Re: STILL Burgundy obsessed

>
> Poor Peter! Nearly undone by a fickle thumb cleat and so

> the experience he swore off the elegance and practicality of sail

> forever. :o( I use a "thumbless" cleat to hold the snotter on my

> skiff, two of them as a matter of fact -- one for full sail one

> reefed. The cleat is just a bump of wood with it's upper face
> perpendicular to the aft side of the mast and sticking out a bit

> the snotter is thick, the bottom is gracefully (well, I tried to

> graceful) rounded down to the mast. The snotter has never slipped
> unintentionally from its cleat, but it's not difficult to slip it

> my hand and slide it down to the lower cleat for reefing. And the

> Don't Snag the lacing! I use "forth and back" lacing, but I don't

> that makes much difference...

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:33:13 -0800, Peter Lenihan wrote:

> ...
> Wasting no time,the mainsail is readied for lowering.What should of
> been a gracefull event,however,quickly turned into something else
> all together.For you see,the mainsail is"laced" in the traditional
> manner and not running on a track. I liked the look,museums are full
> of paintings showing boats rigged as such,and it was a quick cheap
> solution for the mainsail.The aerodynamic advantaged,I never knew
> about.
> Anyway,doesn't the darned lacing get snagged on the upper most thumb
> cleat(used for the peak snotter and just inches too high for my
> fingers
> to reach).
> ...

--
John <jkohnen@...>
I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman couldn't make it
worse. <Brendan Behan>

> --- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Hallman <bruce@h...> wrote:
>
>> A Burgundy built from plywood should probably be renamed Merlot.
>>
>
> LOL!
>
> and if it is really cheap plywood,"Brights 74" :-D
>
> Peter Lenihan
>
>
>

>
> A Burgundy built from plywood should probably be renamed Merlot.

--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Jack&Lois" <jalo@i...> wrote:
When he says "Wind resistance is in
> an order of magnitude less, and aerodynamic efficiency is improved
by
> letting the luffs drop over to the lee side of the masts." Its
like a lover
> saying he loves the way she tosses her head when she laughs. I'm
not
> convinced that I can't find some decent boards and hardwood. It
may not be
> pine and oak, but there is still some lovely wood to be had in
Nova Scotia.
> Having said all that Bolger may say "are you NUTS? Only and idiot
would try
> to build this boat with anything BUT plywood!". Still, I'm hopeful
he'll say
> something like "arise, good and faithful servant. Since none of my
disciples
> has built Burgundy as she was intended to be built I will grant
you these
> plans for free"... By now it should be more than apparent why it's
past time
> for me to sign off on this subject. But, by all means let me know
if any of
> you comes across news, evidence or pictures verifying that a
Burgundy has in
> fact been built by someone, somewhere, out of something...whatever
that
> might be.

Spoken like a true romantic Jack! And I can only hope with all my
heart that our Hero does indeed utter those very words and bestows
upon you a free plans set :-)

Far be it too for me to ever doubt a word from our Hero regarding
sailing aerodynamics. I can recall,perhaps too vividly,the warm
colourful images of a boat I once built
,her sails pregnant with a warm August south wind,gently
tumbling over sun splashed waves as we merrily made our way toward a
cosy cove for the night.Ah yes,there I was,steering her in amongst
the other anchored yachts,easing out the sails slowly to de-power
her forward progress,finally picking out a spot for the two of
us.With a practiced ease,the helm was put down,the mizzen sheeted in
hard and the jib and main sheets let loose as she came up into the
wind.A few short strides and I
toss the anchor off the bow and watch it glide down to the sandy
bottom trailing her rhode amongst a flurry of bubbles.As she eased
back
on her new leash, the jib was dropped smartly to the deck and
quickly un-tied and dropped through the fore hatch. Taking a quick
look around to see how we are settling in on our anchor, I note that
all is well and the other cove guest are returning to the previous
activities now that it is clear I appear to know what I am doing.
Wasting no time,the mainsail is readied for lowering.What should of
been a gracefull event,however,quickly turned into something else
all together.For you see,the mainsail is"laced" in the traditional
manner and not running on a track. I liked the look,museums are full
of paintings showing boats rigged as such,and it was a quick cheap
solution for the mainsail.The aerodynamic advantaged,I never knew
about.
Anyway,doesn't the darned lacing get snagged on the upper most thumb
cleat(used for the peak snotter and just inches too high for my
fingers
to reach).With the sail now only partly lowered and billowing around
like a blanket on a cloths-line, I hastely raise her up again in
hopes that my second attempt will go smoother. Nope,no such luck!
Cursing under my breath,the sail is raised once again and
lowered....with the lacing right back on the cleat! Having lowered
this sail many a time previous, I was rather perplexed at just what
the blazes was going wrong.Adding to the fun was the lower end of
the peak sprit loosely swing from side to side and threatening to
bump me over-board.More attempts are made at the"raise-n-lower"
technique,with the same dismal results. By now, I am no longer
cursing under my breath nor am I doing so in English as I long ago
discovered it to be far more cathartic to let fly with entire
sentences,nay,paragraphs worth of rich religous cussing in my second
tongue,French.Oh how I wailed and hollered at that bastardized son
of a chalice,whose tabernacle was occupied with a dirty
whore,mainsail lacing! Had there been suitable mountains around or
at least a shear rock cliff,the echos would have frightened little
children.Nearing a state of shear white maddness,which had me trying
to remember where I left my camping axe and thinking that a good
pile of black spruce would make fine bonfire stock,I almost yanked
the mainmast right out of the boat trying to dislodge that ill
begotten lacing which had by now gotten it into its' fuzzy little
polyester half-brain to squeeze itself between thumb cleat and
mast.Realizing that this was one battle I wasn't about to win before
sunset, and now painfully aware of a private audience of fellow
boaters, I proceeded to throttle the whole mess by running the main
halyard 'round and 'round the mast thereby seazing up the peak sprit
and sail together against the mast.Once secured as such, I quickly
stole away to the relative privacy of the cabin to fume away the
evening wondering about that blasted mainsail lacing.
That night,the wind picked up slightly and the constant bump,grind
and shissh sound of that mast-high-mess tossed by the wind and waves
made for a bad nights sleep.That night too witnessed a solem oath
which,in brief,saw me promise to never,ever again,not in a million
years ever lace a mainsail to the mast.Images of being caught in a
bad chance and really NEEDING to lower the main fast served as
nightmare fodder throughout the following winter months.
And that is why the Micro I built has a sail-track. No one ever
really understood why I always had a smile on my face each time I
would let that mainsail race down the mast to be gathered up in a
neat bundle in the fore well.Oooooooh,just the memory of hearing
that little clickity clack of the sail cars coming down the mast
almost gives me goose-bumps :-)

And some of us too may recall how "lovely she looked as she tossed
her head laughing...at first.....but how that same gesture would
become a thing of obnoxious revolt and a source of mis-read singles
later on..............

At any rate Jack, I know you have the heart of a true artist,so un-
like my neanderthal ground thumpings and grunts, and that it is both
un-fair and un-wise to counsel one in the affairs of the heart.Your
head is filled with the most glorious images of Burgundy,YOUR
Burgundy and you must,as a true slave to your heart,seek her out and
bring her into your realm,your reality. I wish you much success in
your pilgrimage!


Sincerely,

Peter Lenihan,standing by for more fun and breaking news from Bolger
boat builders and lovers ....................

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack&Lois" <jalo@...>
To: <bolger@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 5:32 PM
Subject: [bolger] STILL Burgundy obsessed


> The Burgundy obsession flurry in this group seems to have run it course.
> Thanx to all who entered the discussion and contributed insights, thoughts
> and suggestions. For now I'll lay my submissions to this discussion to
> rest.
> As much fun as this is I fear we do sometime run the risk of "discussing"
> ourselves right out of the initiative to get down to the business of
> building a boat. Joyfully, I'm as obsessed as ever. My letter to PCB&F is
> in
> the mail. I will share the highlights of my correspondence with our
> beloved
> royal "We" as they arrive. I conclude with two points: First, in the
> spirit
> of the Monty Python skit involving a bunch of guys one-upping each other
> on
> how miserable their childhood was, I want to clear up one comment someone
> made about a "worse case scenario" for sailing a boat like Burgundy on the
> Bay of Fundy. I believe the writer said something to the effect that at
> worst one would have to anchor below low water until the tide was high
> enough to enter a harbour. That's a pretty far cry from "worst". If you
> add
> to that scenario a howling nor'easter gale blowing onto about as
> inhospitable a lee shore you can imagine, a tidal current running
> somewhere
> between 4 and 8 knots, a change of water depth of 30-50 ft. over a six
> hour
> period and a rock and gravel bottom that's like Teflon for anchors then
> you're still nowhere NEAR what a worse case scenario can be on the Bay of
> Fundy. Ok, I got that out of my system.
>
> Next: Peter L., with humility and honour I bow to your brilliance and
> mastery with plywood as an artist's medium. I have not one wit of rational
> argument against your kind and detailed directives for creating Burgundy.
> In
> fact I saved your message as possible step by step proceedures for
> building
> Burgundy...but still, it's a bit like a besotted teen being told by a
> friend, "Yeah, she's beautiful, but think how hot she'd look with breast
> implants, capped teeth, and her hair dyed auburn". The image that haunts
> MY
> dreams is exactly what Bolger describes. When he says "Wind resistance is
> in
> an order of magnitude less, and aerodynamic efficiency is improved by
> letting the luffs drop over to the lee side of the masts." Its like a
> lover
> saying he loves the way she tosses her head when she laughs. I'm not
> convinced that I can't find some decent boards and hardwood. It may not be
> pine and oak, but there is still some lovely wood to be had in Nova
> Scotia.
> Having said all that Bolger may say "are you NUTS? Only and idiot would
> try
> to build this boat with anything BUT plywood!". Still, I'm hopeful he'll
> say
> something like "arise, good and faithful servant. Since none of my
> disciples
> has built Burgundy as she was intended to be built I will grant you these
> plans for free"... By now it should be more than apparent why it's past
> time
> for me to sign off on this subject. But, by all means let me know if any
> of
> you comes across news, evidence or pictures verifying that a Burgundy has
> in
> fact been built by someone, somewhere, out of something...whatever that
> might be.
>
> Jeb, clinging to his mailbox above the howling shores of Fundy
>
>
>
>
>
> Bolger rules!!!
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> - no cursing, flaming, trolling, spamming, respamming, or flogging dead
> horses
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> - Pls add your comments at the TOP, SIGN your posts, and snip away
> - Plans: Mr. Philip C. Bolger, P.O. Box 1209, Gloucester, MA, 01930, Fax:
> (978) 282-1349
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