I Love A Good Sailing Story

I found this over at TPM and wanted to reproduce it here (it’s from Ted Kennedy Jr’s remarks at his father’s funeral) :

I Thought Sailboat Owners Were Better Than This

I have occasionally mentioned in the past that I like to sail. I even own my own sailboat. That is why I find this article to be appalling. Times are tough for people who own boats:

Some of those disposing of their boats are in the same bind as overstretched homeowners: they face steep payments on an asset that is diminishing in value and decide not to continue. They either default on the debt or take bolder measures.
Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.
The owners cannot sell them, because the secondhand market is overwhelmed. They cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month mooring and maintaining them. And they do not have the thousands of dollars required to properly dispose of them.

So they end up like this:

Sailing

Finally, some pictures from my recent sailing trip!
This is my San Juan 21. We keep them on their trailers then when we want to go sailing we use a hoist to put them in the water.

On Shore 

This isn’t a very good picture. The bird you can barely see is very interesting. last year a pair of them made a nest on the pontoon boat the racing committee uses. Apparently the fact that the boat moved all over the lake didn’t bother them. When it was out on the lake the fly out and find it. A great example of animals adapting to changed environments.

The Bird 

The winds were strong with occasional gusts.

Really Flying 

As you can see from the wake we were really moving. Which created some conflict. My daughters were a little concered and were holloring at me to slow down. For those of you unacquainted with sailing when you go fast you are also heeled over so there is an upside and a downside on the boat. People on the downside are really, really close to the water (guess who that would have been, hehe).

Really Flying II 

My wife, on the other hand, likes to sail fast and was holloring at me to go faster.

Me 

Me? I didn’t care. I was to busy enjoying the beauty:

Beautiful 

of Nature:

Heaven 

While on our trip we also saw a ground hog (which sat up as we were taking this picture. I also snapped a picture of a deer running parallel to our care and about 7 feet away but it didn’t turn out (I think because it was dusk so there was not enough light – even with a flash).

Groundhog 

Anyway I had some pictures left over so I took some of my cats. I don’t get that many feline visitors to my blog so I thought I’d post these in an effort to pander to them.
This is Pounce. He’s a wild ferrocious jungle kitty that likes to get out and roam the neighborhood. I’m a bit surprised really. He’s not that big. There are much bigger cats hanging around my neighborhood, but he never seems to come home with any evidence of being in fights. He’s either really mean or runs really quick!
Pounce 

This is Little Foot. He is, umm, not very bright. He was rolling around acting silly on one of the steps one day and got one of his paws caught in his collar – rolled down half a flight of steps before I caught him and got his paw untangled. Mrs. afarensis thinks he’s a dog trapped in a cats body because of stuff like that. Life really seems to have him bewildered.

Little Foot 

Gone Sailing!

Finally getting ready to leave for the lake. In the meantime, Snail’s Tales has an excellent post at Transitions. Check it out. I’ll be back Saturday evening or Sunday morning – depending on the wind!

Gone Sailing 
I in the very back

I knew it could happen!!

About the time I bought my sailboat I started having some really nasty nightmares about sharks. In my dream the would jump out of the water like whales (one even winked at me, but we won’t go there)! Everybody I talked to about it said it was impossible, sharks don’t do that! Below are some pictures of great whites off the coast of South Africa. Clearly, they do! As I understand it they eat seals and attack their prey from below. Since great whites are such powerful swimmers the force of their attack propels them out of the water. Now if I could just find a picture of one winking I would be fully vindicated!

…and really, this has nothing to do with Yttrium!

Come Sail Away With Me…

Almost Ready

One of my Joys in life is sailing. I own a San Juan 21 and during most of the summer I can be found out at the lake sailing. Normally, I keep my boat at the Lake Carlyle from the end of March to the end of October, after which I keep it at home. It is almost time to take take it back to the lake. These picture are from last summer (I just downloaded the software to use pictures on my blog and am still experimenting). I am the guy in Cardinal red and my wife is sitting near the tiller. Basically, We keep the boat on it’s trailer (like the boats in the background) and lower it into the water via a hoist. So here we are rigging the sails.


Here we are still rigging the sails (incidently, the guy in white is a racer and has won several nationals- I am not into racing myself, although my wife wants to).

Under Sail 

And Finally, here we are undersail!