JFK: we are tied to the ocean

I love how JFK had such a passion for the sea and for sailing – particularly small boat sailing.

(although his halyard could stand to be tightened a bit to get that upper spar up closer to the mast…)

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sail repair with mini Sunfish logos

a Sunfish sailor Breeze Bender over at the Sunfish Forum came up with a very clever way to repair small holes and tears in their older Sunfish sail using insignia cloth instead of just normal sail repair tape.

I love the random pattern and that they orientation used – it looks like a school of baby Sunfish floating randomly along, following the Mother Sunfish but each little ‘Fish is exploring a bit as they go, driven by the normal curiosity of youth.

I’ve blogged before about making your own Sunfish logo, and I still have a plethora of leftover sail insignia cloth, so I’ll have to replicate this concept on some of my older Sunfish sails.

after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

 

today’s tunes: eminence front (snow jam)

stranded in Asheville, North Carolina due to the snow storm, Dave Grohl joined Gov’t Mule for what sounds like it would have been an amazing set – playing some great covers of iconic rock songs.

because, why not?  sure, he could’ve laid around in a hotel room watching crappy TV, but instead decided to jam for a couple hours and put together an amazing set of songs.

Setlist:
“Play” (Foo Fighters)
“Since I’ve Been Loving You” (Led Zeppelin)
“You Don’t Know How It Feels” (Tom Petty)
“All Apologies” (Nirvana)
“Breakdown” (Tom Petty)
“Helter Skelter” (The Beatles)
“Bitch” (Rolling Stones)
“Hunger Strike” (Temple of the Dog)
“Dear Mr. Fantasy” (Traffic)
“Eminence Front” (The Who)
“No Quarter” (Led Zeppelin)
“Simple Man” (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

here’s their version of “Eminence Front” by The Who.

The snow packs as the skier tracks
People forget
Forget they’re hiding
Behind an eminence front

several more videos from the concert are available here.

h/t: rolling stone

the joy of tiny sailboats

an interesting video about malay jongs – tiny little sailboats.

For centuries the Malays in South East Asia have been racing jongs, or miniature wooden sailing boats. The sport has been dying out in recent years, but volunteers are determined to keep their tradition alive.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/embed/p06tlgdq/46423181

(I can’t the video to embed here… click the link above to see the video)

h/t: BBC article

sailors: what I really do

this is pretty accurate:

h/t: log of spartina

points of sail

here’s a nice points of sail diagram, with a bit of humor mixed in!

ins & outs of ratchet blocks

here is another really cool video by Harken to visually demonstrate how their ratchet blocks work to reduce the load that your hands see for holding lines that are trimmed often (so your mainsheet on a Sunfish, and spinnakers or jibs & other lines on other sailboats).

they use a load cell (or load indicator) on the line going to his hand to show the load reduction that occurs with a ratchet block.  a key note: the load required to trim (or pull your sail in) is the same as without the ratchet system, but the load required to ease or hold the line is reduced (quite a bit) due to the ratchet block mechanism (a combination of the “stopped” sheave and the grooves that increase friction).

Sunfish sailors often use one of the following blocks for their mainsheet control:

• Harken 2135 (ratchet block)
• Harken 2625  (ratchamatic block)

I’ve traditionally used the 2135 (shown here on my mainsheet controls upgrade post), as it is usually cheaper, and the switch is usually easy enough to reach if I wanted to release the ratchet mechanism to allow the line to run freely.