "But that doesn't have anything to do with boats or cruising, it's depressing, so you shouldn't write about this sort of thing"

... Here's the thing, it really does have something to do with boats and cruising because I've been at cruiser get-togethers and had to listen to stupid racist jokes and generally stupid comments of a racial nature far more often than you'd expect in a community that prides itself on being non-racist, open-minded, and welcoming to all...

The sad fact is that overt racism has become so prevalent these days that it's considered normal and when confronted with it instead of doing something about it far too many just pretend it doesn't exist...

But it does and we should all be doing something about it.

Listening to Fortunate Youth

So it goes... 

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An improved winch...

An interesting read that involves a speedboat, some very scary reading, and have you ever wondered about the average IQ of some folks into guns...

On "So It Goes" we have some Barlow winches (a pair of 24's and 26's) which are as old as the boat... Considering that they are at least 46-years old, still working finestkind, and looking like they're up for another 46 years, I don't actually pay much attention to the state-of-the-art of new winches. That said, these winches from Pontus are really interesting.



Watching/listening to Mariachi El Bronx

So it goes...

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Well at least it isn't a cat video...

About that trade deal, in the "I guess assholes just have to be assholes" department, the real question is not who won but who gets the steak knives...




Listening to some Reg Presley/Troggs covers (don't miss the one by the Persuasions)

So it goes...

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A family oriented sailboat...

Some seriously nasty corporate welfare, a ration of expected stupidity, and an interview of sorts that some folks really need to read...

All of a sudden we're surrounded by Morgan Out Islands. It's like being in the middle of a frelling convention.

While I've never been a big fan of Charlie Morgan's "Out Island" series (I think it has something to do with the look of the bow and the fact that I simply do not like center cockpits) but I'll be the first to admit that they make a lot of sense for someone looking for a big bombproof boat on a budget.

Especially the Out Island 41...

For me the main attraction of the boat is that they were well built and seem to be able to survive even the worst sort of abuse... There's a lot to be said for workboat solid. Better yet, as there were over a thousand built, finding a cheap one that needs a little TLC or a fixer-upper is pretty easy.

That said, the OI-41 is a bit more boat than a couple actually needs but it really is just the sort of thing you might want to stick on your shortlist if you were a family...

Then again, most of the OI-41's I seem to come across are crewed by grumpy retired single guys using them like trawlers so what do I know?

Listening to Carolina Story

So it goes...

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A boat stowable jig system...

About Denali, some fiscal clusterfuckery, and a prediction I'd be happy to see come to fruition...

Here's a jig system that would come in very handy for various boat projects...



...and it stows! More info can be found at the Woodpeckers website.

Listening to High Dive Heart

So it goes...

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Of course, you have to see it in boat terms...

On the demise of the bookstore, something from the interesting/worrisome file, and an interesting look at health care in the US of A...

A print ad that speaks volumes.

Listening to Joseph

So it goes...

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A good cause...

Some scary reading, so much for convictions where reality is concerned, and seriously, why would we want some of these folks in office...

Taking a play from the Waves for Water playbook...



Sail for Water is looking for donations so they can distribute water filters where they're needed. It's a good cause and they deserve your support.

That said, if you're a cruising sailor reading this, why not carry a dozen water filters yourself and join in the fun?

Listening to Victor Wainwright & the WildRoots

So it goes...

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Handy this...

Some politicians earning their salaries, needful reading, and Amanda Palmer getting it right...



Listening to an album load of Bob Marley covers

So it goes...

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Something worth doing...

A possible felon for President, something about some folks with penis issues, and thinking globally...

Turned off by the cruising rally thing?

Does the idea of sailing in company doing something that would make the world a better place with like minds appeal?

Maybe you need to check this out...

Listening to Scary Little Friends

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Doing it old school...

Seriously heinous, following the money, and some Maker Faire (and yes dear reader there is a trebuchet!!!) goodness...

Yesterday I was working on the deck when a boat motored up beside me and asked where we were... Which is not a question you get asked a lot these days in a world where GPS is commonplace.

So, I told him the name of the anchorage...

He then asked, "What island?"...

I told him St Croix...

"But where is Tortola?"

I pointed...

"How far is it?"...

"About 41 miles"...

"That's a long way"...

"What course should I steer?"

"Six degrees should get you there"

"My compass doesn't work, can you point me in the right direction?"

So I pointed then went back to the job at hand and when I next looked up he was no longer in sight...

Listening to Love and the Zealous

So it goes...

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Looking at a boat not a reputation...

Not exactly a surprise, just the same old same security theater, and there seems to be a lot of disappointment going round...

Of late in the neighborhood there seems to be a plethora of Hunter 33 & 34's for sale at fairly reasonable ($10-15K) prices...

Now, I'll go out on a limb here and mention that while all the hip folk would never be seen dead in a Hunter that, by and large, they really are not a bad boat at all.

Which is not to say that I don't think Hunter made some bad or iffy decisions design-wise over the years but, then again, I could say that about just about any company building boats over the last few decades has had more than their fair share of "Seemed like a good idea at the time" episodes.

I know that my saying Hunters are a boat you might want to consider will unleash a lot of mail recounting horror stories about poorly built sailboats coming to grief and dire warnings that Hunter's are just not "Blue Water capable"  mostly from folks who'd never actually sailed a Hunter but did have a friend who once talked to a guy who had a friend who met a guy with some problems...

The thing to keep in mind is that while Hunter's somewhat negative reputation is not really deserved, neither are some of the wonderful reputations of some boats because they're based on the same sort of misinformation, hearsay, and opinion little of which has any resemblance to the truth.

Which brings us to the bottom line where in the current used market a truly trashed, beat to hell, and cosmetically challenged Hallberg-Rassy fixer upper will sell for more than a Hunter in excellent condition.

Listening to Twin Brother

So it goes...

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Time to check the ground tackle...

Not exactly surprising, an interesting talk about bicycles, and in the "Yikes indeed" department...

So, it's that time of year again.

Listening to Sun Soul Orchestra

So it goes...

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The scow at Crystal River...

Needful reading, the Wisconsin idiocy spiral continues, and some seriously bizarre stuff concerning the "most progressive trade agreement in history"...

A cool scow...

Some more serious scow goodness to check out with your Sunday brunch...

Listening to Sons of Bill

So it goes...

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Surf on Saturday...

Well at least they're climate unfriendly and honest about it, stuff you need to be aware of, and in the "tough on some crime" department...



Listening to Sour Bridges

So it goes...

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Some cat rigs with a French flavor...

A good way to spend a day out on the water, politicians in France unanimously doing the right thing (think about that for a minute), and just in case you have not been paying attention...

Over at Voiles Alternative there's a great discussion of the fabled "Punch" catboats from the design office of Phillipe Harle that you might want to check out.

Listening to Ingrid Michaelson

So it goes...

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in the "I need some polka music and I need it fast" department..."

Something interesting about a goldfish's attention span, a worthwhile read (especially the last paragraph), and a survey you might want to take...

A couple of days ago, our cat Willow started growling and a few seconds later I heard an anchor splash a few feet off our beam.

At the time I was in a bay that hosted a half-dozen boats with plenty of room to anchor anywhere and no need at all for a 48-foot cat to drop an anchor ten feet off my starboard side on a very short scope. Which, obviously, was pissing off Willow greatly, had me looking for fenders, and wondering just when did folks cruising start anchoring like it was a downtown parking lot.

The answer to the question remains somewhat hazy but I distinctly remember that in the early 90's the SOP was to anchor as far as humanly possible away from any boats already anchored...

Sure there were the odd exceptions of up close and way too personal anchoring tactics. One that stands out was when friends of ours on a Simpson cat had a bowspritted boat come up behind them so close that when they actually dropped the anchor it landed in one of their sugarscoop transoms (apparently caused by excessive imbibing of Funador brandy).

Of course, even back then bareboats already had a pretty horrible reputation for anchoring way too close but somewhere along the line it would seem the practice has become the norm and not just among bareboat folks but with term charter crews (who really should know better) and the general population of cruisers.

These days it's not unusual to see a big bay, mostly empty and a small knot of boats anchored one atop the other to the point that some of the boats are putting out fenders.

It makes me wonder...

...where I can find a CD of a heavy metal polka band covering Captain Beefheart.

Listening to Temperance Movement

So it goes...

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Because we need more people asking why/how...

Why you might want to avoid having a stroke in Virginia, some interesting thoughts regarding Fox news, a man making a whole lot of sense, and an important message to businesses running Memorial Day sales...

One blog with an inquisitive nature I follow regularly had a very interesting post today and you really should read it. While you're over there you might want to pour yourself a cup of coffee and check out some of the other posts as there is a lot of good stuff to read.

You're still here?

Listening to Adrian Duff & the Mayo Brothers

So it goes...

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Doing some math...

Some seriously scary shit, Deepwater Horizon the gift that just keeps on giving, and since we were speaking of oil spills...

I need some new chain as our 5/16" high test is getting way past its sell by date. There, I've said it and I'd be lying if I told you I had not been avoiding the subject of new chain for "So It Goes" because it is an expense I never relish thinking about much less going to a purveyor of chain and forking out an obscene amount of money for a 150-foot length of the stuff.

So, Friday we trundled over to the local purveyor of chain to get a quote for 8mm or 5/16" BBB chain (both fit my gypsy). They did not have any 8mm but did have 5/16" BBB for $6.50 a foot... Doing the math that comes to the hellacious amount of $975.

Ouch!

Of course, the chain size I'd prefer is 8mm which costs in the neighborhood of $3 a foot and the total on that, while still pain-inducing, is a whole lot better than $975 and all I have to do to get it is sail to a different island...

I can live with that.

The thing is, 8mm and 5/16" BBB are nearly identical in strength/weight/size and 8mm fits most 5/16" BBB gypsies finest kind. Fact of the matter is, 8mm and other metric chains are calibrated for use in gypsies as the norm so it's pretty much perfect for use on a boat and, if you factor in the fact that it's generally less than half the cost of BBB chain, choosing it is something of a slam dunk.

A quick side note on the high test chain we're replacing is that while stronger than standard chain, it has about half to two-thirds the life cycle. The added strength of high test is at the cost of using an alloy more susceptible to corrosion. Something you might want to factor in next time you're buying chain.

Listening to Valley Queen

So it goes...

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Take a couple of minutes and watch a trailer...

About those deliberate lies, a difference of opinion regarding clean water, and something well worth your time...

Some video you should be watching...


Trailer � RAMBLIN' JACK: BEYOND THE MUSIC from Oleg Harencar on Vimeo.

Listening to Kevin Gordon

So it goes...

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a simple multi-tool I actually like...

Sweet deals & Donkey Mountain saying the needful, sleazy guns for hire, and a book review you may want to read...

Not being a fan of multi-tools as a rule since they mostly fall into the wrong tool for every job category, I almost didn't check this video out but, since I have a lot of respect for tools made by Crescent, I thought "What the hell"...



At $20 color me seriously impressed.

Listening to a pretty good playlist

So it goes...

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A world with options...

Very much worth reading (and acting upon), a little good news, and the word of the day is S-T-E-A-M-P-U-N-K...

Some time ago a rigger of note came up with a very cool clutch system for sailboats that worked great, did little or no damage to the line, and from the looks of it should be cheaper than existing systems due to its overall simplicity of materials and labor.

This one in fact...



Yeah, the Chinese handcuffs clutch... A small block of alloy with a few holes drilled in it, some Kernmantle cover, and a bit of string. Something an inspired DIYer could throw together for $10- $20 bucks a pop with a little sweat equity and a bit of cunning. No rocket science involved but brilliant all the same.

That said, once the idea became a product of the yachting sort not all that affordable anymore.

Of course, the choice of paths is up to you but it's nice to know you have options...

Listening to Kitty, Daisy, & Lewis

So it goes...

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An alternative to whippings that makes sense

Something of a universal story these days, rewriting history, and some worrisome reading...

Ino-Rope with a simple how-to.



Listening to a plethora of Van Morrison "Moondance" covers

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in the "Mom said it" department...

Here's a reason you might want to AVOID Nestle products till the day after hell freezes over, one reason why Bernie would get my vote (if I were not a US Virgin Islander and unable to vote for Presidentof the US of A), and in the "you just can't make this shit up" department...

As it happens, I tend to get a lot of email from boaty folks and a not insignificant number of which who include pithy slogans or quotes as part of their signature.

Like this one...

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Point of fact: Just yesterday I had a baker's dozen of emails from different folks who all had that quote as part of their signature ... Which I can understand because it's a great quote and speaks volumes for folks of the nautically obsessed sort.

That said, the problem with this quote is not the content but the fact that all those people who have adopted it don't know who said it and think it's from Samuel Langhorne Clemens (AKA Mark Twain).

Really.

The actual source of the quote is from the 1991 book "P.S. I Love You: When Mom Wrote, She Always Saved the Best for Last" by H. Jackson Brown in which the quote is attributed to his mother.

That's right, Mark Twain never said or wrote it but Mr Brown's mother did.

Offhand, the quote in question never sounded to me like something Twain would have written or said because it had that upbeat (bordering on saccharine) vibe and seemed to be somewhat out of character for a man known for his caustic edged wit.

Which just goes to show that before you adopt something as the basis for your personal philosophy, a pithy quote to add substance to your signature, or something you want to have tattood to part of your body, that a quick fact check might actually be in order.

Watching/listening to Brandi Carlile

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Some Saturday Mini Simmons goodness...

So, about some of that Baltimore looting, a question of note, and in the "let's not forget the bottom line" department...


Mini Simmons by SWOP surfboards from swopsurfboard on Vimeo.

Listening to B. B. King (who is sadly no longer among us)

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We're still here (well, in a sorta/kinda way...)

Some bad news, more empty talking points, and the real cost of your polo shirt or running shoes...

Have you ever had one of those days?

Maybe I should back up a little...

For a while now I've felt that Boat Bits, VolksCruiser, Island Gourmand, and Fishing Under Sail could use a little work and a few tweaks in direction. The problem is it's really hard to do a makeover while trying to do the same old same... Kinda like the problematic nature of rehabbing a boat while you're living on it. So, a couple of days back, I made the decision to close the blogs for a bit so I could regain a certain perspective, make some changes, and get started on some other semi-related projects.

Fact of the matter is, a lot of folks don't much like my blogs and a goodly amount of the emails I get regarding the blog are negative. That said, I often do wonder why some people who dislike my posts so much apparently read my blogs religiously... Anyway, I have a fairly thick skin and as most of the folks who take exception to what I write seem to suffer infantile political mindset, have minute attention spans, and don't seem to actually read the posts in their entirety I'm not all that bothered but let's look at the instrument panel to check...

Yep, not that bothered at all.

Where the problem comes in is that I don't want to be that guy who writes the same old same stuff and disappoints or bores the regular readers who actually invest themselves in what I write or talk about. Hence, my feeling that I need to make some changes and why I turned off the blogs yesterday.

This morning when I opened my email my box was full of people wanting access to the blogs. Even more touching was the fact that a lot of people were actually worried that there might be some health or medical issue and wanted to make sure I was OK. To say that such concern is appreciated is a huge understatement...

Thank you.

So, the blogs are back up but I have to warn you that since we're going to be in that rehabbing while living on it state of affairs it just might get messy from time to time and we might miss a few days here and there.

Listening to Paige Anderson and the Fearless Kin

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She had me at small and simple...

Donkey Mountain may be on to something, some seriously bad news, and the Retirement Project (a good cruising blog) makes a good point...

Hanneke Boon doing the Pecha Kucha.



Listening to Shelby Lynne

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Just one thing today. It's something from David Simon (yeah, The Wire guy) and it's important so I didn't want to dilute it in any way.

Please read it...

Listening to some great stuff over at Aquarium Drunkard

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It being "Up against the wall" day and all...

Some news that just gave tourisim related interests (spelled just about everyone) in the USVI/BVI a category 5 panic attack, good writing about that for-profit college skullduggery, and about those vaporware jobs...

Hey, it's that day again...



Listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard

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just because Saturday is a surf day...

Something you may be unaware of, in the "might as well just give up" department, and some stuff we should not take for granted...


Carter Surfboards- The Magic Bus from Jesse Carmody on Vimeo.

Listening to The Rain Parade

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A book you need...

Some needful reading, Bernie makes a good point, and in the "greedy bastards" department..

Go buy it from your local bookstore.

Nuff said...

Listening to the Ballroom Thieves

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Something not at all about alternative rigs...

A pretty simple request, not exactly a shining pillar of democracy, and in the "petty, stupid bigotry" department...

So, this got me thinking...



... about the thought process of going from one sailing rig to another.

It explained a lot.

Listening to Ethan Luck

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Too many knives?

Krugman with a very good post, everything you need to know about equality/equity, and something that needed to be said...

We have a lot of knives aboard "So It Goes". Face it, knives are really the ubiquitous marine tool and, since knives have an annoying habit of going walkabout or rusting away on a boat, you really can't have too many.

Which does not mean we have a lot of E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E knives (which can also be spelled P-R-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-U-S) so we just muddle through with a variety of sharp objects that hold their edge, mostly don't rust, and cost less than thirty bucks.

Seriously, what on earth would you do with a $385 knife except lose it sometime?

One thing we do when the boat is in cruising mode is lash a set of cheap stainless steak knives in various key spots around the boat so no matter where you are there's a sharp knife available to cut a line in a hurry. That said, the last couple of cheap stainless steak knife sets we've bought just don't hold a candle to previous ones we've had and seem to rust out in days rather than months.

So, I'm going upscale and buying a half dozen of these net knives..

Which look like just the sort of thing that will do the job, be easy to mount in needful places, and, hopefully, won't rust all to hell.

I'll let you know how they work out down the line.


Listening to the Honeycutters

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a quick thought on length...

A good point, still ZERO, and the sort of person we need more of...

Size, where boats are concerned, is at best something of an odd duck and, as a result, I hear a lot of people making statements like "I need a forty-foot boat" and suchlike.

The problem is the given length of a boat is only one factor of size and within that 40-foot envelope you have all manner of boat sizing...

Take the CAL 40 for example...

...compare it to pretty much any boat built in the last ten or twenty years and you'll see that length on deck is a very poor way to categorize sailboats in terms of useful space aboard.

Which, I might add, does not mean that I find the CAL 40 lacking in any way but forty-foot boats today are a lot "bigger" than they used to be.

Listening to Those Darlins

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about those costs...

I'll admit it... I kind of like Bernie, not so much this guy, and this nearly made my head explode...

Have you ever noticed how much good quality, lightly used, boat gear is available for sale? Or how it sells at a fraction of the cost?

I mention this because yesterday I was tempted to buy a near state-of-the-art radar with a carbon mast that was selling for less than the carbon mast alone would go for. The reason the guy was selling it is he felt he needed to upgrade from near state-of-the-art to full-blown-state-of-the-art.

I suspect the guy is a regular reader of Panbo...

But, it got me thinking about how big of a percentage of operating and maintenance costs for some folks on boats is about replacing stuff that really does not need replacing at all.

Oh yeah, I decided against the radar...

Listening to Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers

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a good cruising magazine...

Something from the "I never ever thought I'd link to a Donald Rumsfeld quote" department, not exactly equal justice these days, and some stuff you should know...

Here's a magazine you should be reading on a regular basis...

Even better it's FREE!


Listening to Ages And Ages

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Some sustainable surf goodness...

Some sense being made, a needful read/watch, and something of a game changer...

I find this exciting.



Listening to Andrew Combs

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Anyone looking for a turnkey cruising boat?

Really... as in like ready to go anywhere you care to point it tomorrow.

Even better it schoons!

Need I say more?

Check it out.

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a quick thought on a fragile infrastrucure...

Just an Earth Bound Misfit points us to a new low, a needful read, and so much for higher education for profit in my book...

Yesterday I went shopping and I couldn't help but notice some stuff that didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense...

For instance:

Octopus was on sale but it was from Indonesia, there was salmon at a good price but it came from Russia. No lobster anywhre but there was crab from Alaska.There were potatoes but they were from Idaho and apples weren't on sale but they were nice and came all the way from the Yakima Valley in Washington state....

I could be boring and go on but the bottom line was that I simply could not find anything in a well stocked Caribbean grocery store that had not traveled at least two thousand miles for me to buy.

Just something to think about...

Listening to Brandi Carlile

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Something you might want to watch...

How the news on your TV and reality are not always the same, a good point being made, and a politician admits he made some real mistakes...


Small is Beautiful: A Tiny House Documentary - Trailer from Jeremy Beasley on Vimeo.

Listening to a bunch of really good music

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Then again he wasn't building a shrine...

A trend on the way out, some riveting reading, and, just maybe, we might want to pay some attenion to the science...

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time watching a friend of my father's build a boat. A troller to be exact.

What really impressed me at the time was the fact that the builder didn't have a "plan" but was building more by "feel".

He'd set up his building space and a strongback of sorts and then added a single mold more or less in the middle of it and, for a couple of weeks, I'd watch him move the mold a couple of feet either way but mostly he'd just sit in a chair and look at the single mold sitting forlornly on the strongback...

I suspected my dad's friend was a little nuts.

Then, one day in a great flurry of enterprise, the single mold was joined by another mold that looked suspiciously like a transom on one end and a piece of 3 X 10 pine on the other. The following day there were a couple of long 2 X 4's as well... Things, as they say, were becoming interesting.

The day after, it seemed he was back to the moving the central mold a foot forward then back again two-step but he'd also taken an axe to the 3 X 10 and taken off some wood to form a rough but fair curve. A couple days later I woke up to find the transom, central mold, and the 3 X 10 were now connected by several 2 X 4 battens. The shape was beginning to look like the skeleton of a boat...

Then all hell broke loose... All of a sudden there was a near constant cacophony of boat building noise and everyone woke to the sound of saws and hammers. I remember for a couple of weeks the last thing I'd  hear every night was the rasp of a plane...

A couple of weeks later there was a real honest to goodness boat in the guy's back yard. All in all it took a couple of months for a fiftyish-year old guy with hand tools to singlehandedly build a 42-foot troller which he proceeded to fish commercially day in and day out for the next twenty years or so.

I mention this mainly because it's easy to forget just how simple boat building really is.

Oh, and by the way...

It was a really pretty boat.

Listening to Richard Thompson

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Now this is interesting...

A drought problem I suspect you were unaware of, some battery news, and the stupidity it burns...



Listening to some Bj�rn Ulvaeus (ABBA) covers

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in the a "lot more sustainable" department

A needful voice in the mix, just ripples in a pond, and a question we should all be asking...

Maybe boatbuilders should pay attention...


SURFBOARDS FOR A SHARED PLANET from erik derman on Vimeo.

Listening to Zella Day

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a matter of seaworthiness...

In the "hardly surprising" department, this really says a lot, and some needful reading...

I was recently looking at the study plans for one of Reuel Parker's boats, a scow as it happens, and there was a comment by Reuel that got me thinking...

"Scows are not considered seaworthy types, although they can make coastal trips and island passages." 

The thing about seaworthiness is it's a pretty fluid concept at best and, in most cases, something of a gray area being dependant on many factors. Which means that one person's seaworthy vessel may seem like a floating death trap to another. Having crossed seas with an internally ballasted shoal draft sharpie that drew eighteen inches, I used to have this pointed out to me on a regular basis...

That said, scows of the traditional sort are not seaworthy in the same sense as a keel boat with external ballast. For starters internal ballast is not very good at righting a fully capsized hull and if that's going to be your main criteria of seaworthiness a scow may actually seem somewhat lacking...

Just like a modern catamaran. 

Seriously, if you applied the same thought process that makes a scow unseaworthy to just about any production cat currently being built today you'd have to come to the same conclusion... Catamarans are unseaworthy.

You might want to think about that for a moment or two...

Which does not mean that I think all modern production catamarans are unseaworthy (just some) or that a traditional scow is either. Just that they are both different in ways you should be aware of.

Like I said before, seaworthiness is a pretty slippery notion and depends much more on the person sailing a boat rather than the actual design. Sailing a traditional scow has a lot more in common with sailing a catamaran than it does with an externally ballasted monohull...

So, would I consider sailing Reuel Parker's scow across an ocean?

Sure I would. Then again, before I did I'd sail it a lot, practice deploying a parachute sea anchor/heavy weather tactics, and sort out the best way to hove to with the board up because I'm not real keen on surprises further offshore than I care to swim towards land. Of course, anybody considering a trans-oceanic passage would do the same no matter what sort of boat they intended to cross with.. 

Right?

Listening to She & Him

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