Nugland

We went down to see Centennial over the long weekend. It took a while, but we were able to remove all of the lines (not ropes, there are no ropes on a proper boat) from the mast and the hull.

They were dirty and stiff from being set up and unused for, oh, four years, in a New Hampshire driveway. They were under cover, so they at least weren’t sun-damaged.

The plan — now finished — was to wash them with laundry detergent and then rinse them with softener, and it seems to have worked. All the halyards feel, well, not brand new, but supple. The topping lifts are still a little stiff but perfectly serviceable. All are noticeably brighter.

I’m really glad the Loys took the care with these lines that they did. Replacing these would have been a big expense, what as decent running rigging costs somewhere between 50¢ and $1.50 a foot. Some of the longer halyards are over 200 feet long.

Quickey inventory:

• Jib Halyard
• Forestaysail Halyard
• Topsail Halyard
• Main Peak Halyard
• Main Throat Halyard
• Mizzen Staysail Halyard
• Mizzen Peak Halyard
• Mizzen Throat Halyard
• Assorted signal halyards
• Lazyjacks (not all salvageable)
• Leeboard lifts (didn’t require washing, actually)

Click the pic for a mini-gallery.

Next up: Inventory the sheets and the reserve cordage, then prep for soda-blasting (which should happen next Monday, June 1st).

[Update] Tuesday, June 2nd (weather permitting)

LeBron James makes playing professional basketball look like fun. I haven’t seen that in like, forever.

Addenda: “Chuck just pulled your hamstring”

It appears that he’s worried about ‘distractions’, and would like it if all the people like me who assumed that all the secret stuff that Bush & Co. did would eventually see the light of day would, like, chill.

Um, fuck that. Seriously, fuck that.

The following appears in all-caps for emphasis:

THE TRUTH IS NEVER A DISTRACTION. IT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING ATTENTION TO.

Realism might return when, what should we call it? False-ism? is exposed.

People like me will be happy to put the Bush administration policies behind us only when they are exposed, punished if that is required, and explicitly disavowed by the current administration if they are found to be illegal, immoral, dishonest, or stupid. Or all four. Until then, they need to be paid attention to.

I fueled up the Primus No.523 and gave it a go. And it worked great with no fancy repair work. The pressure pump could probably use an overhaul, but it did the business. I’m quite pleased.

I wasn’t organized enough to do a BTU test last night, but I’ll get to it. It seemed to be putting out quite a bit of heat, though.

This beauty arrived from Australia today. I think it might be pre-war, but there isn’t much info to go on. I got it on eBay from Australia (at a pretty reasonable price, too).

Let’s just call it Bacon Flu and be done with it.

Everyone loves bacon, right?