Wednesday, December 10, 2008

My Blog Died

Cuz I bought a little sailboat.

Woohoo!

But now it's snowing and the pond is icy. No moar boat. *sniff*

So what you been doing while I been gone?
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11 comments:

  1. HazelThu Dec 11, 05:07:00 AM 2008

    Woohoo! Lovely to see you back Dr.B! Hope this means your arm is all better.

    I’m a boring mouse. I been doing same ol’ same ol’ – working, reading etc... plus swimming to make sure I don’t get too fat. (Too much water gets displaced as it is, sigh).

    Speaking of which sailing carries the risk of falling in – not good in icy water. Hope you stay in the warm, even if it thaws a bit :-)

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  2. JonathanThu Dec 11, 07:40:00 AM 2008

    Welcome back to blogging, Dr B!

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  3. SteelmanThu Dec 11, 02:14:00 PM 2008

    Welcome back!

    I've been reading too many blogs, while writing very little myself, and now you're not helping that...not that I mind.

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  4. Steve ZaraFri Dec 12, 03:53:00 PM 2008

    You probably have little idea how much you have been missed, which is hugely. I can say truthfully that in gatherings of RD.netters in foreign lands, your name is mentioned with admiration.

    As for what I have been doing - my usual RD.net stuff - wasting too much time, rowing furiously with bigots, sulking, and having huge fun.

    I have never been on a sailboat.

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  5. Dr BenwaySun Dec 14, 12:18:00 AM 2008

    Steve, ask Santa for a little sailing dinghy. Then you can join the party.

    I grew up by the ocean and sailed some in college, but hadn't thought much about boats until earlier this year when we got a couple kayaks. Fun, but often I'd wonder how I could put a sail on the thing.

    So I got a sailing kayak. Better fun! Wind accelleration close to the water is a kick. And when you do something right, the boat under sail rewards you immediately. You can experiment and test out different ideas.

    Does it ever happen that you want something that seems too expensive, so you talk yourself into a compromise. But the itch won't leave you alone, so you get what you wanted in the first place, then you kick yourself for spending on two things rather than one thing?

    The sailing kayak was a compromise. Finally I bought a 15-foot two-person dinghy. It's not the perfect boat but it's a fine teacher for now.

    Tragically, I do not get along with cruising sailboats - those larger things with beautiful teak cabins that people take to the Virgin Islands 'n such. My nervous system complains when I'm below deck. I've got to be near the water or I turn green and york up my lunch.

    What might be the perfect sailboat from a speed and efficiency point of view?

    An airfoil and hydrofoil tied together by a massless string and arranged so that the lift laterally on each foil cancels the lateral aspect of the lift on the other foil. No righting moment needed to keep such a boat flat on the water.

    Isn't it marvelous that a boat can travel faster than the wind, thanks to lift?

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  6. Dr BenwaySun Dec 14, 12:31:00 AM 2008

    Hazel - have you heard of dry suits? They are the best invention ever. Icy water is not a problem when you're wearing a polar fleece jumper under a dry suit --well, except for your face and maybe your fingers, depending upon whether you're wearing waterproof gloves or mittens.

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  7. EpeeistSat Dec 20, 04:43:00 PM 2008

    Steve, ask Santa for a little sailing dinghy. Then you can join the party.

    He doesn't want a little one. He wants a Hobie 18 or something similar. He needs to get out there on the trapeze trying to get the windward hull back into the water.

    Glad to see you back Dr. B. Can you recommend anything for a Dianelos infestation?

    And you might like to have a look at these - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10983076@N08/sets/72157608338694287/ and some more here http://www.flickr.com/groups/rdfrs/pool/page2/

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  8. EpeeistSat Dec 20, 04:47:00 PM 2008

    Oh, and for some reason this set of pictures got a lot of people (well the blokes anyway) on RD.net all flustered - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10983076@N08/sets/72157605487930517/

    I started in dinghies, but my wife reckoned it was too much like swimming so we moved to bigger boats. The last thing I sailed was a Halberg-Rassey in the Baltic.

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  9. Dr BenwaySun Dec 21, 01:22:00 AM 2008

    Hey epeeist!

    I don't wanna read Dentalfloss' posts no mo. Equivocation, god of the gaps, smugness, blech!

    But it's good to know someone's willing to play whack-a-mole with the ol' boy!

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  10. Dr BenwaySun Dec 21, 01:40:00 AM 2008

    Just looked at the photos. Everyone looks to be having a great time. Wish I could have been there.

    Nice boat. No one is barfing!

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  11. EpeeistSun Dec 21, 02:32:00 AM 2008

    Nice boat. No one is barfing!

    First time I ever cruised we hit a force 9 squall crossing the channel. Lots of people throwing up (including me), one guy spent 3 days in his bunk.

    This meant that on the way back we discovered we had a whole stack of food in the freezer. Final morning's breakfast eaten at something like 3AM was bacon, sausage, steak, fried eggs, fried bread, mushrooms...

    Everybody ate it, nobody barfed. Even Nelson used to get seasick at the start of a voyage.

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