Some rather depressing news, a shark that walks, and I'd never really considered "11" to be a scary number before...
The other day I listened to an excellent podcast on rigging and suchlike which got me thinking how so much of sail oriented content tends to be of the rose colored glasses variety and shies away from the reality of it all. Apparently, reality is bad for business if you're selling sailing/cruising as lifestyle and making a buck in the process.
Pissing off people with reality bites is not what the cool folk want to read or see.
So, back to that podcast where Andy Schell asks why people are not talking about fitness of the not being able to go aloft at sea or even walk the deck sort. A question that most folks will file in the memory hole but one that everyone should ask themselves.
Can I really handle the physical requirements required to sail my boat?
A few years back I posted a blurb about Colligo's emergency shroud kit which created a lot of email of the "How do I use it?" variety and even greater consternation emails when I pointed out that it's simple you just climb the mast to rig it in place of the dodgy or broken stay...
The fact that folks will spend a shitload of money for an
emergency shroud kit but then balk at the idea that they'd have to be fit enough to actually use it says far too much about the general state of sailing in 2017.
Being honest with yourself can be all kinds of sucky and, take it from me as a guy who just realized that the Beatle's "When I'm Sixty-Four" will apply to me in a week or so, it can be eye-opening, depressing, and, surprisingly, empowering. Still, asking the question of just what sort of boat will I be able to manage ten years from now is not one that requires those rose-colored glasses.
Listening to
Mae West
So it goes...
