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

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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

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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

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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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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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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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on the positive side of contraction...

David Simon tells it like it is, hot news from Antarctica, and some thoughts on so-called christian values...

A lot of my thinking regarding boats is based on the simple facts that we live on a small planet with finite resources/too many people, a world economy based on expansion, and that I can do basic math. Which makes for a pretty scary world view but, I still believe, one not without hope...

In today's Clusterfuck Nation James Howard Kunstler makes a lot of good points that I mostly agree with but one thing he said seriously resonated for me...

"You could call it a lower standard of living, or just a different way to live."

 ...which really nails it as far as I'm concerned because we're not talking about a lower standard of living here on Boat Bits but where a more sustainable lifestyle and boats fit together in a different way to live.

Just maybe, a better way to live...

Listening to Geronimo Getty

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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

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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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all or nothing...

Gin & Tacos on bailing out the Titanic with a bucket, some Druid perspective, and in the "If Darwin was right we wouldn't be here" department...

One thing that makes me bang my head against the bulkhead on a regular basis is the current prevalent mindset of All or Nothing...

There's a lot of it going around.

Where boats are concerned it manifests itself like this: Our would be cruiser wants to go cruising but does not have the resources to afford what he (or someone else has told him) is the "perfect"  or "best" boat and, while he can afford a perfectly adequate boat for his needs and aspirations, the all or nothing mindset kicks in and throws common sense/logic right out the window.

It's not just boats but boat stuff as well... A couple of years back someone I'm acquainted with needed a self-steering for his boat because he had a trans-Pacific voyage slated. Because he could not afford one of the three vane gears he had decided were "Best", his All or Nothing mindset kicked into high gear. So, instead of building a perfectly adequate vane for a couple of hundred dollars or buying an excellent vane for a bit more, he decided to go without. Of course, he did wind up getting across the Pacific but it was on the freighter that rescued him since hand steering 24/7 was found to be a wholly unacceptable option. I expect his boat (if still visible beneath the guano) is quite happily floating around the Pacific as a popular rest stop for tired birds.

Listening to Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band

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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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OK, it's a given I'm not big on change...

A little needful historical perspective, some depressing reading, and something you may want to keep in mind...

On a food blog I read on a regular basis they were pimping some products in the guise of a contest and, being both cheap and enamoured of good food, I thought I'd enter. Of course, there was a hitch (isn't there always?) in that you had to have a Facebook account and you had to "Like" the company to enter.

I don't do Facebook...

But, I'm sure that the company in question will get a lot of "Likes" for their products from people who have never ever actually used or tasted them and down the line folks will buy the products on the basis of how many people "like" the products even though those "likes" are not really based on any sort of merit.

Kind of depressing really when you think about it...

I'm actually mentioning this because one reader regularly writes in complaining that I don't use twitter and how it would be in my best interest to morph Boat Bits into a Facebook page because blogging is no longer hip and all the cool kids are on Facebook.

Let me just check and see how I feel about that...

What can I say... I've just never been "cool kids" material.

Listening to Joe Jackson

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Some numbers on my mind...

About some seriously bad advice, something you should know, and just the same old same scam being foisted on us...

Some numbers stick in your head...

Like 999 on a sign telling me there were 999 miles to go to get back home in Los Angeles on a manic solo drive from Alaska after climbing what was then known as Mt McKinley...

Or the number 2 because that was the number on a ping pong ball attached to my birthdate when the draft lottery finally got around to doing its thing.

Then there's that number 60 (hopefully to be followed by 61)... A number both depressing and liberating at the same time and not, to my great surprise, the dire wasteland I expected it to be.

Today it's 2000...

Sort of a WTF number if there ever was one and, to be honest, I can't imagine how I've managed to find myself sitting here writing the 2000th post on Boat Bits...

Beats 2 all to hell.

Listening to Three Dog Night (who knew a thing or two about numbers)

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Has it really been forty years?

Heinous to the max, a little hot-buttered Deja vu, and some pretty astounding numbers (now can we please see some perp walks?)...

Yesterday I was reading the new issue of "Cruising World" which also happens to be its 40th anniversary issue and it's actually a pretty good read. Maybe they should spend more time looking back on a regular basis...

Which got me thinking about how we all should look back from time to time because it's so easy to forget why we're doing what we're doing and it's often needful when caught up in the full tilt boogie forward march into the future.

Listening to Travis Tritt

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What's on my mind...

Some scary numbers, more bad news, and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt they're a class act...

I was watching a video over at Off Center Harbor about a super simple water system and a phrase that was used has been circling in my thoughts ever since.

�Trailing edge technology�

It makes a lot of sense...

Of course, not so much if you're obsessed with having the best, newest, fashionable, and hip cutting edge stuff but, for those of us who want simple, reliable, and not expensive, it's something to keep in mind so deserves some serious thought.

Which, I suspect, is why I seem to be looking more and more to the past for answers to my future endevours. The more I think about it, I keep finding cutting edge seems to be something of a dead end.

The other phrase/quote that has been right at the forefront of my thoughts this week is something Lin and Larry said...

"If you can't fix it then it probably shouldn't be on the boat"

Listening to Great Big Sea

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Kickstarter anyone?

How the language we use is important, then again the word "accident" does seem somewhat inadequate of late, and I'll tell you I'm reading way too many stories like this these days...

Over the last couple of years I've been paying a lot of attention to the whole crowd funding thing and I've seen a lot of small companies in the film making gear business bring products to market that never would have happened without it. In my view, Kickstarter and other systems of the same ilk do make sense.

So, I have to ask myself why I have not seen much in the way of new products for sailors and cruisers coming to market via the crowd funding route?

It seems to me a near perfect venue for a designer of boats to do something creative outside the bounds of the same old same and attract a niche client base in the process but, despite the fact it seems tailor made for boat design, I don't see anyone doing it.

Why is it there's no one with clever and cunning products for sailing and cruising? I mean seriously it's not like there are not a plethora of things that could be done better on boats and since so many sailors are tinkerers and closet inventors, why are they not doing their thing on a venue that seems perfect for the enterprise?

What little stuff you do see from boat folk seems to be the "I want to go cruising please give me some money to do it with" sort which I tend to find a bit depressing and bothersome.

Personally, I've played with the idea of using Kickstarter to fund a project to study, develop, and evolve better rigs based on traditional overlooked sail designs in a real scientific manner. It seems to me that a lot more real science in sail would be no bad thing...

Maybe you just have a cool idea based on an Arduino that would improve the lot of cruisers everywhere or, just maybe, there's no one left with any good ideas anymore.

Listening to JB & the Moonshine Band

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the better days/good old times conundrum...

Just another responsible gun owner, Krugman making a lot of sense, and an open carry movement I could actually support...

This morning, listening to a food program on the BBC, I heard that the largest employer in Mexico happens to be WalMart and it got me thinking about how the world is changing. More importantly how those changes are going to impact the whole sailing and cruising gig.

Now, admittedly, being able to provision and buy stuff at an American super store does have its advantages but at a cost we don't often think through or even notice till it's too late to change.

As many of you know we have a charter business but unlike most of the people who do what we do we don't offer bareboats because, in our view, the bareboat industry is bad for the economies and ecology's they're selling. Having been in the Caribbean long enough to have met some of the folks who actually invented the concept of the bareboat industry and listening to their opinions of the current state of affairs is a lot like listening to a loving parent trying to sort out why the child they raised and nurtured is currently doing 15-20 in prison for robbing banks...

Which brings me to a book I've meant to read for a long time which has zero to do with chartering or big box stores in third world nations but a lot to do with how stuff happens and gets out of control because we don't pay attention to what's going on or think things through. World War Z has a lot to say and it really is a riveting read. While not horrible, the recent film of the book did not do it justice at all though it was entertaining.

Well actually when you come to think of it, bareboaters and zombies do seem to have a lot in common...

Listening to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

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the zen art of varnishing with cats...

Your daily dose of insanity, a very important point of distinction, and someone who actually has a clue...

Right now I'm doing what I consider fun work on the boat and there's even varnish involved!

Yeah, I know I'm not a huge fan of varnish on boats but that's on the outside where the dreaded UV monster reigns supreme. A bit of varnish in the interior, on the other hand, is quite nice.

Varnishing inside out of the way of most wind, dust, and unheralded blue sky showers is really quite relaxing and you can really get your zen on with the sure knowledge that it is (if you'll pardon the expression) smooth sailing...

Well, of course, there's always a niggle. We do have some feline crew whose apparent purpose in life (other then pouncing on surprised flying fish) is to leave little signatures about. The most prized, of course, being footprints on recently varnished horizontal surfaces.

Just another sort of brush stroke from where I sit...

Listening to Ages and Ages



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Sometimes you just have to embrace the process...

An important reminder over at Black Mountain Cycles, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth, and I'd say "It's all very scary" seems a pretty damn apt description...

Have you ever thought about how well the K�bler-Ross five stage model works where boat stuff is concerned? For those who remain hazy let me remind you how the model goes...

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

I tend to run through those stages just about everytime I have to buy something for the boat, pick a plan to build, or work on the boat and I accept it as just part of the process. Which, I suppose is why I'm a moderately happy camper.

It seems to me a whole lot of folks get stuck on denial and anger while others never get past depression... Kind of a bummer that.

Listening to Michael Nesmith

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What sort of man buys a fifty foot catamaran?

Outcomes of basic arithmetic, something that may surprise you about guns in the US of A, and this is some seriously scary shit...

The other day I tied up at a dinghy dock next to a big RIB with a center console and a 50HP outboard which was tied to the dock with a square knot.

It kind of makes you think...

Listening to Zachary Richard

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