on the continued process of replacing the simple with complication...

About that age thing, some Texas insanity, and "a very timely cartoon" department...

So, it would appear that the Apple iPod is no longer a thing. Which, in my view, is a real bummer as I really like listening to music while I work on the boat. Fact is, the closest I've come to a moment of zen clarity is planing a mast with a very sharp plane while plugged in to a playlist that just hits the correct groove. Taking a rather mundane task and elevating it to being one with the universe.

Now, I suspect, that Apple wants me to use their iPhone. A somewhat problematic thought because I don't do phones. Call me a Luddite but I don't feel the need to be connected 24/7/365 to what amounts to mostly silliness and distraction while building boats or going about my daily pursuits.

The iPod shuffle was and still is the best purveyor of music for boat building, rowing, and just sitting in the cockpit watching the world go by and it will be missed.

Listening to some impressive Brian Wilson coverage (Just the sort to build a dinghy by)

So it goes...

an errant thought or two...

A different take on space travel, a stupid man complains, and in the "Right wing alternative universe" department...

From time to time I play the what if game and wonder what my current life would be like if I'd zigged rather than zagged at various time line junctures. Most of which, I'll admit, have a lot to do with boats bought or built.

What if I'd bought that Sangria or the Wharram Tangaroa when I was looking for a boat instead of building a Bolger Jessie Cooper and Wharram Tiki?

One of my favorite John Stewart songs Strange Rivers says it a lot better than I can...

Did you ever turn the corner
And you wondered why you did
'Cause you haven't been that way, now
Since you were just a kid
And nothing really happened
But then you've got to say
That you wonder what would've happened
Had you gone the other way
There are strange rivers
Rivers that you can not see
And there are strange rivers
Who know our destiny
And there are strange rivers
And we're sailors
You and me

Listening to a couple of albums worth of Bowie coverage

So it goes...

another film I won't get to make...

A significant voyage, regarding "Moral injury", and in the "Maybe it's time to sail to Alaska while I still can" department...

Speaking of Alaska, there's a George Buehler project boat on offer that is all kinds of interesting and you might want to check it out.

In all honesty, I have to admit that I found the boat interesting on a lot of levels. For starters, Buehler's Juno is the epitome of a Buehler design and a lot of folks consider it, myself included, his best work. The boat comes with an interesting history that would go a long way to being the fodder of any number of sun-downer discussions and talking points. Plus it's just a great cruising boat.

The other thing that appealed to me was simply that it would be an awesome project to take on and make a film about. It has all the elements a classic boat of sorts, an interesting history behind it, and a somewhat larger than life designer. The built in dramatic edge of a project with a ticking clock deadline would drive the narrative along full tilt boogie.

What a great film it would make...

Listening to Hurray For The Riff Raff

So it goes...

regarding a day in November...

Why liveaboards in marinas are a good thing, some needful Thanksgiving backstory, and in the "Well this is certainly interesting" department...

I'm of two minds about the whole idea of Thanksgiving.

On one side, the entire premise of a day devoted to the giving of thanks is goodly and something we should not just confine to a given Thursday in November. We have a lot to be thankful for. If you’re reading one of my blogs, you have the time and money to at least consider having a boat and sailing while too many in the world whose only acquaintance with boats is part of a desperate means of getting to a place of safety.

The Thanksgiving story is a fiction. The holiday has become a shameful exercise in greed and consumerism, creating no small amount of depression in what really should be a time of shared thanks and friendship.

Oh well, such is life in the year 2021.

I’m thankful for the readers of Boat Bits, who (with a few exceptions) have become friends, shared their lives with me, corrected my typos, and lifted me up when I’m depressed. Boat Bits is a reader fueled enterprise and the audience feedback lets me know I’m not alone and that there’s a glimmer of hope in these heinous clusterfuck times.

Thank you.

Listening to the late but still great Doug Sahm from a long past Thanksgiving

So it goes...

something not about pocket cruisers...

A guitar auction of note, some interesting math, and in the "Poisonous nostalgia" department...

There are days when reading the news makes me wonder if I'm in the midst of an acid flashback on steroids. The problem is that my experience with drugs all those long years ago never came close to the madness that most take for granted as normal these days.

In short, it would seem that the new norm is pretty much batshit crazy.

Which, I might add, makes it fairly difficult to sit down and write something interesting on pocket cruisers or how to evolve your cruising riffs to suit the current world as we find it while, in the back of my mind, I'm wondering just how we got to the point where folks are refusing to take medical advice from doctors and scientists and, instead, getting it from some guy on the internet who heard from some guy who heard from someone else that taking horse dewormer would cure or prevent you from getting Covid.

Still, as the great doctor Thompson once said...

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"

Listening to Captain Beefheart

So it goes...

One step for tourists and a giant leap for folks who make money off them...

A pretty important distinction, a needful read, and something that really should piss you off...

I just finished watching the Bezos Blue Origin launch and, overall, it made me feel good that there is now a chance that space will actually open up. Not so much because of some spirit of adventure but simply because there are profits to be made and rich people will want to cash in.

I'm actually OK with that. Seriously, opening new frontiers is a way better way of getting richer than stealing wages from your employees. 

Today's project is putting in new lifelines so it's mainly splicing which is a great way to spend a beautiful day.

Listening to some Marvin Gaye coverage

So it goes...

Pick and choose...

This just might ruin your day/week/month/year, news from the "Bought and paid for " file, and some needful situational awareness...

We live in strange times.

Some time back I pointed out to a well-known sailing/cruising blogger that their current post, which contained a quote attributed to Mark Twain, that Mark Twain had, in fact never said or written the quote in question.

I was some kind of surprised when they wrote back to tell me that they'd looked into it and since more people thought it was a Twain quote than people who did not that it was proof positive that Twain had actually said it. This response confused, bothered, and depressed me because it showed a certain lack of critical fact-based thinking and, as I'd put a lot of store in their writing where boats were concerned, it planted a seed of mistrust that shadowed everything I read of theirs from that point on.

Worse, it actually got me thinking about how, somewhere along the line, our society has opted for a non-confrontational mindset where facts are concerned and pointing out that someone might be incorrect was now a faux pas. Best summed up by something from the White House not all that long ago about how people were entitled to their alternative facts.

Now, I'm all for people having alternative opinions and, I expect, that a whole lot of people have differing opinions than I do and that's not a bad thing. Facts, on the other hand, are a whole different thing.

For instance, I use Raka epoxy which uses a 2 to 1 mix ratio. So, if someone asks me what the mix ratio is I can state that it is 2 to 1 which is not my opinion but a simple fact. Maybe if someone asked me which is the best epoxy that would fall into the opinion zone and for the record having used a lot of different epoxies over the last few decades my opinion is they are all mostly about the same as long as you follow the directions.

The idea of alternative facts where boat building, cruising, and other matters of life or death tend to frighten me. Facts are something you don't get to pick and choose. Facts are just what they are and all you need to do is find out what they are. The downside of this is that there are now so many alternative facts floating around where boat stuff is concerned that you pretty much have to do your own research and put it through the critical thinking wringer to make sure you have the real thing.

Just saying.

Listening to Los Lobos on Live From Here

So it goes...

Something to ponder while sawing some wood...

A barren desert, some ethical considerations, and why "horror" is no bad thing...

I've, of late, been trying to get my head around the subject of minimalism as it seems to morph into something different every time I turn around. So much so that the other day when a friend termed me a "minimalist" the other day in an email I was not sure whether to take it as an insult or not.

Part of the problem with the whole minimalism thing is that no small number of people have co-opted the word in the pursuit of greedy endeavours.

As such, minimalism is a word I now find untrustworthy, irritating, and, more often than not just another consumerist buzzword much like "green".

So, the question is, what words actually define what I'm working towards?

Listening to John Oates

So it goes...

A question to ponder...

EBM makes a solid point, Ian Welsh with an apt comment, and in the "No doubt an upstanding pillar of his community" department...

So, today just a question that's buzzing around what passes for a brain.

Why do we do things the way we do where boats are concerned?

Seriously. It just seems that a lot of the things we do don't always make a whole lot of sense. Especially where boat building is concerned

In the meantime I'm going to be reading the new WoodenBoat which looks to be a better than usual issue.

Listening to Okkervil River

So it goes...

a second opinion...

Insanity at the EPA, interesting, and in the "Brown shirts and armbands are so passe" department...

Sailing Anarchy has a spot on second opinion regarding the proposed CAL 40/4040 makeover you might want to peruse.

Overall, I'm finding the whole idea to be interesting in the vein of provoking thoughts concerning the big picture of what's important/not important, our general place in the universe, and the underlying significance in a world of $45 flip flops.

Listening to Lance Lopez

So it goes...

in the "fear of failure" department...

Today's question, a very good post we could all take to heart, and an answer to a question that keeps me up nights...

I can't help but notice a lot of folks have a real phobia about making mistakes. If you read as much boat stuff as I do you'll see a real trend in folks engaged in project stasis because they feel they have to have the perfect boat, perfect design, perfect tools, perfect product, perfect anchor, perfect chart plotter...

The list is frelling endless.

Everyone these days seems to feel they have to get it right first time every time and the idea of making a mistake is simply not an acceptable option.

We all make mistakes. For instance, I have lockers worth of stuff for projects that seemed like a good idea at the time. By the time I get around to actually doing the projects, I find there's a better or, at least, different way that makes more sense. Every one of those a mistake of one sort or another.

I'll go out on a limb here and say right here and now that "So It Goes", at best, is just a collection of mistakes that sails in formation.

In the process of designing or doing projects, I've erred on one or several levels and finished up with projects, that while acceptably workable, I find irritating. With hindsight, I realize I could have done a better job in one way or another...

My current mast is a good example. It works. It did not fall down and go boom during Hurricane Maria and to most would be considered a success. In point of fact, I realize I could have built it lighter without impacting its strength and I have a whole slew of hindsight improvements that will make the next mast I build all kinds of better. Then again, Reuel Parker some time ago had a very interesting article involving a different way to make masts that are light, easier to build, and more affordable which means the next mast I build will be yet a whole new learning experience. I'm looking forward to it because, for me at least, the best part of building stuff is all about riding the learning curve and pushing the envelope just that little bit more.

I expect my next mast will be far from perfect, mistakes will be made, and that's OK with me.

Listening to an NME playlist

So it goes...

Brute force is seldom your friend where boats are concerned...

Penguin feathers, some depressing Gulf of Mexico news, and in the "It's way past time to be worried but if You Weren’t Worried Yet, You Can Start Now" department...

So, yesterday, I spent some time watching them try and salvage a catamaran.  It did not go well. Brute force is never the right option if there are other courses of action and resources available.

Which got me thinking (yet again) that if you're going to cruise and live on a boat you really need to be as self-sufficient as possible because, when all is said and done, most folks do not have your best interests at heart. Especially those in the marine trades.

It's your boat, your responsibility, and, as such, you really need to have a game plan for all the shit-hits-the-fan scenarios that boats and sailors fall prey to. Because if you don't, someone else will do it for you and, chances are it won't be pretty.

Do your homework.

Just something to ponder a bit...

Listening to River Whyless

So it goes...

on the subject of freedom...

Crimes however you want to define them, laugh deficient, and Trump chooses a "yachtie" congressman (Speaking of which, have I ever mentioned how much I detest the terms "YACHTIE" and "Yacht"?)...

The other day I got an email accusing me of "Tilting at windmills" and pointing out that the only way to achieve freedom on a boat was to have a large income and a big fat bank balance. Which, not to beat a dead horse, is a far too common thread to a lot of the emails I get to BoatBits.

So it does go when you're paddling against wind and current...

There's a quote (and no, dear reader, it is not the faux Mark Twain quote that everyone uses) by the late Edward Abbey which pretty much sums up the freedom does not rise from the possession of large amounts of cash argument.

"Freedom begins between the ears"

Listening to some great Warren Zevon covers

So it goes...

In need of a Drano Martini...

Something from the "I'm not sorry just sorry I got caught" files, a film review worth reading, and you should read a little about Whale Sharks...

Having watched way too much of the recent debacle in Ohio I have two pressing needs. One is to try and figure out if a liberal application of Drano to my cerebral cortex might wash away the heinous slime leftover from the RNC hate-fest.

Secondly, two words come to mind of a nautical (it is a boat blog after all) nature which are...

Lifeboat

And...

Stations

Enough said.

Listening to the Youngbloods (seems apt)

So it goes..

that little whisper in your ear...

The costs of your polo shirt, something interesting about Lion Fish, and this is a whole lot of nervous making...

So, yeah... Donald Trump.

I bring up Trump because he is a a walking/talking/shitting example of someone just about everyone in the media and the world of politics considered a joke with zero possibility of being a serious contender for President.

Apparently, everyone seems to have been wrong. Not all that surprising, when you happen to think about that, as "everyone" has something of a history of getting stuff backwards. For instance, check out what the media, the movers and shakers had to say about Hitler in the early 30's.

Which has exactly what to do with boats and suchlike you may well ask.

Well, for one it does cast a certain shadow on the whole "Everyone says you need a certain kind of boat/budget to sail off into the sunset" advice and, secondly, you might want to pay a whole lot more attention to whatever your personal spidey sense is currently whispering in your ear.

Listening to a chunk of Tom Petty covers

So it goes...

Decisions, decisions...

Scary, something about the Zika virus, and in the "highly effective pathogens" department...

I thought long and hard yesterday about buying a new to me boat. Four feet longer and with two and a half feet more beam it would have over twice the room of "So It Goes".

Room for a couple more twelve-strings...

Of course, a bigger boat would have to earn its keep and a big chunk of that added space and load carrying ability would have to be devoted to that end. My initial thought would be a dedicated work space in the forepeak area and some dedicated cargo space.

Still pondering about that...

In the meantime, we have a boat more or less drifting loose off our stern since its mooring chain broke in some gusty winds Wednesday night.

Always something or other...

Listening to Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love

So it goes... 

a quick thought...

An important question, double standard justice, and just the same old same Florida anchoring BS...

So, Dave Z and I have been having a discussion on various subjects and something he said got me thinking about boats, the internet, and how they fit together.

If I say something like...

You can do something.

It does not mean that I think you should. I'm simply pointing out that something is possible. 

If I were to point out that a self-built dinghy that only requires oars or a small outboard is a much more economical choice than a big RIB with a fifteen HP or larger outboard, I'm in no way saying you should have a small rowing dinghy but simply pointing out a simple economical fact of the difference between those two choices.

Part of the reason I'm so attracted to the sailing/cruising gig is simply that you can pretty much do what you want as we're joyfully unfettered for the most part. Sadly, there seems more and more pressure to constrain and quash that freedom.

Truth be told, I'd really hate to be part of that menace that tells people they have to do something a certain way and be part of the pressure that forces people to conform and become sheep.

Choice is cool but it comes at a cost. Just the other day while I rowed past a boat picking up its anchor the guy on the foredeck called out to us with a clever (well, at least he thought it was) jibe concerning rowing and Lin & Larry Pardey. I'm sure he felt all kinds of superior having put me in my place but it did not bother me to the point that I'd go out and buy a 12-foot RIB with a 35HP outboard to better fit in because of what some dork thinks.

Which is not to say there was not a certain amount of irritation but that's just the cost of doing business your way instead of following the herd.

Listening to David Bowie cover John Lennon

So it goes...

the A or FAIL conundrum...

This is just so seriously fucked up, some interesting reading, and a historical synopsis you might find intriguing.

I just finished "Knight's Cross" by Cristine Kling which is a pretty good book this morning and, as usual, my Kindle asked me to rate it and I gave it four stars. I sorta/kinda feel a little guilty about that and it got me thinking...

For me, if you have a scale of one to five stars, one star is going to be an awful book and, by contrast, a five star book is going to have to be awesome work of art and life changing. So in my view of four stars for a genre adventure novel is actually very high praise.

So, why do I feel guilty?

I think part of it is that, for what seems like the majority, there seems to be no middle ground anymore. Something is either AWESOME or it's CRAP and there is simply no real middle ground any longer.

You see it a lot in the way people talk about boats and gear. People need to have the BEST and it would seem that if it is not THE BEST it must be THE WORST which is very flawed thinking process and tends to give me a headache when I encounter it. I bet this has a lot to do with the reason I seem to eat aspirin like they were peanuts.

It gets worse though. A few weeks ago I bought something on eBay which I almost did not because in the description of the product and suchlike the seller pretty much demanded/threatened that there would be hell to pay if you did not leave positive feedback and give him five stars if you were to buy from him. Which, to my mind, calls into question all that glowing feedback since they could simply be in preemptive self-defense as leaving a less than awesome feedback just might be answered by a negative review of you the buyer in return.

Personally, I read reviews to get an idea of whether something is worthwhile or not but of late with no apparent benchmarks in place it's nigh on impossible to make sense of things. Made even worse by the fact that, for instance, the Amazon five star rating system is not so much good or bad but good or better. "Stars" were always an attaboy back in my elementary school days when we were were rewarded with gold and silver stars (not that I recall ever getting a whole bunch of gold stars for my penmanship or good work habits). Maybe what they should do is add some negative ratings (one to five piles of crap?) to the mix to make for a more reality based scenario.

So, about "Knight's Cross" in my personal scale I'll give it an eight as it had a good beat, kept me turning pages, and was easy to dance to...

Need I say more?

Listening to Brooke Waggoner

So it goes...

a quick reflection on a 25,000 mile sack of groceries...

Concrete canoes, somewhat worrying, and, for some, it would seem that the gravy train's going bye-bye...

The other day i went shopping for a few things and could not help but marvel at a few things. For instance, I bought two carrots (99-cents a pound) which hailed from Canada, a few apples ($2.59 a pound) from Washington State, and some chicken thighs ($1.99 a pound) which I'm pretty sure was grown and slaughtered in the US of A but shipped to China where it was cut up into pieces and then shipped back to the US of A where it would be shipped on to the Caribbean.

To say this is just plain nuts would be something of an understatement...

Then again, maybe the fact that I'm at the tail end of the supply chain and have regular reminders of what happens when the supply chain has hiccups or breaks down for short periods makes me over-sensitive because it's just a normal part of living in the Caribbean.

Maybe so, but I still think there's something scary when you find yourself in the situation where everything in your shopping bag has traveled at least 3000 (or more) miles so you can make lunch. We really do seem to be taking a lot for granted thinking that the current transport system will continue to function along the current business model.

Just saying...

On a not unrelated subject, you might want to check out this article regarding shipping products via sail in a more sustainable manner.

Listening to Help The Doctor

So it goes...

a shift away from solitude...

The rewards of being a drug dealer, what the clothes you wear actually cost, and if this does not set off your Spidey sense to 11 you might want to go see a doctor...

Things keep changing.

I suppose that's just a fact of life and at a certain age one does tend to view change in a negative light but still... I'm just not seeing this as a positive trend in cruising.

Listening to Fishbone

So it goes...