Paul M. and i got into a hotrod/custom motorcycle discussion a couple days back, and he ended up dropping off a pile of chopper mags here at the shop for me to look through. i’m into most anything that is simultaneously technical and creative/artistic, so cars/bikes/trucks have nearly as much appeal to my eye as boats. i got to thinking (and later talking) about so-called “rat-rods“, and the parallels to some (few) boats.
It seems these days that modern boats are thouroughly “bolt-together” and pre-fab. Does that “custom” piece of hardware from Harken really count? Classic and traditional boats have a bit more attitude, as more things are actually hand-crafted just for a specific application on a specific boat. Still, those who can typically afford such custom work certianly don’t care to see cobbled-together bits, no matter how functional.
In my eye, functional is beautiful. Take a look at this example, and this one here. Here we have a few uses of not-made-for-this-boat sails, and while neither example fits into what most folks think a set of sails is supposed to look like, both are great, beautiful examples of creative use of resources at hand.
No great hardware picture examples handy (anyone with one?), but i can certianly say that there’s a few creative uses of hardware on my new dinghy. i can afford “proper” hardware, but it’s so much more satisfying to see what one can come up with out of spare bits of bronze plate, stainless rod, etc, in a well-equipped shop. Hell, with a good supply of bronze, and nothing more than a tap & die, a hacksaw, and a few files, it’s amazing what you can come up with!
i see these “Loups” getting more and more use on modern boats. Shucks, anyone with a little skill and patience can pull off a similar thing, albeit in lower-load applications. Look at a lot of real salty traditional boats, and you’ll be hard pressed to find too many shackles; everything is a lashing or a seizing. A decent lashing in Spectra or Vectran smallstuff has got to be just as strong (or stronger) than a shackle, and certianly more flexible; don’t even get me started about weight! Most importantly, it’s not something you have to buy, but rather just sit down and do yourself.
i’d like to see more examples of “sailing rattitude”, fun little hotrod/cruiser/custom sailboats that rely on owner ingenuity, skill, and patience rather than just falling out of the pages of the West catalogue. i’d like to see more people actually out sailing, in whatever they can find, rather than agonizing over getting just the right hardware installed. One fellow in our boatyard has a natty little (twice, yet managed to sink over $5000 into it. Frankly, the boat was ready to head back across the pond when he got it, but i guess it just wasn’t ready enough for him.
i’m all for preparation and prudence on the water, but sometimes enough is enough, and you just have to throw down and get out there. i guess that’s what i admire about “rat rods”, with their primer paintjobs and minimal interiors, yet well-tuned mechanical systems, served up hot out of backyard garages; just doing what needs to be done, enjoying the hell outta it, and leaving off all the excess trappings.
September 9, 2005
sailing rattitude?
September 6, 2005
here i am
a few days back, i got an invite to join myspace.com, ostensibly to participate in a tallship sailors group there. When i got around to replying, i was quick to send off a “thanks but no thanks reply”. If anything, i was a little catty about it. i mean, why would i want to participate in a virtual sailing world when i live in a real one?
i served up a few eyes on the dinghy before it clicked. i had this sudden flashback to a few years ago. i was living in the bus, working odd jobs, but pretty much just being my old complacent self. i spent a lot of time on public-access computers, running my housetrucks group and chatting. i was just getting into the idea of sailing back then, and i was trying to find that etherial sailing community “out there”. i was landlocked (in more ways than one), and although i couldn’t have put my finger on it at the time, i was feeling a growing uneasiness that was infecting my life. i was fiercly interested in communities, online or otherwise. Today in the shop, working away, i had this sudden flash of sitting in the cubicle at Stardate Computers, emailing boat owners, posting in sailing groups, researching crew placements, etc. In fact, those were spiritualy desperate times.
It’s not so much a case of “reality vs. virtuality”. In some ways, it’s a realization that, when i was working on the Lady, i liked the work, but not the people. The work, the boat, and the sailing (what little of the latter we actually did) was the thing; the relationships and interpersonal dynamics were what made the gig ultimately unsatisfactory. In the end, more than any of that, what makes me shy away from the virtual world, the online community, is that it represents and reminds me of a time when all this was but a dream. i’m there now. This is the dream; being paid well to do work i love, living on a tropical island, sailing whenever i please, where most every friend of mine is a sailor too, and the evening conversation comes and goes to boats, wind, and water.
Of course, i still blog, but that’s more my space to “rant and roar”, and express myself for the benefit of my largely non-sailing familiy and friends who can’t be here with me. Like Bill said to me in Vancouver, “That’s it. You’ve done it. You’re living the dream.”. Well, this isn’t all of it, but it’s a great place to be, and a place from which i can both look forward with joy, and look back knowing that i have set aside many of those impediments with which i once held myself back.
September 4, 2005
truth crew
Watching the reports from New Orleans… thinking thoughts, then Kanye West opens his mouth and says, “Bush doesn’t care about black people…”. Great stuff. Yet again, i’m astounded by America. Just floored.
i have a great deal of compassion for those persons struck by this disaster, but certianly no more than i have for the millions of people worldwide who suffer, living under such conditions permanently. Only in America would you build a city below sea-level, between the shore and a large lake, laced with canals, in a known hurricane path, then during an active hurricane season, fail to take all possible precautions. When the worst happens, in the country with the second-largest (but arguably far better equipped) armed forces in the world, it becomes a struggle to bring government forces into play. i can’t help but imagine some Louisianan National Guardsman somewhere in the Middle East right now wondering why he isn’t somewhere in the world where his efforts might make some difference.
As for Bush, well, he’s a rich white Republican southerner. If he sees poor black southerners as anything more than votes, i’d be surprised (not that many of them voted for him anydangways). Now there’s his comment, where he describes the areas affected to be as large as all of Great Britain. Sure, and there’s areas of the world even larger, in even worse poverty and disaster. Okay, i’m aware that a country’s first responsibility is towards it’s own citizens, right? Uh, does that include US states like Afganistan or Iraq?
Globally speaking, the hurricane damage in New Orleans is just one more blip on the radar, yet here it gets all this coverage. That’s bullshit. Trying to raise awareness of poverty and calamity in the third world is still like pulling teeth. Katrina or 9/11 are disasters, yes, but no more so than others that occur all around the world, in less developed areas, every year. No more so than the continuing disasters of poverty, hunger, and disease that never let up.
Clearly, i still firmly believe that America, as the superpower of the world, has a grave responsibility to improve the lives of all people of the world. Where the argument is made that America must look firstly to Americans, then why is there a problem? Why wasn’t government aid brought in sooner? Before disaster struck? Unlike Kanye West’s critics, i believe that this is a political issue. When his comments were later censored, it just goes to show that the media is more than ever in the pockets of the man.
August 21, 2005
of the week
Website of the week is Face The Issue. New (well, at least previously undiscovered by me) music of the week is The MC5; a Rebel Spell from the ’60’s…
