Tools of the Trade

Hope the mystery Moth sailor in the photo won't mind my posting it for the mothosphere...sometimes a still can convey motion in a way video can only hope to emulate.

With all eyes focused sharply on Weymouth and the blog posts trailing off like a mid summer marine layer in LA, one would think all the non-traveling moths on Earth were simply sitting in sheds, dormant with envy. But we are all up to things, perhaps in inverse proportion to the frequency of our blog posts.

We have all kinds of foil development and testing going on on both coasts, a bunch of home builds going on, people talking about building masts, and French dudes stuck on the beltway outside DC headed for Goddard Space Flight. Winglets playing hooky in NX5. Who would ever have thought.

Having recently blown out yet another set of tramps I am on a quest for something more worthy of the application than ripstop dacron. Complete crap that stuff. Might be hitting the tramps too hard with my knees on the tacks, but I don't think so. And I don't think I'm asking too much to expect more than six months (or less) from a set of tramps.

Got some vang rings. Not Australian, but they have the virtue of costing $9 a copy rather than $40, and they are even titanium. Maybe someday I'll upgrade but these seem pretty trick. Rolled them around on the desk a bit at work today absentmindedly. Not one person who saw them asked what they were for.

Some discussion re: weather in Weymouth and all I have to say is Good Luck predicting it. In 2005 the International Canoe Worlds were there; it blew 20+ for four days of sailing before the regatta, then incredibly light and shifty for a few days, then moderate breeze for the final two, and a nice 15-18 for the New York Cup. Real smorgasbord.

Looking forward to some great internet mothing over the next few weeks and to seeing what new gadgets and ideas show up there, going whatever speed.