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
here’s a nice points of sail diagram, with a bit of humor mixed in!
a couple weeks ago, the my2fish: Sunfish sailing blog passed 500,000 pageviews (all-time).
ONE [HALF] MILLION PAGEVIEWS!
it took a little under 4 years to reach 200,000, then a little over 1 year to get up to 300k, a little over 1.5 years to get to 400k, and then about 2.5 years to get the next 100k and get to the half a million mark. it is interesting (to me at least!), to watch the ebb and flow of the blog visitors. with a mostly summer sport, it definitely slows down during the winter – and then picks up quite a bit as the weather warms up – peaking in that June/July/August time when sailing is a bit more relevant to most people’s lives.
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for those who have just found the blog – thanks for visiting, and I hope you stick around a while!
for those who have been following the blog for a long time – thanks for all the views, the comments, and the feedback over these last few years!
I’ve had a lot of fun with the blogging, and I hope it’s been an interesting journey.
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similar to the 200k giveaway and 300k giveaway and 400k giveaway, I am having another cool gear giveaway to celebrate the 500,000 pageview milestone! for this give-away, it will be a brass Captain’s Whistle, made by Oceanus Brass. they currently have a Kickstarter campaign to fund a production run of the Captain’s Whistles and they’ve offered to give one to the lucky winner.
if you recall, they also recently provided me with one of their bow-shackle pens, so I guarantee the craftsmanship of the Captain’s Whistle will likewise be amazing!
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so here are the giveaway details, rules, etc.
thanks again for visiting the blog! and let the commenting begin!
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full disclosure: the gift item for the give-away is a sponsored item provided by Oceanus Brass.
here is a great video of a Sunfish clone in Italy called the Alpa Skip flying across the water:
the video was posted in the comments on my “photos” page, and I thought it was too good to leave there and should be published as a post.
here’s a little more information from his comments:
Alpa was an iconic shipyard in Italian yachting history. Under the leadership of Danilo Cattadori, [Alpa] has build beautiful yachts but also great dinghies such as Alpa 550, Alpa S. They build also a Sunfish clone named Alpa Skip that was robust but lighter than sunfish. It is a very good boat, so good that even if the Sunfish class is quite strong in Italy, Alpa Skip is today still more common. Alpa Skip is the typical 80′ and 90′ sailing school or family boat. Cheaper than Sunfish. Easier than Laser. Actually “Skip” is still produced by Paiardi shipyard (www.paiardi.com) that holds Alpa’s moulds. Information are not so common, but you can refer to Alpa Historical Club: https://www.alpahistorical.org/alpa-skip.html
I know there are multiple Sunfish clones but I’ve never heard of this one.
a poem by Robert Frost
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull.The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be—
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?
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