a chance missed...

Badtux has a bad dream, a Senator making sense, and in the "wonders never cease" department Sarah Palin says something I actually agree with...

Last year a friend mentioned to me that there was a stretched Herreshoff Meadowlark for sale up in Maryland...

A different Meadowlark but you get the idea...

I've always loved this particular design and the fact that it had been built by Allan Vaitses made it all the more attractive. Add in the fact that it was selling for less than the cost of the lead contained aboard as ballast made for a pretty unbeatable combination...

Of course to buy it I'd have had to jump on a plane and fly up to Maryland and I'd promised myself never to get on another commercial flight...

So, I hesitated and someone else got the boat. I'm pretty sure there's a lesson to be learned here somewhere...

Listening to Marcus Mumford & Justin Hayward-Young

So it goes...

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Well, this bike certainly caught my attention....

Kind of a downer, some thought provoking stuff from Badtux, and today's word  is negationism...



Listening to Todo Mundo

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a good cause...

It's not everyday you have a chance to help folks on boats help others so consider this your lucky day.

Do the right thing.

For those who need reminding there really is such a thing as karma...

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a new tool you might want to check out...

Some scary reading regarding climate/weather, doing the math, and an explanation that makes some sense...

This is seriously neat...

Perfect for the dinghy or bike tool kit and it's cheap...

Lee Valley has all the info so check it out.

Listening to Dr Dog

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Danger, danger Will Robinson someone has a cunning plan...

A whole lot of sense being made, about that 2013 word of the year, and today in the "bought and paid for" department...

Oh, oh... a new cunning plan!

I just mentioned over on VolksCruiser that one of my favorite designs is Harle's Tonic design and, in doing so, I realized that the only real way to improve on it is adding more stowage to the mix... I don't need more berths.

So, what if you put the accommodation from say Harle's Tonic or Fantasia and installed it (without making it any bigger) in a 30 to 35 foot hull keeping the excess space as a dedicated cargo hold?

The advantages are many with few downsides...

Maybe I should be looking for an older fixer upper with a trashed interior to try out the concept with?

Listening to Kind of Like Spitting cover Elvis Costello

So it goes

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Just a quick note...

To remind everyone that there's still time to help support a grand voyage!

Seriously, who can't use a really cool t-shirt?

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regarding that frozen concoction...

Well worth a read/watch, just another day in the outsourcing game, and an apt question we should all be asking...

I just realized that today happens to be National Margarita Day... Not that folks on boats actually need much of an excuse to indulge in excessive recreational debauchery of the alcohol-related sort but, if you're so inclined, today you have a reason.

Listening to a variety of artists cover Fleetwood Mac's Tusk

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A really good example of thinking outside the box...

Unintended environmental consequences, not exactly a surprise, and a "top priority" we'd be a lot better off without...

The other day rowing in to do some shopping I noticed that a boat that had anchored near us was a Reuel Parker design. This one as it happens...

Like all of Reuel's designs there is a lot interesting about it but the most exceptional thing in my view is what Parker has done with the head. It's in the cockpit.

Sort of a minimal little outhouse/shower nestled in the starboard corner of the cockpit right behind the helm. See it?

The logic of such an installation makes all kinds of sense and, as most cruisers tend to shower in the cockpit anyway, I'm amazed that no one has actually done this before.

Listening to the Ajax Diner Book Club podcast

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a better cockpit shower...

This is really interesting, a hotel chain to avoid, and big (slimy murdering greedheads) tobacco is perturbed...

Over the years we've used a succession of cheap plastic pump-up pesticide sprayers for our cockpit shower, They used to work finestkind.

Not so much anymore as the spray heads don't last and the cost of the part you need to fix tends to cost about what an entire unit goes for. This does not make for happy camper mode...

Duckworks has had a sprayer for awhile that I've had my eye on. The downside is that it looked like the real deal online but the only way to know for sure is to stump up some money ($40!!!) and have one shipped down.

So I did...

The good news it's seriously better built and heavier industrial duty than the $20 Ace hardware variety we're all used to. Better yet it's black so it will heat up water a bit and be far less susceptible to becoming an algae garden.

Should have bought two...

Listening to a pretty good mixtape

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ESP moving right along...

Today's installment in the "the beatings will continue as soon as I've turned off my dashcam" files, worth reading, and some lost Ken Russell photography...

Some more from the Eco Sailing Project.



Listening to Jethro Tull

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an interesting project...

What happens whenever Tucker (he really should have been a film producer) Carlson's lips move, a lot of money spent unwisely, and a must read about why we need to save the USPS...

A scow project I'll be keeping my eye on...

Listening to Larkin Poe



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Just some guys taking a plywood boat out for a spin...

A bit of interesting energy news, some sense being made, and if only government would get with the �no assholes, no bozos� program...

Some pretty cool contreplaqu�.


RM 1070, 100 milles en hiver by voile-magazine

Listening to the late great Don Covay

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a boat with some history...

Dave Mason talking, some serious Cheap Trick axe goodness, and a very cool doubleneck uke (because somedays you just need a break from the depressing stuff)...

I saw that Webb Chiles' old boat was for sale the other day and at a pretty awesome price as well. Wouldn't need a lot to get her ready to cruise off into the sunset either.

Now, what was that you were saying about not being able to afford to go cruising?

Listening to Benny C & the Associates

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On not being a true believer...

Pretty much says it all, dumb as a bag of hammers, and in the "paid administrative leave" department...

I apparently cause some folks problems where rigs are concerned. My crime being that I find merit in a lot of different rigs which in today's "there is only one true path" mindset world is considered a heretical sin of a high order.

For example, I don't get on very well with folks enamoured of the junk rig. That being said, I do happen to think junk rig makes a lot of sense and, while I'm a member of the JRA (you really should be as well), I just don't quite fit in because I don't fall into the idea that the junk is the "BEST" rig religious fervor party line. My take on the rig is that it's certainly a good rig and, in some cases a "best" rig for someone's particular circumstance but, like all rigs, it is far from perfect.

The balanced lug rig, which you probably know happens to be my favorite rig and far and away more powerful and cost effective than the junk, is still far from being a perfect rig. I love the rig but I'm not going to embrace the rig with a religious ecstasy that blinds me to it's disadvantages or other rigs good points...

Comparing the two, I have to admit I feel the balanced lug makes more sense if you honestly compare their strengths and weaknesses. But more about that another day...

I could go on with any number of sail types and rigs... gaff, Bermudian, wingsails, etc, which all have their strengths as well as weaknesses, but you get the picture...

The real truth of the matter is all rigs make sense in most situations and not so much in others. Not addressing this fact is counterproductive to getting the most out of whatever rig you happen to have or are thinking about using. The bottom line being that the more you know (spelled s-a-i-l-e-d) about all of the available rigs out there the better off you'll be.

Listening to 6 String Drag

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Interesting...

An enlightening read, substituting moralizing for morality, and in the "ask your doctor" department...

Some interesting alternative thinking...



Listening to Wharfer

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I heard the news today...

What we could/should do, what's being done instead, and a very, very good point...

Ted Irwin RIP

Listening to the T Sisters



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So, just how did old school sailors in a hurry tack a dipping lug rig?

Just one thing you should read today...

This is just amazing.



Maybe it's time to reevaluate how we think old school sailors actually sailed?

Listening to some Neil Young covers

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and in the not-everyone-wants-you-to-anchor department...

Unspeakably heinous acts in California, stuff you need to know, and something worth the time it takes to read...

Over at SailFeed there's a very good piece about anchoring laws in Florida and everyone really needs to read it. More importantly, folks on boats really should get vocal with the various Powers That Be and let them know how you feel... It's important.

Just to show you that political anti-anchoring skullduggery is not just a Florida thing but a problem worldwide... Voile Magazine has a story about 20 Euro a meter anchoring charges per night (or in non metric that's $228. a night to anchor your 32-foot boat). Being that, if it were to happen, it would also include a sizable chunk of the Caribbean (St Martin/Martinique/St Barts/Guadeloupe) so you might find it a needful read. For those who don't read French you'll find that Google Translate does a good enough job to make sense of it all.

Talk about interesting times...

Just in...
Good news about the twenty Euro a day anchoring tax is that it did not go through (more information here and here). That said, it does not mean they won't try it again...

Listening to Bob Dylan covering Frank Sinatra

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A good, if pricey, idea...

A good question, needful reading, and about that skidmarks in your coffee cup idea from the Republicans...

Over at Navagear Tim writes about a newish product I've been looking forward to seeing called the SeaBung.

It's certainly kind of cool and it is a major improvement over the standard wooden bung that we've all been using since Columbus first cruised the Caribbean.

It's also sorta/kinda e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e for what it is. Especially for something so easily copied by any industrious boat owner with a bent for DIY and five dollars or less in his/her pocket.

Just saying...

Listening to "Pops" Staples

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Some more from the Eco Sailing Project crew...

Not good at all, the reason you won't be seeing a lot of rocket science coming from Texas in the foreseeable future, and in the dueling debt department...



Listening to a medley of soul, funk, blues and folk

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