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troph

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by troph

  1. For the record I’m here in the early season.
  2. whatever makes you feel better about yourself bro.
  3. I was all in on work, mastering my profession and making money until I was 40. That's when it changed for me. now that I know how to do what I do without study or extra effort, I shifted all that extra to hobbies. I have no idea how I'd be without them. I don't understand people without hobbies.
  4. shit that's bad ass. I want. But I'm not sure I'll make it to the racing hobby before I'm unable. I will say though all of my hobbies (sailing, tennis, fly fishing (apex especially), and scuba) require flow state consciousness to succeed at a high level, tremendous focus requirements, technical knowledge and skill. though varying degrees of adrenaline and feeling of out of control, they all have similarities. when it comes to sailing, I'm not a racer, but I will go on high adventure trips, I've taken baby steps in the BVIs - captaining a 50 footer myself twice now - but I plan to do at least one if not several liveaboard sailing trips in the pacific, say Hawaii to Tahiti or Cabo to Galapagos and that may not be auto racing or G650's racing, but I guarantee you the adrenaline will be there. the thing about the sunset cruise sailing on a lake or close to shore - that's not a sport, probably not even a hobby - that's about getting laid, or entertaining people you love. that's a different kind of skill, a different goal all together. some people like to go out to eat, I'd rather take a really nice bottle of wine, some cheese and hoist the sails while my lady looks at me like I'm the best thing that has ever happened to her. having something like sailing to do both is pretty fucking cool in my book.
  5. yeah you can cruise at 30 mph in a power boat on a lake or on the open ocean in calm conditions. powered by sails, you start hauling ass it's not sunshine and rainbows, probably not made for the insta reels. we were probably above 10 knots a couple of times yesterday and reefing to avoid going much faster than that and as an advanced novice I'd say it was pushing white knuckles - I would have definitely peed my pants if I was alone in 20 knot winds and 30 knot gusts on lake travis. those speedier moments were in heavy winds, heeling at 20 degrees and having to steer against the weather.
  6. band today isn’t the same as it was during our time. Hyper competitiveness in athletics has driven a larger number of “cool” and good looking kids into the band, at least at the big Texas high schools.
  7. I left the house feeling cold and anxious not confident unsure. I stepped off the boat confident, clear of mind, refreshed, smile on my face. “Conquering” the elements is good for the soul. I was still cold, even colder but a hot bath feeling like I did something noteworthy was incredible.
  8. We were at dinner with friends last night and I tried to explain the appeal. In a power boat you override physics and natural laws for the most part and unlike auto racing you don’t really interact with wind or air draft forces that much. It’s just a single axis experience. Turn it on and go. sailing there are three axis of influence, the laws of nature, physics. Then second, the tools you have to react to the laws of physics - your boat and sails - and third your reaction. Having been in the racing industry and driven at least one bonafide race car and dealt with the impact of air draft and forces of physics, and having been around power boats for going on 20 years now I can definitely say sailing - even leisurely sailing is more akin to car racing than any other kind of boating. yesterday was a ton of fun but my level of concentration was 100%. In 20-30 knot winds you can fuck up big time. I gave up the helm twice because my head hurt from focusing. That’s not like any other kind of boating.
  9. It’s way more analogous to car racing than any other kind of boating. Especially if you sail like @G650
  10. Accidental jibe (or gybe) is when you cross from one side of direct down wind to the other without planning it. The main sail which is connected to the mast and the metal (or carbon fiber) that is shaped like an “ L “ whips the fuck around and crashes violently from one side to the other as the sails reorient to a change in direction of the wind because of the boat’s position changing. Think of 6 o clock as down wind, so it’s going from 4pm-7pm without preparation. A controlled jibe you don’t have this problem because you use your lines (ropes) to secure the boom (the bottom of the “ L “ - typically you bring the boom in tight and inline with the boats direction so the whip from far left to far right can’t happen. But it’s still a notable shift that’s a tad unsettling for passengers when it has to happen especially in high winds. chicken jibe is when you tack through an upwind trajectory to accomplish the same goal. But you basically do a loop around, instead of a small shift. Tacking is when you cross straight upwind from one side to the other. So like 2pm to 10pm on a clock where 12pm is straight up wind. so back to a chicken jibe, if you are at 4pm down wind and you want to be a 7pm down wind, you turn up wind to 2pm and then tack across 12pm and then bear off (turn out of the wind) and head down to that 7pm position. In high wind it’s a more leisurely way to handle it but it is a much longer path to get there and in a race situation you would never do it I imagine. A sunset cruise you would absolutely chicken jibe. any time you tack or jibe you have to make a sizable move with your sails (notice the sail change from one side of the boat to the other in the clock diagram crossing 12 and 6). If you can stay on “one half of the clock” then the sail moves are incremental and small. There are plenty moves to make but nothing a major as switching the sails from one side to the other which tacking and jibing require. So I don’t think it’s a technical term but I said I had a couple of “nice runs” I just meant where I could relax even in high winds and not have to make a major move. For lake sailing that’s the holy grail, because winds are so variable and lakes are often narrow so to get the wind where you can stay set on sails is awesome. I had one run that lasted 30 mins. It was epic. Ocean sailing that’s way more common - some stokes no major sail move for days. reefing is when you pull your sails in to give less surface area for the wind to lift or push you - it’s the number one tactic to manage high winds - less sail out. Heeling is when your boat leans over at an angle. We probably had some moments where we heeled at 15-20 degrees. Enough to pay attention.
  11. 35 ft Benny. Sailing club boat.
  12. Morning sail, 20 knots gusts to 30 knots. Reefed quite a bit. Cold (high 30s low 40s). But a really great day. Hauled ass at times. Knocked the rust off. Talked through high wind situations. Navigated well, avoided accidental jibes. Chicken jibed once that was a nice little trick, had some nice runs. Dialed it in. Got more comfortable with heeling. Solid day.
  13. V1 is what made me love astronomy, college level astronomy is what made me hate astronomy.
  14. Well our yard project ended up being a bit of a disaster. We never got our rain water system to fill enough to have the water we needed coupled with the extreme heat and we planted it in the spring, it ultimately died from a lack of water and stupid extreme heat. Or died enough. side rant, septic systems are designed for old style water use and arcane number of bath rooms. all the low flow appliances make it a total mismatch. And on top of that you’re not supposed to have a sprinkler system over a septic field. and on top of that you have to have a yard for the septic discharge. It’s super stupid. we replanted in November, we have plenty of rain water now but we added a sprinkler system and hooked up to the local water supply - for profit company not the city and not a MUD. So we can now water over and above the septic subject to restrictions. take two…
  15. “Fuck you universe.” You’re god damn right about that one doc. 3.7 miles in this set of circumstance? That’s impressive. The only 3.7 I would do is pours of scotch. vent all you want. Fuck Facebook memories. be kind to yourself.
  16. different kinda nationalism. different, not same. not same same at all.
  17. my wife doesn't really go for blondes, but she loves her some tall, aggressive women, with slightly pronounced facial features. She comments every damn Lasso episode about her. I have to admit, I felt some relief when she drooled after this one.
  18. tough guys don't want their wives to know they are as cockoo as a cockoo clock. duh.
  19. I've decided I want the team who's star player won't thank God to win from here on out. there was no team to chose sunday. both QBs think God loves them more than the other guy.
  20. Heck yes! I thought for sure I was going to have to explain the reference.
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