Up over 2000 views....WooHoo!!

My view counter shows that this blog has been viewed over 2000 times. My more cynical friends say that I, and I alone must have accounted for over 1700 of those views. I don't think it's been that much. Anyway, thanks to the four or five other regular viewers for the other 300 views,

Extreme Very Long and Very Wide Catamarans

I lifted many a YouTube on the Vendee Globe around the World Singlehanded Race from YacthPals . He has now put out a video compilation on the IShares 2008 series in Extreme 40 catamaarns. Some of the footage is rewound over and over again but it is interesting nonetheless. I just keep thinking of the poor suckers and their groaning shoulder sockets as they dangle 25 feet up on the trampoline netting.

Spring Boat Work....Painting, Varnishing

The procrastinator that I am, sailing season has arrived with me, as usual, woefully unprepared. Severn Sailing Tuesday night series is just around the corner (next week) and I will be expected to uphold, this year as it was in the year gone by, the Classic Moth flag against the (somewhat faster) Laser hordes. I'll probably splash my Classic Moth Maser for the first TESOD, replete with a slapdash of primer covering where I moved the mast step over the winter. Meanwhile my other Classic Moth is upside down as I varnish the bottom (randomness of life is never more represented in varnishing, you never know what you'll get, at least the way I do it). I also have a kayak upside down on saw horses for a paint job. Did I say I hate painting boats!!!... I'm not very good at it, or to rephrase it, not anal enough for a mirror finish or even a gloss finish. My friends have a saying. This paint job is the 20 foot paint job .... looks good at 20 feet, just don't get any closer. Though some of them have figured out how to spray paint their boats ........ the bastards.

Music for Friday; Peter Bradley Adams

Folkie Peter Bradley Adams has been getting a lot of play in my workshop CD player. I think he's from the West Coast. From a radio studio set at WNRN at Charlottesville, VA.

"The Longer I Run"

When my blood runs warm with the warm red wine
I miss the life that I left behind
But when I hear the sound of the blackbirds cry
I know I left in the nick of time

Well this road I'm on's gonna turn to sand
And leave me lost in a far off land
So let me ride the wind til I don't look back
Forget the life that I almost had

If I wander til I die
May I know who's hand I'm in
If my home I'll never find
And let me live again

The longer I run
Then the less that I find
Sellin my soul for a nickel and dime
Breakin my heart to keep singing these rhymes
And losin again

The longer I run
Then the less that I find
Sellin my soul for a nickel and dime
Breakin my heart to keep singing these rhymes
And losin again

Tell my brother please not to look for me
I ain't the man that I used to be
But if my savior comes could you let him know
I've gone away for to save my soul

If I wander til I die
May I know who's hand I'm in
If my home I'll never find
And let me live again

The longer I run
Then the less that I find
Sellin my soul for a nickel and dime
Breakin my heart to keep singing these rhymes
And losin again

The longer I run
Then the less that I find
Sellin my soul for a nickel and dime
Breakin my heart to keep singing these rhymes
And losin again

Losing again

The longer I run
I'm losing again
Losing again

Beer - Winter Ratings

I have a box in a corner of my workshop which contains my beer stock. Right now, the box is empty, except for the forlorn empty six pack boxes. What better blog topic than to inventory the boxes and write about the beer I have been imbibing over the last three months. I did the requisite Google search on my favorite beers before I wrote this post and quickly realized I am not an expert. I can't wax lyrical about hoppiness, yeast, malts, heavy, light .... I just like what tastes good to my palate.

The explosion of microbrewerys has put a ton of diverse beers out there. It helps that three of my favorite microbrewers, Victory, Troeg Brothers, and Lancaster are more or less local, located in the state of Pennsylvania.

I like dark beers and this winter was one for Stouts.

Top of the list for the last two years has been Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout ..... one very dark beer and very smooth. Not far behind is Victory Brewery's Storm King Stout.

Another perennial favorite is the Troeg Brothers, Troeganator Double Bock.

For my Ale, I have returned to a British brew, Old Speckled Hen, which I first tasted in a North Yorkshire pub several years ago. Here is how one expert, Mr Beerhunter described Old Speckled Hen;

Yeast produces different flavours according to the density of sugars with which it is required to work. At this gravity it creates a beer with a complexity of gently pear-like fruitiness and dryish, nutty maltiness. The hop bitterness in the finish is relatively restrained.

Whew! .... and to me it just tastes good.

And last, my wife bought some TommyKnocker's Nut Brown Ale which came highly recommended. Very drinkable but a little too sweet to be one of my top picks.

I just bought some Pilsner which was a mistake as I always consider that a hot summer drink (when I do like our custom of very chilled beer .... though my winter drinking has been at the cool temperature of the workshop) I have occassionally committed heresy and mixed my Pilsner or IPA 50/50 with orange juice as another summer drink.

We'll be right back Jill!

Another leadmine disaster video.

This is an oldy that has somehow escaped my attention. A Capri 25 knockdown and bow woman overboard similar to the Melges 24 video posted a while ago. Some of the crew seem frozen but admittedly it is hard to do anything at 90 degrees. There is the fellow in the Tilley hat and the blue life jacket with a death grip on the leeward edge of the companionway and also the fellow in the orange lifejacket who, after enduring being submerged on the leeward rail, gets unceremoniously dumped down below, never to be seen again.

>=

The honorable Tillerman has commented with a link to the reply, posted on his blog, by the owner of the Capri 25, Mark Hammett. Well worth clicking over to get the full story. Let me state that I try to keep my editorial content from being too snarky. My regular readers know that my best sea stories are about my screw-ups.

Music for Fridays; South Austin Jug Band .... JackAss

Don't know much about this band other than it has a mandolin and a violin on top of the guitars and drums. They do a great job on covering this Jeff Beck tune JackAss.