but outside the box it's different in a sorta/kinda way...

Michael, sadly, just might have a valid point, an excellent write up on the new RockBox over at L-36, and a book I'm really looking forward to...

A designer of boats I know and respect recently pointed out that electric propulsion does not make any sense. Her reasoning runs along the lines of "I tried it and it did not work like I thought it should so it simply does not work"...

On the other hand, I know a number of people using electric propulsion who have systems that work just fine and are very happy campers.

Something of a conundrum that!

As it happens, this is not really about electric motors on boats but about how expectations or how you embrace something tends to affect the outcome... Electric propulsion just happens to be a good example.

The thing is, ideas that are a little outside the box require a little outside-the-box-thought-process to actually work. From where I sit, this seems like a foregone conclusion but every day I see examples that tell me my thinking is way off base.

Electric propulsion is sorta/kinda different than internal combustion based propulsion systems and as a result you sorta/kinda have to approach it a little differently. If you approach it the same as internal combustion you're in for some serious disappointment because it's different... In a sorta/kinda way.

Different, apparently, is difficult for a lot of people to deal with. Most folk like the same old same because the it's the same and they don't have to do anything hard like modify their thought process, change how they do things, or swim upstream against popular opinion.

I mention this as something to keep in mind as it might come in handy in the not too far distant future.

You might want to look around you and see just how some folks are being successful outside the box... That cruiser who seems happy sailing on a miniscule budget you can't even imagine living on, or that guy about to build a proa, the couple on a junk rigged schooner, and yes, those folks who seem to be able to manage on a boat without an internal combustion engine. They might actually be on to something!

David Bowie certainly said it better than I ever could...

                 "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes Turn and face the strange..."

Listening to David Bowie as it happens

So it goes...

A new design of sorts...

C&L talking about the real deal, a worthwhile interview, and while I've never been a big fan of Rickie 12-strings in this case I'll make an exception...

Dudley Dix has a new design of interest...

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned in the past that I really like his DIDI series and have often mused to friends how I'd love to build one with an alternative rig like an evolved balanced lug or some-such.

Well, while it might not sport a balanced lug rig, it would seem that Mr Dix has been thinking in a similar vein...

Billed as the DIDI 29 Retro is building on the tried and true DIDI hull form and adds a modernized gaff rig... What's not to like?

This is a boat I'd love to sail because if for no other reason it would be a lot of fun to blow past a Bendytoy 50-Something or catamarans to windward with a gaff rig! Hey, call me shallow, but kicking butt is sometimes a whole lotta fun and this boat has the potential to be a serious fun making ass-kicker.

Better yet, this is just the sort of design that can teach us all something about what really makes a boat go. The problem with some of the traditional rigs is that they've had little or no development in the last hundred years and most folks drawn to them are not drawn to the fact that they are good rigs but because they are quaint and old (i.e. evolution adverse folk)... Tell a member of the Olde Gaffer Brigade that he can improve his windward ability by switching to a low stretch halyard and he will tell you that it's not proper because a proper line in a gaffer is three strand because it has the proper look...

Then again, some of us who like rigs like gaff or lug would enjoy seeing them evolved into the current century. We're not looking for quaint or historically accurate, we're looking for a better boat and if it comes in the shape of a gaff with composite spars and Amsteel running rigging, all the better!

Is this a boat for my short list? Nope, but something along the same line of thought based around a shoal draft DIDI 38/40 (which IS on my shortlist) with say a balanced lug rig would certainly go to the top of the list in a heartbeat...

In the meantime, I should add that CKD is currently set up to do kits for the DIDI 29 Retro and that Dudley has a lot more info on his blog.

Listening to Cindy, Ellen, and Michael

So it goes...

Did that mans head just explode?

The why of OWS, something about those numbers, and I'll admit that this story brought a smile...

I've been on something of a scow schooner binge recently in my reading and various discussions with friends of a similar mindset and one thing comes to mind as a result...

Change is no easy thing!

I've always had trouble with folks of the "Old Gaffers" ilk who love the gaff rig but who also hate the idea that you might want to evolve the rig, even a little, with higher tech line because low stretch non-three strand line is not traditional and if you even mention the idea of a lightweight carbon composite "yard" to a gaffer his head will explode... I've actually seen this happen and trust me it is NOT A PRETTY SIGHT so take my advice and never ever use the words carbon fiber around an "Old Gaffer" dude.

But, I can actually understand their thinking as evolving a traditional boat form is no easy task, requires talent, and more than a little like hard work if you want it to look the way most people expect a boat to look like or at least an acceptable evolved form that has a certain continuity within the greater grand scheme of things... In short, it is somewhat crazy making or worse (your head just might explode) so it's understandable how some folks just might want to live in the past and pretend no one has invented things like Dyneema, NACA foils, CAD, or carbon fiber.

Which is not to say that going in the other direction is the way to go either... No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a lot to be said for little steps and little changes which just might add up to big changes without (hopefully) making any heads explode in the process...

Listening to Ten Years After

So it goes...

On evolution...

When you have lemons you can't always make lemonade (at least if there is a cop around), Lectronic Latitude follows the money (why I carry a backup sextant), and old soldiers may die but taxes never do...

You now, I really like it when I'm right... Way back when, I was boring everyone I know about the new tech ropes that were out there and how it was going to revolutionize a lot of sailing gear/rigging and bring marlinspike skills back in a big way. Then all of a sudden it's "Hey Presto" and these days everywhere I turn, I find folks splicing and doing the happy dance (check out Odda Sea and ZTC for proof positive). Synthetic rigs are no longer a freak show and are simply accepted as a normal type of rigging these days in spite of some serious Luddite and ill-informed opposition...

Of course, I'm not exactly a stranger to Luddite and ill-informed opposition... Building a cat when all the sailing rags were writing articles equating multihulls with death traps and an embarrassment to nautical tradition sort of set the stage for all future endeavors. That said, looking around that cats (though mostly badly designed and less than they should be) have become the "Bee's knees"... Who'd have ever thought?

We've also reached a point where electric propulsion is now simply a growing part of the scene... Sure the Luddites, idiots, and those folks who make big bucks repairing and selling over-priced internal combustion engines still say it is not ready for prime time but everyone knows they are fighting a losing battle. Today I can no longer remember all the folks around who have electric propulsion systems as there now a lot of us... Sad though, it was kinda nice being part of a very, very exclusive club.

For those who actually listen to this drivel, "Maker" made electronic anti-fouling is a glimpse at things to come!

The future be geeky...

Listening to Lee Rude

So it goes...