With T-Day just around the corner, it's way past time to start dropping hints to those folks who might buy presents to avoid the Xmas sweaters, socks, or worse, something N-A-U-T-I-C-A-L of the port and starboard salt & pepper shakers ilk!
Guild Thunderbird
Of course, I always tell people what I really want is a impossible to find Firebird or Thunderbird (the Guild Gumby guitar) 12 string because I can always use another guitar and I might actually get lucky.
That said, I always mention that there's always a few things of the stocking stuffer sort that would be oh so handy aboard "So It Goes"...
I don't know what it is about flashlights but they seem to go walkabout around here regularly so a flashlight is always a welcome gift. My experience is good cheap ones work nearly as well as good expensive ones but as both types go walkabout I'd rather have a six pack of good cheap ones than an expensive Mil-Spec Tactical sort. Something like this little Dorcy is just the ticket.
Rapala Bait Knife
Everyone needs some spare knives aboard a boat and the sort I recommend are both cheap and functional. I happen to love my Fury clone of the Myerchin and it is such a great knife that it's something of a no-brainer. It's cheap enough that you can buy a few Rapala Bait knives with the savings... Both knives in their own particular way are exceptional boat knives.
Everyone on a boat needs a decent jigsaw (though not everyone seems hip to that fact) and I'm still more than happy with my cheap Black & Decker. In the FYI department, a trick to get Bosch like performance out of a good cheaper jigsaw is to use Bosch blades. So, a selection of Bosch blades in the Xmas stocking is a very welcome addition to the tool arsenal that folks will be ecstatic about once they've had a chance to use them.
Something else one might want to hint about is working in and around boats means working with some evil nastiness on a regular basis and a little protection is no bad thing. For those of us who have facial hair, the Resp-O-Rator is definitely the way to go whether you're dealing with sanding bottom paint, exotic wood sawdust, or the epoxy fillers that you really don't want in your lungs.
I'm never sure whether to describe myself as a film maker who sails or a sailor/boatbuilder who makes films...Either way I'm a pretty happy camper when all is said and done.
