I might not know everything but I'm having a good time...

Tourism's carbon impact, some not-all-that-surprising skullduggery, and in the "You don’t get to say it’s gross until you try it" department...

When I was a kid I learned how to sail.

Well, sorta/kinda...

My introduction to wind-based locomotion was a Sunfish of sorts that was a prop for a photo shoot to advertise a cigarette company's product. The actual boat was carved foam and painted robin's egg blue. It was dinged up so deemed not worth taking back to the mainland and left next to a trash can on the beach in Avalon. Fact of the matter is it was never designed to go into the water but it did have a real Sunfish rig and bits so my dad dragged it home with the idea that we might enjoy learning to sail.

The ersatz Sunfish was just the ticket and we did learn to sail in a sorta/kinda way. No real lessons for us and left to our own devices we somehow survived a rather steep learning curve.

It was also the beginning of my ongoing (some might say endless) affair with the fixing and repair of boats and suchlike as the painted Styrofoam hull had zero protection from UV so was in a somewhat constant state of sun induced leprosy. So, wherever we sailed we were followed by a trail of Styrofoam beads in our wake. Well, at least till we discovered the wonderfulness of polyester resin and fiberglass.

To say that my introduction to polyester resin and fiberglass was a pivotal moment in my life would be something of an understatement.

Fast forward to the present day and I'll be the first to admit that I'm still learning how to sail, repair, and fix boats. It's an ongoing process. There's always something new to learn or a novel concept to grasp that makes messing around in boats an endlessly rewarding activity. Just yesterday, I read something that Reuel Parker wrote in a caption to a photo of his current build that left me so excited with the avenues in boat building it opened up that it kept me up for the better part of the night mulling over the awesome possibilities.

That said, I'm often confronted with folks who, apparently, know everything there is to know regarding sailing, designing, and building boats and I feel just a little bit sorry for them. How much less enjoyable it would be without those heady eureka moments and the simple satisfaction of working through problems to improve my abilities.

Knowing it all, for me at least, would be, for want of a better word, boring...

Listening to Smoke Season

So it goes...

A very good book...

Scary stuff from NOAA, a little common sense, and in the "Is it hot enough for you?" department..

Very good and needful reading.

Listening to Shurman

So it goes...

an opportunity and it's FREE...

Some needful reading, does sixty-days seem a little light for stealing $230K, and in the "modern fascist movement driven almost entirely by racism, stupidity, and xenophobia" department...

I won't go into the many and varied reasons that it makes sense for folks sailing boats to have at least a working knowledge of basic navigation skills and that includes celestial.

Yeah, yeah I know I'm a Luddite dinosaur.

On the other hand, if you happen to feel that learning how to navigate your boat without the aid of prone to failure electronic systems and devices that you can neither repair or fix you're in luck. Vanderbilt University has an online class (that's FREE!) and looks to be very good.



Hard to argue with free.

Listening to Typhoon

So it goes...

une peu rapide affaire...

A site you may want to be perusing over the coming months, an interesting reading list, and some good news in the "uh, never mind" department.

Ino Rope makes the case for a constrictor knot instead of a whipping...



Listening to Shovels & Rope

So it goes...

on being a happy/unhappy camper...

Moral lepers, an info-graphic that might surprise you, and what's wrong with in-your-face “prima facie criminal behavior” as long as profit is involved...

The internet, from time to time, is a place that often surprises me... Especially in the general connectedness where it concerns folks reading "Boat Bits".

Yesterday's post, like many that deal with boater education (or lack of), always produces a big mailbag and I never do quite understand why some readers take what I say so personally.

Maybe it's the dynamic of the internet that everyone thinks the blog is directed at them personally and, somehow, my pointing out that there are people who would be unable to sail a boat well enough to effect a rescue if their significant other were to fall overboard is some how akin to a personal attack...

The thing is, I don't recall writing anything that was directed at any individual yet this morning I find a half dozen folks who think I had called them out personally and told them they were "passengers" and "useless" where needful sailing skills are concerned.

One of the great things about sailing and boats in general is that there is very little regulation about... If you want to sail around the world all you have to do is to buy/build a boat, point it in the direction of choice, and have at it. You don't need a license, special permission, or the need to pass any tests and, from where I sit, that's not really a bad thing.

Lots of folks do just that and learn how to sail as they go. Most of them survive and usually wind up with some entertaining stories of the "what does not kill us makes us stronger" sort to share over beers as they work their way through the learning curve.

Of course, the downside is some folks don't survive, people get hurt, and dreams fall apart... Life is like that.

So, next time I point out that "you" (in the collective sense) might want to think about some aspect of your skill set or lack thereof don't take it personally and simply take a moment to consider that what you know or don't know may just be the difference between being a happy or a very unhappy camper...

Listening to Renaud

So it goes...

A pastime that pays dividends...

Something well worth a read by E. L. Doctorow, "60 Minutes" was once the cutting edge of serious journalism but not so much these days, and something you should know about shrimp...

I've been meaning to get back into lure making mode here on "So It Goes" for a while...

I've always liked tying flies and making lures because it's relaxing, I get to use odd scraps of wood, and I can always use a few extra. It also helps me catch more fish as most of the lures available on the market are not really meant to be trolled at normal sailboat speeds.

Right now I have two big teak backing pads which, while no longer needful on the boat, should yield a few dozen lure sized blanks... Recycling rocks, does it not?

The excess output past my own personal needs becomes a reasonable trade good and something I can sell whenever I find myself at a nautical flea market or reasonable facsimile. Kind of a win/win situation.

For those looking for a good basic how-to on the subject you might want to check out "How To Make Fishing Lures" by Jonathon Roberts.

Listening to The Volunteers

So it goes...

A little learning never hurt anyone...

It's a sad but true fact that a lot of folks on sailboats simply do not have the required sailing skills that are needful to keep within the happy camper envelope. That said, I am still surprised at just how deficient some sailors happen to be even in the most basic sail handling, anchoring and navigation skills...

For those who want to stay in the happy camper bracket, an excellent slide show on how to reef while sailing downwind would be no bad thing to check out over at the always excellent Attainable Adventure Cruising.