Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
Lone Star stupidity, a dangerous ruling you might miss with all of the Roe hubbub, and in the "A sad but good point" department...
I was going to talk more about pumps and suchlike but I read the news this morning and just don't feel like it.
Listening to Jefferson Airplane
So it goes...
A depressing note, EBM on the subject of "hearts and minds" and in the "racist, misogynist, bigoted cult of personality that worships Trump" department...
I'll admit I'm sorta/kinda looking forward to the upcoming Golden Globe race in the hopes that it will give a shot in the arm to the idea that seamanship actually matters. Plus, it really should be a pretty good race and is more or less accessible to folks who actually have to work for a living and not just the same old same money wins and rich folk behaving badly affair which seems what most racing has become these days.
On the subject of eroding seamanship skills I'm actually quite impressed with the newish FastSeas routing app as it seems to do the required job for an affordable price (or free) so you might want to add it to your tool set and check it out.
Listening to Fármacos
So it goes...
Henry Rollins on Trump, a little scary reading on bats, and yet another reason to simply avoid the idiocy that is Florida...
R2AK 2016
Yeah.
Listening to Scary Little Friends
So it goes...
L,G, & M with a bit of RCN Dazzle, a comic strip worth reading, and about the bad side of desalination watermaking...
Some bad news regarding our French friend Yann and SKROWL.
Worrisome, apparently common sense is even more endangered than the noble moose, and what's a little wage theft when profits are concerned...
This is just kinda cool...
I've gone on record that electric winches are a seriously bad idea, but the awful news from Antigua really takes it up several notches...
As a rigger, I have had a couple of close calls going up a mast when power assisted. Once an owner of a boat I was working on used his windlass to haul me up the mast at what seemed like supersonic speed and it got worse when I arrived at the top, battered and bruised, only to find that the windlass would not turn off and as a result was doing its level best to pull me back down through the mast on the inside.
As I recall it was not a lot of fun... and have never allowed myself to be at the mercy of an electric or hydraulic system (or owner for that matter) while working on a rig since.
Just about every malfunction or problem I've come across over the years involving powered winches and windlasses have been caused by switches or motors shorting in open position where it is impossible to shut them off from the winch/windlass. So if you really must have a powered winch (and ignore the fact that needing one is God's way of saying you need a smaller/simpler boat) you should really sort out some sort of emergency cut off switch within easy reach of the winch or windlass.
Today is a good day...
For one, it is the last day of the "H" word season and all aboard sailing vessel So It Goes are quite happy to see its backside going out the door.
Now, hopefully, we can fully get back into work mode and return So It Goes to the lean and mean sailing machine it is. Cunning plans aside, everything from here on out is both straightforward and simply depends on a few rain-free days to get back in the groove...
A bit of news of some interest is that NASA is having what should be a very interesting press conference on Thursday to "discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life". For those who find this sort of thing interesting, it will be at 2:00 PM EST on December 2 and will be streamed...
Of course, with the very real possibility that someone has found life (albeit a simple bacteria) on another planet, does not mean that intelligent life can be found in Washington DC... But we do live in hope!
Listening to Neil Innes and you can sing along...
(Intro: G A C D G)
G A
I'm the urban spaceman baby, I've got speed
C D G
I've got everything I need
G A
I'm the urban spaceman baby, I can fly
C D G
I'm a supersonic guy
Em
I don't need pleasure
C G
I don't feel pain
C G
If you were to knock me down
A D
I'd just get up again
G
I'm the urban spaceman babe and
A
I'm making out
C D G
I'm all about
(G A C D G)
Em
I wake up every morning
C G
with a smile upon my face
C G
My natural exuberance
A D
spills out all over the place
(G A C D G)
G
I'm the urban spaceman
A
I'm intelligent and clean
C D G
Know what I mean?
G A
I'm the urban spaceman, as a lover second to none
C D G
It's a lot of fun
Em
I never let my friends down
C G
I've never made a boob
C G
I'm a glossy magazine
A D
an advert in the tube
G A
I'm the urban spaceman babe, but here comes the twist
C D G
I don't exist
(G A C D G)Folks in the Caribbean who do work for mega yachts all know that you never work for anything but cash and never ever let a mega run up a bill as folks with big boats are pretty lax about such little things as writing checks and boats have been known to slip their lines and depart before paying their bills.
Not exactly a clean wake as the SSCA promotes.
Then there is this one... Sounds like perfect Senatorial material!
Latitude 38 takes on Senator Kerry and kicks some butt!
My take on it all is a great argument against trickle down economics (IE tax breaks for the uber-wealthy) as this is how rich people game the system... If you want to stimulate the economy give tax breaks to people who will spend them in their communities!
Nuff said!
The current news is that Abby Sunderland's EPIRBS have both been deployed...
ABC has more.
