Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
What people make up, an excellent question, and on the subject of Twitter/social media...
Far Reach Voyages is a channel that you might want to bookmark.
While you're at it you might also want to check out the website which is a cornucopia of great info on how to do a sensible bespoke refit and the blog which is excellent..
Listening to some Aquarium Drunkard suggestions
So it goes...
Sailing Anarchy saying the needful, some climate arithmetic you should check out, and in the "There's a difference between famous and infamous" department...
Everyone seems to want to have their fifteen minutes of fame with some Derring-Do feat that sets them apart from the crowd. You’re going to have to be real creative to come up with a “first” where boats and sailing are part of the equation.
Many sailing and cruising folk don’t have a lot of historical knowledge where sailing accomplishments are concerned. Pretty much all the firsts have already been done. Since someone’s already done it before, you’re mostly just following in their wake.
Of course, most folk seeking to be first are harvesting ideas from the “How stupid can you go?” files. Crossing an ocean in a three-foot sailboat might get me into the Darwin Awards for sure but don’t float my boat.
I’m really not adventurous but having a goal for a circumnavigation would be no bad thing. I’ve pondered on what would be a significant method of getting around the world. A method that folks would deem either impossible or doubtful of success yet little chance of becoming a statistic in the yearly USCG mortality at sea report.
What to do?
When you think about it, it’s an “Around the World in Eighty Days” sort of question. So, what would Phileas Fogg do?
Or, to be more precise, what would someone who is a bit anti-social and very frugal desire to do or do without in a seaborne circumnavigation?
More on that soonish…
Listening to Las Cafeteras
So it goes...
A solution of sorts, my sentiments exactly, and in the "It takes a good man 377 cops with a gun to stop a bad man with a gun" department...
Dawn Treader is just about my favorite cruising couple currently doing their thing. They've made significant voyages on a boat they refit without much in the way of fuss. For me at least, their most appealing virtue is that they don't seem to know what a selfie is and only post articles and videos when they have something worthwhile to say.
Listening to Billy Iuso
So it goes...
More on book bans, Wil Wheaton weighs in, and in the "She would know since she wrote the book" department...
Latitude 38 has a cautionary story about a Pearson Vanguard and a reef in American Samoa that you'll want to read.
Help if you can.
Listening to Big Sam's Funky Nation
So it goes...
A job that appeals to me, some depressing news, and in the "Let's not forget corporate profits" department...
Being an older person living in the future is sometimes problematic. Especially where boats and cruising are concerned.
Right now I'm hearing a lot of discussion about Starlink and the hopes and wishes that it will evolve into a service that will give cruisers the ability to be online 24/7 anywhere in the world including when in mid-ocean doing a crossing.
Just the other day I heard someone say that as soon as Starlink kicks in they'll finally be able to do a trans-Atlantic cruise. Apparently, a voyage now is impossible without the ability to access their Twitter, Facebook, and Netflix accounts.
Now, while I'm a huge fan of progress where thought and science are concerned, there's a point where I have to sit back and reconsider whether or not Ned Ludd was on to something.
For me, the most attractive part of crossing oceans, is that it gives one a chance to get away from what passes for civilization and all of the attached baggage included in the modern world. That crossing an ocean requires one to be out of touch for a given amount of time is a big part of its appeal rather than a bug in the system.
I'm certain that most of the best thinking I've done has been when on passage due to the clarity generated by cutting out most of the background noise that is part and parcel of this modern world we live in today.
I can hear the emails now...
But Safety...
Of course, not being a complete Luddite, I'll opt for a means of getting weather and the ability to send a note to folks to let them know we're OK as my mother did not raise a complete idiot.
The insight, growth, and occasional terror that an ocean crossing on a small boat provides is a wonderful thing and the idea that you need to insulate yourself from the very reasons I choose to sail is a very sad thing.
Listening to Sir Woman
So it goes...
A very good point being made, just another somewhat unsettling moment, and in the "A good way to remember someone" department...
So it goes...
Darwin2 making a point or three, banning books, and in the "What happens when you have an uninformed poorly educated population" department...
One of the issues I seem to be having lately where sailing YouTube channels are concerned is a general lack of giving credit for content they seem to pilfer.
Maybe it's just me being cursed with an encyclopedic knowledge of a lifetime of sailing/cruising literature and films but I still find it somewhat irksome to see or read someone regurgitating information verbatim from folks like the Pardey's and other cruising pioneers as if it were some great knowledge they'd just discovered or invented.
Seriously, a little credit where credit is due, would be no bad thing.
Listening to some Billy Preston
So it goes...
Blooming seaweed, just a quickie update on the state of things, and in the "What we've devolved to" department...
Practical Boat Owner (AKA PBO) has a great article on Yann Quenet who is one of my favorite designer/boatbuilder/voyagers and just finished a 7000 mile passage in his ongoing circumnavigation with the 14-foot Baluchon.
Listening to a plethora of Billy Joel covers
So it goes...
Something on the subject of critical thinking, Greta kicking some ass, and in the "What a difference a word makes" department...
REACHING REALITY: TRAILER from Endless Media on Vimeo.
Listening to fifty, count them, fifty girl group covers
So it goes...
Understandably pissed off in the USVI, tsunamis of Bullshit, and unwelcome visitors...
The other day I was perusing Les Amis du Sangria et de L'Aquila website and came across this map.
Which when you consider that if you look around you can find one for two or three thousand bucks in pretty good shape.
Listening to the Simple Radicals
So it goes...
Some really good news, where that money goes, and in the "Now we know where the next big Covid spike is going to happen" department...
Watching the news, talking to friends, and just getting a feel for what's going on via osmosis I'm pretty sure we can all admit that whatever the new normal becomes it won't be anything at all like the old normal.
That said, the jury's out on what the new normal is going to be for folks cruising but my gut instinct says it will be a mashup of a lot of things. There won't be a single new norm but rather a lot of different versions of ordinary depending on your mindset, economic status, and political inclination.
One thing you can say about living in interesting times is it's going to be fascinating.
Offhand, as the overall trend of polarization continues, a lot of the places that were standard cruising destinations will no longer be as welcoming or affordable as they used to be. Which, I suspect, will have a two-fold effect of shifting the standard cruising routes to take advantage of locations more open to cruisers while the more affluent cruisers will continue to do the same old milk runs which will escalate greatly the cost to cruise those areas.
Which, when you think about it, would be no bad thing as it has always been natural that the less well-heeled and more adventurous cruisers have always been the explorers who discover while the more affluent tend to follow in their wake once those places have become trendy.
Which is all a roundabout way of saying that most of the interesting cruising in the new normal is going to be to places where there is not much in the way of cruising guides. Personally, I kind of like the idea of a new age of discovery and rediscovery.
Listening to Liraz
So it goes...
An interesting read you might want to peruse, a good cause, and in the "Ongoing destruction of the USPS" department...
I'm currently doing an interview with the Sailing Blowin' in the Wind folks that will be up on VolksCruiser soonish.
That being the case, I've been pondering the whole idea of a family of six cruising cruising on a 28-foot sailboat. Not so much in the whether or not it's possible but just how best to do it and the various out-of-the-box thinking that will be required to make it work.
On a semi-related subject I've been told that the Sailing La Vagabonde family currently have their catamaran up for sale because with another kid on the way they'll need a bigger one. Which, I suspect, is more along the lines of the current group-think on the subject.
More soon come on the subject...
Listening to Gangstagrass
So it goes...
Cowlitz County, Washington in the news, surf is up, and in the "Not really surprising at all" department...
I was recently reading in about a couple sailing in the south seas on their Harle designed plywood Armagnac.
Listening to Black Pumas
So it goes...
Some very good advice, some timely public service ads, and in the "It's real and it's happening" department...
How to Sail Oceans: A single hander on an engine-less gaff cutter shows you how it's done.
Atom Voyager: A video channel by a two-time circumnavigator on the Pearson Triton of the same name who is the ultimate guru for those of us who aspire to turn classic plastic into simple, safe, and comfortable cruising machines.
Sailing Blowin' in the Wind: A new channel with a lot of promise featuring a family of six living and cruising on an engine-less Ericson 28.
Listening to an album's worth of Elvis Costello covers
So it goes...
A close call, an endorsement of note, and a question I wanted to hear the answer to.....
So, the other day, someone asked me what I thought of the Amel 60 which someone was touting as the perfect/ultimate cruising boat somewhere or other. I'll admit that it caused me to ponder a bit on a bunch of things to sort out an answer.
First of all, it took me a while to sort out why someone would bother to ask me, Mr Cheapseats, what my opinion was on a 1,650,000.00 Euro boat. My guess is since I can read French that, just maybe, I might actually know something about it past looking at pictures and saying "Ooh" and "Aah"...
As it happens, I actually quite like Amel boats as they're very well built, have a form follows function vibe that works, and I'll admit to having lusted greatly for an Amel Sharki when I could not even afford a beat up way past its sell by date Sangria. Which, I suppose, makes me a great choice for expounding opinion on a boat I could never afford to a person who, I suspect, does not have 1,650,000.00 Euros laying around in disposable income.
So yeah, the Amel 60 is a very nice boat and it's got all the bells and whistles you'd expect in a sixty-foot million and a half Euro boat. That said, it's not a boat I'd choose to go cruising with.
Truth is, boats over a certain price point and size become a serious detriment to interfacing with the real world and lock you solidly within the ghetto of wealth and privilege. Not having either wealth or privilege it is just silly to waste anymore time on the subject.
As a counter point to such silliness, here's my all time favorite Citroen advertisement to cleanse the palate.
So it goes...
Wil Wheaton making sense, something timely on the flat earth thing, and about that Patagonia label...
So, I just noticed that the ARC and Salty Dawg 2020 rallies are still going to happen. Which, I’ll admit, surprised me as half of the islands in the Caribbean are closed (more if you’re American).
Maybe it’s just me but going on with cruising rallies in the middle of a world pandemic just seems to send a message and not a particularly good one. While both rallies are taking precautions of sorts it still smacks of a sense of entitlement and social impact that has always been a problem with the various cruising rallies.
That said, most rally destinations are on my places to avoid list anyway but still, the cruising rally/pandemic dynamic is the recipe for some off-the-scale potential ugliness.
Listening to some Joe Jackson covers
So it goes...
How running a country during a pandemic should be done, How running a country during a pandemic should not be done, and in the "Well we all shine on like the moon and the stars and the sun Yeah we all shine on" department...
CNN has an article and a map of places Americans are unwelcome in these days of COVID.
Regarding the making of masks, a very interesting article on Hawaiian shirts, and in the "Muzzled, suppressed, and sidelined" department...
The other day someone asked me what sort of boat I'd like to go cruising on and, while no single boat comes to mind, this is a boat that I'd enjoy cruising.
A downside of becoming a pariah nation, John Scalzi on voting, and I have a bad feeling about this...
For the last couple of days, I've been pondering this Bucky Fuller quote.
“We are powerfully imprisoned by the terms in which we have been conducted to think.”Especially how it applies to the world, sailboat design, and cruising.
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