GOING DOWN
An old shipwreck story from my schooner bumming days, it is told here to reach across the years with some perspective of classic seafaring in deep, heavy monohulls relative to the contemporary -- even futuristic -- lightweight vessels.
My digital assistant, CRISTI (Can't Read It So Tell It) knows that I can edit her out when she interrupts the Caper, but privately she really beat me up over this one because it runs 43 minutes. Of course you always have the pause button, or just click on the X, but if you get through this monologue, you may take away some notion of how far we've come with marine architecture in the last 50 or 60 years.
And now we're getting pretty close to the "perfect boat," one that cannot sink, and is also self-recovering from capsize. Foil-borne, too? Foil-assisted? We'll see. But the Hybrid Wing is, in my view, destined to become endemic -- if for no other reason than its buoyancy can prevent multihulls from turning turtle. What's your view?
RACE TO ALASKA START
Explains some of the challenges faced by competitors in this endurance test from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska in which my son Russell is currently competing.
Using his participation as a legitimate excuse, I tempt several of my seasoned traveler friends to join me at Victoria, BC to form a cheering section for Russell's send-off. At this writing he is still under way, but details of the race including videos can be found at www.R2K.com.
I ask listeners to offer their thoughts on a proposed Outrig Design Contest for a vessel intended for single handing in this and other endurance Capers. Please respond to outrig.org@gmail.com
More Seafaring Literature from Jim...
In this episode, Jim talks about several great adventures that took place at sea. He also explains why pitchpoling in monohulls can be different than in multihulls.
Jim gives some special recognition to couples in this podcast. And he notes several amazing female sailors among them.
Several classic resources for cruisers are mentioned. They include how-to information, including boat construction, voyage planning, rigging details, seamanship and celestial navigation.
Jim also talks about why being "able to go" cruising is often more important to many seafarers than actually going.
This nautical lore podcast speaks of legendary sailors and the books (and in some cases, other media) featuring them. Jim also talks briefly about this year’s “Race to Alaska” event, in which Jim’s son Russell Brown will compete.
There are some great yarns all throughout this episode. These include stores about Joshua Slocum, Irving McClure Johnson, Sterling Hayden and Tristan Jones.
And Jim reveals why a lot of the supposedly historically accurate reproduction boats that have been built in the modern era are rather poor sailing vessels when compared to the boats they’re supposedly “re-creating.”
A plethora of adventure stories awaits listeners in this capercast.
40: BLIND SAILOR? (Part 2)
In this portion of our telephone ramble, John Patterson and I speak of the safety of small boats at sea, dragging drogues, sailor's burn out, avoiding collision, contending with disability and more.