A friend recently suggested that I should check out a website and already it’s providing surprising dividends. Just last week I saw a description of a different way of doing a journal as a bullet pointed listing of WTFs. The fact is that most of the things I write about boats starts with a “What …
As someone who spent several years being an on and off resident of Camp 4 in Yosemite, I have a very different view of what the word “Dirtbag” actually means… dirtbag /dûrt′băg″/ noun Which has a lot to do with my approach to the whole VolksCruiser thing and why I admire folks cruising with less, …
Practical Boat Owner has an article on the recent ARC rally that I found both interesting as well as depressing. Mostly it’s about what stuff you need to have to cross the Atlantic. Lots of stuff. Expensive stuff. Of course, the ARC has always been a favorite thing to do if one is big on …
Being in the middle of a part time refit of our Islander has me thinking both about the cost of things these days, as well as the creeping loss of common sense where cruising boats is concerned. This morning I read a great article in Voiles et Voiliers about crossing the Atlantic with a 25-foot …
As they’re already forecasting a nasty “H” season, it’s way past time for me to be considering the various options that make sense. Trust me, it’s a whole lot better sitting in a French sidewalk cafe than it is being in the mangroves waiting for all hell to break loose. Since we’re speaking of hurricanes, …
When I was a kid the very best thing I could do was to go camping. The whole sleeping on hard ground, campfire stories, and the chance of catching a trout for breakfast was some kind of wonderful. These days, all too often I hear the word camping as a negative when used in yacht …
I recently needed to get a VHF antenna for the Islander and, as I had to buy a VHF antenna a few years ago for So It Goes, I expected to find one for between $40 to $50 dollars. The fact that most of the antennas I considered this time around were more like $90 …
I’ve never been big on the whole birthday thing but, much to my surprise, hitting the seven decade mark was kind of nice. Sure, I’ll admit that it solidifies the fact that I’ve achieved permanent Old-Fart status but it carries with it the fact that I simply no longer have any fucks to give and …
A quote every yacht designer and student of yacht design should pay attention to… “A designer knows, he has achieved, perfection not when, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry …and all that ever needs to be said about cruising. “He who …
Back when I was building our Wharram Tiki 31 on a small island on the Seine outside Paris the music on my Walkman was mostly John Stewart and Jimmy Buffet with a bit of Beach Boys and Beatles thrown in for good measure. A few years later building the first Loose Moose at the old …
Some days you just wish you had not read the news… Read More »
