Category Archives: Sailing

AGW heretic

Posted on June 9, 2009 | Comments Off on AGW heretic

It doesn’t do most people any good to question the assertions of the acolytes of the First Church of Global Warming. Except, uh, when you’re a famous physicist named Freeman Dyson:

"The change that’s now going on is very strongly concentrated in the Arctic. In fact in three respects, it’s not global, which I think is very important. First of all, it is mainly in the Arctic. Secondly, it’s mainly in the winter rather than summer. And thirdly, it’s mainly in the night rather than at the daytime. In all three respects, the warming is happening where it is cold, not where it is hot."

You’re still mocked and shouted down, of course. But, uh, you know, you don’t care. Good thing heretics are no longer burned. Yet.

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Posted in Obamalot, Sailing, Weather/Climate

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Elissa beating into the wind

Posted on April 11, 2009 | Comments Off on Elissa beating into the wind

ELISSA_at_sea.jpg

As close as the little "barky" can get to the wind, anyhow. You can expect to see more of these, as I have always been a sucker for sailing, even though I don’t do it anymore meself.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana

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Texas tall ship: Elissa

Posted on April 10, 2009 | Comments Off on Texas tall ship: Elissa

Lower_topsails_in_Galveston_Channel.jpg

I used to have one of her commemorative key rings, picked up on a trip to UTMB when I was a medical writer. It gave metal detectors at the courthouse fits when I forgot to remove it, so I stopped carrying it. But I didn’t forget the Elissa. One of these days, I might even get to take a ride, though I’ll leave climbing the rigging to the younger ones.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana

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Texas may look like a park, but it isn’t

Posted on March 3, 2009 | Comments Off on Texas may look like a park, but it isn’t

That’s what I told a young tourist one time, reminding him of fire ants, rattlesnakes and scorpions. This brought it to mind: four city boys thoughtlessly going to sea in a pea pod without checking the weather forecast.

Via the Seablogger.

UPDATE: Well, at least one of them survived, anyhow. Thanks to the Coast Guard and Air Force Reserve.

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Posted in Sailing

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Lake Travis plunge

Posted on February 4, 2009 | Comments Off on Lake Travis plunge

Having sold the family sloop, we no longer pay much attention to the ups and downs of the reservoir called Lake Travis. It has been quite low in previous droughts, but seems to be trying to set a new record in the ongoing one. It is now at six hundred and fifty-five feet below above mean sea level, which is roughly twenty-six feet below normal. Worse, it is forecast to continue its plunge to around six hundred and twenty feet. 

Nevertheless, in the interest of soothing hysterics who worry about the droughts of global warming (though it is the potential rising of sea water rather than the falling of lake surfaces that has them upset), this has happened before, and quickly (say, within thirty days) has come back to this. So, in other words, unless you own a lakeside home (which is now a gully-side home) there’s almost certainly nothing to worry about. What goes down has, historically, come right back up.

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Posted in Sailing, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Seablogger blogs a cruise

Posted on November 8, 2008 | Comments Off on Seablogger blogs a cruise

His Holland America cruise ship has "a nice deep sea heave," Alan Sullivan reports, as he sails into hurricane weather out of Miami. The water in the upper deck swimming pools is "jumping and sliding like limbo dancers." He had to pay one hundred dollars for two hundred fifty minutes of Web connection time via satellite, so he’s limited in what he can do. But he’s already promising photos soon. Click on the blog title at the top of the page to check for the latest post.

UPDATE:  A nautical tracking map shows where his ship, the Noordam, is at the moment. 

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Posted in Blogosphere, Sailing, South of the Border, Weather/Climate

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Cub scout camping

Posted on October 18, 2008 | Comments Off on Cub scout camping

Tonight will be our fourth campout in the woods with Mr. B.’s cub scout den. This time we’ll only be a few miles from the rancho. It’s forecast to be in the high seventies during the day but drop into the upper forties overnight.

I’m bringing two radios, just in case, in order to listen to the Longhorns game. I expect them to beat Missouri, but I want to be sure to hear them do it. Watching it would be nice, but I never bought one of those portable televisions. No, that isn’t true. We had one on the family sloop years ago, but it was stolen. Anyway, where we’re going is in a valley between two hills, so the teevee reception might be poor. If necessary, I’ll hike up the shortest hill to listen to the game. But it probably won’t be.

UPDATE:  It was fun sitting in a camp chair, watching Orion climb the sky and listening to the Longhorns as they thrashed Missouri, 56-31. Next up, Oklahoma State, should be a bit tougher.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Sailing, Texas Football, Weather/Climate

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