[Public-List] End of 2014

[Gordon Laco via Public-List]

Good morning friends....

I¹m looking forward to 2015 and hope you are too.....  I noted our new
correspondent's message about replacing toe rails.... I¹ve declared aloud
here at our house that I¹m going to declare war on our deck edge leaks this
year.  This will involve repairing the leaks under the six life line
stanchion bases as well as under the toe rail.  The rail is very thin from
decades of sanding so I¹m shaping up to replace it after doing a cloth tape
and epoxy job on the joint.   Compared to what I¹m doing with the wooden
boat this shouldn¹t be too horrible a job (except for getting at the genoa
track bolts adjacent to the second fuel tank I put in on the port side a few
years ago).  

There.  I¹ve said this aloud (again).  Maybe I¹ll do it this year....

One of my sons bought me William F. Buckley¹s AIRBORNE, A SENTIMENTAL
JOURNEY for Christmas.  I can¹t believe I¹ve not read this great book
before.  I¹ve been aware of it since it was first published, have held a
copy in my hand in various book stores over the years, but have to admit I
was put off it three ways.  One was that reviews commented on the luxury of
the yacht (the schooner CYRANO which among other things sported a piano)
This offended the younger me with regard to a belief that one should suffer
when at sea.  Another problem I had was the cover illustration, which
didn¹t, I thought, make the boat look attractive to my eye (yes, I was and
perhaps still am that picky) Last, Buckley seemed to me to represent what I
thought in my student days was an incomprehensible and distasteful political
viewpoint.     

Well I¹m most of the way through the book already, and have to say it¹s a
wonderful read.  Whatever Buckley was politically, he was a very witty
writer and his love of seamanship has overshadowed whatever it was that
repelled me thirty years ago.  I can even overlook the luxurious
appointments of his yacht.

Hope you all have a great New Year¹s eve, and I¹m looking forward to sharing
sailing and yacht maintenance stories with you next year.

Bye for now - 

Gord
#426 Surprise

PS I was driving through Burlington Ontario yesterday and saw a white hulled
A30 under a tarp on a driveway ­ does she belong to anyone on this list?

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