Headin' West

Since the boat was being worked on until the last possible minute, I thought I might as well pull another fast one. After thinking about last year's Weymouth fiasco, and seeing what happened last week at the US Windsurfing Nationals, I thought I should have another sail option. I have arranged with Bill Hansen to modify one of his used sails to create a "mini-rig" a la Adam's high wind solution for Katherine Knight. The area will be 6.5 sq meters and should be useful to me (the wuss) in 20+ knts, or for lighter weight helms in anything 15+. Of course, with this high wind sail in my possession, I have now personally arranged for the breeze to never exceed 20 knots.


My flight out Saturday morning at 0610 requires a 0430 wake-up call. Today was a combination graduation and bon voyage party (our son graduated from Harvard Divinity School last June.) The hectic day included getting the deck ready for a family group of 25 folks and final packing of the luggage. I decided that the smart thing is to only bring a carry-on since I have to change planes and didn't want my luggage to end up in a different direction than me.

It's a three hour flight to Dallas, an hour layover to change planes, then a four hour flight from Dallas to Portland, but with gaining three hours I'm supposed to land at 11:20 a.m. Then I just have to hop on the light rail from PDX to West Coast Sailing, assemble my bike, then ride 40 miles east to Cascade Locks. Looks like it might be a loooooong day!

Slightly Stoopid, a group from San Diego, sings Leaving on a Jet Plane

Leaving on a Jet Plane, by John Denver and Kenneth Browder (1967)

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Netbooking

I bought a Asus netbook yesterday so I can easily post daily comments from the Gorge. This post is from the local Panera's (a coffee shop with free wifi.) Other than the pain of controlling the cursor without a mouse (I hate the touchpad) things seem to work fine. Next post should be on while enroute to Portland. I have a 1 hour layover in Dallas and should be able to find a hotspot.

Enjoy The Doors

Touch Me, by Robby Krieger (1968)

Yeah!, come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, baby
Can't you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?
Now, I'm gonna love you, 'til the heavens stop the rain
I'm gonna love you
'Til the stars fall from the sky for you and I
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Now touch me, baby
Can't you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?
I'm gonna love you, 'til the heavens stop the rain
I'm gonna love you
'Til the stars fall from the sky for you and I
I'm gonna love you, 'til the heavens stop the rain
I'm gonna love you
'Til the stars fall from the sky for you and I

Past Performance is no guarantee...

...of future results. So said the financial wizards that initiated the GFC. I suppose the same can be said about weather history. For the past couple of days the Pacific Northwest has been making the national weather news with record high temperatures. It hit 106 degrees at PDX airport yesterday and more of the same is forecast for today. So how did this heat affect the winds at Cascade Locks? Here's the wind history at Stevenson (just across the river) for the past seven days. It appears that the super heat near the coast reverses the normally predictable westerlies. All I know is that I'm glad I've booked an air conditioned motel room. Sweltering in a tent on a hot summer night is not my idea of fun.

Have fun with The Aquabats!

Hot Summer Nights (Won't Last Forever)!, by the Aquabats! (2005)

I saw you there
With your pretty blondish hair
Eating a breakfast burrito
You seemed so neato
So we took the bus down to the pier
Down on the sand
By the metal detector man
We looked across the bay
As the dolphins swam away
We held hands
And just imagined
With tears in my eyes
You had to say goodbye
You had to go
You couldn't tell me why
You said something about you moving to Alaska

I'm gonna miss you
I'm gonna miss you so much
Those hot summer nights
Won't last forever
[x2]

I know you're gone and you can't come home
I'm so alone, but I'll never forget about you

Dear Elizabeth,
I hope you're doing well
I think it's so awesome that you're out monitoring glacier patterns
in some remote part of Alaska where no one can get a hold of you.
I thought I'd try anyway

I understand
So I bought a krugerrand
I'll wear you near my heart
We'll never be apart
Now the heavens will smile upon us
With tears in my eyes
You had to say goodbye
You had to go
You couldn't tell me why
You said something about you living on an iceberg

I'm gonna miss you
I'm gonna miss you so much
Those hot summer nights
Won't last forever
[x2]

I know you're gone and you can't come home
I'm so alone, but I'll never forget about you

Dear Elizabeth,
Again, I hope you're doing really good.
I haven't heard from you yet but...
Anyway, the weirdest thing - I met your identical twin sister Liz the other night at a party?
Wow she looks just like you!
It was so trippy.
Anyway she said you miss me but not to try to get a hold of you because you're real busy.
And the weirdest thing is I guess she's joining you on the expedition?
Wow that's totally cool!

I'm gonna miss you
I'm gonna miss you so much
Those hot summer nights
Won't last forever
[x2]

Dear Elizabeth and Liz,
I hope you're doing well.
Anyway, I was at the mall and I met your identical cousin Beth.
I didn't even know they had identical cousins and it made me miss you even more.

[Phone Rings]
Hello?

Er, hello is this Elizabeth?

Yes it is.

Elizabeth, it's me Roger - from the beach!

Oh...oh did I say Elizabeth? I meant, um, it's Francine...hah

Oh...Francine?

Yeah, I'm watching their house while they're gone over in Europe.

Europe? I thought they were in Alaska?

Oh did I say Ala...I said, meant Alaska. Yeah they're in Alaska.
Whatever, Europe, Alaska it's the same. Well, anyway they're going to be changing
this phone number so you probably shouldn't call here any more ok? Ok bye

Oh man...

Two weeks to go!

The boat was packed and shipped this morning. It's amazing how much stuff I'm bringing (having no factory support team...) With the boat gone, I do have some honey-do's to take care of until I leave Saturday morning.

On the interweb there’re tons of music videos. Since the racing starts two weeks from today, I had to choose the band All That Remains from my Dad’s hometown of Springfield, Mass. Enjoy.

Two Weeks, by All That Remains (2008)

and you neglected I called you out don't please
I said we're stronger than this now
you resurrected mistakes years past it seemed
and they exist to still haunt you

and still you feel like the loneliness
is better replaced by this
I don't believe it this way
and I can see the fear in your eyes
I've seen it materialize
Growing stronger each day

I could see it as you turned to stone
Still clearly I can hear you say
don't, please don't , give up on me
two weeks and you ran away
I remember don't lie to me
you couldn't see that it was not that way
swear I never gave up on you

I wanted nothing but for that trust again
and brick by brick you would take it
You feared of phantoms and none exist but you
you still saw fit to destroy it

and still you feel like the loneliness
is better replaced by this
I don't believe it this way
and I can see the fear in your eyes
I've seen it materialize
growing stronger each day

I could see it as you turned to stone
still clearly I can hear you say
don't, please, don't give up on me
two weeks and you ran away
I remember don't lie to me
you couldn't see that it was not that way
swear I never gave up on you

and you neglected I called you out don't please
I said we're stronger than this now
You feared of phantoms and none exist but you
you still saw fit to destroy it

and I can see the fear in your eyes
I've seen it materialize
growing stronger each day

I could see it as you turned to stone
still clearly I can hear you say
don't, please, don't give up on me
two weeks you ran away

I could see it as you turned to stone
still clearly I can hear you say
don't, please, don't give up on me
two weeks and you ran away
I remember don't lie to me
you couldn't see that it was not that way
swear I never gave up on you

Foiled again

I drove to Lynchburg and back yesterday for an educator recognition dinner so didn't get a chance to work on the boat. Except on the way to Lynchburg I drove through Farmville, a small town in South Central Virginia, and had an opportunity to to reminisce 34 years earlier about another moth caper. Richard Wallio and I were looking for some small diameter aluminum irrigation tubing to make a boom. The idea was to cut it to length, then flatten it to an oval section by laying the 2" diameter tube on the driveway, covering it with a sheet of plywood, and then running over it slowly with a car. I believe it was such a section that I used on my boat Try-Umph at the Hayling Island Worlds in '77. Anyway, I dropped in again at Mid-Atlantic Irrigation Co and wandered about the yard. In the way back was a rack of used tubing, just the right size for a male mandrel to lay up a carbon hiking stick. So I again bought some aluminum from the same outfit. I wonder if they (or I) will still be around in 2043 to meet my moth material requirements.







About 4:30 yesterday afternoon the UPS guy delivered my new rudder horizontal that Bora made. So this morning it was shape the tang on my recently built strut, fill the socket with some goop, and hang it in the sun to kick. This afternoon I should be able to pop it off then start the finish sanding. Bora describes the foil as "slippery." It's similar in planform to the M2 rudder foil, shown on their website and included below.



So now I have two new lifting surfaces. I may be able to get in one last sail tomorrow. This wait-til-the-last-minute-to-finish-building-the-boat routine is also reminiscent of Richard's tendency to do the same. There was more than one regatta where he was heading to the start area with the varnish on the foredeck not fully cured... As for me, it's too late to do anything else. I have to take the boat apart tomorrow and crate it.

Here's Carole King




It's Too Late, by Toni Stern and Carole King (1971)

Stayed in bed all morning just to pass the time
There's something wrong here, there can be no denying
One of us is changing, or maybe we've stopped trying

And it's too late, baby, now it's too late
Though we really did try to make it
Something inside has died and I can't hide
And I just can't fake it

It used to be so easy living here with you
You were light and breezy and I knew just what to do
Now you look so unhappy, and I feel like a fool

And it's too late, baby, now it's too late
Though we really did try to make it
Something inside has died and I can't hide
And I just can't fake it

There'll be good times again for me and you
But we just can't stay together, don't you feel it too
Still I'm glad for what we had, and how I once loved you

But it's too late, baby, it's too late
Though we really did try to make it
Something inside has died and I can't hide

The new FC foil

The first thing that jumped out at me was the span: 48 inches from tip to tip. This is a foil made by somebody who has learned how to do it right. All the bells and whistles were present. There's the solid fitting socketed T-joint, the smoothly moving push rod, the hinge that's completely flush on the bottom (some sort of Kevlar fabric by the look of it) and so close on the top that you can barely fit a business card in the gap. Yes, this is worth all the wait, not to mention the cost.





John called for a forward cant of 8.5 degrees. To set up the board I made a large protractor with lines from 7.5 to 9.5 degrees, marked every half degree. The Difference is obviously slight. Moving the top of the board less than an inch will result in over two degrees difference in the angle.



I set the well at 8.5 as directed but have the ability to tweak the angle by moving the pin placement fore and aft. The pics below show the top of my well. Note the load is carried by the slotted G-10 pieces, but the fore and aft placement is controlled by the center section that can slide in a groove mounted forward. The placement is fixed by the two large cap screws. The thing that makes it work is the cable mount moves with the pin - no readjustment is needed to change the overall AoA. Obviously, the change should be made ashore, but loosening two set screws, sliding the center section, then tightening the screws is a lot easier than fitting wedges in the T-joint. I would think that I could affect a reproducible difference of about a quarter of a degree. The whole kit and kaboodle is covered by a lightweight cover, strong enough to sit on in light air.








Enjoy more Paul Simon

Slip Slidin' Away, by Paul Simon (1977)

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

I know a man
He came from my home town
He wore his passion for his woman
Like a thorny crown
He said Dolores
I live in fear
My love for you's so overpowering
I'm afraid that I will disappear

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

I know a woman
Became a wife
These are the very words she uses
To describe her life
She said a good day
Ain't got no rain
She said a bad day's when I lie in bed
And think of things that might have been

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

And I know a fa-ther
Who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
For the things he'd done
He came a long way
Just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man
We're working our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip slidin' away

Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away

Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
Mmm...

Average Speed: 181 knots

It's 9744 nautical miles (great circle route distance) from Belmont to Norfolk. John dropped the board off 1436 Tuesday afternoon and it was delivered 1013 this morning for a total elapsed time of 53 hrs and 37 minutes. FedEx gets kudos in my book.



So the rest of the day is fitting the new board to my well and mounting the my top end adjustable AoA fitting. No breeze today so the test sail may have to wait 'til tomorrow (when Bora also claims I should get my horizontal.)

I'm getting excited. The first race starts less than 18 days from now! Since Top Gun was a motivating diversion last year, here's another song from the film: Mighty Wings, a reference to both John's FastaCraft Gen3 foil and the wings of the FedEx fleet.

Enjoy Cheap Trick

Mighty Wings by Harold Faltermeyer and Mark Spiro (1985)

It's just a ball of dust
Underneath my feet
It rolls around the sun
Doesn't mean that much to me

I take a chance on the edge of life
Just like all the rest
I look inside and dig it out
Cause there's no points for second best

There's a raging fire in my heart tonight
Growing higher and higher in my soul
There's a raging fire in the sky tonight
I want to ride on the silver dove
Far into the night

[Chorus]
Till I make you take me
On your mighty wings
Make you take me
On your mighty wings across the sky
Take me on your mighty wings
Take me on your mighty wings tonight

With just a little luck
A little cold blue steel
I cut the night like a razor blade
Till I feel the way I want to feel

There's a raging fire in my heart tonight
Growing higher and higher in my soul
There's a raging fire in the sky tonight
I want to ride on the silver dove
Far into the night

[Chorus]
Till I make you take me
On your mighty wings
Make you take me
On your mighty wings across the sky
Take me on your mighty wings
Take me on your mighty wings tonight

Take me on your mighty wings
Take me on your mighty wings

Boxing Day

The FedEx tracking of John's shipment of my new board say I should have it in hand tomorrow morning. That will give me until Sunday to fit it and sail a couple of times before the boat is crated and shipped. Obviously fine tuning and tweaking the set-up will have to happen on site. I hope to be sailing in the Columbia River by the 5th. Today I also arranged payment for the round trip shipment of the boat through Seko - $11341.50, a far cry from the $4000+ that I paid to get the boat to Weymouth and back.

The new gantry with its forward canted rudder is working fine. I'm still waiting to fit the horizontal, but with the bottle screw coarse adjustment and the 20mm throw my hiking stick twist gives me, I should be able to set up pretty much any AoA on the rudder's foil. I will be bringing my old rudder and gantry as a back-up.

Also today my bike went to West Coast Sailing via FedEx surface. The cost to ship the bike to Portland by truck is way less that I would pay to bring it along on the plane, about by the order of magnitude in the difference in shipping the boat via surface or air.

Here's Joan Baez

The Boxer, by Paul Simon (1968)

I am just a poor boy and my story's seldom told
I've squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises
All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest, hmmmm

When I left my home and my family, I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station, runnin scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters, where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Li la li...

Asking only workman's wages, I come lookin' for a job, but I get no offers
Just a come on from the whores on 7th avenue
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there

Now the years are rolling by me, they are rockin' even me
I am older than I once was, and younger than I'll be, that's not unusual
No it isn't strange, after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same
After changes we are more or less the same

Li la li...

And I'm laying out my winter clothes, wishing I was gone, goin' home
Where the New York City winters aren't bleedin' me, leadin' me to go home

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him
'til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains
Yes he still remains

Li la li...

25 years out

Boat work is still continuing so no sailing today. The top end adjustable AoA project is coming along. John said he'd ship the new centreboard today so I'm now at the mercy of FedEx's efficiency.

I did have a trip to my oncologist today and heard the words "25 years out." So a good reason to break out a couple of Coronas and toast a quarter century of cancer free living. It's been 25 years since my last chemo treatment for stage 3 Hodgkins.

Enjoy 4 Non Blondes

What’s Up? by Linda Perry (1993)

25 years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the whole world's MADE UP OF this brotherhood of man
FOR whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take A deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs,
What's goin' on

And I say hey.... hey....
I said hey, what's goin' on
And I say hey.... hey....
I said hey, what's goin' on

Ooh, Ooh, Oooohh, Oooohh, what's up...
Ooh, Ooh, Oooohh, Oooohh, what's up...

And I try, oh my God, do I try
I try all the time in this institution
And I pray, oh my God, do I pray
I pray every single day FOR A REVOLUTION!

And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed
Just to get it all out, what's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs,
WHAT'S GOIN' ON!!

And I say hey.... hey....
I said hey, what's goin' on
And I say hey.... hey....
I said hey, what's goin' on
And I say hey.... hey....
I said hey, what's goin' on
And I say hey.... hey....
I said hey, what's goin' on

Ooh, Ooh, Oooohh, Oooohh, what's up...

25 years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

Top end adjustable AoA

John's e-mail indicated that "new centre boards have an adjustable angle of attack too." Since I'm not going to have a lot of time to tweak the set-up I've decided to incorporate a slot at the top end of my well to allow some fore and aft placement of the pin. Gui uses something similar. The project will take a couple of days so I'm off the water until at least Monday.

The pic above shows the start of the change. Obviously the top cassette piece will have to be replaced with a simple slot of the correct width.

Here’s Yes

Changes, by Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, and Alan White (1983)

I'm moving through some changes
I'll never be the same
Something you did touched me
There's no one else to blame

The love we had has fallen
The love we used to share
We've given up pretending
As if you didn't care

Change changing places
Root yourself to the ground
Capitalize on this good fortune
One word can bring you round
Changes

I look into the mirror
I see no happiness
All the warmth I gave you
Has turned to emptiness
The love we had has fallen
The love we used to share
You've left me here believing
In love that wasn't there

Change changing places
Root yourself to the ground
Word to the wise - Well you get what's coming
One word can bring you round
Changes

When I look into your eyes and try to find out how
There's no way to save it now
And everything I feel
Changes
Keep looking for
Changes
Changes

For some reason you're questioning why
I always believe it gets better
One difference between you and I
Your heart is inside your head

One word from you
One word from me
A clear design on your liberty
Who could believe when love has gone
How we move on like everyone

Only such fools
Only such jealous hearts

Only through love changes come

Change changing places
Root yourself to the ground
Capitalize on this good fortune
One word can bring you round
Changes

One road to loneliness
It's always the same
One road to happiness
It's calling your name

Change changing places - Changes
Root yourself to the ground
Capitalize on this good fortune
One word can bring you round
Changes

Change changing places
Changes
Root yourself to the ground
Word to the wise - Well you get what's coming
One word - One word can bring you round
Changes

FC Gen3 foil pics

No description needed as a picture is worth a thousand words. So the two pics above are worth 2K?

Here's Sade

Smooth Operator, by Sade Adu, Ray St. John (1984)

Diamond life, lover boy.
We move in space with minimum waste and maximum joy.
City lights and business nights.
When you require streetcar desire for higher heights.

No place for beginners or sensitive hearts
When sentiment is left to chance.
No place to be ending but somewhere to start.

No need to ask.
He's a smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator.

Coast to coast, LA to Chicago, western male.
Across the north and south, to Key Largo, love for sale.

Face to face, each classic case.
We shadow box and double cross,
Yet need the chase.

A license to love, insurance to hold.
Melts all your memories and change into gold.
His eyes are like angels but his heart is cold.

No need to ask.
He's a smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator.

Coast to coast, LA to Chicago, western male.
Across the north and south, to Key Largo, love for sale.

Smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator,
smooth operator...

Salivating on my keyboard

I put in another couple of hours last evening about 15 knts. I played with a NACRA F-18 catamaran and a 29er, pacing both on the reaches (I know I should have been able to pass the 29er off the wind, but could only show the moth's superiority upwind, as it seemed very well sailed on the 3 sail reach.) I didn't try more rake, instead I tried moving forward more upwind, as suggested by Phil. There was no noticeable lee helm but I have decided to ditch the Ronstan ratchet and install my Harken mini Hexaratchet. I also may try some full-fingered gloves as my finger tips are getting a workout. Nothing broke but I found trying to jibe problematic - there was just too much play in the rudder and too little response from my mainfoil. Both problems should be remedied with the new bits. The new gantry/rudder rear foil should go on in the next couple of days. I've pretty much finished its fairing and am just waiting on the horizontal.




The new FC mainfoil won't be shipped until Tuesday of next week, so I won't have it in hand until about the 27th, about the day I planned on shipping the boat. So I may get just enough time to fit it, sail briefly before the boat gets packed up. I did get a tempting taste of what's to come: John's e-mail last night described the gen3 mainfoil's hinge gap as "almost zero and really smooth." Hopefully I'll post a picture in the next few days.

Here's Bob Marley

Waiting in Vain, by Bob Marley (1977)

I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love.
From the very first time I rest my eyes on you, girl,
My heart says follow trough.
But I know, now, that I'm way down on your line,
But the waitin' feel is fine:
So don't treat me like a puppet on a string,
'cause I know I have to do my thing.
Don't talk to me as if you think Im dumb;
I wanna know when you're gonna come - soon.
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love,
'cause if summer is here,
I'm still waiting there;
Winter is here,
And I'm still waiting there.
---
/guitar solo/
---
Like I said:
It's been three years since I'm knockin' on your door,
And I still can knock some more:
Ooh girl, ooh girl, is it feasible?
I wanna know now, for I to knock some more.
Ya see, in life I know there's lots of grief,
But your love is my relief:
Tears in my eyes burn - tears in my eyes burn
While I'm waiting - while I'm waiting for my turn,
See!

I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love;
I don't wanna wait in vain for your love, oh!
I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna -
I don't wanna wait in vain.
I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna -
I don't wanna wait in vain.
No, I don't wanna (I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna -
I don't wanna - I don't wanna wait in vain) -
No I - no I (I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't
Wanna - I don't wanna wait in vain) -
No, no-no, I, no, I (I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna -
I don't wanna - I don't wanna wait in vain) -
It's your love that I'm waiting on (I don't wanna - I don't wanna -
I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna wait in vain);
It's me love that you're running from.
It's jah love that I'm waiting on (I don't wanna - I don't wanna -
I don't wanna - I don't wanna - I don't wanna wait in vain);
It's me love that you're running from.

Progress, of a sort

I put in another three hours today, in breeze of 10-15 knts. Plan C is just about complete, i.e., I'm about where I was last October. Even with my kludgey mainfoil and sloppy rudder (in its rudder box) I managed to pull off three foiling jibes, so my second cassette seems to have solved some problems. Unfortunately, I also found that occasionally I'm having a noticeable lee helm, so tomorrow will see slightly shorter shrouds and more rake.

I'm making progress on the new rudder. The pic above shows the geometry of the new gantry and strut. To complete it I'm just waiting on a new foil from Bora. There's also been no word yet from John Ilett about my new FC gen3 foil, but I expect it any day now.

Once the new bits go under the boat I'm sure things will start to come together. As for now, I'm just blindly muddling through the various combinations of controls and adjustments. It sure would be much easier to be sailing in company of other mothies. As it is, I'm alone and time's running short because the boat gets packed up in about 10 days.

Here's Pinhead Gunpowder

I walk Alone, by Aaron Elliott (aka Aaron Cometbus) in 1997

I walk a crooked twisting path
That seems to be leading nowhere
I lead a loner's life
Not what I meant to do
I do what seemed to be
The right thing at one time
But now that time has passed
And I'm the last one
Walking down this path
I walk along the same old streets
Where we used to meet by chance
But now there's not one familiar face
There's not one knowing glance
There's just my memory
A problem that I seem to have
Is not being able to appreciate
Or understand
The present until it's past
And so it goes
Away

Boat work, then wait

Today I cut a new cassette to decrease the AoA of my mainfoil, an attempt to solve my problem of the boat jumping out of the water (visions of D. Lord!). I also cut 4 inches off the boom, reinstalled the foam in the tramps, and made sure the cable attachment was sound. Hoping for an evening sail I was only confounded by the weather. Norfolk is in the center of the image below; appropriately the only part of the city's name you can see is "NO."



Here are The Doors

Riders on the Storm, by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore (1970)

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we’re born
Into this world we’re thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

There’s a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin’ like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah

Girl ya gotta love your man
Girl ya gotta love your man
Take him by the hand
Make him understand
The world on you depends
Our life will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah

Wow!

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house were born
Into this world were thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out alone
Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm

Weak Link and Lessons Learned

I made the pilgrimage to the Gui-master today. The conditions at Beverly Beach were just what I was looking for - 15-20 with some waves. Unfortunately my sail was short lived as the picture above shows. Lesson #1: Don't trail the boat with the cable attached. My guess is that the extra mass of the cable and the four hour bouncing at 60 mph put enough stress on the fitting to encourage it to give way after a hard stack. Every system has a weak link and the cable clamp decided that today was its day to come undone.

Lesson #2: Wading the boat out with an onshore breeze off a very shallow beach is much easier with flotation in the tramp and not on your back. After yesterday's sail I thought I'd try sailing without the flotation on the edge of the wings. I always wear a pfd and it was obvious that Gui with the airbags on his tramp and no pfd on his back (he did have on a wetsuit) had a much easier time getting to deep enough water.

Lesson #3: I still have too much AoA on my mainfoil. So tomorrow I'll make another cassette base to decrease the AoA. When I asked Gui about the slop in his board and whether or not he was concerned, his response turned on the light in my thinking. He said, "Why worry about second order details when the first or even the zeroth order stuff is still not pinned down."

After my swimming to get the boat back downwind, I left with all sorts of ideas swimming in my head. Gui had a dihedral rudder foil, a gantry that was adjustable with a line controlling a scissors arrangement, and a daggerboard well setup that had a fixed bottom exit on the hull with an easily adjustable top pin to control the AoA of the mainfoil.

Enjoy Guess Who

Undone, by Randy Bachman (1969)

She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late

She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
It was too late

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
She wanted truth but all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late

She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
Mama, it was too late

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone

Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
(Doe-doe-doe-doe-doe doe un doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe)
(Doe doe-doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe doe-doe-doe)
(Doe doe-doe-doe doe doe-doe-doe doe doe)

[break]

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
She didn't know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late

She's come undone
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn't fly
Mama, it was too late

It's too late
She's gone too far
She's lost the sun
She's come undone
(No no-no-no-no-no no)
(Doe doe doe-doe)

Barging practice

I put another three hours in today, sailing across Hampton Roads over to Hampton Bar to watch some of the 74 girls sailing in the U.S. Junior Women's National Doublehanded Championship (in 420s.) The crossing of the channel over the Tunnel was interesting. Sydney Harbor has its ferries; the Columbia River has its barges; Hampton Roads has BIG traffic. As I foiled behind the fantail of the USS San Jacinto, a 567 foot long cruiser, I kept my eye on a 1000' long container ship steaming in. Maybe not as close as the ferries or the barges, but it still kept me on my toes. It's amazing how focused you can be when a slight misstep would place you in dire straits.

Enjoy Dire Straits



Tunnel of Love, by Mark Knopfler (1980)
Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II (intro)

Getting crazy on the waltzers but it's the life that I choose
Sing about the sixblade sing about the switchback and a torture tattoo
And I've been riding on a ghost train where the cars they scream and slam
And I don't know I'll be tonight but I'd always tell you where I am

In a screaming ring of faces I'd seen her standing in the light
She had a ticket for the races just like me she was a victim of the night
I put my hand upon the lever said let it rock and let it roll
I had the one arm bandit fever there was an arrow through my heart and my soul

And the big wheelkeep on turning neon burning up above
And I'm just high on the wold
Come on and take a low ride with me girl
On the tunnel of love

It's just the danger when you're riding at your own risk
She said you are the perfect stranger she said baby let's keep it like this
It's just a cakewalk twisting baby step right up and say
Hey mister give me two give me two 'cause any two can play

And the big wheel on turning neon burning up above
And I'm just high on the world
Come on and take the low ride with me girl
On the tunnel of love

Well it's been money for muscle another whirligig
Money for muscle another girl I dig
Another hustle just to make it big
And rockaway rockaway

And girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
Like the spanish city to me when we were kids
Oh girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
Like the spanish city to me when we were kids

She took off a silver locket she said remember me by this
She put her hand in my pocket I got a keepsake and a kiss
And in the roar of dust and diesel I stood and watched her walk away
I could have caught up with her easy enough but something must have made me stay

And the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
And I'm just high on the world
Come on and take a low ride with me girl
On the tunnel of love

And now I'm searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades
Searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades
In any shooting gallery where promises are made
To rockaway rockaway from cullercoats and whitley bay out to rockaway

And girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
Like the spanish city to me when we were kids
Girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
Like the spanish city to me when we were kids

Strut my stuff

I put in another three hours yesterday, sailing out to the entrance reach where a strong ebb against the breeze, coupled with the shallow water over the bar, created some interesting waves. I got the opportunity to see the strut up close and personal as I went for a few swims after sticking it. The Eppler section strut definitely seems stiffer than my old one. I'll try a few deflection tests over the weekend to quantify the differences.

I had a bit more breeze today than yesterday. Still trying to adjust the rudder's pitch to match the behavior of the mainfoil. The bottle screw on the gantry is my coarse adjustment; the pin movement via the hiking stick is for tweaking. Today I may have to take the tools out with me on the water - it's a pain to have to come ashore to adjust the bottle screw.



Another problem I found is that there's a bit of play where the mainfoil is attached to the strut. Since the strut's tang was not formed around the foil's socket, there's some inherent play between the two. I was hoping a couple of big bolts cranked into the tang would hold things firm, but it's not as tight as I'd hope. There may be some more boatwork in the next couple of days as I try to fill the gaps with some colloidial silica (always a dicey proposition because you'd want the foil to actually come off once the resin cures...) . Boy, I'm eager to get the new FC gen3 foil and strut!

Enjoy the Stray Cats




The Stray Cat Strut, by Brian Setzer (1981)

Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh,
Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence
Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent
I'm flat broke but I don't care
I strut right by with my tail in the air

Stray cat strut, I'm a ladies' cat,
A feline Casanova, hey man, that’s where it’s at
Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man
Get my dinner from a garbage can

Yeah don't cross my path

I don't bother chasing mice around
I slink down the alley looking for a fight
Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry,
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy."

I wish I could be as carefree and wild,
but I got cat class and I got cat style.

I don't bother chasing mice around
I slink down the alley looking for a fight
Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry,
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy."

I wish I could be as carefree and wild,
but I got cat class and I got cat style.

High is Low

There's been a surface high parked over the mid-Atlantic for the past couple of days. High pressure results is beautiful weather for water skiing, not so good for mothing. I've had my share of low-riding, I really need some good foiling breeze. This afternoon a weak sea breeze filled in around 4:30 and I got a couple of hours in. Nothing spectacular, but the breeze of between 7 and 10 did result in a few foilborne runs. I even got 80% of the way through a jibe, only to fall off before I could get the sail powered up on the other tack.

The one thing I need to do is to put some numbered tape on the mast and vang falls so I can reproduce cunny and vang tension. It seemed just a small variation in tension resulted in big differences in power. I don't have enough time on the boat to just look at the sail and determine if the draft is correct or if the leech tension is what it should be. I know Bora said to put everything on hard all the time, but surely in the light to medium stuff there needs to be some gear shifting.

I'm also a little unsure how much sheet to have operating. I remember at Weymouth looking at Amac's sheeting arrangement - he seemed to only have about a foot before the knot hit the block. Maybe that makes sense in a breeze, but again, I gotta believe in the moderate stuff more sheet in needed. So, here's another question to the mothosphere: How much sheet is available on your setup, for a blow and for the 10 knot stuff? Also, I'm suspecting that most folks use a 3-1 purchase with perhaps dropping to 2-1 in the lighter stuff.

Enjoy Boz Scaggs



Lowdown, by William Scaggs and David Paich (1976)

Baby's into running around
Hanging with the crowd
Putting your business in the street talking out loud
Saying you bought her this and that
And how much you done spent
I swear she must believe it's all heaven sent
Hey boy you better bring the chick around
To the sad truth the dirty lowdown

(Who I wonder who) taught her how to talk like that
(Who I wonder who) gave her that big idea

Nothing you can't handle nothing you ain't got
Put the money on the table and drive it off the lot
Turn on that ole lovelight and turn a maybe to a yes
Same old schoolboy game got you into this mess
Hey son better get back to town
Face the sad old truth the dirty lowdown

(Who I wonder who) put those ideas in your head
(Who I wonder who) yeah
Come on back down little son
Dig the low low low low lowdown

You ain't got to be so bad got to be so cold
This dog eat dog existence sure is getting old
Got to have a Jones for this Jones for that
This running with the Joneses boy
Just ain't where it's at
You gonna come back around
To the sad sad truth the dirty lowdown

(Who I wonder who) got you thinking like that boy
(Who I wonder who)
(Who I wonder who said who I wonder who)
Oh look out for that lowdown
That dirty dirty dirty dirty lowdown
(Who I wonder who ohh ohh)
Got you thinking like that

How deep is your board?

In Weymouth, Peter talked of sailing in a vacuum - the problems mothies have when there's no one else nearby. I'm not exactly in a vacuum since the Annapolis crowd is 4 hours away, but it is rough when there's not another boat nearby to compare. The problems are compounded when you're a home builder.

My new strut is about 4 inches shorter than my old one. How this compares with a "standard" strut is unknown to me. Would someone with a BR or Prowler or M2 take the time to measure the distance along the leading edge of their board from the bottom of the hull to the top of the horizontal? What is optimum? Aside from having to wade out much deeper to launch, would an extra long board have any disadvantage? or advantage?

Many answers will come with my gen3 FC board. Until then I'm still working on Plan C. No sailing today (drizzle and light winds kept me ashore) but I did get a chance to fill pinholes and fair the new strut. Wand, cable, control rod and flap all seem to be working well. Tomorrow's forecast is for some breeze so I'll see then how it turned out.

Oh yeah, my distance is a tad over 36 inches (or about 93 cm.)

Here’s Three Dog Night



One, by Harry Nilsson (1967)

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
`Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number, worse than two

It's just no good anymore since she went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

One is the loneliest, number one is the loneliest
Number one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest, one is the loneliest
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
It's just no good anymore since she went away
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

Happy Birthday, USA

Since foreigners now outnumber the Americans in the registration list, I thought I educate some of the non-natives (including Nige, our class president.) Most everybody should know of the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence:

(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world....

What may be unknown are some more arcane Americana:

The Supreme Law of the Land, the US Constitution, was not adopted by the states until September, 1787. It also has a memorable opening (the preamble)

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America....

The flag of the United States has undergone sixteen variations, primarily in the number of stars, from the 13 representing the original 13 colonies, to the present day 50 representing the current 50 states.

The national anthem of the United States, the Star Spangled Banner, was not officially adopted until 1931. Its tune is that of an old British drinking song. Pre-dating The Star Spangled Banner as a de facto anthem was a song titled Hail,Columbia. (Columbia, the river where the world's will be held, is named after the ship Columbia Rediviva, the first western vessel to navigate the tidal portion of the river. Both are referring to "Columbia," a poetic female personification of the United States, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.)



The Statue of Liberty was given to the US by France in 1887 to help celebrate the country's centennial. On the wall of the interior of the statue's pedestal is a bronze plaque with a sonnet by Emma Lazarus titled The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Wiki says that the painting below may have been a source for the pose of Lady Liberty.


While there are many characters that represent aspects of the American Spirit (think cowboy), one of the oldest is Yankee Doodle Dandy.




Enjoy Mickey and Judy

Turning

Turning is not easy.

First of all the sailing part: Sailing powered up in a straight line is not that difficult. But I'm like Toonces, the Driving Cat, from SNL: it's the turns that can make me go crazy.

Enjoy Toonces. But watch out for that turn!



Secondly, the turning of the wand system, from the bow pivot to the barrel in the bell crank to the barrel in the flap and lastly to the hinge, any one of which can be misaligned and cause unacceptable friction. Today I was fitting the bell crank and the flap barrel on my new strut. If things kick tonight without any binding, I may actually be able to hit the water tomorrow.

But thirdly, the turning of the clock reminds me of the first rule of home building: it always takes longer than you think. So maybe the hitting the water part will be Sunday. We'll see!

Here's The Byrds



Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season), from the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1 and Pete Seeger (1959)

To everything, Turn! Turn! Turn! There is a season, Turn! Turn! Turn! And a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap;
A time to kill, a time to heal; a time to laugh, a time to weep.

To everything, Turn! Turn! Turn! There is a season, Turn! Turn! Turn! And a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to build up, a time to break down, a time to dance, a time to mourn;
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.

To everything Turn! Turn! Turn! There is a season, Turn! Turn! Turn! And a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time of love, a time of hate; a time of war, a time of peace;
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing.

To everything Turn! Turn! Turn! There is a season, Turn! Turn! Turn! And a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to get, a time to lose, a time to rend, a time to sew;
A time for love, a time for hate; a time for peace. I swear it’s not too late.