FrankenBoat

Frankenboat - Modifying an existing sailboat hull (usually a sailing dinghy) into a completely different concept.

I must admit a strange affinity to those who develop Frankenboats. It is a very, very tiny cadre in the sailing community who delight in seeing something different in the ordinary, unlike the automobile community where creativity and the mashed up abound, whether it's hot rods, VW Beatles with Rolls Royces hoods, or Honda Civics with dolphin tails. I wrote about my friend Fran who is slowly converting a Sidewinder into a Geezer Sailing Canoe.

And here is a Roger and Williams student who decided to make a high performance skiff out of a Laser hull (tip of the hat to SailGroove).....


Sailing Videos on Sailgroove


I'm always on the lookout for the oddball creative type who has hacked up something old and familiar into something new (who woulda thunk....I own a Frankeboat which I'll get to in a later post)

Music for Fridays; Ben Taylor "Wicked Way"

I am told by a fellow just turned 80 that Geezerdom gives a man the freedom to flirt with young women in a risque manner not generally tolerated for the younger male. I'm not at that advanced age where over the top comments are tolerated with a wink and a smile but this week's "Music for Friday" features Ben Taylor (son of James Taylor and Carly Simon) in the not so politically correct song "Wicked Way"

Open Boat Cruising

There are other blogs that do a great job covering traditional and open boat sailing.....

DoryMan is my favorite (in my blog list) but two others that also do a good job covering open boat sailing are InTheBoatShed and 70.8% .

The increasing popularity of RAID's (a weeklong event for open and traditional sailboats with each day featuring a point to point race/cruise) and MessAbouts (events based out of one location) are giving open boat cruising new impetus. I would like to do an open boat cruise myself somewhere in the future.

This video is of a Welsford open boat design Navigator (Welsford designs are very comfortable in big wind and waves) sailing from Auckland NZ to the island of Kawau (about 30 km NE).

Mr. Putter

I was cleaning out my gutters when the visiting Mom/Grandmom of the neighbors across the street wandered over to introduce herself to my wife. Not to appear rude, I scrambled down and joined the two in the midst of their conversation.......

"Oh I've heard so much about you", says the Grandmom.

"Mostly about you (nodding to my wife, who is the friendly one, especially to the 4 year old girl from the family)"

And then Grandmom, nodding at me, adds "And S...(that 4 year old in the family) has a name for you. She calls you Mr. Potter."

Truly puzzled, I repeat "Mr. Potter?" (which is not even close to my first or last name.)

"Yes", says Grandmom "Mr. Potter"

And BINGO, the light went on and I replied.

"Ahhh.... Your daughter has remarked how I always seem to be puttering about with my boats. It seems your granddaughter has taken her mothers comments and named me "Mr Putter".

I kind of like it.

Mr. Putter

Music for Fridays; The Raconteurs w/ Ricky Skaggs, Ashley Monroe "Old Enough"

Back to bluegrass;

Old Enough Featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe from Miky Wolf on Vimeo.

Music for Fridays; Jon Brion "You Can Still Ruin My Day"

Music set to an off the wall 1960's bicycle safety training video.

Classic Moth fathead experiment

I previously wrote of some sail experimentation in the Classic Moth. I've documented my fathead experimental sail design in the following PDF file. (To print or download this PDF, click on the upward-facing arrow icon in the top-right of the app bar. The PDF will pop into another tab on your browser where you can print or download.)

Laser Blasting

There is a surfeit of videos showing fit, young Laser sailors screaming downwind in big waves and wind. Here are three mash ups of Laser firehose reaches I like;

Estonian Olympian Deniss Karpak.........


Extreme Laser downwind from Deniss Karpak on Vimeo.
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A bunch of International sailors training of Marseille, France...



And some crazy Norwegians.............

Music for Fridays; Rosie Flores, Alvin Hill "Goodbye Again"

It's fun to watch a duet with great chemistry. A country song performed with great aplomb by Rosie Flores and Alvin Hill.

A Miracle Miracle

I must admit, really light airs eventually drives me bonkers, absolute dead calm drives me muttering up the proverbial wall. If the wind goes completely away, most likely you'll see me desperately trying to get back to the club (though in my very occasional forays into a Laser, I did win a drift fest two years ago in a TESOD race). The absolute serene, chatty, religious joy of this following small boat sailor sitting in a glassy calm, Force 0 as he calls it, has me wondering; what part of his brain gives him the ability to savor a moment that would have me desperately paddling for shore?

Quote of the day......."It's (the gravel pit) very deep, I should know...virtually been to the bottom of it when I forgot my life jacket"

Addendum to Back to the Future

One of my predictions for the future of sailing was the continued increase in popularity of multihulls. I neglected to add a video for multihulls, so this post should rectify that. A video on some exciting F16 catamaran racing in some European regatta conveniently called EuroCat. Nice to see Aussie female and male teams split first and second for this regatta. I might have to root around in my sailing closet to find my trapeze harness and try one of these this summer.