Heirlooms

Stuart Fl

NoLL

I'm going to change my will to leave instructions for how to deal with my body. I do not want it donated to science. I want it to be cremated. Then I want as much of the ashes that fit to be stuffed into my coffee thermos and then the thermos thrown into some body of water. I'll explain.

Long term friends who know me best, identify me with that unbreakable Stanley thermos. You see, I've had it for more than 30 years and another one just like it for 15 years before that. It traveled with me over countless miles on countless business trips. I used it as a potential weapon, carrying it with me as I walked the streets at night in strange foreign cities. I brought that thermos to work with me every day, both at home and abroad. I carried it in checked baggage on countless flights; never once being asked about it by security screeners.

Some friends and acquaintances may have never seen me without that thermos in my hand.

The original finish on my thermos was green. It had no handle. The plastic handle you see in the picture was an upgrade that I purchased in K Mart when the thermos was already several years old. The handle made it easy to carry but it wore down the protective finish and dirt built up behind the plastic bands.

Eventually the thermos became rusty and I painted it with white Rustoleum paint. Now it's rusting again. Disreputabull as it looks, I think it will last longer than I will anyhow.

You see, that thermos is one of the very few personal heirlooms that Libby and I have. A consequence of living on a boat is that we can't keep family heirlooms or familiar objects that become a part of your identity. We have some of Libby's father's hand tools, and one of my father's clocks. Libby has a stainless steel sauce pan that I gave her when we were 17. I have that thermos. We have our wedding rings. That's it; the complete inventory of objects with life-long associations that we still have.

Given all the above, I think you'll agree that it is completely appropriate that I should be interred in that thermos after I die.

Thar She Blows

Stuart Florida

NoLL

Kerry Rose sent me a link to a video of the demolition of the Champlain Bridge. Well, at least I don't need to worry about getting permission to sail under the old bridge any more.

Unsafe In Any State

Stuart FL
NoLL

Below is a copy of a letter I sent to BoatUS today:

I try my best to boat safely and to be friendly to the environment. I find those ambitions to be significantly thwarted by federal regulations regarding the design and sale of gasoline storage cans.

My boat uses diesel fuel, but I also have an outboard motor and a portable generator that use gasoline. I have no safe compartment for storing gas, so I keep it in a jug that I leave up on deck. That way, if the jug leaks it should not cause an explosion hazard. For many years that system worked fine for me with a standard 5 gallon plastic jug with a pouring spout and a vent. Metal cans are unsuitable because of salt water corrosion.

Suddenly the vented cans disappeared from the stores. Instead, I could buy only the so-called self-venting type or the so-called no-spill type.

I tried first with a 5 gallon no-spill type jug (below). It turned out that the spring loaded pouring nozzle had a diameter larger than the fill pipe on my generator. I had to use a funnel. But the can was too heavy to lift and pour with one hand, so I had to hold the can with two hands while trying to hold the funnel in place with my knees while pushing down on the spout to trigger pouring. The result was spilled gasoline all over me and over my deck.

I switched to a 5 gallon self-venting tank (below). I stored it on deck with the pouring spout stored pointing in. The problem with that is expansion of the gas in the hot sun. Alerted by the smell of gas, I looked on deck and saw gasoline streaming out of the pressurized can as it warmed in the hot sun. The pressure was pumping the gas up the spout and through the cap. I estimate that two out of every five gallons of gas I stored in that can wound up in the atmosphere rather than in the engines, resulting in a thousand times more evaporation than an old-fashioned vented can would produce.

I tried storing the can with the spout removed. That way, gas would not be forced out when it expands. Sorry. Without the spout, the screw on top would not fit properly and when the boat heeled over gas spilled out through the gap.

I tried storing the can with the spout pointing out. That should solve the pumping problem. I capped the end of the spout with the little yellow stopper that comes with the can. Sorry. As the sun warmed the gas and pressurized the can I heard a noise like a champagne cork popping. It was the sound of the yellow stopper being ejected overboard.

My final solution was to store the can with the spout on the inside, but I had to drill my own vent hole to prevent pumping.

I bought a one gallon no-spill type jug to use for the outboard when in the dinghy. But after less than 6 months use, the spring loaded mechanism on no-spill spout failed. It wouldn't spill but nor would it pour. It was a choppy day and very bumpy in the dinghy. I was forced to try to refill the outboard from the jug with no spout at all. Of course, 90% of the gas spilled into the water.

Yesterday I checked West Marine, Wal Mart and Home Depot to buy yet another replacement jug. But now all three stores carry only a brand with a stupid kind of pistol grip spout (below). When stored on deck the upward pouring spout will collect rain water which I'm sure will get into my gasoline. Additionally the clumsy looking pistol grip spout is almost certain to be stepped on and broken off some day while I'm moving around my deck in rough weather. I refuse to buy it.



BoatUS seems to know its way around Washington. Please try to find a way to explain to the regulators that the needs of boaters are different from those of land based consumers who have places out of the sun and out of the rain to store their cans. Boaters need to be able to purchase the old-fashioned vented jugs with simple pour spouts in order to be both safe and environmentally friendly.

Merry Christmas To All

Stuart, FL

NoLL

Several friends asked if we had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit here in Florida. I answered, "Yes. We miss a white Christmas spirit. It's hard to get into the mood when you are surrounded by palm trees and pelicans."

Well I was wrong. The spirit was delayed but not defeated. Today, Libby and I woke to Christmas, exchanged a few gifts and MAGIC, it really feels like Christmas. Of course, we miss our family terribly on days like this. We'll drown our separation by going to the cruiser's pot-luck Christmas dinner this afternoon.

Libby and I offer best wishes, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our loyal readers.

The Veneer Effect

Stuart Florida

12.000 N 080 15.500

I've written several times about the veneer effect. That is, the fact that the view of America that we get from the water is so much nicer that the view that everyone on land has. It is as if a veneer of niceness was layered on top of a heap of ugliness.

Nowhere is the veneer effect more plain than in the neighborhood near here. Last week on Tuesday, we sailed down the Indian River on the ICW from Fort Pierce to Stuart. It wasn't the prettiest stretch of the ICW by far but it was still nice. We saw mostly mangroves, pelicans, and dolphins and we felt very happy about the nature. All in all it was America at it's best, or nearly so.

On Thursday I borrowed Don's car to drive back to Vero to pick up Christmas mail. I drove up route 1 from Stuart to Fort Pierce. Boy what an ugly stretch. Every inch of that 6 lane road is lined with stores, pharmacies, car dealers, and doctor's offices -- all institutions designed to extract money from the retired people in the area. Cars turned left and right everywhere and I was stopped by red lights every half mile. All in all it was America at it's worst, or nearly so.

In the picture below, you can see the Atlantic Ocean to the right, the Indian River and the ICW to the left of that, then the veneer, than US Route 1. Stuart is at the bottom and Fort Pierce at the top. I think that proves my point.

Whoops, blew that one

Stuart Florida

NoLL

Regular readers know how often I mention how little space there is on a boat and how careful we must be about acquiring clutter. Well, this Christmas I ignored my own advice and did something really stupid.

Years ago, while in college, I learned to play the accordion. I loved playing that thing, hour after hour, just for relaxation. Unfortunately, an accordion is much too big to carry on the boat. Another obstacle is moisture and mold which tend to quickly ruin the paper used to make the accordion bellows.

I've been practicing with a harmonica. I've been getting good enough at it to realize that I can never be really good at it because of my denture.

I thought I had a bright idea. I looked on Ebay for an electronic music keyboard. I found a brand new one, bid and won it for only $25. I thought that was really cheap. I visualized a little thing about the size of a rolled up newspaper that ran on batteries. What I actually got is about 4x1.5 feet in size and uses AC power. Oh no!

It is completely unsuitable for the boat. I'll play with it a few weeks in Stuart and Vero, but then I'll have to get rid of it somehow.

Now, it occurs to me that a keyboard was not the right thing in the first place. If I had been thinking clearer I would have though of those devices that are wind powered but which have a piano keyboard. I believe they are called melodicas.

Tarwathielemma

Stuart, FL

No LL

Yesterday I explained a little about analemmas. I also said that I wanted to make one for Tarwathie. Here are my results.

Above is a standard analemma illustrating the classic figure-8 shape.

Above is a tutulemma (an analemma in which one of the sun exposures shows a total eclipse) Credit & Copyright: Cenk E. Tezel and Tunç Tezel (TWAN)

Above is a Tarwathielemma. The yellow line shows the actual position of the sun seen from the deck of Tarwathie throughout the year 2009. It is not a figure-8 because Tarwathie's position on the globe changes. For comparison, the dashed line shows a standard analemma as seen from Oriental, North Carolina.

In order to completely track the sun and squash the Tarwathielemma flat, we would have to travel 46 degrees of latitude each way. We actually travel only 20 degrees. Therefore, the Tarwathielemma is truncated.

Above are 2 Ammeleihtawrats (Tarwathielemma spelled backwards, plural.) It doesn't show the sun. Rather, it shows the locus of our travels for the past two years. The red line is 2008 (when we went to Maine for the summer) and the green line is 2009 (when we went to Vermont for the summer.)

Interestingly, even though the Tarwathilemma is truncated, our yearly locus is roughly figure-8 in shape. The center of the figure-8 is Oriental, North Carolina. Remarkably, our log book shows that despite traveling with no plans, we hit Oriental on the same calendar days each spring and each fall for the past 2 years.

Now, ain't that cool?

An Analemma Idea

Stuart, Florida

We moved from Vero to Stuart, just for a change in scenery. More later.

Today, I want to talk about a great idea I just had inspired by the picture below.

I got the picture from APOD. It shows an analemma. I've published several pictures of analemmas before. I just love their beauty; what they reveal about our natural environment; and the artistry and skill of the photographers who make them.

In case you don't know, an analemma is made of multiple exposure pictures of the sun, all taken from the same place at the same time of day throughout a whole year. The proportions of the figure-8 depend on the observer's latitude. For example, at the Arctic circle, the bottom of the analemma would kiss the horizon on the winter solstice. The picture includes 32 such exposures including one which shows the sun in total eclipse. What skill and artistry. Kudos to Cenk E. Tezel and Tunç Tezel, who made it.

Anyhow, my idea is to make an analemma of the sun as seen from the decks of Tarwathie. Since we move between 45 north and 25 north as the year goes on, the shape of a Tarwathielemma would be a distorted morph between a 45 analemma and 25 analemma, with further distortions caused by change in longitude. The result would be unique to our travels. Wow would that be cool.

Before actually making it, what should I expect? Well, since we follow the sun north and south in search of temperate weather, my first guest is that our analemma would be squashed to nearly a single point in the sky. If we did a perfect job of following the sun, the sun's position at the same hour of the days would be fixed during the year. Our position on the globe however, traced through the year, would look like an analemma. How very very cool.

So, how could I make a Tarwathielemma from the deck of a rolling sailboat? Well, given a million dollars worth of electronics, instruments, servos, cameras and computers, I could make it directly. It would be an exceedingly difficult project. But wait; I could make a simulated one using my favorite program Stellarium. All I need is a history of our latitude and longitude from our log book, Stellarium, and then a little work with a program like Photoshop. I bet I could do it in 8-10 hours of computer work. The result would be totally artificial and it would lack the beauty of real pictures and a static landscape. Still, it sounds like a really fun challenge. I'll give it a try and post the result on this blog when done.

Rebuttal

Vero Beach

NoLL

Les P sent the comment below on my article about Weather Windows. I think he too enjoyed a bit of controversy caused by his provocative comments.

Dick,

Loved your comments..I always do! I thought this thread would get some interesting feedback. As far as my exploits, I'm actually a very conservative cruiser. First, I wouldn't be offshore in a boat I didn't feel was up to the task. I know your Westsail certainly is. I also would never go without competent crew, the more days offshore, the more crew I would want along. I do watch the forecasts for weather that might be beyond my comfort level..no one wants to get beaten up knowlingly. And, as far as my cruising resume is concerned...it covers half a century and is certainly longer than many folks.

Love to read your posts Dick! Actually...you do look a lot like Saint Nick.

Merry Christmas...Les P

Ho Ho Ho

Vero Beach
NoLL

I love it. Around this time of year I catch small children looking at me as their eyes grow wide. I don't challenge them; I just smile and wink.

Today, Libby bought me a hat suitable to my image.

Ho Blog Ho

Open your eyes; fool.

I really do look the part, don't I?