on designing in important stuff...

Today's word is retrovation, some excellent "shut up and listen" advice, and the stuff you can't read in prison...

I'm not a big fan of folks who make statements of the "Everyone needs to have/get/do" variety" but I'll make an exception and say that...

"Everyone needs to have a big frelling manual bilge pump."

I mention this because very, very few boats have a decent manual pump of a size that would do the sort of needful movement of water from inside the boat to outside the boat in a dire situation.

For instance the sort of pump most people actually need looks a lot like this one...

but, in reality, what most people have is something more along the lines of something like this one...

Maybe it's just me but if I'm knee deep in water, the electricity is no longer working because the batteries are underwater, and I don't know where the frelling water is coming from I'd much rather be pumping as much water out of the boat as possible.

Sadly, the real reason most folks don't have a behemoth like the Edson (gallon a stroke) manual pump is simply because most boats simply do not have a space big enough to mount one and, as a result, are stuck using wimpy little pumps ill-suited to the job.

Which, sorta/kinda, brings me around to designers of sailboats and how, just maybe, that designing in systems like bilge pumps and suchlike should really be high on their list of priorities and not an afterthought left to the boats owner somewhere down the line...

Listening to The Coathangers

So it goes...

as if being too far to windward was not enough reason not to visit...

Buckwheat Zydeco is no longer with us, a whole lot of sense being made, and in the "I still don't understand why we're not seeing perp walks" department...

So, according to the new October issue of  Blue Water Sailing, Barbados has now added a flat $2000 annual fee per boat to the cost of visiting the island. Apparently the powers that be in Barbados think it's going to attract more tourism...

Yeah right!

Offhand, I can't say such antics of clueless bureaucrats on small islands with not much to offer in the grand scheme of things is going to affect me one way or the other as Barbados is just not on my places to windward I ever need to go to.

That said, dumb ideas are a lot like the common cold and tend to spread so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see such silliness popping up elsewhere.

Just saying...


Listening to The Main Squeeze

So it goes...

Something to pass the time with rope...

EBM on more pharma greedheads, some not exactly surprising shit, and morphing from nanny to ninny...



Listening to Jake Shimabukuro

So it goes...

The little shit will kill you...

A simple test that works, shit's getting real, and a very interesting interview...

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes when I peruse West Marine's offerings I find myself saying over and over...

"People really can't be this stupid... Can they?"

For example, let's look at the Plastimo (affectionately called Plastishit by my French friends from the boat yard in Meaux where I built LM2) Omni-Directional Wind Scoop that sells for the mind-boggling price of $177.99 which you have to admit is a lot of money for what amounts to five or ten dollars of material and a few minutes of time on a sewing machine. Of course, it is the hip deluxe Plastimo wind scoop but you can always buy the equally mind-boggling priced standard version for a paltry $99.99 if you're one of those lesser folk who needs to count pennies...

A wind scoop is actually a goodly thing to have but you really have to do a need/want and value/cost benefit analysis to things you put on your boat. Of course, if we all did that and shed the consumerist monkey riding our backs, the cost of something as simple as a wind scoop would cost a whole lot less than the silly high prices that are now deemed normal.

So, here's the scary thing, I'd put money on the fact that some reader (or three) will sit down in the next day or so and write me an email pointing out that, where boats are concerned, you get what you pay for, only an idiot would compromise safety for frugality's sake, and how dare I say otherwise. Which is nuts on so many levels that it really makes you wonder about little things like sanity and the current educational system that produces such thought processes.

Listening to K Phillips

So it goes...

On dealing with little rope..

G&T apparently shares my dislike for the use of fucking asterisks, some needful situational awareness, and Sailing Anarchy makes a valid point...

On the whole better to pull than push thang.



Listening to Marah

So it goes...

Better rowing through technology...

Badtux with a link to a report you need to read about, regarding that "grading on a curve" thang, and Keith Olbermann sums the important points up...

Yesterday when I checked my mail there was a package with Australian stamps on and, yes dear reader, we did the happy dance!

New oarlocks!

Easily the nicest oarlocks I've ever come across.

Time to build a new dinghy...

Listening to Sweet Invicta

So it goes...

Rocking the boat...

Ian Welsh on 9/11, something from the "when in doubt vote the environment" department, and a guy on a boat making a whole lot of sense...

Here's an excellent project that could use a little support.


Seen in NY: Rocking the Boat from New Learning Times on Vimeo.

Listening to Wolf Parade

So it goes...

Something worth looking into...

A little needful reading, what one asshole person was doing on that day, and in the "why the fuck is someone not in jail over this kind of fuckery" department...

Just maybe, a better form of antifouling you may want to check out.


Neosil Presentation v1.0 from Vault17 on Vimeo.

Listening to Big Thief

So it goes...

Something you need to watch...

A better way of looking at economics, an empathy free zone in Idaho, and in the "Racism has many forms" department...


Reef or Madness from Julie Hollenbeck on Vimeo.

Listening to Amos Lee

So it goes...

A couple of thoughts on reading a classified boat ad...

Wendig with a little needful advice, EBM making a point, and Badtux on the need for an intervention...

The other day while perusing various boat listings, I came across an ad for a Prout Snowgoose for sale and it stirred a lot of memories and thoughts.

The first thing that came to mind was just how small the Snowgoose is compared to today's behemoth condomarans and underlines how much things have changed. Back in the 80's, at thirty-five feet, the Snowgoose was a great big fucking boat and I would have never considered buying one as it was simply too big for just a couple with a lot of guitars and tools to go cruising with...

Speaking of which, recently I read something from a couple who were saying that the absolute minimum size of cat for a couple to cruise on was around fifty feet or so. The Snowgoose obviously, by their logic, is too small to go to sea in.

Things really have changed haven't they? Makes me feel all sorts of old...

Which brings up that marvel of catamaran performance as the owner of the Snowgoose actually bragged that the boat he was trying to sell sailed at the mind-boggling speed of six knots!

Yep, six knots. Now, I don't know about you, but if I had a 35-foot monohull that only sailed at six knots I'd be a really unhappy camper. Of course, granted that the Prout line with its low bridgedeck clearance and nacelle is not going to be a speedster at the best of times. Six knots is just embarrassing and Nature's way of telling you that you have too much frelling stuff on the boat or that you should go out and get a monohull. That said, the owner's surprising honesty on the subject was incredibly refreshing.

Which is not to say that I dislike Prouts. They are comfortable, well built, and, as long as you keep the weight of gear and stores down to the bare minimum, can actually perform on par with an equivalent length monohull. The downside is that folks who gravitate to cats tend to be big on having lots and lots of stuff so that can be a very problematic exercise.Hence that fifty foot advice from the aforementioned couple actually makes some, albeit twisted, sorta/kinda sense where cats are concerned.

Listening to Hiva Oa

So it goes...