windsend

Company Blog

After some pondering we have decided to start a company web log at my sail loft.  That means that much of the material on sailmaking that would have appeared here will now be there.

Cold

This morning is the coldest of the year. As I write, the temperature is -14 f.  Wednesday morning the temp was -9, Thursday dawn greeted us with 6 inches of fluffy powder, yesterday was - 13, and today the cold has settled deeper.  Winter won't be denied.

As I write three crows sit in the top of a nearby ash tree.  They seem to be waiting for the sun to rise and warm them enough to start them on their way.

When I see three crows I am reminded of Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan, who warned him that three crows together were an omen of sorcery.  If these be Yaqui sorcerers, they are a long way from the Sonora Mountains...

E-mail from the Southern Ocean

----- Original Message -----

From: win

To: Bruce Schwab

Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 8:58 PM

Subject: Hello from Maine SP

Hi Bruce,

Just want you to know that we are avidly following your progress and rooting for you here at MSP.  At least twice a day the troops gather round the monitor to peruse the Vendee Globe and Ocean Planet web sites.  Sorry the reef webs let you down. 

Word from the loft floor is, “don’t let that damn motel by, and watch out for falling anchors.”

Win

From: Oceanplanet
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 4:20 PM
To: win
Subject: [work] Re: Hello from Maine SP

Hey Win & Team!

 

Reef webs no fault of yours.  Yet another one of my crazy ideas was run the spectra reef line right through the webbing without a block with the theory that it was static loading. 

 

Well if it WAS static it would have worked, but there was some wiggling since it is difficult to get the fore/aft position of the tie-down to the boom perfect.  So some movement under load, over thousands of cycles....and boom!

 

The mainsail is AWESOME.  I really like it.  The Cuben is really good on chafe, too. Which is nice on this setup with the pusher vangs and all.

 

No more falling anchors I hope.  Also, no icebergs, which will cost me miles.  But we'll see how the gybe angles work out closer to the Horn and after that there's still a LONG way to go.

 

B & OP

Snow Fall

There are many satisfactions to living with winter, not the least of which is a new snow fall.  There is nothing cozier than snuggling up close to a warm fire with the old dog asleep at your feet, a good book in your lap and a cup of hot tea in your hands as the snow falls silently outside.

Then, awakening with the sun the next morning to find the world transformed:  The old apple tree:

Each grass highlighted:

While inside the orchids bloom:

This day in History (about which I know very little...)

January 8 is the anniversary of the 1814 Battle of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson became a national hero by beating back a much larger British army with a small and ragtag force while suffering very few casualties.  For many years January 8 as a national holiday, celebrated almost as fervently as July 4.

The folly of this battle was that, unbeknownst to the participants, it was fought after the peace treaty of Ghent had already been signed on December 24, 1813.  To me, this battle is the paradigm of the futility of all war.  How many battles would be fought again by the same men if they had the benefit of hindsight?  Very few, I suspect.   

So, let us remember the lesson of the Battle of New Orleans: vastly superior forces often lose, and it takes two sides to fight, one or both of which would probably not do it again.

Sailing Picture

I think I need to stick in a good sailing photo every now and then just for the hell of it.

Contrast

Sometimes, a picture is worth 1000 words.  At least.

Business Blog

Ms Feverish, who is studying blogs and bloggers posts the eloquent suggestion that blogging is new form of expression - a new personal art form.  This post should be required reading for bloggers and blog readers.  The blog post /comment structure defines the relationship between blogger and audience - more active and intimate than most conversations between artist and audience, but more hierarchical than a conversation of equals.

I have been talking to the webmaster for my sailloft's site about incorporating a blog.  He suggested at forum or set of forums.  My experience has been that web based forums, which are, by structure, conversations between (often anonymous) equals, are predominately trivial - not something I want our site to become.  It seems to me that the advantage of a blog for our business is that we can set the agenda - while with luck painting a picture of our business as an active and vibrant enterprise - yet allow visitors to enter a conversation with us, something we are as likely to learn from as they are.

If an MSP blog results, loft reports like the last post and other sailmaking trivia will probably move there.

By the way, is it just me, or does anyone else find "blog" an unfortunate locution?  For me, it conjures up an unholy combination of "Blob", "Slog", and "Bog" with all the sorry connotations of each.  I would love it if someone would invent a more elegant word for this new form. I am afraid I don't have one to offer.  Even if I did, I fear it might be too late to turn the tide.  Any ideas?

Loft Report 12/31

This is another short week for us.  We finally finished the famous cryin' lion (see below).  We got examined by our freight forwarder to become a 'known' shipper.  Mostly, we did inventory.  Fortunately, with 5 people to do the job, it went relatively quickly (and I could avoid doing any counting myself).  We have over 300 different items to count, some with dozens of pieces.  Of course, that's not a huge number if you're a supermarket or a big box, but it seems like a lot for a small enterprise like ours.  Anyway, it's now done.  Now, it is up to me to enter the counts into our spreadsheet and make sure the prices for the items are up to date.

While others were doing the counting, I was writing checks, paying all the bills I could - a necessity for us as we are on a modified cash accounting system.  It's important to have paid for the stuff we're counting in inventory...

Someday, I hope to show you a picture of him flying...

Trench coat

Yesterday, ML and I went shopping for a trench coat.  For Christmas, she had given me the gift of one to be chosen later.  We picked out a very nice micro-fiber coat in a neutral olive color.  The fabric is very fine and feels almost like suede.  I like it very much, although I don't know that I'll get to wear it all that often.

This coat completes my adult wardrobe.  Over the past few years I have acquired a midnight blue suit, black wingtips, and an overcoat.  These were all things I had in prep school and college, but I out-grew, wore out, or misplaced them back then.  In my twenties, thirties and forties, I rarely felt the need to own such a wardrobe.  It was even more rare that I felt I had the disposable cash to afford one.  And I never had both the need and the wherewithal at the same time.

Now, I have to be prepared to be dignified at the weddings of my daughter's generation and the funerals of my parent's generation.  Does that mean I have finally 'grown up'?