Messages

New rudder a gorgeous rendition.  Totally impressed with your metal skills.
Did not miss your marvelous cast gudgeon.  Love your moody photos too.
Here's to a 'Quiet reach' with your new rudder's tiller under your arm...

THANKS  BILL  !!
Large image is a bit much. Wasn't planned.  But Ray was exchanging emails.
I all along after absorbing the shock of first seeing the hollow letters, still was
suggesting more airyness in the spread of the letters, and by the fourth try
this is what appeared -- as large.
Ray had pasted the first samples on an image of the starboard side of the
boat -- this one only shows the sheer rub rail.  It does mean that the name
will be rather large to my eye,  as I wasn't ready for this,  not having  fully
imagined it.
Still not sure if I'm ready for the boat name to be plastered all over the hull
like a freighter.. if Little Gull was wood, name and port would never have escaped
the transom.  And like the port of call, all block upper-case letters devoid of air,
stiff and proper like sailors on muster.
But I almost immediately accepted the relaxed hollow letters, and their cartoony  
casual nature.

Realize the contraction of little into lit (e)l  will upset some, altho  argument has
little weight given what has happened to language since the advent of the
personal computer.
The 'g' is now the fulcrum of some stems of balanced font shapes that might be
seen on a poster or book cover.  To me the play is restrained enuf, it might
be controversial but it's contemporary.

Supple translation of the contracted name: litlgull with Ray's careful choreography
or spread of the individual letters is lit (e)l gull.. .. .. all instantly readable..


Kind of like arguing whether the letter x is a necessary letter in the alphabet!
It ain't serious it's for fun. Given Ray, to translate onto vinyl, another bird lozenge
more realistic less outlined.   Crazy weather,  everything seems half fast.

Best to us who remain here.  Just learned PAA was hacked a while back

and the premises here are in lockdown.. no newbies are able to join.  But

I'm not sure why.  The site here is in a virtual Covid lockdown.  It's

depressing to enjoy this incredible planet with thugs and spoilers for

whom all forms of violence is the truth.

May this year be buttery for you!

p bryant.  Give this guy your full attention.  Ebb is way too wordy and gets confused.
It's the end of the year almost -- I feel like this one, 2021, deserves a big boot,  but
there are many confused and destructive souls around that only time can cure.  At
the moment even a mutating virus is smarter than science.

MAST HEAD LIGHT CONFUSION
So I won't mention Colregs or IRPCS.

What is a steaming light?  It is a FORWARD FACING NAV LIGHT.
It is not an ALL ROUND.  It is a WHITE light displaying a 225 degree
forward facing arc.  All boats have this light including  freighters.
Sailboats have the same light so they are able to legally power
at night without using their sails.  Along with a 360degree allround
tricolor at the top of a mast OR a spread of three red, green, and
white navigation lights at deck level.  Never both at the same time.
At deck level We  have red/green sidelights as a bi-color in the pulpit
and/or at the cabin's aft corners - also never lit at the same time.
The pulpit combo light even at IP67 is vulnerable and exposed.  
Redundant side lights seems prudent..


Sailboats use the term 'mast head light' for a 225degree navlight
found above deck level usually mounted on the mast.  We could use
a white stern light up there,  but it would not be appropriate. These
days the forward facing light is combined with a down facing white
spot light.  It is not a navigation light.  At night it lights up the
foredeck (and messes with your night vision).  And legally would not
be on at the same time as the steaming lamp.


How to keep this straight?  Simple.. Consider and spell it

'mast HEADLIGHT',
 
like your wheels.  That would arrange the other spelling as MASTHEAD
 light. No single light we have nav lights up there ljke  the tri-color,
port - stbd - stern - allround white light called ANCHORlight - never
used when the vessel is moving.  We do NOT have a legal navigation
masthead light.  You
certainly can call the tricolor mast-top a single fixture (sometimes the
combo nav light that sometimes may include the allround white anchor
lamp.)  But mast headlight is better reserved as navigation
nomenclature for a forward facing white  lamp of a vessel UNDER POWER.

And that is why a mast headlight is not at the mast head (mast top).


There is a  movement afloat to sail at night offshore with
RED OVER GREEN,
allround nav lights that pbryant is a proponent.  He has posted here and
elaborated on a Cruising site how to wire and switch the system. Serious
cruisers are unanimous in NOT obeying the single tricolor on a dark hull
directive.  If you will, they say it's at your peril.  But it is  the current rule..
If you insist,  I suggest for our boats a 3NM tricolor..

I've now gone with MARINEBEAM 3.5" x 3" plastic IP67 navlights.  At the
moment I'll go with the redundancy of having a red/green bicolor in the
pulpit and a 2nd set on the cabin-trunk sides where the originals were.
Creative mounting require4d.  $89 ea. 2021.
I chatted with mb & asked him if they had a R.O.G. in the works..  Nope.
They will have to come up with something soon,  there's  $$$ to be made
there. imco, in a dark & stormy night it's preferable to be lit up like a truck.
Marinebeam wld be reasonable and do it right.

pbryant has a solution that makes sense.  He has mounted two allround
greens about a meter down his mast on the opposite port  & starboard
sides when lit up throw enuf green to look green all round -- and  with
the single red allround on the mast-top passes for R.O.G.  (Green has double
the lumens but the red is in the alpha spot.)  His single 3 position toggle
switch solution exists here or on the Cruising site, he hasn't revealed whose
allrounds he used. At night we'd probably have a reef in the main -- sure
I would!   [This toggle switch is intuitive. Will find & record it here.]


MOST IMPORTANT..  we  in R.O.G. at the same time are allowed to have our
DECK LIGHTS ON.   And  the ability to indicate the vessel's length with pulpit
and stern lights seems prudent. Red over Green, with its unique separation,
is instantly recognizable by professionals as a sailboat under sail.  

R.O.G.  is for an offshore boat under sail at night.  Personally, sailing r.o.g.
I wld have the pulpit bi-color on, the cabin mounted green and red off,
 and stern light on.   And the r.o.g. instantly registers with the lookout
size, type, direction, location and speed of the interloper.  If lookout on the
other vessel isn't responding, I'd probably use a wildly agitated spotlight.
Or a flare!~!


Some time ago evidently I followed thru on this & lo found in my stash  3
allround HELLA LAMPS: two green, one red.  Base is 3", stand-out about
3", which is a stretch for an apparent single lamp 3"+mast 3.5"+3".  2NM
 - LED - CE - 9-33V. Found inside the blister-pac: IP67. $105.99 ea. 6/2018.


Take care..

This post might refer back to 487,  and the subject has been written about
by ebb either here or in the gallery pages.  That area, the HEEL of the KEEL
where the rudder shoe is dapped into the fiberglass is by design a problem.

There is a huge amount of weight and leverage concentrated here.  No
amount of finesse seems to me to be possible to get an adequate lay-up
of polyester resin and matt-glass in this narrow, tight and difficult pocket.
This hull, needless to say the whole class of Ariel/Commander's, had to be
laminated as a single unit.  It made the back third of the hull a challenge
do properly.  Imagine how hard it would be if you had to lay-up the inside
of your garbage can with poly and matt,  it'd be a mess.

When I finally got A338's ruddershoe off, found that the outer half, the end,
was broken chunks of plastic.  No glass reinforcement,  The shoe had been
held in place with a single pin (that had been crudely removed and replaced
with a small bolt that held a zinc against against the bronze shoe..  WHICH
WAS PITTED & CORRODED.
The boat had a homemade rectangularish rudder with a stainless shaft.  Tried
to find out how stainless cld make bronze into an anode..  Did latter find a
more probable answer.
So, made an attempt to rebuild the naked end of the keel.  There's little that
can be done.  Here used the elegant cheat of using the  ruddershoe to mold
the repair.  Had to straighten the sides of the shoe that had been seriously
bent inward by later bolts used to keep the obviously slipping shoe in place.
There wasn't much the glass in my repair had to hold on to.

So, the long upward lag screws idea blinked  ON.  Desperation is a great
motivator.  Hope it works this time,  I've cheated alot.  I wonder if The Pearson
Boys thought it through.  Haven't added it up:  there's an astonishing amount
of bronze weight concentrated on very end of our keel.

Imagine what it was like to lay-up the stern with the toxic fumes of MEK
and polyester resin kicking off..  they had to be inside the hull to work..
masks, fans, what did they have back then?
__________________________________________________________

Had a few conversations with Roger Winiarski, proprietor of BristolBronze.
He told me something I cldn't believe, but then whom else is as good as  his
word?  He said BristolBronze been Pearson's supplier of round bar and fittings.  
OK, but then he said,  the bronze was manganese bronze, a very strong alloy
that casts into the beautiful things like winches and other deck gear.  
Like I say, Couldn't believe it..!  He assured me it was so.

The rudder shaft in many saltwater A/C's gets corroded at the waterline inside
the rudder tube that passes thru the bustle.  Well,  Why?

ManganeseBronze (58%copper - 39%zinc - .8%manganese) is nothing more
than a high tensil BRASS.  It has too much zinc in it for it to stay in alloy.  In
salt water it turns into a battery and self destructs, corrodes.  Copper alloys
are moderately resistant to dezincification at 15% zinc.  SiliconBronze 96%copper,
2.5-6%silicon, plus a pinch of a bunch of other metals including  manganese,
lead and zinc and will still be intact 1000 years in ocean water.  No guarantee.

SOME IDEAS ON MARRYING THE REPLICA RUDDERSHOE TO THE KEEL

Kent,  You have a predrilled hole in the shaft 'landing' on the rudder shoe.
Normal to be a 3/4" by 3/4" deep hole,  It shld be right angle to the flat.
Which is right angle to the slant of the keel.  The end of the 1"D stock is
milled down to 3/4"D  X 3/4" length. Snug fit, use TefGel when assembling
no gell on shaft bottom.

Notice you have very little frp material remaining in that stub that has to
support heavy rudder shoe and even heavier rudder, tillerhead and tiller.
Sounds like your replica won't slip over the stub and cozy against the ledge
from the old one.  Get it snug and the shaft landing
is right angle to the cove in the keel..  
Get a dead straight six foot 1" dowel (Constantines***)..
use it to make sure the dowel is evenly spaced down the full length of
keel's cove -- from the center of the rudder tube in the cockpit.
(***They only have 36", so you'll have to butt-join, it's only temporary.
Years ago their mahogany dowels were exact measure, 1" is 1" and
they were dead straight.  Try finding that at your local bigbox.  And yes,
I wld epoxy butt-join.  Dowel gives a visual exactness to this measure.)

After much dry fitting, line  the inside of the shoe with Seranwrap,  fill all
holes dips on the stub with wet epoxy mixed with chopped strand**,  and
using a carjack if appropriate seat the replica tight against the old ledge..
Thoroly wet the stub down with a bristle brush and plain 2-part, then
wipe it off, you can't get it dry, with a rag -- you want the structural filler to
stick to the repairs, but you want the epoxy-soak for bond.  This soak is
done at the same time as the paste and assembly. Pour off a bit of 2-part
and quickly wet, jab with brush, dry with rag..  in 30 seconds, pretend
you're BobRoss making a cloud.
(Must use a polyethylene film.  Seranwrap is really the best.)
..  ..  ..
This thing with the jack:  dry fit will have gone thru every step.  you have
factored in a little wiggle room to get the fitting exactly where you want.
You want squeeze out, but you'll be able to fix things when you remove the
fitting -- use a      non-glue bedding compound for final assembly.  If you
have a close fit, consider TefGel, no rubber.
(**In cup mix 2-part laminating epoxy, add a modicum of 1/4-1/2" chopped
strand, mix well, then add the fumed-silica to make a paste.  First wet the
frp stub with plain 2-part then  wipe it off with a cotton rag -- this assures
you get a bond with the filler paste.)

[ One of the two things ebb did to help support the huge weight of the
rudder system (rudder shoe, 20lbs of rudder stock and lbs of rudder blade,
tillerhead, tiller, and hand on tiller)..
was to drive two long bronze lag screws up thru the bottom of the shoe into
what ever there is in that narrow part of the keel.  Had barely enuf room to
drill the holes, there may be enuf meat for the hexheads* to pull themselves
in.] (Cld argue about this)

(*Hexhead lags, because if you ever have to remove the rudder shoe, you
merely grind the hexheads off!  Have to live with the lumps on the very
bottom of the keel and remember the lags are there.  Since the bolts
are never coming out --and you're not totally happy withwhat you found when
predrilling the holes,  oversize the holes a bit, use a dowel  stick with a rag
and wet the holes inside with runny epoxy as best you can -- make  a bit of
paste, epoxy and fumed-silica, slather the threads of the lagscrews and
HAMMER THEM TIGHT UPTO THE RUDDER SHOE.  Gets epoxy way up inside
in unknown territory, and the lags are captured forever.  Crazy, but it worked
for me.)              

The rudder shoe shld fit within the streamlining of the hull.   The space-
finding dowel trick shld find the fore-n-aft of the shaft position. The vertical
position of the shaft 'landing' shld be exactly right angle to the shaft along
the cove in the keel. The cove shld be easy to prep and fair to the gelcoat.
Center the dowel in the rudder tube,  it shld be centered at the landing.
Because Pearson had to do some finaggeling to allow the completed rudder
to pass the keel ('on the port side') when commissioning and off, there'll
be a mental bellcurve.  One clue is to sight down the rudder tube to see
which sjde  of the keel is commissioned!  Tube may be crooked,  but the
rudder (rudder-shaft) is absolutely straight.

Sorry,  I don't know the measure of the dowel-shaft from the cove,  my
rudder situation was very different from yours.  The method suggested is
only an idea, opinion in modern parlance.  But it is decided by the pre-
drilled hole for the shaft in the shoe landing.  Have to get the right angles
correct or the  3/4-3/4 hole will become a problem.   Dowel it!

Think the hardness of Si-bronze and 316 are close to equal.   But drilling is
easier thru bronze.
Goes without saying: you have planned and predrilled the 'peening' holes
thru the sides of the bronze shoe.  Locate where the vertical lag bolt holes
are going and drill them out too before assembly.  Forget what we have
down there: 1 1/2" width of frp keel?  Odd drilling holes under the keel,
the predrilled holes in the bronze will help keep the new longish bolts jn
the center of the narrow 2" wide keel.
Let's hope the replica is the marrying kind.


 I'VE ADDED SOME MORE STUFF HERE..  BEST TO YOU, CAPTAIN KENT !  !

not finished extensive post completely erased

have in the paast found such but not this time

i'm pissed maybe later yo abswewr kent

FURLING HEADSAILS
Furling Headsails Are the Future / an article by Dobbs Davis

Let's start with a quote:
"The future is headsails without [bartaut] cables at all.  
The  headstay will be needed only to support the mast."
...  ... "trickle-down from the grand prix to local fleets is
already happening... "  ..happened.
"In the past year or so [9/2019], sail designers have
reoriented their thinking to explore flying shapes that allow
the luff to sag more than a sail whose luff is supported by a
tight cable."

"There are a lot of Code Zeros being used in the Wednesday
Night races in Annapolis..  with these races getting the
strongest turnout."

"In all, Jonathon Bartlett of North Sails points out, the new
generation of Code Zero sails have opened up a whole
new range of fun for any boat -- not just pure raceboats  --
which is energizing those owners who want to race but don't
have the ideal sails to make it a worthwhile pursuit."

"With new materials, sail designs and hardware, furling
headsails are the way of the future."
'
Article is savvy and a good read.
Will we see them on the Ariel/Commander one of these days?

__________________________________________________

What led me here was finding out that a 'structural furler' is a
fairly easy sail remove furled & bagged to safety below when
readying for a blow.  No, I haven't done it yet.  But that's how we
deal with this sail all the time. My reading shows that Code Zero
types can't be reefed without  special hardware.  In other words,
it's either completely open or fully wrapped for removal. That's a
very limiting factor as these are light air sails.. the drifter/reacher.
Genoa is the real problem.
Going to see if an old staysail can be altered for the SolentStay
that's rigged on LitlGull..  Called sail inventory.

Looked on the web for any shared experience in taking a large
genoa out of its foil track when preparing for a storm..  a way
more difficult task, especially singlehanded - since the sail will
have to be laid out back to the cockpit.  A tropical storm is not the
time to see if a sock can keep the sail from  being shredded.  
Pulling the luff cable back into the foil is also a lot of fun,  I hear.  
Like to read any cruiser's experience with a genoa wind sock
surviving 100mph..

The chinese finger trap, or more specifically Vivien Kellem's cable
grip in a braided cord* might be experimented with:  The harder
it blows,  the tighter it holds.  Made with no-stretch line.
 [and perhaps two rings at each end of the luff that wld  be pulled
toward the middle to release the tension - to get the
trap down.. *and not cord but maybe a flat webbing?..]
Dream-on! Then the problem of removing the web-trap from the
furled genoa..
My wind-sock of a brain keeps whispering,  Make both headsails
functionally removable. AND structurally reefable. That's a true
challenge for our wilder  weather cruising years ahead..  Respectfully..
____________________________________________________

Another essay by Charles  J. Doane in SAIL (Updated 8/2/21017)
titled FURL IT UP begins with this intro:
"After cruisers tested and perfected furler systems  about 30
years ago, they were widely adopted on certain types of raceboats.
Since then there's been an interesting reverb effect, in which
offshore racers have created ever more refined and versatile
furling technologies that are now trickling back into the cruising
community."

Great info, ENJOY

9/10/2021
A couple of observations from the future.  Please excuse repetitions!

In short,  my laminated beam across the cabin has no other support
except for the overbuilt gussets at the chainplates at the center shroud.  
 I laid in a substantial floor (Cross piece timber) at the step up into the
front cabin.   Which in Litlgull no longer exists because the bulkhead
is removed (forward as a 'crash bulkhead').

I recorded the height from the floor timber to the bottom of the
laminated beam.  But then I read that the tanins in white oak may react
with the resorcinol..   So I thru-bolted the whole thing to the cabin top
with bronze carriage bolts.  Measured the height with mast and rig and
found barely 1/8" less.  Seems OK.  The unitized laminate,  bolted and
glued up-graded deck (balsa replaced with solid frp),  immovably supports
the mast with all its active downward pressure.  We'll see!  And, just in
case, a compression post, like the Commander's,  could easily slip in
between the cross-floor and the cross-beam.
Someone here pointed out a pole in the middle of the accommodation
isn't a bad thing -- you use it to swing around or just as a steady-hold in
an often very active little ship..

That's A338. Our discussion here finds that the problem with the strong
back is not rot but the settling of the dry fitted pieces under rig pressure
over time.

For those skippers restoring their Ariels,  I would suggest removing the
main bulkhead.  Put in a substantial floor across the bottom at and as the
step up.  Block the crossbeam into its final position if it's in good shape.*
Might GLUE it to the cabin top with rubber cement (4200).  Then reframe
the passage way with substantial posts to support the venerable beam.
Thus we have the hull and cross-floor supporting the strongback.  Finish
the bulkhead in an interesting plywood of your choice.  Doorway can be
kept open with a privacy curtain for air circulation.
*May have to return the mast-DECK to its original curve with a jack -- and
repair any balsa-rot. If I remember the balsa is 3/8".  Remove the deck
laminate carefully.  Replace rot with glass mat and glue the deck back on.

Hope this still holds true:  You cannot find a better marine plywood to
sheathe the bulkhead than BS1088 Meranti.  It is made with phillipine-like
mahoganies and bonded under high pressure with phenolic glue.  The
veneers are knotless thruout,  panel is flawless and deadflat. Could get
by with the 6mm but 9mm will allow left overs for shelves and such.  Easy
to varnish or paint.

This will provide all necessary support for the beam and rig overhead
forever.  IMCO

Kyle, My being neither scientist nor formally educated - Ebb
graduated 2nd from last highschool, and was kicked out of
Rutgers in his first year.
But I think the fetch of the Lakes has something to do with
the size of waves..  Wind creates waves of certain (limited)
height, not to say that certain seas in the contained bowls
of the Lakes won't be equally destructive.  But not quite.

Oceans create swells from multiple events like hurricanes, tides,
typhoons, tsunamis.  Waves build on the huge fetch of unlimited
water.  I think bigger water bigger waves,  nothing to do
with fresh and salt,  but the room waves have to express
theirselves.   Bigger waves want more room to be bigger.
Water being water bigger means longer.  Water doesn't
compress, and being heavy has to express itself naturally.

I looked up the word Seiche, which describes the tidelike  
action of water sloshing around in the Lakes essentially from
wind.  Wind pushing water up onto one shore and it sloshing
back on another. There are no tides in the Great Lakes.  But
like water it sure can get agitated at times.  But surely, waves
spaced closer together, even if they're Fresh, are no more
ferocious than the more spacious Salt.
SIZE MATTERS

KYLE - YOU SHOULD KNOW - FRESH WATER SHRINKS.

__________________________________________________________

GOOD OLD SCIENTIST
Some nautical photos of Alberto Einstein have resurfaced.
Good Old Boat, Oct./Sept 2021, under new editorship
takes a relatively nasty (bloody tongue in cheek) dig at
one of our best remembered scientists,  but one lack
knack sailor. This and more from an ad they sent me..

"Sailing was one of his lifelong passions [relatively].  And
while he most certainly understood the science behind
the sport, the artistic aspect of it often eluded him.  He
 was regularly dismasted.  He often needed a tow.  Once
after capsizing he nearly drowned..."

Have a problem with more than the style of writing here.
Einstein wldn't have been Einstein if he hadn't taken some
impossible risks - including the guts to persist in learning
the 'artistic aspect' of handling a boat, because he is a
physicist most original, because it is a lifelong necessity.

Can we know the tally of dismastings?  More than two?
More than four? 24?  Are they by unrigged small dinghys?
'Perseverance' the new operative noun, comes to mind.
Could someone explain just what the 'artistic aspect..
behind the sport of sailing'   actually entails. Wave theory?

DESTINY

These vessels we pour so much talent and love into
are testament to the company we keep.  Two words
cheek by jowl in my large print OxfordDictionary,
share space together altho their ancestries are far
apart.

Chalet is a small cabin or hut in a holiday camp.
Chalice, a large goblet.  There should always be more
goblets in our lives.

Of course C147 (and A338) are definitely small cabins,
huts with wings we've lavished so much time and money
and  care upon.  It's THAT we celebrate HERE and find
communion,  these supposedly inanimate vessels we
have filled with life and dreams.  Our lives and dreams.

To stretch the metaphor a bit more, we raise the
goblet once more:  to Jerry and Tim, to Lorraine,  Mike,
Fritz, Kyle and dozens of other geniuses, dreamers
who have shared our love for these good little ships,
chalices and chalets of marvelous humanity..

Goblets and maritime huts, Commanders and Ariels..
AND here's to Bill.  Where would we be without you??

All hail the Alberg fleet!  And another round to DESTINY.

MARK HARRINGTON'S SLING-SHOT EFFECT

WITNESS  INCREDIBLE BOATMANSHIP

A RECORD SETTING YACHT PUT


Hardly a powerful enuf phrase to describe what I, for lack of a full vocabulary
experienced at MattButler's SanRafael Yacht Harbor, when THURSDAY CLUB member's
of the Alberg Fleet SanFrancisco:  Steve Cossman,  Ian Elliott, skipper of the Triton  
SANCTUARY,
and Mark Harrington volunteered  to tow Litlgull, engine-less, sail-less,  skipper-less
Ebbster  back to where he sprung (and towed away from) in recent memory.

The tow can last 2 1/2 hours,  Sausalito to SanRafael,  by auto takes 20 minutes.  
But on the end of a 50' line, on a calm  balmy day,  it is life-embracing.  Uneventful
except for some errant waves, "Ferryboat," said Steve, also aboard in the cockpit, no
ferryboat anywhere in sight.   And a spectacle
 in the form of a gigantic dark barge with a tall light colored pilot house like a freaky
church tower.. which seemed  to be closing rapidly on us with a huge boxy derrick
that growled and clanked loudly and wildly swung it's enormous bucket one side to
the other, opening and clanging shut its mouth as it gained on us and passed in the
next opening under the RichmondBridge -- like a T-Rex on a loose and lunatic island.

We arrive an hour later, up an endless estuary of expensive real-estate,  and park in a
convenient doublewide slip  close to the Harbor entrance just ahead.  Phone calls to
locate the harbormaster fruitless.  Ian takes the guys up into the Harbor to suss out
the situation, No Matt.  No promised dinghy with an outboard to tow po'  Litlgull in..
and under the crane for lift out.  


MAKING THE COMPLEX LOOK SPONTANEOUS AND EASY
Then the extraordinary:  Mark in deep discussion with Steve and Ian.  They ask me
to hop into Ian's boat while they stay with Litlgull on the floats.
Ian backs out,   Steve and Mark proceed by hand to swing Litlgull around bow out.
Ian motors ahead and stops stern on to the bow of Litlgull.
Steve and Mark, already onboard, hand Ian a line that he ties Litlgull about two feet off
his stern.  He motors us up to the Harbor entrance, hangs left,  suddenly accelerates.
 
He yanks the tow line loose.  Look back to see Litlgull turning into the lane wit6h a
respectable bow wave charging down the row of parked vessels heading  for the crane.

We, on Sanctuay, without the boat in tow, keep going into the inner harbor packed with
boats and floats of every ilk -- and into a puddle of  empty water -- Ian heads strate for
the flank of some cabincruiserish thing at the end of a float -- just before  he T-bones,  
pushes the tiller down, swings on a silver dollar into a pure 180,  cuts speed, coasts
back out the way we just arrived,  but stops where Litlgull  just disappeared into.

He waits, engine running, at the end of the dock for the guys.  They dash up and hand
me down into a small godforsaken metal launch with a large black oily hole in its deck
where an engine once lived.

Clamber out, suddenly the voyage is over! Hail goodbyes, see you at breakfast,  and
turn down the float to find Litlgull, quietly nodding,   tied to the horizontal float used to
orient vessels for haul out by BUCKYRUS EIRE looming like a Jurassic skeleton overhead,
painted GoldenGateOrange. Welcome back!

How often has  the Thursday gang practiced this Sling Shot Effect??  THE  YACHT PUT.
   
What I witnessed is like what individual jazz players hope to arrive at when they improv
with the tune -- and stream it  together  to a heartbeat, exciting and  beautiful.

Just think, Litlgull spontaneously sling shotted  into the futur to  silent applause..  
Ian's alto sax harmonizing with Sanctuary's beat, a perfect riff..  never  recorded for
posterity and keepers of the faith.  
Except for Prospero here.

That I witnessed.   Hear it?  Ella  easing it together  with a long sweet note.
My luck is unfolding --  what I witnessed: Never forgot!  Holy catfish!  Thanks guys!!

_______________________________________________________________________
KURT (see below) BEYOND THE PALE

Years ago,  serendipity became a popular word.  It's when something fortunate
happens by chance that's special.  Was watching by chance as Ryan Crouser stepped
up, wound up gracefully, twirled his big body around, with a grimace and a yelp,

performed a new distance by pushing a 16 pound iron ball 75 feet for a new world
and new Olympic record.  What we know as 'a Gold Metal performance'.

When a world class record is made it's right on the edge of serendipity.  A star
with easy prowess often pushes chance over its boundary.  a Shot Putter won't ever
make 32 million dollars a year doing his art.  It was a privilege seeing something
maybe I'll may never see again.. And it may not have been a touchdown or a
bases loaded homerun,  but I saw 3 guys PUT a 3ton yacht for Gold.

Serendipity provided the lovely pun.  The Alberg Fleet their expertise.
The amazing thing, they did it first try -- litlgull witnessed Gold.
______________________________________________________________________

Here's a mental picture for you.

UP NAPA RIVER WITHOUT A PADDLE
a visit to the Napa Valley Marina

Recently, masks coming off,  Covid mutations fighting back against non-vaccinators,
changing times, miles of something new:  miles long stop and crawl traffic, no
accidents, just sheer volume on the north bound road into Sonoma. It was Steve
who suggested looking closer to home..  On a Saturday took the Element east into
 Napa County and south onto a long straight and then winding rural road out back.

Sighted masts and cruised a stretch lined with large yachts perched on their keels.
Turned into the marina, straight-off found an open-door men's room and a marine
flea market in progress.  Went into the store and found it shared a door with the
marina office.  "Come back Monday." said the skinny guy behind the counter.

Ambled into the huge yard with huge dead elephants waiting for god.  One or two
pickups parked in the casual groupings, no ladders against hulls.  Altho it was a
Saturday there were no radios blasting and not a single sander,  dead quiet.


After a doctors appt,  arrived back at the marina office just before noon,  to find
what appeared to be the yardmaster sipping soup at his desk.  Came back at 12:30
and this happened:

Showed him, a large balding power figure, an image of Litlgull on my phone. He
brought out a green colored sheet of paper covered with 3 columns of price lists.
My boat would be charged daily lay days of $40 for 15 days, then $300 per month.
But if I was working on the boat, the rate jumps to $500,  but longer than 3
months the rate jumps again to $750 (for a mono-hull to 44').
My brain Overflowed.  Wanted a place to work, not punishment.

One item on a list of services for moving boats stands: $30.
Another was a "corkage fee" for paint not bought at the marina store: $10 a ft.
A fine of $260 for Litlgull using an open qt of Epifanes -- or a gallon of bottom.

As I turned to go, he said, "September x is when we can fit you in.."  That was two
months away.  I flashed, three marine ways are virtually empty, looked unused,
there's one 30' yacht parked on the floats, two live yachts on the hard gravel at the
head of the ways, no human activity.  I got the message and left.  The marina
looks historic and pleasantly incredibly neat, like a movie set.. waiting for the actors
to show up.
I drove past the elephants.. never to return.

Reasoned:  the traffic problem wld soon return to something like normal.
This sleepy  yard of money games is   NO PLACE FOR THE LIKES OF EBB.

Spaulding Boatwerks has asked me to move Litlgull elsewhere.
Moving the boat next door to the Arquez marina  is not possible.
It is full of derelict houseboats and others.  It looks unchanged
from 25 years ago when I left with the Ariel.  Can't believe It's
been that long!  And will I still be able to skipper the dream??

Either back to SanRafael  or elsewhere,  It's just as sticky to leave
where we're not wanted, as it has been to make all the illadvised
changes that robbed me of decades sailing the oceans.

I think Chris must have made a tacit promise to Hasse that the
sails would be rigged to the boat.  I will try to get him to do thar
before I leave.
There is a tangle of halyards at the mast that have routes secret
to me..  I installed a couple cheekblocks at the masthead for a
runged ladder idea,  that now will be halyarded.
Also the watermaker has not been proofed.  Stuff I've been
 reminded  I still must pay for.
This while being scurried  away like garbage.  They do bottom
jobs and minor repairs as main income.  And, now that Covid's
in decline the tourists are back. Troops of kids.  And there is a
fleet of Pelicans being assembled inside the shop of laser-cut
parts and fiberglass.  Spaulding has more important things to do.

I also let Chris order a Facnor bowsprit for me,  still in the works,
no idea when it will arrive presumably from France. No feedback
from the chief.  Should have done it myself,  but thought it was
good form to have Spaulding handle it.

Wherever we end up, it'll be developing a new s.s. plate 'extension'
that will stick out forward of the original bowfitting to support both
the anchor roller AND the center of the Facnor pole sprit..
 
Decided on a new Pulpit, the old out of round, crushed in front
and crooked, not yet ordered.  Have to make an exact pattern
because I would like to do the impossible,  that is to move the
aft leg bases  to the bulworks and the front legs to the molded
toerail -- sans the bulwork for warp chocks-- in effort to claim
more wiggle-room to position the sprit  and anchor gear.
Uninterrupted access on the hard will make it easier and sooner
done..  ..  ..  if I stay fit!

There will be more on the SunPower Flex panels that will hang
to the hard rails.

Never imagined how difficult it is to fit reality, per se, into a dream.