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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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