Some very old skis, a vaccine for Malaria, and an Orca sculpture that caught my attention...
OK, I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of sailing or cruising forums because the general level of cluelessness tends to get up my nose. For instance, this morning I looked in on a thread about free-standing rigs and another about textile rigging and most of the content was clueless.
The problem is that opinions, in the general parlance, have gained equal stature as facts which results in too much BS information floating around clouding the information streams.
Now, where free-standing rigs are concerned, having researched the subject to the Nth degree, built said masts, and sailed them across oceans I think I actually have a handle on the general question of rather or not they make sense on a cruising boat. As it happens I've also long considered the reasons for the lack of popularity of free-standing rigs and it really has nothing to do with whether they are good or bad but a whole lot to do with the fact that folks, in general, are just way too resistant to change of any sort to adopt something other than the same old same.
As far as textile rigging is concerned I'm just so tired of hearing the same bits of misinformation spouted as gospel where terms like stretch, creep, and cost are concerned that I want to bang my head against the table or bulkhead till blessed unconsciousness results to make it go away. Then again, I've researched the subject, taken workshops with folks who know what they're doing, and done enough practical work with the materials to know why my mast did not fall down when confronted with two Cat 5 hurricanes while tons of non-textile rigs fell down.
Which is not to say I don't have opinions as well. There's a sailboat design that induces a negative knee jerk reaction in me that I really dislike. There's something about the way the sheer looks and the rig just does not make sense to me which fuels my disdain. That said, I've never actually sailed the boat or even seen one sailing so I'd never offer a public opinion on how well or badly the design might actually work. Sure, I expect it to be a real dog but, since I don't have facts to back up my opinions of the boat, I'm not going to say anything about it.
Just sayin'...
Listening to Thao & The Get Down
So it goes...
